It's Official! We Have A House!!!

We got the keys to our new house this evening. I can't wait to make it into our home. My internet will be out of comission until next Wednesday starting, I'm not sure when... Maybe tomorrow, maybe Wednesday? A week without internet doesn't sound like a good idea to me at all. Here are a couple pictures that warm my heart. I can't wait to start the process of decorating! My tastes have changed over the last year. I just have to remember that I can't have everything right away and I'm going to be stuck with alot of mismatched stuff for years. Hopefully, I will get a chance to post again before I'm without my lifeline for so long.

I found these photos via one of my favorite blogs: madebygirl

Enjoy!

I want everything about this space... The chair, the shelves. *sigh*

Josh and I bought a white leather couch for $75 dollars.. I would say it's Ivory. It's not the most practical, but $75 was nice. Any suggestions on decor to match?

Have a wonderful week!

Alyssa

Photographer: Mark Seliger

I became a fan of Mark Seliger's work around the same time I became a huge fan of Johnny Depp after seeing Pirates of the Carribean. I had always watched Depp films when I was growing up, I just never knew all those movies I was watching had the same guy in them. But, this is not a post for my love of all things Johnny, this is a post about Mark Seliger's beautiful work as a photographer.

Alot of Mark Seliger's work can be seen in Vanity Fair magazine. It is no secret to those who know me that I adore Vanity Fair magazine. I've mentioned it quite a few times here before, and I'm sure I will be mentioning it again. It is my absolute favorite magazine. I love the photos, the articles, the Vanities Girls that used to grace most issues (but I haven't seen them lately).

Mark Seliger's photos are magical, I love looking at them, and I can almost pick them out now just about as well as I can pick out Annie Lebovitz's work. I hope you enjoy a little preview! Go take a look at the rest of his work on his website.

Anne Hathaway

My first Johnny Depp photo by Mark Seliger

Marion Cotillard Reinacting the infamous scene from Psycho

Naomi Watts

Emma Watson

Merce Cunnigham

Jewish Surviors

If you like these, go take a look at his website. You won't be disappointed!

markseliger.com

Alyssa

And Thus It Starts...

We haven't officially closed on the house yet, so I'm really hoping that this isn't just premature packing that won't come to fruition. Either way, we should be getting the keys on Tuesday and I want to say ADIOS to this apartment before we have to pay rent. We will probably end up having to pay for July 1st, due to the fact that we will still be in the process of moving. I really don't want to be paying for that day, so if I can get everything packed this week and Monday, then that will be a HUGE help in getting out of here ASAP. Apparently today I like all capitalized words...

Here is the start of the boxes. The nice thing about moving only a mile and a half or so away, is that we won't have to box everything up like it is going through the apocolypse. I really feel like just tossing all the junk into laundry baskets and transferring stuff that way. But then I wouldn't feel like I was making progress, so here I am packing things up that we won't need this week.

I'm pretty sure if we owned this apartment instead of renting, I would have piled everything in the middle of the living room floor and torched it all. Alas, we have a neighbor upstairs, who probably wouldn't appreciate it. And I'm guessing we wouldn't get our cleaning deposit back if this side of the building was burned down. So I will pack, and I will complain about it for the next week. :)

Here is the apartment with just a few things packed. My desk is the cleanest it has been since I got it.

One day we will have real furniture! Maybe by our 15th anniversary we will have money for an entertainment center and a small chair that isn't the color of mustard... (The chair is purposely missing from this photo).

I can't wait to get a new lamp for my desk,

this puts off absolutely no light,basically it's there for looks.

Wish me luck!

Alyssa

A Place To Have Your Morning Coffee

I'm putting off packing today. I don't even know where to start. Josh and I have seriously moved so many times that the thought of packing and then unpacking another box makes my skin crawl, and makes me want to punch the first person I see in the face. That sounds awful, I know, but I'm so tired of going around and around on this house thing I could scream... And we've had it easy with this house. As of this morning we were still on schedule to get the keys on the 30th. That was before I left for Target to pick up some cleaning supplies and packing tape. Afterwards, I get an email saying the appraiser wants the oven installed so he can re-appraise the house. Are you serious? Is it really going to make that much of a difference? Or is he just being a mook? BLAH! So now we have to truck it on up home to get the oven that we bought, and install it so the guy can come look at it. Driving me crazy!

Anyway, now that I have ranted about trying to move into our house, I can blog about a few things that I love right now!

I've always loved looking at people's yards, balconies and the little oasis' that they create. I've always wanted to have a big huge yard with one of those covered areas (pergolas) with a big long table. It reminds me of Italy. And the thought of creating a delicious meal and sharing it with family on a perfect summer day in the backyard just melts my heart. I can almost smell the wonderful food, and the flowers that would certainly be covering the yard, and tables.

Alas, our yard is teeny tiny, and only runs the length of our house. a little grass strip due to the fact that we are built into a hill. Pictures will follow...

