The Ugly Corners of My Home

Hi everyone!  Have you ever visited favorite corners of my home on flickr?  I love it, it's inspiring and nice to see cozy little nooks in people's homes.  But for a long time I've been wanting to do an "ugly corner of my home" blog post.  I would love to see other people's ugly spots.  You know, the old ugly sink that needs replacing, the 70's mustard yellow countertop you've been meaning to replace.  I think everyone has them.  I've had them in all the places we've lived.  I always shared the awesome view and the cozy look of the lodge we lived in, but I never showed you the purple back door!

 Here is our backyard view.  Nice, huh?  All the neighbors have multiple junkers in their backyards!  We're no exception!  In our driveway sits our van and the neighbors below have a turquoise pontiac that doesn't run!

 Well in this house there are more than a few spots.  Overall this house has great bones and some lovely built-ins which is why I fell in love with this place.  But it's small, about 1000 square feet with 1 and a half closets!  We haven't been able to use the basement yet.  And I collect things to sell at antique shows and on etsy.  So Luna lives in our bedroom and the second bedroom is a dumping grounds.  No one ever goes in it.  Well today I'm hoping to tackle that room.

Last night Sam and I were dreaming of what could be of this space.  I'm hoping to turn our attic into a studio so that the other room can become Luna's room.  That is a little bit into the future because we still don't own this house quite yet.  But for now we have to be able to walk into this room.

 I dream of the attic looking something like this with a little more of my style thrown in.  It's not a huge space, and there is only about 10 square feet where I can actually stand.  The door to the attic is inside this messy bedroom and I had to spend 5 minutes clearing the space to get to the door, then another five minutes prying the door open, because as you can see, no knob.  Can you imagine the stairs being repainted?  The vaulted ceiling a nice white wash to brighten up the space.  And custom built in storage to utilize the small spaces where the roof slopes down.  Right now I can only take pictures from the stairs with a flash.  But awful before pictures make the afters that much better, right?  Right now it's half insulated on the ceiling and half blown in with one foot of insulation.  We were told by the inspector you do one or the other.  Sam and I have always loved small spaces and a space like this is right up our alley.

 Here you can see why I can't stand in the attic.  This is the foot of fluffy insulation.  

 There are 2 small dormer windows to let some natural light in.

I want to do a full before video tour of our home and then hopefully have a fun after.  This place mainly needs paint and some custom storage spaces to make it work for us.

Now tell me.  Do you have an ugly corner of your home?  Wanna share?

Style Quiz

I took this style quiz.  It was fun and pretty accurate.  You pick about 10 pictures and they tell you your style.  Try it out, who are you?   I'm California Country:
Details of craftsmanship with natural materials surround you. To cook a grand meal in an elegant kitchen is your joy. A bedroom with distinct character - warm and charming. Connecting to the handcrafting of the artist, you sense a skill and some chance. Enjoying elegant outdoor fare. A lithe and agreeable cab - no meal required. Pre-war, upper east side attitude. Wild and crazy days in your wonderful home..


Apparently so is Sandra Bullock, Harrison Ford, and Jeff Bridges.

Luna's Boyfriend

My friend came over today and brought her little boy who is only 3 weeks older than Luna.  I'm a little worried about this little girl because she could have many little boyfriends!  I know I'm going a bit overboard with the Luna pics- but come on how could I resist when they were wearing these little matching outfits.  And Miss Lunabelle rolled over for the first time tonight and I missed it :(  Of course I've only left the girl about 3 times in her entire life and she has her first milestone with Sam.  Hopefully she will do it again tomorrow.  So now she's getting strapped in everywhere for sure!

Bigger Pictures

I'm so glad I have real life blogging friends.  We were talking about making larger pictures.  I still wasn't getting it after our the conversation I had with my friend.  After 20 minutes of messing with html coding- I realized the new blogger doesn't even require that!

You need to update to the new post editor.  To do that simply go to settings, scroll down to global settings and select Updated Post Editor.  When you upload your pictures you have the option of making them extra large- it's that easy.

The new editor also has a better preview option- I'm sure there are more good things, I just haven't explored them yet.

PS
I'm trying to win a gorgeous diaper bag- if you'd like to try to win head on over to Bethany's blog Rinse Repeat  To check out the pretty work of Beverly check out her website Remember Me Knots

Happy Valentine's Day

 This is the banner I made with my friend Jessica when I visited her in Minnesota.  We always make a craft whenever we get together.

 Here are some cute Luna pics.  I found the quilt at a thrift store. 

 Her Valentine Church outfit

 My sister Jenny made her this cute Valentine mobile.  Sam attached it to the bookshelf with a vintage yard stick!

 My sweet friends just dropped off a red heart balloon and some of these yummy cookies.  So, so sweet!

Love,
Luna and Becca
PS Return To Me is on Netflix watch instantly- one of my favorites- a great one to watch today!

A Long Week

I have to admit, it's been a tough week. Monday Luna had a rough night, and I was running out of patience. It was one of those nights that I had to just leave the room and let her cry and go into the bathroom because I was out of patience! I started volunteering again on Tuesday. It felt good to get back in the swing of things. But our truck isn't working, so I needed a ride. I was supposed to ease back into it, starting out working just in the morning- well it turned into a whole day. That was fine and great, because I love what I do- (and I need to do a post and explain and share more about it here on my blog.) I forgot my lunch. It was much harder to make my phone calls and assist people with a baby. Stress + Lack of Sleep + Not eating = My three migraine triggers. Tuesday night we went to the community dinner at our church. Sam had worship practice, so he didn't get home until 10 pm.

love this picture our friend took of the worship practice on Tues.

