mid-week snippets of home and updates

I'm glad I was stubborn about this whole fridge thing and that we could do it because, ta-da, we did it.

Three freaking inches were cut off the pantry in exchange for fitting our giant beautiful stainless fridge into the hole where it was designated. There was some mac-guyvering done to connect the water line hose into the fridge's hose because the idiot flippers didn't cover the hose very well and paint had gotten on it. A bobby pin, my dad's swiss army knife, and some elbow grease got it out and once we buy a connector for the hose under the sink, bam, I'll have ice and filtered water again. And unlike the pipes in our old house (sorry dan & jill), this water's actually drinkable.

It wasn't the straightest cut in the world but it got the job done. We'll just patch the holes and repaint them and refit the a new door but I think it's worth it.

Here you can see how much of it got shifted over. Who would have thought three inches would have been such a hassle.

In addition to the pantry trimming and shoving of the rest of the cabinet, we also had to trim off the baseboards around the bottom for a few more extra inches to clear the door. My dad didn't want to do it but he felt better when I told him that this wall was going to come down eventually.

And even with all our work the door just barely opens wide enough but hey, it's accessible enough and INSIDE of our house so I'm relieved and pleased.

Dad's bringing his skill saw on Thursday to trim the pantry shelves and I can't wait to finally start filling the pantry with food items instead of just shoving things in it to hide uglies.

The kitchen itself is coming together quite well and has a surprising amount of storage, including this beautiful cubby where hermajesty has found a permanent home.

These four large drawers are such a huge help. I've mentioned it before and I'll mention it again but drawers in kitchens are my absolutely favorite thing.

The laundry room is also shaping up nicely and is very utilitarian. Since it is a room with doors it's often a holding area for the dogs and feed them here and hold them while trucks and cars are going in and out of the driveway. We bought a mini expedit to fit here in between the washer and dryer and perfectly holds the dog toys/cat supplies and the dog food bin in the bottom basket.

One of Matt's better ideas was taking this little cabinet we'd had in our previous master bath that was now homeless and moving it to the laundry room. It's perfect there and holds the laundry essentials as well as hardware and all the other stuff we had in the laundry room before. This room begs to be utilitarian chic and boy friendly since Matt does a lot of the laundry. A Godzilla poster here. A poster of 8 1/2 there. Maybe Johnny Depp as Ed Wood in here somewhere too.

All of this is going into the pantry. How I'm not sure but somehow...

Overall aside from needing just a smidge more work surface the kitchen is terrific. It's so terrific in fact that I think we're gonna wait another year before we gut it. In the meantime I might get a portable island to at least house the stand mixer, which seems to be the only guy left without a home. Poor mixer.

The built-in in the dining area is shaping up nicely as well. I want to very badly trim that nasty curvy baloney and paint the back teal. Mmm hmm.

This is obviously Matt's doing and he loves it like a pig loves crap and I just think it is such an eyesore. I hope the adding of doors will make it less umm... ugly.

The linen closet in the hallway is a lifesaver. You would not believe how much stuff fits in here! 

The guest bathroom is behaving nicely. It definitely needs an upgrade in the hardware department (curtain rods, towel ring, towel bar) but hey, it's liveable.

Bathrooms to me are such sources of comfort because they're so small they're easy to look finished.

And of course as soon as it became the dumping ground for yet more stuff my sister Liz texts and says they're coming over tomorrow morning and will spend the night 'til Friday. Guess we better put the sheets back on the bed and move the golf bags.

And as much as I want the guest room closet to be empty, it's just gonna live like this for now.

Luckily that dresser and cabinet are providing a lot of storage for sheets and blankets, freeing up more space in the linen closet wherein to dump yet more things. 

And of course, the room that I knew this was gonna happen in since it's so big. I want so badly to spend time organizing it but so many other rooms in the house are taking precedence as they're more visible so poor ole office gets neglected. I'll make it up to her I promise.

The yellow sofa cover is back in the meantime 'cause the cats and dogs have been making mincemeat of the white cover. Paw prints and hair up the ying yang.

I want to add another credenza next to the tall white cabinet (to store DVDs and other stuff) and here's the thing: I want something old and wooden. There's already way too much mass retail stuff in this house and I want to try that rule of adding something old to every room in our house to prevent it from becoming generic.

There's a desk under there somewhere.

