Happy Holidays!

The holidays have been busy around here!  We threw an amazing holiday party followed by eight nights of house guests.  It was wonderful to be able to spend time with friends and family.  Now our holiday decor has been taken down and stored away until next year.  I can definitely say it was a wonderful first Christmas on the prairie as a married couple and in our very own home.

Happy holidays from our little house on the prairie!

New Art!

As the holiday approaches we are getting our house ready for the guests we will be hosting.  We were blessed enough to have a gift of art from the family I work for.  We love it and it fits our living room perfectly.

We love abstract tree art!

Artsy angle!

Also, Josh's mom saw this post and came to paint our dining area and hall today. It looks fabulous (thank you, Laura!).  It really is amazing what a coat of paint will do to a room, and a whole house for that matter.  When we hang more pictures, there will be photos of it.  It's another earthy tone.  The last room we have to do is the guest room.  For now guests will have to deal with the stark hospital grey/blue sterile color.  

Our New Arrival: Meet Theodore!

Thursday our lives changed forever.  Theodore came to live with us!  He is playful and clumsy.  He is needy and pees a lot.  He is scared of the cat but chases her anyway.  He naps a lot, but cries all night.  And of course, we love him!

Josh is his favorite.

"I'm gonna pounce ya!"

A boy and his dog.

Christmas in Kansas!

As many of you may know, Christmas in the house in which I grew up was a pretty big deal.  Every Friday after Thanksgiving we'd go to Duddles Christmas Tree Farm and choose a tree.  Once home we'd break out the Mariah Carey Christmas album and rock it out on repeat until the tree was decked out.

Josh grew up similarly.  Have you ever seen How I Met Your Mother?  You know how much Marshall loves Christmas?  Josh too loves Christmas that much.  Maybe more.

Needless to say Friday after Thanksgiving we slept in (we don't like deals enough to sacrifice sleep and risk our sanity and bodies) and then ventured out to hunt down our tree!

Long story short, we ended up with a tree from Lowes.  Be sure my dad knows that we still went with a quality fraser fir tree.  That would make him proud.

As anyone who gets a real tree knows, we couldn't decorate until Saturday, but boy did we decorate!  We have our tree, garland some (fake, don't get me started) mistletoe and a hippie Santa with a psychedelic tree.

Oh Christmas tree!

Why yes, our tree does have a mustache.

Merry Grristmas!

Hippie Santa's personal tree.

Not quite Griswold status, but we're working on it.

Our Garage: Official Man Cave

On halloween Josh asked me if we could get something.  Something a friend of his had.  He even took me to his house to show it to me.  He said he almost bought one without me but thought he'd better ask his wife first.

He wanted to turn out beer fridge into a kegerator.

I'm not sure why he thought I'd say no.  He had his speech to convince me ready, like a kid convincing their parents they really would take care of a puppy (he had a speech for that too). I listened of course, and after much (fake) deliberation I said yes.  Moments later it was ordered and set to arrive Tuesday.

It arrived on time but Josh was on duty so he had to wait.  When he arrived home on Wednesday the first thing he did was tear open that box and install the kit.  I wasn't here to witness it but I think I know him well enough to know thats totally what he did.

By the time I arrived home Josh had even secured us a keg of my favorite fall beer, New Belgium's 1554.  He says it was an act of god how we got it.  Long story short, it was the very last keg in the warehouse and the man that owns the distributing company in these parts personally delivered it to us.  Much to my surprise Josh even waited for my arrival to pour the first pints.  Oh how delicious it was.

And still is, because we now have beer on tap in our garage!

Our first pint!

Representing three states in one glass.

Mmm, 1554

Busy House on the Prairie!

