17 Weeks.

How far along: 17 weeks (well, I was last week, when I filled this out!)

Size of Baby: An onion!

Weight Gain: +9 lbs - which means next week I'll probably hit double digits. Oi!

Symptoms: I've been getting round ligament pain this week, which I'm not too found of. The feeling of my belly tugging is the weirdest thing ever. 

Clothes: No changes. Still in maternity pants and regular shirts.

Cravings/Aversions: Cheese and bread. For serious. 

Movement: I might be feeling flutters? My doctor was really stressing that I could start feeling the baby at any time, and I'm not sure if I'm thinking I feel something, or if I really do. Argh!

Worries: Earlier this week, it was definitely closing. But when we came down to it, everything worked out perfectly. Now it's the whole painting in two days gig. Yikes!

Boy/Girl: No clue!

Milestones: Baby can swallow and blink, and might even have hiccups. 

Best moment of the week: We got our house!! There will definitely be a post on that one shortly! 

Possession!

Yesterday, we took possession of our house. Our house! I'm so excited that we've finally purchased, closed, and taken possession on our very first home. The home where our baby (and probably more) will come home to. The home where we will spend the next few years, building our lives.

Our home.

There's a ton of work to be done. We painted the living room and demo-ed the staircase yesterday. Sean and his dad our rebuilding it today (after an $800 trip to Home Depot), along with rewiring the basement laundry room to support our new dryer.

We really want to move in the next week, so apologies if it gets a little quiet around here. We're spending all of our free time painting! And our new house is internet (ugh and 4G) free, so we're kind of at a loss for anything past text messages while we're there. Hopefully we pick it up quick!

10 Weeks.

How far along: 10 weeks.

Size of Baby: A cotton ball.

Weight Gain: +3 lbs. I told you some of that was bloat!!

Symptoms: Honestly, I'm not that sick anymore. I do, however, have ridiculous heartburn. Sean has started sympathy eating too ;)

Exercise: Though I've had a seriously lack of gym time, we've been walking outside and packing - that's exercise too!

Clothes: Normal clothes, though one of my pairs of skinny jeans is out. 

Cravings/Aversions: Pretty much the same as before - love fruit and fried chicken! Also, now that the heat is picking up in the midwest, I'm freezing blueberries to munch on. They're perfect! 

Movement: Nope. 

Worries: Always. But it seems like every time I get worried, I get a round of sickness or heartburn. 

Milestones: I've reached Juno stage - in other words - my baby has fingernails! 

Best moment of the week: We put an offer in on a house - and they accepted!! We're gonna be homeowners! 

A little House Tour.

This weekend we were back at the new house - this time, we were here for the inspection. We almost passed scott-free too! The only thing that must be addressed before we move in is a temporary support post - it should be permanent. Hopefully we'll be able to get the current owners to cover that, or even split the cost. The electrical needs some grounds put in, and will eventually need updating. The plumbing will also need to be upgraded down the line, but neither of those are immediate things. Awesomely enough, the inspector (from Holmes Inspection,who we were totally impressed with!) said this was one of the best maintained homes from 1947 that he has ever seen. *fist pump*

Anyway.

Let's share some photos of the lovely home we're going to move into in less than 2 months!

The front of the house

The living room - look at that huge front window! That corner with the curio cabinet? We're planning on a book case and bench - kind of a drop zone for things. 

The other side of the living room. The room is painted an awkward peach color - but we're looking to switch the room to a light gray with a white fireplace. 

Super awesome staircase. 

Dining room! We're thinking of a dark slate blue, with the molding square a bright white. Love the chandelier already though! 

We love this part of the kitchen. One day we'll add a back splash and nicer countertops. 

This area of the kitchen? Yikes. We'd love to move the stove to the right (and add a vent hood), and create a breakfast bar under the windows (eventually). For now, we'll buy a few fruit baskets to hang between the windows, an island on wheels for under the windows, and a new fridge (the current one doesn't stay)

The main floor office (love the wood wall, the wallpaper not so much)

Main floor bedroom.

The master bedroom. 

The nursery. 

