for those of you who’ve noticed i’m missing, rest assured that i’m alive and well. i’ve been busy doing crazy shit fun stuff like this.
real updates to come i hope promise.
hello november.
hello november.
hello first cold nights of the year.
hello bonfires and boots and snuggly sweaters.
hello decorating the house for fall.
hello fuzzy blankets and steamy mugs of coffee and hot cocoa.
hello holiday crafting.
hello fall recipes.
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seriously, ya’ll. i have never been so excited for the fall/winter/holiday season as i am this year. i can’t wait to break out the rest of my fall decorations and start making holiday goodies. i’m so ready to start bundling up in all my cute new fall/winter clothes (i went on a serious spree, for real) and see my breath when i walk outside. and from a girl who loves summer as much as i do, that’s saying something. this year has really knocked us for a real loop, so it’s going to be great to just slow down and enjoy the holidays with our friends and family. we certainly have SO MUCH to be thankful for this year and i plan to enjoy each and every tiny little moment.
xoxo.
happy halloween // fall fun
happy halloween, y’all.
i can’t believe it’s the end of october already. this year has really flown by.
the past few years we’ve been so shuffled around that the holidays more or less just happen – we’ve enjoyed them, of course, but it’s been hard to start traditions when things are always changing.
this halloween marks the first holiday of a holiday season spent back in this house, the one that feels so much like our home. i can’t wait for the holidays this year. i can’t wait to start a few traditions that we’ll carry on for years to come.
so tonight, i’ll light my carved pumpkins and enjoy my coffee while i hand out candy to sweet little kids in adorable costumes. and tomorrow, i’ll kick off november and the holiday season – full of family and friends and crafty things. i just can’t wait!
these days.
working in my yard as much as possible.
enjoying more time with casey than we have in months.
unpacking holiday decorations.
realizing how hard it is to condense 1800 sq. feet of stuff into a 950 sq. ft. house.
loving being so close to my family again.
watching the presidential debates, even though they raise my blood pressure.
dreaming up christmas gifts and projects.
pinning fall outfits.
buying boots, boots, and more boots.
wishing for peace of mind about our financial situation.
wearing leggings with boots.
layering bracelets and necklaces.
re-working heels into my wardrobe.
finding ways to be outside.
starting to feel better again, finally.
trying to take better care of my skin.
eating lots of soup.
thinking about tattoo designs.
wondering what the next few months have in store.
refusing to dwell on the what ifs.
reading inspirational quotes and scriptures.
color run birmingham, 2012
so it’s officially been over a month since i last posted, but i wanted to take a minute to blog about the color run. you may remember me posting about it back in the spring.
it was meant to be my first 5k and i went crazy with excitement, began the couchto5k program, etc. then casey got sick, i got sick, and life happened. so, you can imagine my surprise when all of a sudden, september arrived and it was time to … gasp … run.
the run was scheduled for labor day, and of course it rained. has anyone else noticed how insanely wet this summer has been? i feel like i’ve worn my rainboots more than my sunglasses around here …
anyhow, turns out the rain was a blessing in disguise. it kept us cool and allowed for even more color saturation!! i even heard a few people who had obviously ran in other color run events say that they had more fun in the rain!
here are the only three pictures i managed to snap before i tucked my phone safely away to stay dry.
xoxoxo.
happiness…
when i was younger, whenever people would ask me what i wanted to be when i grew up, i always answered happy.
of course i knew who john lennon was at a fairly young age, but i’ve honestly never seen or heard this before i found it a few hourse ago.
interesting, huh?
currently…
watching … the rain, through the window.
listening to … amos lee radio on pandora. perfect rainy day music.
daydreaming … about working on our house this weekend.
thankful … for my wonderful parents, who have been working tirelessly to get a few more things done so that all casey and i have to do is paint and lay some flooring.
wishing … that i could be there with them instead of sitting here wishing my life away.
wondering … how it’s possible that my husband has two cell phones yet just had to call me from the onStar phone in his truck because he can’t keep up with either of them.
procrastinating … the packing that i know is inevitable.
wondering … if we are making the right decisions.
praying … for guidance, as we take this new path toward our future. and sanity, as we attempt to partially remodel (again), pack, and move while we both work full-time (that’s 40 and 60+ hours a week, if you were wondering).
pinning: small house solutions
well, it’s official … we released the house yesterday.. as it turns out, to obtain an FHA loan here in alabama the cost of the house can’t exceed a certain amount – and this house definitely did. and with our credit history (well, mostly casey’s), a conventional loan just isn’t in the cards right now.