Wow! I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks again!  Time flies when you're busy!  Photography has really taken off for me, which I really was not anticipating but I'm very excited about.  Josh has been working another job on his off days as well as working in our yard preparing for the hard winter (as if KS has hard winters).  In that busy time Josh and I have still been able to add some homey touches to our house and it's really starting to feel cozy.  Sure, we don't have pictures on the walls yet, but with plaster walls, neither of us look forward to that.  We have a lot of pictures to hang...uhg.  Also we have a whole other room to paint but it requires LOTS of trimming out and we both loath that.  We're hoping we can get a certain someone to come do it for us and as payment we'll provide a lovely BBQ dinner (Laura, if you're reading this, we mean you).

I digress...

Here are some lovely photos of our house becoming a home!

Is anyone out there aware of the ridiculous price for throw pillows? It's ridiculous.  Josh had to convince me to spend money on these and now I'm so glad he did!









These pillows add much needed color to our dark green sofas in our dark brown room.

Beware of Guard Kitty!

Mabel makes a fierce guard kitty.  Beware friends and neighbors!

  

We found this squirrelly guy and his duck friend at a neat shop in Michigan when we were there in July.  They are a nice addition to our built in shelves.

Pumpkin Carving!

As it turns out my hint from the last post was not correct. Due to Josh's work rotation we weren't able to make it to the corn maze.  We did get some great pumpkins though!  We grabbed out favorite fall beer and took to the garage to begin our carving process.

Ah, 1554 how I've missed you!

We hadn't carved pumpkins in a few years, so after some internet searching and sketching out ideas we made the cuts.  Turns out we have a tendency to carve faces that resemble our own.

And they look even better illuminated!

These two little guys sure add some character to our front steps!

Fall Photo Walk!

As it turns out today was beautiful fall day.  Luckily enough I was home early enough to enjoy it.  It was brisk but the wind was low (for now...) so I grabbed my jacket and camera and headed out.   There is a nice park with a small lake three blocks or so from our house.  Sadly there were no ducks on the lake but there were several trees putting on their fall show.

There were several of these trees just covered in these cherry looking fruits.  I took my time and even messed around with my manual focus!

I love the contrast of the dark red leaf and the blue fall sky!

The sun was shining right through these leaves giving them this transparency that was so pretty.

Of course being in Kansas, the wind kicked up and I had to hold the leaf to get a decent shot of it.  I just love how you can see all the tiny details of the leaf.






Having recently been inspired by my designer friend Heather from Heather Hazard Design, I noticed lots of great textures so I captured those as well!

These bricks are the foundation to our house as well as our awesome chimney which I'm sure to discus later.

This fun pyramids are the lid to a man hole cover.

There are these long triangular shaped bike racks in front of the school down the road and I've been itching to photograph them for a while.












Concrete. Awesome.

Also it turns out I really have a thing for bark. It's so textual and deep with shadows and ridges. I guess I can't really explain it.  I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

I hope to get out and enjoy fall at least one more time this year before the bitter winds of winter on the prairie blow in. If I'm lucky enough to do so I'll post pictures of that too.  Here's a hint: Corn Maze!

MARRIED!

We did it!  We are officially hitched and I now live in the house on the prairie full time! Sadly, I don't have many of my own photos to share of the big event but here's a photo from a good freind and "ma" of mine.  She is a creative soul and loves to share her talents with others.  As a gift to Josh and I she created a card box that featured our little house!  It is also FULL of fun touches that really make it special to us as a couple.  There are the wicked witches legs under the house and a yellow brick road. There is a stream with my favorite little critter building his lodge, and the grass, it's a nod to my maiden name! Needless to say this was quite the conversation piece.

Tomorrow we have a nice little Saturday planned; a trip to Wichita, Target, maybe Bed Bath & Beyond, I don't know, we might not have time.  What ever we end up having time for should result in another post so keep your eyes peeled!

Consistency...

I clearly lack consistency.  I seem only to write when something big (or big to me anyway) happens. I need to remedy this.  It has been hard to take time to photograph things and then sit down and write a post when I could be spending valuable time with Josh!  We still only see each other on the weekends.  I hope that after the wedding, when we are married, and I am living in ONE place I will be more organized and be better able to keep all of you up to date on life on the prairie.

