LaRoche House Tour - Part 1!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

So I wanted to write a post about how we hosted our first Christmas this year, and then realized if you haven't been over yet, or we aren't Snapchat friends, you probably have not had a famous Kirsten Snapchat house tour! Well BUCKLE UP, because here comes a slew of good old fashioned IPhone uploaded photos of our house!

Always need "Before" photos, so here was the dining room area when we moved in:

We've painted the entire house (ceilings too), replaced all of the carpet, and had the chimney cleaned.  Otherwise this room hasn't been touched too much.  Future plans consist of redoing/repainting/re-something the fireplace. 

Here's what it looks like now:

 I insisted on setting the table and tying napkins and candy canes around the silverware because compared to all the wedding table cutesy stuff which freaked me out, setting a table for 12 people was like a pony ride.  However, we still used paper plates and cups because....well, we only have 8 place settings. 

Aaaaand here it is with people: Magic!!

When we don't have 12 people trying to eat in there we just have this little table, the only piece of furniture that I still have from Denver. 

Notice my chalkboard art that I completely copied off Pinterest. No shame.

Oh and here's a portion of the 2 dozen cookies I made, but then Josh and I ate them ALL (Ok, ok, Trevor had two) in less than 48 hours.  A little shame. 

Alright, moving on.  Here's the "Before" of the kitchen: Literally the first night we were both at the house that wallpaper was the first to go. 

Besides the wallpaper we haven't updated much in the kitchen yet, except new appliances:

Everyone keeps telling us we're going to hate the stainless steel once we have kids, but I say we're going to hate how every nice piece of furniture gets ruined once we have kids so YOLO.

Current plans for the kitchen (hopefully before summer) is to paint the cupboards white, get new dark granite countertops, and redo the floor and sink.  Then our brand new fridge will be empty because we'll be broke.

Living room "Before" (yes...I have to capitalize it and put it in quotations):

And current state.   Missing one throw pillow which is in the wash because Josh accidentally set it down onto my plate of spaghetti last night.  Then 10 minutes later threw me a different pillow which tipped over my water glass. Which to me was hilarious.  #Marriedlife

Our current remodel process is happening in the guest bathroom. 

Here's the original "Before":

Then we painted, got a new mirror and light, and added a better shower curtain so it became this for awhile:

Now it looks like this:

 

 

 

 We painted the vanity, tore out the old shower surround wall thingy, painted the tub (apparently that's a thing), and are waiting on the new flooring we ordered, a new toilet, and we're picking out tile tonight to put around the shower wall instead. And will get a new countertop for the vanity when we do our kitchen.

Can't forget Quincy's room:

 

 

 

 

 The other guest bedroom currently has all of our bathroom stuff in it and still needs some more love, as well as the master & master bath so....to be continued!

Probably for the rest of our lives! ;)

Pulling Weeds.

Being an adult is funny.

My husband left early this morning to go to a softball tournament and I had nothing on my agenda today except buy groceries. And maybe pull some weeds in our backyard.  Because we all know when you own a home and you don't do something productive on your day off, you feel guilty.  So if you go outside and pull a few weeds, you're good for like a week. 

 So many weeds of obligation in that rock wall. 

 

Anyways, so this morning Josh was up by 6am and my alarm was set for 9am.  I could have easily and guiltlessly slept in for 3 more hours and yet here I now sit, coffee by my side, computer in my lap, wide awake, blogging about myself again. (You're so self-centered, Kirsten. Yes. I'm working on it. Keep reading.)

I thought by the time I was 27 and/or married, I would have some sort of set rhythm to my day-to-day life. 

But moving 11 times in the past 9 years between 3 different states can really mess up a girl's routine over the years!

Throw in there the most recent major life overhaul of getting married. Sprinkle in buying and moving into a new house.  Oh, and a total career change.  And here I sit, feeling like a cartoon character that wakes up in a whole new world, not recognizing myself or my surroundings, with question marks floating above my head. 

But also a big smile upon my face.

I honestly think I am the most content, excited, and optimistic about my life right now than I ever have been.  Sure, I'm still probably on the newlywed high, and I know there will also be lots of lows to come in life as well, but really....life is just full of happys and low of worries right now.

But I'm also quickly learning that settling into what feels like a brand new life with brand new routines, surroundings, career title and even a new last name, you really have to fight to remain rooted.  You have to keep your disciplines. 

As a true introvert I know I need my alone time.  I am constantly analyzing every conversation, situation, and feeling I have, so when I don't get time to rest and process, I start to just shut down. 

But I love how much time we have now that we are married and live in the same house.  No more running around figuring out where to meet, leave a car, get groceries then stop at one apartment then the other to drop off the groceries, say goodnight then drive 30 minutes home..etc.

