Home VERY Sweet Home

Yesterday we drove up to Austin to check out some houses.... again.  This house hunt has just exhausted Hubby and I.  We were living on the kindness of my family while we were looking for our own house in Austin, and we've sort of exhausted that, too.  On Thursday we suffered the ultimate house hunt defeat: we finally found what we thought was the perfect home (although on the edge of sketchy neighborhood) complete with a bonus room perfect for our work-from-home businesses -- only to find someone else had gotten an application in ahead of ours.  I didn't cry, but I did isolate myself in my room for the whole day.

But back to yesterday.  Our plan was actually just to meet our realtor and get our deposit back, since we didn't get the house, and then meet up with friends Danielle & Rob of Sunday Hatch for the Renegade Craft Fair -- which I'll have a blog about tomorrow (so check back).  We got our deposit back (thank GOD!) and the realtor also showed us another house at our request which ended up being a huge dump.  How do people live in such filth?  I don't understand it at all.

We were really crushed after that.  We implored our realtor -- "What else can we do?  Where else should we be looking?"  I just didn't think we were seeing the type of properties we were really interested in.  There was something wrong with each one of them.  He suggested we just get in the car and drive around the neighborhoods we liked looking for unlisted properties, which we'd done multiple times already.  Oh well, we decided to try again.  In less than an hour we stumbled across this....

I called the number and left a message and off we drove.  Within 10 minutes my phone range and I was having an exciting conversation with the owners of the house.  They liked "the sound of us" so much they drove over an hour to come and meet Tim and I the same day.  We toured the house, talked about our lives, signed a lease, paid the deposit, and it's ours on June 1!

Yard with Deck

The Pros

• SUPER location
• we can walk to restaurants/grocery/gym
• safe (Hyde Park) neighborhood with friendly people
• short commute to UT campus and downtown
• very central to Austin life
• two bedroom + Living room -- we can have guests!
• large, spacious, well-kept yard with room to garden, keep chickens, and for Oscar to play
• hardwood floors
• landlords who really care about their property
• rent negotiation possibilities in trade for free labor on repairs
• opportunities for DIY home improvement projects which I can share with you in the future!
• Did I say GREAT LOCATION??

The Cons

• outdated poorly lit bathroom, very small sink with ugly tile
• kitchen appliances are old (luckily we have our own anyway)
• no dishwasher (we've dealt before, we'll deal again)
• bath and kitchen vinyl flooring needs replacing
• some rooms don't get great light

It needs a little love... but so happy to have a place of our own! 

Our first "married" home!

Upcycling Part II

BIG NEWS everyone!  My hair is finally long enough that I can put it all completely up on top of my head in one of those huge bouncy buns.  Just in time for ridiculous summer heat, too.

Okay... back to the topic of the post: Upcycling.  Yesterday I talked about why I loved Upcycling and some small ways in which I had taken trashed items and turned them into used objects.  Today's post is not about me (sadly, I know)... but rather about projects I have seen around that I think are stupendous!  Enjoy....


As seen on Poppytalk: a DIY blog , Katy of Mom and Her Drill , upcycled old wood pallets to create a rustic accent wall.

From Pinterest : This old suitcase was turned into a unique and super cute medicine closet.

Here are two examples of different ways to upcycle mason jars into non-traditional lighting options (both featured on Design*Sponge)

If you're interested in some DIY project inspiration, check out this site that gives 100 Amazing Upcycling Ideas they claim anyone can do on their own.

Upcycling Part I

I love UPcycling. 

You know, I entered that phase of my life several years ago where I generally cared about the environment and conservation.  I had parents who were pretty environmentally-conscious, so being a rebellious teenager I tried to be the opposite.  I distinctly remember opening the door of our parked car to set my empty Route 44 Sonic beverage cup out onto the parking lot pavement, before promptly driving away... to my mother's complete horror.  "Whaaaat, Mom?  They have people who pick them up!  Geeeez."

Now a responsible adult, I always recycle where there's opportunity.  While living in DC, Hubby and I got really concerned with recycling.  The District is really wonderful about recycling, they accept almost everything you can imagine.  So, when I say we got concerned with recycling, I mean we recycled everything we could think of: I broke down cereal boxes, carried glass bottles home from work, peeled off labels, and the paper stubs of tea bags... I mean, we were pretty zealous about recycling.

But UPcycling is just a brilliant concept.  Sure, breaking stuff down to make new stuff is a great idea.  What's even better is just skipping that whole "breaking stuff down" step and using things for unusual purposes after their original purpose is over, done with, kaput.  You know that saying?  One man's trash is another man's treasure?  With a little imagination a old object can be transformed into something truly unrecognizable and very desirable.  What I also miss about DC are what I liked to call "Sidewalk Donations."  In many District neighborhoods people would dump their old crap out onto the sidewalk, sometimes with a "Free" sign stuck to it, but it was generally understood it was for the taking.  That is where I found this beautiful Victorian era imitation chair with the basket weave seat torn.  Someone had just set it out to be snagged or trashed.  I snagged, and it's been the most interesting and unique pot holder ever since.

Also in DC I found all 6 of the old window frames which were used at our wedding.  These were mostly hanging out by dumpsters in the alleyways around our neighborhood.  They were someone's trash, but a definite treasure to me, and they traveled 2,000 miles to take part in our wedding day.

copyright Greenleaf Images 2011

I've talked about a few of my own upcycling ventures.  I'd love to know if any of you have done similar things?

