Category: At Home

The rain is falling lightly beyond the open patio door and Nova is curled in her usual spot beside me on the couch. Indie-folk melodies swirl around the apartment. The flowers we were given with our grocery pick-up are a nice spring-touch on our dining room table. Fake or not, I think they’ll stay for a while. Everything is calm; like the calm before a storm. But a very, very good storm.

Nothing about mine and Daniel’s relationship has gone slow, let alone at a normal pace. He popped the question in June 2018 and we were married in October of that same year. We have been in our cozy little white apartment from then until now, in April, when we already have an accepted offer on a house. When Daniel gets an idea in his head, he has a hard time sitting still until the idea becomes a reality. And I love that about him. I might dream and make goals but I struggle with the follow through, especially if it seems “hard”. I don’t like typing that out but it’s the truth. With Daniel, he thrives off the “hard” stuff – he needs to push himself in order to not become bored or idle in life.

I am equally as excited as I am nervous about our house journey. I already have vision boards of how we are going to make this new house our home. Repaint the 70’s pastel pink and blue tile in the bathroom, IKEA light fixtures in the dining room… I have nervous butterflies even putting words together for this post. The inspection is scheduled for Wednesday at 3PM and I am praying everything goes smoothly and my anxious nerves can all transition into pure excitement. If everything goes as we hope, we’ll close on May 6 – the best twenty-fifth birthday present I could ask for. I’ll admit, I will miss this cozy white apartment and the memories we’ve made here the last six months as husband and wife but I am so. ecstatic. for what is to come; the people that we’ll love on in our home, the meals we’ll cook in our kitchen and serve around our table, the bonfires in our huge backyard and the babies that we will bring through the door, into our home.

More butterflies.

A few years back, my now brother and sister-in-law gifted me with a Google Home Mini for Christmas – I set it up in my room at the time and linked it to my Spotify so I could play music to get me out of bed in the morning. (“Hey Google, play my Happy Heart playlist on Spotify.”) I have read a fair amount of controversy around the Google Home’s, Alexa’s, etc. invading privacy or recording conversations but personally, I view the Google Home the same as my iPhone. Anything with a microphone could and may be recording conversations whether I know it or not. But to each their own.

Our Google Home Mini is now set up in our kitchen to play music while we cook, answer our burning questions (“Hey Google, what is the current temperature?”) and to keep us entertained (“Hey Google, tell me a joke.”).

Continuing down the Smart Home trail, one of Daniel’s old roommates owned a few lightbulbs that he could control through an app on his phone; color, brightness, turning on and off, the whole shebang. I, personally, felt it tacky to change the shower light to blue while you were washing off but that’s just me. The boys seemed to love it. So when we moved into our own home and Daniel practically begged for these lightbulbs, I was a hard sell. (Here we are five months later with six of the bulbs scattered throughout our cozy white apartment and I’m writing a post about them; oh how I’ve grown).

More recently, Daniel set up the Mini to control these Philips Hue Lights and it is literally the most handy thing (tacky or not). Daniel’s favorite feature is the fact that he can change the colors of the bulbs through his phone. He’s all about creating a mood while he’s watching TV. Harry Potter is purple, Lord of the Rings is typically blue, I choose anything romantic to be red, etc. My favorite feature is the, “Hey Google, turn all lights soft white.” The most cozy, homey line I ever did speak. This is perfect for walking in the door after sunset and during long weeks that Daniel is away on work trips when I’m scared to walk into a dark apartment alone. Seven quick words and instantly the apartment is lit and welcoming.

Growing up, my parents put monetary value on different chores. My sisters and I learned from a young age that we had to put in the work to earn what we wanted. My mom recently found a post-it where she tracked our “chores” (letting the dog outside for 25¢, things like this). I was always chosen to clean the bathroom which I gladly did over dusting which, to this day, stands as the worst. chore. ever. I cleaned that porcelain, clawfoot tub with the most Comet and extra elbow grease.

Now that I’m older with a home of my own to keep tidy and clean, I’ve become very conscious about what I’m bringing through my doors. After doing very minimal research, I found that during “EWG’s air pollution tests, [they] found that Comet Disinfectant Cleanser Powder emitted 146 different chemicals, including some that have been linked to cancer, asthma and reproductive disorders”*. Not exactly what I want to be breathing in.

I tried Young Living’s Thieves Household Cleaner on a whim last year but quickly wrote it off because my roommate at the time wasn’t on board so I felt it a waste to split the chores 50/50, Thieves vs Comet and/or Lysol. Now living with Daniel, he is my same level clean-freak and just as aware of what he is putting into/onto/around his body. We use this Thieves cleaner on EV.ERY.THING. I’m talking the counters, stains on the couch, the toilets and mirrors. This stuff is pure gold.

