design a life you love
The summer is in full swing and I’m seeing tropical influences everywhere I turn. With the summer sun high and the days long, staying healthy and hydrated is more important than ever. That’s where my tropical sunrise smoothie comes in! This quick and easy 5 minute breakfast will make you feel like you’re being whisked off to an exotic destination in no time flat, even if the only thing you actually have to look forward to is your morning commute.
I think today’s post of our empty home tour is my most requested ever and, for that reason, I have been putting off sharing it for the last several weeks. Let me explain why. We moved into a house that is very much a fixer upper and will continue to be a work in progress. We don’t often see works in progress online or on social media, rather we tend to celebrate only the beautiful end result of blood, sweat, tears, and cash. I was, admittedly, feeling a bit self-conscious about the state of our home when we took ownership.
When I browsed Instagram and Pinterest I felt like everybody but me had a picture-perfect kitchen with those super on trend blue cabinets, marble countertops, and brass fixtures. You know the kitchen I mean, right? Their master bedrooms aren’t missing nightstands because they just can’t find the perfect fit. Oh, and their front yards. Their front yards are perfectly manicured with uniform bordered flowerbeds, of course! I was being really hard on myself and on our adorable, wonderful just as it is house.
The front of our Little Blue House on the Prairie. All decisions on landscaping are on hold until we determine how soon we need to replace the failing retaining wall to the left of the driveway.
After a few weeks of this, I took a deep breath and had a chat with myself. I reminded myself that we packed up our lives and moved halfway across the country to a city where we didn’t know anyone a mere month ago. There were no awaiting jobs. There were no guarantees. Crazy? Perhaps to some, but we chose this path because it would be an adventure. That is the same reason we chose to buy a fixer upper in cash rather than move, get traditional jobs, get a mortgage, etc. It would be an adventure to jump into this with everything we had and figure out a way to make it our own. So, I am cutting myself some slack and sharing photos today of our house as it was on the day we took ownership.
Remember, we purchased this house sight unseen. In fact we purchased this little house before I had ever even set foot in Kansas City! This house, to us, represents a leap of faith. In essence, we bet on each other, our resilience, and our ability to create something great out of this together. You will see in the initial photos some very obvious issues – one of which involves the ugliest shade of green you’ve ever seen – but I am hoping you will look past them and be as won over by our little home’s charm as we were.
How was your first week of July? Mine was everything July should be and more. It was full of sunshine, awesome live music, and adventure, all of which was set to my July 2018 playlist. This playlist is a bit self-serving in that regard. As I was creating it, I imagined what I would want to be listening to as a hot July night wound down and made my selections accordingly. The end result is a playlist full of steamy summertime hits that collectively make up the soundtrack to a perfect summer evening.
You can find a link to this playlist after the jump.
I am beyond excited to share today’s post with you because it is one that is very special to me. Today’s cross country road trip vlog is perhaps my favorite vlog to date that my husband and I have worked on together. Unlike our prior travel vlogs where we can be seen running around on vacation (catch up on New Orleans, London, Venice, and Paris), this one shows the two of us and our adorable pups embarking on one of the biggest journeys of our lives as we pack up our life in Los Angeles and drive cross country to Kansas City, Missouri to our new awaiting home.
This cross country road trip ended up being the journey of a lifetime. Not only was it a bonding experience for all four of us, it also exposed us to some of the most incredible examples of natural beauty that the United States has to offer. The two of us have spent so much time overseas, in many ways we neglected the beauty and gifts right outside our front door. Now that we are settling into our life in Kansas City, we are already anxious to get back on the road and explore this new region that we call home. I hope you all enjoy our cross country road trip vlog!
