Vintage Charm

I can't say I was excited about my move to Oklahoma (nearly a month ago), after spending so much time at home, relaxing, and playing it cool. Yes, I know. I had just gotten married and was about to have a really cute house, (which I'm about to show off to you in a second), but I knew it would be hot, humid, far away from home (even though it's closer than DC is to home, it still feels farther for some reason), and let's be honest, it's Oklahoma. Enough said. However, it's only been a few weeks, and I'm already enjoying every moment of it...almost. I could do without the heat, but besides that, I don't doubt I'll have a good experience out here, and come what may and love it, right? So, after all our hard work with moving into our new house, discovering a toilet full of crap, quite literally, painting, decorating, organizing our lives, and figuring out the whole home owner thing, I think it's safe to say, we're officially moved in. Wahoo!

So, here she is in all her glory! Our first home as a newly wed couple.
I had three requirements for our new house...


1-It had to have a porch
Once I get my first paycheck, you better be sure a glider will be replacing that lonely chair!
I love big porches.


I know this picture is dark, but dark or not, the clutter is apparent.
Oh, the joy's of moving in.

Before:


After:



The fun part of moving in, putting IKEA furniture together that we brought all the way from SLC, OKC really needs to get on that bandwagon...

Before:


Eating our first meal, with no table, in the middle of all our junk.



2-I had to have a house with a window over the kitchen sink
and
3-Lots of counter space
(two out of three isn't bad, I guess)

After:



Slowly but surely, things finally got put away and semi-in order...
The living room:

(don't be jealous of our old school TV, it was free, ok!)

We had some major painting to do when we got here.
I'm not one for fancy/funky/or freaking weird paint jobs,
so the red just HAD to go...

Before:

After:


...and so did the weird painting in the hallway.
I wish we had a better picture of it, but trust me, painted on borders,
and trying to be all decorative in your painting doesn't always look good.
Usually, it never looks good.
The more simple, the better, at least in my opinion.

Before/During:
(If you look closely, you can see, under the primer, how it was previously painted)


After:


The lonely bathroom, where our house warming gift, from the previous owners, awaited us.
Don't worry, it smells like a normal bathroom now.


I laugh at calling this the "master bedroom", because there's nothing really "masterly" about it, except maybe the lovely chandelier,
but it's comfy, cosy, and suits us just fine.


Our treacherous backyard, at least it was until we got a lawn mower and finally mowed it...


Now it just looks dead:


And the garage, along with some more house warming gifts the previous owners thought they needed to leave for us. The basketball hoop has come in handy, but the rest of it, well, I've come to realize they were just too thoughtful to us before they moved out.

So, there she is, our nice little humble abode we get to call home for the next three years.
Now the question is, who will be the first to visit...

Last days of freedom

All good things come to an end. Or is it most good things come to an end? Whichever way you want to look at it, things I don't particularly care to end, do just that, they ignore my pleas and end anyway. I've basically been on summer vacation mode since April 15th, the last day of my job in DC, and the last time I was on full-employment status. I'd like to say how bored I've been, and how much I've longed to be back in the working scene again, but if I said all of that, I'd be lying. And I can assure you, this blog has no room for lies.

Instead, I've kept myself busy by getting engaged. Temporarily living in Oklahoma for a month. Moving to Utah. Hanging out with my siblings. Spending A LOT of time sitting on the couch in my kitchen. Traveling to California. Redoing a few old pieces of furniture for my new house (thanks mom and dad for giving me things you don't want anymore.) Getting married. Going on a honeymoon to Hawaii for a few weeks. Going back to California. Hanging out with more family. Spending some more time back in Utah with family and friends. Driving to Oklahoma. Moving into a new house. Painting. Playing interior designer, and having fun doing it. Sleeping in. Working out when I feel like it. Taking afternoon naps. Getting to spend an entire month and some odd days with my hubby, with NO school or work to get in the way. Interviewing for approximately two jobs since I've been back in OK. Sleeping in some more when John went back to school. Being a good wife and making him really yummy dinners (minus one, and I'm still sorry about that.) Enjoying spending my days how I want to, because I can. Shopping with all of our gift cards. Read a few books, but ashamed it hasn't been more. And basically done a whole lot of nothing. So while I've been pretty busy, I've equally been pretty dang lazy. And I don't mind it a bit. Got that, NOT-ONE-BIT!

