I *think* that things have finally slowed back down to normal now.

I cannot tell you how much happier I am now that we’ve moved. I didn’t even realize before how all the little frustrations I had with different aspects of our last place were adding up to affect my overall mood. It took all of about 2 minutes to feel completely at home in our new place, though. I honestly already feel like we’ve been here a long time, and that this is a place that we’ll continue to be happy in for many years.

Tour time! Here’s the living room setup, just needs decorating now. There’s a small room of to the side of it that I’m using as an office. The natural light in there will be great for blog photos!

Lucas and Liam are loving it. So many new windowsills to sit on, squirrels to watch, things to sniff…

We have a small dining room adjoining the living room and kitchen. We went out and bought this corner bookshelf from Ikea on the first day to add to our bookcases since there’s nowhere in the house that all three of the standard size ones can fit side by side. See me in the glass?

And I still have a few more books to put away…

Then there’s the kitchen. It’s pretty small, but there’s a ton of good counter space and lots of cabinetry.

Jeff even gets his own cabinet for tea. Well, he generously gave up a shelf for my spices since I can find nowhere else to put them for now.

And this little beauty, a gas stove! Everyone knows that the pros use gas. This is my first time using one and I already love how evenly it cooks compared to an electric.

The pantry is out in the hallway. Actually, I think this is supposed to be a linen closet, but with how much kitchen stuff I have there is absolutely no room in the cabinets for food. Pantry it is!

This might just be my favorite part of the house though….the shower!

We had a really gross and crappy shower in the last place. This one is large and clean and has these nifty little stone shelves built right in. Seriously, for me at least, a hot shower is one of life’s greatest pleasures. I wish I could spend hours in there.

Our bedroom is pretty large. It does have a relatively small closet though that Jeff and I share, but it seems to be just big enough for us.

And the other bedroom is currently housing a bunch of stuff that we need to put in the basement. We need to clean the floors down there first though, so what will one day hopefully become a nursery is for now a junk room. The closet in this room is really small and the staircase leading downstairs cuts into it so there’s very little usable storage room there.

And here’s the creepy steep staircase down to the basement where our washer and dryer are. It’s a tight squeeze and my hamper actually doesn’t fit through the door! I’m on the lookout for a bag-type hamper that I can throw over my shoulder like a backpack to replace it with.

That’s it for now, I’ll show some more as we get it decorated some. I’m really ready to get back into posting recipes and such though, so hopefully I’ll have something new for you soon.

I’m sitting here listening to the sound of walnuts loudly thunking the rooftop as the wind blows them out of the trees. It’s a sound I’m already coming to love as a part of our new home.

October 19, 2011 Alayna Discussion 8 comments

I almost forgot about that. 😉

The month of September is turning into a “lost” month here. A lot of things have happened, but yet the whole month almost seems like a black hole in my memory.

We’ve been focused on packing up everything we own and all the other preparations that go into moving (we get the keys Oct. 1st.) I’ve been working on a personal project that’s taken away a lot of my attention. And, we had some urgent family business to attend to as well that has weighed heavily on our minds.

Before

After

I haven’t really been too busy to blog, but lack of time really hasn’t been the issue. I think lack of passion has been more the problem. I’ve joked to Jeff before that I tend to be passionate about different things only in short bursts. Lately, I’ve had a good burst of passion for my project I’m working on (which I’ll share more details on at a later time,) but mostly I’ve just been passionate about this move to a new house, which means a great deal more to us than just a change of location.

Moving to a single-family home marks the start of a new phase in our lives. Though we haven’t solidified plans for exactly when yet, I know that we will become parents in that house. We will bring our first child home to that house, and he or she will learn to walk on those floors and begin to grow into someone in that house. Just being in that house even before we officially start down the road to parenthood will fill me with a sense of hope and excitement for the future.

Also, I’m just really excited to not share walls with any of my neighbors any more.

Although I’ve been really focused on other things this month, we did manage to get out a few times and enjoy ourselves. Just this past weekend we got to watch fireworks in Decatur Square. The 4th of July fireworks got postponed due to rain, so we got to watch them after the last summer concert on the square.

We had stopped into Mac McGee’s beforehand to have a glass or two of scotch while the sun went down. Oban and pyrotechnics sure make for a good evening. 😉

We also made it back to Miso Izakaya for an awesome dinner with friends. Highlights include a super-soft soy egg…

Napalm-hot takoyaki…

Crispy-skinned duck in steamed buns…

…and mini donut balls dusted with green tea and sugar.

I love Miso Izakaya. Their sushi is of good quality however not that exciting, but the hot dishes are all incredible. Can’t argue with the huge list of sake and shochu either. We need to remember to go there more often.

Jeff and I did something else pretty cool earlier this month too. We checked out the Mini Maker Fair, which is a collection of attractions from various people in the areas of robotics, electronics, and any hobby that revolves around making things from scratch!

We saw lots of cool robots and gadgets…

Line-following robot

Solar-powered 3D plastic printer

Hexi-copter

Remote controlled skate board

Obligatory R2D2

There were tons of interesting and geeky craft items too. This fair was just a mini version of the original Maker Fare that has so much more to see. I hope the big Maker Fare comes to Atlanta sometime soon.

So, things have been happening around here, I just just haven’t felt compelled to share them lately because I’m in my own little world with thoughts on moving. Hopefully by the time we’re settled into the new place I’ll have gotten back on track with blogging, but I’m not too worried about it right now.

So tell me about you!…What was the most interesting thing you did in the month of September?

September 26, 2011 Alayna Discussion 12 comments

Not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on here lately.

I’ve kind of been in a bad habit of slacking off a lot. Not out of laziness, but rather because my mind is so consumed with thoughts of moving that I feel somewhat frantic even though I’m not. This constant busy feeling has kept me from tackling other projects because I feel like I don’t have time for them, but I absolutely do!

I’ve started slowly packing, trying to get a little done without forcing us into living out of half-packed boxes for this last month that we’re here.

I did manage to use up a few of those beautiful tomatoes we were given in a delicious tomato vegetable soup. It was so bright and flavorful with those perfectly juicy tomatoes in it.

And this past weekend Jeff and I snuck out for a little date at a new restaurant in Decatur called No. 246. It’s an Italian-inspired menu focusing on pastas, pizza, and lots of small plates for sharing.

Highlights of the meal were the toasts with 3 spreads: cannelini bean, pork rillettes, and lemon ricotta with pickled mushrooms…

Then, a tasty charcuterie pairing of coppa ham and a semi-soft cheese called Moses Sleeping, paired with a plum jam.

And a spicy garganelle pasta with braised rabbit and broccoli rabe.

We also had delicious cocktails and a chocolate tart with sea salt and olive oil.

I almost never order chocolate desserts. I do like chocolate, but I don’t swoon over it like so many women do. I always prefer creamy desserts or warm fruit crisps, but something was telling me to go for the chocolate tart and I’m glad I did. It was so rich and the fruity olive oil really did add something wonderful to it.

All in all though, we were not in love with No. 246. It was much too expensive for the quantity of food we received and though this may sound like a weird complaint, the acoustics in there were terrible! It was so uncomfortably loud that Jeff and I could barely speak to each other and had to yell our orders to our waiter. Not exactly the kind of atmosphere I like to eat in. Also, the bread was painful to eat. It was so crunchy and hard, like eating shards of broken glass. And as you can see above, we had a lot of it to crunch through.  Anyway, I’m glad we tried it.

Now, back to packing!

August 30, 2011 Alayna Discussion 6 comments