Our Home: The Outside

Happy Wednesday! I promised to come back to share some pictures of the outside of our new home.... and here they are!

First, the view from the driveway. Please notice, I have now unpacked enough boxes and gotten things settled in enough to park both of our cars in the garage! That was a nice little surprise for Aaron when he came home from work yesterday...

We have two somewhat large trees on the right side of the driveway. By the way, we are tucked back in the corner of a little semi-circle drive, that is sort of like a mini culdesac. It's very nice and lots of room for parking.

The walk up to the front door. Aaron would like to do something different with the landscaping there, but that is probably quite a way into the future. We love that there is a screen door on the front, if and when it gets cool enough to use it....



We've also got a patch of strawberries and mint growing up by the fence!

On to the backyard! I did a little rearranging of some of our patio furniture....

We have a few brown patches in the grass we will try to fix, but that's quite hard with the water restrictions we're under. Here you can see that we have a view to the neighborhood park.

And on our way to the little fenced garden area...

The sellers were so kind to make us a booklet of information on each plant as well as a map of the garden and what plants are there. As you can see, we have asparagus, peppers, lots of tomatoes, sweet potatoes, soy beans, green beans, basil, okra, thyme, and chives. It's quite a challenge to keep these plants happy during the 100+ degree weather every day, especially the tomatoes. I used some of the thyme last night and it was so great to just go out to the garden and snip some. The asparagus won't be ready until 2012, did you know it takes 3 years to harvest?

Hope you like the outside of our home. We hope to spend lots of time outdoors and with friends and neighbors, but boy are we ready for some cooler weather or even a few drops of rain!

Our Home: The Before Pictures!

I'm so excited to finally share these photos of our house. It's so great to be here and slowly but surely starting to feel like home. We had quite a delay with closing, so I rushed in to take these pictures as soon as we got there, before the sun set. Due to the lack of light some are a little blurry and grainy so I apologize, but I promise the after pictures will be much better :)

Not only have we been so blessed with this great house, we are also very very very blessed by our great friends and family. A bunch of our friends showed up on Saturday morning to help us move, and my dad not only helped us move but also mowed the lawn (and it was in the 100's!) and gave us wise counsel on caring for our yard. My mom showed up and helped me clean- and I mean scrub- every surface in this home. She was down on her hands and knees, scrubbing the baseboards! She also helped me unpack and organize the kitchen. My parents are so great!

So let me take you on a little tour of our home!

Here's what you see looking back at the front door. We love the high ceilings and the big
window brings in a lot of natural light!



To the left when you walk in, you'll see a linen closet and a tiny little powder room.

And then the staircase. 

Straight ahead, is a little step down to the big family room. 

Which leads into the breakfast area and kitchen. 

That door leads to the laundry room and pantry, a large closet, and the garage. 

Now we will go upstairs... At the top of the stairs is this great loft with a big closet. 

To the right of the loft is the master bedroom and bathroom. 

To the left of the loft are two bedrooms. The first one will be Aaron's office, and the second (western themed!) room will be one of the first to be painted... and will be the guest room. There is also a bathroom upstairs. 

So that concludes the tour of our home. I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of the front from the outside, the backyard, and the garden... yes, we have a fully functioning amazing vegetable garden! You'll love it. Also, stay tuned for a list of things we want to do to the house! 

So what do you think of our house?

Happy Birthday, my love.

Aaron, 

Today is your birthday. I am blessed to be here with you to experience another year of this crazy life. You are 28 today. I love you more now that you are 28 than I did when you were 27, 26, 25 and 24.

We went on our first date twelve days before your 25th birthday, at Blues on the Green. We sat in traffic, then on your camouflage sleeping bag, enjoying talking to each other more than listening to the music or the people watching around us. I can't remember exactly what we talked about, but oh if I knew then what I knew now. Twelve days later, we went bowling on your birthday. I am pretty sure I stopped and got you candy on the way there (foreshadowing to what was to come for the rest of our lives). I probably beat you at bowling. If I didn't, it's because I let you win.

So much has happened in those years. We fell in love, got engaged, got married, made each other laugh, made each other mad, got in arguments, went on vacations, made good decisions, and made mistakes. We have so much to look forward to in the years to come. You're my best friend and I am blessed and honored to spend every day with you. 

The way you laugh is contagious, the way you look at me makes me melt, your sweetness when you first wake up makes me want to cry with happiness.. you are just an amazing husband and there are not enough words to express how you've blessed me as your wife. 

I appreciate everything you do for me & us... the mornings that you wake up at the crack of dawn to go to work and don't get home from school until after 10, the weekends when all you want to do is relax but you're so determined that you focus on studies instead. The way you lead our city group faithfully every Tuesday with all of your heart and love people even though sometimes that takes work. The way you give several hours of your time each week to allow people to worship God through A/V at our church. 

All of that and being an attentive husband, a loving son, and a reliable friend takes a very Christ-centered man... and that is you, and that draws me nearer to Christ. 

I love you so much. I hope I helped to make your 27th year great, and that your 28th will be memorable as well. Happy Birthday, honey! 

Love, 

Sarah

Pillows from Napkins

Okay, this itty bitty sewing project is so much fun! Yesterday I made two pillows for $6.99 out of a set of four napkins I bought at Home Goods. My favorite part of the project was that it didn't require ANY cutting, which is my least favorite part of sewing- I am SO bad at it! I can't cut a straight line to save my life! I think these pillows turned out so cute, and for the price you can't beat it. Being napkins, the fabric is also of good quality, heavier than quilting cotton, and I'm planning to use them for outdoor pillows. I'm also planning to go back to Home Goods and buy a few more sets of napkins- they had some very, very cute bright prints coordinating with the one I chose.

