Pictures!

My mom recently mentioned that I don't have enough pictures of Charlotte on here. Hell, I don't have enough of ANYTHING on here right now what with the exhaustion of home renovating like mad so that we can move into our new (old) home as soon as humanly possible.

Here's some recent photos for your enjoyment.

Home Owning and Decorating

As I am about to own another older home in less than a week (eeee! so excited!!),
I am obsessed with painting and decorating and renovating on the cheap, because I
love doing these things AND because the 1952, original owner home really needs
some modern touches to feel like ours.

I am considering using the new rugs and curtains I bought for our bedroom last
year and using them in the living room to mix things up. The curtains are a pretty
faux silk blue with orange undertones. With that in mind, what color walls do you
think would look the best?

living room color scheme by tmlens on Polyvore

The reason I am loaning the bedroom stuff to the living room is because I've
decided to paint our bedroom gray again - like we did in Nashville right before
moved away. I never got the chance to enjoy the lovely Sherwin Williams Dovetail
gray before moving, so I want to enjoy the clean, cool color again. 

Here's what I'm thinking - the photo and the bedroom are my inspiration pieces. 
I just bought the mustard yellow duvet from West Elm and I already own the 
candle holder. What do you think?

bedroom by tmlens on Polyvore

One More Week

A week from tomorrow, and this will be HOME! :)

Bangs, Bangs, The Wonderful World of Bangs

Hey all!

I decided that, seeing how it had been 3 months since a pair of scissors touched by hair, it was time; well over time to get it trimmed. And I was ready for a bit of a change - hell, what in my life hasn't  changed in the past few months (job loss, move to another state, living with parents instead of on our own, new job, etc. etc. etc.). So it was time for my hair to get in on the changaroo action!

Looking for ideas, I found this old shot of me with bangs (taken about 2 years ago when I was still on honeymoon with St. Louis).

And so I decided to get some bang action going. I found an Aveda salon in Denver and had about 3 inches cut off since it had gotten suuuuuper long in my neglect. Here I am at a bar with my dear kindergarten - 12th grade girlfriends who flew into town for a mini reunion BEFORE:

And here I am at another bar (on a different night) with my buddies sporting my new fringe AFTER. You likey? I do. :)

So Much

Thanks for the few shout outs I got letting me know you're still checking in on me!

There is SO MUCH to report that I don't know where to begin. I'll make it brief:

1. We're still living in my mom and step-dad's basement. We're grateful for the free place to live so that we can save some serious moolah, but we're also itching to get our own place again and for Claire and Charlotte to have separate rooms. I know there are a lot of parents out there who rally about the greatness of room-sharing, but it's just flat difficult. Charlotte goes to bed at 7:30 and Claire goes to bed an hour later. So Claire has been going to bed on our bed and we carry her in to her own bed every night because if she tries to sneak in, Charlotte inevitably wakes up and wants to PARTAY!

2. We've gone back and forth for the past month on trying to buy a house here in Colorado. Yep, you read that right. We're seriously wanting to settle here - it's our HOME - and Huz will try to reinvent himself and his career here. It's a gamble on his career, but we're both at the point where we want to root. And Colorado is an amazing place to root! All was well on the house hunt - we received 3-4 pre-qualification letters from lenders and we started hunting. The market is CRAZY here, with homes coming on the market at 8a.m. and seriously going under contract by 6p.m. So, our first bid we placed wasn't accepted (buyers are also having to offer above asking price to even get a bid accepted!). The second bid we placed was accepted, BUT it was for a house with a hole in the roof. It was also bank-owned (a foreclosure) and, we found out after getting in contract, they refused to turn water on for inspection.

For real.

Why on earth would we consider a house with a literal hole in the roof? Because it was huge and had great potential for our family of four. BUT, the kind of loan needed for it (203k - rehab loan) is special and we had to contact more lenders who specialized in it. We got our pre-quals and went forward.....for about 2 days when everything violently ground to a halt. "Oh!" the lenders called me and said, "you have a 2 year employment gap! We can't give you money. Sorry!"

WTF

So, we got OUT of contract on the hole in the roof house and started all over again. For a while every lender who had previously pre-qualified us, mind you, suddenly re-nigged and said we'd have to wait 5 more months - when I was employed here for 6 months - and then start the application process all over again. And we were both prepared for that long wait and for the inevitable lack of any houses for sale in Colorado winter....

BUT, we got a call on Sunday that we got underwriter approval for a conventional loan with NO mortgage insurance (JUST what we wanted!!). Finally!

So, we started the house hunt for the THIRD time, put in an offer the day a house came into our price range (on Tuesday) and we got it!! So, we close on August 16th (pending a good inspection on Monday) and can move on with our lives! And everybody will have their own room! And we have a study/den! And Huz and I will have a bedroom suite with attached bathroom - a luxurious first for us! And there's already a garden in the backyard so we don't have to dig one up! I'm so happy. :)

So, in short, it's been a VERY exciting, nerve-wracking, stressful, crazy month.And all of this has been on top of me learning a brand new, busy job with a commute I'm not used to. *SO TIRED*

We HAVE managed to have some fun too. Enjoy some pictures of our lives below. And thank you for reading and hanging in there during my hiatus! I'm sure I'll blog more frequently when I have a bunch of DIY house projects to share! I LOVE those! :)

Hi!

Anybody still here?

*chirp, chirp*

Sorry

So sorry, y'all, but life is SOOO busy these days! I spent the first week reunited with Huz and the girls on cloud 9; we enjoyed a night away together our first weekend; then the second week was spent as if we were all on a family vacation since it was the last week together before I went back to work full-time after a 2 year hiatus. We are currently at the end of my first week back as a working mama and are all getting used to the change. The girls seem fine (though Charlotte wanted her Daddy to put her to bed tonight which honestly broke my heart - it only took 4 days for her to not be in love with me and need me to do everything for her - *sniff*) albeit it a bit emotional this week with the abrupt change from me being with them all day, every day to Huz being with them all day, every day.

We'll adjust.

But, for now, I'm tired and can't post much - especially since my new job is highly regulated/restrictive when it comes to internet.

I hope you all are well!

Love,

V.W.