Hello from a new home!

As you may have guessed from my absence on my blog, our family has gone through a couple changes. Both the hubs and I are back in school, this time hoping to attach a "Dr." to our names when it's all said and done. We also ended up moving to a different state and even a different part of the country. Unfortunately, being back in school means I have less time (ok, no time) to blog. I hope to do a couple more blogs over the holidays, so for now, hello from our new home!

 we live in a historical industrial building that was converted into loft-like apartments. 

our wall of art, including our old license plate from CT.

thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for upcoming posts! 

(you know me, I've already rearranged the furniture) ;)

Rearranging the Living Room...Oops I did it again.

I truly believe I have an addiction. It's called I-Have-To-Rearrange-All-My-Furniture-Every-Month. So maybe it's not quite that bad, but as soon as we came back from MN, I started to rearrange the kitchen and living room. You may remember the many ways I have rearranged in the 12 months of living here...The couch has been on every possible wall in the room. So what next? Ha. That's no challenge to an addict. I came up with something different and so far we love it.

This is the view from the kitchen. The front door is on the right.

I wanted something light and airy for summer, but also with pops of bright color.

my blogging corner. floral pillow from ikea (like 5 bucks!)

the other side of the  couch. remember these two chairs?  (i found them in the garbage and totally re-did them)

 This is our entryway. Next to this are the bookcases and artwork. I'm happy with my "new" living room!

 Let's see  how long this arrangement lasts ;)

I'm Blessed:: snow storm adventure

Happy Monday everyone! Today we are blessed with a cancelled day at the University. This was especially awesome for my husband who didn't have to go in and teach 3 classes today. Instead he can stay home and grade all their midterms :) It's nice to have an unexpected day to catch up with everything you've been wanting to do but haven't managed to fit into your already busy days.

On Saturday night, the northeast (where we live) was hit with a snow storm! In october! The new called it "Snowtober." Lol, I couldn't believe it when the flakes started to fall. It really looked like Christmas. And despite everyone freaking out, I loved how beautiful it was.

Yesterday, I went to a Reformation Concert (that my husband performed in) and they did lots of beautiful music with choir and orchestra, including Bach Cantata No. 80 that includes the famous tune "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Before the concert I dropped him off for rehearsal and went to IKEA since it was only 2 miles away from the church! (LOVE that place) I got a couple of little things that I'll share with you in my post tomorrow. But you can't leave ikea without getting some froyo and a cinnamon bun. oh and coffee. (i mean, the price is just so right!)

I'm linking up with my blogger friend Gretchen from He Sows, She Sews to take a breath at the beginning of our weeks and just think about all that we have that we can be truly thankful for. For more on that, visit her blog if you've got a second.

we got some beautiful snow. 

we woke up on sunday morning to find that someone had dug out our car! how awesome is that?! (it's actually especially awesome for us since we don't have a shovel. we are procrastinators)

I rearranged our living space. it used to look like this.

while it was snowing late saturday night, we watched The Fellowship of the Ring, and I cut out my little bunting that I will use to decorate the food table at the recital for my students this weekend. also, i am wearing my where's waldo sweater that makes me feel extra comfy and quite lucky. ;)

we could actually hang out together and do something weirdly fun- the hubs and i built a domino train design. after we had built it 7 times (knocking it over while it was in progress) we ditched our fancy design and just did this. 

I went for a walk to take pictures and found some downed trees around our neighborhood.

these were actually blocking the main road in front of our place. we are so lucky to not have lost power when most of CT was without power. (over 700,000)

what are you thankful for this week?

Apartment Tour Continued: The Kitchen

Before I get to the picts. I'd have to say decorating an apartment can be a bit frustrating at times. There are some things that I would looooooove to change in my apartment like wall colors, light fixtures, flooring, kitchen cabinets, and many other things. But when you rent, that changes things up a little. (also, we'll most likely be moving by next summer so we don't want to invest too much in things we'll have to leave behind) You work with what you've got and try not to think about how things could  look if you could have things your way. That being said, I still enjoy moving into a new place and getting to arrange the furniture and making things look fresh and new.  So here we go: on to the kitchen!

So this is actually part of the walk-in pantry that is perfect for storing much of our baking and misc. kitchen equipment

drying oregano. it's the prefect place to dry herbs because this place stays dry and dark.

we're big fans of America's Test Kitchen. 

 The left side of the kitchen. I know it looks messy, but that's realistic, right? 

I do like that our stove is gas- which is a change from our last apartment.

The view from the opposite side of the kitchen. we bought this cart/island off of craigslist (which is originally from ikea) and it's definitely a workspace we need and use often.