Quick Update: Since the fair we have done very little work on our home.  Wedding stuff seems to have taken over our life now that we are less than 4 weeks away (and less than 3 until we leave for Michigan!).  We have been able to hang out and relax a bit though.  We are both ready to be married and carry on with life!

I can't post without a picture so I will leave you with this, my future husband.

Kansas State Fair!

The Kansas State Fair is a big deal!  At least for me it is.  Michigan doesn't have anything like it.  To make it even more exciting this year, I entered some photos and my brother Zach came to visit.  So needless to say I was giddy.  

Sadly I don't have any pics with my brother as we ditched my camera at the car after see how my photos did so he has pics of us together, but I assure you he was there with us!  

As I mentioned I entered photos in the fair for the first time.  I had entered things in the county fair in Michigan in grade school but that was a long time ago and the state fair is pretty tough competition.  I knew my chances of getting a ribbon were slim but I had hopes!  I entered in four separate categories and much to my surprise I ribboned in two of them! Not just any ribbon either, a BLUE ribbon!  So I have two of the best photos in the entire state of Kansas therefore making me one of the best amateur photographers in the state!  Yes, my ego has been stroked.  

Portrait entry

Nature: Mountains or Waterfalls

Josh was excited to check out the bunnies because his lieutenant at the station had told him all about this 22lb rabbit his girls were entering in the fair.  We searched the building for it and found it.  Awesomely it had also won a blue ribbon for it's breed as well as grand champion.

Josh, clearly excited.

Keeping with tradition I had to have my photo taken with the very best scarecrow in Kansas.  To assure you that it's a tradition I included the last few years.  I seem to have lost 2010's picture but at least you get the idea.

2012

2011

2009

We did a few things around the house too, that Zach helped with but I'll save those pictures for another post.  The State Fair trumps home improvement any day.  Heck, I might have more fair photos later too since it's still going on for 6 more days!

A long weekend and a mounted rubber fish.

For our long weekend Josh and I spent our weekend doing house projects and going to yard sales.  We left for the yard sales as soon as Josh was off duty to be sure we saw all the good stuff and didn't miss a bargain.  For the first time all summer we finally scored big!

 Our house seriously lacks style as far as decor and things on walls and shelves go so part of the mission was to find radical things to fill the shelves.  The lamp needs a new shade and a good wipe down. The sweet vintage mixer needs a de-greasing.  The dresser is the perfect size for our small bedroom but will need special care since it's laminate  The glass pig holds special significance and we nearly missed him at a tiny rather sad yard sale.

Josh's parents have a huge glass pig that they got as a wedding gift 28 years ago.  They have moved many times and raised 2 children and several pets in that time, but the pig survived.  It's basically their house mascot.  Heck my kitty played in that pig when she was a kitten! Josh and I have wanted a house mascot but had been unsuccessful in that search, until Saturday morning.  We stopped at this yard sale, there wasn't much but we were there so we decided to look.  As we are about to leave I spot the pig!  So for just $1 we have the baby to the big glass pig, something like carrying on a legacy.

We also scored a bed frame for the spare room (it can be a spare bedroom as soon as the mattress arrives!), some copper wall hanging things and two spring form pans.  After our morning of bargain hunting we went to the garage to start some projects and drink some beer.  It's a holiday weekend after all.

I started sanding a dresser I previously acquired to refinish.  Josh began work on our future head board.  I'll have good before and after photos when the projects are finished or at least in the more advanced stages of refinishing.  After we did what we could for the day we memorialized a dear friend, Glen.  He now hangs proudly, center stage in the garage, never to be forgotten.

I also started a project inside but sadly, it isn't going according to plan and I hope to remedy that this weekend so I can show you how home savvy I can be. Until then I leave you with a kitting in a piggy and Heather using power tools!

Kitty in a piggy, as promised! 

Aren't you proud, dad?