The 3rd bedroom upstairs (this is where the parents will stay when they visit)

 We have a partially finished basement! Sean has claimed this as his man cave (unless a friend of ours moves in for a year or two). 

Our gorgeous covered, screened in porch. We'll need to rip up the brick and relay it eventually. But again, that an eventually project. 

Some of the things we're not showing in these? Our super tiny bathrooms (including one that's completely blue. No joke. At least we have 3!). The unfinished half of the basement which has the laundry in it. Our tiny closets. The backyard, which includes a veggie garden. The garage and carport (we have both!). All in all, we're smitten. We love that it has just enough work that needs to be done. We love that it's livable. We're excited to make this place our own, that's for sure. 

The Offer is On the Table.

So Sean and I do this things...where we plunge right into things head first. So yes, we've recently discovered we're having a baby. You think that'd be enough on our plate for a while right?

Nope.

Today, we put an offer in on a house.

And they accepted.

We're going to be homeowners.

Words cannot even describe my excitement!!! 

We're going to be owners of a 2100 sq ft colonial (4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths), just a 10 blocks south of where we live now. She was built in 1947, but there's only been 2 owners so far. It has a brand new roof, water heater, and HVAC system, which means no ridiculously expensive things to buy for a few years. Everything is outdated in it, but it still has gorgeous charm and beauty and this way we can leave our own mark on the home - we're smitten. Plus, it has a partially finished basement too! Here's our new love:

Somethings we'll have to tackle? It has knob and tube electrical, so we'll have to replace that along the line (though it has the recommended amps, which is good). The hardwoods (which are almost the whole house) need to be refinished (but they're livable). Paint. Lots of paint. The downstairs half bath is blue. Like, royal blue tile. And we'll eventually need new windows. All things that can be lived with and saved up for.

Now. The countdown begins until August 6th. Our earnest money is down,

It'll be an adventure.

Future Plans

Our lives are about to change in big big ways. (and no, I'm not pregnant)

Sean graduates in May. He'll have a law degree, a doctorate! It Europe, that means he has a title (Barrister). It's pretty damn cool.

It also means that we're no longer bound to Kansas City. But, we've come to love it. And we're thinking about staying - much to our families' dismay.

We're seriously considering buying a house. So much, in fact, that we're going to talk to a bank in January. The biggest issue is that I'm the only person who can be on the loan - Sean's loans will completely negate anything else. We've got plenty for a downpayment on an FHA loan - as long as my salary is enough for a loan (which it should be, since the only debt tied to me is my student loans).

While I would love to stay here in south KC - we don't want to spend the amount we'd have to in order to live down here (and we can't afford that either!). We'll have to work up to it. But a house in north KC? We can get a LOT of space in a fix-it up home for super cheap. As long as it's liveable, we're totally okay with fixing it up - we'd rather flip a house anyway.

We're about to transition our lives. With Sean graduating, we're no longer attached to the school - we're starting to hang out more with our north town friends (another pro to living up there), and the places we hang about equidistant anyway. We're thinking about real jobs, company cars, and babies. We're gonna wait until January on this - mostly so I can pay off at least one of my student loans (there's only $300 left - hellllloooo Christmas money!).

But right now? Right now I'm just thinking about a new haircut. ;)

#43. And Bowser Makes 4!

We grew our family by one this weekend - that's right, we adopted a dog!

Sean's been begging for a dog for quite awhile, but I've been balking at the idea because we didn't have the time to train one. And while I love pups, I loathe untrained ones. Well, as luck would have it, Sean took his last final on Thursday - and he has a full 3 weeks off before his summer class and two internships start.

So Saturday, we stopped into Wayside Waifs, which is where we got our kitten, Ella.

As luck would have it, there weren't any puppies available - but there was Bowser. He's a 1 1/2 year old Akita mix. The best part? He came house trained! He knows sit too, though we're working on down, stay, and leash training.

