sold!

We are in the market for a new mailbox. Yesterday I decided to suck it up (who looks forward to researching mailboxes?) and did some online research. I remembered seeing mailboxes in my Grandin Road catalogs so I thought I would check out their selection. I totally forgot about my boring mailbox shopping when this popped up in front of me!


Do I need or have use for another piece of outdoor furniture? Heck no, but how could I pass up a peony bench?! It was love at first sight!

christina's shower invitations

I finally got all 19 bridal shower invitations done! For not having much of a direction, I am very happy with how they turned out. I didn't do a very good job proofing because about 15 invites in I realized that dang Word got me with the automatic case change. Oh well, it did it enough that it almost looks like I intentionally had random upper and lower cases! I have so many ideas for the shower, I cannot wait to see it come together! First things first, time to head over to the post office and send the babies off!

celebration

In February 2006, my then fiance and I bought our first house together. We bought it thinking we would do a little face lift and call it good. Once we started digging into it we realized that it was going to need a total overhaul. In the beginning we were very positive. I was really excited to have a home that I could design and make my own. That was short lived! In September 2006 we got married and spent the next year living in only the master bedroom and utility room. Not a good way to go through the newlywed stage! We began to notice that we had very little progress to show for such a long period of time. Right before Christmas 2007, it dawned on us that we had a perfectly good above garage apartment - what in the heck had we been suffering for?! So we packed up our two rooms and moved into the garage. It was really nice, felt like we had moved into a mansion with all of the space! This too was short lived. We had no way of having privacy from one another and it was really starting to wear on both of us. We had a house that we were paying a mortgage on and we were not able to enjoy our investment. I had a feeling that we were going to be stuck in that little apartment forever. I know I needed to give my husband a deadline so I chose his birthday as the date. I knew that was a good ploy because it would be a way to show off the house and celebrate him. Two of his favorite things! Finally after 3 1/2 years of stress and several breakdowns we moved in!

My husband was master cook so we made sure to make up for not having a kitchen for over three years! Made up in the way of gaining a lot of pasta weight! After moving in, we were in no hurry to decorate because we needed a break. For over three years it had been all about the house. We wanted to relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor! When we decided to get back on the horse and finish the project, I was so overwhelmed with everything that was going on around me that I could not "go there".

I was forced to do some self reflecting. After a lot of digging, I realized that I was not the person I wanted to be. I had spent so much of my time mentally attached to my job, and so much of my time mentally and physically attached to my house that I had let me slip by. I knew I had to make changes. The first step - working from home. It sounds so little but it has been such a big thing. Being home has transformed me from the girl who was lucky if she had time to stop by the store to buy sour cream, to the girl who is now making her own sour cream! Speaking of food, I loathed cooking. It was not for me! I didn't enjoy it, and since my husband was such a good cook why did I need to? The biggest surprise so far? I have taken up cooking and I love it!!

I am turning 30 in a few months and I feel that I am finally becoming who I am. I decided to start a blog to document and celebrate all of the good things that are ahead! Here's to nesting!