Not enough hours in a day

We're making progress on getting the house in the order, but it is really a slow process. At the end of the work day, after the gym, before I make dinner, finish up laundry or tidy up there is about an hour (maybe half an hour) to get something on my house to do list finished up. It feels sooooo slow moving! 

This past weekend, we spent all of Saturday around the house just getting stuff done and it felt fantastic. We put the furniture back in the guest room, unpacked the remaining kitchen, clothes and bathroom boxes, shopped for furniture (unsuccessfully), and completed our 'garden'. If we just had more weekends without plans we'd be all set! 

I've never had much of a green thumb, and had NO idea what I was doing picking out plants. But it seems to have turned out pretty well! I like the colors together and they all can handle a lot of sun which is necessary being where they are.

Sunday was spent with my dad, brother, sister-in-law and niece celebrating father's day. My mom was on a business trip and Kyle was with his dad, so it was just the five of us. We spent the day around the house just chatting and grilling. It was really nice! I was able to spend time with just my dad, and we don't often get that chance. 

A quick example of how there is truly not enough hours in the day to get the things I want done: It has been two weeks since I've had my nails properly painted! If you know me at all, you know that's a looong time. I can't believe I'm sharing this, but this is what they look like right now:

Not pretty. I should at least take off the chipped polish, but I keep forgetting. I definitely need to get these fixed ASAP. I just don't feel put together without it!

This weekend, Kyle and I are headed to the shore for a long weekend getaway. This was my birthday gift from Kyle and he organized the whole thing. I'm looking forward to a day off work, getting some sun, finishing a few books and spending some quality, non-busy time with Kyle. Ahhhh vacation.

Speaking of which: 16 DAYS UNTIL FAMILY VACAY!!!  We look forward to this week all year and it's almost here! We're all busily preparing for our theme nights. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

xo
Alison

Guest Room/Office Inspiration

We are finally starting to make some progress on our house projects! I've decided to take it one room at a time and really design the room the way I want. The first room on the list is my office which will also double as a guest room. This weekend we painted the walls a beautiful mint color and purchased a day bed (see this post). The colors I'm going for are mint, white and coral. I'm thinking about throwing in a bit of navy or charcoal grey for some darker contrast. 

I'm trying to get my ideas together so I've put together a bit of an 'inspiration board':

I'm loving the color of the room. It's the perfect shade of mint. Next up on the project/purchase list:

• White ruffled duvet set: I love how perfectly feminine and comfortable this duvet set is. It's very similar to the one we have in our master bedroom. Also, the previous owners left beautiful curtains that would match this perfectly.
• Coral upholstered, tufted desk chair: This one from Ballard Designs is absolutely perfect! I just wish it was a tad bit cheaper. That's a lot of money for one chair...
• Curtain tie-backs: Torn between this doorknob design and this floral design. They're both from Urban Outfitters which means the price is right!
• The perfect lamp: I mean.. beautiful.
• Behind the desk organization: I want this to be my go to space for everything. I'm thinking a pretty cork board, or magnetic backdrop. I love the picture above with the floating shelf over the desk. It makes the space look so cozy and organized, which I love.
• A million throw pillows: Nothing makes a bed look more comfortable than a ton of fluffy pillows. I'm going to try to find all sorts of different designs with various colors. If I could find all of the ones in the picture above, I'd be a happy woman.

Once I've completed my office, we're moving on to the master bedroom, then the living room and finally the kitchen. I'm still trying to decide on a color scheme for these rooms, but that's half the fun!

xo

Alison

Nesting: Before

It is just so difficult to find time to blog these days! I'll try to get better now that we're almost settled. I say 'almost' settled because it really still feels like we're surrounded by boxes and excess crap. Anyways, we've officially been in the house for about three weeks and we're still really enjoying it. We hired movers which was a lifesaver, so all the big things are unpacked and the space is quite livable. 