 (Bowser at Wayside)

Bowser was found as a stray, dragging a chain behind him. Poor pup! We're glad to give him a new forever home - and hopefully he's glad to be here. He sure likes our yard though :)

He's exhausting though. Akitas are super high energy, and he definitely runs a good 10 minutes in the backyard two or three times a day. I don't know how we would have handled him if we didn't have a fenced in backyard. At the casualty of a remote and DS left out, we also had to get him several chew toys. Well - we've meaning to get a universal remote for a while, and now Sean will pick up his toys :O

 (loving his bone)

We're big fans of our new addition. Welcome to the family Bows-man!

Life as it is

Okay. It's been forever and a day (or two) since I've last posted. Fail on me. I've been busy. Really busy. I'm exhausted mentally and physically, but at the same time, I absolutely love life.

-I think I've discovered what it means to be a workaholic. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my weekends and my time off. But I feel like if I don't do something, it isn't done right. And I want to get everything possible done there. I love that my work makes me want to strive to be the best. And I got a fantastic annual review because of it. However, I think I'm really starting to get stressed out lately. Thankfully, a new guy has been hired, and our part timer is coming back. Thank. God. The crazy part? I still love my job - and my bosses. I think this could really be a career for me.

-I've also been terrible about cleaning in every way. Laundry? Nope. Dishes? Maybe. Other things? Not a chance.

-I seriously wish I had the same craft inspiration that I had back in college right now. This weekend, I was ITCHING to do something crafty, but I couldn't for the life of me come up with anything. I finally did on Sunday, so now I'm working on a Cardinals wreath.

-We might seriously be getting a puppy this weekend. We've been talking about it for forever, and I think it's finally time. Sean will have 3 full weeks off from school/internships, so it'll be perfect training time.

-My car may need new brakes soon. It makes me super sad. :(

-Sean is wrapping up his 2nd year in law school this week. Imagine that! He has 2 more semesters (then the bar, then of course the real task of finding a job) left of this degree, and it amazes me. I cannot wait though!

Death Folder?

So here's the deal.

Sean and I don't really share passwords. We know several passwords that the other uses for things, but not for the things they use them for. We don't have an issue saying, "hey, what's your password for this?" - and most of our passwords are saved on the sites we use frequently anyway. It's one of those situations where we're so open about it and don't have anything to hide, that we don't share about it.

Well we've been watching HIMYM, and we recently watched the Death Folder episode - each one of them writes a letter to the other with "Instructions for After Death" kinda thing. When Patty died, no one knew anything, or the things to close. Her Facebook is still alive and kicking - but who knows how many messages and game invites she has. I worked for a security company, and too often people would call to cancel an account due to a death, but no one had the password information. I mean, what do people do in that scenario? What would you do? It made me think.

I'm the runner of the household. I don't think bills would get paid if Sean was in charge of them. I have accounts to the internet, the water, the electricity, the bank stuff (plus we each have our own accounts)...he would be at a complete loss as to what to close and when to pay things. Not to mention how to access certain accounts. Just like I would be at a loss on how to close his D&D subscription, his GameFly account, and deal with his student loans.

We've been kind of thinking of a way to get all of our information in one place, but we can't seem to come to terms on an efficient way. Do any of you have "death folders" or something of the like? How do you keep stuff straight? Do you have a plan if your significant other were to die suddenly?

#71. Newlywed Map

I just realized that I never blogged about this totally awesome map Sean and I made. 

It's technically called a Newlywed Map (the idea is to mark all of the places you've been together), but it's basically a travel map. We busted it out after we got back from our honeymoon, because we were excited to add tacks to the other side of the ocean! It was super easy to make though. We basically followed this tutorial, with a few mini changes.

I found a sweet, slightly distressed frame at Hobby Lobby for $8, and got it half off that because the glass was broken (which I didn't need anyway!). It was an awkward lightish darkish brown, so I painted with leftovers from the bathroom. I ordered both the map and map tacks from Mapcenter.com. I couldn't find the right size foam board though, so I bought one of those tri-folds that we used to use for science fair projects and cut the two flaps off. I already had spray adhesive too - other glues don't work because the map will wrinkle!

 (Our pretty European tacks!)

