5 loves.

~ the thoughts, smile and sound of Maya Angelou
~ this season -- the food, sounds of holidays songs, family gatherings, thoughfulness we show eachother, cold evenings cuddled up close.
~ my husband. his touch, sound, smell, laugh and spirit.
~ voices of florence & the machine, mumford & sons, and adele who all play my heartstrings
~ the human spirit. our ability to rise & fall and rise again. to create, love, forgive, see beyond the bleakness and soar with hope and conviction.

The short story of finding our home and all the 3's that came with it!

3 months ago when I got the call from my landlord that they needed to move back into the home we had just finished moving into life sorta fell apart for me. I knew that I was lucky that it was just a move that was pulling the rug out from under me and not something tragic like cancer or divorce, it was after all just a relocation of us and our stuff but it was heavy. I was lost inside myself while I tried to find my grasp on how to make the most of it and turn it into an opportunity. Ya know, manufacture happiness. In the meantime, my body was in physical pain, I was ill. I couldn't believe it but I should have known it would happen. When there is a 'clause' in your lease that says they can, expect that they will. First lesson learned.
Luckily my husband was less fazed than myself and helped me see that this was the push we needed to start our house hunt.
It's been three months and 3 weeks since we received that call. 3 of those months spent living with my mom while we hunted and hunted. At times it felt hopeless, where was our house?!? Other times, moments of elation only to find out there was another offer on house after condo. 3 weeks ago we had 3 back offers on places that were just good enough but still not our 'dream'. We were in a state of settling. Manufacturing to much happiness but it wasn't natural, they weren't the ones. Then a chance spotting of a house that I'd been seeing on my web searches but hadn't made the push to see in person until we ended up on the same street looking at a different house. Out of the corner of our eye we recognized it and walked over with our agent who had her supra with her. Luckily the house was empty and she got us in then and there. Walking through the house we just knew. This was THE ONE. In our price range, totally redone, had the features the were at the top of our list...attached garage, en suite bath, washer dryer and backyard. WE'LL TAKE IT! Actually, we wouldn't. It already had another offer, a cash offer and they were moving quick. FUCK! Now what. That WAS the house. Like, the one.
Well if you know me, you know I don't take No easily. Our poor Realtor was doing her best to distract us. Took us out to see 20 (TWENTY!) houses a few days later and they were all No's and if anything just made it harder to forget about the house. The one that had YES written all over it. That was the one!.
We kept sneaking that house into conversations and subtly reminding her to follow up and call, just in case.
Well the next day I got a call from her at 8am. She'd never called us that early and I knew or maybe just hoped. Either way, I was too scared to answer. When I called her back it was true, the buyer had changed his mind last minute and we were in the front spot to make an offer. Moving with lightning speed we submitted our offer and it was accepted that day.
Today is 3 weeks later. We've had inspections, requested a few repairs, contingency's have been removed and tomorrow is our final walk through.

The house is ours!! The one that makes the last months all OK and worth it!!! I am more than thrilled that we get to live in the house that we wanted and that I have such a wonderful person to share it with.
We are so thankful of the family members that helped us out in our time of need. Especially my mom who opened up her home to us while we searched.

I look forward to blogging about out the process of owning a home and doing projects around it.

dreaming in kitchen...

 

and these are only a few of the kitchens i'm loving...

our new house is amazing and i can't wait to get in there

but until then it's impossible to stop thinking about decorating and the kitchen

especially keeps begging for new direction (pic below)

right now it looks a bit like a lawyers executive offer.

dark, wood cabinets and a very run of the mill granite.

i'm dreaming of an over hall which neither my budget or hubby will allow so until then

dreaming, dreaming....

i would love a farm sink, maybe white counters, open shelving among other things

but at first i'll have to settle for new hardware and some paint treatment on the cabinets

i love the idea of chalkboard paint somewhere in the house, maybe the dining area

THIS IS OUR KITCHEN: nice but fussy and too dark -- what would you do to it?

and i do realize that this is an amazing kitchen to even have but this blog is for dreaming and decor wishing...

not judging.

decor crush...

love this antler table, it's beyond unique and I love the mixture of nature with an industrial city look.

makes me want to scour flea market after flea market to find something an phenom as this!

