More Stuff to Show You Before I Go Back to Reading My Book about Minimalism.

It's currently 12:06pm. I just scarfed down a bowl of cereal for breakfast (Strawberry Frosted Mini Wheats, filled up the bowl twice), and let's just say this morning did not go as planned.

I've been to Jiffy Lube, Kroger, Dry Clean City, Walmart (extra sympathy points), and the gas station.

My car didn't start this morning and I am 100% certain that it had nothing to do with needing an oil change; however, I immediately panicked in fear that Brian would discover I've driven 5,000 miles (ok really more like 7,000 miles) since my last oil change. In hindsight, I confessed this to Brian without really needing to confess. My texts are paraphrased below:

"my car won't start"
"omg I haven't changed my oil in a really long time"

"what's really long time?"

"5,000 miles"
(slight fudge but who's counting?)
"ok nevermind. car just started"

"go get your oil changed."

I told the lady working at Jiffy Lube that my car didn't start this morning because I needed an oil change. She gave me a look that said "no, you're wrong," so then I just went and sat down and pretended this whole thing never happened.

In other news, I took several pictures of our house yesterday to share with you on the blog. Things are coming together pretty nicely. We've officially been living here over three months!

I want to preface my pictures with the following statements:
- We have not purchased any furniture. All furniture was brought over from our condo or the previous owners left it at the house (i.e. dining room table, a couple of couches, rug, etc).
-All decorative items were purchased with gift cards or given as gifts. We have not spent much money on decor (only purchased burlap fabric and a light fixture for the kitchen).
- I'm in no hurry to decorate or furnish our house. I'd like to find things that we really love instead of rushing to buy things just for the sake of buying them.
- Lastly, I say all this to you because I am currently reading a book about a minimalist lifestyle, so I feel an extra tinge of guilt about having so much stuff. (I'm a minimalist in the sense that I enjoy reading about other minimalists).

Before we get started, here's a picture of Otis on the couch.

Ok, moving on.

Our living room is very big (BEFORE picture below). This was taken the day we moved in.

We got rid of those bookshelves (donated them to TROSA), and added our living room furniture.

One side of the room has still remained fairly empty, as you can see in the picture below.

Last week we added a rug that the previous owners left at the house, along with planked airplane panel artwork from Pottery Barn.

Here's a close up of the rug. At first I hated it, now I love it.
If you hate it, I won't be offended.

I'm currently loving the airplane artwork.

Here was a picture of the guest bedroom right after we moved in (bad lighting, of course).

I've since added my old furniture from college and it has come together pretty nicely.

We also got a new Pottery Barn personalized doormat. It's dirty in these photos, so you'll just have to pretend it's clean.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love my doormat. I couldn't bear to spend over $100 on a doormat, so I just had to keep begging until someone else purchased it for me. ;-)

Also, Brian's aunt and uncle bought us a monogrammed door knocker for Christmas. We both loved it, but it was too small for our actual door. We placed it in a shadow box ($9 at AC Moore) and now it's a treasured keepsake. We placed it on the wall right when you walk in the front door.

Alright, I think I'll have more photo updates for you tomorrow.

Right now I've gotta go celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. (making chocolate cupcakes).