Tag Archives: house to home

the 2014 winter bucket list: recap

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winter bucket list 2014_edited-1Seeing that we’re more than two weeks into spring territory, it’s time to recap winter. I made my list of goals weeks before I decided to jump into the NTP program, so they definitely did not take into account that I’d be spending most of my free time learning and studying.

1. Attend Barre3 five times a week. I went five days a week up until we got a few weeks into class. Then I cut back to three or four. Then I realized that with all the studying I was doing, exercising indoors meant I was never getting outside. I ended my membership and started walking Alfred a lot more. It was a great decision – I just feel so much better when I get outside everyday for an extended period of time.

2. Bring breakfast to work every day, bring my lunch to work four days a week, and eat a homemade dinner five nights a week. I did really well with this. Over the course of ten weeks I think I bought my breakfast at work only three times. There was probably a week or two where I didn’t bring my lunch four days, but I really improved on not eating in the cafe everyday. As for dinners, for the most part we stuck to going out/take out no more than twice a week and some weeks I think we even did only one.

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3. Redo our office. The major work is done, but I’m still finishing up some decorative aspects. Still loving our new set up and the additional light we are getting in our favorite room. I wrote about our overhaul here.

4. Create my craft closet. I got so far as to cleared out the closet and moved in a small desk. Between seeing what I was actually working with and knowing that the next year or more is dedicated to becoming an NTP and starting my own business (and if we’re lucky throwing a baby in the mix), crafting is probably not going to be high on my list for a while. I’ve decided to reorganize the closet (it’s about halfway done) to better store all my supplies. That alone is huge and with our larger work desk I have room to craft when I get a few minutes.

5. Finish closet and jewelry organization. Ha. Let’s just say it is not significantly worse than when winter started.

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6. Organize the spice jars. The supplies were purchased and the work is mostly done. There’s probably an hour left, I just haven’t got to it yet. Maybe this weekend? I went with small jars to organize my every growing spice collection. More details to come in a post when I finally finish the project.

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7.  See something new in Washington. We did! It wasn’t super exciting, but we had a fun family day down to Port Orchard.

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8. Go on a winter getaway. Phoenix was not so good to us in 2014, but we got a few hours in the sun and we had a good time together. Maui 2015 is on the books (in my head), though Maui for Fall 2014 needs to get booked on the real books ASAP.

9. Replace two of our dog-chewed blankets with homemade ones. I made progress on two blankets but neither are near finished. I bought the fabric for a quilt and I’m about 30% done with a new knit blanket. I’m LOVING it and will happily admit I borrowed the idea from Elise (of course). You can see her finished product here and at some point I’ll be back to show you mine.

10. Send five cards. I did not start a snail-mail revolution. The only snail-mail I sent was monthly anniversary cards to my sister and brother-in-law (from her shower), which totally don’t count since I did not write them.

the 2014 spring bucket list

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Per my arbitrary declaration, it’s time for the spring bucket list!IMG_4508_edited-2

On to the goals. I have a little notebook that is mostly always with me (currently its orange with gold circles from Target; highly recommend). The front part is my to do list and the back is random lists, plans, tracking sheets, etc. Usually once I post a bucket list for a season, I start a new list in my notebook for the next season. This way I can capture things throughout the months that I’d like to work on, rather than sitting down and coming up with ten random goals at one time.

I noticed a flaw in my system when I looked through what I had for spring. It was several hefty craft/house projects and some fitness goals. They are all fun and I’d love to spend my time doing them, but they don’t really reflect my priorities right now and through the next ten weeks. I decided to take another approach and first recognize what my priorities are, then make goals against those. Here’s what I came up with for priorities:

1. Family Time
2. Eating Real Food
3. Sleep
4. Work
5. Schoolwork
6. Exercise
7. Crafting/house

Having an actual list for how I want/need to spend my time was really helpful for coming up with a bucket list that will be realistic and not add stress. The point is to be intentional with my time and have fun, so adding goals that add stress is just silly.

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The dirt, weeds, and stone should be grass by summer.

1. Start on fixing up the backyard. This might sound like it falls under priority seven, crafting/house, but it’s actually a project that Greg and I will work on together through nice weekends this spring. We’re both really excited about it and looking forward to doing it. It will definitely be good quality time together. There’s more we want to do to the backyard eventually, but for spring we hope to: plant grass on half the yard, clean up the plants around the sitting area, spruce up our small table and chairs, create veggie boxes for the unused planter, and lay down a ground cover (small white rocks?) around the veggie boxes.

2. Deal with Alfred’s doorbell and stranger barking. This may not be the most fun way to spend family time but it’s seriously going to increase all of our quality of life.

