warm and welcoming.

Our home is up and on the market waiting to welcome a new family/couple/person who will enjoy and love it as much as we have! If you know of anyone looking for a great rental with some amazing landlords, just let us know and we will forward the listing to you. All handling of our listing/rental will be done through our awesome realtor. We are very optimistic that it will get scooped up quickly! Thanks for passing the word for us to anyone you may know that is looking! Happy weekend! Lisa, Todd, and Quinn

butcher, baker, candlestick maker.

teacher, baker, photographer.

Alright, I definitely do NOT consider myself a professional photographer by any means, but I am learning more and more and venturing a little into the photography world. Having Quinn has definitely opened that up and it has been a great hobby as well.
Another reason blogging has been a good hobby of choice for me... I love to write and I love to take pictures.

I recently took some photos of my beautiful friend Heather and her gorgeous little family. We had a lot of fun and were able to enjoy a gorgeous night out and about. Heather is a mama of boys and as soon as we set up a time for some photos I had a vision that played out like this...



I thought it showed the balance of a great mom of boys and being a girly girl and sexy woman as well. I loved it! When I told her to pack her sassiest pair of heels I'm sure she was curious. Thanks for being up for anything hon! To see more pictures of this adorable family you can click this link or click on the photography tab on the top of this page. 

Enjoy!

Lisa

something new.

We are officially.... Moving!!
Our something new is a New House!
Hence the comments here and there recently as we have been plugging along the process.
This new house is the one we plan to stay in for the next 25-30 years or so and that will be our family home.  We are so excited to get into it and really can't believe that it will soon be ours.

It is our dream home, which thanks to the low housing market we were actually able to afford it.  (we are snatching it up for about $100,000 less than what it sold for originally.)
HOWEVER, thanks to the low housing market selling our current home was out of the question.
So...How are we doing this?
Well, our current townhome is only under my name as I purchased it myself back when Todd and I had just begun dating.  And fortunately enough, we never added Todd's name to the house, which ended up being a very good thing.  So in the home purchasing world, Todd was able to go out and purchase just like a first-time homeowner.
What's happening with the townhome? 
Well, we have decided to become landlords and turn it into a rental property.  Scary!  But once we moved past that, we realized we were just grateful we had an option to move into a bigger space without waiting for the housing market to come back up so we could sell (which we realized in our neighborhood especially would be a minimum of 5 years).  Todd and I have known for a while that this would be the case and just made the decision to do what we could to make it work, and decided to live off of only a certain percentage of his income and pretend we didn't even have the money that went straight to savings.  It was hard initially to realize we wouldn't be able to sell our starter home, gain a little equity and put it towards the next home (as the american way/dream naturally has followed for decades) but once we just faced it and made a decision it was easy to just move on.  Someone told me that our townhome can still be an investment, just not the one we planned on (and that helped a lot).  So, hopefully down the road we will be able to sell and add that to Quinny's future college expenses. :)
Another big push... While it may be scary now, we definitely got more house for the money then we would have before or if we waited till it all came back up and we will be paying a very low interest rate for the life of the loan...so in turn we will be saving a lot of money through the new house investment over our lifetime there.

We have been negotiating for the past two weeks over this home and just found out yesterday we got it!  In the meantime, we also were working on getting our entire current home ready for showings and to be listed for rent.  So now we need fingers crossed and positive thoughts that good renters walk through our door. :)  (We are very encouraged by the rental activity in the area and our neighborhood recently.  Things have been renting quickly.)  All a little stressful, but I guess you have to take risks to get the big rewards.

Details:

Closing:  2nd week of August

Location:  Not going to put the location on this website, but you can text or e-mail and I'll let you   
        know  (I can tell you that Quinn will be sporting black and gold in her school days. :))  And if
        you already know the location...
        Why did we choose it?  Well, several reasons...
        - Proximity to all of Todd's workplaces, affordable housing and good school districts helped us
              narrow it down to two areas.
        -  A good community and rural feel, a nice downtown, lower taxes, a wonderful 
                neighborhood and having friends and people we know in the area helped us decide on this
                location over the other.

Schools:  Elementary School is 1/2 a mile away.  Middle School is 1 mile away.  High School is 4  
       miles away.  Fun little bonus:  One of Todd's best friend's and the Best Man at our wedding is
       principal at Quinn's future elementary school (but we promise not to take advantage of that).

