When I was pregnant with W I was debating between these adorable baby animal photos or a woodland theme. I decided to go with the baby animals... but if I had known him I would have picked the woodland theme. He's definitely a rough and tumble boy. Or as the nurse called him- a bruiser! 😂 His room started out, you guess it! BLUE! We wanted something super neutral and easy to change out (so I can change it to woodland theme next month!). Here is the before. beforeafterAnd just a few I couldn't resist.. don't worry we don't have stuffed animals in his crib when he sleeps. And the second picture is when I was hoping by sitting in the nursery it would induce labor. 😂😂😂 I was a week over due!
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Most of my home posts have been before and afters. When it comes to the bathrooms in the house we are not quite there yet. Now in my dream world the after will look something like this: Unfortunately, we are a few years from really being able to overhaul our bathrooms. But like my mom says, slap a little lipstick on the pig while you wait. Let's start with the upstairs bathroom. beforeduringnowdownstairs bathroomThe downstairs bathroom continued the blue theme. Even had one of those blue carpet toilet seat covers! The ceiling was blue, toilet and vanity, window trim, everything. It was only a half bath and since we plan on living in the house forever we decided to add a shower. nowAfter many long nights of peeling wallpaper, painting, painting and more painting( highly recommend Behr Marquee... trust the girl who painted this blue to white), we have a half finished bathroom. The vanity and mirror are haunting me but hopefully they will be replaced this summer. Then, we will add some tile floors and the bathroom will be complete! Even though both bathrooms look better than when we moved in, they are still the #1 project on my home improvement wish list!
Blue paisley carpet anyone? Anyone? Well when we moved in there was plenty of high quality, blue, swirly, paisley carpet. All throughout the upstairs. My husband and dad did the heavy lifting of carrying huge, heavy rolls of carpet to the curb. Then I spent DAYS pulling a bamillion staples from the floor and stairs. My fingers were sore and raw, nail polish chipped. And we lived with the parquet wood flooring for a bit... until I found out I was pregnant. Then started the nesting. Below are some pictures of before, during and after. We spend the wide majority of our time as a family in these two rooms. The decor is ever changing but the light peeking through the window is always my favorite. beforeduringafterThe kitchen was the first order of business in our new home. Dark red walls, peach cabinets, almond appliances... did not quite fit into my very neutral color palette. My lovely momma spent HOURS and HOURS helping me paint my cabinets. Not only did I love spending those hours chatting and bonding with her, but even though there are still many things I would like to change in the kitchen (fridge, counters, backsplash), the cabinets turned out beautiful and it feels much more like home. beforeDuringafterWe started a specific, very specific search. To find a home within walking distance of my parents and sister, the same neighborhood I grew up in. More specifically, one of three styles of homes in our budget... quite a task. Especially the in the budget part. We knew we would be looking for a fixer upper to be in budget. We(mostly me) like doing projects and my parents built a house from scratch so they will always help us. So we started our journey. There were 2 houses that seemed perfect but after months of working with the homeowners they both fell through. Not meant to be. My mom had suggested we write letter and leave them in the mailboxes of houses we liked in the neighborhood- sounded far fetched but she had seen it on HGTV and everything you see on TV is true, right? So we tried it. Here is a peek at what we wrote: We dropped notes at 5 houses. No one will email us we thought. Within a half hour of dropping off the notes we got an email. No freaking way.
It was the original owner. He had the house built and raised his family there. He was the kindest man and we were so hopeful! He was amazing to work with and our dream came true. A house by my family, in the neighborhood I grew up in, in our budget. Long story short, he gave us an amazing gift, a home that we love that we can now raise our family in. Home is where the heart is. This statement could not be more true for two homebodies and their sweet baby boy. Brad and I have always been homebodies. We cherish a quiet night at home together with some good food and craft beer. We often binge watch tv shows after a night filled with giggles and playing with W. This is our dream. And we now have our dream home.
Now you may imagine it's a huge, castle like home. Filled with Pottery Barn furniture and designed exquisitely. It's not. It's a fixer upper- out dated, blue vanity and toilet, old roof, ugly wood paneling. But it's perfect. Two blocks from my parents, not even that from my sister. W will attend the schools that I attended as a child. Our home has a big backyard with many, many trees. Serenity. Our home is our dream home because it's filled with what we cherish the most. Our little family. And we are surrounded by wonderful neighbors on a quiet street within walking distance from our family. Our dream home. Tomorrow, I'll explain the unusual way we came to find this dream home ( see picture below for a sneak peek!). Later this week I'll share some before and afters of our many projects to try and make our new house our new home. Everyone has that one thing that feels like a treat on your days off work. For me, it's coffee in a mug. More specifically, a white mug.
