Best Year Yet

2013 was a huge year for Mike and I. It started off with me visiting my sister in the UK for New Years. It was my first time off the continent and I was so happy to spend some much-needed bonding time with my sister.

The next few months were busy but not very exciting as tax season hit and I got my first taste of what it was like to work 50+ hour weeks for two months straight. It wasn't my favorite thing in the world but I definitely felt myself settling into my role at EY and found a group I clicked with. I'm not overjoyed at the prospect of doing this year after year for the rest of my life and when the right opportunity presents itself I hope I have the wisdom and courage to take it - but for now it affords me the life I want and I'm beyond grateful for that.

May was a huge month between Mexico and getting engaged. I think I had a permanent smile on my face the entire month. Our trip to Mexico with our friends Drew & Danielle was just what I needed to relax and we had an amazing time. Just a few weeks later Mike surprised me by popping the question in Napa on a perfect late-spring day with our parents there to celebrate with us. I still joke with Mike that I have no idea what he said when he was down on one knee because I was in total shock and that he will have to write it down for me before he forgets too.

Summer is corporate busy season at the office which meant more 50+ weeks for me but we did sneak in some wedding planning and decided to buy a house (and launch the blog!). This house feels more and more like home everyday and love that we have a place to call 'ours'.

Labor day was spent at the Russian River up north with a large group of friends. Highlights included floating on the river all day, singing karaoke at a gay bar, champagne tasting at Korbel, and a certain fiance of mine cannon-balling into a hotel pool mostly clothed and running home sans those clothes and a game we like to call dancing-around-the-bottle. I think chants of 'River Mike' will haunt him for many years to come.

The year wrapped up with my 25th birthday, lots of wedding planning, a trip to Tahoe, holidays with the family, and of course our new fur baby Goose.

2014, you have some big competition for the title of Best Year Ever. It will be a close tie with the wedding, honeymoon, and digging into some of the big house projects we've been putting off but one thing is for sure, I'm excited for what this new year will bring!

Meet the Newest Member of the Family

This Christmas my favorite present has to be this little guy. A 5-month old Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix named Goose. Mike and I have been stalking all the dog shelters in town for the right pup and are so happy to call this one ours.

One of the many reasons Mike and I decided to buy our own place is so we could get a dog. Mike grew up with always having a (large) dog but Goose is my first and I couldn't be happier with the little guy. As we started seriously talking about getting a dog we both agreed that we wanted to adopt. People have the right to make their own choice concerning their pets but I just couldn't justify spending a lot of money on a dog when their are so many in shelters waiting to find a home. If you are open to having a chihuahua or pitbull mix, definitely think about adopting first. I was shocked to see how strongly these two breeds were represented in all the shelters.

Last night was our first night with Goose and he was an angel. The previous owner of Goose actually had rescued him from a shelter when he was 2-months old and did a wonderful job training him and obviously had loved him very much before she had to give him up because of her living situation. I was nervous about house training a pup but luckily she did that for us. He can be a little skittish but is also very curious & loving and doesn't bark -- not even at squirrels which is awesome because there is an invasion of them around here.

He's a tiny little guy but already proving to be a great companion. I'm working from home this week and he has been my shadow all day - following me from room to room and curling up by my feet. Mike has a dog-friendly workplace so Goose will probably accompany him to work a few days a week as soon as we get to know him/ his habits & tendencies a little better. 

We didn't set out to get a Chihuahua but I'm falling more in love with this pup by the hour. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and were able to spend some time relaxing with their loved ones. 

Many Moons

While I was putting together the office nook this weekend, I was delighted to find a 'bonus' print in my oversized calendar that can be kept on the wall long after 2014 is over.

Inspired by this print, I went on a search for other moons and while I didn't love everything I found, there were a few that caught my eye.

This one is a vintage print from a house tour on Apartment Therapy. Let's be real though, I am a total sucker for dark grey walls, walnut wood, and industrial pendants so even if that was a print of SAILOR Moon, I still probably would have like it.

Again with the industrial lighting and moon prints. I think I sense a theme. I love this entire collection from Restoration Hardware but like most things in that store, I'm going to have to wait until I make partner to buy that collection.

Lastly, what's better than a gold moon? A gold moon calendar made by an independent artist... that's what.

What do you guys think? A new trend for 2014 or do you prefer moons stay off the walls and in the sky where it belongs?

Out of the Closet

I'm about a week late on this project but this time I'm blaming it on the weather and Mike being frugal with the heater (a quality I both love and loathe at the same time). Apparently it has to be above 50 F to paint so I waited until this weekend when it warmed up a bit. 

I'm so happy with the way the office nook turned out. I see a lot more CPA studying in my future now that I have a cozy place to focus.

The large mirror doors were relatively easy to remove (and if anyone can use them, let me know). After that it was just a matter of patching and painting the area where I pried off the wooden supports. Unfortunately, none of the six paint cans that were left by the previous owners matched the beige walls so I had to go on a hunt for the right color. Luckily the paint in the bathroom is the same as the rest of the house so I was able to get a code for the Kelly Moore color off that can even though the bathroom paint was a semi-gloss and I needed flat.

As usual, I did all the detailed work and Mike came in at the end with the roller. I guess if you measured in terms of surface area, Mike did the most painting but since he didn't use a tiny paint brush to make sure there was an even line where the chalkboard paint met the ceiling, I'm keeping the award.