I'm beyond excited for the eventual tea bar that's gonna happen here. Downton Abbey marathons are going to be next level.

Okay, now that I have a fridge and food in it I am gonna go make some breakfast. By the way it's amazing having a Sprouts so close by, it's actually the store I was most excited about having nearby. Yes, even more than Ikea.

today at our house

Mon papa is tearing up our cabinets to cut three inches to fit our fridge.


It's definitely gonna get messier before it get better.

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

I am certifiable

We all know I am crazy, obviously. To further prove the crazy I went ahead and invited people over for a mini Oscar party the weekend after we moved. People kept RSVPing yes and next thing I knew I was at Sprouts buying edibles for 16 people. We used every available seating surface we had in our tiny living room and a good time was had as evidenced by my full trash can and flutes everywhere.


The horrible thing was that, leading up to the party, we learned that the channel we needed to watch the Oscars was not working in our neighborhood and apparently most of Burbank has this problem. We considered getting cable but we don't ever watch TV: only for baseball, golf, and award shows so it was not worth it. I didn't give up and mounted an outdoor antenna to the side of the house, which worked until the day of the show and then our tenant Eric had to climb the roof to get it higher and make it work about an hour before people were supposed to show up.

That added to a stressed out disposition for yours truly that poor Mattt took the brunt of. I am such a b!!!h. Well now that its over we are relieved and tired and with this week off I plan to spend most of it unpacking and cleaning and all that. Also sleeping. Haven't done much of that lately.

Oh and our new fridge is here and Matt found the water line near the fridge so I will have ice eventually! Can't wait to buy groceries and make food. Yesterday I made rosemary cashews and mint mango salad which felt so good. One can only have Taco Bell so many days in a row you know.

- iPad Post

i can't go my own way

For the past few weeks I've been feeling like I have not been in control of my own time at all. As if everything recently is just me reacting or having to deal instead of deciding. Mostly it's because of work or personal commitments but I am so tired of feeling tired and completely devoid of time. It just feels like things are being decided on in a hurry and are reactions instead of decisions or I dunno I'm just whining. The year feels like its been going on forever and it's only the end of February. I think I've aged about 5 years.


Are things gonna get better? Will I feel less completely irritable and tired soon? I sure hope so. Any day now.

iPad Post

let's talk about the whole "no fridge" thing

So... our fridge didn't fit through the door of our house. Surprise. Not a surprise: even if we remove the doors, it still won't fit in the cubby where it's designated to go in the kitchen, most fridges I want are about 2 inches too wide to fit. We've been fridge-less since Saturday and while it's not been horribly inconvenient since we're hardly home but now it's getting to the point where I NEED to cook something anything I'm dying. I've changed my mind about the black fridge and now since we have to remove doors off of the fridge to have it installed anyway, why not have Best Buy do it for me when they bring me a new fridge. And this time: stainless.

It has a rack for champagne/wine bottles. It think that's important in an EvY household. Stay tuned.

it's really everybody's house, not just ours

I've come to the rapid realization, and a wonderful realization at that, this house we own, it's everybody's house. Throughout the process of searching and buying this house my boss Francesca would ask if "we had a house yet" as if she was a part of the process. We had laughs about it then but it's starting to become very true that this house is not just our house, it's everyone's. I don't think I've felt so much love, support, and encouragement from all sides than during this process. Offers to help from both of our parents, friends stopping by just to see the place and hug us, parents unpacking boxes, offers to help us move, in fact Francesca's boyfriend Tim actually helped Matt install new locks on the doors so quite literally it has become "we have a house".

I want to believe it's because everyone loves us and is happy for us and want to encourage us along the way in such a big life step and I also believe wholeheartedly that God knew that in giving us a place to call home, he was giving a lot of people a house, a default party locale, a place to let traffic die down in, a place where you can use your many years of apartment living repression of not being able to use your hands and do manual labor (our new tenant Eric), and a place to park your cars if you have flights out of Burbank airport. 

So, while Matt and I technically are the homeowners, it's nice to feel that we're not alone in this. That we have parents that love us and want to plant trees (my dad), and show us how to install a washer and dryer (matt's dad) and friends that will bring ice cream for Oscar party socials. And I cannot tell you what a relief it is knowing that someone upstairs and a lot of people within arm's reach are watching our backs.

girly dreams are made of these

So in the move we've decided that we have two bookcases that are excess so we gutted it for the shelves and I stuck in in my closet and ba-dam we have what I will now call EvY's accessories store. And happiness looks like this:

Yeah I have a lot of cheapy handbags. I'm a hoarder and a cheapskate and non-commital.