i’m not going to lie. even though we’d already sat down and made the decision to wait if we were denied, it still broke my heart to call yesterday and tell the sellers we were letting go. but i know that there is a house out there for us. the Lord has a plan for us and that house wasn’t in it, at least not right now.
so, i’ve decided to throw myself into working on the house we’ll be moving into. as i mentioned, it was damaged during last years storm. while we’ve repaired all of the exterior damage and the interior structural damage – the house still needs some love. i’ll be working with my parents over the next couple of weeks cleaning, painting, and making some minor changes to the interior layout.
i may not have mentioned, but the house is pretty tiny. just around 1000 sq. feet. we’ve lived here before, so now we know what we need to change to make the house more functional for us. there’s a second door leading to our bedroom from the kitchen that we’re going to close up to allow for more storage as well as add a couple of storage solutions to the laundry/bathroom area. for the most part, i am excited to be ‘living small’ again (we are in a 1700 sq. ft. house now) and condensing some of our things.
now that the final decision is made, i can’t wait to get started! of course, my first instinct was to browse pinterest – so here are a few great finds i’d like to use in the house to help maximize function/space.
Source: bystephanielynn.com via Brandi on Pinterest
Source: bhg.com via Michael on Pinterest
Source: sofiasjournal.com via Abigail on Pinterest
Source: readymade.com via Jennifer on Pinterest
isn’t that bookshelf amazing? i’m obviously behind because all of the research i did on them says they’ve been popular forever – but i’m totally going to try and build a few for my best books (i just can’t bear to put all of them in storage!)
i’m getting so excited. only six more weeks to get everything squared away and moved!
- are you the type of person that dreads a move or do you get excited like i do?
- what storage solutions work best for you in your home?
- would you be excited or intimidated by downsizing?
making grownup decisions …
i’m sure that some of you have noticed my absence on this little blog lately. i haven’t lost interest and i’m not quitting by any means but i have definitely had other things on my mind.
the lease on our rental house is up at the end of august and we’ve ben scrambling to make a decision about where we’re going to go. we set a goal when we signed the lease last year to be ready to by a house by this time. but things this year haven’t really gone 100% as planned (do they ever?)
first, i had to have a car. then, he had to have a truck. and when i say this – i mean because our vehicles were pitiful and old and just not working to suit our needs anymore. no, we didn’t have to buy the vehicles we have – we could have chosen less expensive solutions but we chose to have something nice. they may be more expensive now, but in the long run we should come out to the better (maintenance, etc.)
second, with the scare we had with c’s health and my decision to work less hours to spend more time together (and the fact that one day i hope to work from home or not at all) we haven’t been pocketing as much as we should and it’s really made us think about things. are we ready to go into this much debt? is a house worth draining our savings and living month-to-month?
we’ve found nice houses. we’ve thought about building a house. we even put in an offer on a house. and when the loan we thought we could get wasn’t available, we decided to stop. i’ve looked over our accounts, weighed our debts, and used some great tools from here to set up a game plan.
we’ve decided the best move at this point is to move back into the house we left after the storm and live rent free for a year or so while we pay off the debts we have and save more cash for a down payment. a larger house payment isn’t quite so scary when you don’t have the car notes and such on top of it and a depleted savings account, right?
okay, i know debt is always going to be scary. but i feel like making this decision now – even though it means a few more months of sacrifice – will help us in the long run. the house we will be living in is relatively tiny and no place to start a family, but it’s perfect for the two of us. what’s one more year in the grand scheme of things, right?
sometimes all this money talk makes me crazy. c hates to even worry about it. his thoughts are that it’s there and we should just enjoy life. i think he’s right to an extent – but we’ve had nothing before and i’d prefer to have a plan to prevent us from hitting that point again. money used to put a giant strain on our relationship and it’s still something we hate to discuss – even though it’s part of life.
i’m excited about this new step we’ve chosen to take and can’t wait to start paying off things and building up our savings. if any of you out there have tips and tricks for this sort of thing, i’d love to hear them!
- who handles the finances in your house – you or your hubs/wife?
- what tools do you use to help you budget?
happy fourth…
i hope everyone has a fabulous independence day holiday filled with family, friends, and food! but while we’re at it, let’s not forget to give thanks for the soldiers – past, present, and future – who have sacrificed everything to bring us the freedom we often take for granted.
I’m linking up today with four wonderful ladies for the Red, White, and Blue Follower-Fest ! Hop on over and check it out between burgers and fireworks! 🙂
Happy Independence Day!!
b*sidesdesign 