(fun fact: that Atlanta pin? Happened the winter of 2003...yup, we traveled together with our high school band NINE years ago! We're still counting it though)

I love this map. It makes want to travel more, and it's fun to document where we've been together. We even made Sean's dad one for Christmas!! It's classy too, so we have no qualms about it hanging in our living room. :)

We're not gonna be homeless!!

We have a house people! (to rent, not buy, sadly). We get the keys the night of July 31st, and I can't be more excited. It's a little tiny (in house terms, it's still bigger than our apartment) two bed, one bath bungalow, but it has a basement, a back yard, and a patio. And a driveway! And hardwoods.

The only added expenses (aside from an additional $200/month on our rent) that we're going to have to pay is trash, and we'll need to buy a lawnmower. We already have things like a snow shovel, so that's not a problem. I'm not posting a picture just yet though, because the owners are putting siding on it sometime in the next month. It'll be bothersome that we'll already be living there, but we're at work and school all day anyway, so no issue there. Plus, it'll mean the house is more efficient! Not to mention, we'll be above ground, so we'll have windows and won't need to use lights as much.

I'm really excited. I'll have a yard to do more outdoorsy crafts (like spray painting), and a ton more storage to buy in bulk more and do things like make my own laundry detergent (so I don't have to keep buying hundreds of little bottles of allergy free ALL - ugh). They're even leaving a spare table there, so I'll have a craft space! Plus, Sean's dad is getting a new desk, so we're acquiring the old, gorgeous, huge corner desk (Sean's sibs aren't big on hand-me-downs). I'll probably move down to the basement space while Sean takes over the office space. He's going to have an office at school, but 2L is supposed to be the most intense year - I'm glad we won't have to worry about our living space. It'll be great to really make this place our home for the next two years.

Blog Funk

I've been in a bit of a blogging funk lately.

I'm not really sure why, but I'm sure that there's a multitude of reasons that are contributing. I love my new job, but it's physically and mentally taxing, and while I'm still getting used to it, I'm just exhausted when I get home. My energy goes towards dinner, cleaning, and crafting - though I'm not blogging about it :p. I have however been doing some crafts. I have a huge project on my hands, and I'm really excited about it. I seriously can't wait to blog about it, but it's going to be a little while. I also have another project I'm looking to do, but that's another post.

We're moving in August. We don't know where we're moving to yet, but it's a definite. We're looking through the school's housing program, but it's still a very iffy situation since we're 3 months out.

It's wedding season! We went to a wedding yesterday, and we have another one next week. Yesterday was Chris and Aubrey's - the ceremony was wonderful. It was outdoors, she was bagpiped in, and the weather was perfect. There weren't enough chairs, but it was only about 20 minutes. The reception was a little rougher though. Cold food, only beer and water (not even soda!) were served, and one of the speakers blew. Oh, and the DJ racially insulted one of the law school kids. Not cool. I'm just hoping the bride doesn't find out - I would have been mortified!! I'm really excited for next weekend's though :) (JLINNNNNNN)

I'm also looking into a new camera for Europe. I don't want to take the plunge for a DSLR, but I'd still like a camera that I can take quality photos with. I know I definitely want a camera with optical zoom, and I'd like adjustable shutter speed also. I know I don't want an ultra-compact one - I rather have something a bit heftier. Probably in the $200-300 range. I really need to just look at reviews and such, but anyone have any suggestions for a DSLR/compact hybrid? I'd appreciate it!

Anyway. I'm off to work on my little project. I'll have pictures about it in a while!!

Doing the Debt Shuffle.

Rich people shuffle money to make more of it. Poor people shuffle money to pay less.

With my new job, we'll have a lot more money coming into our lives. Enough money to actually start paying down our debts - not just paying the minimums. It's really exciting for us, because we're both determined to have most of my debt paid off before we start a family, and if my debt is gone, my credit will be good enough to purchase a house (which is also a personal requirement before kiddos).

Sean gets plenty of extra money to shuffle debt around - we're paying off his student loan and my loans with it. The idea is to get all of the student loans compounded together. His law loans don't accrue interest while he's in school, so we're actually saving money. By paying off my loans, we're eliminating all of our interest until he's out of school. My new income will go towards my car payment. Sean's car is paid off (and only has 70,000 miles on it - it will definitely last a good 6+ years longer), and we'll be able to pay my car off hopefully by the end of next summer (and it'll only be 3 years old!). Plus, of course, we'll be able to eat better and I'll be able to join a gym.