What we immediately discovered is that we had too much stuff and not enough space for it. No problem right?! It's not like we are pack rats, we just had 2,000+ square feet worth of stuff and now only 1,500 square feet or so. HUGE adjustment. We've taken a few steps that are helping us figure it out:

• If it's not useful or beautiful, it's gone. We're being ruthless.
• CONTAINER STORE! Oh how I love thee. Every storage space, cabinet, drawer, closet is organized within an inch of it's life. Fabulous - and I wanted to do that anyway :-)
• Kitchen Reno. Minor one. Our current kitchen only covers one wall with a peninsula island, leaving another wall just blank (the back wall is sliding glass doors to the patio). The plan is to add a narrow pantry with about three more feet of cabinets and counter space. I'm toying with the idea of an appliance garage. 
• New Grill. Kyle was thrilled to pick out a small Weber for our tiny back space. Suited me just fine since it means he's pick up the cooking several days a week.
• Functional new furniture. All of our new furniture will fit the space or have some extra place for storage. We just bought a day bed from Ikea that pulls out to a double bed AND has storage underneath. Score!

Link

Now we're just in the nesting phase. Decorating, deciding on furniture and just loving our little home. We're loving our neighborhood and have just been thrilled with our decision to stay in the city. I thought I'd share the 'before' pictures of our house from when it was staged. To be fair, I might be stealing some of her design ideas! 

The main floor from the front door

Living Room

Kitchen from dining room (I loved her dining room set-up)

Love this white kitchen!

Basement: This will become Kyle's office and a media room. There is also a laundry room and powder room.

Guest bathroom. I love the marble and chandelier, perfect for Jacuzzi baths!

Guest room: This room will double as my office with the day bed I mentioned earlier. I'm doing mint and butter yellow in this room - nice and calming.

Upstairs hallway with skylight

Master bathroom

Master bedroom

As we finish various rooms I'll post the after pictures as well. Next step: paint and new furniture!

xo

Alison

I'm Back!

Oh for shame! I haven't blogged since February!? Yikes! Life has certainly gotten in the way, however, that means tons of things to share. I have been working, enjoying/adapting to married life, with a little bit of travel weaved in. So here is a quick recap of the last 3 or so months:

March:
We started off March with a fantastic trip to Copper Mountain in Colorado with my whole family, including my 6 year old niece Zoe for her first time skiing! It was a fantastic vacation. My parents rented a three bedroom condo right on the base and we spent the days skiing/snowboarding, hot tub-ing and enjoying each others company. 

We all took lessons the first day even though we were all pretty proficient and it was great to learn all the things we did wrong! Ha! But really, it was great to learn new skills and improve on old ones. Kyle and I had a private lesson and our instructor was perfection. He was 40-ish years young, had quit his corporate job in his 30s for the powder and pot lifestyle. He was really funny and was very patient with us.  

This trip will definitely be repeated next year. Hopefully for 2 weeks this time! Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Kyle and Me

Zoe in her gear!

My parents dancing in the lodge <3

Horrible picture of me, but somehow the only one I have with Rosie!

Later in March, my best friend from college, Krista, and her husband came to visit us. We had a great time, dinners, brunch, brewery tours. I always love having them down, but just wish they lived closer.

April:
April was a fairly uneventful month to be completely honest with you. We had a couple of really big technology deployments that I was responsible for at work, so that took up most of my days, evenings and weekends! We did, however, get to go up to Canada to visit my extended family for Easter. We don't get to see them very often, as it's an 8-10 hour trip, but it's always so wonderful when we do. The last we had seen everyone was at the wedding! There were five of us going up, so we decided to rent a van and all go together. Loved visiting with the extended family, but also really enjoyed our car ride. Lot's of laughs.

Some of the extended family at dinner the night before Easter dinner

May:
Now, I know May has just begun, but it's already been eventful because...

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

Finally! We actually close tomorrow and move in on Friday. This has been such a long road, but we are so happy with our new home. It's just a few blocks from where we currently live, right in our desired neighborhood. It checked all of our boxes and we just fell in love when we walked in. I'll share an update about the house and my struggles with decorating I'm sure.

Thanks for catching up!

xo
Alison