3. Plan and have a fun Memorial Day weekend with my parents and the girls. We are loving all the visitors we have this year and my parents will be in town for Memorial Day weekend. Since we don’t typically have a five and three year old with us, I want to plan a few things that will be fun for everyone.

4. Render pork fat into lard. A new cooking challenge, a new item to use for cooking when it’s done, and creating freezer space! Win, win, win.

5. Buy amber glasses and regular alarm clocks. Sleep improvements! Since I’m usually on my computer until 9 and Greg sometimes later, we’re getting amber tinted glasses. (Yes, I’m aware I get weirder every day.) These glasses help block the blue light that comes from electronics, which throw off your body’s natural cycle of producing melatonin in the evening. Yes, getting off electronics in the evening would be better but right now that’s not going to happen. I’m also looking for some alarm clocks to use in our room instead of our phones.

6. Keep on top of NTP work. I’ve been both on top of my school work and a little behind (post Phoenix) and life is much less stressful during the on top if it phases. So I hope to keep it that way.

7. Get started on my community outreach project. It’s not due until October, but I don’t want to spend September scrambling to finish. My goal for spring is to outline the project.

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We did our first walk on Monday evening and got in 2.3 miles. I love you, day light savings time.

8. Walk 50 miles with the doodle. I had so much fun doing this last summer and I don’t have any other form of exercise going on right now, so why not go for it a second time. This will get us both outside and checking out new parks while we rack up the miles.

9. Script class. I signed up for this class, bought the supplies, then promptly started my NTP class. Haven’t done much else but the class is available to me still as it’s online so I hope to get to it soon.

10. Finish the office and craft closet. After careful consideration, the craft closet is going to remain a closet and not a room. It’s been reorganized partially and already that’s made a huge difference. With our new desk I have plenty of room to craft. With the cleaned out closet, I have a place to neatly store everything. It’s working. Virtually no progress has been made on the office since I shared our update, so I need to complete the finishing touches and also clean out the last few shelves in the closet. Totally doable.

Next week I’ll recap my winter bucket list. Which turned out to be not quite as big of a miss as I thought it might be.

the office

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One of our six big house goals for the year is to rearrange our office to improve the layout. We spend the vast majority of our waking home hours in this room and we had a feeling we could make better use of the space. IMG_7826_edited-1

Originally we each had our own desk but we really didn’t require two. Neither of us works from home regularly and mine was becoming a craft war zone. We decided one desk would be fine and (next project) we’ll move my crafting goods into the closet to make a cozy craft “room”.IMG_7828_edited-1

The previous owners left bamboo shades on the windows (they used this room as their master); I liked the color and texture they added, but then I took one off and we realized they were blocking about 18″ of light from the top of each window. We took all six off and are pretty ecstatic with how much light is coming in now. We still need to remove the nails and fill/paint the holes. IMG_7830_edited-1We set the room up so we have our seating area to watch shows on Greg’s computer from the couch.

All the major pieces are done and we even sold my old desk for $30 less than what we spent on our IKEA trip. I’ll take a $30 room make over any day. What’s left now is the decor and finishing touches. I had a goal of finishing by mid February, but do to an exciting new adventure for me (more on that later), it will probably take a little longer. I’m just slowly making my way through my three-level to-do list. Seriously people, this is how (and the only way) my brain functions.

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the 2014 winter bucket list

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winter bucket listMy first time writing 2014, so crazy. This bucket list looks a little less fun and a little more self-improvement, but I think if you start the first ten weeks of the year off with a solid foundation the year can only be great, right? Besides, in Seattle winter the days are short and dark. Might as well get all the improvements going in winter so the summer bucket list can be full of fun for long, warm days.

“Winter” is going to be Jan 6th – March 16th. It’s a little arbitrary, but going all the way to Memorial Day is too long. Easter is late this year at the end of April and isn’t a good cut-off either. Ten weeks sounded good, so mid-March it is.

1. Attend Barre3 five times a week. I recently switched up my exercise routine after taking all of December off. I no longer belong to my CrossFit gym and started Barre3, a combo of ballet, yoga, and pilates. Five days a week seems a little daunting, but I’m making it a top priority as my mental state seems to be so much better when I make exercise a part of my routine. My physical state could also use the health.

2. Bring breakfast to work every day, bring my lunch to work four days a week, and eat a homemade dinner five nights a week. Speaking of ensuring good mental and physical health, food is right up there with moving. We went WAY off track in December and ate more take-out than I’ve ever eaten in my life. I’m committing to making making our food a priority. Oh, and everything I make at home will be Whole30 compliant.

3. Redo our office. I mentioned this in my house goals post, it’s time we reorganize our office to better fit how we use it. We spend so much time in that room (it’s really more like a family room than an office) and we can improve how it’s laid out.

