In Ten Years

Well, today's a big one.  Where do I hope to be in 10 years?  I guess I'll start with our ages.

I'll be 45.
Joe will be 49.
Brooke will be 13.
Bradley will be 11.

Holy moly!!

I can see us living on our land in our beautiful home. We will have been there about 7/8 years, if all goes correctly.  We'll have gardens that are flourishing by that time; a pool, chickens and a big barn.

Joe seems to think the kids will have go-carts and mini bikes, because that's what kids enjoy.  I never had any, but I do like the idea of them being able to drive around the yard/woods before having to jump behind a wheel on the actual road.

We'll have a big Golden Doodle and he will be so amazing.  Holly would be 16, so it's quite possible she's still with us! Those little dogs have amazing life spans.

I see Joe retired from the car biz and working for himself.  I can see us possible working together; I just know that I will be in my home when those kids get off the bus.  They'll probably be into sports or some after school activities, and I'll need to be there to drive them and supervise.  I also want to have nightly family dinners and still be cooking up a storm in our gorgeous kitchen.

If I don't work for "us" then I'll certainly be doing something, as clearly I enjoy earning income for my family and doing something that I am passionate about.

I think I'll be in amazing shape because I'll have the time to get into a yoga studio, barre classes, or whatever the craze is in 10 years.

I'll be reading even more books, as I'll have a little more time to myself than I do now! ha

Joe will have put his Crohn's into remission.  He is pain free and healthy as can be.

We will have traveled and taken many vacations in the last 10 years.  Some with the kids, some without.

We have 15 rental properties.

Everyone is getting along and talking to one another {aka no family drama!!}

We have purchased a lake house and enjoy spending time there in the summer.

I have become a published author and written two books.

We have an amazing holiday party every year that everyone looks forward to dressing up and coming to.  (This has always been a dream of mine!)

We are officially millionaires.

I will take Brooke on a mom/daughter getaway. Just us girls! I know that the teenage years will be tricky, but I will work hard on our relationship.

I spend some time volunteering at a women's shelter, helping others get back on their feet.

In the last ten years, look how fast the internet has changed the way we live. I am nervous but excited to see where the next ten years will take us.  Clearly I have a big to-do list ahead of me, but I am willing to hustle and grind today so that we can live comfortably later in life.

Dream Big my friends; it's the only way to live!

Favorite Space {and place!}

My favorite space is currently our office.  It became the "catch-all" for quite some time and a place I'd just shut to door to, because I was constantly overwhelmed with clutter.  The mail piles up quickly if I let it, as do things that aren't used that often.

Why do I love my office? Well, although it may contradict itself, I also use it as a place to go and meditate, do some yoga, and just have as "my own."  In our family of four, every room is accounted for and this one just has to do double duty for me.

I have our wedding photos sprinkled around, because they make me so happy; it really was the happiest day of my life.  I also have my crystals, tibetan singing bowl, yoga mat and some essential oils at arm's length.

Next to my desk is a vision board. I only have one visual of our dream home, but I wrote out goals/dreams on post-its to look at and remind myself of "big dreams."

I love that there is a window and it probably has one of the most serene views of the house; no other houses can be seen or the school parking lot (until Winter, when the leaves are gone.)

It makes my yoga practice that much better when I can see outside like this!  I also have our aloe plant; I really want to add more plants to our home, but I have a very brown thumb.

My desk is not at all what I want. This hunk of junk, (no offense hubby!) is Joe's and has been here since before me and I don't even know how long?! It holds a printer (which I use) a monitor (which I don't) and I think it's kind of an eye sore.  The goal is to get a nice white desk, so that will be my next big purchase hopefully with my little blue Stella card!  I would also like a little bulletin board or something too, as I am starting to get lots of little stuff for Brooke's preschool and need a place to keep it all.  *Hence my messy stacks on the unused monitor!!  I'm just trying to not break the bank, knowing we'll be moving in 2 years anyway.

I did buy a little desk light from Target as the room can be a little dark.  I keep my journals/calendar here and really do a lot of Stella work, all of our bills and everything for our rental properties.

I also really enjoy writing my blog in here.  For me this little space has helped me become more myself.  I find solace in having a little area of my own where I can just let thoughts and dreams run wild, as well as earn a little extra income for my family!

