Our home.

So far, I'm thoroughly enjoying being a homeowner, but oh my, is it a lot of work!  Looking forward to days when I can just sit back and enjoy our new home.  For now, patience will have to do.  We seemingly dove right in to homeownership by starting a major project of re-texturing walls and painting yesterday.  It's a bit of a lengthy process and our house looks to be a bit of a disaster:

Don't let that cute smile fool you, he is not the work horse behind all of that!  
Love you honey! :)

During this 3 week process, we are finding the fun in picking out paint colors, light fixtures and new furniture pieces (And pack!? Oops!).  Choices, choices!  Did I mention I can't sleep when I have a major creative project swirling around my mind?  I think I thrive in these sorts of situations, but I sure wouldn't mind just a few more hours of beauty sleep.

Currently, I'm coveting a drum shaded chandelier for our breakfast nook:

THIS

I probably won't sleep until I find the perfect one!  Well, and quite honestly, one that fits the budget because the one above, surely does not.  :)

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

Honey, we're hooooome!

And so it begins, we have finally purchased our very first home. Long awaited and well worth the wait.

And yes, my sweet husband carried me across the threshold to bring us luck and good fortune for all of our days. Now who wouldn't want that?

Special thanks to my Mom and Dad for making us aware of this whole threshold business. Ryan and I may or may not have been the last people on planet Earth to learn about this tradition, but good thing we did because we have now been blessed with the following:

Guarding Against Misfortune

Ancient Romans held a superstition that a newlywed couple could be plagued by misfortune, if the woman tripped in the entrance to their home. To prevent this from occurring, the groom would carry the bride inside.

(Edited to Add: I so would have tripped, so thank you Ryan!)

Putting the Right Foot Forward

Early Slavic societies nurtured the belief that a bride must not set her left foot into the newlyweds' home before her right one. Apparently, this would result in many years of bad luck. By entering the home in her beloved's arms, she would not be exposed to this risk.

Shielding from the Nether World

Greek mythology carried stories of evil spirits living in the earth, particularly underground. For this reason, young maidens would scatter flower petals in a bride's path for the wedding celebration. Afterwards, when the couple would retire to their home, the groom would carry the wife through the door to protect her from the evil netherworld spirits underground.

Blocking Demons' Access to the Home

The Viking peoples suspected a bride might unwittingly carry demons from her household of origin into her new home. If her bridegroom lifted her initially into their home, the demons would be prevented from entering with her.

(Edited to Add: I don't think I brought demons with me, but nevertheless, they're gone if I did!)

Dragging the Maiden into the Cave

Of course, we have all heard stories of the cave man, who would growl and grab a woman by her long hair before dragging her into his cave. Ugga-bugga! Call it progress! What woman wouldn't rather be swept off her feet than snatched by her hair by some big lug?

Source: HERE

Sooooo excited for the big move!!

Eeny Meeny Miny Mo.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that at this point in time, my sweet husband and I should be up to our ears in something like this:

Instead, we are completely procrastinating, opting for something much more fun and are up to our ears in this:

  

Here's to hoping that Santa grants my wish for packed and moved boxes this Christmas!

Husband.

Click image to enlarge.

Let's go for a little house tour, shall we?

So much for seeing you on the flip side. I apparently could not resist taking you on a pre-move-in tour of our (almost!) new home. Friday just can't come quick enough! And now for the tour...

Keep in mind, we have a few changes up our sleeves to better suit our decor style, but this will be a fun little memory of the "before."

I just cannot wait to host our lovely family and friends in our new home!!

Four more days...

Story of my little life.

Operation purge, pack, move and try to stay married while buying first house, working 60+ hours per week and getting ready for the holidays is well under way...

{Source: HERE}

See you on the flip side!

P.S. If you need a return address stamper, the above link will bring you to a seriously irresistable handmade option. Am I ridiculous that I'll be placing my order approximately 30 minutes after closing on our new abode? (Post bubbly and confetti of course!) I think not. I've been waiting for this day for years. The house that is. :)

Homeward Bound!

Contrary to popular belief, no, I did not run off and become a famous photographer...

Life has been packed. Notice a trend? I think the crazy busy is just the new normal. I'm trying to adjust. Really, I'm trying. It's hard. Things I used to have time for are slipping through the cracks and it's really getting under my skin. Hmm.... I'm not much for new year's resolutions, but drastic action is necessary. This wasn't at all where I wanted this posting to go, but I think it just had to come out somehow. I hope no one thinks less of me for it. I'm doing my best. Promise.

Okay, so now for the exciting news! We are UNDER CONTRACT... not just under contract, but 10 short days days from closing on a house that we L-O-V-E!

Our very own "Split Pea"

It's certainly not over 'til it's over, but we are well on our way to a home of our very own. Christmas is coming a little early for the Duncans and we couldn't be happier!

OMG!

A little off my rocker.

Do you think it's possible that my mind is still adjusting to the whole seasons thing? Last winter, I had just come off of 5 straight years of summer-ish weather living in San Diego and had been mentally preparing myself for the move to Colorado and the return of winter for months and months. I'm not so sure this year because I'm pretty sure summer just started.

And now for a ridiculously humorous story further portraying how the summer went WAY too fast for me.

We went to look at a house last week and after we scoped out the neighborhood, found the house and were getting out of the car.... are you ready for this?

• Me (appalled): "OH MY GOODNESS! They STILL have their Halloween decorations up from last year!"
• Ryan (equally appalled): "Um, Katie? I think they just put them up for this year!"
• Me: "It's September!! Riiiiight!"

And just for the record, Costco is selling Christmas trees. It's a shock to my system I tell ya!

Breath.

It's September 13th and dare I say, Mid-September. I'm enjoying my first Sunday of freedom since July and trying to put the pieces back together and figure out where the summer went. Loads and loads of fun was had, but wow did it ever fly by! Evidence that we've been busy... my golf game is suffering. Severely. Oh yeah, and my blog has been neglected just a bit as well.

Weddings... wow was it a lovefest this summer or what? I absolutely love myself a good wedding and we were so fortunate and blessed to send bunches and bunches of wonderful friends down the aisle. So happy for all of my newlywed friends embarking on the journey of marriage.

The longest house hunt in the history of all house hunts continues. Let's just say, HGTV would have fired us months and months ago. We have far exceeded all requirements for a 30 minute episode of House Hunters..... 400 times over. It has been an interesting journey for us and there has been a ton of learning involved. Just in the past month, we have done a complete 180, changed our house hunting strategy and are starting at square numero uno. 16 months later it is the absolute LAST place I want to be, but our new strategy will allow us the opportunity to have a cozy little mountain home in the future. We are very excited and childhood memories of my grandparents cabin are dancing in my head.

Work is a doozy. Busier than usual this summer with the layoffs and all sorts of challenges. Thankful to have a job and one with summer hours at that. Half day Fridays are a great little reward at the end of the week... well, when I am actually able to take them. The joy of sales!

All in all, it's been a good summer, packed to the brim with family, good friends, new cities and lots of sunshine. Today, we slowly slipped back into normalcy (or wait, maybe the craziness is normal?!). We went to church this morning and then met Ryan's Mom and her love for lunch. My sweet husby is now off golfing with the boys... relaxing with a glass of iced tea, a magazine and a little music was my afternoon of choice instead.

Driving home from church this morning, we noticed that the mountains were covered in snow. Fall and Winter it seems, are just around the corner.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!