peering in

on the home of a mushroom.


I saw them on the way to my apartment door. So I promptly set my things down, grabbed my camera, went back outside and photographed their home for a bit. They may be fungi, but they're cute fungi.

happy friday!

our backyard

It's been a little more than two months that I left our house in La Mirada to live in an apartment. And I love it. I haven't written much about our new apartment since the week we moved in. However, it has been wonderful. Between the amazing facilities - pool with cabanas, outdoor lounge areas and 24 hour fitness center - and having a fridge where my strawberries aren't fighting over space with my roommate's fish is quite a good experience. 

One of the things I was not looking forward to about living in an apartment was the lack of a backyard. Or a front one for that matter. I loved our backyard at the last house. It was really spacious and perfect for laying out and reading in the grass. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that our new "backyard" was a beautiful courtyard complete with a coy pond. I am so glad we are on the first floor! I love opening the sliding glass doors out to our patio in the afternoon to listen to the waterfall. We have two patios and I was really excited when I found out Christy and I got the room with the attached patio. 

The above photo is our "view." However, we currently don't have any patio decor. Therefore, my current project is fixing up our patio so we can actually sit outside and enjoy our "backyard" without actually being in the fish bowl of the courtyard. :) 

kitchen things

Our kitchen has lots of things, as most do. And by things, I mean decorative pieces, fruit baskets, blenders, coffee grinders, etc. At one point after moving in, one of my roommates finally found a home for everything. We now keep our spatulas in mason jars which I love and our blenders under the kitchen counter, which I also love. The one thing or things we did not have were nice kitchen towels.

Oh yes, we had an abundance of pink died and bleach spotted kitchen towels. But I found this unacceptable for everyday decor. So when I found these on sale at Sur La Table, I decided it was fate.



Most things involving green, stripes and matching yellow-green lemons are.

goodbye house

Last Sunday, we sadly said the last goodbye to "our house." Of course, we couldn’t drive off without taking a snapshot of the place we lived in for the past year. However, we left ourselves out of the photo seeing as we had just driven 4 hours from the mountains and looked wretched. Here is where we lived. See why I’m sad to leave?

moving week

It's that time of year again. I am moving. This year I am saying goodbye to a house that has been extremely good to me. And for the first time, I will be living in an apartment. It will be odd moving from a house with 9 girls into an apartment where there will be 4 of us, but I am excited about more fridge space and granite countertops.

things I will miss:
- living with so many girls, surprisingly it is a lot of fun to live with so many people (esp. coming from an only child's perspective)
- the sea of green outside my window in the current house, we were so blessed to live in such a gorgeous house and location this year
- living with more of my best friends than I knew what to do with
- usually there was always at least one other person home (this may not change)
- my commute: right now, it is a mere 5 to 10 min. drive with only two stoplights to work = amazing
- having a CVS, gas station, Starbucks and grocery store a very short distance away
- living in a house in general, i think an apt. will be an adjustment in itself with living so close to other people
- and last, but not least, megan, who is moving and who i have lived with for 3 years..i could probably write a whole blog post on this one :)

things I look forward to:
- more fridge space and still living with friends
- the coy pond and waterfall outside our patio
- living somewhere brand new and right off the 5 will be convenient
- living closer to my parents' house
- the extravagant pool and fitness center at the apt.
- having fun in a new place and getting to decorate!

I'm excited for the transition, even if it does mean some goodbyes, it also means some hellos.