Merry Christmas.

As we spend this holiday with people we love, I wanted to share love with you. A very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you! May your day be filled with love, light, and laughter with those you love!

xoxo

Tim

Holiday House Tour.

xoxo

Tim

What a whirlwind!

Wow! Where has the time gone?
I was working on this Autumn inspired post, but I definitely missed my window. Although fall isn't technically over, we've been having winter-like weather here in central New Hampshire for quite some time. Many days in the teens and single digits. Not much snow (until tonight..expecting 11-18"), but well below freezing temperatures for several days. As I've been 'decking the halls' for quite a while here at our home, I wanted to take the time to say a proper goodbye to Autumn.

 Love this view through the wavy glass windows.

 Mantel in the living room.

 Little vignette in the front hall.

In love with our front entrance!

Even though Autumn is technically here until December 21st, there's no way it's on my mind in our could New England climate. So here's a sweet farewell to my favorite season, but on to my other favorite time of year...Christmas. I'm back tomorrow with a Holiday House tour.

xoxo
Tim

A little peek..

I hope the rest of you are enjoying you're Labor Day weekend festivities. We are celebrating by being laborers and getting the entire house unpacked and organized. 

This is no small undertaking.

The house is finally starting to feel like home and we (mostly me) are having so much fun finding where to place things.

I wanted to wish you a farewell to summer as autumn starts to slowly creep in. As we've been unpacking, I've started placing signs of autumn around the house.

Here's a little peek of the kitchen, just for fun. :)

Who doesn't love soapstone??

xoxo

Tim

We've moved!

Well, it happened. We moved!

Are we exhausted? Yes.

Are there enough hours in the day? No way.

Am I in love with this house? Absolutely!

Be back soon!

xoxo

Tim

Moving day(s) are here!

Wow! What an amazing couple of weeks this has been for me! I just returned yesterday from New Orleans! I had an amazing trip and have multiple iPhone pictures to share with you! Not only that, but today starts our move into our new house! I'm not sure I'm ready to do this, but we must move onward to bigger and better things! And by better, I mean much better! Since this is set in stone I can finally tell you that our new house was built in 1805 and is absolutely stunningly restored! I can't wait to share it with you, especially after I put my touch into it. 

This will definitely be an interesting couple of weeks, but I am so excited! So...here we go...again! ;)

xoxo

Tim

Where has the time gone??

Well, hello again!! I am terribly sorry for my absence. I'd try to explain, but the whirlwind that has been my life over the past few months, it's not even possible to put into words. Although, when I tell you what has been going on, you may be able to understand what I've been doing.

Now..where to begin? For starters, that home I was so excited to tell you about in the last post is not ours. :( Someone made an offer while we were getting our financing all in order and the offer made the seller so angry that she pulled the house off of the market and rented it out the very next day. So, we said our goodbye to our dream of owning that home (at least for now) and had been looking at houses almost every weekend. Let me tell you, this has been no easy feat. So for the time being, our house search is on hold and we are doing the noble thing (which we were advised to do all along) and saving up a larger down payment so that we can get exactly the house we want the first time around!

I also realized that I never showed you an updated picture of our rental house (other than Christmas) after some changes (cheap and simple) that we made.

The rental house with a freshly painted glossy black door and stained front porch taken last fall.

Along with cleaning up the front, I painted the other two exterior doors the same black, made a walkway with gravel and cobblestones to the driveway and painted much of the interior trim, as well as repainting the entire mudroom.

So far this summer, I've stayed busy as well with work and family visiting. Actually, my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces are coming up next week, as well! So, I've been cleaning, cooking and playing tour guide quite a bit this summer.

I'll start off in May, when Shaun's parents visited. They came up to celebrate Memorial Day with us, so of course, we had to have some very bizarre weather. In most of the state it rained, but at our house it....

SNOWED!

This picture was taken on May 25th, and we couldn't believe our eyes. While it was most unwelcome and gone by the next afternoon, it was quite beautiful and spectacular to behold!

