Spring Countdown!

One thing I look forward to most when the cold fronts finally pass is having picnics. My husband and I try to do a picnic every month when the weather is nice, which os quite often in Florida. With the new house, random cold fronts, and muggy weather, we haven't had a picnic since 2 weeks after we got married. We usually over buy but share what we can with the squirrels that parade around us. Is seriously cannot wait to grab our little blue and white plaid picnic bag, grab tons of food and have a picnic under the same tree we were married at.

{photo credit: suzyputnik}

La Vie En Rose

Throughout junior high and high school my biggest dream was to visit Paris. I took a few french classes, watched movies about Paris from the library, wrote school papers on the Eiffel Tower. As the years have passed, my passion for Paris has dwindled a bit. I'm not as high-strung about it as I was a few years ago. That is until I saw La Vie En Rose. I knew nothing about Edith Piaf until seeing this movie (which I had to subtitle in english since my french isn't very strong). I only knew of the song La Vie En Rose because of Louis Armstrong's version which I first heard in one of my all-time favorite movies, French Kiss [spoiler alert:end of movie].

I am officially back on the dream path to Paris. The breads, the buildings, the lights, the romance, the wine, everything. It's back to number one on my travel list!

Dream Home

Everyone has a dream home. A place that they have imagined, seen, or visited and said "I'm going to live here one day." Unfortunately many of these dream homes will be only dreams. Either too expensive, too far away, or one can just not find a way to make their dream home reality. Yesterday I spoke with the owner of my job. Unfortunately for him, he has 1 male employee and about 25 female employees, not to mention only 3 daughters. Since I am the age of one of his daughters he always likes to give me some fatherly advice. I had mentioned about leaving this town and having a dream home but I don't know how to make it happen. He says to me "Do not give up on your dreams. When I started I had [figuratively] two cents but I knew I wanted a house by water. I love the water and I wanted to live by it. I worked hard to make sure my dream came true. You almost have to become obsessed with making your dreams come true. Never give up." Now he lives on the beach in a multi-million dollar home.

My dream home..... LARGE yard; enough space inside the home for a family of 6 to fit comfortably, plus pets; a slight fixer-upper. something that needs enough updating and cosmetics to make it our own; lakefront; colonial/american; gardens of flowers and veggies and fruits. I'm sure there's more to this dream home but do to being sick and late hours (yes, 9:15pm is late for me during the work week) I cannot think straight. But these features are the main hopes for my home. And, by golly, I will have this home.

{photo credit: myself, Cocoa}

"On the side" job

My mother in law sells books on ebay. She recently opened her own little warehouse where she stores all her books for selling. She has told my husband that she wants him to jump on board since she usually clears nearly $2000/month. This would be great because he hates his job but it currently helps pay our bills. My darling mother in law has also asked me if I would like to help by being the vintage clothing scout. I love vintage clothing and happily agreed. I have gone to thrift stores numerous times and found old clothing I adore and now I get to find some that may not even be my size, but clean it up, stitch it up if necessary then turn it around and make a profit on it on etsy or what-not.

We cannot wait for this weekend when my husband goes around scanning books and I get to find awesome clothes. Wish us luck!

{photo credit: Rag & Bow Vintage Clothing}

Last day of "vacation"

I ended my last day of vacation doing the office. Unfortunately I realized I liked a different room for our office than originally planned and since my husband is working, I moved my ginormous computer desk alone. A few bumps and scratches on the doorways between rooms later, I managed to get it in. A job that my Dad and husband did together when they brought the desk into the house on move day. You can say I feel a little empowered.

Now I feel like pretending I'm on a real vacation in Ireland, riding my bike down this tree-lined street after going to the local bakery....

{photo credit: estrusia_uk}

Is it spring yet?

I understand that since I live in Florida I do not have much room to complain about the cold weather. More so it's the on-and-off cold and hot weather that bothers me, and it's making everyone sick. I cannot wait for the 70 degree weather to come and stay a bit. Luckily that's exactly what is called for this weekend. Sunny skies and in the 70's.

This means gardening on Saturday and inviting family over on Sunday for a barbeque!

Just wish I could have a beautiful tulip garden to fill my whole backyard!

{photo credit:.:philipp klinger.:}

Let the outdoor reno begin!

Our back porch and my dad fixing something up, such a handyman

our front yard

some of our backyard, viewing the shed

back yard view from the shed

As you can see my husband and I have our work cut out for us. Unfortunately we've had quite the wind chill here in Florida which makes any outdoor job uncomfortable. Yesterday was probably the nicest day but my husband is at work, and even though I'm taking my vacation time to clean our apartment and set-up the house, the yardwork is a joint activity.

For a general to-do list here are some plans:

--Clean up entire porch and replace blinds, possibly add curtains. Plus, remove furniture from last tenants.