4. Create my craft closet. The second of our house goals that I want to attack in the next few months. Things are getting out of hand on my desk and with the office reorg Greg and I will be sharing one. It definitely will not work if my craft gear is everywhere, so into the closet I go.

5. Finish closet and jewelry organization. I started this in the fall and never finished, so it’s back on the list again.

6. Organize the spice jars. This might sound silly, but I have a ton of spices (and use them!) and they are a complete and total mess. It takes me a while to find anything and usually involves a few jars falling out of the cupboard while I’m searching through them. So far nothing has broken but it’s really just a matter of time.

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7.  See something new in Washington. I really have seen so little of that state since moving here in 2011. I don’t have anything specific in mind and am leaving the options open for whatever might come up.

8. Go on a winter getaway. Last year’s long weekend in Phoenix was fantastic. We’re figuring out where to go this year to keep our (my?) winter sanity.

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9. Replace two of our dog-chewed blankets with homemade ones. Right now I’m thinking one knit and one quilt, but we’ll see what I end up doing.

10. Send five cards. I’m going to start a snail-mail revolution.

the house plan

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This picture just made me start the summer countdown. Since we’re one day past the solstice, this seems totally reasonable. 

This last year has definitely been a settling in year. There are still many (many) walls that have nothing hanging on them and space that can be used in ways to better fit our living style. When I think back though we did do a lot.

  • We cleaned up the front yard and put down bark in the dirt. Then we turned over maintenance to our fantastic gardener, Ros.
  • We painted the living room a much brighter color, then hired painters to handle the dining room and both bedrooms downstairs.
  • We hung the maps we’ve been collecting on a gallery wall in the office.
  • We unpacked all our boxes. After talking to some people, getting this done in the first year seems like it should be an accomplishment.
  • We bought grown-up furniture for our bedroom.

The other night I made nicely asked Greg to think about what we want to do with the house this next year. Here’s what we came up with:

  • Put grass in on one side of the backyard and string lights from the house to the fence. We love entertaining in our front yard, but when it’s just Greg and I it sometimes feels weird. We’re hoping to make the backyard a nice spot to have a glass of wine or cup of coffee outside during the summer.
  • Reorganize the office. After a year of living here, it’s clear we spend 73% of our time at home in the office. We have a plan to use the space better and make it even better, if that’s possible.
  • Create a craft room in the office closet. So yeah, I’ve taken on some new hobbies this year and my stuff is all over my desk. I need a craft space but don’t want to use our guest bedroom because that will hopefully become a nursery. I’d rather find a more permanent solution and after browsing Pinterest I’ve decided our walk-in office closet is the perfect spot.
  • Get a home energy audit. After last winter’s painful gas bills we have tried to make some changes this year. I recently heard that for $100 you can have an audit done with a write-up of what you can do to make your home more energy efficient. Considering $100 isn’t even half of our normal gas bill for 7 months of the year, it seems like a great idea.
  • Change the smoke detectors to automated ones. Okay, this clearly is Greg’s pick and I can’t even come up with a reason why we need this, but since I get a craft “room” he gets new smoke detectors.
  • Replace downstairs carpet. Our stairs and bedrooms are carpeted and the carpet is pretty old and dirty. I don’t know what exactly we’ll replace it with (I want to do all hard wood, Greg wants nicer carpet), but hopefully we’ll find something we both like and get that done.

my first blanket

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I finished a big project this weekend – my first knitted blanket. I got into knitting back in 2005 or 2006 when the whole “stitch + bitch” trend hit 20 and 30 something females. I made a few scarves then dropped the hobby for years. As I started having fun crafting this year I decided to try knitting again.IMG_7321_edited-1

This blanket was another idea I found from the enJOY it blog. I really should rename my blog “It is possible for a non-crafty person to recreate Elise’s crafts”. Sort of like the Pinterest Told Me To blog, but mine would be Elise Showed Me How. I loved the simplicity of the blanket and how it required no pattern* and only the garter stitch.

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I wasn’t really sure who I was making the blanket for so I went with neutral colors. I think it’s sweet that I thought my first blanket might be gift-worthy. That is so far from the truth. But each hole or wonky spot was definitely a lesson in how to make the next one better. IMG_7333_edited-1

It turned out to be very autumn-ish. I started with the white and it looked very much like candy corn at first. With the addition of the last three colors I think it turned out not too bad. This project was the first time I tried to pick a color palette. It’s not something I’ll ever be great at but I think I’m getting better with practice.IMG_7343_edited-1

So here’s the funny part. When I say no pattern was required, I meant that I didn’t have to follow a certain number of stitches or rows in a specific stitch. It was just all knit/garter stitch. However, I decided that the recommended width was way off. It was my first time knitting with circular needles, which allow you to make something large like a blanket but make it very difficult to visualize the actual width. I cast on an extra 100 stitches. And in the end I ended up with a beach towel shaped blanket.IMG_7339_edited-1

