Sunday, November 11, 2012

Exciting shtuffff

SO... we think we got our first home. Ahhh so many emotions all at once. If the inspection goes smoothly and we still decide to proceed, than we can be in as early as December 19th. Just in time to install wood floors and paint the entire inside right around Christmas time which should be interesting! We are so beyond excited for our "little brown turd". Everyone that sees the house thinks we are crazy because it is definitely a "fixer" but it was love at first sight for us! Its a 3 bedroom on over a half of an acre in Meadowview Temecula. (Meadowview?! Yeah our dream location.)
Bryan and I eloped after 3 weeks of dating, lived on a sailboat for a few weeks, then moved 5 times in 3 years, had a surprise baby girl, we both finished school and launched new careers, got 6 animals, and now we have another baby on the way... can you tell we like a certain amount of CRAZY in our
lives?? No but really... we get stir crazy if we don't have a significant amount of change and adventure in our lives so the fact that we will always have a new project and a new possibility to dream about is seriously a dream come true in itself! I have never liked the idea of owning a track home, I would trade the nice new amenities for some space and freedom any day! The more we talk about the way we want Marley and Lennix to grow up the more we are 100% confident in our decision. Bryan dreams about go carting in the yard with his kids, an archery range, getting a horse. I dream about a big porch, a garden and spending most of our time playing outside. SO... wish us luck! Operation "little brown turd" renovation... commence!  
Here are a few ideas of the little projects we will be taking on in the next few months or years:
We will be painting the house white and adding little black shutters. We will also add a little white fence,  some landscaping (lots of english tea roses, ground cover, some grass and lots of red maples and other trees that turn colors in the fall). Eventually we will maybe add a little interest to the roof line with a cute little front stoop.... voila! Face lift.   
 On the back of the house we are going to add a porch, my dad is Mr. handy man so he will helping us out a lot with this one! 
We are just going to paint the cupboards white for a temporary fix, but eventually we are going to extend the kitchen out and build an an inexpensive but lovely Ikea kitchen... with white subway tiles!  
My style is very minimalistic... so think lots of white and lots of light (I may even get brave enough to put my dream floors in... white!!) SOO happy I get to create it from scratch I would have never justified making improvements to an already beautiful (but not my style) house. 

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Julian

My parents gave us part of their weeks stay at a cute little cabin in Julian and it could not have a been a more welcomed little get away. We have been in the process of looking for a house to buy these last few weeks and we even put in our first offer on a house, only to hear another buyer beat us to the punch. This process has been kind of crazy. The gypsy side of me is terrified to buy a home because I am unsure about the idea of being tied to somewhere but the logical side of me knows that this is the best decision for this time in our lives and I really am excited to have a little place of our own (hopefully a cute older home on some land that we can fix up over the years). This trip to Julian really solidified our desire for some space around us. We have been to Julian a lot of times but this trip we really got to explore  and we could not believe how gorgeous this place was! We fished, hiked, relaxed, ate apple pie and comfort food, picked apples at the local apple orchard and walked around the cute little town.  We had such a blast, although im fairly certain that I could go anywhere with these two and have the time of my life. 
holding both of my babies

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Catch up.

I've been in this crazy contemplative mood the last few days. I feel like I am back at church camp in high school having one of those weeks where I see the world a little clearer and I feel God a whole lot stronger. I've been brought to my knees in awe of His creation at so many times this week, overwhelmed with how much I have been blessed by Him. I cry...kind of a lot... mostly happy tears and sometimes sad ones. I feel moved... by everything! I've been convicted by the lack of love I have shown to my friends and "enemy's" alike and I've been inspired to live a more giving and selfless life.  We've found a church we like and have been starting to go regularly again and I'm reminded during worship and throughout the message what it feels like to really see and feel the Spirit move. I've been feeling God stretch me and call me to more and I am so stinkin excited every time I FEEL or HEAR him. I miss serving, I miss worship, I miss my Bible, I miss hanging out with God,  I miss his voice,  I miss Africa and I miss doing what really matters. Im not talking about cleaning my house and making dinner (although I can still do those things unto the Lord) but Im talking about stepping out of my comfort zone, getting a little crazy and taking real action for God's kingdom. It's so easy to make Bryan and Marley my number one focus, and when I love... I love with everything I have and more. I want to spend all my time, affection and attention on them and sometimes I forget about the Creator of it all. He doesn't want an occasional visit to my house, he wants to come into the house and rearrange my furniture and stay awhile. He doesn't want to "fit into my life",  he wants to "be my life". He wants us to stop just "praying about it" and start actually doing it. I know I'm not sinning by loving the family he's given me, but I just want to widen my priorities, stretch myself out of my comfort zone and live a little less for myself and more for others. 

 This August has been another crazy month with weddings and work and lots of fun vacations to Lake Arrowhead, Camping at Doheney Beach, a trip to Disneyland for a few days and all of the fun times with friends and family woven in wherever we could fit it. Here is a video of our August: 


Saturday, August 11, 2012

A Mid-Week Vacation

Bryan and I love mid week trips. My mom got camping reservations right on the sand at Doheny Beach and my sister in law got a house in Laguna in an amazing gated community. We stayed Tuesday night at the house in Laguna and spent all night talking with my sister in law and my brothers. We spent the next day at the private beach that is a part of the gated community and for one of the first times all summer I felt so relaxed and so at peace. I was surrounded by all the people I love at this beautiful paradise and there wasn't anything I would have changed about it. There is such a comfort in being known and understood and I can always count on my family for that. I watched my daughter and husband swim for hours in the waves with huge smiles on their faces and even though there were a few other people on the beach, I felt like we had the entire stretch of beautiful sand all to ourselves. These moments are bittersweet. I enjoy the amazing sensation of sitting still long enough to actually hear the world change and sway around me but I feel cheated by the millions of these moments that I have allowed to fly past me lately. Learning to live these wild and precious days have been a challenge this summer. Life feels so fast, like I'm in a race car going too fast to control. I know that some seasons in life are just that way and I'm ok with that for a short time but I don't want to become numb to the beauty and stillness that is all around me, always there whenever I take the time to notice and appreciate it. We finished off the day strong with a little sailing down the coast which Bryan and I have been wanting to do all summer. It was so good to see my sexy husband sail a sailboat again while I stuck my feet in the water and felt the salt water on my skin. Marley had a blast and the motion of the ocean rocked her right to sleep in her Grammy's arms. We camped that night in my parents motorhome and then left the next day excited to go home and relax. Mini vacations like these ones are the best!!

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