I've been wanting a central space where I do all my dressing and accessorizing and now here it is. It's truly a sight.

Whoever built this closet did not hang the rod correctly, as the clothes stick out a lot and won't let the doors close properly. Also the wheel is off one of the doors. Anyway, eventually I wanna get that cool Elfa system from Container store and be all ooh la la up in here.

Don't worry, there's still plenty of unpacked boxes and clothes and products in the master, I just wanted to show you what I spent 2 hours working on yesterday. It's getting cuter and cuter. I want to find a cool runner for this area and then eventually paint the bookcase and wallpaper the back.

hb31 & day 1

I am now 31. For my birthday I woke up in our house, that was nice. Truth be told by the end of the 16th I was so weary that I pretty much forgot it was my birthday the next day.

So now the first full day. Matt's parents and my dad and his GF came by to see the place and helped us do things like installing vents for dryers. Dad was extra helpful in nailing sheers to our window sills to get a lil privacy while allowing for light while we purchase you know "curtains" *shudder*. And Jill was amazing and unpacked boxes in the kitchen that were essential. Every empty box was a triumph.

Oh did I mention we have a guest on Monday? Yeah cause I'm nuts we have a co-worker/friend from New York staying with us Mon-Sat. Which motivated us to get the guest room done and felt so nice to have one room in the house that didn't feel like total chaos.












As you can see I moved this dresser and the linen cabinet in here since there's no room for much in our teeny living room.

While there are boxes upon boxes everywhere, it feels like hey, things might actually fit here better than I thought. Hurray.

So ends day one. I is happy.

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

we are home

Super beat. Hiring movers: best decision ever.

Here's our new fortress of boxes:


Guest room:


Office:



Master:


- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

we own a house

Sometime during the day Matt went on a run to the office and stopped by Century 21 to grab the key to our house. And so, after a long day on the most logistically challenging job of my life (you would not believe what we did) Matt and I dropped by to say hi to our house.


It's finally starting to sink in that we are moving. That my life is about to radically change. I will be in a new city, I won't know where anything is, we will be strangers in a strange town.

The house is much smaller than I remember so its going to be a really tight squeeze until we settle. I'm nervous about it but I have always loved the challenge of making small spaces work.

Its also sinking in that we are totally responsible for this building which makes commitment-phobe moi panic.

I'm a grown up.

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

Location:Santa Gertrudes Ave,La Mirada,United States

pups

Feeling much better gang. The job is starting to become bite sized and manageable. It's still overwhelming ish but I think we're gonna be ok. Here's some pup pictures.


- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

i'm stress eating curly fries

The only thing I tolerate eating for dinner after work is curly fries. Can't wait for this to be over.

i think we're at about 85%

I'm not gonna lie to you people, I'm stressed out. Managing a big job with a lot of logistics in the midst of a big life move is not easy on ole EvY. In fact, I'm so stressed that I had been unable to poop (see here: skip to 4:09 its not a video of poop, it's a tv show). Matt and I took the packing extra serious and just gave in and went to buy boxes. Twice. Home Depot boxes are a good value in case you need to buy any. Totally worth it to buy larger boxes, it made the packing go way faster since I wasn't trying to cram anything into a small box.

Besides the fact that the kitchen is now 98% empty is a miracle and the other miracle is the fact that the office closet, which was full TOP TO BOTTOM is now completely empty. I'm getting rid of two of the black bookcases and keeping a small bookcase. since I am gonna have half the storage space in the closet of the Burbank home office.

Most everything is out of the office now. The only thing left is my desk, my chair, the big cupboard, the sofa, and one medium size box to hold the essential office things I've left since I still have to use the office as you know, a place to work, until Saturday.

The last hurdle to clear is the master bed and bath which we're gonna tackle nightly after work. One box at time until Friday when we hope to have part of the day off (after a night shoot) to wrap up the packing before Saturday. Last time we moved was the day after a shoot and this time it's two days after a shoot. I remembered thinking dang, next time I move I won't do it around a shoot, that is some stressful crap. And here we are again. I guess I'm stupid.

But at least today after a productive packing weekend, I was finally able to poop!