Spring!

Spring is a time for all things new.  New birds, bugs, and blossoms abound.  Everywhere you look, life is bursting forth.  The drab leafless trees now have budding leaves.  Bright and cheery flowers are reaching their way out of the ground.  And baby animals are exploring their recently discovered surroundings.

All this rejuvenation has inspired me to get back into the renovation game.  After my very first one (the renovation of the bathrooms), I needed a break.  A little down time where I didn’t spend every weekend at home improvement stores.  After re-focusing on just enjoying my place, rather than ripping it up, I’m ready to begin again.  But ah, where to start?  A sparkly new kitchen, with shiny new appliances?  A gleaming hardwood floor?  Or all new landscaping, where drought tolerant plants and flowers abound?  Decisions, decisions…

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Now that I live in a bona fide suburban neighborhood (for the first time in my life), I’m enjoying the new sense of community.  So, when I saw the sign for a pre-St. Patrick’s Day event at the local community center, I was determined to be there.  The Pumpkin Festival was so much fun, that I figured this one would be great too!

As often occurs in the life of a new home owner bent on decorating and renovating, though, my Saturday quickly whizzed by in a whirlwind of visits to Lowe’s, Home Depot, and furniture stores.  Which left little time for Irish-themed revelry and merriment.

That being said, the day was a great success.  I found a wonderful outdoor furniture set (with green cushions, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day).  And the store was offering to put an extra 10% of the purchase price of a store card back on it.  A great place to hang out as the weather gets warmer, and free money to boot!  I must have the luck of the Irish.

Balance

As fun as it is to learn about the furniture, building material, and other decorating and renovating related stores in my area, it’s also been a great joy to get to know my neighborhood in a whole different way.  Namely, by venturing out into the great outdoors.  Each weekday, I head out at sunrise to a nearby trail to join the deer, bunnies, and coyotes in their morning jaunts.  The simple quiet of the morning brings a peaceful start to the day.  (Much needed before I hit the freeway!)

And then on weekends, I try to strike a balance between all the home related errands, and really enjoying all the beauty of the area to which I moved.  Because, like most people, I didn’t buy just four walls, a floor, and a roof.  I moved to where I wanted to live.  And on a beautiful spring afternoon, hiking through the hills near my house, I find that I am home.

Imagination

I have a great imagination.  In my mind, I can picture just what all the pieces for my home look like.  A round side table for the reading nook, made of glass and steel, to counterbalance the rectangular dark wood dressers and bedside tables.  A red couch for the living room, with cushions that stay firm (though still beyond comfortable, of course), and a magical fabric that doesn’t fade or stretch, ending up resembling a pug dog.  The wrinkles are adorable on a puppy.  Less so on a couch.  And a coffee table that is modern and unique, yet friendly, inviting you to pull up a plate and use it as a dining table.  (I can’t be the only one who gives into the desire to relax and eat dinner in front of the TV, rather than sitting in the dining room like a grown up.  In my defense, when the latest Mad Men disc arrives, I pretty much bee line it to the DVD player.  I’m hooked.)

Alas, the real world doesn’t allow my decorating fantasies to come to fruition as briskly as I might desire.  So this weekend, it’s off to more furniture stores I go.  Because, one of these days, I’m going to find these dream pieces.  Until then, you can find me curled up on my pug dog.  I mean, couch.