Connor Homes Winterthur Collection

I’ve mentioned Connor Homes in the past but I wanted to share something pretty special with you guys today. It’s their Winterthur Collection, which I find absolutely stunning.

There is one home in particular that my husband and I love and it’s their Hampton Court floor plan. Now, this one is an extremely large home (over 4,000sq ft) so we have made some modifications to the floor plan listed in the Connor Homes book that we purchased. We’d want to pair down the house to a more manageable 2,500sq ft. Our goal would be to alter the back portion of the house to make it mostly garage space since the home doesn’t have an attached garage.

Hampton Court exterior (courtesy of Connor Homes website)

Hampton Court floor plan (photo courtesy of Connor Homes website)

 

Some of our favorite features of the home are the grand spiral staircase, the two fireplaces, the sun room, and loggia. Plus the house has a TON of storage space. It would be a beautifully built home and down here in Arizona, would be an incredible investment over the years. We have some serious work ahead of us to see if this home could be built on the property we want; I’ve already emailed the company to find out if they would collaborate with us to make the alterations we’re interested in making. I am also waiting to hear back from our realtor to see if she can keep us informed about the status of the property I shared with you the other day.

Lots of work on our part to make this all happen but I’m willing to keep this option on the horizon. No dream is ever worth giving up.

A Bit of the Country in the “City”…Town of Gilbert

Almost an acre sized lot in Gilbert…my heartstrings are getting pulled.

The Last Ten Years-2002 to 2012

In the last ten years, I’ve been VERY busy and I’ve moved around A LOT so we have a lot to cover in this blog entry. Stick with me, ok?

Florida southern College (August 2002-May 2003)

Ah….the start of my adult life.  The journey to travel from Portsmouth Rhode Island to Lakeland, Florida was certainly an interesting one and more so because I had ALL four of my wisdom teeth taken out a short while before the road trip.  My dad had a number of laughs at my expense as I tried to eat burgers and mashed potatoes without wincing in pain and then laughing at the ridiculous way I tried to nibble my food.

Ashley, Jennifer (my roommate), Amy (next to Jennifer, one of my suite mates), and Kelly (my other suite mate).

I am still friends with my roommate and my suite mates plus a handful of other friends of mine from my one year at FSC.  We keep in touch via Facebook, which is certainly a lifeline for me.  With all the traveling I’ve done, I don’t think I’d get around to sending snail mail to everyone without running out on a weekly basis to get stamps. So I save money using Facebook and I get immediate updates on everyone. It suits me.

My friends down the hall: Ivy, Emily (middle), Amy, and Christina (kneeling)

I took seventeen credits my first semester and fifteen my second with the goal of obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the end of the four years I intended to spend in college.  My luster for education dimmed a lot when I realized I wasn’t ready to sit in class and actually apply myself just yet nor was I interested in accumulating $80,000 worth of debt.

We went dancing in Ybor City, Florida. I am on the far left and my friend, Jucette, is to the right of me. In the bottom photo, my friend, Michele, is on the left. She is my favorite Korean and she knows it!

I had looked into a stint with the Army Reserves since I was doing Army ROTC to serve as my financial crutch, but I knew pretty early on that my heart wasn’t in it.  When I returned home, I caught up with a good friend of mine, Jim, who was going to Marine Corps boot camp that summer and we reminisced about a number of things and I got ridiculed for even THINKING about going Army.

Army ROTC

I can’t sit here and tell you that I wasn’t already thinking about the Marine Corps before I left FSC because I was.  My close friends knew how much I loved the Marine Corps and why it was important to me.  It was a matter of getting up the balls to do something completely opposite of the person I thought I was and you know what, I made it happen.

On July 14, 2003, I started my journey to be a United States Marine.

United States Marine Corps (July 14, 2003 to July 13, 2007)

Boot camp was hilarious.  It sounds crazy but it seemed incredibly strange to set into a situation I never planned for myself.  I was only in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) for a month before a slot opened up for me to go to boot camp.  I was totally unprepared but excited.

I was not the best recruit as there are many skills I am not particularly good at (and that’s happened throughout my Marine Corps career) but I did see some people at boot camp that absolutely floored me as to why they ever decided to try to become Marines.  We had one girl in particular who would throw temper tantrums like a little child (Recruit Willaby was her name) and it was hard to not want to break down and laugh your head off at such insane behavior.  My drill instructors had quite a time humiliating her and weeding her out as someone unfit to be a Marine.  My favorite part was that our drill instructors made a fake little graveyard and put tiny tombstones of the recruits we dropped; our senior drill instructor didn’t think it was so funny.

