Great Finds

I love going to the thrift store. I have a ton to choose from in my area which is great. The problem is the mustache wearing hipsters love them too.

Every once in a while I get lucky though. Yesterday I found these beauties.


















An awesome enamel percolator, a le creuset trivet, and a le creuset sauce pan. LOVE!

Funny thing about le creuset is that out of the 7 pieces I have, 5 of them have come from the thrift store. 4 in perfect condition.

The best thing about it is that normally the workers at the thrift stores don't know the real value of them so the price them really cheap. Like under $10. Lucky me.


Now I just need to find a le creuset frying pan and my collection will be complete.

Speaking of backyards

Look at this awesome little painting Matt did of our current yard.

I love it.

It will be a great reminder of our time here.

How do you pack a backyard?

I obviously don't mean the dirt and grass. I mean all of the little tchotchkes that we've gathered during our time here.

We have a weird inclination to decorate our yard in a rather informal way. We tend to collect objects and display them throughout our yard as we find them.

Funny thing is we have a lot of religious iconography yet neither one of us is particularly religious.









































































































We also have a bunch of weird stuff.































































































































































































































































I'm pretty sure I won't be packing the doll leg.

True grit

Matt and I went to the movies yesterday which is always a treat for us. We love just being with each other in the dark of the theater leaning upon one another.

Yesterday was especially nice since Finley was being a total pill box all morning. She is at this stage where she won't listen to anything I say to her. She throws things, she spits and thinks it's funny, she hits, etc. Just pure joy to be around. I admit that some of it probably has to with us being permissive parents with little discipline in place.

Great parents I know.

I'd like to think some of it also has to do with the fact she is 3. I hear 3 is far worse than 2. At 2 she wasn't all that bad so I guess she is making up for it now. Add to it that she is a really spirited child. Really. I know a lot of parents use this term but I truly believe Finley broke the mold when she was made.

Leaving her with Grandpa John yesterday lifted a huge weight off of our shoulders. It gave us a break that we really needed after a morning of bickering and crying.

Funny thing about this whole thing is that in the last scene in the movie Mattie Ross says,

"Time just gets away from us."

Simple line with a whole lot of meaning.

First thing that popped into my head after hearing it was that I couldn't wait to go pick up Finley.

Because time really does get away from us.

Cobbler's daughter

I've been making hair clips for almost 2 years now. I sell them in singles in my etsy shop and sets like these at http://www.shopotto.com/.
























Well I finally sat down and made some specifically for my own daughter. It's about time huh? She loves them and they look so cute on her. I'm definitely going to make her more felt clips because they are so easy and cute.

Taking a break

Today Finley and I took a break from packing to take a quick little trip up to L.A. Union Station via the train.

We poked around, had bagels, listened to a flute player, people watched, and just enjoyed the 70 degree weather.

Dish Sets

So I decided to pull myself away from packing the garage to start on the kitchen. Luckily the kitchen isn't huge so it isn't going to take 100,000 boxes like the garage.

This is what our kitchen looks like now.



























Not too many cupboards, but each one is filled to the brim.

I'm not sure how many dish sets you have but I have 3. Now I know for a lot of people that is 2 too many. But it is so hard for me to get rid of any of them.

Our everyday dishes are Fiestaware which I love. It's so durable and strong that I don't mind Finley using it. Plus, it comes in a bunch of great colors.

Then I have this Taylor Smith Taylor set called "Cathay". So fun and funky.



























The great thing about this set is that I have a bunch of fiesta stuff that matches the pattern on these so I can mix and match if I want.

Then I have this set (on the left) by Farberware called "Park Avenue".



















My Dad gave me $100 for my birthday when I was 18 or 19 and I went over to T.J. Maxx and bought these. What I thinking at the time I have no idea. Don't get me wrong I love these too, but what 18 year old goes out and buys dishes when they still live with their mom?

What I do know is that our new house has about a gazillion cupboards. Even after I unpack all of our stuff there is still going to be a ton of room. Maybe even enough room for another set of dishes. I mean I do really love these Russel Wright dishes.

obsessed with paint colors

All I have been thinking about is paint colors.

The house isn't even officially ours yet and I am already painting it in my head. I've already made 2 trips to Home Depot for paint swatches.

I know what color I want to paint Finley's room I just don't know the shade.

Same goes for the living room. I want a nice medium gray in there that will look good with our green couch and eventually look good with our awesome sectional we are going to recover. The fabric for that is kinda a blueish green. So the gray will be good for both couches.

I think.

Hmm.

As far as our bedroom I have no clue. I am inclined to go with another gray tone but Matt has already made fun of me for suggesting it. He thinks the whole house is going to end up a shade of gray.

He has a point though because I really want to paint the kitchen gray too. Here are a couple of the Realtors pictures of the kitchen as it is now.








































It's definitely a little yellow for my taste. I can see where they were going though. Blue and yellow do look good in kitchens, but that yellow is a bit too saturated for me. Although, maybe it lowers your appetite or something. Since we aren't painting the kitchen right away I'll test that theory.

Back to the gray for the kitchen. I'm thinking a light gray will really brighten it up in there and will look perfect with the blue counters. Then I can add pops of orange with accessories like towels, pot holders, canisters, etc.

I think if I ever get tired of the orange stuff I will have a lot of other colors that will look good in there too. Maybe even yellow.

Packing Oh My

When you live in 1 house for almost 10 years you tend to accumulate a lot of stuff. Add a baby to that and you have more stuff than you know what to do with.

My house isn't going to be so bad to pack. It's my garage that is going to be the death of me. We don't use our garage to park our cars or bikes you see. We use it as an extra living space where we craft, make art, play trains, etc. It even has carpet. We actually spend a lot of time out there.

Back to the packing of it. I started a few days ago and to look at it now you wouldn't think that I have spent 2 days putting stuff in boxes. It looks largely untouched.

This is what it looked like before I started. (when I get motivated I will take a few in progress pictures too) I don't have any pictures of Matt's side but you can catch a glimpse of it in picture 3. See all that stuff hanging from the ceiling? He is going to have fun packing all that.

This is my side.

Homeowners!

Wow.

Hard to believe it but in a couple of months Matt and I are actually going to be homeowners.

It's been a along time coming.

Not that we didn't want to become homeowners earlier, it's just that home prices here in Southern California have been super inflated and there was no possible way we could even think about it until now.

For the last 9 years we have lived in a small 1 bed/1 bath duplex. In that time we have grown so much.

We got engaged
We got married
We graduated college with a BA, teaching credential, and Masters
We got a puppy (Isabel Clownsnack)
We lost a pup (Maia Dogwoo)
We got good jobs
We got out of debt
We lost loved ones (Matt's Mom and Brother)
and the biggest change
We had our daughter Finley Jane

We knew from the minute we got pregnant that we would have to think about moving. Sharing a room with Finley has not been a huge deal to us but we knew the time would come where we would need the extra room. Now 3 years later (yes Finley is now 3) we are busting at the seams and the news that we will actually buy a house has come at a great time.

So many emotions keep running through my head. Excitement about our new space combined with the sadness of leaving a house and neighborhood I love. I know in the long run that the move is the best thing for us so that keeps me motivated and happy.

I hope to keep up with our changes here. Finley probably won't remember a lot about the move so I hope that in the years to come she can look back at this and see the big step we took with her along for the ride.