Our First Home

While I am loving being back in Texas, I have to say I absolutely miss our home. It was the first home the Mr. and I have ever owned and while it wasn't perfect, it was perfect for us. That being said, I thought I would share the story and some photos of our first place.

I should have shared these a long time ago, but hey, better late than never, right?!

We found this gem in a new neighborhood in southeast Albuquerque.  If you are in the area and in the market for a new home be sure to check it out. It is a fast-growing, but uber cute little part of town and  it only took us 10 minutes to get to and from work. We also experienced what I think were the best mountain views in Albuquerque and the most spectacular sunsets, if you follow me on instagram you know what I mean.

As we were looking at floor plans and available lots, we happened to run across this beauty that had just been put on the market. It was a custom home and that was nearly done being built. Apparently the original contract had fallen through so we found it at a pretty good price. We knew when we looked at it, it was the home for us. It had what we were looking for, 3 bedrooms, a large kitchen, and a large, open living space.

We went home that night, discussed it, looked at photos and floor plans and prayed about it over a weekend. Finally, Monday morning rolled around and we were ready to put in our offer.

We made a few change requests in our offer since the home wasn't one hundred percent complete. In the end the builder agreed to all of them. They removed the carpet downstairs and laid tile throughout the entire first floor and installed white wood blinds throughout the home. And finally, they changed the ceiling, trim and interior door colors.

Did you know that the standard now is to paint the entire inside of a new home one color? Seriously? The doors, walls, ceilings and trim all matched! Big no no in my book. I didn't want to live in a cave. 

As I mentioned before, it wasn't perfect, but I was beyond blessed to move in to a brand spankin' new home! And it was gorgeous!

The fun part came once we got all moved in! I loved decorating, furnishing and organizing our new home. It is literally what I lived for. I couldn't wait for the evenings and weekends so I could shop, organize and decorate. It seriously just lit my heart on fire!

While we are no longer there, I still love looking back at our first home. We were only there a short time, but I left with so many memories. From family visitors, to Saturday morning walks, and breakfast at Rose's followed by trips to the dog park. We shared nights with some amazing neighbors and afternoons at the pool. We opened our home to our community group at church where we did our best to live out the Gospel in our community each and every day. We celebrated holidays, birthdays and quiet evenings with delicious food and good wine. 

As you can see I'm incredibly thankful for our home. And while I wanted to share my adventure in decorating this home months ago, I figure it's never too late and it gives me motivation to begin sharing more of my adventures with you.

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All of the images above were taken by Jim Gross of Virtual Tour Club. He was amazing to work with and took excellent photos of our home!

House Hunting

Mr. C and I have always dreamed of owning a home. It's never been anything we've wanted to just jump right in to though. We have always wanted to be wise about our money as well as our decisions so we decided to living minimally, until we knew where wanted to put down roots for at least 3 years.

This year will be our second year in our apartment though and while it has definitely become our home, we are beginning to think about whether we should look into renting or buying a home.

Fast forward to yesterday. A friend told us about a new neighborhood being built and it sounded intriguing so we decided to check it out so we went for a little Sunday drive. We've never looked at houses together, so I won't lie, it was pretty exhilarating. We walked through a number of model homes, looked at various floor plans and discussed how the community will evolve as a whole. We tried to imagine the lush parks, shops and restaurants that are expected to one day be a part of the communities ambiance.

After a few hours of talking and dreaming, we decided it was time to head home. 

Now for the big decisions and long conversations. The homes were not only affordable, but they are custom built, so we could pick everything from the start which is both awesome and overwhelming all at the same time. 

Here are the things we will have to be thinking/praying about:

- First, are we going to be here for at least 3 more years?

- Is this neighborhood a good one, worth investing in?

- If so, which floor plan works best for us as a "starter home." A 1500 sq. foot home or a 1900 sq. foot   home? One with 3 bedrooms or 4 bedrooms?

- We also have to be thinking about the resale value of the home.

- How much do we spend on the floor plan, and how much do we reserve for the upgrades?

- How will this effect our everyday lives and are we ready for that change (i.e. church community groups, CrossFit gyms, etc.)

{Image Credit: Urrutia Design}

Weekend Recap & New Cleaning Schedule

{Image Credit: Cape Cod Collegiate Tumblr}

This weekend was very nice. Being an early riser, I was up bright and early Saturday morning with a cup of coffee in hand and I immediately got to work on a few projects I've been meaning to complete. Turns out the project was a total flop, funny how that happens.

Anyway, I was also able to spend most of the day Sunday after church cleaning up around the apartment. The place has literally been a train wreck since we got back from our vacation last weekend. There wasn't much time for laundry and cleaning when we returned, so this weekend I spent a few hours doing some laundry and some deep cleaning (i.e. the ceiling fans! Disgusting! And if they are constantly going I don't quite understand how they collect so much dust! Ugh gross!) Needless to say, the ceiling fans are a lovely shade of white again!

This week I also plan to put a new cleaning schedule into effect to see if I can stay on top of our organization and cleaning a little better. I don't know about you all but I love a clean home. There is nothing worse to me than coming home from a long day of work to a huge mess and paper piles occupying ever surface. 

After reading this post, I was inspired to create a similar cleaning schedule. Here is the schedule I came up with last week based on our weekly schedules. I'm sure I'll miss things here and there, but my hope is to spread the cleaning out through the week so it doesn't look like a tornado blew through by Wednesday evening.

Weekly Cleaning:

Monday: Dust, clean floors (vacuum all carpets/rugs, sweep and mop kitchen and bathroom), windex mirrors and glass

Tuesday: Clean bathroom, water indoor plants

Wednesday: Clean kitchen counters, clean stove top, wipe down refrigerator

Saturday: Wash sheets, pay bills, review finances, file paperwork, clean cluttered drawers, sweep patio, etc.

Sunday: Grocery shopping, clean out refrigerator

Daily Cleaning:

- Clean dishes after every meal

- Clean kitchen counters

- Clean bathroom counter

- Spray down shower walls

- Water flowers

Monthly Cleaning:

- Clean ceiling fans and light fixtures

- Wipe down blinds

- Clean windows

- Clean vents

- Wash bath mats/shower curtain

Fiddle Fig Leaf Fever

It seems as if everyone has had Fiddle Fig Leaf tree fever, myself included. To be honest, I don't remember when I first saw this beautiful plant, but when I did I knew I had to have one, that is until I realized they were at least a hundred dollars or more to order. Holy moly! Hello people, I am woman on a tight budget, I can't afford a hundred dollar houseplant.

But Saturday, I just so happened to be making my weekly trip to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for Cs birthday cake when low and behold out of the corner of my very eyes was a gorgeous Fiddle Leaf Fig tree with a price tag of $14.99! No questions, just a quick text to the hubs to tell him about my amazing find, and in to the grocery cart it went. Now we have a beautiful new green addition to the family!