We're staying in our crappy apartment for now though. We're going to save all the money we can here, so we'll be able to buy a house right away in 2 years (um, have I mentioned that I'm married to a 2L now?!).

Guys, my paychecks are almost going to double. Double. 

Latest Project (brought to you by wedding day left-overs)

Check it out!!

We had quite a few bits and pieces of wedding lying around, so I decided to use some of it to fill an empty poster frame. The ribbon on the top and bottom edges are actually the wraps from my bridesmaids' bouquets, and the paper is stuff I had lying around. That brings the total cost to this project to absolutely ZERO! Love it!

I'm still to this day in complete love with my invitation suite. I designed it myself, and Sean's cousin printed it up. I can't put together enough words to say how glad I am that I did this. It. was. worth. it. And now, these gorgeous invitations and programs will be proudly displayed in our home.

Easter!!

One of the worst parts about living away from our families is that we miss the holidays. I work on holidays too, so often times we celebrate them weird. We have so many holidays crammed into one day, trying to see everyone, and we have to drive 7 hours roundtrip for it. That leaves us cranky, annoyed, and probably not the best company.

This Easter, family is coming to us.

Sean's dad will be in South Korea (he's working on a new project there), so Sean's mom, grandma, brother, and sister-in-law will all be coming to see us here in KC!! We're super excited to host family. Sean's mom is the only one who's been to our new place, and Sean's grandma and sister-in-law haven't even been out here. We're really excited to host too. We can't wait to see everyone, and I'm having a blast prepping for it.

Today, I spent most of the day cleaning. I know this week is going to be really busy, so I want to get as much as I can done this weekend. I've done seven (!!!) loads of laundry, and cleaned the crap out of our bedroom, the kitchen, and the bathrooms. All that's left is the living room (which is mostly folded laundry), the office, and the floors.

I've also made a grocery list for our spectacular (and first) Easter dinner! We have to celebrate on Saturday, since I work Sunday (boo), but oh well. Since everyone will be in town, we're figuring we won't want to be in the kitchen all day. I've picked out super simple things we can make the day before!

Our main course will be a Parmesan-Sage pork loin, which is all crock pot, and has potatoes, carrots, and pears. We'll also have green bean casserole, which we prep the day before and just pop in the oven. Of course I'm going to make cheesy garlic rolls, but I'll just make them on Friday and pop them in the oven before dinner to warm them up! Hopefully we won't all be too full to drag ourselves to Easter Vigil mass at 8:30...we'll see though ;)

I still need to decide on a dessert though ;) I'm thinking of a pretty cake that can sit in my cake stand! Teehee.

Man. I'm such a nerd.

Dining "Area" Glory

Sean and I have one of those apartments with the "open" concept - we have a kitchen/living room/dining room area. A breakfast bar (and tiled floor) separates the kitchen, but our living room/dining area is all together. We usually just push our couch back to nearly where the table is, but Sean's mom is planning to come in for Easter, and we needed to do some sprucing.

I've been looking for a fun craft, and I came across the Etsy page of ItzFitz, and her gorgeous yarn wreaths.

Um, hello craftspiration! I've been looking for you lately :p

I found the perfect tutorial over at DanielleBurkleo, and with some left over yarn, I made a gorgeous wreath. For $6. Fan-freaking-tastic.

First, you'll need a foam wreath. I bought this one for $5 at Hobby Lobby. It doesn't matter if it has nicks or anything, because you'll be covering them. I wanted a multi-colored wreath, so I divided my circle into 10 parts - don't worry about measuring. In this, perfection isn't necessary.

I hot glued the first piece of yarn to the wreath. To prevent it from slipping around, I thumbtacked the first piece of yarn down. And then, you wrap. Here's what it looks like two sections in:

Pretty soon, you have a gorgeous wreath. I added a few felt flowers from the tutorial for good measure.

