home sweet home

This is where I live. I live on the main level of this historic home downtown SLC. The neighborhood is to die for - which reminds me, I need to take some pictures from my front window so you can see what I see each day. The area is filled with trees, a creek, flowers, and joggers. My only complaint is that amount of pollen everywhere.

Our next door neighbor comes over the fence and waters and trims our yard just because she likes to (and because it was a disaster from the renters previous and she couldn't stand to look out her window at it). We attend church at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which is incredibly and almost overwhelmingly distracting during all meetings. It's one of those newly weds and nearly deads wards. I wonder what a ward like this does for ward activities.....?






This is the back of that house, where I spend most of my time. I lay out a large drop cloth and paint furniture all the time... soon I will run out of furniture to paint and then maybe I'll start painting pictures. I sometimes wonder though if Mo gets even a wee bit annoyed that everything in the house is pretty much mine (OURS now, I know, I know - but for the sake of making a point, I say Mine)- all decorations I've accumulated, paintings I've painted, sculptures... his contribution is a nice one, but a meager one - the television and all that goes with it (dvd, N-64)... and I don't exaggerate.






This is own entry way. yes, we keep our bikes in our front room, but there's plenty of space, and it beats having to lock them up constantly. Though I spend little time in this area, I love it! It feels so cozy and quaint. That door to the side is a coat closet that we don't use - there is tons of storage space in this house surprisingly.







This is the living room - the furnishings are sparse, and I have yet to drape the walls in paintings, pictures, or whatever I have laying around the house, and to get curtains up, but I haven't had nails, and curtains just have to wait until the day that I can afford them.





My parents gave us these chairs - they were sitting in the garage for a long time, and frankly, completely disgusted me. BUT, we needed chairs, so I repainted them with paint left by the former tenants and used some red canvas that I had stuffed away. I'm still in the process... that process has been going on for 3 days now... I'm just really good at getting distracted. But I love the way the red pops against the stark white. All in all, what the room lacks, the immense amount of sunshine it collects makes up for it.

I think that will be it for today. I have yet to show you our kitchen, bedroom (hahah... yeah right, we don't even have a bed - we sleep on foam padding or on the futon in the family room), and my work room!! This house rocks!!! How did we get so lucky??

a'hem...

today is the day that you have been waiting for... I finally have SOME pics from the wedding. I had to take digi pics of my own few prints I had, so the quality isn't that great, but I just couldn't wait any longer.

Julie Um and her friend Eric flew in and took our pics - they worked as a team just shooting away. Julie rendered her services for free of course, and Eric did it at the cost of a plane ticket. So I think I claim bragging rights when I say that my pictures are better than any other wedding photos I've seen and all under $200 dollars, thank you very much.

taco salad for dinner followed by left over cake!!!

afternoon y'all...

I finally couldn't take it any longer today and got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen floor clean with those Mr. Clean magic erasers - those things are impressive... I intentionally left some areas untouched so I could show Mo later on... it was really disgusting the difference... and to think I was walking on that every day.

I have to say that I love being married. It's funny how when you are single, though you seem to be only obligated to yourself and to your life and it should therefore be simpler, I have actually found that life has become far simpler... that is, for now anyway being married (or is that just naivety talking, being that I am only 2 weeks married?). I am no longer obligated to family or friends- not that I don't love them and like to be there for them, of course, but I feel like I am now living for Mo and myself. I am now making "big kid" decisions each day; I have Better sleeping habits, better eating habits, a cleaner house, a simpler social circle to keep up with (I know, I make it sound like having friends is a total drag - but that is not the what I mean)... all in all, I am feeling freer than ever and far more fulfilled, though very little has taken place to change my state from before June 6th to today... just a ceremony and a license, and of course intimacy. At this point, thus far (hehe) I will have to say that married is better than single.

As for my "life"... have I sacrificed "me"? The answer is a very big NO. I am reading more, I get to decorate, clean (yes, I actually enjoy that), paint, paint furniture, shop for the house, and for food that gives me joy (as well as that which gives me gas). I haven't done much crafting since my things are still packed up, but I can't wait! I also want to post pictures, but I have no batteries for my camera... so here I go, I'm heading out now to get them. So stand by- you will thus see my house.

After planning and executing a wedding, I've finally admitted to myself that I am just not good at remember things... or people for that matter. I'll have you know there were many people whom I love that I straight up forgot to send out invites to. I remembered them, then forgot them over and over until it was simply too late. So I have decided that anything that can be done in bulk should be embraced heartily. I'd do a weekly email, but I don't have everyone's email, nor does it make quite the impression as a decorated page... so here we are, you and me at this blog spot - me, exposing myself for the nitwit that I am, and you passing judgment (good or bad or maybe just neutral), and possibly wasting your time reading what may often just be nonsense.

So 5 days into marriage and I've got the living room almost put together, all my personals from my private bridal shower finally stowed away from out in the open, still boxes of gifts strewed about in every which corner, plenty of trash bags ready to go out (since we've not been cooking much [yet] and have just been eating out. But I did paint the deserted entertainment center that we dragged up from the junk pile down the street (which totally turned out hideous so I'll have to try another color tomorrow).

Mahonrri will be home soon, wherewith we will go buy groceries together and hopefully pig out on spaghetti and watch some romantic drama (if i have it my way, because heaven knows I can't do another slapstick comedy for at least a good week or so), and maybe drink the sparkling grape juice Julie gave me which will most likely end up giving us the bubbly-guts.

I relish the small moments of the day... moments that I never thought could be mine because there was never enough time in the day to just sit back. But in marriage I have found simplicity. Last night after soaking in a hot bath reading Jane Eyre (to help sooth the ever so irritating bladder infection that has found me), I got out to find Mo fast asleep on the futon... He seemed to be dreaming - tossing and turning; Where, between tosses I rested my back against him and continued reading. I found utter peace in that moment - my back warmed by his body, yet he roamed another land and I another.