I thought I would record for the blogging community some of the items that make my house a home. Plus, this way I can record, for posterity, the special significance and stories behind these mementos. That way, when I’m old and senile and in need of a nursing home, my offspring won’t think my basement is full of junk that belongs at a yard sale, but items that should be prized like the treasures that they are.

This summer, my friend Jenny and I decided to swap a couple of household items. She became the recipient of my half-rounded shelves and I acquired these awesome night stands. Well, at first they weren’t super awesome night stands. They were scratched, dented, and covered in paint and markers.

Jenny was, kindly enough, willing to help me refinish them. We spent a few summer afternoons scrubbing away at the wood with steel wool and refinishing the wood.

Now, I have some fantastic night stands that reside on either side of our guest bed. Are you interested in trying them out when you come to visit us? I’m sure you’ll be impressed.

My Favorite Things | 3 Comments »

I thought I would record for the blogging community some of the items that make my house a home. Plus, this way I can record, for posterity, the special significance and stories behind these mementos. That way, when I’m old and senile and in need of a nursing home, my offspring won’t think my basement is full of junk that belongs at a yard sale, but items that should be prized like the treasures that they are.

You don’t know me very well if you don’t know that I absolutely love to travel. I’ve always loved looking forward to a vacation. Any opportunity I get to spend some time in the airport is something I relish and look forward to with great anticipation. When we first moved to Ohio, I bought and accumulated numerous maps, which I then spread out all over the floor of our living room and spent a great deal of time pouring over the cities, distances, and opportunities.

When Scott and I got married, I decided we should have our own world map. My goal is to fill it up with little green pins that indicate all the places we’ve been to together. Red pins are good too–they show the places I’ve been to–but I prefer to travel with Scott.

It didn’t take long before we had to settle on some rules regarding pin placement. A city can only contain a pin if we have spent the night in a location or walked around the streets. Changing planes in an airport doesn’t count, you have to set foot outside of the terminal. It is a great honor to to put the pin on the map, an honor we don’t take lightly when it is our turn.

While the United States already has quite a few pins and we’ve added to our collection over the course of our marriage, there are still so many distant places to travel too. It’s always intriguing to peruse the map, remember past vacations, and anticipate new ones to far of lands. We never know where the next pin will go on the map!

My Favorite Things | 3 Comments »

I thought I would record for the blogging community some of the items that make my house a home. Plus, this way I can record, for posterity, the special significance and stories behind these mementos. That way, when I’m old and senile and in need of a nursing home, my offspring won’t think my basement is full of junk that belongs at a yard sale, but items that should be prized like the treasures that they are.

Last summer, Scott and I traveled to Thailand. While we were traveling around in northern Thailand, we picked up this amazing, hand-carved teak board. For the remainder of our travels, we babied this fantastic souvenir so we could be sure it would return home in one piece.

In fact, Scott took such good care of our teak board, he actually carried between each of our three flights and “worked the system” to bring in into the cabin of each flight, rather than turn it in as checked baggage.

The effort was well worth it, because now we have a lasting memory of our trip from Thailand, which graces the wall of our “Asian-insipred” bedroom.

I love the carved images of peaceful elephants grazing in the Thai country side. It is definitely a work of art that cannot be reproduced or replaced.

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I thought I would record for the blogging community some of the items that make my house a home. Plus, this way I can record, for posterity, the special significance and stories behind these mementos. That way, when I’m old and senile and in need of a nursing home, my offspring won’t think my basement is full of junk that belongs at a yard sale, but items that should be prized like the treasures that they are.

One of the best things about our apartment here in Columbus, is this south-facing window. I will surely miss it when we move to a new house. It’s great for a number of reasons.

During the fall I have a front-row view of this incredibly awesome tree which turns literally florescent red as the leaves change. Honestly, looking out the window (or front door) takes my breath away, it’s so gorgeous.

It’s also perfect four housing our little greenhouse and nurturing our seedlings as winter progresses and spring arrives. There is a large enough space to fit quite a few plants so that they can soak up the sun’s rays all day long while staying warm and dry.

All in all, I’m a big fan of this window, and incredibly grateful that our apartment faces the direction it does, and has the layout it does so that we can have this awesome second-floor window.

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I thought I would record for the blogging community some of the items that make my house a home. Plus, this way I can record, for posterity, the special significance and stories behind these mementos. That way, when I’m old and senile and in need of a nursing home, my offspring won’t think my basement is full of junk that belongs at a yard sale, but items that should be prized like the treasures that they are.

When Scott and I were planning our wedding reception (and we had quite a few opinions about it), one thing I wanted was a “guest book” that was really a picture frame. We bought a large picture frame and matted a 8×10 that was one of our favorites. When guests showed up at the reception, rather than signing a guest book, they used a Sharpie to sign a message on the frame mat.

It wasn’t so much that the picture frame mat idea was novel and original; it is the loving memories I have of all our friends and family who signed the frame. See the image above, where Scott’s aunt added a lipstick kiss to the mat?

Or the sheer number of times my youngest brother signed the frame to “take up space.” He thought he was hilarious. I think he concluded the evening with nine completed signatures.

Mostly, I just love walking out the front door or up the stairs to our bedroom, glancing at the frame, and remembering all the warm memories of those who wished us well at our wedding. Even after the hundreds of perusals and glances I’ve made at the frame, I still notice a new signature and well-wisher.

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