Christmas Craziness…

Some people call us crazy, I just call us excited. Yes, we are moving the few days between Christmas and New Year’s and we are totally fine with it. I know we can handle it.  This just means we get to start our New Year FRESH with a new house, new (or slightly used, and re purposed) furniture and hopefully one day soon, a new PUPPY. For those of you who know me, you will not be surprised in the least that getting another dog is a high priority to me. Adam has always promised me that “as soon as we get a house, we can get another dog.” The time has come for Adam to make good of his word (WAHOOO!!) Expect a furry Curley to join Home Sweet Hoge in early 2012!

   Enough about my future pup, and milo’s future furry friend, and on to the big move!  As I am sure many of you can relate to this, we have a ton of Christmas parties to attend this year. Every weekend in the month of December, we’ve got something going on. I’m not usually one to complain about an excuse to (over)indulge in Christmas Cookies and Alcohol, but this year will be tough. We really have a limited amount of time to get our condo packed and ready to go. My brother and Sister (in-law..but sure doesn’t feel like it!) will be coming to Cincinnati on the 16^th to celebrate Christmas with our Grandma, and then they will be helping me pack up our condo. I’m sure that is EXACTLY what they wanted to do on their Christmas vacation but hey, they offeredJ. Once we get the condo packed, we are headed to Virginia to see my family! I haven’t spent a Christmas with them in years, so this is a very exciting year for us. We will be gone the 21^st-26^th just to come straight home and start moving! So not only do we have a few short days to get into our new house because we have a tenant moving into our condo, on January 1^st,  Adam is in a wedding on December 31^st  at Miami’s Oxford campus. It’s going to get hairy those few days. I think I’ll be on my own a bit.  Any takers on some additional help?  

Hopefully this weekend I will get a couple projects completed. I’ll try to get some photos up on what I’m working on, I’d love to get some feedback! Have a great Wednesday!

I almost forgot to mention, we have a few new trees being planted in our back yard this week. Thank you, city of Cincinnati! I'll some post pictures when they're planted.

One thing after another..

Its official, I’m never moving ever again. Or, at least not until the pain and suffering from this process is just a distant memory. I honestly don’t think that the bank could ask for any more information. I’m surprised I haven’t had to send in fingerprints or get a GPS tracking system on me to keep the banks happy. Every day they need more information, and more signatures. When will the madness stop?? Thanksgiving really couldn’t have come at better time. Unfortunately, I am not one who loses weight from stress; I tend to turn to food for comfort. Thank goodness it’s Honey crisp apple season, otherwise I would have downed at least two “Halloween sized” candy bags by now.  The apples are good enough to keep my mind off candy, which is a tough job. However, I am not going to pretend for one second that I’m going to take an easy on the turkey and mashed potatoes, I need them ( yes, I said need).

As all of you are well aware, this Friday is BLACK FRIDAY. In my attempt to furnish this house on a tiny budget, I’m going to brave the madness.  I have a few stores in mind (probably not the traditional Black Friday stores like Best Buy—I’m not in the market for a 65” TV..yet.)  I’ll let you know if I find anything good.

 Happy Thanksgiving!!

Weekend accomplishments...

This weekend was pretty successful, if I do say so myself. Saturday morning I went to Joann Fabric looking for material  that I will use to make my new pillows. I've decided to make my own pillows for many reasons, but mostly just because decorative pillows are SO expensive.  So my thoughts were, "why not just cover the pillows I already have?" Some of the covers on my current pillows slip/zip off, which gives me an easy white surface to cover. For those that don’t just slip off, I will more than likely have to layer the fabric to completely cover their current bright green design. I went into Joann without a clear idea of what exactly I wanted our new living room to say.  Thank goodness for good friends, who gave me their opinions on some patterns. After at least an hour of wandering,  trying to deciding on fabric, and then changing my mind a few more times, I finally decided it’s going to say “sophistication, with a bit of fun.” I've been told that sounds "just like me" – Thanks, Jessie :). Here is as far as I got, I bought enough fabric to make two, yes only two, pillows. I, of course fell in love with one of the more expensive fabrics, so even on sale (40% off!!) I have to do a little at a time. I’m going with a brown, gray, cream and mustard yellow color scheme. It’s a huge change from the lime green, gray, silver, and red-ish color that we currently have, but it’s a welcomed change. See below for a sneak peak of the fabric.

It was also time for me to pick up the vintage hutch I found at an antique mall by my house. I had NO IDEA how heavy it was. When Adam and I got there to pick it up, we were in for a rude awakening. Carrying an incredibly heavy hutch up 4 flights of stairs, just the two of us, was not an easy task.  I really wish I had gotten video of it, because pictures wouldn’t have done it justice

Here is a toned down version of what it sounded like…

 “Oh my god, it’s falling”

“No, it’s not I’ve got”

 “Yes, it is.  I’m going to drop it”

            “We’re almost there, just hold on”

There is good news and bad news about this finally being in our possession. The good news is, I don’t have to keep worrying about how we are going to pick it up (since neither of us have an SUV, we had to borrow the in-laws).  The bad news is it’s now going to sit in our condo for the next 6 weeks, just to be carried back down the 4 flights of stairs to find its new home on Hoge.

Our next step is figuring out paint colors, the seller LOVES purple, we aren’t big fans. As soon as we make some decisions I’ll post some pictures.

Wheelin' and Dealin'

So, the majority of my time right now is now focused on finding the best deal I can, on furniture to fill my house. If I can tell you one thing about myself, it’s that I have champagne taste on a beer budget. I’m not talking a delectable craft beer, I’m talking Natural Life (or Nati Light, as the people here in Cincinnati, so endearingly call it). Therefore this is work, seriously hard work.  I've challenged myself to think outside the box, to find things that maybe aren't beautiful in their current state, but have potential to be something fantastic.  Thank goodness for sites like Pinterest and Etsy. What would we do without these fabulously crafty people in the world?  So until December 28^th, when we can actually move into our house, I’m looking forward to finding my next treasure. Whether that be in a thrift store, an antique store, on craigslist or wherever else this adventure may take me.

Sneak Peek...

Here it is...project #1 a $60 steal from an anitque mall

Here goes nothin'

Home Sweet Hoge

Well, after multiple round abouts of negotiations, the house is ours! It only took a few weeks to get the word, but the day has finally come. Not only are Adam and I becoming home owners for the first time together, we are also becoming landlords to a condo that Adam bought right after college.  We aren't sure what lies ahead, but we sure are excited to get started. I can say with 100% certainty that I am a bit more excited about decorating a 101 year old house, than Adam. So, here's the catch, our pockets are empty. We bought the house, pretty much wiped out our savings and so now, it is time to get creative. Let the DIY projects begin.