Busy Bees

We have been busy at making our condo feel more like home and doing a good job at it if I do say so myself.

Brightened this shelf area up by painting it light gray and adding old barn wood shelves. Adam and I got to traipse over an old farm with my brother-in-law, Buck, to find this barn wood when we were in Maryland over Thanksgiving. Reminds me of him every time I walk into the enter way.

We painted most of our condo from this yellow to a light gray except for our bedroom. We painted it a navy blue and I am loving it. We still need to hang all our white and gold decorations but it feels elegant yet cozy.

Took out the anchored plastic paper towel holder ( I have no idea why they decided to anchor a plastic paper towel holder) and replaced it with one we made out of pipe. Really loving the rustic/industrial feel we've gone with in our place.

These are two of my favorite projects Adam has made so far. I mean for real though, I love everything he's been helping me with. It's been so fun to do these projects together by brainstorming ideas and then helping each other complete the project.  The top art piece was Adam's vision and he took that one from start to finish. It looks awesome in person and is a perfect piece for entry way. The second piece is our coat rack in our front closet. So when I painted the closet, I had to take the old coat rack out of the closet. When I did that it jacked up the wall that I had just patched so I could paint. In my typical fashion, I got mad at an inanimate object and decided that the ugly monstrosity would not go back in the closet. Poor Adam went to work with a working coat rack and came back to an empty closet that now needed a coat rack. He was nice though and made this beautiful thing. Makes me happy every time I get to hang my coat there.

Adam has been getting good use out of his tools with all these projects. I can't wait to show you all of the finished products when we get them done. We are getting so close.

A couple weekends ago, we visited some friends and Adam's sister down in Kentucky and found these beauties along the way. Things are so much cheaper outside of the city. Most of the knobs will be used for various shelves.

Seriously, we spent $10 on that box of knobs. It was amazing and then Adam made this shelf to hang my aprons. I feel like we probably should do a few tutorials because we've been learning a lot but I don't really have any pictures to support that next time.

Thought I would give an update even if it's not very thorough. We are loving life and our new condo ;)

Top 5 things I didn't blog about in 2014

All over social media the last few days, I've seen top things people did, created, blogged about, etc in 2014 and everyone's resolutions for this year. Haha Gotta love people who've got it all together. That is definitely not us. We snuck in a second move this year, I changed jobs twice, and have met a ton of great friends which has left us muy ocupado (aka every minute planned busy). For the most part, we love this lifestyle but sometimes it's nice to be on time to something, buy gifts before Christmas Eve (Sorry mom!), and relax once a while. So in celebration of the New Year, I've decided to take a look back on the things I didn't blog about because we were too busy.

1. Girls Weekend/Boys Weekend
I had a girl's weekend in June with 7 of my college friends that was a perfect mix of sightseeing and relaxing. We had perfect weather and good food. Poor Abby and Kindra were both pregnant and Chicago is full of so much walking #wewalkedsomuch #terriblefriends



That same weekend Adam went to Michigan with his dad and a few of their friends for an annual golf trip. They rocked the views of Lake Michigan, good food, and three days of golf like a bunch of champs.



Adam also went on his second annual trip with his buds where they visit a new baseball field every year. Minneapolis was the destination of choice this year with Target Field and the Mall of America being obvious activities during the weekend. Love that they do this!

2. I saw my family 5 times this year
Ladies and gentleman, a new record has been set for seeing my family in one calendar year since I left for college over 7 years ago (Yikes, was I really a freshman in college 7 years ago? SEVEN? oh boy!). From girls weekend to surprise parties, I had a blast seeing new nieces and nephews and family staples this year.



3. We had 23 visitors this summer in our small apartment with only one bathroom
We loved hosting friends (old and new) and family this summer to see our favorite city and hang out with us city folk. Cubs games, beach trips, and good, good food. So fun!

4. I got a new job
I started a new job at my church at the end of October and hit the ground running. I'm the only graphic designer for a multi-site church here in Chicago. We currently have 6 locations but are looking to multiply again this year. It's been really busy but also really encouraging and challenging (in the right ways) ... just a really good fit for me. Really happy that this opportunity opened up for me.

5. We bought our first place!
This happened so fast but we fell in love with a place close to the lake and our church. We talked to a realtor at church on Saturday, saw the place on Sunday, I had an all day interview with my church (my new job) and saw it again on Monday night. We then put in an offer on it. I got offered a job the next day and we heard that they accepted our offer. Wowzas. We then closed 10 days before Christmas and moved that weekend! Crazy- Crazy but we are loving the place. We've done a ton of projects the last few weeks along side each other and friends to get this place looking like us and are hoping to show it off soon ;) After 5 moves in 3 1/2 years, we are ready to settle down for a bit.