Check back for Part Two on UPcycling -- I'll feature some interesting projects I've found around the web.

copyright Tyler James Metcalfe Photography 2011

I'm NO J-Lo!

I .swear. the next post won't be about weddings.  Really... I swear.

I was watching Maid in Manhattan on TV earlier today... terrible movie (WHY Ralph Fiennes?! WHY Stanley Tucci?!  Career low point...) and it has nothing to do with this post, except that it reminded me that J-Lo was also in a movie called the Wedding Planner...  Okay, this isn't really about weddings so much as it is about struggling to find purpose in whatever it is that you do. 

I've launched my facebook "fan" page for my new company Laurel White Design.  Very shortly Tim will be finished with my business website.  June 26th will be my first official wedding, coordinated by Laurel White Design.  Clearly, we are now open for business, and so, of course, anyone who hadn't sort of gotten wind of this project a few months ago is now asking questions about it.  I'm struggling very much with how to respond to the question "so you're a wedding planner now?"

{ugh.} 

The short answer is "Yes, I am indeed a Wedding Planner."  The long answer is... well, it's long.

This might seem like a really stupid moral struggle to some of you, but then, you didn't know me growing up.  You clearly didn't know me in highschool and college.  Finding love, sticking to love, and marrying my love are all relatively new concepts to me.  Yes, I'm married and I love who I'm married to, but I never thought I would find myself helping other people down that road.  I'm not against marriage.  It just was never a very high priority for me.  Maybe some of that was because I never thought I'd meet someone I really wanted to marry, but some of it was definitely the "I'll be the cool, single, independent chick for the rest of my life" motto.  More importantly, I always thought big, expensive weddings were a huge waste.  Sure, they're fun to attend - I appreciate that - but think of all the millions of other things you could put that money towards.  Starving children in Africa aside, there's traveling to exotic places, a down payment on a house, a new car, adopting homeless animals... you get the idea.  I'm a selfish person already, so yeah, I definitely struggle with jumping into an industry that is, pretty much, incredibly selfish.  I literally cringe when people ask me if I'm going to be a "Wedding Planner."  I feel like saying yes not only makes me selfish, but immediately dumps me into the category "shallow, superficial, and ridiculously overrun by estrogen."

Then a friend -- a guy, of all people -- totally screwed my head on straight.  He pointed out that I was having a very small, closed perspective on the whole scenario.  Here I've been put into a position to use skills I have been blessed with to help other people make one of the most important days of their lives an enjoyable experience.  Not only that, I can lead people to see that extravagant weddings aren't necessary to express their personalities or their love for one another.  But it's all about how you choose to look at what you do with your life... Yes, I'm looking to make a little bit of money at this, but really, I know I can be good at it, I know how much having an official wedding planner would have made my whole wedding experience a 1000 times better, and I know how much I like to see people relaxed, happy, and in love on their wedding day.

{hmmmm.}

I will try to remember that when I'm dealing with multiple Bridezillas on my own reality TV show and I have a personal assistant who bitches about me behind my back.

Gypsified

I was inspired by an inspiration board I saw on a wedding blog,The Wedding Chicks, for a Gypsy Engagement Shoot.  I felt like their board left a lot to be desired, BUT I do think a "gypsy theme" is a fantastic idea.  Before I ramble about that, I'd like to just comment here on a new trend in the wedding industry....

IMAGINATION.



If you haven't been a bride in the last couple of years, or you simply aren't on the look out for it, the whole "trendy wedding" thing has probably passed you by.  But there is good reason why so many designers, photographers, videographers, etc are jumping onto the bridal industry bandwagon -- some of the most beautiful, stylish events are now weddings.

Gone are the days of boring and bland . . .

When I was planning my wedding, I made a joke about how much time I'd been spending shopping for crafts in Hobby Lobby.  A friend said "Oooooh, please tell me you're not having a 'HOBBY LOBBY wedding'!?"  I didn't know what that meant, and I was immediately worried, because.... YES, a lot of materials being used at my wedding were purchased at Hobby Lobby.  However...they hadn't been purchased in the bridal section, with the fake flowers, all-in-one sets of garters and veils, and even white trellises with ivy.  So I was safe from what this friend deemed the pre-fabricated "Hobby Lobby wedding style."  Basically a packaged deal.  Unfortunately, many people are not.  I'd hope that in most cases it's for many reasons, from lack of funds to lack of availability.  Sadly, I think in many cases it's just pure lack of imagination. 

I love traditions, but there ARE many cases when tradition is NOT your friend.

Now, if you had the kind of wedding I just described, I apologize if anything I said here offended you.  You are not to be blamed for past years of tradition and typicality!  You were a victim.  Before the weddings of today, there were very few people who even considered having non-traditional ceremonies & receptions.  But some brilliant business-minded entrepreneur realized that NOW everyone wants to be unique and show personality and be treated as individuals . . . and they went right ahead and capitalized on it. 

[I'll just admit it... I'm trying to, too.]

My point is this.... WHEW.  Weddings can be fun, not stuffy.  Weddings can make you gasp with delight over the thought and detail applied.  Weddings can be creative, theatrical, fantastical, whimsical, elegant affairs... and all this on a budget, too!

So now, if you've read all of that your reward is to see the beeeee.u.tiful gypsy inspiration board compiled by Yours Truly.  Compare it with the "professional" one and then you tell me which one you like better.  This preeeety much took me all day because I'm still learning Photoshop.