Key day

Verde Street closed on April 3rd. We had done our final walk though the day before, singed off on the completion of our list of repairs, and we were ready! 

Ready to have the house as our. Only one thing was standing in our way: the new title in our name had to be recorder with the Kern County Recorder's Office.

Luckily, we have an 'in'. I called Shelbey[she works at the Recorder's office] Friday morning and asked her if it was there. No deed in our name. I told her to check every hour on the hour. I really did. I am THAT demanding. 

I patiently waited 3 hours to call her back at noon to check again. No answer. Called several more times before 1 o'clock when I know she goes to lunch. No answer. Why must you torment me Sister?! Answer your phone! 

Called again at two. She checks. The deed is still not recorded in our name. I must have sounded a little crazed because she says,"You and Jay are both about to lose it." I guess he had been texting her throughout the day checking on the status as well. At one point, Shelbey told him it was unlikely to be recorded this late in the day and he responded with,"But who will pick up the pieces of my shambled life?"

Okay, so we both WERE a little crazed. First time homebuyers, man. 

As I am on the phone with her, I asked her to refresh. Maybe it is there?! And guess what. 

It WAS. 

We had a deed recorded in OUR NAME. How crazy is that? Aren't we still 18? Who let us do this?? Whose baby is that? I am clearly not old enough to buy a house, to have a baby and a husband. Life is crazy like that.

Our realtor came and dropped off the keys. Our keys. As soon as Jay got home, we went straight over there. People came and saw it. We gave tours. It was great.

I always felt like this was meant to be our house. The night we pulled up to it, I said that I had a good feeling about it. And at the time, every house kept getting taken away from us...Remember that? We were interested in 3 other houses and the day before we went to see them, they were taken off the market. How weird is that? Houses kept getting taken away leaving only THIS house. See, meant to be. And now, with keys in our hand, it is ours. Beyond blessed. 

Final Walk Through

Yesterday was our final walk-through! This thing is happening people! We both are pretty pumped to get in there and get started. As we were doing our walk-through, Jay was taking measurements in the kitchen & determining how many bricks we would need in order to redo the front walkway. This is so his thing. Mine too. But he already has that fixated-Jayson-look in his eye. I know it all too well. 

We were on Verde Street last night around 5:30 and the light shining through the Japanese Elm was just perfect. We met our nextdoor neighbor and her dog. The street was quite. Another great impression, Verde Street. You do not disappoint.

Today we should get out keys. We are so excited. Have I not said that enough? We are so so excited.

And without further ado, let the moving and DIY-ing madness begin!

A Sentimental Moment.

Since it got warm, there have been lots of days where we head to backyard to play, snack, and swim. On really warms days, the garden hose makes its way out. Casey loves it. He loves to splash and drink the water. The hose is great entertainment. I'm all about it. Making these kind of memories with Casey is one reason that leaving this house gets me a little bit sentimental. Time for a list.

Things I am going to miss about Natchitoches:

- The deck

- The nursery

- the cloud decals

- Master bathroom

- Gardeners!

- Memories of Casey's firsts all over the house
- The mature rose bushes and boatloads of roses

- New appliances in the kitchen

- All our completed DIYs (deck makeover/kitchen makeover)
- The blooming Jasmin in April

- The street name. No really, I loved Natchitoches
- Jays says he will miss the garage and his barista friend at the Alberstons who gives him discounts

And while I feel sentimental about packing up and moving on, the excitement I feel is much greater. I know both Jay and I were feeling a little bit stifled by being in a rental. We want to get our hands dirty and make our mark. Create a home of our own. Days away from doing just that.

This is one of my favorite things that Casey does. He will pause and just stare straight up at the trees or sky. The fact that he doesn't have a neck just kills me with cuteness. This kid.

House Update

Throughout this process, Jay and I have tried hard to seek what God wants for us. I chose a word to focus on when we were looking at houses, making an offer and other decisions that are house related : LEAD. 

We prayed hard that God would lead us to the right house. And when we found one we loved, we prayed. And when we offered and got it, we thought, surely we are done. 

And then there were some termite issues. There was about $3000 worth of work that needed to be done. And to be clear, we do not have $3000 left. And when we heard that the seller did not want to pay for all the work[he would only pay half], we were upset. Why would we get our hopes up if this wasn't the house for us? God, don't you know that I already started a blog with the name 'Verde' in the title? It was a sure thing. We knew that. God should make it happen. At that point, I knew I needed to pause. We knew we needed to be open to what God was telling us. What is to be patient? Was it to move on? Was this not the house for us?

Last weekend, we just waited. And waited. And talked about our waiting. And texted each other, "Have you heard from the realtor?" We had made our decision that we would not put anymore money forward. And so we waited. And if we lost the house over $1500, we would be fine. God had other plans. I thought a lot about the house last weekend. It made me realize I am accustomed to things going my way. And if things did not go my way with this house, I felt okay. I was fine.

And in the end, we heard yesterday that the seller is going to pay for all the repairs. And we are moving forward. However, without last weekend's waiting, I probably would not have done the amount of self evaluation that I did. Thanking God for patience, self awareness, and humility. Extra thankfulness for the house. Our house. So excited.

One of the few iPhone photos I have of the inside of Verde Street!

Dinner honoring Nolan!

There is nothing better than time shared with the ones you love. That's real, people.