Here are some pictures to show the rest of of the summer thus far.

A beautiful tree on campus where I work.

Our freshly mown backyard.

Down the street.

At the lake.

At the lake.

A new friend? No. He was kind of angry because I wasn't allowed to share my snacks.

 Nubble Lighthouse, York, Maine.

 York, Maine.

York, Maine.

This is about all the pretty New England life that I've got to experience lately. Don't get me wrong, I'm still incredibly happy to be living here! But this summer has been kicking my butt, and I'm definitely excited to be spending some more quality time with my family.

I think that I've gotten you pretty much up to speed, except for the last bit of news that I'm pretty sad to be writing about. The house that we currently live in (which I mentioned was for sale in my first post about the house) has finally sold. 

Damnit. I knew I made it look too great!

Anyway, so we are on the hunt for a new place to live. We haven't been given a definite move out date, but trying to stay ahead of the game is the only way that I feel I have some control over this situation. I'm a little bummed, except for the house we found. Swoon. 

No details yet. I'm doing my best not to interfere with fate. The new house to rent is not promised to us yet, but we are very hopeful. I should have some details within the week and I DO PROMISE to never be gone that long again!

Here's hoping!

xoxo

Tim

House hunting.

Who said that finding the perfect house was going to be easy??

No one?

 Well, I thought it would be easier than it is proving to be. There have been so so so many houses that we have looked at, thought would be a good fit, but in the end, walked away because we didn't 'feel the love'. If you don't feel the love every day when you walk through the door, why live there?

I'm not being delusional. I didn't think this process would go like this:

"Oh my gosh! This house is 250 years old, is in perfect condition and in my price range?! I'll take it!!"

There are so many things that can happen when you are looking at houses as old as I want. Lead paint, asbestos, bad renovations throughout the years...and we're willing to take it all on for the love and care and many years that we want to give to our first home purchase. Realistically, this is going to be the home where we'll bring home our first child (and maybe second or third, if that's what our future holds). We're not just looking for a house. We're looking to create a home, that is shown love and a place that we'll live for many years to come. 

So, where is this home? 

Well, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel! 

We have found (what we think) is the home for us! It's the one that we keep coming back to. It does not come perfectly to what we are looking for, but as far as the checklist goes, this house meets most of what we want and need, and with some work, can be 100% what we want!

1. It is old!   This was the most important fact for us. The house was built in 1763 *swoon* and has MANY original details.

2. It is a Colonial/New Englander (think a Colonial with an ell and attached barn), our favorite type of house!

3. It has, for the most part, been very well cared for.

4. There's only a section (the ell) that needs extensive renovations.

4. There is land!

We are looking at the house again this weekend, as well as another lovely old house in a different, yet extremely charming, town. So, while I don't have any pictures to share with you in this post, this is an extremely important decision for me that I did want to share. I've read so many things about buying houses and renovations, so I know that we're not alone. Here's hoping!!



xoxo
Tim

A bit of Spring.

Although the snow is pelting down outside today...

with another 6-12" expected...

I thought we could use a little hint of Spring to tide us over.

Here's hoping that Spring is just around the corner.

xoxo

Tim

Another snow day.

Welcome Winter Storm 'Q'. This is what it's looking like around here today, and though you can't tell in these pictures (that I took only minutes ago) the snow is still pelting down. 

Isn't it beautiful???

Though winter should be drawing to a close, I have to say that I absolutely adore the snow. I love watching it fall to the ground, and I almost feel as if I've been meditating. It brings a peace to me that is not always easy to find in the midst of a hectic schedule.

Just a little frosting over every surface visible makes everything seem a bit more alive.

I like to think of it as just a bit of glamour. The Academy Awards are being held tonight, right??? ;)

After opening the doors to take these pictures, I was happy to come back inside and stay toasty warm.

Ahhhhhhh.

Amy.

Won't you join us for some hot cocoa in this Winter Wonderland?

Thank you Mother Nature...AND Father Winter.

xoxo

Tim