Colonel Gustard

I can't help but take a second to point out that we have now spent a year with our beloved dog Gus, the Colonel that won our hearts.  Known by many a name, Gus Gus, Gusaroo, the Fuzz Guster, Gussy, Gaseous Gus, Gimpy, Gustipher, the Gus-mister, and of course, Colonel Gustard.

Let's just take a little walk through the year shall we?

{First morning with my new Mom and Dad.  This looks like a cozy spot}

{My Dragon is my favorite.}

{Snuggles with Mom}

{Sweepy Guster}

{Munchkin Man}

{Look how big I'm getting!}

{Sniff Sniff}

{Pumpkin man}

{"I may be a big boy, but I love to snuggle"}

{Dapper Gus in his bow-tie}

{Snowy Gus with a mean mom who makes him stay in the cold for a photo op!}

{I want to be a super-model gus}

I thought I'd share some cuteness with you before I let you know that I may be away for a while.  Closing on the house is coming down to the wire, so when I'm not working, I will be packing, painting and moving.  This said, my posts may be few and far between up until the grand unveiling.  Thanks for sticking with me during this stretch.  I hope I will be seeing you again sooner rather than later!

Fax Me!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!  I hope you are enjoying a day with your sweetie with lots of sweets!  Or at least having lots of sweets (and maybe a couple of cosmos)! 

Speaking of sweets.  Does anyone know if the candy conversation hearts still have one that says "fax me?"  It may be obsolete, but it would make me kind of sad if it wasn't in there.

Anywho.  Just for fun, I thought I would share a short picture progression of my last 4 years with my own sweetie. 

Dating: February 16, 2008 - April 5, 2010

Engagement:  April 5,2010 - October 22, 2010

Almost Married:  October 21, 2010

Matrimony: October 22, 2010

One Year Later:  October 22, 2010 - February 14, 2012

Love to everyone on this lovely day!

A Resolution Reminder

Let's talk New Years Resolutions.  Ok, ok, I know it's practically February, but it's getting to be that time to remind myself of my committment to new goals.  I think it's safe to say that most of us are at least beginning to bend our resolutions a little bit.  Ok, just me?  I dare not place blame!

Here are my goals for 2012

1.  Blog consistently.  I have a tendency to get distracted.  My new goal, one post a week.  If there are more, awesome, if there are less, well, then you all know I've broken my resolution and I feel really really guilty about it.

{Picture found here}

2.  Be Healthy.  One word.  Exercise.  I really want to teach myself to enjoy it even though this is a mostly accurate depiction of how I feel.

{Picture via Pinterest}

3.  Share my creations.  With real people.  I love them and I want to give others the opportunity to love them too.  There are so many boutique-esque shops that sell products made by local artists. My plan is to get brave, put my foot in the door and hope that they like what I have to offer. 

{In college, I stocked some of my creations here.  If you're ever near Yellow Springs, Ohio, pop in.  It's a wonderful place.}

4.  Organize - and keep it that way.  Since we're moving soon, I've been working on getting my life organized.  I've only been in this apartment for a little over a year and it is amazing how many things don't have a place.



{I got my fridge under control and looking spectacular via Goodbye House, Hello Home's helpful tips}

5.  Ignore fear.  That voice in my head that tells me I shouldn't want to try something, enjoy doing it or will be really bad at it and inadvertently cause the world to end.   I'm taking baby steps.

Photography is one of those things that fits under all three categories.

I'm starting to dabble in it.  It's something I've always wanted to do, but it's always been someone elses "thing" that I didn't want to "copy."  Sometimes I'm silly like that.  Mandie was lovely enough to volunteer for my first "photoshoot."  We had loads of fun!  I'll share more pictures from our winter day out in an upcoming post.

{This is Mandie and she's not just pretty.}

There you have it.  Now I'm accountable (Eeek!) to these goals I've placed for myself.  All in all, it's not just about the resolutions, it's about trying to better and push myself.  The last thing I want to do is sit back and watch life pass by while I think about the things that bring me joy or how I could have challenged myself. What are some of your resolutions and how are you doing with them? 

Here we go!  Time to press on through 2012!

A Foundation for Success

As of last Thursday, ground has officially been broken for our house.  It's actually becoming real now!  I drove by earlier this week and was surprised at what I saw. Before driving by, I was just expecting to see a big hole and mushed up dirt piles (which would have been just as exciting).  Instead, there were mushed up dirt piles and the makings of a form.  If it wasn't so mucky, and if I wouldn't have been getting in the way of the people trying to make my house pretty, stable, and all those important little things, I could have walked through our house for the first time!  Crazy town!

Take a look for yourself!

Also, in case you were wondering, in order for the construction workers to do a good job, you have to smile and wave when you go by.  My mom says so.  It will totally work.  Maybe not as well as cookies work, but I'm not saying that I won't stoop to that level.

It's official

It is officially official.   Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to us.   We are on the road to building our first home!  After lots of waiting and paperwork, and additional paperwork, and answering questions, and then some more paperwork, Christmas Eve we finally received a happy little package in the mail with our building permits.

Here we are standing in the lot that is to become our home!

I have already begun decorating our house in my mind.  Ben and I both have a love for vintage, but his strays more towards stark industrial design and mine more towards shabby chic with a very neutral color palette.  My goal is to combine our styles (Emily Henderson style) in a way pleasing to both of us, but also to our (hopefully frequent) visitors. I have a long list of projects and inspiration I have been holding onto in my head.  Now that Christmas is over, I can start tackling said projects as I await a place to display all of them.  This means I will (hopefully) have some fun things to share with you

Speaking of Emily Henderson, if you haven't checked out her blog or her show, Secrets from a Stylist, you must.  She may be my new design hero.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season with friends and family!  I'll be in touch soon with lots of fun stuff I've been holding onto for you.

Brought to you by the letter "B"

"B" is for birthday, it's good enough for me.

Did you get the Sesame Street reference?  Did you, did you?

Let's keep this simple.  Sesame Street Style.

"B" is for "Ben."

"B" is for "Birthday."

{early morning latté's}

{tasi's poached eggs over black bean cakes with a jalapeño butter sauce}

{guiness stew to be exact, along with bread  (lots and lots of garlic), and caprese salad}

{devils food cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and a raspberry center}

{some good friends came to help celebrate.  friends doesn't start with "b," sorry.}

 Happy 25th Birthday to my best friend!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

In our first year of marriage, Ben and I began a tradition.  Every year, on Ben's birthday weekend, we go cut down our own Christmas tree.  As of Friday evening, (identified by my impatience to give Ben his gift I have been slaving over) birthday weekend had begun, so today we went on a trip to Gale's tree farm in hopes of bringing some Christmas cheer into our home.

We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather to impel our trek.  We could have asked, however, for the unnamed street fair in the middle of our expedition to happen on another day, our dog to be less of a scaredy cat, or Ben's coffee from Dunkin Donuts to not be a pure cup of sweetened milk.  But be that as it may, despite these minor drawbacks, it was a near perfect day for the Kochanowski family.

We spent the rest of the day decorating the tree and watching claymation Christmas movies.  It was a splendid way to spend a Saturday afternoon.


By the way, as I lay in bed writing this post, Gus just started dreaming out loud and Ben had me convinced for a good solid minute that it was Herbert.  I'm still not entirely sure it wasn't.