While I was at boot camp, I got to run into Jim again.  I remember one of the squad leaders telling me some guy at church was asking about me, which I thought was her trying to play a joke on me because I did not go to church.  After she told me his name, I went the following Sunday to church and we talked as best as you can at church there.  We kept in touch throughout boot camp and our Marine Corps careers and both got out in 2007.

I later graduated boot camp in October and was quite surprised that my dad and sister, Megan, made it out to see me graduate.  My dad had told me he had court on the day I was scheduled to graduate and I had spent the last few weeks at boot camp thinking I’d be the only one there without their immediate family attending.  My grandmother and her boyfriend were there as well and it AMAZES me how they didn’t let on that my dad and sister were going to be there, too.

Boot Camp

After boot camp, I went home and took my leave before heading down to Camp Lejuene to complete a month long stint called Marine Corps Combat Training.  We were staying at Camp Geiger and like everyone else, I pretty much ate and ate to stay awake in our death by Powerpoint training sessions.  I will tell you I don’t remember much except for being utterly exhausted all the time.  On the day I graduated, someone had to keep reminding me to stop closing my eyes during the graduation ceremony and I was relieved when it was all over.

MOS (military occupational school) wasn’t all that exciting of an adventure for me.  I was stuck in Ft. Leonardwood, Missouri until we graduated in March 2004.  I was studying to become a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense Specialist.  The highlight for me was the fact that unlike the other two females in our group I could actually run well.  It made me feel a bit better since to this day, I still can’t get a Sanator (piece of decontamination equipment) to function.  I really did not pick my MOS all that well considering that wearing a gas mask makes me feel like I’m running out of air (I have a huge fear of suffocating to death).

From March 2004 to August 2004, I lived in one of the barracks for Headquarters Battalion in Camp Margarita on Camp Pendleton (California).  I will try and get photos for you in the future of my room because you share a room with other Marines just like a dorm room.

From August 2004 to February 2005, I served in Iraq and my base was just outside of Ramadi.  I really enjoyed my first Iraq deployment.  It was a unique experience that I never want to forget and I took about seven 35mm cameras with me so I wouldn’t forget.  I was pretty fortunate that I only knew one person who was killed while I was there; other friends of mine have not been lucky and have had to say goodbye to a lot of people.

The front of my barracks (first deployment)

I met my husband I’d like to say in May of 2005 but we didn’t start dating until October 14th, when we went to Barnes and Noble for the first time together.  We have been known to spend HOURS book shopping.  I transferred to 3rd Marine Division in March 2006 and deployed with MAG-16, one of their subordinate units, on July 14, 2006  to a base outside of Al Asad, Iraq (the day I earned my Good Conduct medal).  Thomas and I had gotten married June 23, 2006 so heading off on this deployment wasn’t all that exciting.  I was gone until February 2007 when I came home on emergency leave after learning of Thomas’ father’s death.

View outside my barracks (Second deployment)

3939 Mesa Drive. Apt. 205, Oceanside, CA (September 2006-for Thomas; February 2007 for me through March 2008)

In my absence, my husband had secured us an apartment with the Villages of Monterrey in Oceanside, California.  Now this establishment calls themselves “luxury apartments” but I would not describe the experience as such.  Our first apartment according to Villages website was 728 sq. ft.  It was a one bedroom, one bathroom with a combined living room/dining room space, kitchen, and a balcony that faced the street.  We had one covered parking spot and parked the other car wherever we could find a space.  We had our first Christmas in that apartment; Thomas had been deployed most of 2008 and came home just prior to Christmas.  I spoiled him with a $400 Wii ( had to buy it after Black Friday on eBay) and he got me a butterfly necklace from Zales.  We got our first “kid” together, an English Bulldog that we named Molly January 2008 the day before I started my first school semester with Palomar College.

First Apartment Floor plan (728 sq. ft)

When the apartment next to us became vacant, we jumped on the opportunity to move in there.  And it was probably a very good thing we moved then because our first apartment had poorly sealed windows that started to develop a bunch of mold. Yuck!

