Finally moved in to HOME SWEET HOME!

“Travel does not exist without home….
If we never return to the place we started,
we would just be wandering – lost.
Home is a reflecting surface, a place
to measure our growth and
enrich us after being infused
with the outside world.”
That quote above speaks to me so much, especially finally getting settled back into
our own home over the past month. I know I’ve mentioned it a lot, but despite
our incredible year abroad, we have craved a place to call home. I realized during
all of our adventures that travel is so amazing because of home. It grounds us
and makes us appreciate our daily life. I have felt like I was wandering the past
year, and being back + unpacking our boxes and being reunited with all of our
things has given me such a calm and settled feeling that I didn’t know how much I
would need this with baby coming! The first night that we climbed into our new
bed with all of our possessions in one place, we were giddy with excitement to
just have some normalcy again. We couldn’t get over it! The past year we lived
in hotels/airbnbs for three months backpacking, then rented a furnished flat in
London for a month before heading down to South Africa for another month to
spend the holidays with my parents. From there we moved back to Amsterdam
for 6 months and again lived in a furnished apartment while traveling constantly.
During all of this time we just had 2 suitcases each and everything else stored at home!
We came back to the States and stopped through SLC to stay with family and see
them for a few weeks, then finally made it back to California where we stayed with
our best friends for yet another few weeks while our apartment was getting renovated.
Needless to say, we were more than ready to be back in our own place and it has felt
even better than I imagined. It’s been a lot of work to get things out of storage, buy
almost all new furniture (with the help of Chase’s amazing interior design mom and sites like https://paydaydeals.com.au/collections/furniture)
and get things all set up. Good thing I’ve been in “nesting” mode during this time,
or it might have been even more overwhelming! We’ve had fun slowly setting
things up, going to Ikea and Home Depot countless times, picking out cute new
furniture, and settling back in. I love that my “word” for 2016 was settle, even
though at the time we didn’t even know where we’d be settling…we just knew
that it was time for a slow down and return to normalcy. I’m so grateful that
we’ve landed back in a new area of the Bay in such a great spot just in time
to welcome baby. We can’t wait to be here for a good amount of time!
Our place is just a tiny apartment, but we’ve put lots of love into it
knowing we’ll be living here for a bit. So here is a little taste!
First ^^ our moving truck! We sold literally all of our furniture before Europe,
so we were starting over. This was super stressful as we had to buy just about everything you need in a home. Of course, I had an image in my head of what I wanted and how I wanted everything to look. I’d been reading online to keep up with current trends and had seen some miami furniture that I absolutely loved, but unfortunately our budget didn’t match my ambitions. We had to take another route. My cute mother-in-law Shelley has all of the connections in Utah and helped us get so much there while we were in town…from our couch to nursery dresser, desk, rocking chair, and so much more. We owe her so much
as well as Chase’s dad who drove out here with him in the UHAUL with all of it!
Reunited with my dishes, YAY! ^^
After lots of looking I found this cool breakfast nook idea online and
ordered it! Chase was such a champ putting it together for us.
We feel like grown-ups finally having a kitchen table!
No more eating on the coffee table for us, haha.
First meal back in our own place ^^
Of course The Mindy Project was on as I decorated our TV unit :) ^^
Yay for restocking up at Costco, and an organized pantry. Whoo hoo!
Almost no apartments in the Bay have air conditioning. It’s a shame, for sure, and we may get an ac company to help us out down the line but for now we don’t hav a full unit in the place. but with it getting hotter & hotter we knew we needed to figure something out…especially with baby coming! We looked into tons of portable AC units and ended up with this Honeywell one (on Amazon here!)
and it has been a true lifesaver. It cools down the room within minutes and we love it.
The SLC Temple + California prints on the sides of the TV
are made by our friend Liz — her Etsy shop is here and I’m obsessed!
On the top shelf is the prettiest print from my best friend Abby who is perfect.
^^ So nice to have a desk space again! I am still doing freelance projects from home,
and I’ll be managing this apartment complex so it’s perfect with baby! I’m busy
but also flexible and working at home so that I can be with the little one.

We’re finally hanging things on walls again since we’ll be here for a bit…
so I’ve been flattening all of our prints + buying SO many frames!
This Amsterdam map is from here and reminds us of our life there.
Being reunited with my clothes + jewelry was so nice. I forgot about half of them.
^^ Best room of all :)
Our bedroom is still getting some finishing touches, so I’ll share it more when it’s done..
but above is a little taste! Still waiting on a new bedspread, curtains to be hung, pictures
on the walls, etc. It is fun to have our bassinet in there though, all ready to go!
The welcome sign is also by Liz, it is my favorite ^^
My mother-in-law found this vintage trunk which we filled with
blankets and are using as our coffee table. She also found us this
Restoration Hardware rug at the most amazing deal ever! I really wanted a designer rug from somewhere like bazaar velvet but the budget unfortunately couldn’t stretch that far! I’m going to save up and buy one in the near future though.
I love this little place so much already, and I know it will be a special
apartment with the memory of bringing our first baby home to it soon. Ahh!

//

We are so glad to be back, and
this last quote sums it up:

??
“Why do you go away? So that you can come back.
So that you can see the place you came from with
new eyes & extra colors. And the people there see
you differently, too. Coming back to where you
started is not the same as never leaving.”

xo