Hands down- my favorite way to store our knives. super accessible. who likes to go digging in a drawer for sharp objects? 

an ikea purchase which gives us even more accessibility and ease. that's what i'm about in the kitchen.

my poppy flower spoon rest! found at marshalls on clearance for $3. love.

my organizational board in the kitch. it has my grocery list, recipes we use on a weekly basis, meal ideas and some recipes i'd like to try soon.

part of my butler. or at least that's what I like to call it. 

ta-da! my butler. i cannot tell you how easy this makes my life. no opening drawers and cupboards when trying to set the table or getting someone a drink. also my measuring cups and spoons are always where I can reach them with floury hands and not leave four marks behind on drawers and such.

well, that's most of the kitchen for ya. there's also a food pantry off to the side of the stove where we keep food and such. it's really nice to have one (since we didn't have one in our previous place.) 

hope you enjoyed it!  

Welcome To Mi Casa: Living Room

Finally, the post everyone my mom and in-laws have been begging  kindly requesting! We moved into our new digs about a month ago on a soggy, rainy, cloudy Sunday. By Tuesday we had all our boxes unpacked, our clothes put away and our photos/art hung on the walls. (Yep, I'm kind of obsessive compulsive about having everything in it's place asap. makes life a little less stressful sooner. plus I hate when I can't find the 1/4 measuring cup.) And now, a month later, I've taken a couple snapshots- which I know I should have done sooner. We haven't gotten any new furniture since our last place (which you can see here, or at least partially) yet I wanted it to feel like we did. I switched out the area rugs from our bedroom and living room and created a different color palate and feel.

This is the living room. The door leads out to a balcony, not an entrance. (remember there was a green/leafy rug in our last living room? oh and we had yellow walls that cast a strange glow. white is so much better)

opposite wall of the couch. on the right is one of the built-ins.

the built in. houses crafts, books, games and miscellaneous, "i don't know where else to put it" items.

love the doors though.

entry door. built-in right next to door. bookshelves on the right. (and below)

our books. karl did all the shelf styling- i'm so proud of him :)

a book written by karl's great-grandfather in norwegian (front copy,1926 ed). his grandfather translated it into english (back copy) 

cool cloth-bound children's books by an english artist. picked them up at a bookstore going out of business for 90% off.

some more of our older books. i love old copies of classic children's books. i'm weird like that.

even though we've only been living here a matter of weeks, i've already switched the furniture around. which is hobby/obsession of mine. 

the coffee table i picked up at goodwill for $10. still need to sand and repaint it.

my poor succulent that i had to replant and almost all of her leaves rotted away. 

our little balcony. my basil plant is doing well. can't say as much for the rest of them. i always forget what plant i should water which days and which one i just watered. poor things. they've been through a lot.

The Flowers Are Bloomin!

If you live in the Hartford area of Connecticut, you know about Elizabeth Park. It's only a GIANT ROSE GARDEN. It's pretty beautiful. There's a ton of roses, a greenhouse, a rock garden, a gazebo, a pond, a stone bridge, a restaurant with it's own garden...you name it, it's probably there!

But if you don't live in the area, you've probably never been there. Fear not! You won't have to miss out- here is some of the beauty:

If I were a risk-taker, I might have had my wedding here. But I always worry about weather.

The vines are just dripping with roses.

 Ivy covered gazebo. Is there anything more romantic than that?

Happy-almost-friday everyone!

Awesome Autumn!

Ok, I know it's technically not autumn yet, but the weather has become just perfect to spend some time outside! We took advantage of that this weekend and went on a little walk (ok, so it was a couple miles and   I'm totally out of shape) down to the Center and had fun walking around....

The Center (well, part of it) the library is in the back center and in the middle is a kind of courtyard where they do all kinds of activities in the summer. Every Wednesday there's a little stage with a band playing music and people bring little picnics. 

Barnes and Noble- we almost always stop here when we're in the center

Nope, we're not at a friends house or really anyone's house. We're at Crate&Barrel and, yes, this is what we do when we're there.

Sitting on a bench outside B&N. We are tired from walking all the way down there. Which is why we look a little drugged.

A little side trip to Trader Joe's. Love THAT PLACE. Notice how I put the mushrooms and lettuce in a prominent place and hid the sweet cereal bars and brownie mix? (yeah, I didn't plan that) We really do try to eat pretty healthy! p.s. We just read in Consumer Reports that out of 16 brands of box brownie mixes, this one from TJ's blew the rest out of the water. I'll let you know what we think of them!

Also this weekend I found a coffee table!!! I had been looking for one for a couple months, but was just surprised at the poor craftsmanship and high price tags. Even at C&B they were wobbly and not made out of all wood. Well I picked this one up second-had for............$10!! It's solid wood and not factory made. 

I'm thinking about sanding it down and re-painting it to match the rest of our furniture. (shhh, don't tell Karl)

This weekend I also hit up the library sale and picked up some awesome books. Like this vintage fairytale book will awesome illustrations. (I have an addiction to cool kid's books)

Also I got this James Herriot Children's collection. It has all the stories that don't have the words "twisted uterus" and "bloody afterbirth" in them.

This one is a cool kid's book with all the illustrations by Velazquez.

And lastly, this book about a Norwegian ski race. Gotta start the Norwegian collection sometime....

Can't wait to show you what I picked up this Sunday outside a fancy house...

So glad you dropped by to visit! I'd love to have you join my blog by commenting, following or doing both!