A98

Because I cleaned the past couple days, (kinda), and because I have committed to be as real as possible, I'm going to post some pictures that display some of the beautiful things I love about our apartment, even though they show some of our mess too.

Keep in mind, we are on a SUPER limited income, and have mostly had to rely completely on things we already had, were gifted at our showers/wedding, inherited from generous people. There are lots of things I want to do, buy, make, etc., when I become rich. You too? Oh good. :)

Welcome to apartment A98!

The view of our dining area from our kitchen. Yes, that is a couch as a kitchen table bench. We inherited this high-back love seat and I am totally attached to it and we didn't have anywhere to put it. I had the inspiration to put it in the kitchen, and we love it. It's cozy, country-chic with the gingham fabric, and that is totally accidental because we inherited it! Also, hanging on the wall is our coffee cabinet. When we have more money, I want to put a cute yellow, or red, or navy, little cabinet underneath it on the floor as a mini beverage cart/stand. Coffee pots take up so much counter space! We love coffee. Also, wood linoleum floors. We weren't promised our apartment would have them, but the model we viewed did and I was obsessed with them. Alex and I wanted the wood look because it adds SO much character to this cookie cutter, pre-fabbed, suburban apartment. We opened the door the first day, saw the floors, and cried. (Of course). God's little confirmation that He was taking care of us all along. 

Turned, facing the opposite direction. Galley kitchen, per standard of every apartment in a 10 mile radius of us. I thought I would hate how closed off it feels, but it's not too bad. I hung my aprons on the far wall for a pop of happy. We have a decent amount of cupboard space, and A DISHWASHER! The. Best. Oh, and we just bought that succulent on the table, and every time I see it, it reminds me of my bestie, Jacqui. 

Here is one of the walls of our family room. Still a little messy (note the random stuff on the floor under the shelves), and the shelves are a little busy with stuff, but for now it's how we have it set up. Makeshift bar on top, DVDs, photos, collectibles dispersed below. Alex and I went on a date to the Getty in November, and stopped at a WholeFoods in Hollywood on the way back, and saw those citrus crates out back, to be thrown out. We swiped 6 of them in a total Bonnie and Clyde moment ("You get the car running... I'll throw the crates in! ...Wait! They're too heavy! Come back and help!" or something like that...) and were able to use 5 (one had a warped board and the other boards split upon trying to nail it back down). We set up the crates as a tv stand. I have to be honest, crate furniture is all over Pinterest, and I sort of felt like it just was the trendy thing to do. When I nabbed the crates, I still kinda felt like I was just chasing a trend, but now that we have them in, I'm converted. These were already stained, and are the perfect blend of rustic and, uh... not rustic? On the wall above the tv is a wooden key, from Target, a terra cotta our lady of Guadalupe from Cozumel, MX, and our family clock- a wedding present from Alex's brother and sister-in-law. It says "Odicino Family est. 2013" and I cried when we opened it. What a lovely gift!

This is the main decorative stuff over the main couch which sits opposite of the tv you just saw. It is so special to us for many reasons, and we find it fitting that is our "art piece" in our family room. The icon of St. Francis was a wedding gift to us from our marriage prep couple (who also happen to be dear friends of ours). It is a print of an icon written by a woman from my parish, an icon written in honor of Pope Francis, taken to an audience with Francis in Rome, and "confiscated" by him to be kept for his personal property! I love it, and I love the colors. On the shelf below it is a gold cross, a votive candle, a picture of our favorite little Lucy niece (the same one that was on our table during our wedding reception), a Madonna and Child statue from St Patrick's Cathedral in London, and on the wall, a wooden Immaculate Heart from our honeymoon in Xcaret, MX.

Our home is a work in progress, but it is ours, and it is warm, and it is "us" and we are so blessed and grateful. 

Home.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am recently married. One of the fun (and simultaneously terrifying) aspects of being newly married has been getting settled into our first place together and becoming "domesticated." Of course, who doesn't LOVE decorating? And who doesn't LOVE getting to put new toys (in the form of kitchen supplies) to work for the first time? And who doesn't LOVE trying new recipes and cooking for the people you care about? It. Is. All. Awesome. I have lots of stories to share about becoming domesticated (I think it will be a life-long journey for me), but for today I want to start by telling you our process of finding a home. 

One of my goals for this blog is to make sure that I portray myself and my life honestly, mess and all, because I struggle with perfectionism and comparison and I find that the world of social media has a way of making me feel like everyone I know is perfect, meanwhile I'm over here failing at life. I know that is my own distortion of the truth, but I do not want to contribute to that in someone else's life. And if I can actually help make someone else feel better about themselves (even if it's through my lack-of-having-it-all-together-ness), then I will be grateful.  

