It's That Time of Year Again

Noticed I've been a little MIA lately? You're not the only one. Creative projects are sitting half-done and the only love the house gets these days is a 15 min. pick up in the morning. Yep, it's Tax Season!

I work for a Big 4 accounting firm and in this Valley, the bulk of our business are public corporations (which means our actual busy season is July/August since the extended due date for Corps is Sept. 15th). However, all tax campus hires are required to get 600 hours in four of the seven areas of tax and since I got 450 hours in my individual tax 'bucket' last season, I wound up signing up with that group again this year. Do I love individual tax? No. Actually do I love being a tax accountant at all? Not really.

My job does have it's perks. The firm is great, I work with some really kind and brilliant people, the pay is not bad, there is a lot of swift and structured upward mobility, and I am free to do what I want as long as my charge-ability stays above a certain % and I produce work at the level one would expect from a Big 4. I have always been a nerd and there are times I get a kick out of understand a body of knowledge not many other people do, but they dryness of numbers and the tax code takes it out of me. I crave creativity but can't deny that I have a knack for what I do and the praise I get feels good.

I found this article on the blog of a graphic designer I admire and although she wrote it a few years ago, I love what she has to say. The post is "On Being You" which requires three things:

1) Find your niche
2) Do what you love. Delegate the rest.
3) Design your life.

I encourage you to click on over to her full article but these three things got me thinking. What is my niche? It would be a waste to abandon accounting completely but I want to find a way to incorporate what I've learned into something that inspires me.

I asked Mike the other day if he really likes the day-to-day details of his job and he said not really... but he believes in the Company and likes his boss/co-workers. I know the grass is not always greener on the other side, but I feel like if I worked for a company that produced a product or service I was passionate about, it might be a good middle ground.

If I could "design my life" it would include me being my own boss, working with passionate people who value creativity and beauty, and supporting entrepreneurs - especially women who take a chance on their dreams to set up their own shop.

What do you think? If you could "design your life" what would that look like?

Nothing Better Than a Clean Home

When Mike and I moved from our apartment to the townhome we doubled our square-footage and tripled the number of bathrooms we had. While we love the space, it is amazing how much more cleaning we do everyday.

Looking at pinterest and other lifestyle blogs, it seems there are two camps of thought on keeping a house clean: the week-enders and the week-dayers. For instance, many of the cleaning 'lists' you will see floating around the web breakdown chores with daily to-do's Monday through Friday. On the other hand, Apartment Therapy published an article recently that broke down how to clean on a weekend-only basis.

I lucked out that Mike is tidy and bit of a germaphobe. While I am more focused on organizing and de-cluttering, he has no problem scrubbing toilets or washing dishes (no you cannot borrow him). We tend to keep the kitchen clean and at least try to throw our dirty clothes in the hamper, but I would throw us in the 'weekender' crowd when it comes to the bigger stuff. Mike wakes up before 7 am no matter what so we tend to get most of our chores out of the way before Costco even opens on Saturday.

With a bigger house, I tend to get side-tracked while cleaning so I came up with a "top-to-bottom" method. This applies the the house as a whole as well as each individual room e.g. I start upstairs in our bedroom and put away everything that has been tossed on top of the dresser or scattered around the bathroom vanity and then make my way all the way down to dusting the baseboards and lastly, Mike comes in with the vacuum (I got him a Dyson for his birthday while we were still in the apartment and it's tied with the waffle maker for his favorite present ever).

On that note, I'm off to fold laundry. My mom used to joke when I was little that I had more laundry than the other three members of the household combined and I have yet to break myself of that habit.

Image: Domino Magazine Holiday 2013 (I wish my shoe collection looked like that)

Happy Valentine's Day

This year Mike and I will probably end up spoiling Goose way more than each other. That pup has stolen our hearts! Since we are all pretty busy at work today (including Goose... he goes to work with Mike but whether napping all day is considered 'work' is debatable), we are celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow with a long hike and wine/chocolate pairings in the evening.

How about you? Anything special planned or do you purposely veto Valentine's Day as a made-up holiday?

Exterior Updates

This is the current view from the entrance to our complex. Please do not zoom in to look closer at that sign - the peeling paint and rotting wood might make you a little queasy.

Mike and I attended our first ever HOA meeting last night and I am so inspired by the projects that we have lined up. Sometimes HOA's can be a real pain but since our complex has just eight units, it's much easier to get things done and feel like your input is heard.

The first on the list is addressing this stucco wall. That little building you see is a 'clubhouse' that is actually pretty nice inside (minus the fact that it gets used about once a quarter). The wall is in badly need of repair or replacement but to rebuild it is very expensive. This issue has been on the docket for almost a year and we finally voted on it last night. Here is what we came up with (the new wall is photoshopped):

Huge improvement, no? We are lucky that our neighbors are young and share the same love for clean and modern lines. The only argument against it is that it may clash against the rest of the complex which has a different vibe with shingle siding and a maroon/light yellow color scheme.

