EvY at HomE

Hey, I'm in San Francisco! My family is in Los Angeles which is a big time bummer but alas, that's what I gotta do to make the moneys this time. I'm at a classic hotel in Union Square and it's funny to see the habits a person expresses when they're left to their own devices.  I'm still crazy OCD and won't go to sleep until the whole place is setup the way I like it and looks neat especially since we're working out of my office and I don't want my personal items hanging out so everyone can see them. I like to play music all dang day, I don't turn on the TV ever, I like to have it pretty warm in the room, I enjoy a white wine, a bath, closing all the curtains when it starts getting dark, having the little cups wrapped in plastic to have my toothbrush and toothpaste in it, and that the coffee pot is ready for the following morning's brew. What are your hotel habits?

So Target went ahead and was big fat jerks and collaborated with sugar•paper los angeles on a pretty amazing little collection of  gift wrapping supplies . I know I say this a lot but I want it all.  The good thing with having a signature color scheme is that you can use it all year round and not keep it just to Christmas. It's tempting because you want to just HOARD everything to have for years on end and it really does take you that long to go through it all.  I made a little board of all the things I'd buy if I wasn't super broke.  Just making this board and seeing them all together makes me happy. I'd be happier if I was rich and could just buy them. AMIRIGHT?

If black and white ain't your thing no biggie. Peep these cute things from Target.  Again, an advent calendar is at the top of my list but seasonal pillows , I'm into that. Also that wine cozy makes me smile or at least throw a "let's get cozy" sweater party.

It's that magical time of year when Target is decked out for the holidays. Here's the stuff that appealed to my black and white and gold sensitivities. I'm also really into the  leggings  to hang out at home during the chilly season and have promised Matt that I would not be caught in public with them. I'm also crazy about that modern advent calendar because aside from being adorable, it's got tiny little drawers and my girl would LOVE opening and closing each tiny one and I would LOVE putting little things in there that she could excitedly find. Everything is about her people and I don't even care one bit that it's not about me!

The past few weeks/days had gotten pretty stressful around the farm. I'd been unemployed for a few weeks and with the holiday coming up I was worried about making ends meet for the family and then being able to afford to buy anyone any Christmas presents. I know that's not what Christmas is all about but it's a really fun part of it and definitely one of my love languages. I love gifting (and gift wrapping obviously). During my time off I spent time contacting people trying to find work and then general hanging out with my family which was good but I watched the bank account dip and dip making me more and more worried. We cut back on everything as I already said and one of the things that had to be axed was our annual gal pal Christmas party. It just wasn't gonna happen this year. We'll try again next year. I hadn't been in this sort of financial sticky-ness in a long long time. It wasn't this bad in reality but I did give second thoughts to purchasing $3 ...

Well I was right. Whatever she can reach on the tree, she yanks down and drops on the floor. I did try to show her that it's fun to decorate the tree and put the ornaments ON the tree instead.  She tried. I haven't done a full Christmas decorating thing, just the office because I was doing a trial run of what she would do with the tree. I hung up ornaments I really don't want her to touch way up high and left anything within her reach as things I know she can't ruin. I don't by nature own a lot of breakable ornaments because I never trusted myself nor any pets so it wasn't too hard to accomplish. What is left of the tree in the office is a tree that's half decorated which doesn't bother me at all.  Christmas trees look pretty even when they're bare so knowing that the reason the bottom is bare is because my little one is exploring and having fun fills me with joy. And that's what the season is all about anyway. The joy of peace on ea...

no more buying litter no more cat poop outside the litter box no more fur on our clothes no more scratches no more ruined furniture no more arguing about them no more cleaning out litter boxes no more making sure water bowls are full no more making sure food bowls are full no more dry cat food strewn about no more litter dust caked on everything no more worrying about alice having her eyeballs scratched out no more not having a guest room no more worrying about allergies no more constantly vacuuming couches no more barfed up cat food no more frequent lint rolling no more knocked over broken things no more having my hand pinned down while i'm trying to type but no more cuddles no more purrs no more petting no more meows no more knowing they're curled up under the tree we tried to work it out, we tried to find them a home but we failed. i am so so sad and feel like a total failure. but if they would have really hurt my girl i woul...

