Home Sweet Home.

I am lying in bed at night thinking of California sunshine. I told Nekos I wished I could make myself dream about it at night. He said it's possible if I just think really hard about it right before I fall asleep. I don't know if that works or not though.

In Nashville it looks like the color has blanched out of everything. Like knuckles clenched around a steering wheel. I hadn't really noticed how brown and gray and terrible everything looks until I saw it held up against California and Southern Arizona. In my mind, I fast forward through the rest of January and February and on into March. In March, I have Tessa's first birthday to celebrate. And there will start to be warmer days. Last year, when we first brought Tessa home from the hospital, I sat on the front porch and held all six pounds of her, exhausted, and watched Nekos plant our garden. That garden is dry and brown now, but one day soon the spring will come. 

Still, I am so happy to be home and back in our house. When we first walked into it, after eight days away, it felt like someone else's house. Someone who I would want to be great friends with. I thought it would be fun to do a post about my favorite spots around our little bungalow, built in the early 1920s. We've lived in our East Nashville neighborhood for four years this March. We've had our ups and downs here. There's been too much crime. We've been broken into. And I've watched scary street brawls from our upstairs window and I've cringed at too many gunshots to count. But this is our fortress, mine and Nekos', and we have fun with all our little projects around here.

Here are just a few of my favorite spots in our house:

My white mirror collection in our living room

My plant table in the dining room

Our chalkboard wall in the kitchen

Our new back door. It definitely helps to let the morning light in because before we just had a solid white door. 

Our bed. We got a Tempur-Pedic mattress last winter, and more recently a new bedspread from Pottery Barn, and put John and Yoko up above our heads for extra good vibes. 

I really like the way Tessa's room turned out, too, which I made a whole post about last month. And I want to do a post soon about my craft "station," but I probably need to get it into order first.

This month I want to try my hand at some carpentry. I'm thinking of making a built-in bookshelf to the left of our fireplace and a window seat in the dining room. How hard could it really be? :)