Life Lately

Let me just say that I am sorry for the lack of activity round these parts recently, I'm don't mean to neglect you and I promise it's only temporary! You see, as I mentioned before, we got a new apartment, which means the dreaded "M word" - moving, shudder. Now I know there are probably many people out there who love moving, unfortunately I am not one of them. Actually let me clarify - I love the idea of moving, of having a new space to fill and decorate, but the physical act of packing/unpacking is just not on my list of interests. It's a necessary evil, however, and one that has been taking my focus away from my dear blog. Combine that with the fact that I've been doing a lot of scheming/collaborating behind the scenes for a new project (more on that soon!), and my time has been stretched even further!

BUT, all this should be over quite soon, and once the dust settles I'll have that much more time, pictures, and awesome content to share with you! So, please forgive my absence this past and upcoming week, I promise I will make up for it soon! In the meantime, enjoy some lovely photos of what my life has been looking like lately:

The Manayunk Bike Race last weekend

 Food trucks at the 2013 Vendy Awards, and the resulting food coma

The mess of moving, and a well deserved break with pizza, beer, and Boy Meets World!

Exciting News!

Mostly exciting news for me, but also kinda for you too! You see, dear friends, there has been a lot going on behind the scenes over in these parts. The year-long lease for our current apartment ended earlier this month, but we had the hardest time figuring out what to do with ourselves! (Don't worry, I haven't been homeless, just taking our lease month-to-month) The choices we faced were renewing our lease, finding another apartment to rent, or Chrissy buying a place (this was a serious option!). Each choice had a pro and a con; we love the location of our current house, and the price can't be beat, but the house is outdated meaning high utility bills and uneven floors (it feels like a fun house). On the other hand, we weren't finding any places for rent around the same area with a similar price-point, so renting elsewhere wasn't looking doable. We actually did go to see some houses for sale, but nothing really fit right.

Even though we were only here for a year, a lot of love and effort went into this place!

It started to seem like we were out of luck. We had almost resigned ourselves to renewing our current lease when the most perfect house went up for rent. It was two blocks away from our current house, slightly smaller but much more updated, we could still have a yard and garden, and the price was right. We practically jumped with joy and immediately contacted the renter. Joy turned to anxiety, however, when the landlord let us know he would be having an open-house to show the place to several interested people. Eek, no! Eager to make it known we wanted the place, we were the first ones there during the open house, rental applications already filled out and checkbooks in hand. Long-story short, after a lot of waiting, a successful third-roommate hunt, and many hours spent obsessively refreshing Gmail, this past Saturday we signed the lease and it's officially ours!! -Insert goofy happy dance here-

We'll move in the beginning of June and then get to work making it our own! This is where the exciting news for you comes into play: I fully intend to dust off all those abandoned DIY ideas I've pinned over the years and bring them to life. We already have plans to put in a garden and re-style the back patio, and I'll be sharing everything here with you! So, get excited for some serious DIY in the upcoming months, I know I already am :)

Introducing our chicks!

I know, I know, I teased you with a picture of six fluffy little chicks on Saturday, and then never gave you the full scoop! Well meet the gang below (no, we couldn't resist naming them after the cast of Friends):

Rachel and Phoebe are red pullets, so we already know they're ladies and are going to grow into Rhode Island Reds. The rest of the gang, however are a toss-up in the gender category. They're Speckled Sussex and the came as straightline, so we won't know until they're a little older if they're ladies or gents. While we hope they're all female, if we do end up having a rooster we can just sell him or make a trade for more chicks. Or as the helpful man at the Tractor Supply Store told us, we can "take him to our local Amish man to get him processed." Please tell me we're not the only ones who don't have a Amish man on call.

                         Rhode Island Red                                            Speckled Sussex

For anyone out there toying with the idea of back-yard chickens, but worrying about start-up cost, it's suprisingly quite low. The chicks themselves were $2 each, a bag of food was about $20 (and will last for quite a while), a giant bag of pine shavings for bedding was only $5, and besides that all you need is a heat lamp, a place to keep them until they're ready to go outside (we're using a large plastic storage tub) and food/water feeders ($10 each at the Tractor Supply Store, but may be cheaper on Amazon). All together our checkout was about $67. Not too shabby considering with 6 chickens you can get about 2 dozen (amazing, delicious) eggs/week for years! Plus endless enertainment -- we find ourselves just watching them jumping around and looking for non-existent worms in the non-existent dirt, they're just so funny!

Now, the next step for these back-yard farmers is building them a coop! We have joint custody planned with my brother and Jackie, we're housing them for the first month and then we'll be moving them into a coop in their much more spacious yard. In the meantime we'll be helping them clear out an area and set up their new digs. And in four short months, eggs for all!

So are there any other back-yard farmers out there? If so, I'd love to hear any tips or stories you have for these newbies!

White Wall, Green Thumb

I'm starting to notice a running theme in the spaces that catch my eye while reading blogs or browsing Pinterest, and that theme is white walls. Don't get me wrong, I love color, which I is why I think I 'm so drawn to a white wall. They are like a blank canvas that allow the decorations to take center stage and gives you the freedom to go as crazy with color as you want in terms of furniture and textiles. Finish the room with some green plants (live or fake) and the room automatically feels lighter and airier.

Check out the photos below for some inspiration on how to use greenery to open up your space!

-all photos linked to source-

The Writing's on the Wall

While I'm away on vacation, I've scheduled posts to 

publish automatically. See you all soon!

I've been seeing hand-written walls pop up across the web and wondering if it's going to turn into the next big thing for home decor. I do love the personal feel of handwriting scrawled imperfectly on a wall, but I think if I tried it myself I would confine it to a small space so as not to overpower the room (I also think it would take me a month just to decide what to write!). My favorite instance so far is in the kitchen below, printing a family recipe behind open shelves. It makes a statement but blends well with the rest of the decor.

 

 -All photos linked to source-

What do you think of hand-written walls: the next chalkboard wall, or just eh?

Pinterest Sunday

I think it's a symptom of renting or maybe just a result of reading so many DIY blogs, but lately I've been dreaming of having my own space to be able to do with what I will. Here's a collection of spaces I found on Pinterest that have me feeling inspired...

P.S. follow me on Pinterest here!