Dining Room Inspiration

Austin and I planned on painting our dining room red from the time we made the offer on our house. A few weekends ago, we even bought the sample of the red we picked out and loved it. But, I had a nagging feeling that it might not be right, then Austin made a comment about how all of our dishes have blue in them, and would it look goofy? So, I did some inspiration hunting and we both fell hard for this dramatic, yet comfortable, dining room.

The good news is, we already have pieces that will fit seamlessly into this room. Stay tuned for the finished product!

Image courtesy of Lonny: the online shelter magazine

We are homeowners!

We closed on our house last weekend and have spent the past week creating a LOT of sawdust. Austin stayed in NC all week and was joined by his father and they worked sun up to sun down to make our house meet our visions. Here's the recap:

-Attic: floor reinforced, new plywood down (and level!), knee walls almost done, new windows purchased

-Laundry Room: completely gutted, re-framing started on outside wall, window and tile purchased

-Kitchen: under the cabinet lights installed, hole cut to move fridge, 1960s oven gone, new oven awaiting delivery

The "carriage house" (how many people do you know have one of those babies!) is full of debris and wood. I frequently get picture text messages of our house in various states of disrepair, I've done the 7 hour drive back and forth two weekends in a row, and the list only continues to grow before we move in.

A big, fat, thank you goes out to my husband and father in law for all of the blood and sweat (the only tears are on my end that I know of!) that has gone into our house already. I trust A completely with this task- so I'll just finish my last 21 days of school and daydream about how I'll decorate it ;)

P.S. Pictures to come- I'm too tired to upload them now!

The countdown begins

I just realized that we are moving in two months. TWO. Packing up the Penske and hittin' the road.

I'm also in awe of the amount of stuff a person can accumulate in their house. That's not to mention the things we have at A's parents, or at mine, or in my classroom...

The Cincinnati Bucket List:

• Eat at Green Papaya
  
• Visit the art museum
  
• Visit my alma mater
  
• Eat at Dilly Deli
  
• Findlay Market
  
• Camp at Red River Gorge
  

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

We're leaving for our honeymoon tomorrow morning. Here is our itinerary:

Saturday: San Francisco
Sunday: Easter brunch in San Francisco, drive to Sonoma
Sunday-Tuesday: Sonoma
Wednesday-Thursday: Eureka
Friday: Mendocino
Saturday: San Francisco
Sunday: back to reality

Our goal is to check one bag and have a carry-on. I am a girl. I like clothing. I like shoes even more. My shoes must match my outfit, which must match my purse, which must coordinate with the perfect accessories. My bed is currently covered with things I would like to take. I better eliminate a few piles before my husband gets home.....wish me luck.



photo source: gettyimages

Match Day

Yesterday was Match Day for every fourth year medical student in the nation. We attended our ceremony, though thankfully we know where we are headed. What an emotional day! There have been celebrations all week in anticipation of what residency program each candidate would be matched into after four grueling years of medical school. Students and couples spent sleepless nights and countless hours trying to sort out what program they should preference and how it will affect their life.

On Match Day, always the third Thursday in March, their fate lies in a paper envelope. Their name is called, they run/skip/walk/jump down to the podium to receive their future letter. They know their specialty, they know what they ranked, but it is not until this moment that they know exactly where they will be moving in a few short months with an M.D. newly attached to their name. Couples hugged, couples cried, people jumped, people cheered, people were disappointed.

I can't imagine just having found out where we are moving. We are getting ready to close on our house in six weeks. We've done mortgage paperwork, I've job hunted, A's already started his research for his PhD, and we've daydreamed about how we will furnish and decorate the new pad.

It's no wonder these people can diagnose rare diseases, cut into bodies, heal, and cram all of that knowledge into their heads- they survive Match Day.

Match Day

Yesterday was Match Day for every fourth year medical student in the nation. We attended our ceremony, though thankfully we know where we are headed. What an emotional day! There have been celebrations all week in anticipation of what residency program each candidate would be matched into after four grueling years of medical school. Students and couples spent sleepless nights and countless hours trying to sort out what program they should preference and how it will affect their life.

