Making A (Town)House Our Home

I've been holed up in our apartment for a few days because I thought it wise to get a flu shot since it's "going around." Unfortunately within a matter of hours after the shot I woke up in the middle of the night FREEZING cold. I was shivering and my teeth were chattering and my back and skin felt positively raw. I woke Paul up who said, "You're burning up!" but it wasn't until he had piled a mound of blankets on me three feet thick, I had dressed in pants and a sweatshirt and cuddled a heating pad that I eventually warmed up.

Being sick is always an unfortunate opportunity to recognize the great blessings of comfort that bring joy into our lives that we normally fail to appreciate on a daily basis. A month ago Paul and I moved into this new townhouse. Our rented condo on the top of Queen Anne hill, though cute, was feeling too small and too expensive. We moved into this new two bedroom/two bath/two story townhouse on Dexter Ave. which is not only bigger but cheaper and much much closer to the bus stop and Amazon's headquarters. (It's a quadruple win! Come visit! We have room now!) So while it's raining outside (big surprise) I feel fortunate to be inside, warm, surrounded by the very American comfort of material goods.

The longer Paul and I are married the more we consider rejoicing in our progression toward settled adulthood and digressing from our more capricious non-absolutes, because honestly, what the latter truly means is abandoning our Ikea dorm-room furniture, and the former, buying better made furniture and decorating like real adults! Yay capitalism!

We're not quite there - I mean we're still renting for goodness sake so we still have the dining table from Wal-Mart and our mattress sits squarely on the floor because we haven't yet graduated to a grown-up king sized bed frame and the more I think of traveling the more I purge all our junk anyway so all this is pretty nonsensical and I try to convince myself that if I lived in a villa in Italy I would only give thought to the day (and the pasta) and not give a rat's tooth about couch pillows and curtains and decorative vases and matching dinnerware. Ugh.

But it's not one or the other really. It's not this way or that way. When we were in Southeast Asia for two months I thought I was going to have a huge spiritual awakening by not bringing any makeup or girl clothes and leaving all my modern conveniences behind but by the end of it, ALL I WANTED was some mascara, a skirt and my freaking automatic bread machine!! These silly material "things", they make us feel a bit more sane when we're feeling out of place and a bit out of touch. Whether we're sick at home with the flu or on the other side of the world with nothing but a mud hut and some chopsticks, my day is brighter when I feel the comforts of home around me when I don't have friends or family so near.

As I graduate into adulthood more and more I'm concerned with not what people think of my impeccable good taste (that was a joke. Laugh.) but with how people feel or how I make people feel when they're around me. I realized recently that because I'm holed up here inside by myself a lot, either due to illness or writing, I should ask myself 'how do I feel when I'm around me?' How do my surroundings influence thought? How do my surroundings influence feeling? Is it light or dark? Order or chaos? Is there room for the Spirit to influence me?

Here are some samples of the little things, material and spiritual, I find joy and comfort in lately.

 I got my green thumb from my mom who always planted rose bushes, daffodils, tulips and hyacinths growing up. Since we don't have space outside to plant I bought matching blue and white porcelain pots and planted Rosemary, Thyme, Cilantro, Basil, Forget-Me-Nots, African Violets and Crocus. They love the sun and lots of water and they add such warmth to our living room.

 Smarty Fins is the latest addition to our home. I wasn't keen on buying any new creepy crawlies since my hermit crabs died (may they rest in peace(s) )...(Accept for Arielle. She can go to heck.) But a five dollar all-in-one starter kit at Ross sparked the idea so I purchased the 1/2 gallon "tank". But because I am bound to only take EXCEPTIONAL care of animals (after a childhood of poor neglected pets through my ignorance) I found out that Betta fish are just not happy in anything less than 2 gallons. So of course I went straight away to the pet store and purchased Smarty Fins a 3 1/2 gallon Shangri-La complete with filter, rocks, plants, and heater so as to achieve perfect equilibrium. Two days later he got not one but TWO illnesses. A parasite AND a fungus which if not treated immediately become deadly. So I rushed to the pet store again to buy him his medicine. Seventy five dollars later....I'm happy to report that our five dollar fish is happy and feels at home. (!!!)

 With the blue and white porcelain pots I expanded the idea to the wall where I had a lot of fun digging through dusty piles in antique shops to find these beautiful English Flow Blue plates. They add a real unique brightness to the room.

Spending money on fish supplies and blue and white decorations really started to add up so Paul and I created the "Sunny Day Jar" as we save money for a sunny day. (It's a little backward in Seattle.) All the money we don't spend we write down the amount and put it in this jar. Then at the end of the month we add it up and we transfer that amount of money into a savings account specifically for a sunny trip somewhere warmer during the unbearable sunless winter.

For example, the other night we were downtown next to a Walgreens store and inquired as to how much their flu shots are. For seven dollars less, I knew we could get one cheaper up at the QFC store near our place so we went there instead! That seven dollars we saved now goes into the Sunny Day Jar! Not spending money has never been so much fun! Plus I love that our 'jar' is one of the vases from our wedding reception centerpieces.

 I've never been the kind of girl to hang religious pictures in my home. I know it's quite common for people to do, especially Mormons, but I never gave it that much thought.

I don't recall growing up with them around our house (and maybe weird velvet portraits in neighbor's living rooms scared me away.) but during my Hollywood years the first taste I had of it was when my good roommate, Rachel #2 hung pictures of Jesus and little sayings like, "Happiness is a grateful heart" (so true) and only then did I notice how it brought a change of feeling into the room. But it wasn't until the prompting of my good hubby that I actually did anything. So I hung up these paintings of Christ and of The Family: A Proclamation to the World and my favorite wedding temple photo and since then our home has truly become a more peaceful feeling place. A temple in its own respect. I love the feeling of warmth, respect and love these pictures evoke.

 I'm just proud of these curtains (Ikea...Don't judge!) I busted out the drill for hanging these babies! Drill, tape measure, pencil markings, level - I did it all by myself!

 This water color is my favorite. I purchased it from a local L.A. artist for my 26th birthday (that was like a a few months ago--nervous laugh--look away!) I love the colors of bright yellow and purple. Every time I look at it it changes. Sometimes it looks like the sea, other times it looks like a meadow... It helps to get my creative juices flowing when it's time to day dream.

At times my faith to attack large tasks is AMAZING and UNSTOPPABLE  and then the next day it is itty bitty. Hanging quotes like this around my living space reminds me that things we consider to be difficult are really not that hard. Really. Or as we say around here, "It takes a lot more than that to bring me down!"

What are some things you've done around your house to inspire you and make it feel more like a home?

Ikea?