Sidenote: I'm also SO appreciative that neither of us ever considered it an option to move in together before getting married.  I'm going to put myself out there with the challenge that if you are dating someone and feel that you need to live with them before getting married because you're afraid you might learn some annoying habit about them that becomes a deal breaker....you're missing the point of marriage.  And also maybe the point of dating?  I know everyone's relationship is different and there are different circumstances for everyone, but for me I know if we had lived together and then gotten married, marriage really wouldn't have felt any different.   Knowing that Josh has made a covenant to me and God that he will love me and stand by me through thick and thin has made living together feel so secure, and in turn has made our marriage that much more of a bigger deal to us.  And I love that.

Okay, back to disciplines.  I know that when life gets crazy, or even when it's very simple and laid back like it surprisingly is right now for us, I have to keep certain routines in my day to stay grounded.  I love waking up and drinking my coffee while doing my devotions (I know I'm late to the party, but She Reads Truth is an awesome daily devotional I just discovered--look it up if you haven't already!).

Another must-have discipline in my life (especially now that I have a desk job) is fitness. I love that even when "I do, but I don't.." feel like working out, Josh helps push me out the door.  And then I get to check out my hott husband at the gym, so that's awesome. 

But these disciplines, which are good, healthy, and needed, are really focused on "me".  So I've been once again convicted that I really need to be using this gift of free time and extra energy in my life to also bless others. To be more encouraging, to use my natural gifts and talents to serve others in a way I haven't thought of before.  Maybe even to give up some of my free time to help someone else who needs it WAY more than I do.

Out of these thoughts, my latest discipline challenge to myself is first journaling what kind of life I want to live and the character traits I want to strengthen

I'm a processor. I  have to write it down.

But then more importantly followed by practical steps to actually carry it out. Because....again, I'm a processor.  I can easily write things down, but then never actually do anything about it. GUILTY.

I don't want to look back at my life in 10 years and wish I would have done more with my free time during this season.  I need some intentionality in my life to keep me from just zoning out and going through the motions. (It happens more often than I'd like to admit).

I am not a lover of schedules because I don't really like to have set plans.  So being intentional, disciplined, and planning things out is not at all easy or natural for me.  To be perfectly honest, seeing a calendar full of events and to-dos in my personal life sort of gives me hives.

So anyways, here's to intentionality, pulling weeds, loving marriage, and Quincy on his tip-toes eating scrambled eggs out of a bowl!!

Cheers!

The Creepy and the Cozy.

There are just some things about the Christmas season...that freak me out.

Can I say that?

Like the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas Special. I'm sorry if that's your beloved family tradition to watch--that's great, enjoy it for me. Because I think it's terrifying. 

I mean like...

Maybe it's the felt, I don't know. Just...creepy.

Now, please don't stop reading and label me a Scrooge or Christmas hater. 

I treasure the true meaning of Christmas--remembering Christ's birth. I also love the cozy part of Christmas and being with family.  I love the twinkly lights and the warm homes and the good food and the traditions. 

Oh, and Christmas trees! 

I love them.  But when I think of them I'm always reminded of this story, which I've always felt bad about to this day: I was in high school and I was coming home one night after babysitting for a family who had just put up a huge, beautiful Christmas tree. I came home and looked briefly at the one my parents had just put up while I was gone and said, "Why do we always have to put up our dinky little fake tree, I wish we would get a better one." And my mom saying to me, "Kirsten....we wanted to surprise you...look closer we actually got a real one this year like you wanted!"

Ouch.

My dad and I always joke that although I was spoiled growing up...I was never a brat. But at that moment, I felt like a huge spoiled brat.  And I hated that. 

I think of that story often. But maybe that's okay. It has made me step back and prevent myself from getting caught up in the commercialism of the season. It made me appreciate going tree hunting with my parents once they moved to the Black Hills and always trying to find a decent, but sort of skimpy Charlie Brown tree---and loving it.  The more humble and straggly the tree, the better. We would laugh endearingly at it, but we honestly loved it. 

I'm now also learning how marriage does a funny thing to traditions.  They are forced to be evaluated, talked about, combined and/or dropped. Old traditions must be intentionally fought for to stay a tradition. 

This year I wasn't able to tree hunt with my parents, and it didn't work out for us to go tree hunting in the mountains with our group of friends like last year either. But we did get to spoil ourselves and get a big, beautiful, full tree from a U-Cut it lot..which I've never been to before! The best part was we got to go with our little Godkids and their parents :) We were blessed to join in on THEIR family tradition! 

Oh also, we're hosting Christmas dinner this year for Josh's family.  I'm super excited, but yikes. If you know me, you know my hostess skills are minimal at best.  I love the idea of hosting and cooking and having a house full of people, but I just haven't had much practice! Just cooking now for 2 people has kept me on my toes!  I hope I don't ruin Christmas ;) Luckily I've already put it out there that I'll make Swedish meatballs and the mashed potatoes, and everything else will be potluck style. 

