So It Begins Again...

Quite possibly my dream home... sans the snow. If you know me at all, you'll know that I'm not really the cold-weather-friendly type gal. Give me sunshine and bare feet over frigid temps any day! This house is rather large but oh my stars, the color, the detail! I need matching white rockers for both Mike and myself. Something to aspire to!

In light of the flood and the loss of most of our belongings, I can finally say I've found peace. I've started to come to terms with what has happened to, not only us, but thousands of families across the mid-state area. Mother Nature showed her fury this weekend and she followed it with some bittersweet sunshine and the most gorgeous of days.

While I still remain heartbroken to have lost so many things with so much sentimental value, I can now chalk it up to Mother Nature doing my spring cleaning for me. You may recall several of my posts during finals week saying how I couldn't wait until Monday rolled around and I could start organizing EVERYTHING. Well, following Saturday's catastrophes, everything is much easier to organize now. I'm trying to have a light heart about it. But the silver lining is always there and it's there in more ways than one.

For instance:

• Mike and I can now start acquiring items for a cohesive home together. Everything will have a rhyme and reason. No sense in buying something simply because it's cheap or it will "get the job done for now"... No sir! Everything will have a purpose. Simplicity. Cohesion. Theme.
• The lease on our current (or, old?) house is broken. The landlord and I have agreed to break the lease so that we, as well as our other 3 roommates, may find other arrangements seeing as the house will not be livable for months (if EVER!). We surely loved our home, so so very much, but this has also been an answer to a prayer of ours for quite some time. Just not in the way we had envisioned.
• Petty arguments and scuffles were thrown out the window, or at least put on the backburner, so that we may fight this tragic event as friends and family. I'm happy to report that I have my best friend, Bryan, back and things with us are always better when we're not living together.
• I no longer have a plethora of things to pack and move, followed by unpacking and organizing and finding homes for them all. Now it's down to the basics.
• Once Mike and I find another home, it will be our home. He and I. No one else to answer to. No one to get upset with when they don't take out the trash. No one to leave passive aggressive notes on the fridge with. Just us. Our home. Our family.

Until then, Mike and I will be living with my parents. It's unfortunate that it is an 80+ mile drive to work for him, each way, in Brentwood, but while living here, we are responsible for no rent or utilities (what a God send!), and it gives us (and Toby) time with my wonderful parents. I'm scheduled to leave for NYC on Saturday, May 22nd, and arrive on the 23rd, but these events my hinder my plans just a little. I may leave 2 weeks later. It's of no real matter, as Erin & BUST have said to just come when I can, and my rent has been paid from May until August 7th so I can set my schedule.

However, I'll be deeply saddened to miss both the BUST Craftacular and The Renegade Craft Fairs in Brooklyn. But duty calls and I must do what I need to do. Nothing is set in stone yet, but we shall see.

I cannot wait to pick out dinnerware and paint colors with Mike. Eventually. I mean, we don't have a new place yet, but when we do! Right now the priority is on Toby and his belongings. We sadly lost all of his toys, some of his clothes, all of his diapers, etc etc etc, in the flood. We managed to save his red high-top Converse shoes though! We have him this weekend and he's being such a doll. We picked him up today and we will have him tun Saturday evening so he can spend Mothers Day with Sarah. Mike and I are going to Camden with my family to celebrate Mother's Day.

This has gotten long and I apologize. I just want to say once again, thank you so much for the kind words, comments, emails, tweets, etc. They mean so so much to me but please don't worry yourselves... we are just fine and we're confident that we will remain so. This is only a minor setback to a wonderful array of plans we have envisioned for ourselves. Everyone's gotta have a few bumps in the road, right? Morale is high, here, have no doubt about it!

Here are a few eye-candy home-interior shots found via SweetHomeStyle! (Mike is very mid-century-modern and I'm very old-world-feminine! It'll be interesting to see how our home turns out!)

What are some of your favorite home/interior-design blogs or websites?!

xoxo

PS; Mike's 21st Birthday was yesterday! On Cinco De Mayo! We met Merissa & JT for dinner at Mellow Mushroom, followed by beers at The Pond, since beer and pizza are two of Mike's favorites! Pop on over to his blog and tell him HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! (CLICK HERE to go to his blog!)