home tour :: our living space.

I think the last time I shared photos of our place was shortly after we moved in, three and a half years ago. It's changed quite a bit since then so I thought it'd be fun to document it on here before we leave our beloved abode, starting with our living space.

colorful pillow is from anthro (got a crazy deal) as is the ceramic turquoise basket. globe, thrifted.

With the exception of the two side tables, which were found at an antique shop in grand rapids, and the green chair, picked up for $10 at an estate sale, every piece in here was either handed down by my parents or bought second-hand from the previous tenants of the first place we rented together. I am kind of hoping to sell most of the furniture and start fresh with our new place, wherever that may be. I would love each piece to be intentional and well thought out. I will be scouring Craig's List and flea markets I'm sure.

pink pintuck pillows came from Home Goods, as did the orange ruffle pillow on the blue chair.

SO excited to leave our massive TV behind, haha. hoping for a fireplace instead of a TV in our next place :)

Anyway, this is what our living space looks like now. It is a space I have grown to love despite it not being exactly what I would want (for example, I would love a couch like this). I am trying to let go of feeling like everything needs to look perfect. Looking at beautiful blogs can exasperate that feeling but I've been learning to put things into perspective and remember what's really important. And it is quite freeing. But we'll see how I do when we have a new place to make our own.. I could definitely see my perfectionist ways making me all crazy-like again.

I am a huge fan of Rifle Paper Co and have several of their cards displayed as art work throughout our house. Talk about affordable art. And then when I'm ready for a change I can use them for their original purpose and get a new set of pretty stationery to display :) The "there's no place like home" print is from here. I love it. It's weird to think about how much it's meaning will change soon.. 

A road trip to Kansas City

Back from yet another road trip! This one for the purpose of Joel presenting at/attending a counseling conference (which went really well for him - so proud of my man). Let me tell you, the drive from Detroit to Kansas City is long and dreadfully boring. There weren't even pretty fall colors, except for a few small patches here and there. Good thing I had an awesome travel companion. Near the end of our drive home, I read him a long list of random geographical facts I had found online, just to keep the two of us awake (plus we are both kind of obsessed with geography). Haha. Did you know that Michigan has the longest coastline of any state (besides Alaska)? Yea, our state is pretty darn awesome. I could spew off lots more useless facts about U.S. geography but I'll spare you.

Kansas City itself was really cool. I enjoyed the laid-back Midwest feel. And the artsy vibe! You may not guess it, but there is a thriving artist community in Kansas City. Joel and I really enjoyed the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. We also really enjoyed THE FOOD (thanks to Yelp and Sandy), most of it locally sourced (love that). I never did have BBQ, which kind of bums me out considering how much I love it, but the delicious food I did have made up for it. We went here, here, here and here. At that last place (Glacé), I had fluer de sel caramel ice cream along with butternut squash ice cream and it was some of the best ice cream I've ever tasted! I also dined solo one day while Joel was at his conference and went to my first vegan restaurant. It was out of this world, especially the raw chocolate hazelnut pie. Oh mah gah. Wow, I am really obsessed with food. Not that that's news.

 

The highlight of the trip was meeting a blogger in person for the first time! I got to have lunch (and crepes!) with the lovely Sandy of Sandy a la Mode. It was quite exciting. And as I expected, she is super sweet and fun to talk to. (Not to mention a pretty lady!) Makes me want to attend a blogger conference so I can potentially meet more of you lovelies :)

please excuse the extreme fuzziness. bad lighting!

Oh yea, another awesome part of our trip -- discovering a three-story antiques market! wow, it was so hard not to come home with a bag full, including that blanket below. I hope that there is a market like that wherever we move -- would be perfect for furnishing our future home {since we probably won't take a lot of our stuff with us}. can't wait to decorate a new place :)

Man I just love exploring new cities.. I've been so blessed to be able to join Joel on all of his conference trips. I think traveling/exploring is my favorite thing to do with him. I look forward to exploring a brand new city with him once we move, wherever that may be (the list of posititons Joel is applying to has grown to 20! More on that soon).

made a pit stop in St. Louis for a scrumptious brunch in the magnificent sunshine.