We still aren't quite sure what traditions we will carry on. However, I hope our traditions are centered more around the things we do and people we spend time with than on the "stuff" we put up (Minimalist alert: I'm hoping to keep our decorations to just a tree, stockings, and maybe a string of lights outside--we will see how long that lasts ha) or the presents we buy or get. I'm excited to see what traditions we keep and merge as our own (new?) family tradition :) 

One thing is for sure.  No matter how much kids (and parents) may love it, or how clever and fun you can be with it, our house will never, ever partake in the creepy Christmas tradition that is....the Elf on the Shelf.

No....way.

The Planning, The Wedding, and a little Maui.

Well, today is our last day in Maui. I'm so thankful we were able to go on a honeymoon right after our wedding! My favorite food here...pizza from South Shore Tiki Lounge. We just discovered it 3 days ago and we've already had it 4 times. That's maybe embarassing. 

But really, this week has been 100% carefree and stress free. And boy did we need that! 

Who knew planning a wedding and buying/fixing up a house all at the same time (while both working full time) would be so awesome yet...super, incredibly tiring and stressful? :) 

I went into wedding planning completely optimistic and determined to keep the process simple and fun. However, it quickly overcame me and at times became very, well, not fun. I often felt overwhelmed and disorganized. 

People were so graciously offering and asking how to help, and I QUICKLY took people up on those offers (thank you, thank you, you know who you are!!) but at some overwhelming points the only things I could easily delegate...were the FUN, easy parts. And no way was I giving those away ;) 

But Josh did what Josh does so well--he calmed me down, rationalized with me, talked sense in to me when I was starting to feel crazy, helped me see the bigger picture, and did successfully keep me out of that insanely high-expectation wedding mindset that our society is WAY too good at pulling us into. 

And guess what? We stayed within our budget and I learned to drop things that were bringing more stress than joy. Like our wedding arch that we found, painted, hated, tried to fix up, brought friends into the discussion, scoured over Pinterest for better ideas, argued over and which ultimately tipped over and ripped Josh's parents screen door. That's when we knew to just skip it. 

Um, yeah. Seriously, I never want to see that thing again. 

Yes, I know I sound super over-dramatic about the whole wedding planning thing, but holy cow that whole experience was so hard for me at times. I'm not a party planner. I've never even hosted a true dinner party or birthday party before. Then all of a sudden I was given this crazy task to plan a party for 150 people. 

I just really didn't enjoy the actual planning process much. But I'm okay with that. 

Because from the start I knew it wouldn't be perfect--and I was 100% fine with that. I actually quickly embraced the phrase "it will be perfectly imperfect" in response to questions as to how my planning was going. I just cared so much more about all the wonderful people who would be there than any of the colors, themes or details of the party. 

But I planned and did my best...and I loved every single bit of our wedding day. 

I was so calm and happy. My favorite people were either there or texting me their prayers and thoughts from afar. My groom was looking handsome as ever. My bridesmaids were so beautiful, inside and out. 

I loved having some ducks walk right into the ceremony during the message, I loved the prayer the ladies in the Bridal room prayed over me right before it all started, I loved my dad's speech at the reception, I loved dancing with my cousins, I loved holding all the newborn babies who were there, I loved seeing all my worlds colliding, I loved seeing our parents so happy and talking to so many new and old friends, I loved having so many people who mean so much to us surrounding us on that most special day. The day where Josh and I made a covenant with God and each other that we will unconditionally love each other and stand by each other our whole lives. No matter what. 

And it's only been 9 days, and I know we will have major ups and downs along the way, but I'm so thankful that God has brought us together and called us into this crazy beautiful thing called marriage.

Now, off to enjoy our last day in Hawaii! And this leftover pizza...

Kirsten's Rules of Travel.

No, this is not necessarily my recommendations of how YOU should or shouldn't travel by air. But I've been blessed to fly often and these things have made my travel experiences...well, more awesome. 

1) Don't check a bag. Plain and simple. You will someday have a bad experience with airlines either losing, stealing from, or ruining your bags. I GUARANTEE it. 

I use a duffel bag and a backpack (right before boarding I stuff my purse into the backpack). 

I know this one doesn't work for everyone, but I'm fairly low maintenence when it comes to packing, and I really don't want to deal with the drama when the airline loses your bag. Because eventually they will. 

2) Don't try to be sneaky. Put EVERY liquid in your ziplock bag. Yes, sometimes you get away with it...but sometimes they make you open up your entire bag and the whole security line has a front row seat to your, um, well...you know. 

3) Bring an empty reusable water bottle (think: nalgene). Because who wants to pay $5 for water after security. Plus you feel like more of a savvy traveler. 

4) Bring snacks. Snacks = happiness.

