April 12th, 2018

 Today we said goodbye to Apartment 210. 

Although it might not seem like anything too special to an outsider, to us it was. This place was our very first home together. We laughed, cried, and grew together here. This is the place we were living when Mike asked me to marry him. This was the place I came home to every day after a long day of work. This was where we sat by our big windows watching the rain, and where we cuddled up together on the couch during that cold winter last year. We spent many evenings taking walks together around the complex, always making our way down to the beautiful pond each time. We've had many people over, from my family to our friends. We decorated and made that space into our home. Although we have an insanely beautiful and large house that we are now moving into, my heart still aches as we say goodbye to what always will be our first home together. Thank you, Windsor Lakes, for all the fond memories.

April 8th, 2018

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came out this weekend to help us repaint our apartment!! (That means you: Jax, Mitch, Tommy, Taco, Josh, & mom!) You all seriously are so sweet!! It was such a big help!

October 11th, 2017

After work Mike asked if we could head to Dollar Tree. When I asked why, he said he wanted to get more decorations. He said that, while he loved all our fall décor, he wanted some Halloween-themed stuff too! So we headed out and found all kinds of adorable things to put around the house. What I love most about Dollar Tree is how you end up picking out a cart-full of things, but when you head to the cashier you hardly break twenty bucks. :) We also stopped at Walmart afterward, where we found a cute Halloween wreath for our door!

Back at home we got right to work adding our new decorations around the house. We had fun putting window stickers all over the place—both of our huge windows, our bathroom mirror, and even on our door! We bought two cute light-up pumpkins to put in the corner and an owl whose eyes glow. After we were all done the house was a perfect blend of autumny-Halloween goodness. We were both really happy with the deals we found and how lovely it looked in our home!

September 4th, 2017

Happy Labor Day!! 🇺🇸

Today Mike and I had over my family for dinner! We cleaned the home all day yesterday and made everything look all pretty and presentable. We started cooking around 3PM, since everyone was coming at 5PM. I made chicken bacon pasta, while Mike made the sides (loaded mashed potatoes and rolls). I set the table all pretty with our navy and teal plates, plus some adorable fall napkins. :) Everyone arrived and instantly commented on all the cute fall décor I had put up all over the house. After we had sat down and food was served, everyone dug in straight away. I was very pleased because the food had turned out perfectly and everyone really enjoyed it! Both my parents had seconds. :D After dinner, I cleaned the table while the boys looked for something to watch on TV. We ended up putting on Despicable Me 3, which we all found pretty hilarious. After the movie ended we said our goodbyes and everyone thanked Mike and I for the lovely night. I was so happy with how smoothly everything went and I look forward to more dinner parties in the future!

August 30th, 2017

Today I came home to a wonderful meal prepared by my sweetheart! He made breaded chicken, loaded mashed potatoes, some noodles, and biscuits. It was delicious! I count myself lucky every day to have such a blessing of a man in my life. :)

After dinner we headed to dollar tree to buy some cute decorations for fall. Sure, it's a bit early...but shoot me. ;P We ended up finding a ton of adorable things, which of course I started to put up as soon as we got home. The whole apartment looks so seasonal now! It smells like apples and it just radiates fall. :) I love autumn, so having all the décor up just makes me so happy!

     

     

August 5th, 2017

Somehow I drew the short end of the stick and ended up with a 12PM - 830PM shift at work today. It was long and the store was very busy...I was exhausted by the time I got home and stumbled in the door. However, as soon as I walked in I was greeted by a clean, spotless home! Mike had spent a good amount of time making the place tidy and neat. He did the dishes, put laundry away, vacuumed, and just overall straightened up. I was so surprised and immediately grateful. It was such a sweet gesture and it really meant a lot to me. I have such a wonderful man...I consider myself lucky every single day! :)

July 18th, 2017

Found myself admiring these amazingly gorgeous pictures yet again today. I am still so much in love with them and all the beautiful details... If you're looking for an artist to commission, I definitely recommend John Greco Archibald! He is such a fantastic artist—and he's so sweet too! He always produces top notch art and works so well with his clients.

June 13th, 2017

Few photos of the wildlife by our pond! :)

April 22nd, 2017

Super thankful for my darling and the new flooring he installed in our kitchen! The room looks so much cozier now! Wood floors just look so much homier, don't you agree? ☺️ I love it SO much! Thank you honey!! 😍😘

March 14th, 2017

I realized today that I never posted any final photos of our home! So I went around the place today and snapped a whole bunch for you guys to see. :) I apologize in advance for the lousy lighting in some of the photos—it was already sunset when I finally got around to doing this.

Here's the lovely couch from my parents! It looks so perfect in our living room! It matches the wall colors and "earthy feel" to the room so well!

This is our living room! We bought the entertainment center for the TV after we fell in love with it at IKEA. It holds all of our electronics wonderfully!

Here's my beloved bookcase (full of all my beautiful books!) and our cute little Disney display case! :)

This is the dinner table, which is next to the kitchen of course.

This is our adorable little kitchen. Nothing fancy, but perfect for us!   

Pascal watches over the kitchen for us. ;)   

Here's the bathroom! We absolutely adore how the wall color came out and how well everything matches it!

Our bedroom. :) I love the color of the comforter we picked out—it contrasts against the pretty deep blue of the walls so nicely!   

And lastly our door—which I am enjoying decorating per the season. :)   

March 6th, 2017

As promised, we filled our frames today! :D

In the living room I hung up my movie tickets frame (above our movie collection, of course!). Above the TV and entertainment center we strung up the Tangled flag banner Mike made me last year for my birthday! :) On one wall we hung the "squares shelf" that I had in my old room. Like before, I tossed some books and nick-nacks on it. Our coat hooks also come with slots for photos.

In the kitchen we hung a cute frame that says "LOVE"—which we filled with three adorable shots of us. :) On the other wall is photos of two of my dogs: Sookie and the late Storm. I plan to get a few more frames for all the others dogs in Mike and I's lives (the late Miller, the late Nabuk, the late Goldie, and Charlie) to add alongside them. I hung up the sacred calendar (lol) in the kitchen as well. It's my color-coded, very specific, little baby. I love it so much. It also helps keep Mike a little more organized. ;)

By the kitchen table we hung what I'm calling our "family frame"—it's full of 5x7's of some wonderful family and sibling photos. :) Directly above the table on the back wall, we put up the Tangled wall drapery Mike got me for my birthday back in January. It is so gorgeous. I am so happy to have such a large, beautiful tribute to my favorite movie in our home!

In the bedroom above the bed is a beautiful, three-piece picture of Chicago's skyline. Mike found a little frame that holds four 4x6's, which he found the perfect spot for above the lightswitch. Above our desktop computer are three large frames that hold a bunch of photos (like, around 28 or so). We filled that with all kinds of pictures (friends, family, us two, dogs, etc). 

In the hallway on one wall we have two 8x10 shots from Disney that I just adore. In the middle is a lovely art piece that reads "I love you to the moon and back". On the other wall we hung up the caricature we got done in Navy Pier back in fall of 2015. Mike also hung up this drawing I made for him of the two of us (a gift from this past Sweetest Day in 2016).

And, of course, me being the festive person I am... I will be decorating our door per the holiday. :) We currently have our light-up St. Patrick's Day shamrock hanging! And I already have our Easter egg wreath ready in the closet to replace it. ;)

Everything looks completely amazing. Our home is even more homey now...if that's even possible. :) I love seeing the photos of us and all our loved ones everywhere! It just makes me so happy. Our home is so lovely. I am so thankful.