Lesson Learned

I've been posting some of my favorite memories in celebration of our upcoming first anniversary of new home ownership. Today I thought I'd share one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn.

I am the daughter of an extremely clean mother. At any given time you could visit my mom's house and find her refrigerator sparkling and her floor gleaming. There are no cobwebs in any of her closets and no dust bunnies under the bed.

I was taught to make my bed every morning and to wash out the sink after doing the dishes and when I rented my first apartment I took great pride in my detailed cleaning schedule. I've since moved from that apartment into other apartments and then ultimately an apartment with Clay where we shared household chores, a habit that proved very valuable when the babies started arriving.

So I've always had cleanliness under control. But now we're in a house, a big house with lots of rooms and space and things to clean. And our babies are toddlers now- one just out of the terrible twos and one teetering on the brink of them. Within a matter of minutes our house can go from clean to a disaster zone and this is very hard for me to accept.

A whole roll of toilet paper unraveled in thirty seconds.

There's nothing neat or tidy about the way these two play.

The normal state of Narls' bedroom.

Tiny cars and planes on the bathroom rug at 6am, laying in wait for an unsuspecting foot to step on them.

I could spend all day every day cleaning and at first I tried to. But then I started missing the funny things Em would say as she learns to talk. And I would miss the hilarious stories Narls invents as he plays in his room. And I would miss wonderful moments of cuddle time with my handsome fiancé on the couch. A house that is always clean isn't worth that price.

So I've learned to relax a bit. And I've gained so much.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Clay and I are in our eleventh month as new homeowners. In three short weeks we will have owned our home for one whole year (only 29 more to go!).

Funny to think that when we moved in, Emerson wasn't even crawling and Narls was just learning to ride his tricycle in our driveway.

And here we are today, almost a year later, with my boy riding his big boy bike and my baby girl walking beside him.

Tour of Our Town

Today is August 18. That means we've been in our home for exactly 11 months. Eleven months guys! That's almost a year! It has literally flown by and I have loved every minute of it. I thought I'd spend this last month of our first year as homeowners sharing some memories we've created and perhaps some tips that we've learned. We'll start with a tour of our new hometown.

Neither Clay nor I am from Swartz Creek but we instantly fell in love with the town and its charm. It's small (population just over 5,000) with a lot of hometown pride. In the summer there are concerts in the park and a family movie is shown in the pavilion every Friday evening. In the winter, an ice-skating rink is created and maintained in the park.

There is a farmer's market every weekend all summer long. One of my family's favorite Sunday rituals is breakfast at a local restaurant with an amazing buffet, then head over the farmer's market for some fresh produce.

Our main attraction to this town was its excellent school district with great teachers and high test scores.  It also means a lot to me that my kids have the opportunity to be in the same school district for their entire K-12th grade education.  And while Narls is still a couple years away from kindergarten, we were able to take advantage of the town's t-ball program for 3-year-olds this past summer.

Once fall hit we had the pleasure of taking in a Swartz Creek football game; it got me all sentimental thinking about my children playing or cheering on this very field when they get older. 

I feel blessed that we love our neighborhood and town and community as much as we love our house.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

For our master bedroom I am on the hunt for gently used mirrors. Preferably small, and prerably round, but an assortment of mirrors to hang in a collection on a small wall in between the bed and the window.  My goal is to spray paint them all gold and have them look as fabulous as some of these collections.

Workout Room

I'm a little hesitant to share our spare room, which is currently our workout room, because of our choice decorating.  Clay and I are both pretty active and it's tough to hit the gym everyday with our fulltime jobs and two children, so it's extremely nice to have an area in our home for exercising.

I run, ok wog (walk jog) on the treadmill just about every morning.  So much so that Clay bought a small flatscreen to mount on the wall.

We'd like to get a home gym system for Clay and I'm still searching Craigslist for an awesome steal on one.  In the mean time, we've installed a pole.  Yes, some people call it a stripper pole but I prefer to call it a home fitness pole.

I know what you're thinking: what exactly does this lady do for her "job"?  I'm in banking and trust me, I do it fully clothed.  I use the home fitness pole fully clothed too and I'm being completely honest when I say I haven't been this fit in years.  I started taking a pole fitness dance class and fell in love with that so it was just a natural progression to buy my own pole.  And it is sooo nice to have an extra room for working out and dancing.  The mirrored closet doors are just a bonus.

Speaking of the closet, I hope to transform that area (it's quite large) into a craft storage area. Similar to this.

Em's Nursery: Before and After

Emerson's Cupcake Nursery

What a fabulous time I've had decorating her nursery.  Everything in this room has been hand picked - or made - with lots of thought and even more love.

The walls are painted brown on the bottow (Sherwin-Williams' Rugged Brown) and pink (Sherwin-Williams' Loveable) on the top with cream chair rail separating the two colors.  There is also cream moulding throughout the room which matches her cream furniture.

These cupcake prints were my very first purchase for her room! I fell in love the moment I saw them and purchased the whole set as soon as we closed on our home.

The cupcake cookie jar holds all of her headbands.

These poms are from her first birthday party; I saved a few to hang in her room.  I originally wanted a cupcake chandelier but I decided against it for a couple reasons. First, I really like the ceiling fan in her room and a ceiling fan chandelier just wouldn't work and second, there wasn't $300 in the budget to buy one. So I improvised. The previous owners left that standing lamp (you can actually see it here) and I spray painted in cream, hot glued on some beads, hung a couple cupcakes and tada! I have my own version for less than $10. I also made the curtains for less than $25.

I found that Raggedy Ann at a yard sale for less than a dollar. I had to buy her for Em because she exactly matched the one I used to carry around when I was Emerson's age.  I thought my mom was going to cry when I showed it to her :)

I made Em's bedding (you can see close-up pictures here) and the blanket hung over the crib was handmade for Emerson by my bestfriend Tearah while she was deployed overseas.

Instead of a mobile I hung the dragonflies that my bff Tearah bought for Emerson.

I found that cubby shelf brand new & still in the box at goodwill. Also, I knew she was going to need a larger-than-normal clippie holder since clippie making is one of my absolute favorite crafts, so I decided to make my own.

Her closet is angled because it's on top of our stairs.

She loves shoes (I think I mentioned this before); I have no idea where she gets it from. ;)

I am so in love with space! It's exactly how I hoped it would be: soft, pretty, lovely.

Emerson's Nursery, Before

Have I ever shared what Emerson's room looked like when we first bought our house?

It was painted a pretty neutral soft green (the pictures make it seem bright than it really was) with the lovely cream crown moulding that is in every room and cream colored Berber carpet.

Honestly the room could have stayed like this and it would of still made a great nursery for our daughter, but I had visions of a pink and brown cupcake-themed room since Em was just born.

Why am I sharing these pictures with you now? Because her nursery is finished! And I'm dying to show you the pictures!  Tomorrow :)