5) Smile at people. Everyone is usually a little (or a lot) stressed in airports. Be extra patient and nice, especially to the airport staff.  They get yelled at a lot by those crazy travelers who have had their bags lost. 

6) Nap on the plane, because you don't need to be productive 24/7. And if you get motion sick, Dramamine is amazing. And it makes the napping easier ;)

7) Print your boarding pass. The electronic version on your phone can sometimes be really annoying and not work. And that's just embarassing. 

8) Always use an airline that flies Boeing, because...Josh says so. 

Okay, that's all I got. It's boarding time. 

One Minute inside my Mind.

What did I eat for breakfast? Oh yeah, eggs. That's decent, right? I wonder why my head hurts.

Maybe its because I didn't drink coffee.  But hey, I'm doing good.  1 day with coffee, 2 days without. 
I wonder if coffee really stains your teeth? I don't know. I can't forget to call ahead of time to order whitening stuff from dentist before wedding.

I should have gone to the gym this morning.  I'm way too jittery and I haven't even had coffee.  Maybe I'll run after work.  But then I have to shower and get re-ready.  So annoying. Or maybe I'll just wear yoga pants tonight.  That works. Okay I'll run after work. Maybe I should have coffee. No, it stains your teeth.  WHO CARES? It's not that bad. Fight through.

I hope our tablecloth linens we are using for wedding from the church aren't too stained.  I need to check all of those soon. What if they are stained? Should I just hide it? Or rent new ones? [Should I even be blogging this?]

Oh and I still need to cut all our table runners.  Hmm I wonder how many people we could fit to those tables, 8 or 10? I need to start putting together seating charts....wow, people are really bad at RSVP'ing.  But I don't think I've ever RSVPd on time one day in my life.  Which reminds me....*Texts in my RSVP 2 weeks late for a baby shower tomorrow afternoon*.

128 people so far....Darn it succulents, you need to multiply faster.  Maybe each family will get one instead of each person, that works right? Or does that look bad? WEDDING ETIQUITTE google search...

Oh well, we will break the rules if we have to, people will still love us, right? 

I hope our house loan closing papers go through quick...what if we don't close on time. Omg that is going to be SO ANNOYING.  I leave for MN on Thursday. I can't be ditching my own bachelorette party, "Sorry ladies, I need to run to a bank and find a notary so I can sign these documents..."

 I don't even have a dress yet for the Bachelorette party....SHOPPING DAY. But when...hmm...

Wow, I'm hungry. 

OH MY GOODNESS I CANT WAIT TO SEE ALL MY MINNESOTA PEOPLE!!!! I leave on Thursday...THURSDAY!

But seriously, what if we don't close on the house on time and I have to sign papers on Thursday...

Kirsten, stop worrying.  It's fine.  God's got it. Now put your cell phone down, your driving.

*Throws phone into back seat.*

I think I need a vacation. 

Tall Girl Problems

Yes, I know a girl isn't supposed to complain about being tall. But this is my blog so I do what I want. 

:) 

Tall Girl Problems: Take One. 

Shopping at the mall yesterday for a bridal shower dress. The cutesy "just above the knee" dresses are WAY above the knee dresses. Or maybe they should be called "just barely below the butt dresses." (Too far?) Not exactly a good choice for playing games and opening presents next to grandma and church ladies. Or ever? 

"So try a maxi dress!" You say. 

Nope. Yes, maxi dresses are usually great for the tall and thin, but most of them at the stores I can afford are awkwardly just barely too short. Like, shin length. Hmm. Again, Nope. 

The thing is, I'm not even THAT tall. About 5'10 barefoot. 

Don't even get me started on jeans. But seriously. Don't. 

Now shoes...they have pros and cons. Yes, I'll just say it, tall girls usually have bigger feet. The pro: cheap shoes at the Outlet malls because they always have my size (9.5-10). 

The cons: cute girly shoes are NEVER as cute in a size 10. And while they say heels make tall girls look more model-esque, they also make me tower over my fiancé and any other friends I may be with, which just makes me feel like some sort of freakish monster. 

All main-stream (aka affordable) clothing stores are built for shorter, average height girls. It's okay, I get that, there are more of them. But having to go to the stores that have "tall" sizes and spend $90 on WORK jeans (that will just get dirty and quickly ruined...I work in a warehouse) just so they touch my shoes so I can maintain some sort of dignity....is a bit ridiculous. 

Side note: Even American Eagle "tall" sizes...are too short. 

But I guess it just gives me all the more reason to live in athletic clothes and capris. And write a Tall Girl Problems blog. 

So I never did buy a dress at the mall yesterday. Instead, after 2 hours of searching I left and immediately texted my friend, who is just as tall as me, with WAY more fashion sense, and raided her closet. 

Tall Girl for the win.