 The House: 
- 2 story
- large front porch
- 3 bedrooms upstairs
- Large Bonus Room upstairs
- 1 bedroom with full bath downstairs (this was key for us - with just about all of our family out of town a guest suite will get used all the time and sometimes for long timeframes, so having a separate space on the 1st floor was what we wanted, hoped for, and can't believe we got!)
- 3 full bathrooms
- laundry room upstairs
- separate mudroom downstairs
- Open kitchen/family room space
- Dining Room
- Large Garage (2 doors, can fit 3 cars or 2 cars and workshop area)
- Full Basement
- The lot is smaller than we originally thought we wanted, however after really facing reality of Todd's busy work schedule we realized it was better not to have an enormous lot to care for.  Would rather he have more family time than be out mowing and care for hours on end.  That being said, it is still a very nice yard.
 

So it's a big summer for us and we are just excited to get into a home we know we will be in for a long time.  I have had 6 different addresses since moving from my family home growing up.  I'm very excited to get into a space where I know we will be able to put more DIY projects and time into something we will enjoy for many many years.
Come August, it will be sad to leave this home though as it held a new married couple and a brought a new baby home to it.  We do love our home here, but we are ready to move on.

I'm sure more updates will be coming.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

hello photography.

Had my first official photography session tonight.
...thanks to some very dear friends.

It went pretty well.
Even with a little bloody knee, a few different stops, lots of walking...these two little boys were troopers!

Many more pictures to come on my photography page. 
Check back soon!

letter to my teenage self.

Dear young teenage Lisa,

There is so much for you yet to learn.

You think this day when you got your braces off was one of the greatest days of your life.



just wait.

Be patient while you wait.
Don't worry so much about what your life will bring and how to get yourself there so fast.
Be in the moment.
Stop worrying.  It will all work out in more amazing ways then you can imagine.

Enjoy your teenage life.
It will fly by before you know it.
And trust me the memories you make will last forever.
You will think back to them all the time.
Every song you hear in the future will bring back a past memory.
Singing along to Bon Jovi's Always with your BFF by her locker before 7th grade homeroom.
Dancing with your middle school crush to Aerosmith's Cryin'.
Celebrating with volleyball girls on senior night to the Barenaked Ladies All for you.
Jumping up and down to Journey's Don't Stop Believin' when all your school and your closest friends win the football state championship.
This list will go on and on.
Music is huge. period.

You are so loved.
You are loved by more people than you realize.
When you do realize this one day,  you will be overwhelmed and comforted by what an amazing gift this truly is.

You will always be surrounded by good and experience endless moments of pure happiness.
But you will also encounter true sorrow and loss.
It's okay if you are not ready for it.
There are many people who will be there for you, even some you may not expect.
This will be the moment you are gifted the greatest lesson of all - Every single thing you do, every little gesture of kindness you make to another - it matters.  It matters so much more than your teenage self thinks it does.

The loss of your Grandma as a teenager is big and hurts and is really more than you can handle at this time in your life.  But know that while you may not think she will be there for all of your life's big moments.  She is the one who you will always talk to, feel her guidance, and know she is right there with you for years and years to come, every single moment, every step of the way.  And you will be able to feel how proud she is of you.
You will experience more loss of close loved ones later in your life and it will be just as hard, but you will be stronger.



The loss of a friend will bring you courage, strength, teach more than you knew before about friendship, and show you how important it is to lean on one another.  You will learn how incredibly fragile and precious life really is.  And every time you hear the song Always come on the radio you will think of her and her smile and all those moments before 7th grade homeroom.



Your fashion trends are a staple of the 90's (even though you are an 80's girl in your heart).
Your perm will only last about 2 years. 
Baggy clothes are in.



Although I want to tell you to wear some pretty yet appropriate fitted clothing while you have the body that you do.
You are 5'8 and 118 pounds, take off those baggy size 6's and save those for later when you will wear them all the time.  And then one day you will want to get back into those size 6's, but the reason you are not in them is so worth it (but that is getting way ahead of yourself :)).

You are a good girl.
Don't change this.
You will be so glad in the future that you stuck up for what you believed was right for you.  And other people will admire you for these things.  Hard to believe at your age isn't it?
I am SO proud of you.
You find a way to be part of everything you like without caving to some of the pressures that may surround you.
Sticking up for yourself will in turn become one your greatest qualities, as you will become an advocate for others who need you.

While I am proud of you for being the good girl you are, I will say I think you should
do more of this...



Be silly.  Have fun.  Live in every moment.
Don't worry so much about how you look to other people.
It's good to present yourself well in front of others, but you can loosen up just a tad more.
(and yes there is a tie-dye shirt, hemp necklace and hair scrunchie all in that picture!)

On another fashion note.
The pretty short blue dress you choose to wear to your senior year homecoming will always be your favorite dance dress.  It's simple.  It's classic.  It's hot.  Heck, if you could fit into it, you would want to wear it at the age of 30. :)



Oh, and dress up for Halloween more often.



Take care of yourself.
Don't spend so much time soaking in the sun rays for a tan.
Be kind and gentle to your skin.