Possible my favorite part is that the bottle is extremely concentrated. I mix 1 capful of the Thieves Household Cleaner, a few drops of lemon essential oil and fill the rest of the bottle with water. Give it a few shakes and voila! It works to disinfect and boost your immune system, all at the same time. I love our little plant-based cleaners. (An added bonus – we only have these two items under our sink to clean with. Say goodbye to cluttered cleaning baskets with fourteen bottles of chemicals that all claim to do the same thing.) Our cabinets are Marie Kondo approved.

*https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/ewgs-hall-of-shame-of-toxic-household-cleaners/10/

This past week was Christmas and safe to say, we need this slow weekend. I was out of bed two hours before Daniel which never (and I mean never happens). I have been home-ifying our little apartment like crazy every free moment I get. Rearranging the decor I already have out, pulling new things out of our organized and pretty junk-closet and adding to the donation pile what we haven’t used. I have been attempting a month of minimalism (blog post to follow, I hope) and it has been extremely beneficial for me to find what I love and display that in our home and keep in our closets instead of the clutter and what I think “should” be out. I’m trying to stop making my decisions based on the shoulds and it has been harder than it seems but also more beneficial I’ve found.

While I love Christmas, the time to reflect on why we celebrate and the time to spend with family, I hate the expectations of the holidays, from our families and from myself. (I’ve realized my own expectations are worse — for of the holidays and simply in general.) The pressure to show up, the pressure to give give give, the pressure to make everyone else happy. We were spread so thin this year so we’re working on that as well.

We took down our Christmas tree and all the decorations on December 26, Daniel’s request, and as much as I loved the coziness that the holidays brought, I didn’t expect the relief once it was all put away. The 9-foot tree gone meant for more space in the living room to move back furniture. The old Santa, stockings and candlesticks, little fake trees and golden reindeer gone meant more counter space, more open space, more breathing space. Our home is back to normal, back to clutter-free and I physically feel lighter.

I (reluctantly) crawled out of bed a little earlier today to spend some much needed quiet time. I need to get back into a normal routine of waking up early to spend time in the Word before rushing on with my schedule but with the days growing shorter and the morning rain this week, I haven’t been as motivated to wake up – wanting to spend just a couple more minutes under the covers while the Snooze counts down the dreadful seconds.

I had a few girls over for a taco + marg night at the apartment earlier this week and it was just what I needed – amazing food (if I do say so myself), lots of laughs and a little New Girl to top off the night. It is so exciting to see what God is doing in each of our lives; we shared deep struggles and deep belly laughs. I am so excited to host more girls nights and dinners for friends and family! I think that will be one of my favorite things about this little home that Daniel and I have created. My Spiritual Gift is definitely hospitality – I love having people over and everything this entails. I love cleaning for guests, preparing home cooked meals (this night, I prepared taco meat with a homemade taco seasoning blend and added quinoa to one pound of ground beef – you could barely tell!), inviting people in, caring for them in our home. I hope everyone who walks through our door feels loved, feels cared for and leaves feeling refreshed.

And because I can’t get enough of our little place, I took a few photos when I stopped by tonight after work – the windows open and fall scents floating around.

In an effort to distract myself from the fact that Daniel left in the wee hours of the night for a nine-day canoe trip in the Boundary Waters (without reception; I repeat, nine-days), I have taken to getting as much checked off my to-do list as possible.  All the errands and cups of coffee and check marks later, I am ready to curl up in bed with my book and it isn’t even 8:30PM yet.

Visiting our little apartment has been my favorite past time as of late. I check the mail (which I believe will be my daily chore once we’re married) and frequently change up the space.  I think our cozy home is coming along quite nicely. I am extremely grateful that Daniel’s need for  change just about parallels my need for redecorating, rearranging, re-changing-the-whole-living-room. Just about every. single. time. I drop in, even if it’s just for five minutes, I can find something to move or something to sell.

Today’s trip included a cozy new entryway message, a little rearranging of the pillows for the millionth time and a new junk-basket. As two people who hate clutter (hence the weekly trips to Goodwill and the Facebook Marketplace addiction brewing), I was so surprised when Daniel agreed with me when I said, “I think we need a junk drawer…” Somewhere for pens, somewhere for our grocery list and somewhere for random mail we don’t want to open yet. And so, the basket idea was born.  It now sits atop our fridge and is large enough to fit our junk but small enough for our minimalist-wanna be hearts to handle.

Voila!