Boy and Girl Roadtrip to Asheville

Please excuse my rather lengthy absence.  My husband recently returned from a long deployment art sea and I've been completely preoccupied lately and have been spending every possible minute with him to make up for a year long absence.  Shortly after he got home, I took four days off of work and we went to Asheville, NC for a vacation, focused on rebonding and getting reacquainted... and being super affectionate all the time in public and really not caring about the levels of appropriateness.

 Any military spouse will tell you that while you and your spouse may have known each other well at the start of a long separation, by the time you are reunited you have both grown and changed and undoubtedly different and strange to one another.  In the midst of the happiness of homecoming, there is work to be done in your relationship, and I believe that going somewhere totally new and out of your comfort zone is the best way to bond again.  And it is wonderful to bond while going on walking brewery tours....

These are some of the beer barrels at Wicked Weed Brewery, which was our favorite of all the breweries we toured.  They have a mango cumin saison that is a tall cold glass of heaven. 

Asheville was also great for just relaxing in nature.  It's a gorgeous place surrounded by mountains and loads and loads of greenery....

If you're in the southeast region, I would recommend it.   It's an amazing place and a great getaway for couples.

This brings me to a series I would like to add to periodically throughout the course of this blog: the Boy and Girl series, one that focuses on relationships.  What I love most about my home is sharing it with my husband, and I think everyone agrees that what makes a home special and important has far more to do with the relationships within the home rather than anything relating to design and architecture . 

Things I Love About My Home: Hampton Roads Local Businesses

This should probably have a subheading of "Hampton Roads Local Businesses #1", because it is a subject that undoubtedly will repeat.  As I've written about before, one of the reasons that we chose to live where we did was because we fell in love with the neighborhood and the community atmosphere, including the local businesses.  However, amazing shops and restaurants can be found throughout Hampton Roads.

One of my absolute favorite things to do on a lazy Saturday or Sunday is to get up early and drive from Norfolk to Suffolk for O'Doodle Doo's Donuts.  They are THE best.  They blow any other commercial doughnut shop out of the water.  The drive out to Suffolk is relaxing, as it takes me under the bay through the tunnel, through the countryside, and over the James River.  The shop has been open for just over two years and is always staffed with the NICEST people.  And they make flavors like Hot Mango (mango and cayenne pepper), Bacon and Blueberry Pancakes, Red Velvet, and Samoa.  I love supporting local businesses rather than a chain, but I have to admit that more than that, I love seeing this magic on my dining room table:

What local businesses do you LOVE?

Handbuilt Ceramics for the Home

When I was in college, I fell in love with ceramics.  It helped that I had a really, really cute professor.  That definitely made it easier to show up at the studio at 8:30 AM three days a week, ready to work for three hours.  These days, on my good days, I get to be the cute ceramics teacher.  Obviously, since I teach my students how to throw and handbuild, I have found a connection to ceramics beyond one college class. 


This year, I challenged myself to become more of a functional potter than an experimental student.  My challenge is to eventually create a full dish set for everyday use.  I have a beautiful set of Japanese china from the 1960s that I found in a thrift store, but I like the idea of having an everyday set of substantial dishes that are a bit more rustic.  Additionally, it follows the philosophy of creating or having my handiwork in nearly every aspect of my home.

Below are some of the ceramic pieces I've created.  I've tried to create everything in soft, neutral glazes that showcase the clay.  I find that there is something so cozy about eating out of a rustic, handbuilt bowl, plate, or mug.  Have you ever thought about how the aesthetics of your dishware affect your eating experience?  What do you prefer?

Dining Room Gallery Wall

In my last post, I mentioned that my husband and I moved during the month of December.  One of the first things I did was to set up a large gallery wall in our dining room.  While I wouldn't consider myself an expert on transitioning from home to home, I am a veteran enough of it to know that the best things I can do once everything is in the new space include:

1. Pouring myself a drink
2. Inviting friends over
3. Setting up one room in its entirety

I know some people see moving as a long checklist that must have everything crossed off of it THAT DAY, but in my experience, that doesn't happen fully.  Additionally, when I make quick decisions about where things should go, I often see a better solution a few days later and wind up changing everything.  I would much rather go through the process slowly and thoroughly, reminding myself that not everything has to be placed perfectly within the first week.

Our dining room was an ideal place to start on this.  Save for the bathroom, it probably has the least furniture to place.  It's also relatively small and has the most wonderful long expanse of a white wall that BEGS to be covered with artwork.  Putting up items I love and artwork of my own went a long way to making this space feel like it was our home, and not a strange new apartment.