However, replacing the siding/trim and painting are also on our to-do list which means that, although major renovations are out of our budget, we could get our complex heading in the right direction. In fact, a little search on pinterest, and I ended up finding a ton of modern houses that have shingles.

I would be in favor of replacing the siding with new redwood shingles but if we decide that is too costly, I think our best bet would to repaint with a dark grey and black color scheme. Painting the exterior dark is not intuitive but has been gaining momentum lately and really does 'modernize' even traditional looking houses. Another one of my favorite tricks is painting the siding and trim the same color. Again, not intuitive but very modern and beautiful.

Friday Favorites

Mike's birthday is Monday so this weekend is full of friends and fun (and rain)! Also, my wedding dress is finally in so I get to try it on for the first time on Sunday. I have a feeling this bagel will be the last one I eat for the next five months...

READ: Feeling lost and a need for self discovery was an overwhelming theme for me in January so when I stumbled on this interview on Design*Sponge, it really resonated.

MAKE: This healthy peanut butter dip. I haven't tried it yet but if it can satisfy my pb cravings without all the calories, I'm in.

ORGANIZE: I'm a huge believer in making lists to get things done. This online tool & app is a straight-forward approach to organizing your to-do's. I especially love its sharing capabilities which comes in handy when planning a wedding.

TRY: This spray-on sanitizing spray is all natural, convenient, and smells great! Our good friend actually works for this company and I recently re-discovered the sample she gave me -- just in time for flu season.

DIY: Don't forget Valentine's day is this Friday. With a shoe-string budget, I was searching for a few cute projects to do this weekend. This watercolor and gold-leaf geometric heart is on my list of things to make.

Image: Ali Harper

Pluviophile

One of my favorite things I inherited from my mom is my love of rain. Sure, I enjoy sunny days but give me a downpour, a hot cup of tea, and a blanket and I am content. We've been having a drought here in California so I am happy it finally decided to rain this week (I keep telling Mike we should move to Oregon but he's a little reluctant).

Although houses in the Bay Area don't need to take their 'winterizing' as seriously as other areas of the country, there are a few things that I always forget about until it starts to pour:

//1. Cleaning Out Gutters: unfortunately for us, Mike and I are both not a fan of heights which makes cleaning our gutters (on the second story) not the most pleasant thing. This year we got a pass since they were cleaned before we moved in and the HOA seriously cut back all the trees in our complex before the leaves fell so not much should be in there now. We did buy these little expandable, wire-mesh doodads that are supposed to keep the downspouts free of blockage, but neither of us are brave enough to climb up there and put them in.

//2. Being Extra Vigilant about a Clean Kitchen: I haven't seen any yet, but usually when it rains hard outside, all the ants decide to come inside. The house I grew up in had a big issue with ants in the winter and my mom was extra careful to clean up spills, crumbs, and store the peanut butter in the fridge (ever tried to make a PB&J with cold peanut butter?! miserable).

//3. Covering or Storing Patio Furniture: With patio furniture being as pricey as it is, you definitely don't want to end up replacing it year after year. We are waiting on buying a good set for this summer, but if we end up spending the money to get the one I really want, you can be sure that baby is getting a nice, water-proof cover to go with it and the cushions are going in the garage rafters before the first sprinkle. The same goes for the grill - it's already too late for the one we have now (it was abandoned for a few years while Mike was living in the apartment) but I recently took it all apart to clean it and was amazed at how rusted the inside was.

Anyone else have tips to add? Are there any other Pluviophiles' out there who want to put on their rain-boots and go jump in some puddles with me?

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Currently Obsessed: Black Window Trim

//one//

There is a house on our street that they've been building since Mike and I moved in six months ago and I cannot get over how beautiful the windows are. The black, steel frames look amazing with the modern/Mediterranean architecture. They just put up a for sale sign and I am definitely going to drag Mike in there the first open house they have.

In our home we are *blessed* with old single-paned aluminum frame windows. Not only can you feel the draft from them, but they leave our entire complex looking shabby. I don't love the look of bright white vinyl windows, but I would take those over our current ones any day.

//two//three//

Mike and I have our first HOA meeting next week and we are totally nerding out over it. The president sent out a preliminary list of what is on the agenda and it includes everything that Mike and I have been wanting to address: rotten trim, over-zealous sprinkler system, hideous sign out front, etc. New windows weren't a part of it, but I'm hoping they can at least answer if replacing the old windows falls under the HOA or if it is our individual responsibility.

In the mean time, I am seriously considering painting the inside trim of our windows black. I am a little concerned about the paint chipping off when we open and close the windows but I read if you use oil-based primer, then they should hold up fine. I usually shy away from anything oil based because it's really hard to work with / clean up / is super toxic, but I might just have to give it a try for this project. Mike is heading to Asia on a business trip this month and I think it would be the perfect time to give it a go on at least one window.

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