3939 Mesa Drive. Apt. 206, Oceanside, CA (March 2008 to March 2009)

Miss Molly and Thomas 2008

Nothing too different on this one.  Our new place was a two bedroom, 854 sq. ft place that allows us more room to expand our growing family.  We got two more English Bulldogs (Toby and Gus) who are no longer a part of our family.  It was a busy year when we lived here; we were constantly on the go until Thomas got orders to attend Marine Corps Recruiters School.  We had been trying to purchase a condo but had to put that dream aside.

Apartment 2 Floorplan (854 sq. ft)

With the completion of Recruiters School, we moved to Cody, Wyoming.

801 15th St. Cody, WY (April 2009 to July 2012

This home was never really my favorite as far as style goes but there are a lot of memories here. This is the home where we welcomed our daughter and where we met our friends, Ken and Jacquie. We’ve hosted A’s birthday parties and dinner dates with our friends. Cody is where I have met a slew of my adult girlfriends; I know it sound crazy but living three years in one place is certainly new to me as an adult. Cody is VERY rural; think, population less than 10,000 people. It is a bit of a tourist trap since it’s cheaper to stay there than in Yellowstone National Park. (I’ve been to Yellowstone twice by the way; I highly recommend doing the northern loop since that’s where you’ll see more animals like buffalo, elk, and bears. I wasn’t impressed when we did the southern loop to see Old Faithful.)

The town was finally getting around to repairing a number of sidewalks before we left; a number of them had been broken by tree roots growing around them and were quite hazardous, in my opinion. Since the town isn’t too big, we had a fairly simple life compared to California. I’d go to the library with Avery quite frequently to see my friend, Katie, who works there in the children’s section. Avery and I would go on walks with my girlfriend, Carin, and once got to witness a fawn take its first steps. I’d go to Zumba classes taught by my girlfriend, Rosy, who emigrated here from the Dominican Republic. Our family hangout was definitely Granny’s Restaurant located on Sheridan Ave. The bacon there is incredible; I am not fond of the other diners in Cody but the Cakes and Eggs from Granny’s sustained me a lot during my pregnancy.

While the home we lived in didn’t suit our family’s needs all that well, the location was quite nice. We could walk to Sheridan Ave (our main street) in just a few short blocks. On Sheridan Ave, we had a liquor store and Walgreens so last minute essentials were always easy to come by. I was close enough to our church, The Living Fortress, that was established by our friend Ken’s dad. Ken’s mom, Connie, runs the local candy store, Cowtown Candy, and I must say, she makes toffee, fudge, and turtles that I adore (Turtles are my favorite, Connie!!) And if can you need an appliance repair, contact my friend, Ken. He and Jacquie own Your Appliance Man and it is because of their business that we met; Ken came out and repaired our fridge and from that day on, he, Jacquie, their kids, and Ken’s family have been part of our lives.

Connie and Avery at Cowtown Candy

And if you love movie theater popcorn, you’ll love the movie theater popcorn here even more. Bighorn Cinemas makes this kettle-cooked popcorn that is incredible covered in butter. Local “secret” for you too: you don’t need to see a movie to get the popcorn; just go in and order your popcorn to take home with you for your own movie night at home. We were informed of this secret some time ago and finally decided to indulge before we left; we did a marathon night of Smallville with a gluttonously large tub of popcorn just lovingly covered with melted butter. Mmmm. I miss their popcorn.

801 15th St. Nov. 2011

Now that I’ve let you in on my foodie weaknesses, I’ll tell you about the house. It was built in the 50’s and still has the original windows upstairs (which are very drafty in the winter). Being an older home, it was also plagued by spiders throughout the year, which I hope I never have to deal with again in a home. The wood siding just got repainted earlier this year and it has a one car detached carport as part of the property. There is a shed that we were never allowed to use and the sizable yard is fenced in by chain-link. There are a handful of lilac bushes and pine trees on the lot, a friendly rabbit who has taken refuge in the yard, families of birds that return each year (maybe not the same families..but always birds), and you have my friendly neighbor, Bob, next door. Inside the house you have a combined living room and dining space that has an “entry” established by wall with a cutout. On this same floor, you have two bedrooms, a full size bath, and a narrow galley kitchen. Going downstairs, you have a landing with an access door to the yard, a large open rec room, one full size bath, a storage room, and an “office” with another small room attached to it.