Other than that, everything here is stuff we already had which makes this project a total of $25 for two quarts of paint. The only other thing this area needs is a rug to hide where the bottom rail of the closet used to be which will be a temporary fix until we rip out the carpet upstairs and replace it with hard wood in a couple of years.

Let's Talk About the Boob Light

When did this light become so popular? It's pretty much synonymous with all builder-grade homes... in fact, our house has not one, but two of them.

Flush mount (I've seen it both as one word and two) lighting is tricky. Unless you have tall ceilings in every room, you most likely have flush mount lighting somewhere in your home.  If I had all the money in the world I would probably have 'can' lights on a dimmer installed in every room but installing recessed lighting on a bottom story with another floor above it is too tricky for this couple to DIY (not to mention Mike's terrified of all things electricity-related).

There are a few areas in our house that I think we are going to save up to hire an electrician and properly install recessed lighting, but I actually would like a nice-looking flush mount fixture for the light inside of the front door. I'd call it our 'entryway', but I don't know that the five feet between the front door and stairway qualifies?

I talked about what we want to do with the stairs and think whatever light we choose to go here should coordinate with the overall feeling of the room. I've rounded up a few flush or semi-flush mount fixtures below... which do you like best?

one//two//three//four//five//six

Office Space

Not this one...

But what used to be this one:

As you can see, I got oh so excited and forgot to take a proper 'before' picture and have already started to rip out the shelf and hanging bar. But who needs a spare closet when you have plenty of storage space and there are office nooks to be made!

one//two//three//four

Check back early next week for the big reveal. For now I will leave you with this beautiful & blurry progress shot... 

Anyone else got big plans for this weekend? 

Fixing the Leaky Sprinkler System

Mike and I are learning a lot of new things with this house with this past weekend being our first adventure in irrigation. Neither of us are experts and agree for the big stuff we will call in the professionals, but for this minor fix we decided to DIY.

I noticed a few weeks ago that the ground around the irrigation valve was wet so I put a bucket under it to determine how badly it was leaking. Nothing annoys Mike more than wasting water or energy so this project shot to the top of the list once we determined that the leak was significant.

The long side of our house is most exposed to the elements so it didn't surprise me that this valve was the first to go. Here is what we started with:

Not knowing what we really needed, we headed down to the HD to figure it out and were pretty much amazed at the entire isle devoted to irrigation systems.

We weren't sure exactly what we needed so we picked up some spare parts and extra PVC since they were all pretty cheap. The most important thing is to know what size PVC your irrigation system uses since everything you buy will depend on that. The most common seems to be 1" or 3/4" and ours was the latter.

After we got everything home, Mike turned off the water, cut away the old system, and began to 'dry fit' the new one. It's important to figure out how everything fits together before applying the glue because once that's on, it's permanent.

1) Christy's Red Hot Blue Glue (no primer needed for this stuff)
2) Anti-Siphon Valve
3) Female Adapters (we had already connected them to the valve - don't forget the teflon tape!)
4) Extra 3/4" PVC
5) Slip Elbows
6) Couplers
7) Ratcheting PVC Cutters

After gluing it all together and turning the water back on, we are happy to announce that it is still an eyesore leak free. We still have to get a new timer and wire that up but it's coming along. We are planning on building raised beds in the spring for our little vegetable garden and it will be so nice to be able to hook everything up to a drip system.

IKEA Art Makeunder

Speaking of my dysfunctional relationship with art, I have a bad habit of trying to buy art for a specific space instead of just buying what I like and then finding a way to incorporate it.

Exhibit A (below) is a large print from Ikea that I bought a few years ago while trying to fill blank wall space in the house I lived in at the time. The size and price was right and even though I wasn't crazy about the actual print, it didn't look terrible with the colors and furniture of my first place.

Fast forward a few years and its permanent spot has been leaning against a wall, tucked away in some corner. I though about selling it on CL but framed canvases are worth more than the $10 I would get for it so I decided to test my artistic side and cover it with something I liked. I don't usually advocate painting over art, but mass-printed pieces are the exception for me.

Knowing my artistic limits but also wanting to add some color to this wall in our dining nook, I settled on a mint green ombre effect. The old painting had texture to it which I thought would give it just enough visual interest without being overwhelming like the original print.

I started by taping off the black frame with painter's tape and using a spray primer to cover the old print since I didn't want any of the original colors popping through.

Next, I headed to my favorite store to pick up a few test pots of the perfect minty green. I got a sample of all three colors on the same test strip but looking back, I could have probably gotten away with just getting the lightest and darkest color and then mixing them as I went.

Originally my plan was to paint the lightest color first, let that dry, and move on to the darker colors -- but to get the look I wanted, I figured out it worked better if the two colors were still wet and I used a clean brush to blend them together.

I started this project a while back but finally got around to finishing and hanging it yesterday which then followed with this conversation:

Me: do you like my art?
Mike: oh... it's done?
Me: my artistic abilities are kinda limited... should I add something else?
Mike: how about a bike?

Forget birds. Around this house, 'add a bike to it' is the new mantra. Needless to say, that idea got vetoed. I like the simplicity of it for now and who knows, it might just get a bike added to it in the near future.