I want to share photos from the dinner we had honoring Meghan's 3rd baby boy, Nolan. The dinner was held in Oleander + Palm's Downtown Studio in Bakersfield. The studio was an awesome location! It is a small, white space - perfect for a small group. There are great big windows and it has that downtown vibe. Totally fun. And since my of my house is packed away in boxes waiting for the big move, the studio was a lifesaver! A big thanks to Jeran for being flexible and open-minded and sharing your awesome space.

To help the girls find the studio, I made this coordinating sign[that matches the print I made for Meg and guests] that I taped downstairs in the lobby of  the O+P Studios. 

Here is the print! For the dishes and materials I used for the dinner, we went with the real stuff. I borrowed some dishes and silverware from a friend, but those dessert plates you see there are the ones I found thrifting a couple of weeks ago. Although it was more work to lug all of those dishes up three flights of stairs, real glassware and dishes add so much to a dinner. [And I saved money by not buying disposable.]

Thankfully, Spring in Bakersfield does not disappoint in the garden! All of the flowers were cut from my own garden! Definitely another money saver! I like to add rosemary to my flower arrangements. Works as a great filler if you are low on flowers or are doing small arrangements. The buntings I made looked perfectly simple over the big downtown windows.

The menu for Meg's dinner:
- Caprese skewers.
- Cheese/Walnut spread on crusty bread
- Summer salad with Dijon/Honey White Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Homemade Mac + Cheese
- Strawberry Shortcakes

The menu was a collaborative effort. Thanks girls for helping out!

I don't think there was a low point. Lots of laughs, great conversation, tears shed. Life is so busy with kids that these moments seem even more special. Meg, I hope this dinner encouraged you and reminded you just how loved you are. Motherhood is hard. Life is hard. We support you. We love you. Now c'mon baby!

E.B. Browning quote.

Today, I want to share a special detail from the Nolan honor dinner I threw last week.

I wanted to make a special addition for Meghan's dinner, a little favor that all of the guests could take home with them. I thought long and hard about Meghan and how she treats her boys and responds to motherhood. And a memory came back to me. 

Last summer, Jay and I were having dinner with Meghan and her family and we were talking about life dreams and goals. Playing the 'What would you be if you could be anything?' kind of game. And I remember Meg saying that she had realized her dreams and she was living them right now. Being a mom to her amazing boys was what she had always wanted and it was better than she could have ever imagined. I love that.

This E.B. Browning quote is a match made for Meghan and moms everywhere. Isn't it so true that babies are more of a gift than you could ever have imagined? Our dreams about what baby will be like pale in comparison to God's gift of a baby.

This print is an 8x10 printed on white cardstock and can be found in my shop for only $12. I hope you enjoy!

DIY Buntings on a budget

As you may have already read, I threw a little dinner last night honoring my friend Meghan's 3rd Baby Boy! Welcome Nolan! We love you already!

To prepare for this event, I decided some buntings were in order!

The whole bunting trend has been around for quite some time, but I am still digging it! I think they are cute and fun (and easy enough to whip one up). So here are the materials I bought (or had on hand) that I wanted to use for the buntings:

5 squares of white felt

5 squares of gray felt

2 yards of geometric fabric (heavy weight, almost like an outdoor fabric)

Baker's twine

Hemp twine

I let the materials inspire me and got busy!

I started with the white felt. I first cut the felt squares into four equal strips. Then I cut those strips into squares. And circles out of each of the squares. (Tip: get good scissors and you can cut two pieces at a time) After I had cut a whole slew of circles, I just ran them through the sewing machine. Literally, that was it.

Here is me sewing a straight line through the circles. The thread from one circle connects to the next, and the bunting grows and grows! I did not have any special technique to do this. I just stuck one circle behind the previous circle under the sewing foot and let the feed dogs catch the material and push it through! Again, that is it! So simple!

Here is one of the finished buntings! I alternated gray and white and it turned out super cute!

I did put "on a budget" in the title of this post... Let's talk money. Each square of felt costs 35 cents and I bought 10. So that was $3.50. Plus thread. Which I already had. And 10 sheets of felt made 3 buntings. $3.50 for 3 buntings; not bad at all.

On to the fabric buntings!

I like to look for a fabric that has some lines to it. They make for really interesting buntings and they also give you some natural guidelines when you cut out your triangles. Or whatever shape you go with. Because of the great lines on this fabric, I cut all these triangles by hand. I selected points on the fabric to make the size triangle I wanted and I went for it. After I cut a whole slew of those, I began sewing.

To make these buntings a little more interesting, I wanted to incorporate the baker's twine. I ran the baker's twin along the top of my triangle where the seam was going to go. But instead of doing a straight stitch like I did on the circles, I did a zigzag stitch to trap the baker's twine in between. It was obviously more time consuming, but I say, it was also worth it.

Here is a close-up of the zigzag stitch with the baker's twine in between. On the gap in between two triangles, the tread just encases the twine. Just keep sewing even if there is no fabric directly under the needle and it will twist the tread around the twine.

Once again, here is the "on a budget" portion. I got two yards of this fabric for 80% off at Hancock Fabric's Sale for $2.86 a yard. (Total was $5.72) I had the baker's twine but you can get it off of Amazon for around 5 dollars. I made two really long buntings and have enough fabric to easily make 8 more buntings(if not even more than that!). So, 10 buntings for under $6. I'm not complaining! 

Let me just end with saying, I am not a perfectionist. I did not worry about if each triangle or circle was exactly the same. I did not worry about perfectly straight seams and perfect spacing. I was going more for a completion of a project! And you know what, imperfectly finished looks just as cute!