The BEST Thing About Moving

For me, one of the best things about moving is that I got rid of SO MUCH STUFF. 

Moving forces you to actually dig in the deep corners of your house. You have no option but to touch every single item that you own. For me, this gave me the opportunity to assess each item and decide whether or not I needed it, liked it, and most importantly - liked it enough to move it to the new house. For a significant number of items in our house, this was a resounding NO.

There were so many things I forgot we had and so many things we didn't need that were holding onto. So many. Way more than I realized! And truly one of the best parts about moving was letting all of these things go. The craziest thing of all is that I would have told you I was extremely organized before the move and before going through this exercise. Sure I knew there were some things I needed to sort through and get rid of, but not to THIS extent. 

The nicest of the "unwanted" items I sold in a garage sale. These were things that were in great, shape, super cute, but just no longer things I loved or had space for. The less nice items went to Goodwill. I had several full carloads of stuff that I donated! That felt GREAT. And, honestly, there were a fair share of things that went straight to the recycle bin or the dumpster.

Quite frankly, I have no idea why we held onto some of the stuff we did.  I think it was party the fallacy of thinking "Oh I might need this someday." So many things we never used! And then there were things that were gifted to us that we felt bad giving away... old furniture we replaced but didn't get rid of... things that were broken but we thought we might fix... random parts to toys... clothes we haven't worn in ages.. long outdated decor I thought I may want someday but never used again...  a billion magazines I thought I'd flip through but never did... paint cans with an ounce of paint left in them that I thought I "might" need... The list of reasons is LONG but none of the reasons are good. I think we had the space, and the stuff just accumulated! You just don't realize how much there is until you start to move it, and think where you'd want it in your new house. A new house is a fresh start, after all! Who wants to carry all that old junk to a clean new place?

I can't even tell you how good it felt to just get rid of all of this stuff and know that every single thing left that we own is something that is functional, of good quality, and appreciated. It is so refreshing!

In the new house, I look forward to having so much less. I'm only going to keep things that truly bring me joy and are useful. I'm dedicated to everything having a place and everything being in it's place. I'm not holding onto things "just in case" or things that are on their last legs, and I'm not going to add any new items to our house that I don't think will stand the test of time. 

I feel freer and lighter, and I want it to stay that way! It is the best feeling and TRULY one of the biggest blessings of moving. It wasn't something I was even anticipating throughout this process, but a great unanticipated benefit. 

Anyone else feel this way when moving? Let me know below!

A Summer Unplugged

So, about a year ago I had the best intention to relaunch my blog and really dive into this little space of mine on the internet. It worked... for awhile! (And I loved it!) But if you look closely you'll see I've done just six blog posts the last six months - yikes! Jugging three kids age four and under, preparing the house to move, getting everything in line to build a new house, doing consulting work for my former employer, dealing with some health issues, and you know- trying to get SOME sleep with a nocturnal newborn (seriously!), just didn't leave much time or energy for my little blog.

On top of that, once phase one of our move was over and I finally had the time, I have pretty much just wanted to UNPLUG and decompress! I've totally enjoyed turning off my phone and my computer and playing from sun up to sun down with my boys. We've been spending the last month hitting up every park (and ice cream shop!) in town, swimming, hiking, playing in the sandbox, riding bikes, reading, picnicking, going to the zoo, napping... It has been AMAZING! I don't think I've soaked up a summer like this since I myself was a kid. Sunkissed. Covered in dirt. Exhausted and in bed before the sun goes down. It is refreshing in the deepest way. 

If you haven't unplugged in awhile and feel the need to get away and disappear for awhile, I HIGHLY recommend it. Just do it! You won't regret it. Slow down. Enjoy the moment. Everyone and everything can wait. 

All of that being said, I'm excited to start blogging again. There is SO much I want to share about the new house and the move and what life is teaching me! Hope everyone is doing well and thanks for sticking around! xoxo

Boys on the Beach

So this post is super overdue (with the move, the blog CLEARLY got put on the back burner!) but I still wanted to share these pictures I got taken with the boys for Mother's Day when we were in California. These were taken at Newport Beach on my 35th birthday by the amazing Cori Kleckner Photography.  (She is the sweetest, most talented person!) I just CHERISH these pictures. It's only a few months later and the boys have already grown so much! 

I love California and miss it so much! I want to go back!

We're Moving!

So if you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen the news - WE'RE MOVING!

Actually, we're about halfway through the move at this point :) It is a bit of a process. I will explain it ALL below!

The Decision to Move

Why are we moving? We decided that we wanted to be closer my family! Plain and simply - I miss them and with three kids, I could really use the help they are more than willing to give :) I'm excited to be back in the area I grew up in as well. It has ALWAYS felt like home! Plus, I have some childhood/high school/college friends in the area that I look forward to reconnecting with. It is exciting because it feels like a fresh start, but it is also a place where we already have strong roots and connections. While it is definitely hard to leave our old house and our friends and family in Cleveland, I have no doubt this is the right move for our family.

Selling Our House

We REALLY lucked out on this front. We told our friends who live two doors down that we were planning on moving and were working to get our house on the market. Not two days later, I get a text from them saying that they were potentially interested in buying our house, and could they tour it and decide before we formally list it? Um, YES! God bless them, because our house was turned upside down when they did the walkthrough and they still decided they wanted it! SO thankful because this saved us an immense amount of time, energy, and money. I was absolutely dreading having to clean the house and scoot the kids around for multiple showings. The fact they wanted to move forward and buy our house was a tremendous blessing! 

Why buy our house when they lived just two doors down? Number one, we have the one of the most beautiful streets in our area. No question about it! (There is actually another young couple on our street who just bought the house across the street! See - no one wants to leave!) Second, while the houses are very similar, ours has a big mudroom, new garage, new fence, new driveway, and they - flatteringly- say that they just loved the style of our house! Seriously there is no bigger compliment! :) 

Our New House

After looking at lots of houses in our target area, we decided to BUILD! Honestly, I just wasn't up for a renovation and wanted to avoid the feeling of immediately needing to overhaul every room to make it my taste and style. Even the thought of having to paint every room seemed overwhelming! I'm all up for little decorating projects, but no major overhauls at this stage in life. I would rather spend my precious time with the playing with the kids!

Building gave us the opportunity to have a turn-key, fresh, blank slate. A house that I can update over time and make it my own, but feels clean and livable in the meantime. 

Our new house is scheduled to be done in October! I'm so excited. It isn't the biggest house or the most fancy house, but I love the location, the floorpan, and the potential! Stay tuned for more :) 

In The Meantime

While our house is being built, we are living with my parents! They live exactly ten minutes away from our new house and have plenty of space! It was SIGNIFICANTLY easier (and less expensive!) than packing everything up and unpacking it all in an apartment just to pack it all up and move again in three months. (I'm sooooo over packing, lol!) We pretty much only had to pack up suitcases and some toys to bring to my parents, which has been awesome. Everything else was loaded up into a pod  by movers  and will be delivered to our new house when we are ready. So seamless! We've been here for exactly two weeks and the boys are LOVING the quality time with Grandma and Grandpa! 

I'm so excited to share more about our new house as construction progresses and decorating plans take shape!