Yay!

New pair of running shoes, happy little bug babbling on his mat, Mark's not on call this weekend! It's going to be good:)

Ch...ch...ch...changes

I had the pleasure of having lunch today with a few of my good friends from Tyndale. During lunch, they all asked how things were going being at home and it made me reflect a little bit on all that's different in the last few weeks. It's been amazing to not be torn between work and work at home; I love that I'm starting to learn more about Dane and how he operates. It's great to know the difference between an "I'm hungry" cry and an "I'm tired" cry. I also get the pleasure of being around during his happy times, when I was previously at work. I now have time to plan our dinners better and do more stuff around the house, creative and just cleaning-type stuff. Overall, I really think this was the best choice we could have made for this time in our lives. However, I was at a complete loss today, as I filled out the box for "occupation" on a passport application. What am I now? I realized how secure I'd been in my ability to have a good job and pay my way. Now that I no longer have the  typical "job" I was used to, I don't really know what my occupation is. However, if it consists of what I do all day, my title will NOT fit in the box provided. I'm a comforter-bottledeliverer-burpcloth-decorativepainter-householdchef-masteroflaundry-casualphotographer-juggleroflife who collapses into my intern husband's arms on the nights he's not overnight at the hospital...how life has changed! And let me remind myself here that my value comes not from all that I'm learning to do and love, but from the One who first loved me. If I can just keep this in mind, I'll be able to enjoy this time of our lives for all it's worth.

The colors of our house

When we just moved, we decided to switch things up a bit. This is something that, as long as I'm not an interior designer with other people's homes to decorate, will continue happening to wherever we're living. We've gone through a change for each home we've lived in since getting married, going from teal and various reds,

































to teal, red and various greens,

































to teal and various oranges/reds. I love being able to constantly change up our surroundings. It keeps things interesting (at least for me) and gives both Mark and I a creative outlet, which we're sorely lacking in this stage of life.

Our most recent addition to this scheme was a desk we found by the dumpsters, just right for our printer and a few office-y things. We did a quick cleanup and added a new drawer-pull, and voila, free desk! That matches our stuff! Here are some of the colors and textures that we currently have in our living room.

Something I'll never get tired of

Seeing Mark wake up the babe in the morning. It's when Dane's at his smiliest and it's excellent to see them grinning at each other. Makes me very happy!

Furniture on the cheap

This week home has been surprisingly busier than I expected (you all told me it would happen!). While I haven't had much time to start working on Etsy stuff, I have managed to do some actual baking and cooking, along with starting to get the house back together after a week away! Yesterday, Mark and I made a great find near the dumpsters outside our apartment complex. Now, I know that you might associate this with saggy, stinky mattresses, half-dead ficus trees and floor lamps missing shades, but we've actually made a few good finds over the last couple years. This item was a black lacquer desk with a drawer and trestle detailing. It has one pull on the drawer, so I'm hoping to find a cool pull to switch with the existing one.  After some minor repair and some major cleaning, we have a great desk that we're going to keep our printer and some office-y stuff on. It goes really well with our other decor, so yay for one man's trash being our treasure:) The best part is that it was free! Our other good finds lately are all mid-century modern or Danish items, including an awesome console dresser for $30 bucks at a resale shop, 4 beautiful (well, beautiful after a coat of spray paint and changing out the black vinyl seat covering for Marimekko fabric) dining chairs for 7.50 each, and a Danish wooden dining table from Craigslist. We've become pros at hitting the scratch/dent section of the Crate and Barrel outlet and Ikea, checking craigslist regularly and knowing which resale shops get the best furniture. Someday we may justify spending actual money on furniture...but I doubt it; it's too much fun to find the real deals:)

Etsy

This is my first week home and my first project is to start working on an Etsy store. I've got a couple of ideas, including some jewelry and some furniture plans. I'm about to start the first project, a decoupage chair, more modern than the other similar things listed on Etsy. I still need to find a chair to get started on, but in the meantime, I'll be here in the living room, surrounded by baby stuff and magazine pieces:)