So here's the truth: the first several months of marriage have been AWESOME and at the same time, also AWESOMELY DIFFICULT! Yes, we smiled, and laughed, and were grateful through it all, but it's been a wild ride. Yes, I know we will look back with fond memories (we already do), but that doesn't minimize the experience as we were living it. Here's what happened with the housing "sitch", so you can feel sorry for us:

Housing Arrangement 1: 

About one month before we got hitched, we found a teensy-weensy apartment to rent that was the perfect location, and right in our (really small) housing budget. The apartment was newly built into the garage and part of the first floor of a two story house. We would have our own entrance, laundry, parking spot on the driveway, and cozy little first home. Did I say little? Yep. We approximate that this apartment was about 550 square feet. Though it was not a studio (the bedroom was separate), the kitchen setup was small and similar to studio style. My personal favorite part of the apartment was that the bathroom opened up to the "patio" / laundry room via a sliding glass door next to the toilet. It was quirky, but we were excited. We moved Alex's furniture in so he could live there until we got married, and as we did so, my father-in-law (a contractor by trade) noticed multiple not-to-code construction and safety issues, causing the apartment to be unsafe to inhabit. I cried. Our little "first place" was not happening and we had nowhere to go now just three weeks before the wedding. 

Housing Arrangement 2:

A close family friend came to the rescue and offered us the last month available on the lease of the apartment of their late father. Let me tell you, what a life saver! I was able to postpone fretting about where we would live, and we were able to have the first month of our married life to ourselves, to get adjusted and figure it out (or begin to, it's a HUGE adjustment!) This wonderful apartment was fully furnished, and my mom moved all my clothes over and organized the closet for us so that it would be settled when we returned from our honeymoon. I cried. We LOVED this apartment, in fact, we contemplated staying there permanently, but the commute for Alex was about an hour and ten minutes without traffic and the schedule he was working made the commute even more unbearable. Oh, I forgot to mention, this apartment was part of a "Mature Adult Community" aka Senior Living Center. Oh, and it was 450 sq feet, max. It was a 1 bedroom apartment, with a walk in closet, bathroom, family room and teensy tiny kitchen with a 1/2 size oven. I felt a little like I was living in a dollhouse! We lived super simply and had all of our stuff in storage (we used the furniture etc. already there), and I can honestly say, we both wish we could still live as simply as we did in that apartment. When we moved out, I cried. 

Housing Arrangement 3: 

After asking Alex to commute for over an hour (one way), it was only fair that I take a turn at commuting. Though both our parents gratuitously offered to take us in until we could find an apartment, we moved to Costa Mesa to live with the Odicino parents because they had more space available for us. I have to take this opportunity to say that I know that a majority of people would not be excited about or even be able tolerate living with their in-laws, but that couldn't be further from the truth for both Alex and I. We are at home in both families. I am so very grateful that Alex's parents were willing to let us live with them, were so wonderfully accommodating and caring, and welcomed me into their family as a daughter, not as a guest. Yes, Alex and I grew anxious to move into our own place and figure out who "we" were as a married couple and how "our" life would take shape together, but at the same time, we reveled in being "us" in the greater context of a family that loved us every day. Alex and I still miss watching tv with them in the evenings and chatting about the day over a glass of wine. We will both hold that memory close to our hearts. They took SUCH good care of us! We lived there for nearly 2 months, and when we left, you guessed it- I cried. 

Housing Arrangement 4:

Home. On September 25th, nearly three months after our wedding, we moved into our first apartment. We moved way too much stuff from two separate storage units into a 750 sq ft one bedroom apartment in Fullerton (and the overflow into our garage). In many ways, coordinating the move was more stressful than planning the wedding, but it's done and I don't ever want to think about how awful it was again. Now we're here, and we love it! The layout of the apartment is really great, the complex is shockingly quiet considering we're about a mile from Cal State Fullerton and we assumed we'd be surrounded by wild college students. The complex is beautiful and we feel like we live in Central Park. Everything is roses and rainbows! Ha. The truth is, it took 3 months to unpack our living space enough to be comfortable inviting anyone over to see it. We still have boxes and things tucked in corners until we figure out where we want to put stuff. Our bedroom is not organized AT. ALL. And as a result, is always a mess. I mean, embarrassed for anyone, including my mom who knows how messy I am, to see it MESSY. I still don't feel like I am caught up on life, or have completely set up our home, but most days I still love it. 

Stay tuned for my next blog with some sneak peaks into our humble abode.