BEDKNOBS & BAUBLES

Life Lately

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It’s only been two months since I last popped in to share a life update, but we’ve been so busy that it feels like several months have passed — and things don’t look to be slowing down until mid-September. It’s at this point every summer where I start to feel a little burnt out, but I also don’t want to slow down and miss out on any of the season’s highlights. So, here’s a rundown of what’s going on:

  • I had the opportunity to collaborate with Schoolhouse how a post here and here. You all know how much I love the brand, so it was literally a dream opportunity.
  • Our annual bocce ball league is now in its final weeks. It’s not a serious league by any stretch of the imagination and is held on a lakeside lawn. The grass courts are unpredictable, making it more of a challenge.
  • Madison has free live music throughout summer and we’ve been attending many of the performances between neighborhood festivals, concerts at the local botanical gardens, and Concerts on the Square.
  • I’ve been tending to our garden and lawn on days its tolerable (and not too mosquito-y) to be outdoors. I think I’m the only person in the world who hasn’t had luck with zucchini and the ones that are growing are being gnawed on by squirrels. I’ve come to terms with the fact that it’s now a sacrificial plant to distract them from the tomatoes.
  • I participated in a couple of pottery wood firings. Unfortunately, I had my favorite pieces in the first kiln session and someone’s vase exploded, sprinkling several of my pieces with broken clay bits that stuck to the glaze. Pottery isn’t exactly the most relaxing of hobbies.
  • We went to Dave’s parents’ lake house for our annual family weekend. Our niece is just the cutest and it was fun seeing her truly embrace lake life.
  • After years of weekend bike rides, I finally had a popped tube that I successfully replaced.
  • We went to Chicago for a couple of nights at The Robey. We lounged by the rooftop pool, made reservations for restaurants we had been meaning to try for years, and saw the Gustave Caillebotte exhibit at the Chicago Institute of Art. You can find additional snapshots here.
  • And now, with just about one month left of summer, we’re prepping for a couple of upcoming trips!

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We bought a house!

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First House

I wanted to pop in to share that we’re now homeowners! We closed on our house yesterday and spent the better part of the day embarking on our ambitious to-do list. We pulled carpet out of the coat closet, removed dozens and dozens of nails and screws from the walls, ripped out hundreds of tiny carpet staples that were left in the stairs (when the house apparently had ’70s gold carpet), and removed kitchen cabinets from one of the bedrooms upstairs. We didn’t get to everything we wanted to do on day one, but we’re feeling pretty good about the progress we did make. I’ll start posting on our shared Instagram account for the house at @curatedcouple soon and we’ll get our home blog up and running, too! Until then, things are going to be on the quieter side ’round these parts. We really need to get the painting done in the house before the floors are refinished in three weeks.

First House

Left to right:

  • A light globe we found at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $1. We purchased two. One is going in my upstairs walk-in closet, which the city assessed as a fourth bedroom in the house. We’ll need to have the house reassessed since you can’t actually fit a twin-size bed into the room and still walk in and around it.
  • Our closing-day selfie! I look jazzed and Dave looks like he’d rather we put down the phone and get to work. 😉
  • Adding some life to the place — literally. The most recent owner purchased the house in 2001, but then started dating a woman and moved in with her, leaving the home all but abandoned. We met our neighbors who said prior to his ownership, students lived there and even earlier, there were drug dealings. I’m not sure how true the last one is, but who knows. A house built in 1929 probably has plenty of stories within its walls — and maybe old pot, too. (Kidding!)