I still have to say my favorite place would be our land. It's hard because I don't go there a lot, but it doesn't mean I don't think of it.  I dream of our new home, our yard where the kids will play and grow and our dogs will roam.  I envision a pool and nice deck to entertain friends in the Summer. I think of all of the meals I will cook in our new kitchen, overlooking the living room.  I cannot wait until I have my big closet and can hang up all of my things! And of course I love the 20 acres we can walk, ride around on the atv and just be one with nature.  

What is your favorite space or place?

House Goals #2

Building a home.

We haven't even met with a builder yet and I'm still just having fun with tearing out pictures or finding ones online of houses.  It's fun to say yay or nay with hubby and really discuss what we prefer over what we really don't love.

I haven't written anything about our dream home since this post here. 

I think we're still leading towards a side loading garage, but this looks cool too!

I'm still really researching kitchens.  I'm fairly certain I don't want two islands, but rather one really large one.  I don't know if I need 2 sinks.  I don't like exposed beams or the hanging light fixtures; and while I want a wine fridge, I think I'll store the rest of the wine in a temperature controlled area of the basement.  I do however, love the light counter tops and the cupboards.

My favorite spot in our current home is our back deck. It's seriously like a little sanctuary.  We can't see the parking lot because of all the trees, and it's pretty quiet since school is out of session.

One of our favorite things is to go to the land and walk around where things will be built.  It's so important to decide which way we want to face; the sunset is gorgeous here!

It's so funny because one day we are totally chill and love just dreaming and the next we are both like, "UGH! Why are we not living here yet!?"

{as I type this, Joe is currently out there working on the trails again.}

I absolutely love these huge windows. I want as much light to filter into the livingroom (and the kitchen!) as possible.  We also want high ceilings.  This furniture isn't really our style (the color) but I love how crisp all of it is and how there's an accent.

I need to look a little more into this contraption!  Is one of these a warming oven? A microwave? Holy smokes!  This back counter/stove top is essentially what we'll have though, so that's cool!

This is the idea of how open we would like it.  Like I said though, we don't want to do the double islands...and the side eating area will be one large table (no formal dining room).  I don't like all the different colors going on back there in the kitchen either, or the lights.  BUT the open layout is spot on!

Patio and a pool in the back...or would we go with a wrap around deck and a pool?

This will be the biggest project we will work on together and I am so excited.  

Bob & Nancy

My husband and I have a dream.  It may sound silly to some people, but to us?  It will be our most accomplished goal in life.  It's nothing we can buy.  It's nothing we can force to happen.  But with more than anything in our being, we hope to have a close family relationship, much like our neighbors have with their children.

It's funny on one hand, I wouldn't even know Bob or Nancy if we didn't live where we do right now. We are so excited to build our dream house and be living in the country.  I don't want to see into my neighbors houses or know when they're home or see who is over.  Likewise, I don't want them all up in our business!  But since we are so close, these lovely little homes here on my street, I take note of such things.

I see the teachers across the street leave their children with their parents daily, since they live a few houses down.  I see how late on a Monday night, most families are all tucked into their homes, all together, while I drag the garbage out because my husband works late night.   I am so grateful for his job, because it provides us this opportunity for me to stay home and raise the babies.

But Bob & Nancy?  They're like our parents ages.  They have one boy and one girl, who are married and now have children of their own.  They always come over and they all live in this same area.  I'm sure there lives are not perfect, as no one's is, but the point I'm trying to make is that, we want that part of what Bob & Nancy have.

We want our kids to be close enough so they can come by for dinner; I want to be there for my daughter when she has kids and is needing a mommy moment (or two).  I want to have a solid relationship with my son's wife because I know how amazing that feels, when you have that.

I don't feel sorry for us right now, even though we feel a little isolated and like we do a lot on our own, due to our circumstances.  I know we are so blessed in so many ways. I just pray that one day when we are the grandparents, we can be close to our grandbabies, like Bob & Nancy.  I know I have mentioned it before, but our biggest dream is a full table at the holidays with all of our family and friends.  I don't want to limit it to just holidays though, I would love Sunday dinners on our homestead with all of our loved ones.


