Opening the Door

I'm baaaaack. Very ready to fire up my blog again after a several-months-long hiatus. This blog has been in hibernation for the winter because a) I'm not a winter person, b) We've just weathered a really tough and painful season with Tessa's behavior that we're now so happily emerging from, c) I took a break from home projects at my husband's request, and d) I've been really tucking into my work. I took on a few more freelance clients (D. Luxe Home, Bynum Design, and T.J. Anderson Real Estate Partners), and it looks like a few more are about to sign on. I love that I've accidentally developed a niche with home improvement/interior design/real estate/building companies. It's probably, actually, not very accidental at all since these are the things I most like to write about and don't have to feign enthusiasm to do so. The irony hasn't been lost on me that I stopped writing my own blog so other people could pay me to write their blogs for them. But this space remains important to me. 

As always, it's been tough managing a full-time-work-from-home schedule while also managing these two little girls, wiping their perpetually snotty noses, staying patient and kind and fun--and staying focused on paying off our debt. We are proud to have paid off $10K in 2013 and have another $10K (and then some) left to go; this includes paying off our car but not our house. Some days I have to all but sit on my hands so I won't use them to online shop or drive as fast as I can to T.J. Maxx, which truly is my happy place. But I'm so thankful to have hit my stride with having two kids. It was a tough adjustment for me--going from having one apple of my eye to two--and it only took me a year. This is something I'd like to write about here soon. It's helped getting Livvy into one of Tessa's Mother's Day Out programs twice a week, and we're budgeting for even more childcare starting next month. I need the time to get my work done. 

I also need the time to get back to doing some of the things that make me happy. Like painting everything in sight. Yesterday morning, before the gray skies broke into a long rain, I got back into the swing of things by painting my back door Martha Stewart's "Duck Egg." I flipping love it. And this morning, I started the process of painting our kitchen cabinets. After much debate, I decided that I'm going to do it the "right" way--with more durable oil paint, which takes forever to dry--rather than with water-based or chalk paint, which I was considering using. I'm using Martha Stewart's "Bedford Gray," which I chose based on this kitchen transformation. Crossing my fingers it turns out as gorgeous and fresh as I envision. Here's what our kitchen cabinets look like now. 

Cheers to spring--I'm a little premature to be sure, but I feel her coming. She's in my heart--a whole new season.