--Rip out weeds and replace with new, fresh plants.

--Fix light in the front yard since it is wobbly.

--Paint shed.

Soon we will put our grill out and have everyone over for a yummy bbq! Pictures to come as 'Renovation: Outside' begins.

Moved into our new home!

My husband and I moved into our new home this past weekend. I think the most stressed out during this process has been our cats! Saturday and Sunday were spent trying to figure out where they're hiding. So now I have a week vacation from work, and it's hardly a vacation. I'll be cleaning my apartment, which looks awfully tiny since moving everything out, and unloading boxes.
We currently have two rooms in the house that we have no clue what to do with. One is a bedroom that is being held as the cat's room for now. The other room is our front room, originally the family room until we moved that the the back room. We'll see what happens and if it's awesome I'll post pictures.
Wish me luck!

{photo credit: ~RUTHxcommitacts}

Thrifty finds

I have looked through Marissa's blog New Dress A Day a month or so ago. After first browsing through it I felt a sudden urge to go thrifting. My husband loves this since he sells books on Ebay that he finds at thrift stores. I found two skirts and two dresses that I love. I would love to post pictures but unfortunately all my clothes are packed away for my big move this weekend. I couldn't help but look at a few "mumus" at think what they could be.

If you do choose to go thrift store shopping make sure you have the time and patience to flip through the clothes. Many stores do not have clothing labeled by size. Also bring hand sanitizer for when you are done shopping. Some clothes may have odors to them. And of course wash the clothes before you wear them.

Love.

I love coming home to these two everyday. Poutine will be two at the end of March. I rescued her in March of 2009 and they said that they "think she is about one" so I decided her birthday was the day I adopted her. Panthro will be one this June, I believe sometime early in the month. She was adopted from my husband's co-worker who's cat had babies and was going to bring them to the humane society. We thought Panthro was a boy until her first check-up where they pointed out she was indeed a girl. Sorry she's stuck with this name though!

Anywho, these two stinkers are the best. Their nicknames are Moo Moo Cow (Poutine-she's starting to pack on the pounds) and Flufferbutt (Panthro-she has a fluffy tail) My husband and I don't really have nicknames for eachother but Sunshine Dust and Soot n Poo.

I'm in love with this "crib"

How awesome is this crib by Manuela Busetti and Andrea Garuti?!? If I do, or when I will, have a bun in the oven I hope it will be on the market.

{photo credit : coochicoos}

Pre-K Valentines

I have been trying to think of a cute Valentine's gift to give to my (30!) 4 year old students. I was so happy to hear about these lollipops with lips (girls) and mustaches (boys) from Design Crush. What a cute idea to do for your own child's class or even for neices and nephews!

{photo credit: blonde designs}

Baby on the brain

For a couple months now my husband and I have purposely stopped using protection. It's not so much that we're "trying" to get pregnant but more-so "whatever happens...". The only thing is that for the past few weeks we've been talking about wanting a family soon. My husband thinks I'd be really cute if I were preggo on 4th of July. He says he can see me in a cute maternity summer dress watching fireworks and munching on a hotdog. So this past 2 weeks I have noticed a few typical early pregnancy symptoms. One thing my husband and I have been also doing is a little trick to try to get pregnant without using harmful substances. I read about it on Sara Snow's blog. I cannot wait to see what comes within this next week!

{photo credit: SoorPus}

New blog crush

I have just recently stumbled upon Katie's blog via A Cup of Jo and I must say I am drawn to her random creativity. Especially since we're the same age! I love the brightness of her blog and the Peter Pan mentality. I have seen many of her pictures throughout blogs and also the videos from Improv Everywhere occasionally but never knew who the actual source was. I'm inspired to be more creative now and let my inner child out!

Spa/Coffee House Inspired Bedroom

Originally my husband and I thought of having a simple black and white room but after seeing the last image on the hgtv website, I started to fall in love with the browns and pops of color. It reminds me of a mix of a spa and coffee house. What a great combo for a bedroom! Can't wait to search Lowes for paint cards!

{photo credit: HGTV, Freshome, Riverdaughter, Scottsdale Hyatt}

Interior Design...

Until my husband and I move into the {rent} house next month (valentines day!) I will be talking quite a bit about what I envision for the place. As I've mentioned before, the last renters did quite the number on the place...and I don't mean that positively. But of the good side of the story, my father, who has been having a hard time looking for work since he does his own home remodeling and repair, started transforming the house. My husband and I actually wanted to buy a house that needed some cosmetic fixing up and this home couldn't be more perfect.

My mom told me that before the last renters an elderly lady lived there and passed away. In this case, as crazy as it sounds, I will go into the house before we change things and talk to this "spirit". I just want to be on the safe side of things, don't want her getting upset that we gutted the kitchen or anything.

