Thank you, Ikea...

For making all of my small space dreams come true! Larry and I had a sectional couch that wasn't going to fit in here if we forced it. We found a sleeper sofa at JCPenney that we were planning on buying. We then went to wander through Ikea one night to get ideas for storage and organization...and we found a couch we had to have! I wish I would have taken pictures of it in Larry's truck. The guy at Ikea insisted the four boxes it came in would fit in Larry's truck. Yeah, well, on a normal day, they wouldn't have. We had to get it out of there since it was 8:30 at night, so I made it fit. After this move, Larry has started calling me Houdini because I pretty much make magic. I despise taking more trips than necessary, so the amount of boxes and items I can fit in a car is pretty much incredible.

Anyway, enough rambling. After we painted, it was time to put together the couch and lay our rug down (which I adore!). I found it at Home Goods (y'all on the West Coast are missing out on this store!), and it was priced amazing and the colors were just what I was looking for!

These are totally out of order, but here is our couch! It pulls out and up like a trundle bed to create a space for people to sleep! We're accepting applications for visitors now :)

Larry the builder. My husband prefers to do housework in his underwear (weird), so I had to be very careful when taking this picture. I didn't think all of you ladies would want to see his skinny 36" long legs. You'd be jealous. Trust me. I'm so envious of his legs.

I fit in the box! Maybe it has to do something with the fact that my legs are a lengthy 28" long on a good day.

The finished product. Someone needs to clean their camera. I'll let them know. The chaise pulls up an the entire area underneath it is a storage bin! Yes!

Painting for Dummies

We could have used the book that I mentioned in my title. Larry and I had never painted before. It was interesting, to say the least. I was the taper and edging girl, he was the roller. I thought I did a great job, until I looked up at the ceiling and realized that if anyone looks up, they're clearly going to think a 5 year old painted along the edges of the ceiling. I'll be hiring a painter when we live somewhere permanently (whenever the heck that might be!). We decided to paint the entry hall a gray color, "Porpoise" to be exact. The rest of the condo we did in "Sandstone Cove". It turned out lighter than I planned, but I still really like it!

Larry working on the bedroom. And no, that's not an optical illusion, the bedroom is only 93" wide. I think I measured it about 17 times because I was sure my eyes were playing tricks on me or I was reading the measuring tape wrong. Unfortunately, nobody was playing a joke on me.

My porpoise hallway after one coat.

The color in the bathroom came out great! Those light fixtures will be leaving us shortly and heading straight into the dumpster where the dumpster divers (yes, they really do exist here in Chicago, and they are OUT OF CONTROL!) will find it and turn it into something beautiful, I'm sure.

The living room area

The bedroom. Notice the super pretty blinds. They are now long gone and have been replaced with much prettier ones that I will post pictures of.

The kitchen with our mini little pantry that we bought. We needed any extra space we could get!

The finished kitchen. The yellow is gone!

Larry so proud of his painting!

Living room. Whoever thought that was a good place for an A.C. needs to be fired.

My transition into a city girl begins

For those of you who haven't heard, Larry and I decided to move back into his condo in the city. We had renters living here for the past few years, and while they paid their rent on time, seeing the way they treated the place quickly made us realize we never wanted to be landlords again! I spent three hours cleaning the kitchen, and may have even spent a few minutes gagging the other night while pulling long hair (from the guy, gross!) out of the bathroom sink drain. Here are the beginning pictures of the transition from Larry's bachelor pad into our first home together! Did I mention that this new "home" is 475 square feet? I like to refer to it as our dollhouse.

Getting prepared to paint. The old color was a yellow that made me feel like I was in an institution.

The SUPER pretty sponge painted yellowy silverish hallway. I did not enjoy one minute of painting, but I LOVED the idea of never having to see this color again! Woohoo!!!

Palm Springs

Larry and I took full advantage of open flights and the lure of warm weather to jet off to Palm Springs for a few nights. 90 degrees, dry, and lots of hiking opportunities made us very happy campers (not really, since I don't so much camp...i'm all about condos and nice resorts).
Blogger flipped all my pictures in crazy order, so it's going to be a little unorganized. Could I fix it? Sure. Do I feel like it? Nope!

Indian Canyons hike. Gorgeous.




I could have sat here all day and just soaked in the natural beauty. However, I have a husband who was raised far from this (think police helicopters, bars on houses windows, and not going out after dark), so he was all paranoid and thought every noise in the nearby bushes and cacti had to have been a rattlesnake. Let's just say hikes aren't very relaxing with him. You're destined to hear screeches that sound like they're coming from a 12 year old girl. He insists he hears all kinds of things...Snakes, mountain lions, bees (and I'M the allergic one!). I sure do love him though :)


Tahquitz Canyon. Yes, I was about to have a coronary. My pale ass hiking 3.5 miles in the middle of the day with no shade is never a good idea. I swear this translucent skin of mine soaks up the sun and dries out my innards.

Larry and I compromise. A lot. Okay, I do. I spent a couple of hours at the air museum with Larry. He has this unnamed friend who for some reason thinks my name is Polly, and continues to call me Polly (is anybody even named that, for real?!) after he's corrected that it's Amy. A.M.Y. Larry insisted I have my picture next to this plane.

Larry in front of one big ass helicopter.

