Tuesday, November 23, 2010

italy bound.

did i mention that i am going to italy?  like, today. 
i know, i know, i should have told you sooner. 
it will just be a quick tour de italia for the deRoo clan.  (mark, rox, ingrid, hillary, taylor & this lucky girl.) 
and i can hardly wait. 

although i will miss my mom's holiday feast, this year i am thankful to be spending thanksgiving in italy. 
not eating turkey! 
and i am thankful in advance to the italians for their generosity as they allow me to eat their pasta, drink their wine and savor their ohsofine gelato! 
i hope they know what they are getting themselves into when i step off that plane!

so for the next 6 days i will be here.  here.  here.  here.  
and here:







and eating this:

rome, florance and venice, here i come. 
architecture. history. art. fashion. romance. culture.
did i mention fashion? 
oh yeah, this is going to be fun.

don't miss me too much. 
because i probably won't be missing you. 
no offense. 
it's italy!

Friday, November 19, 2010

on getting noticed.

it feels nice to get noticed, wouldn't you agree?  my little downtown farmhouse got noticed this week!  my dining room table & burlap table runners were featured on the House of Hepworths blog! 


little old me and my little old blog with my 35 little followers got featured on House of Hepworths with almost 1000 followers!  i feel like a celebrity.  well, ok, not really.  but i am thankful for the shout out!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

the places we've lived.

in four short years taylor and i have lived in 3 different homes.  yes, three.  geesh.  it has been exhausting.  we are glad to be settled into our little downtown farmhouse and living happily ever after.

here's a little peak at where we came from.

our first house in Godwin Avenue in Grand Rapids.


i, personally thought she was a cute little house on a cute little street.  taylor never liked her...and, well, after we moved away someone was murdered across the street.  which isn't very cute.  but, for a first house i think she was tops.



so, you might notice that my color palette in our first house was a tweensy weensy bit brighter than it is now.  i call it my box of crayons house.  we can just say that i learned a lot the first time around.  it was like my practice house, i guess. 

and apparently york thought it was his practice house too...since he basically chewed through all of our furniture in that house.  coffee tables, couches, table legs, you name it, york chewed through it.  (i think the only reason finn didn't go through the furniture-chewing-phase was because he was too distracted by the chewing-on-my-big-brother-phase to even notice our furniture.)







we lived in our grand rapids house for just under a year and a half when we picked up and moved to a land far far away (25 minutes) to zeeland.  awe, cute little zeeland.  a much better fit for a girl like me.  so anyway, we couldn't find a zeeland home right away so we shacked up in a condo (in the middle of a retirement community, mind  you) for what was supposed to be less than 6 months.  but the hunt for a house on central avenue took a bit longer and we ended up vegging out in the condo for a year and a half. 

i only have a couple pictures of our condo life because we didn't do any decorating since we didn't expect to be there for very long.  i must say, it was a great place to spend our transition time.  clean. spacious.  i can't believe i am going to admit this because i do very much love my downtown farmhouse...but once in a blue moon i miss the condo.  i do.  mostly i miss the carpet.  ohmygosh..did i just say that?  it's true.  so cozy and convenient and boy did it hide the endless piles of dog hair that roll around our wood floors these days like tumble winds in the dessert. the condo was a very relaxing place to spend those 1.5 years. 

thank you, summergrove.  you treated us well.


but here's our real sweetheart.  three. one. two. oh how i love you.  xoxo


considering where she started..this old girl has really been good to us.



i still shudder when i look at those pictures!











home to stay.  {exhale.}

Monday, November 15, 2010

the people who make me smile.

were you ever so lucky to have a big group of girl friends?  i mean like real, strong, beautiful, intelligent, the bend-over-backwards for you kind of girlfriends?  i have been that lucky.  these girls below, all of them, are such phenomenal women and i thought that you should meet them. 

a lot of people make me smile.  it's not real hard to do.  i admit, i am a smiler by nature.  but with these girls it's different.  it's simpler.  like it happens without even trying.  they are the funniest people i know.

most days i feel like a kid.  i can't believe i am 28 because i seriously feel like i am 19.  but when i sit back and realize that i haven't lived with or near these girls in 7 years --S.E.V.E.N.! -- wow, that makes me feel old.  and a bit sad.  but, the good news is i get to see many of them this weekend!  our lovely friend jamie (cute girl below, left side, blue dress) has a belly full of baby and we are showering her with love on saturday!  yay for jamie and yay for a reason to get together!

























still smiling. :)