We just hope we like it enough to do the rent-to-own option and really get to the dirty work. I have moments of excitement and of terror (holy crap a whole house to take care of?! I have to make sure more than just one door will be locked now!). I just cannot wait to show some before, during and after photos. It also helps that I want to study Interior Design!

{phot credit: pointclickhome}

One month til move in!

My husband and I went to look at the home today that we will be renting and we are so excited! The place is a nice, big size and will give us a lot of room to grow. Some of the appliances are a bit outdated but until we decide if we want to do the rent-to-own option it's what we have to deal with. The kitchen cabinets are also a bit outdated, and look like the ones we currently have in our apartment ( :-/ ). The bathrooms also need to be updated. We will be allowed to paint the cabinet in there but the wall tiles and shower/tub are old but in good condition. We will need to paint the bedroom since the last occupants left holes in the wall, which my dad patched up...
Quick story- we wanted to move a very nice city close to where we are but it was rather expensive for a 1/1 apartment. One of my coworker's aunts owns the rented house and it just so happens that my dad was doing the remodeling in it (small world!) The last occupant was actually an old co-worker who was fired...
Back to where we were: My husband is very excited to do yardwork and we cannot wait to have a little garden. We would love to adopt a dog (preferrably a German Shepherd or a mix) but sadly the house has no fencing around it and 2 of the 4 surrounding lots do not have fences and the lot next door is just that, and empty lot. If we can, I would love to update/remodel all of the said things and my cost. If sure that whatever we do would even give the owner a great resell value if we decide not to keep it.

In all, we're just pretty damn excited

{photo credit: gamespot}

Somedays, we just need R&R

While at work this morning, I had a sudden urge to cry. A lot has happened this week, a lot of very ver small things. It just happened to build up and with every child that cried, every whine, and every negative thought my eyes got more more teary. Finally, after 2 hours I broke down. I sat in the office and spoke with my boss a bit (though my boss/owner is male, he has 3 daughters and no sons....plus no male employees) sat outside for a breath of fresh air then went back to work. I still felt I needed more "me time" so I asked to leave a couple hours early. Since I didn't allow myself to have the full cry I needed, my head was pounding. Once my husband came home, he took me out to eat then upon coming back home he sat on our porch with me and listened to every issue. Then he tested his luck at I Ching. He did so remarkable and the outcome really helped me. Basically I'm trying to achieve too much at once to avoid my fear of failing/getting sick and instead I need to take baby steps to achieve my ultimate goals. As for the rest of the evening, it's being spent putting on the pjs, kicking back, and reading.

{photo credit: cicimai09}

Life, is good

I have realized that in life, you and only you can choose how to react to things. Whining and crying does not fix a problem, and that's even what I tell my students. Unless you are in pain or feel so passionate about something, you should hold the tears. Though I must admit that every once and a while every needs a good "for no reason" cry.

Today though, I was driving to get myself my favorite drink at my favorite coffee place and upon exiting the highway I hit a nasty pot hole. My first thought "I just got a flat tire." Instead of letting my emotions take over, I went in Starbucks, got my coffee, then took a look at my tire. I noticed a little bubble formed in the tire. The only person I could call was my dad, who told me to bring the car to my parent's and ask my sister to bring me back to work, since I was on my lunch break. She ofcourse wasn't home so I [slowly] drove back to work. After work, I waited 2 hours for my husband to rescue me and change my tire. All the while I worked off the clock helping other teachers clean.

I will be leaving my apartment soon to move into a house. Between rent for the both places on Feb. 1, I will need to pay about $2225. My husband and I will have a pretty hard time doing this and now my car has a doughnut on it. Did I let this all put me down! Goodness no. I know I cannot change any of the things that have happened but I can keep my head up high!

Plus blasting Sublime-What I Got is really helpful.

{photo credit: sarah_gardner} via Naturally Nina

The future nest

Since first seeing this home on Naturally Nina, many elements have become inspiration for my soon-to-be new place. From the bedding, to the decor, the kitchen above, and even the adorable french bull dog. My husband and I have a little bit of creativity in us (he's a dreamer and I teach preschool/want to start a professional home organizing business) so we hope the little knowledge we have will broaden more. I haven't even seen the inside of the home but I already have big plans!

{photo credit: wes kayla and bacon

We're getting a house!

My apartment lease will be over at the end of February so my husband and I have been on the hunt for a new place to rent (we should've started sooner on buying a house). We were having a toss-up between a very luxurious apartment in a very nice town for $900/month (no utilities included) or renting a home for $750/month in a town I'm not to fond of. After weighing our options we opted to go with the house, which has a rent to own option. It's a nice little 3bd/2bth house in a quiet area. Soon we'll put in a deposit, first month's rent and be on our merry way! I can't wait to decorate it and post pictures!

{photo credit: toronto little house}