An Introduction

Hello and Welcome! Here's a little background on me, my family, and our always evolving home....

First, my husband, Michael, and I met back in December 2007 at my family's annual Christmas party. He was a friend of a friend of a friend.... long story. Here's us back then:

Then, in March 2008, we moved in together and rented my Mom's old house in Palm Harbor. In July 2008, Mike proposed, which is another long (sweet) story that involves me being my typical Type-A-Control-Freak personality. By the time he proposed, I had already bought the dress, chosen the caterer, etc etc. So basically all we had to do was pick a date! Bring on April 17, 2009:

We bought our First Home in October 2009, closed on Halloween! We had searched and searched, looked at over 100 houses, became besties with our realtor (he was even invited to the wedding and since then has attended our son's first birthday party and other shin-digs), put several offers on several perfect (or so we thought) homes, and had almost officially given up when we toured this house:

We both loved it, and decided to put an offer in that day! It was perfect for us, we had been married for only a few months, wanted something that we could move right into, not too big, we could update some things as we go, and so on. The house is 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, about 1300 square feet (if you include the enclosed addition to the back), and has a good size backyard and 2 car garage. It's also in an established neighborhood with great people. The style is not my favorite, I prefer older homes with LOTS of character (read: money pits), and this house was built in 1978 (what I consider "new"), but it has potential...  The perfect starter home. We had no idea we would be a growing family so soon.
The week we moved in (for real, I'm not exaggerating) we found out we were pregnant! It went something like this:
            "I can't believe I'm about to say this out loud, but..... I think I'm pregnant..."
            "What makes you say that?"
            "The 4 pregnancy tests I took."
Oh good. Then there was about a week of shock, then excitement, then preparations began! On July 9, 2010, we welcomed our son, Michael James, JR (Mickey J).

A year later, we've been in our house for 1 year 8 months, and our son just turned 1 year old! Every day is an adventure...

As far as who I am, I'm just your average DIYer with a brain full of To-Do projects for the house. I'm a meticulous planner and list-maker, and was raised in a house where the living room paint color changed with the seasons. However, we live in Florida, so our season always feels like Summer, but we like to pretend. I don't have any formal design training, just a creative mind and a can-do attitude. My projects always have a shoestring budget, which sometimes results in an awesome new re-purposed thingamajig! I worked in a Furniture store for a few years, which gave me a little bit of training as far as furniture construction and design, but I've always had an "eye" for it. So this is my journey as a budgeting Mom, dedicated DIYer, perpetual party planner, and list-maker! Visit me often!