It is supposed to be thick vertical stripes of each color. Instead I have thin horizontal stripes. As I write this it is draped around my shoulders as a shawl. We’ve got our fair share of laughs out of it. IMG_7347_edited-1

It ended up being a six month project. Thanks to Project Life, I know I started in June. Or at least that is the earliest picture I could find of the project. I have no idea how much I spent, but my guess is somewhere around $40. I worked on it mostly while watching TV and I think on a flight to Boston. I love that I created something (somewhat) useful. It also feels great to have a project that’s been sitting around forever completed.

the dining room

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Months ago I saw someone pin this drink cart from Target and I knew it would be a really fun addition to the dining room. Right now the room is lacking in everything aside from a table and chairs. There are two pretty stained glass windows (original to the house) but that is the only thing going on in the room.IMG_7153_edited-1

I waited a month or so to make sure the cart was still on my must have list. It’s a new requirement forced upon myself because I’ve bought too many house furnishings on a whim that I regret down the road. I’m talking to you, coffee + end tables.

I was still enamored with it last month, loving the lighter colors it would bring into our house of very dark furniture, but by then we were in No Spend October. But now we’re in November and I brought the cart home this weekend. I’m limiting myself to one house purchase per month, so I’m done for November. And probably the rest of the year because December is expensive. IMG_7154_edited-1The cart needs to be styled some. We just threw all the booze we had on the top shelf (mostly gifts from our house warming last year, so it just dawned on me that to keep this cart looking stocked I might actually have to buy liquor on occasion), but I’m thinking a vase with flowers and a few other fun touches will make it a cute little drink station. I’m finding lots of inspiration here. And here – I need that print. Actually, I want everything on that list, exactly as is.

Already I love that the bottles being under the window add a ton of color to the room during the day. Now I just need to invite friends over and put Greg to work on a signature cocktail. Too bad it’s only Monday.

House to Home: Green Thumb

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In the first several months we lived in our house we literally did nothing to make it a home. It probably had something to do with the exhausting events of 2012 and our desire to do nothing afterwards. For whatever reason though, the home bug has hit me like crazy lately and I’m quickly making up for lost time. I spent most of this weekend working on the house while Greg was getting ready for a big work week.

IMG_6018_edited-1blogSince firing our gardner a few weeks ago we realized our yard is a little too much for us to maintain with our current workloads. My MIL suggested we lay down bark to help keep weeds to a minimum and have an overall cleaner look. (I should note this was after she and her husband surprised us with an afternoon of working on our yard while we were at work and giving us an old lawnmower and edger they weren’t using – we are very grateful.) On Saturday I picked up two bags of small bark and filled (almost) two planters – verdict: we love it!

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An additional bonus is that Alfred seems to be totally uninterested in it, unlike the bare dirt that was there before. Right now I’m concentrating on the yard within our fence. I’ll deal with our yard outside the fence once I get this under control. IMG_2341-1_edited-1

I ran out of bark and couldn’t finish the second planter, but It will get done soon.

IMG_6031_edited-1While at the nursery I also picked up a handful of indoor plants. As we’re moving into summer I can feel my mood really shifting for the better. I think struggling through winter is always going to be hard for me as long as we live in the PNW, but I’m trying to figure out ways to make it easier. I’m thinking having green plants in the house will help alleviate some of the blah I start to feel when everything around me is grey.

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A very nice employee at the nursery took my list of ten non-toxic to dog plants and showed me the nine that they carried. (Don’t think I’m overzealous, it actually didn’t occur to me until I was there that Alfred eats everything; my list of plants was the first link on a quick iPhone google search.) I picked the five that I liked the look of most and mixed up the sizes. I bought cheap terra cotta pots and transplanted each on Sunday with soil the previous owners left in the backyard.

IMG_6024_edited-1I started with just five to sit on top of a new-to-us bench I picked up off of Craigslist earlier this week. As usual, my first instinct was to buy plants for the entire house. But I’m trying hard these days to be reasonable and take on projects where I have a chance of success. If these five live for a few months, maybe I’ll add more.

The bench is a media stand I waited patiently for someone to post on Craigslist. Since it’s filler furniture (meaning aside from holding plants we have no use for it other than to fill a space gap in our extra long living room), I really didn’t want to pay full price. It is a full inch taller than the IKEA website notes in the specifications and we can’t put it flush against the wall because it hits the shutters. Between the parking ticket I got while getting the bench and the saw we need to buy to shorten it, I’m pretty sure we’re going to just break even. But we didn’t have to go to IKEA or put it together. So, #winning.