EvY at HomE

I've been seeing a lot of trendy homes nowadays and while I enjoy most of the trends happening like the muted pastels, the brass and copper, the loads of black and white; some of the interiors are just a little too hipster for my tastes. I found this house amongst my searchings and I realized that I have a tendency to enjoy things that are midcentury modern but I really want things to have a skew of simplicity and traditionalism. American. Classic. But modern. I was particularly into this living room because it had a blue couch and I like to see what people do with their blue couches. Of course I was crazy for their kitchen with the big island painted blue. The missing element to most homes I feel like is the presence of their children but these people put it front and center with a little table just for them.  Oh and I'm crazy about banquettes of course.  And glass front cabinets. And soothing marble bathrooms. This is a grown up's house. Someday I...

Well, I'm three years, almost 4 over 30 but I found this article and thought it would be fun to see how well I did. It lists the 9 decor items to replace before you turn 30 which you should have read before you turn 30 but you didn't so you're giving yourself 'til the end of the year to fix it. 1) Mass Produced Art 2) Plastic Dining Chairs 3) The Classic Bedspring and Metal Frame 4) A Basic Mattress 5) A Builder-Grade Flush Mount 6) Mismatched Bedside Tables 7) The Futon 8) Stacking Plastic Drawers 9) A Makeshift Desk Chair Overall, I was good on 8 out of 9 and this really made me want to get on #5, the lighting situation. While there's a lot of things we'd reconfigure when we eventually do some serious gut jobs to the kitchen and living area, some good lights would be an excellent addition to the house. We've added ceiling fans to the living room, master, and Alice's room but to be replaced would be: the laundry room, master closet, master ...

I had lofty plans to post some pretty interiors in here but on Saturday I experienced some parenting highs and lows that kinda took the top spot priorities wise.  On Saturday we spent the night at my in-laws and Alice was up at 6am which is unusual for her. When we're home and she's up at that time, she'll usually go back to sleep but since at my in-laws we're all in the same room when she wakes up, she sees us and we can't just ignore her. She gave me the ole pick me up arms so I did, put her on the floor and laid back down on the bed that's low to the ground and she climbed up and laid next to me putting her little head on my pillow. We snuggled for awhile before she wanted to be up playing and she just wrapped her little arms around me being super cuddly. If I gotta be up at 6am, that made it all worth it. It was an incredible mom high. Unfortunately that night as we got back home, she fell asleep in the car and the normally smooth transfer resulted i...

I returned home on Saturday afternoon a very tired lady indeed having not slept much in Austin for the week I was there. I've napped every day except today (Tuesday) since today and tomorrow are my designated work from home days to handle the payroll for our crew. I tried to let Alice hang out here while I work but she decided that she would not be anywhere but in my office chair so...  She's being pretty clingy lately. Wants to be held A LOT. I dunno if it has to do with this age or with the fact that I was gone for a week and she's afraid I'm gonna leave her again? That makes me sad. Let's pretend she's going through a clingy 18 month old phase yes?

She's one and a half my wonder kid, here's what she's up to at this age which I am enjoying so much. She has recently become a little too handsy with the dog. She lays on him, leans on him, pulls his fur, tries to carry him like a doll. Lebowski for the most part has been okay with it but there have been a few times when she grabs his paw and he growls at her. I know she'll outgrow it and the dogs will grow into appreciating her. At the moment, Woz is pretty terrified of her and mostly stays away but Lebowski is kind of a goober and stands his ground even though he knows she's gonna be all up in his business.  Her playtime is a funny thing, mix of playing with her regular and new toys and some more quieter activities too. She loves being challenged and having to learn things like recently simple things like opening a book and teaching her the words and asking her to point out where's the doggy, where's the shoes is a fun to her.  And you know how...

I have been trying to come to Austin for two years. After our Chicago trip I said "Austin next year". Then something happened, I can't remember why I couldn't go in 2014 in July.... oh yeah... BABY. Then in 2015 we was po' so we could na go. I said 2016 we're going to Austin, this is it. And it was!  Well... I'm here for work so it's not exactly the fun times explore the city trip. I am working all day at our rental house and then at night I can maybe go out for dinner which I got to do on Monday and meet up with Biola friends and new Austin residents The Burges, but I don't get to go out much. This morning my boss Robert and I went for a run around a cool bike trail along the river, my first run in months. The first mile sucked major butt and then I felt better and might have kept going but we had to go back. We're gonna try again on Thursday. Also... I can't expore the city through food because... I'm on a no-carb no-sugar food...

As you know, I'm trying to make our office into more of a little playroom for Alice. Most of it involved lots of kid-proofing and then adding in the toys she plays with into the mix. Wooden toys are so helpful to convey the purpose of being played with plus being decorative. We were thinking of having the little kitchen in her room but I wanted her room to remain mostly for reading, changing, and sleeping. I added it here next to the window along with her baby doll's crib and stroller. My tea cart was moved to the corner where we used to keep the litter box. Keeping it out of her immediate line of sight has been nice because then she's not grabbing all the stuff on it. I moved the breakable stuff out her reach and hopefully she'll not be too interested in the stuff that's left. It does leave this corner of the room looking pretty busy but... oh well.  I still haven't finished painting the doors but Alice took to drawing on it already. Magneti...

I've told Matt that in lieu of a bunch of small updates for the house, I'd rather save up so we can do a big gut job for the guest bath . That's not to say there's a few smaller items I wouldn't mind buying. I keep changing out the front door mat seasonally but I'm over it (except for summer). Just a simple front door rug with our initial would be cool. I was thinking of having it say The Fredrich Family Farm but I dunno if I want our name outside of our home that way. I'm thinking it would be a good candidate for a DIY situation.  Recently Alice has gotten into the habit of grabbing the corner of the living room TV and trying to move it which is scary. It's secured to the unit for baby and earthquake but I'd like to just mount the thing to the wall and just keep it away from her. For the record, while Matt is the designated male of the family, when it comes to gadgetry I'm always at the forefront when encouraging upgrades. I wanted a w...