On Match Day, always the third Thursday in March, their fate lies in a paper envelope. Their name is called, they run/skip/walk/jump down to the podium to receive their future letter. They know their specialty, they know what they ranked, but it is not until this moment that they know exactly where they will be moving in a few short months with an M.D. newly attached to their name. Couples hugged, couples cried, people jumped, people cheered, people were disappointed.

I can't imagine just having found out where we are moving. We are getting ready to close on our house in six weeks. We've done mortgage paperwork, I've job hunted, A's already started his research for his PhD, and we've daydreamed about how we will furnish and decorate the new pad.

It's no wonder these people can diagnose rare diseases, cut into bodies, heal, and cram all of that knowledge into their heads- they survive Match Day.

Dear Potential Home Buyers,

We love our condo. We will be sad to leave it. When you enter our home, please keep a few things in mind:

• We still live here. If you notice dirty clothes peeking out of the hamper or some toothpaste in the sink, please don't think we are dirty people, but it's really hard to do laundry and scrub your sink down at 6:30a.m.
  
• We like our friends and family and we like to have pictures of them in our home. You are not buying the pictures. Please imagine your pictures in their place because I would rather not spend my last few months in my beloved condo void of all things important to me.
  
• My husband is in medical school. He reads an insane amount of books and needs to reference them at all times. You will notice the large collection of these books and their unattractive bindings but we can't do anything about it. We already have several boxes of medical books packed away. Why does this influence you purchasing our condo?!?
  
• When you enter the guest bedroom, please only open the left side of the closet. It's far more organized and makes it appear that we do indeed have storage space.
  
• You need to understand that between the two of us, we have a ridiculous amount of clothing. If you are a normal person, your wardrobe may fit just fine in our closets. We are not normal people. We love to shop. We love to look nice. I'm obsessed with shoes and purses. It also helps that we can both still fit into clothes from high school, therefore never necessitating a wardrobe purge. (Please note: I have given away all things that made me a walking billboard for teen clothing stores that shower themselves in cologne)
  
• We love the way our condo is decorated. You might not like it. That's fine with us. But, there are things called paint cans and brushes that can help you easily change anything you don't like. We already took off the wallpaper in two rooms. You are welcome.
  

We know that you'll love our condo just as much as we do.

Love,

A & R

Meet The Surgeon’s Wife

I'm Rebecca.

I designed my dream house repeatedly growing up, drawing sketches and picking out furniture from my mom's catalogs. In a few months, we'll be moving in to our first house and I get to decorate it. It's still thrilling but far more expensive.

I'm a third grade teacher and I love my job. I do, however, need to visit my favorite design blogs on my lunch break to maintain my sanity.

I'm a homebody and would rather stay at home with a glass of wine and good friends than go to a bar.

I've always loved to create, fell in love with cooking and my husband simultaneously, and my new sewing machine is just waiting for our happy little home so I can try my hand at that.

I write from my heart. I will use ellipses incorrectly, but only because it's how it makes sense in my head.

I have a weakness for accessories and anything containing Oreo's.

I was raised in Pittsburgh and will soon learn how to navigate life in the south. Bear with me, y'all.

Introducing: A Surgical Renovation

I've been daydreaming about starting a blog for months. It all started when I discovered Young House Love and fell in love became obsessed with it. Sherry and John, the brains behind the operation, started the whole thing when they decided to blog about their kitchen renovation for family and friends and now it is wildly popular and Sherry's full time job. They have fallen in love with their house and continue to do projects to make it suit them perfectly. I'm convinced that we can do that too, and while I don't plan on taking the wind out of their sails and can only hope it might someday become my full time job, this will be my creative outlet to share our passion for our life and our house with the world (but I'd happily start with one follower).

Fast forward to today, after months of visiting their blog twice a day and finding others along the way, I decided to take the plunge. This blog will chronicle the adventures of my husband (the surgeon) and me(the surgeon's wife) as we survive his surgical residency and as we make our little 1928 bungalow our home.

The surgeon came up with the name because not only do we does he plan on renovating and restoring our new-to-us home, but his life as a resident will surely renovate our lives. Come join us for the ride.