Alas, like I said earlier, all good things must come to an end, and unfortunately that includes these past four months of "Amy-time." FOUR months!!! I can assure you, it's been incredible. I thought graduating from college and getting a job was the time in life I had to feel all grown-up and big girl-esque. However, I realized that's not entirely true, it just meant I had to add a little more responsibility to my life. And now that I'm thinking about it, maybe that's all it means when you get married, too? That I now just have a little more responsibility added to my ever-so-busy-schedule, and not that I have to really grow up...that's what you do when you have kids, right? I'm sure there's a proper medical terminology for this syndrome of mine, one that enables me to think, I'm-the-youngest-child-and-don't-like-to-think-I-ever-have-to-really-grow-up-so-I'll-just-keep-saying-the-next-"phase"-of-life-is-the-phase-where-I'll-really-have-to-act-all-mature-and-like-a-true-adult. But what does all of this have to do with anyway? All I'm really trying to say is this, come Thursday, I'm back to having to be responsible. Back to having to wake up early. Back to having to act professional. Back to making money. And back to that 8-5 schedule, Monday through Friday. That's right, after two weeks of being in OK, I landed a job working for them:

Poor John, I'm sure he thought that by him going back to school it meant he finally gets to spend time AWAY from me. Nope. I'll soon be working at HIS school, on HIS campus, just across the street from where HE gets to act like a dentist all day. Lucky him! And lucky me of course! But since I don't lie, I'm just going to come out and say it, I'm really going to miss my schedule of nothingness. It's nearly 11am, and yes, I'm still sitting in bed. It's been amazing.

"Gameboys are so cool" -John

I can't remember the last time I played a gameboy...
actually, I played it the other afternoon, for a LONG time.
Bugs Bunny drew me in, what can I say?
But before that, I can't remember the last time I not only played the gameboy,
but even saw or held one.
It's a treasure dug up from the past.
We may not own a playstation 3 or x-box for that matter,
but I think we have something better on our hands.
Look how into that he is...

Kind of pathetic, I know,
but a classic never dies.

Surprises

I'm sure you're all dying to know how our trek across (half) the country went. How moving into our new house is going, and how cute the end result is about it be. How awesome it has been for us to move into a house that WE own. Not to mention the fun surprises that awaited as upon our arrival, namely a toilet full of human waste, and not just a little, A LOT. A toilet that now smells like an outhouse. Flies that like to surprise us by flying out of the toilet while we're still sitting on it. Or lights that won't turn on...and it's not because the light bulbs are burnt out, we're not that unintelligent. Boy do I love housewarming gifts. They're sure fun! Well hold on to your fanny, the Lovell household, Oklahoma style is coming your way...just give us a few more days, it's still a work in progress. But trust me, despite all of the craziness we've had to endure, you'll all be jealous you don't live in Oklahoma City with us, in 104 degree humid weather, with heat advsiories up the wazoo. Trust me.

Home Sweet Home?

Well, it's time to head "home" and be a true married couple who lives independently from their parent's, and other family members. Oh boy! Someone in church today asked me when I'm going home. I turned and said, "I am home" but I knew what she meant. So, tomorrow's the big day, and you know what? Although I have mixed emotions about my new adventures in Oklahoma City, I'm excited to begin this new journey. Promise! Even if the temperature will be well over 100 all of next week, PLUS humidity. Awesome! But how could I not be excited to "go home", when I get to go play house with this cute 1925 bungalow? It's even better knowing we get to call it our own. So, let the true mid-west adventure begin, following a delightful 19+ hours stuck in the car.