Sports are a big deal to you.
You've seen Hoosiers hundreds of times already at your age, this is no secret.
Push yourself harder.  Don't be afraid to fail.
The opportunities you have at your age do not come up again.
Cherish the memories you make through sports, they will have the greatest lasting effect on you.



I'm excited for you just thinking of all the fun times that lie ahead of you as a teenager.
Some of them make for some really great stories. 



I already know how much you love your family.
I don't have much to teach you here, family has always been on the top of your list.
Your parents mean everything to you and you are terrified to disappoint them.  It's good to have this in you, but don't worry so much about disappointing them.  Their love for you is greater than any little mistake you may make along the way.
Be respectful.  Be kind.  Spend every moment you can with each other, even when you might get a little sick of one another.  Try to turn on the weather channel a little less when your brother walks in the room (because you just want to be by yourself) and try not to get so upset every time your sister steals your jeans and you can't find them anywhere.  You will always be close with your family, but one day you may not be able to see each other as often as you'd like.



By the way, your sister will still always be your best friend.



Those girlfriends who stood by your side all those years...



Yup, they will still be there.  On graduation day, maybe be a little less sad. :)



You'll go to college, meet new friends and enjoy yourself.
Maybe take a little more time to enjoy yourself.




As for what comes later, well I can't give everything away.
But your 20's are AMAZING!  From start to finish they are filled with life-altering moments that define your life in more ways than your teenage self can imagine.  So stop worrying that what you are doing now is going to make or break your future.  Enjoy.  Live it up.

Alright, I will add this...
You think you want to be married by 22, but trust me you will be SO glad you waited till you were at least past 25. Your 20's are a time to come into your own, build your confidence and your strength, and discover who you are. It will also bring some of your most amazing adventures. Journeys that will make you a better person. Independence that will bring more to your relationship with your future husband.  Yup, he's there, he's waiting. Don't be in such a hurry to find him right away. The loves and lessons you learn along the way will eventually lead you right into his arms.

I'll give you a hint...it's not a bad boy.  It's the genuine one whose innocence and excitement for all the small things in life win you over wholeheartedly.


I mean really, this picture screams adorable innocence and excitement. :)

And one day you will even have a little girl who looks just like you.



This letter, well it may even be written quite solely for her to read one day.
In hopes it provides a little something to help her through some of the little moments that seem so big when you are a teenager.

Things work out beautifully.



Love,

Your older 30 year old self (Lisa)

Thanks for letting me post something a little more on the serious side today.
After a week of watching Tangled five times with snot smeared across my chest from a toddler, I was in need of some real writing time that made my brain work a little harder.  Quinn is fighting a baby sinus infection.  She is just about the saddest little thing.  Most of my days have been filled with legs stretched around my hips and a sweet little face resting on my chest with her arms tucked under.  For a little girl that has always been so easy, Todd and I are embracing this time of extra cuddles, nighttime awakenings, and feeling very very needed by this sweet little girl.

some new wheels.

We've got some new wheels around here.

Yup! Quinn has some new wheels.
No new cars for us, we will work towards the family home first.
So, $8 for a car, we can handle that. :) Thank goodness for garage sale finds.
We have been busy busy around here! I think this is the longest I've gone in between posts and it was weird. I missed it.
The last 10 days in a nutshell:
- Todd's volleyball season wrapped up.
- We made a trip out to see lots family in Morrison.
- Quinn and I made two trips up to Wisconsin.
- We brought grandma back with us on one of those trips.
- Grandma joined us for a few days.
- Todd had his last day of school (and all you teachers know how crazy and stressful the end of the year can be).
- We made a trip to the airport so Grandma could go back home to Florida.
- Todd and I both renewed our teaching certificates. (check that off our list)
- Todd has been working just about every weekend.
- We've had several orders of some yummy cake pops.
- We are closing the gap between us and the "getting into our forever home" - hopefully!!!

Amidst it all, our little Quinny has also had some ups and downs with not feeling so well. This crazy 100 to 45 to 80 degree weather may have to do with her sniffly nose and therefore resulting in sleeping with mommy on the couch at 3am watching the movie Tangled (which we have now seen several times, but occasionally I need something other than Mickey Mouse). This morning she switched to Todd at about 7am (at a time where I didn't feel to bad waking him on his first official day off, and she crashed on his chest while I took an hour snooze. Fortunately, she perked up for a bit so we could sneek her outside for some fresh air and a ride on her new "used" wheels. :) (that her daddy gave a little car wash to first of course)

Don't mind her "still in jammies" attire. Didn't you know that it is cool to wear your jammies out and about in the neighborhood showing off your new wheels?

She is down for a nap in her own bed right now. Todd is down for a nap on the couch. I think I may go join in on this napping.