And then I hung it up on our wall using some ribbon that was hanging around

I love our little set up (please disregard the laundry). Thanks to our new table runner (which don't hang off the table like any other runner, because ours is so massive), it's really coming together! Now I just need to find something to go in that cake stand when there's not a cake. I'm also planning on adding a bit of lace or something to the votives. And maybe, you know, actually hang those pictures.

Recipe Book Progress

Remember how I said one of my goals was to make a recipe book?

Well I've been working on it a lot here lately, and I have to say, it's made some pretty awesome progress.

A lot of the book itself is based off of TasteBook, which is essentially a recipe binder maker site. It does exactly what I'm doing - professionally. The reason I didn't go with them? I wanted to be able to print off copies of these recipes at any time. I have this fear of companies like this going out of business...yes, I can order 5 now, but in 20 years when my kids want one, will I be able to get it?

I'll always be able to open a Word Document.

So I opened up my handy Photoshop, made several banners (I color coordinated the sections of the book), imported them into a word document, and then turned that into a Word Template. That way, I could ensure every one of them is the same - and I can give each person a disk with the templates, and they can create their own additional pages.

I've created 10 categories for my recipe book (some of which are drastically empty, because I don't cook things out of them often):
Brunch and Breads
Appetizers and Drinks
Soups and Salads
Sides
Pasta, Rice, and Beans
Fish and Seafood (this would be an empty one, because Sean doesn't like them)
Meat and Poultry
Desserts
Crock Pot
Everything Else

My Everything Else section has measure conversions, ingredient substitutions, and recipes for things like chili sauce. I'm trying to find a catchier name, mostly because I want it at the front of the book, but I can't figure one out :\

I've imported all of my standard, go-to recipes, and now I'm cruising the web for a few additional ones. Every time I see a good one - into the book it goes! Now if only I could get my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law to send me theirs...

Anyway. Want to see a page?

It's a bit shortened, cause the rest of the page is blank space. But that's the banner I'm using (ahem, and created myself). It's simple but adorable at the same time. It adds interest to the page too. Each section is color coded and desserts just happen to be bright purple :) 

We plan on getting personalized recipe binders from Zazzle - that way we can each have our own personal ones! I love that you can change the type, and so first names, last names, and clever recipe book titles are all possibilities. I haven't decided on which one I want - I like WAY too many of them. They're 1.5" binders too, so there's plenty of room for all the pages we could ever need. 

I'm super excited about how it's coming along...I can't wait until it's finished!

Wanting to be Kitsch.

 Have you noticed that "kitsch" is the new thing? The fabric scraps, the yarn, the animal ceramics painted strange colors...it's all "in". Vintagy with a modern twist. Funky, but fresh.

I love it.

And I hate it.

It sounds bizarre doesn't it? I love things like:

(source, source, source)

The problem? It's really not me. I'd feel like I was trying to hard or something if I decorated my house like this...because it's not who I am. Sean defines it as "single me" - the way I would have decorated if I wasn't concerned about others. 

It's partially true. Maybe my style would have evolved to this if I didn't consider Sean's tastes (we do, after all, share a home). Maybe I just don't like the idea of spending money on things that will be out of style in a few years. Maybe I just can't help but think of the clutter in my grandma's home when I see photos like this. 

I think what it comes down to is that I like the idea of kitsch. I like that it's homemade. I like that it can be changed. I like that most of it is "upcycling". 

But it doesn't belong in my life. It doesn't belong in my home. I'm much more of a "classy" and "modern" person. 

But that doesn't mean I can't swoon every time I see a felt-covered, ribbon-wrapped, thrift-store saved pretty thing.

Eye on the Prize.

This morning (oh wait, it's already afternoon), I'm sitting on my couch enjoying my coffee, and watching 30 Rock on Netflix with my husband.

My couch from college. My couch that was bought for $30 from our youth group garage sale at my parents' church. The couch that had been in the old convent for who knows how long - and has had generations of yg kids, quilting ladies, and other various church groups sit on it. It's had a great life. But it's also been a long one. This couch is easily from the 70s, if not before. It's bright blue. The stuffing is falling out, and now that it no longer sits against a wall, the back is bowed.

