sweet home :: a dining room

I don't know why it's taken so long for us to get this house feeling like a home, I mean, yes I do.  It's because we painted every dang wall and then had to order/buy all sorts of finishing touches.  Which is something we'd never done before.  So that's why.  But still!  It feels like it's taken a while.  Also, I think I am coming to embrace the 'slow realization' of a place--not rushing to say 'okay! it's done!' as soon as I possibly can.  Man, that makes me sound patient! (oh, I'm not, in case you were fooled).

So before.  I didn't snap a ton of before photos of the house, mostly because it all kind of looked the same.  Very beige-ish.

We painted the walls and ceiling (oh someone please comment on how great the ceiling looks!  It was such a PAIN IN THE NECK to paint!).  And I'm afraid we need to find a rug for under the table because that's where all of Gesso's fur goes to party.  It comes from all over the house to stick to the chair bottoms and dance around under there.  It's super disgusting (do you think he would look creepy if we shaved him???).  Also I read somewhere about how it's good to add rugs under tables to add 'texture' to the room or blah blah blah blah something like that.

I really was looking forward to finally having a place to hang all of the food paintings!  (I like food.)  We decided that they needed to have frames to live in so I drove to the big city last week (all by myself!), and picked some up at the Hobby Lobby for pretty dang cheap.

So there's that.  A room for eating. 

 P.s. this is the room where I shot Evan's finger with a nail gun. I promise it was an accident and he's doing just fine (physically and emotionally). Also, I've decided to go hard-core Amish, no more power tools for me, thanyouverymuch.

a birthday

We started the day off right with orange-dipped french toast (always a good idea).

We had to make a quick stop at the farmer's market to pick up more white peaches.  They are unbelievably fantastic.

And then we went outside!  It was just like I'd remembered!

A few months ago I found a list I'd made last year, right before my birthday.  It was 25 things about me.  I had plans to post it on the blog but then backed out because it seemed a little self-absorbed, ya know?  But after I found the list this time around I reminded myself that that's kind of the point of blogs. They are remarkably self-indulgent.  So I'd thought I'd post it a year late:

25 things about 25 year old Holly

1.  I can only sew barefoot.   It is sometimes quite cold.

2.  I lurve the color blue.  In any shade.  Well, navy isn't my favorite.

3.  I have been married to my best friend for 5 years.  It really is wonderful.

4.  I haven't eaten any type of pork since 3rd grade when I figured out that the main ingredient was pig, which was my favorite animal at the time.  I can be pretty stubborn.

5.  I hate crossing streams/creeks/rivers on logs or slippery rocks.  In fact, I throw big, messy tantrums about it.  It is the absolute worst.

6.  As it turns out, I don't really like having a job.  It gets in the way of stuff I want to do.

7.  I graduated with a degree in Art from Utah State University.  Which makes me an official artist.  I often wonder why I didn't choose a more practical vocation like, well, nursing or something.  *shrug*

8.  My favorite food is zucchini. I  could eat it all day. 

9.  My favorite snack is smaller portions of zucchini.

10.  Okay, but maybe it's actually chocolate. 

11.  I can't wait to be a mother.  I think it's going to be rad.

12.  My favorite movie is Amelie, with a close second being The Sound of Music.  I have watched it more times than I care to discuss.

13.  I love folding laundry. 

14.  I went through a phase when I was a teenager where I wore nothing but boys cargo pants and big t-shirts.  It was interesting.

15.  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It's a big part of who I am.

16.  I like to travel but I also like being home.

17.  My mom is a librarian and I blame her for my book-collecting problem (p.s. thanks mom!)

18.  I laugh at all my own jokes.  Usually way too loud and for way too long.

19.  I love baking.  And I think cooking is a chore.

20.  I have many freckles.  And for most of my life thought they were the worst.  Now that I am super mature, I have grown to love them!  They make me feel spunky.  And as a bonus, they hide zits very well.