So here are some treasures . that feel more like a safe places and a sanctuaries that just yards.

Via Domino Mag

Via Domino Mag


Via Apartment Therapy

Via Apartment Therapy

Via Anthropologie

Pottery Barn

Now I have to figure out what to do with our little patch of grass!

Have a wonderful day!

Alyssa

Cute Find!

I was perusing Apartment Therapy, again this evening and came across this super cute find! This is a hand made invitation by Bryn Chernoff I will post the link to her website at the bottom of the post.

I think I like this so much because it reminds me of my childhood. My mom would always doodle on napkins whenever we went out to eat. I loved looking at the things she would draw, and I find myself doing the same thing. I write notes on them, draw flowers and design dresses. This is a perfect invitation. So sweet. I adore them so much! Enjoy:)

Isn't it lovely?

www.paperfinger.com

Alyssa

Interior Decorating

Hello All!

This last week has proven to be a very stressful week. First we were buying a house, then we weren't, then we were, now we might. The house I wanted, Josh didn't want, and while that was a huge bummer, I was okay with the other one. Then we decided that we didn't want to make that big of a payment. We are already poor, we're young, who isn't? But Josh says house poor is different. And the anxiety got worse. There were tears on my part, stress on my part, stress on Josh's part. Alot of, "what ifs, and I don't knows, and I think we can do it. And, maybe we can't."

Should it really be that stressful? I know buying your first home is going to be stressful, but should I really feel this bad about it? I don't know. I'm too young to die of a heart attack! So right now things are up in the air, and hopefully soon I will get some sign from God about where we are supposed to be, because I've been continually praying for some guidance.

In the meantime, I'm trying to think on the positive side as much as I can, and I will still dream about my interior decor, and paint colors. Here are a few things I love! (Even if they don't all go together). Like I've said before I like a mix of things. I need to hire someone to help me with what works.

A few photos of my own that I want to finally hang on the walls.

This beauty I own! I got a copy of it for our First Anniversary from my wonderful husband.

Do all of these go together? No. Do I care? No. Will I put them all on my walls. Yes. I'm going to surround myself with things I love. And these are the things I love. Have a wonderful day!

Alyssa

House Hunting

It's a truth universally acknowledged that men and women are completely different. Yes, yes, we are all humans, and all function pretty much the same way, but there are huge glaring differences. This is so true in just about everything Josh and I come across in our marriage. We have differing opinions on most things. The things that really matter we agree on, but some times I really do wonder what's up! Sometimes I swear we disagree on something just to disagree.

When I was little I always dreamed of living in an old house with coved ceilings, and hardwood floors. I wanted a huge colonial style house with long tree lined driveway (I should have grown up in the south). Dreams of an enormous house gave way to a more practical way of thinking: more space means more crap to fill the space, and like I've said before, while in Germany, I learned the value of streamlining. I've decided I don't need a house, just something that I love and is cozy.

So going with the statement made earlier, Josh and I disagree on what we want from a house. Ultimately we want the same thing. I'm pretty sure he's all for the colonial, old style house, he just doesn't want the house to be located near the lake like all the the older homes are.

Josh wants a yard, I want to be in the middle of everything, and with that comes limited space. Josh wants spread out, I'd like two stories. I want to live by the lake, Josh wants to live out further. I'm looking for character, built ins, and secret hiding spaces, and Josh is looking for practicality. And practical I am usually not.

So we after looking at some real doozies, with horrendous smelling carpets, and awful floor plans, one with countless rooms that had linoleum flooring, jungles for yards, and scary neighborhoods with homemade signs claiming there will be justice and punishment for crimes, we found two that we like, and hope to put an offer down on one within the next couple of days.

And they couldn't be more different... Of course...

Both houses are great. They even each other out well, what one house doesn't have the other does, it's just deciding what we can live without, and what we have to have. Mine has amazing curb appeal, it has my coved ceilings, hardwood floors, and its next to the lake.

Josh's pick has 4 bedrooms 2.5 baths, an a two car garage.

But mine would look so awesome with Christmas lights, and a little Christmas tree by the fireplace. And it would look WAY better with the whole decor idea I've got going. I'm really, really into aesthetics... I'm stressed to the max, slowly accepting the fact that I won't be getting the house that I prefer, and succumbing to the fact that we will choose practicality over attractiveness. One good thing about being completely two different personalities, we even each other out. Where Josh is laid back, I'm more passionate, and where I'm more stressed, he is the voice of confidence. And where I am idealistic, he brings in a little realism.

I've tried not to get too attached to the idea of a cute little house (not so little 4 bedrooms), but its just so exciting! I've picked out paint colors for the master bedroom, which could really go in any type of house, it would just look cuter (is that a word?) in my pick!

So what would you choose? Attractiveness both inside and out, downtown, or practicality with more bathrooms and a little more elbow room?

Oh the dilemma

have a great rest of the week!