It's kind of frightening to sit in.

And so we're looking at a new couch. It really makes me sad, cause I looove my blue couch. I want to keep it. I'm gonna try my hardest to keep it in the office (so that one day it can make it into a basement). As much as I love it though, one thing is for certain - it is no longer fit to be our primary, living room, company-seeing couch. It is nearing retirement.

But being the poor college grads that we are, we don't really have the money. Scratch that actually. We have the money in a saving account, but we're saving that in case something comes up (like Sean's loan situation. Ugh.). However, I'm on the job hunt. If I can get something that covers our bills, we'll be buying a new couch the day I sign that contract! lol.

Anyway. Now that we live in KC, we're privy to one of the most awesome furniture stores ever - Nebraska Furniture Mart. Our friends Beth and Dan get major discounts there (maybe cause they bought nearly their entire house from there :p), and offered to let us use one if we choose - and getting a credit card there would knock the price further. We're considering a sectional, but we'd be okay with a regular couch too - it depends on what we end up liking best I suppose. So what are we leaning towards?

In sectional world, we like this:

This sectional is a little pricey at $669, but we love the look of leather on bottom and microfiber on top. It's classy AND comfy, in our opinions. It's what we'll be looking for in most of our options. A lot of people don't like the separate pillows from the back, but it's what we have now, and we really enjoy it. It's a couch that can be instantly widened for afternoon naps by tossing a pillow over the back. And it's easily cleaned and changed up. Love all around.

On the less pricey, sofa side of the spectrum, we have options like this:

This sofa is only $349, and much more affordable. And essentially the mini me of the above sectional.

There's also this baby. 

And contrary to the picture above, it's actually more of a light tan, cream colored couch. Here's a photo of the entire set, which clearly would never fit into our tiny living room. This one's $389. 

Of course, there are plenty of options other than NFM, so it's possible we'll be looking elsewhere too. But we have a great idea of what we want. Provided of course, that I get a new job. 

::sigh:: Oh contingencies. 

Seasoning a Wood Chopping Block

For our wedding, we received a gorgeous wood chopping block. It's an end grain chopping block, which means that, unlike plastic or edge grain, it won't dull the knives we use. It absorbs the impact of the knife, which is really cool. I think it kind of looks like a parquet floor, and it's very classy. It looks a lot like this:

There is, however, a downfall to having a nice, wood chopping block. Like all nice things, it needs a little more TLC. In this case, it needs to be seasoned. 

A wood chopping block doesn't have to be seasoned. But, an unseasoned board is more likely to crack and warp, and a cracked board can harbor bacteria and other nasty stuff. If a board is cracked, it can still be seasoned, but it needs to be sanded down first. 

And so I broke out the google, and figured out what I needed to do. I was hoping for an Alton Brown tutorial (which is how we seasoned our cast iron skillet), but no such luck. So after scouring the interwebs, I've figured out the best way. 

1. Get your hands on some mineral oil. Don't know what mineral oil is? Neither did I. It's actually - wait for it - a laxative. Yep. I freaked. But I scoured google a bit more, and seriously, that's what you use. But it makes sense - it's food safe, it's odorless, and it's tasteless. So buy yourself a bottle awkwardly at CVS or your local drugstore. 

2. Heat a bit of oil in a bowl for about 20 seconds. It should be slightly warm, but not boiling. Find a clean cloth (I used a cheapo washcloth from the dollar store), and rub the oil onto the wood. Every inch of the wood. It'll soak right in most likely, but if there's a bit left on the surface, wipe it off with a paper towel. 

3. Now. Wait six hours, and do it again. Repeat. And repeat again. It needs to be done 4-6 times the first time you season a chopping block (with six hours in between), and then once a month afterward. Or if your wood ever starts to feel dry. 

The wood on the block will darker once it's seasoned, but that's okay. Also, you can't submerge the wood (wood soaks up water, which causes it to crack), so if when it needs to be cleaned, just used a damp cloth or a spray bottle with vinegar. 

Once it's done the first time, it's really easy to take care of. It just needs a bit of TLC to be awesome. Love my new chopping block!