21.  I think numbers are dumb.  Evan does the math at our house.

22.  I love swimming and was even on the swim team in high school, but have a fear of swimming in natural bodies of water where you can't see the bottom.  Eek!!  What's down there?!? (answer: sharks)

23.  I have a big brother, a little brother, and a baby sister. 

24.  I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and when I moved to Utah in 3rd grade I told everyone that I had just moved from Mexico.  I guess this is where I should mention that I'm a pretty good liar.  Sometimes not on purpose.

25.  I love me some butter.  On everything.

and 26.  I write so many lists you'd think it was my job.

oh boy!

It's a boy!  Which is what I was not-so-secretly hoping for anyway :)

Our new neighbor (also named Holly) dropped off these tiny nike's last night, and shoot, even though we're not basketball people, we (okay, me) are definitely tiny shoe people.  SO CUTE!  We'll see if Gesso can keep his greedy paws off of them...

(not likely)

It's my birthday this weekend and my one big request was to do something fun.  I feel like summer kind of never happened for us this year--we've spent almost every night and weekend painting, hanging curtain rods, organizing the garage, and debating painting placements.   Which is fun in it's own way I guess.  But we're going to leave our projects behind and *gasp* go outside.  I can hardly wait.  

Happy weekend to you!  (go outside, okay?)

blackberry harvest

If I had to play favorites, blackberries are my least favorite berry.  I dunno.  They seem extra seed-y to me and if you have an overactive imagination, they look just like a pile of picnic ants (ew!).

Our street is just BURSTING with blackberries right now and so I decided it was time to get over my prejudices.  We spent last Sunday evening walking up and down the road harvesting blackberries.  And then I made a scrumptious blackberry cobbler.

 

 

 

Which turned out to taste just like August.  Oh yum.

And we haven't even made a dent in our berry stash, so I've been on the hunt for more recipes... any suggestions?

Blackberry Cobbler

from the Pioneer Woman

1 stick butter

1 1/4 c. sugar

1 c. self-rising four (I just used regular flour and it was still delicious!)

1 c. milk

2 c. blackberries (frozen or fresh)

Melt butter in the microwave.  Pour 1 cup of sugar and flour into a mixing bowl, whisking in milk.  Mix well.  Then, pour in melted butter and whisk it all together.  Butter a baking dish.

Now rinse and pat dry the blackberries.  Pour the batter into a buttered baking dish.  Sprinkle blackberries over the top of the batter, distributing evenly.  Sprinkle 1/4 c. sugar over the top.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until golden and bubbly. 

Top with whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream.  

(We just ended up eating it straight out of the pan with big spoons)

progress report

 

bit by bit.

I got my degree in painting...

...not that it really helped that much when it came to painting our new house.  But.  I was sure to remind Evan of that little fact every time he questioned my skills.

So.  Every surface in our house was painted a dark beige, which would have been fine if I wasn't such a brat and insisted on white ceilings and colorful walls.  I had no idea how annoying it is to paint a ceiling!  Especially when they're tall ceilings and you're really not super tall to begin with.  But we had just a few days before we needed to move all of our belongings inside, and so kept our heads down and painted the dang ceilings.



Smarty-pants Evan found a program where we could upload photos of the rooms we were going to paint and try out different colors, so we actually bought all the paint weeks before we moved in.

We used non-voc paint so it was super safe for this pregnant mama to help out.

Poor Gesso.  He has had some anxiety issues since we moved to Walla Walla.  You see, he is afraid of boxes.  And packing tape.  And box cutters.  And anything that makes a loud noise.  And anything that isn't in it's normal place.   When things got to be too much for the old guy he had no choice but to pass out in the backyard.

We have been busy putting things in their proper place and I still can't believe how lucky we are to live in such a nice house.  It's like I'm an adult!  Hopefully I'll get some photos up soon of all our progress.

rush week

I feel like I have been waiting 3 months for this week to come! It's painting and move in time and things are a little bit crazy. Now that my energy is back, I am ready to paint until my arm falls off and finally (finally finally!) get settled in. I will leave you with some snapshots of simpler times (i.e. last week).



p.s. here is a little peak at the colors we are using...