A few years ago the hubs and I headed out to Crate and Barrel specifically for some classic white mugs. Each morning on those two precious days off we wake up at the butt crack of dawn, and play with my sweet little guy for a few hours. Then when he lays down for his first nap, hubby and I pour ourselves some sweet, caffeine filled coffee into those classic white mugs and take a few minutes to relax and watch some Fixer Upper. Each work day I fill my travel mug and drink my coffee over the next five hours while running around doing my best to teach my sweet bitty bilinguals. On the weekends, I get to drink coffee from a mug, calmly sipping uninterrupted. Without a little coffee in a mug, it just doesn't feel quite like the weekend. What's your weekend treat? Everyone has that go to restaurant. You know, the one that you can always count on when you are just too darn tired to make dinner. Well ours is Los dos. A sweet little place with authentic( like actually authentic) Mexican food that is delicious. Their specials are phenomenal and we go there so often that we chat with the owners. They are kind and funny and so, so hard working. Well they were closed for vacation for two weeks. We really missed them. We finally got to order some tasty Los dos last night. It was very missed and I'm sure we will be back next week!
If you have kids then you know one of the top things that your other mom friends will ask you to do is go to the zoo. Well, that can get a little tricky if you don't go to the zoo. Not as in it's expensive or far away I don't go to the zoo. But in the I don't morally support the zoo kind of way. The I won't spend my money to support animals being kept small enclosures without their true needs being met kind of way. The, "Have you seen Blackfish?" kind of way.
It can get pretty uncomfortable... especially when you are the kind of person that will do just about anything to avoid any confrontation or intense conversation or debate. I usually politely decline or suggest another activity. I should stand up for my true beliefs but sometimes you just take the easy way out. "How about the splash pad?" is way easier than, "Let me explain why I won't pay to go see animals on antidepressants roam their desolate cages". All of that intro is really because I have been so bothered by April the giraffe. The poor thing has been in labor FOR DAYS! Now, I know NOTHING about the labor and delivery process for giraffes. Nothing. But my heart does sink a little each time I scroll through Facebook and see the poor momma to be roaming that small box with no windows, trees, or anything but a little hay on the ground. Nothing to look at, no warm sun, no other giraffes, no where to go. They even let woman roam the hospital hallways when they are in labor, but not poor April. Just stuck. It has turned into quite the debate in my house. I will just mention how I feel so bad for April the giraffe and my husband then reminds me that she is in labor and needs to be kept in that small box. Because he is obviously such a giraffe expert. The first time his response really surprised me, though. We agreed before the little guy was even born that we wouldn't take him to the zoo. We wouldn't support that type of treatment of animals and we would teach our children about animals in the wild. So why does the hubby think it's okay that she is being kept in that tiny, tiny space being filmed 24 hours a day? Shouldn't she be able to roam and eat and at least get her mind off of the labor? Everyone can have their own opinion. And when your husband doesn't share yours, you text your friend. Who tells you to blog about it. :) The moral of this very long and scattered post is, I don't support caging wild animals for the entertainment of people. I do not think it's right. It makes me uncomfortable and it makes me sad. I don't think less of those who do not share my views, everyone can have their own opinion. But this weekend instead of going to the zoo, we will be headed to Willowbrook Wildlife Center. And you really should see Blackfish. What's in a name? You would think after taking 9 months to decide on a name for my little guy that I would anticipate taking quite a while to name my blog. But no, I thought, "It's just a blog, I can think of something quick". Well... I was wrong. I should know my indecisive self by now. I wanted something cute, clever, or at least an alliteration! I thought for days, enlisted my husband (who is much more creative than I am... But I don't think he really gave it much effort... Thanks a lot hubs) and still nothing...
The only word that stuck out to me is the word that I try to live by, agradecida (grateful/thankful). It all started a few days after my grandma had passed away and I was trying to keep my mind busy by surfing good ole Pinterest. A picture of a tattoo of the word "agradecida" came up. I had an immediate connection with it. For days I would think about the word and even thought about getting a tattoo... but like I said, I am very indecisive and a tattoo is WAY too much commitment! I ended up deciding to get the word on a necklace instead. I wear it all the time and it makes me smile to think of my grandma and remember to live every day with a grateful heart. So I had a one word blog name. Boring. I figured I would stick with Spanish and La maestra came to be. And just like that La maestra agradecida was born. The grateful teacher, sounds good enough to me. Working in a school with the kindest, most caring staff and adorable, funny kids is plenty to be thankful for. |
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