On our hike in San Jacinto. It was super pretty, but we were a little concerned we were going to get lost. Honestly. And my husband into the mix, and he was making me a little paranoid!

The tram ride up the mountain

Chicago Blizzard of 2011

I was lucky to have Larry home with me to enjoy this crazy snowstorm. We were snowed in and totally enjoyed ourselves! With nowhere to go, and the mall I work in closed (yes!!!!), we relaxed, and oh, spent about 3 hours shoveling Larry's truck out.

Larry just hanging out in the back of his truck

Standing on a snow mound, and yes, this was BEFORE they plowed!



Miss kitty was far from thrilled that I stuck her outside. She just didn't understand how she needed to take part in this epic storm. And yes, I'm officially that crazy lady who posts about her cat.






So many people were out attempting to dig their cars out. Most failed. And the more I'm looking at this, the more I realize how this picture makes me look like a total stalker. Let's be serious though, I work very part-time, have no kids, and a husband who's gone 20 days a month. What else should I be doing with my time?!

Funny story. By the time we walked to the only place open, Ace Hardware, we had two options for snow shovels. A super expensive flat one that wouldn't have helped at all...Or kid shovels. We went for the kid shovels. I swear, 25 people walked by, stopped, and laughed. But really, we were the ones laughing when we had our cars shoveled out and they were still slaving away with their fancy, expensive shovels. Bahahahahaha. Look who won this time!







Oh, and clearly this blizzard didn't happen on May 19th. I'm just about, oh, 4 months behind on my blogging :)

Larry the Liar

When Larry and I first met, he was far from thrilled that I had a cat. I let him know right away that she and I came as a package deal! He claims that he doesn't love miss kitty, but little does he know that I often hear him talking to her...Yes, he talks to the cat. The last time I uploaded my pictures, I found this...

Looks like someone has been using the cat as a form of entertainment while I'm not home. Haha, Larry. I caught you. You love the cat.

Holy whirlwind travelers

The last day in California, we were up early, cleaned the house, and set out for our drive back to San Fran. We stopped in Bodega Bay (cutest little beach town on Earth!), so Larry could visit a few sites from The Birds. He's a huge Hitchcock fan, so I had to make time for it. Yes, "I" had to make time as I'm the driver in this family (maybe there will be a later post with an explanation on this). We barely made it to the airport...And by barely, I mean we pulled up to the rental car return 30 minutes before the departure time. And anyone who has been to SF airport, you know the rental car return is approximately 67 miles from the terminal. Well, we made it. We were the last people on the airplane. And no, this isn't the first time we've done these crazy "make it to the plane 10 minutes before departure" little jaunts. We're old and married...Something in life needs to be exciting, right?!

The gorgeous drive down the California coast

Free range cows eating grass and not corn. Love. This.


The home from The Birds

Larry re-creating the scene from The Birds

Sea Ranch and beyond

We drove up to Larry's aunt and uncle's weekend home (thank you, thank you, thank you, Bobby and Caitlin!) for some relaxing time without cell service. We had a great time with his aunt and uncle and their fantastically fun neighbors, Jim and Kim. We drank too many bottles of insanely good wine (thanks Jim!), and were lazy...And it was wonderful!

The Sea Ranch home

The view from the coastal path. We walked miles and miles of it each day. We aren't lucky enough to have views like this in the oh so beautiful state of Illinois.

Enjoying some peace and tranquility

Deer in the yard

A sunset with one lone fishing boat

Hmmm...Maybe someday I'll be able to afford a huge home on the water. I can dream, right?!

Sea Glass Beach. I'm a huge fan of sea glass, and might have some in my possession. I didn't realize until we got back to Sea Ranch (a hour + drive) that you're not supposed to remove it. Oops. I promise you, State of California, it was put to good use and is a beautiful addition to my growing collection of sea glass.

Cell service after not using the phone for 4+ days! Woohoo!

Point Reyes Lighthouse

Next on the trip was Point Reyes Lighthouse...But not before we stopped for a 'lil In N Out! Yum!

Our drive to Point Reyes was long and had about a million switchbacks. Anyone who has done the road to Hana...It was nothing compared to this! I was so excited when we finally reached the lighthouse, until I realized that we had to drive back the same way we got there!

Larry taking a break. There were 300 stairs. We needed that workout after our delish burgers!

I found this sign kind of ironic...A life saving cemetary. How exactly does that work?!

Sonoma County

While we planned on vacationing in the Carribean this month, we realized we would be paying prime prices for lodging. Cancel that plan! We love a deal, and it would have been super expensive. We decided instead to head out to California. It was a great time, although not as warm as I would have preferred. We did some wine tasting in sonoma, but I didn't manage to take any pictures. Too much Chardonnay, I guess?! We tasted at Kunde, which was gorgeous. You can check out their website at www.kunde.com

The last of the missions built on the California Mission Trail.

Larry l.o.v.e.s. history, so he needed his picture taken where the California state flag was first raised.

We visited Jack London's home and grave. My dramatic husband was in full force since there were signs warning us about mountain lions. Apparently he didn't get outdoors much growing up in Tampa :)

Jack London's home, Wolf Lodge. It was supposed to be indestructable to fire and earthquake...Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the home just a month before he was supposed to move in. The pictures of the completed house were beautiful!