New Home

So... we bought our first home! In Texas none-the-less. I asked Bill if this made us official Texans. He refused to answer. We never dreamed of owning a home as new, nice, or as large as this one. We feel so blessed that the Lord provided this home at the right time. Our new home was built in 1992 and is currently owned by the original homeowners. They have taken such good care of it! Our new home is 2182 square feet. It contains 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. And a backyard! A backyard! We are so excited to not have to trek down 4 flights of stairs to take our beautiful golden retriever Addison outside. Here's the exterior of our home. These were all taken from the virtual listing. Welcome to Texas, ya'll! 

Quick Trip to San Antonio

On Tuesday night, I had the pleasure of driving down to San Antonio with Bill and our friend Evan. Another friend Laura is enrolled in the architecture master's program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. It was her program's opening night for their long awaited "The [*] Project" in downtown San Antonio. It was amazing to see what Laura has been up to this semester. I loved seeing all of her hard work come together.

All of San Antonio's neighborhoods were represented by these shapes painted on the ground with their respective neighborhood name painted backwards. When you look into the mirrors the word is then readable. So cool!

Lastly, there was a memory wall where people could draw their own childhood to adult memories and stories. Bill chose to draw Batman... how typical.

Our Plants

I have always loved plants within a home, but was always nervous to give them a try. Until I saw Emily Henderson's blog post about THE fiddle leaf fig tree and I fell in love! The leaves are glossy green and huge! I love what Emily said in her post, "they are big and sculptural and yet super graphic – their leaves are large scale and dark green and it commands attention.  They add sooo much height that they basically become another piece of furniture." And for just around $50 a tree it makes a huge statement in any room. You can't see it here, but I have it placed in a large round basket found at Target.

This next plant is tiny and small, but I love that it is unexpectedly striped. I got it while shopping at the Wimberley Market Days with my friend Brooke. It is called a Zebra Hawarthia and grows similar to other succulents where it needs little to no water and enjoy plenty of sunlight. I love the impact both of these plants have in our living room.

Valentine's Decorations

Since Valentine's Day is just about a week away, I thought I would share the "love" in our apartment. First off, I found this cute DIY thanks to pinterest and a blog called Today's Mama (not that I am a reader of this blog). I printed the hearts off on a heavy card stock, cut them all out and strung them on a piece of yellow and white bakers twine (left over from our wedding!).

 

The next source of pink can be found in some candles sitting on our side table next to our couch. They even smell amazing when they are not lit! They are sitting on an antique silver plate from my Grandmother.

This print is not only being used during Valentine's, but I thought it fit the theme of the month. I also love this verse from 1 Corinthians 13:13:

 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 

I bought this print through Jones Design Company but it was designed by Lindsay Letters. It's one of my absolute favorite prints on our gallery wall above our television.

A small pop of red in the version of a flame less candle lantern. It was a gift from my mother. I love it because it works as a decoration for Christmas through Valentine's Day.

 

Lastly,  these West Elm mugs are actually from our wedding. They sat on our sweet heart table at our reception. I moved them to a more prominent location to help celebrate Valentine's.

Illinois to Texas

As you walk into our apartment, you can right away see the state that our hearts miss dearly as well as the new state that is full of adventures. We have a small narrow hallway as you enter, and although there is a coat closet, it is being used to store Bill's tools. So we purchased this West Elm wall coat rack for something crazy-cheap like $10. My sister Amy gave me the Texas print for Christmas last year and I was lucky enough to find the Illinois print thanks to a generous blogger. You can find this print and all of the other states at q.a. design. Finally, I found the white frames at none other than Walmart. They are more than half the price of the IKEA and West Elm white gallery frames. I love that these prints add some color to our white walls as well as remind me of our friends and family

Greetings

For those of you who know me, you know I love reading blogs and looking through beautiful pictures of homes. I love dreaming of decorating my own home. I love creating and being crafty. I love happy patterns with bright colors. I love a bit of vintage mixed with modern elements. 

Well I have finally decided it is time to stop simply reading blogs and start writing my own. I want to share my thoughts, likes, dislikes, crafts and pictures of our home. I hope this helps give our friends and family in Illinois a glimpse into our Texas life.