I had kiddos coming to my house Wednesday morning to make Valentine's and I had a terrible migraine Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. I was so looking forward to it, so I didn't want to cancel. So I rested/forced myself to get it all done. Luna woke wide awake between 4:00 and 5:00 am and Sam spent time with her, rocked her and got her back to sleep. I think he even went into work a little later than he was planning. That was so helpful! Everyone came and we had a great time decorating the cookies. Thankfully my migraine disappeared by the time everyone came (I love caffeine.) It just wasn't organized and all ready the way I imagined it to be in my mind. I was supposed to make a cake for a friends birthday, that didn't happen. By midweek I was wearing out. Surprisingly, Thursday I had a great day.

Can you believe my friend just moved into her house this weekend and made it look this cute for hosting a party by Thursday?- amazing!

I haven't been spending much time with God lately and that also just makes a huge difference. I spent some time praying Wednesday and it's just amazing the strength, love, and peace that God gives. Thursday Sam was practicing bass with a different band, so again he was home late. He usually has Fridays off, but this week he had to work Friday and Saturday. It hasn't really felt like much of a weekend. Sam's mom watched Luna for a few hours and we slipped away for a little date. I had a yummy Ahi Tuna Sandwich at Twigs. It was nice to get a chance to reconnect with Sam.

The weather has been warmer and we've been going on walks with Luna in the stroller. The walks have been giving us an opportunity for good conversation. Having a baby changes everything, obviously so it's been good to get outside and spend time together. After the walks and talks we have I realize how much I miss talking to my husband. I'm so thankful the days are lasting a little longer so we can sneak these walks in at dusk. I love the winter, but I've spent this one cooped up more than ever so it's refreshing to get outside again.

You didn't think you'd make it through this post without seeing a picture of this cute face, did you? It is hard to be mad or lose patience with that gummy little grin of hers

In some ways it's easier and I've gotten used to Luna- but weeks like this are bound to happen.

And I've been wanting to post on here. I'm sure anyone else who blogs can relate- I dream up millions of posts in my head and then life keeps happening and I get further and further behind. I really want to post every day but it's just so hard with Luna! I could have sugar coated this post and made this week look magical. I could have done a cute post of the cookies we made on Wednesday, or the fun birthday party with friends on Thursday. (I still want to share the cookie pics with you on here) It was a good week-a full one- but also so rough. I just wanted to keep it real on here.

Next week might not be much better. Sam is recording with his band Tuesday and it will be another busy week at work for him. He tried to fix the truck but it's still not working, so I'm without a car. I'm so glad that he gets to play music so often because he's really passionate about it. I'm thankful he has friends to jam with. It's just hard to have the long days without him. This week I'm starting it out being mindful of keeping God the focus rather than the afterthought- which is so often sadly the case. God is so good. And you can't feel too sorry for me because I'm blessed with an amazing group of friends who are sweet and offer to give me rides.

We've never been good about doing much on Valentine's day- we usually have an overnight getaway around February as a Valentine celebration. I still need to plan that. Tomorrow I hope to cook something yummy and maybe make a fancy dessert or something. I don't think either of us have plans for tomorrow night so I think it will be a fun night. I actually look forward to Mondays because Monday and Fridays are the only days we have nothing going on in the evenings.

I hope you spend tomorrow with people you love! Happy Valentine's Day and lets hope you see more posts this week!

PS If you're noticing the nice big pic size, I'm going to share tomorrow how easy easy it is to do this and I"m so excited to give this blog the much overdue design rehaul soon.  I LOVE the new blogger changes, so great!

Snowshoeing the Louisville Swamp

Remember the Jab Farm we visited in the summer? It's fun to compare the two seasons. Well Andy took us there again this last trip. Except this time we crossed over the frozen lake in snowshoes to get there. It was a gorgeous day. I like the signs that tell you the history of the family that lived there during the depression. They lived off the land, and two sisters lived there up until quite recently- the 80's I think. Built in 1880, and still standing. The little house that is complete has a stove in it and you can light a fire in the winter if you're too cold! I think it would be fun to do a winter overnight camping trip there.

Fun Shopping In Minnesota

When we were in Minesota I had to check out a few shops that I had seen from other bloggers. Serena talked about Hunt and Gather in Minneapolis- so we had to check it out. Kari of Artsy Mama is always talking about Nature's Harvest. We had a good time shopping in Wayzata. Although it would be more fun to stroll around the town in the Summer I think. We went to Wuollets Bakery- it was the competition of the old dessert place I worked at. So so yummy! And we had lunch at one of my favorites- D'Amico and Sons. We also window shopped at the Oh Baby outlet. Oh my. I LOVED everything there- they even had a designer named Luna Luna. Too bad that the outlet- 50% off price still listed everything at $50 an item! Yikes. It was good inspiration though. A lot of the clothes had embroidery and crocheted detailing and yo yos that I could definitely make myself. The colors were so fun. And since we're talking shopping in Minnesota I should mention The General Store in Minnetonka- it's a must see- especially around Christmas time. If you're searching for a unique gift it's the perfect place.

FYI: on a completely different side not I updated my flickr 365- I made it through January- we'll see how the rest of the year goes. I'm really having fun with this.

Project Restyle: Baby Heart Onesie

Before:

Luna was really laughing, so fun!

I got some cute little outfits for Luna for Christmas. The only problem is Christmas lasts one day. Babies grow out of things so fast, so I wanted to maximize the wear out of this striped cutie. So I took some felt and felted sweaters and covered up the Christmas part with hearts.

You can find it and other things people have restyled on the flickr page: Project Restyle