Unfinished

So, we're about to renew our lease to our home in Lakewood. I love our little spot. It's just the right size for us and it's become home. What will always make it special, of course, is that it's Robert and I's first home together. Yay for being newlyweds at casa de Roberto y Al. I'm sure that we will regale our future children with the stories of our duplex. They won't be as good as my parents stories about living in a trailer in the middle of a state park in New Mexico, but we'll still have some strong material....the tiny kitchen, the mini dishwasher that roars like an animal and runs for over an hour, the fact that we can't use the washer and dryer at the same time because the power turns off, my clothes spread out in three closets, the wall that won't allow nails to go through it in certain spots, the pink and gray tile in the bathroom, the blue light fixtures that HAD to be left by a gay man that lived there before us and last but certainly NOT least our friends the cockroaches (which I finally think we've got rid of). Never a dull moment, right? I can't believe that at the end of this month, I will have lived there a year.

The decor of our place has come a long way in this year. Making the transition from the maroon couch and purple chase lounge chair (Sarah LOVES those.) - to a tasteful cream couch. Also, going from a room full of boxes to a small dining room with a beautiful table and chairs, thanks to my brilliant interior designing mother-in-law. She's also provided us with other details throughout our home that I adore. Interior designer mother-in-law = amazing, by the way. Especially since I'm a little challenged in that department. (Maybe, I'll start posting little details that she's helped us with. They're kind of fun.) It's also key that I love her style of decorating, if I didn't that would not = amazing. I did make Robert lie once that HE didn't like some candle stick things with a branch on them that she gave us, that I truthfully didn't like. I know, I can't help it, I'm really non-confrontational.

Norton and I pre OU vs. FSU game. see blue light fixtures.  they've oddly grown on me?

dining room table and chairs all dressed up earlier this summer when we had Robert's friends to dinner

Still, with all the work we've done, I still feel that certain areas are incomplete, unfinished. I'm okay with it, but now that I've been here a YEAR, I wonder if I'm just going to let these things go unfinished another year.

sigh. a finished room. a sight unseen at the Scarff house.

sigh. a finished wall. if only our walls didn't have issues. 

The answer is yes there will be things that go by the wayside and not be finished simply because we're renting and we're not going to invest to custom things for this space that we could be leaving in another year. Some days it drives me crazy wanting to get the perfect piece of furniture for a certain space or wishing that the picture frames and books stacked on our dresser looked less like a college dorm room and more like a "grownup house". I think I just want to feel like our home is finished and complete. But, maybe I shouldn't be in a hurry. It's the journey that's the fun part, right? 

I especially feel this way today because of an unrelated topic - the books I've been reading. I was encouraged by Sarah and Rhonda and really everyone else on earth to read The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo series. I finished the second book and just have one more to go. I can't wait to read it, but at the same time, I don't want the series to end. Finishing is fun, but it can also be kind of sad. You know, like graduation a little. 

Sooooo, with those very deep thoughts, I'll say cheers to Lakewood for another year AND a special shout out to Lakewood's newest and cutest homeowner, Miss Kendall Simpson, right now the street from us!

p.s. The photobook I plan to make of our wedding is still unfinished and the one of our honeymoon too. I can't enjoy the journey of making those if I haven't even began them yet. :) ppppfffffttttt.