Here they are, looking cute on our guest bed:

The napkins were 18x18, and I happened to have some old pillows that were about 17x17, so it worked out perfectly. I also added some stuffing to make them a little fuller. I sewed three sides with a straight stitch, wrong sides together, and then put the old pillow in, stuffed it, and sewed up the last side. Easy as that! Now, if you don't have old pillows, you can use just stuffing or a pillow form. But if you do, and they aren't the exact right size, you might have to cut a little bit. You could also do an envelope style back, if you make a smaller pillow, but you'd obviously have to do some cutting.

Another trick I like to use when making pillows- if you have unused pillows lying around but they're not the right size, you can cut into them and pull out the stuffing and use that. I do that a lot.

This project is for the most novice sewer and you can find cute napkins just about anywhere- I've noticed Target has some cute DwellStudio ones (like these) at some of their stores that are so great- and just keep your eye out for them at places like Home Goods, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, World Market, Crate and Barrel, etc! Total cost for me was only the cost of the napkins- $6.99.

Have fun- and be careful...buying napkins could become an addiction :)

House.

A lot has happened since I last wrote! The biggest thing? Aaron and I are in the process of buying a house! It was such a quick decision and sudden move, but we fell in love with the perfect house for us and we are so excited to move in on July 8th [praying that all goes as planned]. The inspection is scheduled for tomorrow, and should that go well, in a little over a month we will be homeowners! It is such an exciting feeling. Obviously, I will share a lot more about the house, but I'm going to wait just a bit to do that... and start out with just some inspiration pictures for our first floor I've found on Pinterest! 

First up: Inspiration for our kitchen / breakfast nook.

Both are found here via pinterest

I looove the spring green color against the white cabinets, stainless appliances, and wood floors. I also love how well black goes- our kitchen table and chairs are black. 

Next, color inspiration for our living room: 

Found here via pinterest

I absolutely love this color- it is Senora Gray by Benjamin Moore. This is pretty much the exact color I am looking for for our living room.

And, here is a lovely striped half bathroom. 

Found here via pinterest

Those are just a few of the inspiration photos I have pinned on my boards for this house. I can't wait to see some of my ideas come to life! 

Teal Bowl

Last Friday my friend Sarah took me to this place I had never been before, called Uncommon Objects, on South Congress. It was so crazy! Here is the description from their website:

Established in 1991 as a small antique collective, Uncommon Objects has matured over the years into the one-of-a-kind emporium of transcendent junk that you see before you.

Twenty hardworking antique sellers have been assembled under one roof to bring you this very genuine and sometimes quirky slice of American culture and history.

Uncommon Objects has been described as "your eccentric uncle's attic on steroids." And remember, this is no museum. This stuff is for sale.

As the ultimate "green" shopping experience, there is something to satisfy your nostalgic yearnings and peak your sentimental curiosities.

Needless to say we probably spent over an hour in there just inspecting every little thing they had. It was really interesting, and they had some good stuff. It definitely wasn't all thrift store prices, but most of the items weren't outrageous. They also have these bowls full of people's family photos they've collected from estate sales. Believe it or not, while we were in there an older woman supposedly looked down and saw herself in one of the pictures from when she was 6. I heard her call someone and tell them this over the phone. I have no reason to believe that she was lying. So creepy!

So here is what I bought: an old map (for a few diy projects I've wanted to do from pinterest), an old postcard that I gave to my friends, and this $6 brass bowl:

Lovely brass.

I loved the quatrefoil design in the sides, and I knew some bright paint would really bring it out. So a few coats of teal acrylic paint and one coat of sealant later, this is what I had.

It's now sitting on the little ledge when you walk in our door, as a catch all for things. It's currently holding some hardware that needs to be returned at Home Depot, and keys.

Fun and bright!

Wine cabinet from the Salvation Army

Once again, things have been really busy here in our household! I have all of my finals tomorrow, and Aaron finishes up school next Wednesday. We're both so looking forward to a few weeks of having time to spend together and with our friends. I've been studying for my finals for three days straight, and I'm about at the point where I can't do anything else, but wait and see how I do. I don't want to be overly confident, but I am sure that things will go fine tomorrow! It will definitely be a day of anxiousness and nerves, because I do have finals starting at 8 am and going until 7:30. I have 5 hours between two of them, so I am sure I will be a nervous wreck.

Anyway, I'm here to take a break and write about this wine cabinet that we got at the Salvation Army a few weekends back. We saw it the day we bought the chair, but weren't sold on it. The Salvation Army has a furniture price policy where every week it discounts by 10%, so the next week when we went back and it was still there, we got it at 20% off, for around $20.

It needed some cleaning though. It was so dirty and gross.

So I went to work cleaning it, then primed and painted it white. I distressed the edges using sandpaper, and got a pretty green knob at Hobby Lobby for about $1.50.

I love that it has a drawer we can store our wine bottle openers and such in. I lined the drawer with pretty paper.

I also used an empty frame I had lying around from Ikea and added fabric to it, and turned it over into a tray sort of thing. I put our wine glasses on the top.



And now it lives in our dining room! I think we need some more wine to fill it up :)