moving on up.

I can't even believe how fast time as flown by. Our contract is up with our 1920's bungalow and I feel like I could curl up in a ball and cry. Of course, we can always renew our contract but the argument is, do we want to continue living it up in Provo? Eh...  as great as this city was to mature, go to collage, meet my lifelong friends and my now husband, having my first home with him... I can confidently say, we need to move along.

I wailed like a baby in March and April knowing that the possibility of us moving out of the Bungalow sooner than July was almost a 90% chance of happening. The pathetic reason for my tears was that, I was so badly looking forward to living in this charming home for the summertime - with our backyard and our fire pit. I have been dreaming of throwing parties. Such a lousy excuse huh? I am such a dreamer though and it can really cause some issues most of the time.

I think what is really hard for me to move on is the obvious fact that this is our first house together. There have been so many firsts in this home. I put a lot of work into this bungalow to really make it feel like my own. I really did my best to make it feel like the South. I did my best to make it a comfortable place that would be welcoming to the Zoo when he comes home from work and for our friends when they come over to play countless number of games and tell stories. I put a lot of character into this bungalow that really tells a story, that shows a reflection of who I am. There are so  many details, nooks and crannies in this home that I dare not forget.

I'll miss the characteristics of the windows that open out into the side yard with rose bushes and the sounds of birds chirping, cats meowing and our neighbor's kids laughing. I love hearing the sprinkler systems turn on as it's a sign of summer. I'll miss our deep brick porch and the cool nights spent on it watching the clouds roll in while the Zoo and I place bets on our games of scrabble. I'll miss cuddling up on our awkward small couch as we watch scary movies by the fire. I'll miss our backyard and inviting friends over for some marshmallow roasting, taking naps on blankets in our backyard during Sunday afternoons after church, watching the Zoo perfectly manicure the front and backyard like a man. I'll miss our 1950's kitchen appliances, especially the oven which I didn't use until three months ago due to intimidation and fear of burning the house down. I'll miss living in this house during Halloween and the perfect mood it sets. I'll miss our friends finding treasure in our yard that confirms the people who did live in this house in the twenties as we find their 1920's Gillette razor buried deep in the ground just right outside the bathroom window. So many stories have been collected in this house.

Can you tell I'm going down memory lane? I know myself though. Once I get settled in with my something new, all will be well. The Zoo and I have made big steps and have made our first big purchase together - we bought a town-home. And yes, it's still in Utah County and it's not far from Provo but the scene is quite different and the homes have been built within the past couple of years, so we will loose the charm but we've still got each other and that's all that I need. We don't know how long we will be in this town-home for, as life is always changing, but we plan to make the best of our change.

For the records, for myself, and to keep myself sane, I've made a little video tour of our bungalow so that I can really keep the memories of our first place. I wanted to remember every detail of it, so I'm sorry if you find yourself really bored while watching it. You really don't even have to watch it. It's just more so for myself. This first home has become a big part of my life so I wanted to keep it as alive as possible for the years to come. So without further adieu -- I give you, the bungalow, and may it be a part of our family forever and ever. We've been blessed having this place as our home. I'll never forget it.

aperture this, and aperture that.

I have a great deal of respect for photographers. You see, as you know, I got a nice new camera for Christmas and I've probably pulled it out twice since. And I hate that, but, when a camera is larger than your chest wrapped around your neck and people look at you with a not so normal expression on their face and you have no idea what any button means, a little intimidation comes into play.

Thank the heavens above, I am not alone though. My cousin Ash just got one as well, and lucky for me, she dropped by today and showed me a thing or two and we had a fun play date playing around with our cameras. For being required to take a photography class in Fine Arts, you'd think I would have learned a thing or two. Unfortunately, the photography terms are equivalent to geometry for me. Say what? Too many things to know. So I am happy there will be one more of me on our family vacation in South Carolina this June. She'll make it a lot more fun to snap with.

So with that said, I am in pure practice mode and I want to make sure that all of you know, I am not trying to be some photographer here. I just wanted a great camera to capture special moments in my life. So this is just practice on my new prop, my first fresh spring flowers of the year. Sure does add a lot of pizazz to the bungalow.

a bungalow becomes a home.

the living room

the dining room

the "office"

Well since I just bombarded you with photo after photo, I can confidently say that the zoo and I finally feel at home in our sweet little bungalow. The Kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and guest room really have nothing to it. We've spent all of our waking hours sprucing up the two front rooms since that is where our company spends there time. And, to be quite honest, we most likely wont live here for long so we tried our best to not invest too much into our home, but enough to be comfortable and proud.