Confessions of a Chicago Designer

I made a coworker some no-bakes for the his birthday and then snuck two while he was out of our office. #sohungry #the worst #sorrymike

Adam said, "we're pros at traveling," as he dropped our suitcase down the escalator.

I just got a "daaaayum girl" as I was walking down the street. Should I count today as a success?

Thanks for your input, stranger.

"Hey girl, I see you waiting for the bus. Need a ride?" #strangerdanger #thanksbutnothanks

my response

"Jigging but jiggling across the line in time" Adam's mantra for when his friends bet he couldn't run a 400 meters dash in a minute and 15 seconds. He did it in a minute and almost 10 seconds.

"Team work makes the dream work"- a cashier commenting on me ordering food and Adam buying it. #boom

Random thoughts

Often I think, I should blog about this and then I never do. So then I just start a blog post and act like it hasn't been days, let along weeks since I blogged. Like if I don't address it, will they notice how long it's been. Will they notice that's it's well into November and I still haven't mentioned anything about our summer, vacation, or my new job? I can only hope. So here's me pretending that we've been having this ongoing online conversation and we're just catching up on my new sitch.

So yeah, I am two weeks into my job and loving it. I mean the commute is longer (going from a measly 15 minutes on the bus to more like 45 minutes between walking, L, bus, and more walking). But so far, so good. I just use the time to read the section of the New Testament that we have to read for the day (Did I tell you that our church is reading through the New Testament in 8 weeks?) Yeah, it's kicking my butt. It's so convicting to have to keep to a schedule and read a lot but it's also so good. You really get a lot more out of it when you read it all together. (Shocker, right?). Anyways, I read it on the L and surprisingly have had 2 people in the same week ask me about what I'm reading. Never knew it it was such an ice breaker. But back to work, it's going really well. The people are so nice and the work is challenging because I'm getting to do different things all the time. I got to help with the set design the other day which was a new and fun experience for me. Just makes a huge different to work with people you like while doing something you like.

After next month, all our crazy changes should be done. We are set to close on our new condo and hopefully be done moving by the holidays. This will be my fourth move in three years so I'm excited to be settled in my job and our new home long-term.

Well I gotta run but hopefully we'll be able to catch up some more again soon.

Things I'm loving

Through the last few really busy months, these things have been keeping me sane so I thought I would share.

1. She reads truth – Daily truth straight to your inbox that is spot. on. Ladies that love Jesus and are being used by the Lord to encourage other ladies on their walk . There is a follow up image if you're on Instagram, which brings me to my second like of the day

2. Instagram – If you aren't on Instagram yet, let's stop the talking and you go get on that gram. Instagram can be catered to what you want it to be. Can be used to keep up with friends, be encouraged by other Godly ladies or inspired by other people in you field. I love a good creative or funny Instagram. (Etiquette for you new users: Instagram isn't for albums it's for single photos. No one likes a double or triple post-er)

3. Skimm – this one is a new find for me but I am loving it. It's a brief Monday-Friday email that gives you a give you a rundown of the news in a funny and friendly way. They read so you can skim.

That's all I got for now but hope you guys have a good weekend!

Coming back

Guys,
Can I just say that the last few months have been crazy? Between festivals and quality time with friends and family, we have been going SO. MANY. MILES. per minute. I thought the changes of season would slow our roll but we are still full-steam ahead.

If you haven't spoken to us in the last 2 weeks, I got a new job as a graphic designer at my church and we are in the process of buying a condo #chicagoforlife. (Today is my first day ;) and no, we aren't pregnant but we are digging our heels in deeper into the city and making it official that we are staying for a while.

So this is why I haven't blogged for a while. I was busy with everything and everyone and something had to give. I was hoping to be able to redesign this blog (finally!) during the break, but found I missed blogging more than my lack of redesign. So buckle in and get ready for some recaps in the next few days.

Where has the summer gone?

I cannot believe we are already well into August and that I've hardly blogged at all. Yikes! We have been so busy with seeing old friends, making new ones and really enjoying our city (all very good things!). Also had no idea how long our busy season at work would last. I am about a month and half in and have a least that much left until I see the workload getting back to normal. I was hoping to redesign my blog this summer because I want it to look nicer instead of being embarrassed when people see it, but it looks like that's not going to happen for another couple of months.

Just wanted to drop in and say I'm still here, Adam and I are doing great and I will have so much to catch everyone up on when I can get blogging back into the weekly routine. Aiming to be back in the fall.