Going "Home"

This past weekend Arsen and I made a quick trip to Oklahoma to see my parents. We drove up to my dad's place early Saturday before heading to my mom's that evening. We've been planning a trip for awhile now, but it seems like time passes so quickly and before you know it it's been a couple of months since we've been.

It's funny, because even though my parents divorced a few years ago and neither of them live in my hometown anymore, going to see them at their individual houses still feels like going home to me. I love this quote, because it is SO true: “Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to”. For 18 years I was dyyyying to leave my hometown and live in a big city and do all of these glamorous things I thought I would be doing as an "adult". And now one of my absolute favorite things to do is go "home" and sit around and talk to my parents. Oh, the things we learn as we get older.....

My dad lives in the town he and my mom both grew up in, a tiny little place in southern Oklahoma. He lives outside of town on about 40 acres, and it really is gorgeous. Growing up my dad always had several horses, lots of land, barns, etc.....and I had no use for it. He even bought me my own horse when I was around 9 or 10 years old. What little girl doesn't want a horse? I think I rode it one time. So ridiculous.

He and I took a walk down to his barn with Addie and his dog, Girl, who is just the absolute sweetest thing you've ever met. Now that I'm, ahem, older, and have learned to just slow down and take in my surroundings, I really enjoy how peaceful it is in the country. I didn't really appreciate what I had growing up. Isn't that the story of everyone's life?

After visiting for a few hours, we headed north to see my mom. She lives in a suburb of Oklahoma City with her new husband, Basil. They have a nice house that they've just remodeled quite a bit, right on a lake. Again, so peaceful! I guess if Arsen and I are set on living in a city at least we have a couple of great places to escape to and relax.

We grilled out that evening and had a few drinks. My wonderful uncles came to visit and we all just sat around and chatted and played Catch Phrase (our favorite game) for quite awhile. So nice to get away and forget about everything going on back home sometimes.

Mom and Basil have done a lot to their house in a short amount of time, and it has made such a huge difference. They knocked down the back wall to the dining area and expanded it. I think she said they only added about 200 square feet, but it feels SO much bigger. They also added an amazing outdoor area. Arsen was practically drooling over their whole set up out there.

It was definitely a much needed, super relaxing weekend. My mom and I actually stayed up until like 4 in the morning talking, so I think I came home more tired than when I left. I've been pretty useless this week...I blame her! 

This upcoming weekend I've got several little projects I'm planning to work on, and Arsen and I are actually volunteering at North Texas Food Bank for the first time. I've been looking for places to volunteer around here, so I'm hoping we really enjoy it. And then....I start my new job on Monday! I'm super excited to see what's in store for me in this new position. Lots of stuff going on around here....now let's just see if I can keep up with this blog while doing everything else. Fingers crossed!

Makin' Changes

So something I've learned in the past few months is that as a homeowner there are always about 127 things that need to be updated or fixed or something. This might sound like a bad thing, but as a person who isn't so great at laying around and relaxing, this just means that I always have some project to work on. And something to try and convince Arsen to assist with...he loves it.

I have a list a mile long of things I want to do around here, but I thought I would share a few of the things that I (we) have accomplished so far. 

One of the first major things that I wanted to deal with was the fireplace. This picture is one that I took before the last guy moved out....I'm not sure that it's a great idea to post a picture with his stuff in it, but he had it in the online listing so....we're good.

I seriously HATED the gold fireplace screen. And the pink and white brick. Ugh. Our house is the same brick on the outside, but somehow it is just so much more hideous with that brassy gold accenting it. I decided to rip out the screen first, which Arsen did before we put too much though into it, so it just sat there not-connected for awhile. After a bit we decided to paint the brick, and we got a really pretty screen at Target. I'm still working on deciding exactly what to with it all, but I'm pretty pleased with how it's looking so far.

We also decided to pain the half bath downstairs. It was just so plain and white. We're still planning on having tile floors installed, but that may be a bit down the road. Here's what we were working with: 

Gross. So all we've done so far is paint the walls, change out the light fixture, and add a few decorations. But I think it's a pretty major improvement.

It's so amazing how much paint can change a room. I'm kind of obsessed with painting everything I can get my hands on now. I feel like Lowe's is my home away from home. We've also painted the front and back doors, but I'm waiting on a few more little adjustments before the big reveal...

 

Love & Marriage

We're coming up on six months of wedded bliss in a few weeks, and it's kind of unbelievable that it's been that long. Things have been wonderful/stressful/interesting/challenging/amazing....and more. Arsen and I had been together for three years by the time we were married, so I figured marriage wouldn't really change things all that much. But it kind of has. I think our first big challenge was dealing with the holidays. 

Thanksgiving wasn't too bad, but Christmas was an absolute nightmare. I seriously considered calling everything off completely and not seeing a single family member because it was so stressful. Not only do we have Arsen's parents, sister's family and brother's family here in Dallas, we have alllllll of my family in Oklahoma. My parents are divorced, so that equals two Christmases, but there are also my Grandparents, my mom's new husbands family, my dad's brother.....sigh. I believe all together we had seven Christmases in about four days.Yeah....so next year we're going to have to work on that in advance. We had a great time, and everything worked out perfectly, but goodness....

Addie LOVES Presents!

New Boots! Arsen is a wonderful gift giver :)

He's Just So Thoughtful

Dallas Cowboys Christmas Ornament.....Anything Cowboys is a Winner

Other than that, things have been pretty great! The main thing we have going on right now is working on the house. We've decided we want to stay in this house for several years, so now we're excited about all the things we want to fix up. Luckily the kitchen is completely upgraded, so that HUGE expense is something we won't have to worry about. We've got the stainless steel appliances, granite counters, nice floor, all that jazz. But in just about every other room in the house I can probably list at least five things I want to change. But honestly, I loooooove it. We had a three day weekend last week for President's Day, and I literally spent the entire three days pulling everything out of every closet we have, organizing it, getting rid of things, and re-organizing it in the closets. Pretty much the most relaxing/enjoyable weekend I've had in a long time. When did I turn into such a housewife? Unbelievable.

So, my goal is to start taking before and after photos of all of the things we work on. My problem is that I'm a bit scattered, and I get excited easily, so I've usually got about four projects going on at once, and when I come up with a good idea I start working on it immediately....usually about halfway through I realize I forgot to take my before picture. Hopefully I get better at that! 

Another goal....make a blog post more often than once every four or five months....