I veer towards the more modern when it comes to aesthetics and these are my favorite types of Christmas decorations as evidenced by my pinterest board.   Unconventional Christmas Trees. I still want a full-sized Christmas tree to hang ornaments on but I love the takes on other trees that can be used either in an office, or a kid room or if you really are into that sort of minimal Christmas look.  Taking classic ornaments and modernizing them to fit your look. I love this whole ombre paint the balls thing in black and white.  Unconventional wreaths. The classic wreath with the greenery is cool for other people but I'm really into the ones that are different. I love the ones made of ornaments but gimme a felt wreath any day! Modern advent calendars. I'd love to make something like this for Alice sometime once she figures out the counting thing. I like the ones where you put up a little ornament on a felt tree. Perfectly wrapped presents in your color schem...

Even though Thanksgiving hasn't passed yet, let's just bring on Christmas no? Don't you love this idea ?! It's so stinkin' CUTE!

I've been a freelancer since 2004 and while it comes with it's fair share of insane working hours it also comes with bouts of ridiculous unemployment. This year hasn't been great for us financially because while I've been making more money per day, I haven't worked enough days to even out yet. It's a part of the whole moving up process. It'll take some time and we'll get there so I'm trying not to panic and be patient and in the meantime employ a few new habits in regards to the lack of income. 1) We eat in. A LOT. If I'm home, I'm cooking for our family but we would still eat out at least four or five times a week and now it's significantly less. Three meals a day I'm making food at home and being creative with food options and using up the pantry. It's a fun challenge that is helping break us free of our food rut. Sometimes it's simple microwave burgers and sometimes it's fancy veggies. 2) I DIY stuff. Getting craft...

One of the more luxurious of rooms for a home with children is the concept of a "playroom". Can you imagine?! A room just for the children to play in! And isn't that room supposed to be their room? And... don't they play in every room? Mine does. Toys everywhere. It's a luxury for the people that have big enough homes or basements. I get the appeal of basement playrooms for places that get miserable in the winter or summer. Mom needs a place where the kids can go nuts without making a mess in the whole house while they're trapped indoors for weeks on end.  Anyway, without more adieu, pretty. There's even a little article on designing a perfect one . This one's pretty insane. Oh to have a finished attic space.  I love all the colors here with the white walls. I really want a built in window seat in our office. I'm thinking about doing this for the office on a smaller scale. Maybe paint the bookcase doors with chalkboard paint...

One of the things I've been planning on doing in the office is making it a place where kids can hang. It's pretty much a second living room as it is so it just took a few baby proofing moves to make it less of a 'NO DON'T TOUCH THAT' to a 'have at it' area. She would instantly gravitate toward the tea cart when she would come in and grab my precious teapots. By moving them up a shelf they were out of her eye sight and she happily played with the bottom shelf stuff.  She has her little tea set in here that we scored from work and some espresso cups that are just toddler sized. The tea set all fits into that big teapot so when she's in here I let her spread it around but if I am in the mood for tidy-ness into the pot it goes. I also brought her little doll and stroller so she can have a familiar face. The coffee table is acrylic so she can do any kinda damage to it she wants. I used to have all manner of decorative breakable items but the cats ...

Every once in awhile I forget who I am and wish I was some sort of minimalist. Ah, if only I was that person whose closet was just a shelf of reasonable items. But I'm not that person. I'm the person that has hung onto a whole shelf of small boxes that used to hold macarons in case I ever need to use them for gift boxes. And all these things do come in handy I promise I promise. I suppose someday it would be great to gut the whole closet and have custom shelves for it but that's a way down the road project. Originally this was the one closet for the master bedroom (how did people LIVE?!) so it was meant to hold clothes and not wrapping paper so I put some bookshelves in it and they are so helpful. Over the years it changes as life does depending on what I suddenly need to store in here at quick access or not. When I'm working and all my office crap isn't in here, this is what you would see if you opened the door. Oh, you might also see this door hook. It hol...