 Two of the pieces listed there are lithographs that I made in college, as well as a lithograph made by my friend Alicia.  My goal with this wall space as I continue to expand the gallery wall out is to keep everything NEUTRAL.  Our last apartment was a study in contrasts, with lots of deep navy blue, white, and pops of gold and red.  It was a little much at times and I felt more energized than relaxed around those colors.  With our new space, I want to have a much softer, neutral color palette that feels soothing and sophisticated.

Have you tried putting a gallery wall in your space?

We Moved!

... to another lovely apartment just down the street.

And we moved in December, by the way.  Yes, I know it's nearly July.  It takes me a while to get my bearings.

This blog will now chronicle my efforts to turn our new apartment into a more sophisticated, adult space than our prior apartment.  I am proud of the work so far and cannot wait to share it.  Please check back to see how this space develops.

Math + Working for My Goals

Hello! I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging again- we'll see how it goes!

This week I have been rooted at my desk reviewing one of my least favorite subjects- math- in preparation for the GRE. Today that seems to be particularly hard, as it is both the last day I have to study and the very last weekday of summer before I go back to work teaching at the high school. When I woke up at 8 AM this morning, part of me was aching to stay in bed for a few more hours and then go grab a bagel and head to the beach for a long, long walk and workout. I would love to enjoy myself doing whatever I want to today before the crazy hectic reality of teaching another year sets in, but the reality is that the GRE, this very daunting, anxiety causing test that determines if I can get into graduate school or not, is ever closer. As an art teacher, my life is relatively free of math beyond basic arithmetic for budgeting and the last time I really delved into the subject was senior year calculus in high school (2006!!).  I'm due for a refresher if I want a good score and studying for it today (and the work I've put into studying this past week as well) will pay off majorly for the long run tomorrow.

One of the goals that I set for myself last year when I began teaching full time was that I would complete my master's degree before turning 30.  Since I plan to work full time and go to school part time during the school year, to make that goal happen, I need to get myself in gear ASAP.  I have so many hopes and dreams for myself and my family, but those will never happen if I don't think towards the future and make a plan of action to reach those goals!

On that note, I'll leave you and get back to work with my pencil and calculator.  I promise to be back with a fun post about homes, decor, and projects soon!

Thoughts on Living Small #1

Hello!

This is what my day has looked like today:

I have spent most of today going through things, deciding what I no longer need, and taking it to my favorite thrift store's donation bins.

We live in a fairly small apartment and while occasionally some friends comment that we should look at larger apartments and "upgrade", I have found myself really resistant to this idea.  As of right now, I feel like we have no real  reason to move into a larger space (although I do sometimes think wistfully about having a larger closet).  We don't have children and don't plan on having any in the near future.  We have a one bedroom, not a studio, so we don't have to be extremely creative with our organization.  Most importantly, we save quite a bit of money by staying in a smaller unit.

I really enjoy living small, and I attribute this to where I grew up, which was in one of the wealthier suburbs of Chicago.  Every year, there was always someone in our neighborhood adding onto their home or tearing down two homes to build a large McMansion on the land.  Our neighbors had some really amazing homes, but the excess of it bothered me a lot as a child and teenager.  There is no reason for a family of four to live in an eight bedroom home and the average American does not need batting cages in their backyard.  Also, I really feel that if you give yourself more space and walls, you are further separating yourself from those in your home.

I have found that my thoughts on this are not uncommon in this era of greater financial responsibility and efficiency, and with that in mind, I've decided to write a regular series on living small.  For today, I'd like to focus on donating and regularly editing your home.  When I first moved into this apartment about two years ago, I brought with me literally everything I had picked up during college.  Moving across that country was a daunting task and I wanted to bring absolutely everything that I could with me as if it was all a giant security blanket.  Not all of this stuff fit into my new apartment and when my husband began to move his things in as well, not to mention our wedding gifts, our excess of things became a serious issue.

I don't tackle problems very well all at once; I do much better when I break tasks down into smaller pieces.  Several months ago, I started taking a weekly trip to the thrift store with donations.  Initially this was hard to do, especially with some clothes that I had had for ages for purely sentimental reasons.  However, over time it has become the most important thing that I do each week for my home.  My overall goal for my home is that it will eventually become a beautifully curated jewel of an apartment.  Going through and editing weekly guarantees that this will happen.  I am constantly having to reevaluate items- do they really serve a purpose?  Do I like them as much as I thought I would?  Do I wear it regularly?  Do I use it regularly?  If no, then it goes to someone who needs or wants it more than I do.  This practice has taught me to value what I need and to be able to part with things much more easily.  They are just things, after all!