the romance and promise of this lace curtain is quite breath taking to me.
maybe it's a piece of lace that you inherited from your grandmothers lovingly handmade hands.

i especially love the ease with which it hangs, not too fussy or worried about the perfect length etc

i saw this last night when i was in bed with my iPad doing my nightly blog check

and it caught my eye

it reminds me of a silk tie dyed scarf and i just know my mother-in-law could recreate this look

if the hubs gave me approval.

it's a little too rusty burn out for me though, i'd tone it down a little and make it less colorful but keep the

romance of it. lots of candles in this room would be necessary.

maybe i'm just being cocky here but i really think i could make this

tree branch lamp better than this picture shows.

i this the cord looks sloppy in this picture, i would wrap it better

but the rustic handmade yet functional look is attractive to me

definitely gonna get this soap dispenser from good ole target!

Smart Gifting!

There is a frosty nip in LA today and it's just another reminder that it's time to get your list into Santa because Christmas is JUST around the corner.
If you're like me and find yourself in front of a computer for many hours a day then you too have probably started shopping more and more online.
I wanted to share some of the helpful hints I've learned over the past few online lovin' years.
First, get yo' self an amazon account. When you do a search in Amazon, sort your results by free SUPER saver shipping. Basically what this means is anything you buy that offers this will ship for free as long as the total is over $25. Because Amazon remembers what you've added into your basket as long as you're logged in, I just keep adding until I reach $25 and then place my order. Sometimes it takes me a few months but it's always worth the free shipping and most items I order aren't time sensitive. Another reason to start shopping early.  Also, on the front page of Amazon is the daily deal. Check it out daily to see if it's something you can check off your list!

I usually do a big Macy's online order every year. They have really great sales online and you can usually qualify for free shipping as well. For me, Macy's in store shopping is about shoes and purses but if I go online it's so much easier to browse all the departments.

If you shop at Sephora for the makeup lovers in your life MAKE SURE you sign up/into your account when you log out because once you earn 500 points you get a free gift and sometimes it's a really great one. It's always nice to get a goodie for yourself when you're being Santa for everyone else.

If you haven't heard of www.slickdeals.net check it out. It's updated daily by people that have come across a great deal out there and feel the need to share. This is a good place to look for the men in your life. Tools, techi's etc are frequently featured.

My last helpful hint is to trade in mileage points that you aren't using for magazine subscriptions for loved ones.

When all else fails Cash is king, Gas cards are always needed and a few scratch it tickets can round out a light gift.

Happy Shopping and please share your own helpful hints!!!

Taking in back to the old blog / blog ADD

I've been in the unofficially bloggin biz for awhile. This is my original blog but I then started with a blog called www.cracknsmack.blogspot.com and if you guessed that it was a blog about butt cracks, well you should buy yourself a soda for being so smart. It was a random blog that inspired friends and family to snap pics of cracks and send them my way. I didn't mind so much being the person people thought of when they saw a nice crack (and by nice I mean the hairier the better!) but when Lady Gaga started going to the mall in her underwear all of a sudden a blog about crack didn't seem so edgy and fresh. Thus ending my time as the crack queen which was fine with me because my domestic roots where wanting to hit the ground so I start a blog called http://www.lamialista.blogspot.com/, which if you don't speak Italian but know how to google translate like I do means quite literally MY LIST.
At the time it seemed like I was finding such great information all over the interwebs that I wanting to compile them into one master list but I keep veering off the listed path onto telling stories and sharing my thoughts and dreams. Didn't really fit into all the La Mia Lista promised (that and the iPhone supports screen shots of pages you want to turn into pictures and never forget). Scrapped La Mia and started www.beachwoodliving.blogspot.com which was about the very short *read 3 months* that we lived in Beachwood canyon and the projects and fun we had there. Now that that phase of life has ended this girl still wants to blog and through it all I've just wanted a place to share the stories of my life. Where I've gone, what I tasted, the feeling felt and dreams dreamt. If you care to follow the stories of my life you will find them here on my original blog http://www.chaigha.blogspot.com/. You will still find stories of decorating as we've just bought our first home and move in less than 3 weeks!!  You may find a blog containing my life lists and if you are patient probably even a crack or two.
Thanks for witnessing my life. Feel free to interact through comments, suggestions and follows. I'd love to make a new best friend through my site!