I've been working a lot on vision boards and writing down goals and dreams, so that they happen. {It's amazing how it really works!}  I know I cannot control things, but I know Joe and I will do everything in our power, everything that we possibly can, to make this happen.

I don't want to be jealous or envious that Nancy and her daughter are so close and hangout all of the time.  Instead I want to focus on and nurture my own relationship with my daughter, and continue to strengthen our bond.  I know that being grateful for what I do have will do me more good than anything, especially in the long run.

Are there people in your life that you hope to be like in some regards?  

Weekend

It's Monday! I'm a little late to the game here...

We had a morning full of snuggles and no where to be.

It's damp and dreary, and I have no desire to leave.

We had a nice little weekend;

it didn't go as expected, but we made the most of it!

I finally got my vision board AND hung my first vision.

It's of course the house of our dreams, and though ours won't look exactly like this,

it's a really good motivator and I thoroughly enjoy looking at it!

I'm Spring cleaning in full force around here.

I've been going through all of the bins of baby clothes, sorting and figuring out where to donate.

I brought the kids to my sister's for a sleepover Saturday night.
I then headed to Trader Joe's and got a few things; it's just not an easy place to bring two littles!

We were supposed to go out to eat, but Joe's not feeling great.

He ended up being stuck at work and didn't even get home until almost 7, 

which would have been our reservation time anyway. 

While I was waiting for him to get home, I decided to try  Fabletics out.

I'm kinda stoked about 2 years free of Women's Health Mag

                                       SO we stayed in, had sushi and watched a movie. I don't remember where I saw someone rave about this movie, but it was really good! I wasn't too sure at first, but stick with it!  Super powerful and really speaks to any woman who is out there getting her hustle on.  Good things happen when we work for things and don't give up.  I highly recommend this movie!!

{Brunch}

We decided since we didn't go out to dinner Saturday night, we would hit up our favorite Brunch spot:
The Revelry

I couldn't even finish my brunch, but it was tasty!

I had to save room for mimosas!

My sister and my brother-in-law met us back here with the kids.

We hung out and cooked a delicious dinner {thanks Ann!} 

Chicken Francese

Since it did not feel like Spring and we had a little bit of firewood left, we had "our last fire" I feel like I've already said that, but it's true!!

Bubs was helping Daddy

How was your weekend?!

#housegoals

I have decided to really utilize this space here to dream.  And I am dreaming big folks!! I thought it would be cool to share with you some ideas we have floating around for our dream home.

As most of you know, we purchased 20 acres of land in a more rural area and we cannot wait to be country livin'.  I am super excited to build a home and of course I am a little overwhelmed with all of the decisions we will have to make.

We have already started looking at tile and fixtures, plus layouts.

I figured instead of a big old bulky binder, plus with mostly everything available on the internet, I'd use my blog weekly to showcase some of our findings!

This Sunday we are going to the Home and Garden show (without the kids!) so we can really look around and get a feel for what we would like to see in our home.

Our goal is to build a barn by October; we would love to have a big old fashion barn birthday party for Joe!

We would love to be in our home by Summer of 2017, but we really don't want to stress so it if takes longer, we are totally fine with that too.


How exciting!

OK, onto our ideas:


We fell in love with this home.  It was truly love at first sight.  It would need to be scaled down a bit as we don't want too big of a house (kids won't live with us forever!) and I don't want too much footage to clean haha!

What I love about this house is the stone/brick detail and the arched windows, wrap around porch and the columns.  Another must have is the side entry garage.  I am loving the look of the garage "being part of the house" and not looking like a garage! Isn't it fun?

Friday we stopped into the tile store---which wasn't the best option with two energetic tots, but we got to look at some flooring we are very interested in!

I had no idea that they made tile that actually looks like wood!  We would like our kitchen done in something like this.  I'm just not sure if we'd go with a more brown or gray.

For the master bath, we agreed that we loved the light, fresh look of this:

You can even get it all done up like this...not sure I would want that, but cool option!

Living room inspiration:

I mean---look at that flooring!

Totally didn't crop the photos, sorry!  But again, with the kitchen, I am torn with the dark cupboards or the light...hmmm?!

We love both looks!! 

Any advice for building? Flooring? Appliances? I'm all ears!! I love to hear other opinions and ideas.  This is such a new and fun experience for us and I just want to make the most of it!