The zoo is really fun to decorate with because he shares the same love for gold as i do. I mean, anything we could get our hands on and change to gold, we did. Such as the elephant, the fireplace screen, our hollywood regency chairs we rehapolsterd and painted white... and gold. Every photo frame in our home - gold. Luckily, the table and conch shell came gold but we are still looking to continue the gold through out our house. Call us crazy. 

Either way, it has been a blast to finally make a place feel somewhat like your home. Being able to paint the wall colors, pick out furniture and really call the shots on most things. I am especially looking forward to spring and summer. I can't wait to plant some garden rose bushes in the front yard and hang green ferns from our porch like my mom does at our house in Georgia. I also am really pumped to hang the scalloped american flags. There is nothing more American than a good ol' American home with the flag waving proudly in the summer time. I have just been day dreaming all the live long day. Whelp, welcome to our home. I hope you enjoyed the somewhat "private" tour. Hope you have a blast this weekend! And be safe! A huge snow storm just hit and the zoo drove his car into a snow bank right out side of our house. Took about ten people to get him out. yikes. 

mysterious and spooky month of halloween.

my favorite month has arrived. and on a spooky spooky level. the zoo and i have been having a ball decorating our home with skeletons and witches! i love everything about october. sometimes i can't even describe my love for it. but im really excited that the zoo is just as pumped as i am. we'll continue to decorate some more tonight, but the weekend we will have a blow out along with a haunted house attack and more! happy haunting!

adventures in the bungalow.

it's really fun to say that i currently reside in a 1920s bungalow with an interior that reminds me of "The Help." im really having a blast in mine and the zoo's new gig. especially since one of my favorite decades is the twenties as well as the fifties and with the two combined, im having a ball. i love that the house still has characteristics from each decade. i wouldn't have it any other way.

life with the zoo has been quite fun and adventurous. im glad i married a man who likes projects just as much as i. we like to renovate things and bring in the old and vamp with a little bit of the new. our house is coming together slowly, but surely and though i wish i could snap my fingers and have it be done, it's fun to see it come together. zeke has been a huge help and i love his workman ship and the fact that he likes to get it done. he's spent countless of hours painting the walls and spray painting who knows what in the backyard.

this past weekend was a thriller. it involved getting much done around the house. we finally got our new vintage travel posters in the mail that i was thrilled with. i have a HUGE fetish for vintage travel posters. im starting to have too many, we don't have room for them on the walls. im now learning the love men have for football. which is cool and all, but we JUST got a tv that includes the SciFi and Thriller networks (please don't judge , I just really love mysteries and the twilight zone and all things haunted) so when you realize that saturday is game day, and sunday in NFL and heaven forbid monday is Monday night football, i have to put my shows aside and do it for the zoo. happy husband, happy life. so i joined him for as much as i could stand with the football shin dig. dont get me wrong, all i need is my ohio state football game and then im good to go. so i let him be and did my favorite thing, treasure hunting at antique stores with my girl chelly.

chelly and i spent our saturday afternoon digging for some good finds and making way through the halloween warehouses. i think i hit a jackpot when i found two matching chairs for a total of $10.00. yeah i know. they need a lot of work, sanding, painting and definitely reupholstering, which i have never done before so wish me luck. but zeke and i ran out of projects so this one is for the weekend. chelly and I got our spook on and finally im in the zone of all things october and halloween. one of my favorite months and holidays. i really think i kind of want to wear one of those painted masks while handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, which i heard on our streets are really mean teenagers. whooopaaaaa.

that night we lived in the moment of halloween by attending a thriller at the theater, "The House At the End of the Street" or something like that, with Jennifer Lawrence, and i kind of digged it. Weird, weird story line but I was hooked.

lately, our life consists of a new diet after having a field day in costco. SKINNY COWS. the zoo and i probably eat about 2 a day. or maybe just me. but either way they have the word skinny in it so i never feel bad about it. smooth advertising.

and back to the treasure hunting. we have a friend who does metal detecting and before you make your remarks, its actually a really cool hobby. since our house dates back to the 20's we had our friend stop by and metal detect both our front and back yard. it was kind of fun sitting on my front porch and eating my lunch while i watched him literally dig for gold. he found a 14 karat gold ring as well as a mens razor straight from the 20's! zeke and i googled it and it was the exact razor from the 20's. we were loving it! so adventurous!

so life is random as you can tell, but grand and adventurous. we are having a blast and enjoying each others company and now we are really getting ready to party with october in our midst and me letting go of my tropical dreaming. we already starting to decorate our house spooky last night while eating krispy kreme halloween doughnuts and boy was i wired!! post to come later!

have a great week ya'll!