Hi Folks! We've been MIA for a while...back in January we found a house in a neighborhood we loved and put an offer.  Since then things moved quickly and yet slowly.  You see we gave extra time for the paperwork to go through, and set March 15th as the closing date, but now we can officially say we are home owners!!! Take a look at our 1942 Cape Cod style house!

Prior to actually closing, we did a bit of leg work to get started on some of the renovations we need to get done and they're already underway.  It's all very exciting and we can't wait to move in, but we know that a month and half will go by like a blink and barely have time to actually get all of our things out of our current apartment. 

We'll miss the city and the neighborhood we lived in for three years, but we won't be too far from it - in fact, we're only about 7 miles due north of our DC apartment.  So if we're really hankering for tacos from Bandit or larb tofu from Bangkok Thai we can just hop on over and pick some up. Obviously what we'll miss most is walking to and from anywhere and everywhere as we're now moving to a more suburban area, but we're also pretty excited about the farmers market down the block, Antique Row and camping in our backyard! 

Follow along as we slowly renovate our home by looking up the hashtag #OurKensingtonHouse on instagram! We're starting with the kitchen for now. Stay tuned for before and after photos and details regarding our renovations...

Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday week, being like where'd the time go? We've been pretty busy getting ready for the baby and the holidays.  Fall really is one of the most productive times for us! We're starting this "10 Things" list as a series to quickly fill you in on things we've been thinking of lately and would like to share.  So here we go:

1. A few weeks ago we consolidated our clothes into one dresser, sold the extra one and registered for one that will work as a changing table. We went with Pottery Barn Kids Emerson dresser. Thankfully, our parents already bought it for us and it's on the way! Hooray! Consolidating our clothes into one furniture piece was also really helpful in making us get rid of excess, once again.

2. We checked out strollers and car seats.  One of the places we recommend for locals in the DMV area is Baby Blossom.  Unlike the big box retailers, the staff is ready to help and very knowledgable about what works best for the uses customers need.  For city dwellers like us, where space is limited and city walking is what we do most, they suggested the Nuna Mixx with the Nuna Pipa car seat or the Bugaboo Cameleon 3.  Both come with overnight rated bassinets if you for travel purposes.

3. We designed our Holiday card, with and emphasis on "H". Pretty excited to showcase it so keep an eye out for it.

4. We sent out a Thanksgiving card/baby announcement to friends we didn't get to share the news with in person. 

Desk - Before

Desk - After (!)

Decluttering. Simplifying. Minimalism. For a movement that’s focused on removing excess from our lives, we certainly seem to have a lot of words to describe it, don't we? The thing is though we often use words like “decluttering” and “minimalism” interchangeably, they’re not exactly the same. So what, exactly, is the difference between them? It’s pretty simple: decluttering is an action, while minimalism is a lifestyle.

While Pete and I are certainly not quite (yet) trying to live up to the lifestyle in our 700 sq. ft. apartment, we truly are re-evaluating the way we use our space and belongings so that it is both efficient and pleasing.  Our current mentality is if something hasn't be used/worn in over a year or, heck, even six months, donate it/sell it/recycle it/throw it out.

Sometimes it's difficult when you keep items for sentimental reasons but the truth is, we only really come to these items when we're cleaning stuff out.  Frankly, our lives are too busy to even remember to take out those items to reminisce!  Or if it's a t-shirt/sweater/clothing item of any sort, rarely do we ever feel the need to put on a worn out, often now ill-fitting (and sometimes cheaply made) sentimental piece of fabric.  

I'm guilty of it! I used to keep old jeans and t-shirts thinking they'd be good for when I'd go print on the press, operating a greased up machine and using oil-based inks.  The truth is, mostly I wear athletic clothes so I can move better and they make aprons to help prevent spills/stains.  It feels better wearing items that are meant to be worn for specific activities (like moisture wicking running shirts for Pete versus old college boxy shirts) then why keep old things just because you "might" wear them.  The same applies to objects in the house/apartment.  

We took a small step this weekend tackling clutter in our home.  I won't even show you the before photos of the cabinet doors under the desk! But it sure felt good giving boxes of unused or semi-used art supplies to an art center, books to the free library on our block, recycling loads of paper and even donating some used clothing to ​Planet Aid. Somewhat embarassed to show you, but below are two rounds out of the four rounds of boxes/bags collecting of said items! I can't believe this was all tucked in closets and cabinets. Yikes! But it feels good knowing that we're slowly creating our curated home.  Recently, we've felt the old adage “less is more” has some serious weight behind it.