Boxes!!

We have a number of boxes hanging out at our place, waiting to find a place to be gotten rid of. Some are from new bookcases we put up, some are from birthday gifts that we got from Amazon, and some are Oliver sized. He loves boxes and has, on more than one occasion, tried to fit into a box that was a couple sizes too small for him! This box, however, is the perfect size and he often goes in there to take a nap. I'm such a push-over for that cute, furry face that I don't think I can take that away from him!

Finally!

It has been one of those "not really doing much yet still busy" weeks at the Scott house. We have both been busy with work and I was down for a few days with a bug. I'm feeling better now and Andrew hasn't gotten it, thank goodness!

We are slowly turning our little apartment into a home. I have been looking for a rug to put in the living room under the coffee table for some time. We don't need a big one, just a 4x5, but I was finding it hard to find one that wasn't going to cost me an arm and a leg. 

We finally found one last Thursday!

We were at our local grocery store, Meijer, getting our weekly groceries, when we saw a rack of rugs on sale for $20. We sorted and looked until we found this one. It is nice and soft under your feet and the color was perfect. 

That is one step closer to having things decorated how we want it. At least until I see something new and exciting!

The Gardens

One of the wedding gifts that Andrew and I got is a one year membership to Frederick Meijer Gardens. We love it. As we live only 15 minutes away we are making frequent use of it. They have lots of trails to walk on, beautiful flowers, and a children's garden with areas for the kids to play. 

I had last Friday off work, so I took my sister and 2 nieces to the gardens for the morning. 

 This is a statue by the entrance to the Children's Garden. It is a mama bear and her cub. Everyone likes to have their picture taken here, so Alaina had her picture taken too!

They had programs going on for the kids today. Alaina got to learn all about squirmy worms. 

They recently opened up a new area. This is the Japanese Garden. It is beautiful!

When we were all tired out from so much walking, we went down the road for lunch. Ruby was thoroughly enjoying hers!

Weekend Getaway

We took a little trip this weekend. My cousin Katelyn's fiance wanted to take her up to Mackinaw City to see the Dark Sky Park, so they asked us to go along. We were a little disappointed with the park, once we found it (we got a little lost in the woods trying to get there). It is supposed to have no light pollution so you can see more stars than you normally can from your house. I'm not sure if it was just cloudy or if it was hazy because of the fireworks, but we couldn't see that well. The rest of our weekend was great, though.

Since it was a holiday weekend, the hotels were either full or really expensive, so we found a KOA campground to stay at. Here are our men getting our tent set up. We had a nice big lot, with room for both cars and plenty of shade.

After we got our site in order, we headed off in search of dinner. We found this great place, Katelyn and I had gone there when we were there a few years ago, called The Depot. I don't know what to say about these three in this picture. Andrew is trying for the "I'm innocent" look, which is far from true. I think Nathan was half-starved and ready to eat anything in site, and Katelyn, I don't really know. They look like three trouble-makers to me!

On Saturday we both did some separate things during the day. Nathan and Katelyn headed across the bridge and into St. Ignace. Andrew had never been to the Colonial Michilimackinaw in Mackinaw City, so we headed there. 

I was told by Andrew that if I didn't take a picture of this barn my mom would be very disappointed. So, here is the barn mom!

Andrew enjoyed seeing all the weapons.

We got to see a demonstration while we were there. Those old guns are really loud!

After we got done at the fort,we grabbed some lunch and headed to the Old Mackinaw Point Lighthouse. It is a small lighthouse, only 52 steps to the top of the tower. 

That night we headed down to the waterfront to watch the fireworks. They were fantastic.

We had a great weekend, filled with lots of laughter and are looking forward to doing it again!

Laundry Day

Today is laundry day. Someday I will have laundry facilities in my own home. Until that day, I get to load up all our laundry, detergent, fabric softener, and any available quarters and head down to the nearest laundromat to do laundry. The joys of apartment life.

And we are in!

The moment you have all been waiting for has arrived.  We are going through the doors.  This is our stairwell. It has that great, turn of the century, charm. 

At the top of the stairs, you will find our front door. (Sorry for the poor quality. I took it with my phone.)

This is our small living area. Oliver spends almost all of his time on top of his cat tree sleeping and keep and eye on the neighborhood. He is a good watch-cat.

I would like to draw your attention to the top of the bookshelf, for a moment. Not only do we have a wonderful wedding gift from my brother, Andy, and his girlfriend, Nikki, but there is a lovely (note the sarcasm) bird claw back scratcher that Andrew got for Christmas. I want to make sure that those involved in the gift-giving noted it lovingly displayed.

Turning to the right, upon entering the front door, you will find the kitchen. It's small and doesn't have much storage, as noted by the items on top of the cabinets, but it works for us. 

On the way to the kitchen, right beside the front door, is a vintage child's desk. I bought it from an antique store and used chalk paint to fix it up and give it a more shabby chic look. 

On the other side of the room from the couch is our dining area. We have finally been able to get some of our wedding pictures put up. We got that sign from a co-worker of mine and I think that is the perfect spot for it. 

Stepping through the door to the right of the dining table in the picture above, you will find yourself in our bedroom. It's the biggest room in our apartment (which isn't saying much, since it isn't all that big). We do, however have a closet (the white door in the picture below) and enough room for a couple dressers, which is just barely enough room to fit all our clothes. We also have room for a couple bookshelves. A good thing, since we both have a lot of books and we don't really want to part with any!

At the other end of our bedroom is a back deck. We share it with the other upstairs apartment, but as no one is living there right now, it is all ours! It is a decent size and a great place to grill, eat some dinner or just relax with coffee and a book in the morning. 

A couple small details. We got this tray at a wedding shower that the ladies of his church put together. It is perfect for me! I love the distressed look it has. The stack of books are all old Bibles. Most of them were my Grandma's, but the bottom one is the Bible that one of our nephews carried down the aisle as our ring bearer. 

And this is how we heat our house. Not only do they add great charm, but they really do heat the house quite well. There is one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Between the two we stayed warm all winter!

That's it. It's small, and we don't necessarily fit (I still have a closet full of stuff at my parents), but it's home. And right now, there isn't anywhere else I'd want to be! 

Outside

 Our neighborhood is at the top of a hill across the highway from the hospitals in our city. Our house is on the last road at the edge of the hill. This is the view from our front porch, in between the two houses across the street from us. I love that view!

This is our front porch. We share it with the other apartments in the house; there are four in all. I have always wanted a big front porch. I'm thinking we need a couple rocking chairs, right?

The side of the house has some fabulous flowers. I get to walk by them on my way to my car and I always smile. They make my day better!

That takes us to our front door. Well, it's the front door of the house and it takes us into the stairwell that leads to our front door. I love the details above the door. This house is full of those great details.

But, that is all that I have for today. Tomorrow, we will go inside!

Our place

Since so many people have requested pictures of our place, I am giving in. My wonderful mom came over and took pictures. The problem was, she took so many and they were all so good that I couldn't post them to Facebook. So, I have started up a blog to share them and our crazy life with you!

To prolong the suspense just a little bit more, I am going to make multiple posts out of this. Just because I can! To start, I'll share a little bit of our neighborhood.

These two houses are across the street from us. I love the look of the ivy slowly covering the sides of this first house.

We actually looked at an apartment in this house, on the second floor. It is really cute inside. Just as small as our current place, but not laid out as well.

These houses are all down the street. I love the charm that the houses in our neighborhood have. Old houses may need more work, but they have some much character!

And, here is our place. We are on the second floor. Those front three windows you see are ours.

That's all we have time for today. Come back tomorrow for more!