And that currently “ends” our home history. I am leaving out the details of my in-law’s place but later on when they sell the place, I’ll tell you all about it.

Sherwin-Williams ChipIt

I love going onto Real Simple’s website because I always find new and interesting things and today I found Sherwin-Williams ChipIt button.  You drag the button to your taskbar and can upload photos or use urls to get a paint scheme much like I’ve seen people use mood boards.  I’m going to play around with this feature a bit but here’s the first one I’ve created.

My “Entertaining” ChipIt

Rhode Island Home Memories

Mint Water Brook Lane, Portsmouth, Rhode Island (Temporary Stay)

My second cousin, Isabella, her mom, Dawnie, and I Christmas 2003 at my Aunt Judy’s house.

I’m omitting the house number as my family still lives in this home.

My aunt’s house that used to be my grandmother’s house.  Google didn’t recognize the address but that’s ok.  If you drove down this pothole studded dirt road, you’d find the place easily enough.  There aren’t a lot of houses on this street.

I will try and find more information about my aunt’s house for you after I discuss the issue with my family.  However, I will give you the information I already have now.  My grandmother had six children: Paul, Roger, Dennis, Judy, Michael, and my mom, Dawn; my Uncle Paul served in Vietnam and passed away last year; my Uncle Roger died when he was seventeen; and my mom passed away at thirty-four from lung cancer.  My grandmother also passed away from lung cancer; I believe she was seventy-one when she passed.  I was serving in Iraq when the I got the news of her passing.  My grandmother had a bit of a tough life; she was born fourteen years after her second brother and her mom, my Meme, wasn’t particularly close to her.  She put my grandmother in an orphanage twice when my grandmother was young; I have no real memories of my grandmother as she died when I was still young.  I think I was nine or so when she passed.

I don’t know the square footage of my aunt’s home but it has undergone changes over the years.  The home used to be surrounded by potato fields when my mom and her siblings grew up in the house but I can’t recall what’s around it now.  There are three bedrooms upstairs (one of which has a skylight) and I remember playing a lot of Mortal Combat with my siblings upstairs.  The downstairs porch that was an add-on was later turned into another bedroom.

I think of Christmas when I think of my aunt’s home.  We had a number of family get-togethers there. The staircase situates itself well to be the backdrop for the Christmas tree.  When you open the door, you are greeted with the stairs immediately in front of you (I KNOW….totally against the functions of Feng Shui but that’s the home’s design).  There is a octagon shaped window as you walk up the stairs on your right.  Downstairs, you have the living room on your left with the kitchen and combined dining space directly behind.  There is a single bathroom off the dining space with a laundry area; granted, it’s not my ideal home design to have a bathroom off the kitchen.  And the closed in porch now extra bedroom.

16 Bourbon Street, Portsmouth, Rhode Island (1997-1998)

My twin, Jennifer, my Uncle Paul, my grandmother (mom’s mom), my mom, and my older sister, Leslie at our 16 Bourbon St. home (Portsmouth, RI)

My family’s split level home; this one was quite the family favorite.  This four bedroom, one and a half bathroom, 1,276 sq. ft home on .37 acres was built in 1978.  Out back, there was a tri-level deck where my dad once killed a rat in the garage can using one of his golf clubs!  Haha.  But that house was pretty wonderful.  The backyard space was comfortable and fenced-in and my dad had space to attempt a tiny garden; the wild rabbits loved the kohl rabbi my dad planted and we had Blue Jays frequently in the front yard.  We had a Red Maple out front, too.  My sister, Leslie, and I thought the older guys that lived in the nearby apartment building were cute.

This was the home we lived in when my Uncle Den was promoted to Police Chief and my parents threw him a party.  This is the home where all my sisters and I got the chickenpox and my parents got us a dog out of pity.  Haha. We all thought our parents had gotten us a bunny because the dog has these long ears; turned out, we got a Basset Hound that we later named Buddy.  He got along well with our first dog, Smokey, from our California days.

When you walk into this home, you enter on the main floor; you walk into the living room with the dining space facing you, stairs to your left, and the kitchen off to the right of the dining space.  On the other side of the staircase, you have a short flight of stairs that leads down to the second level (a bedroom and half bath on this left). Going down from this level, you enter the recreation room that has a laundry space attached to it and a small utility room off of the laundry room.

My grandmother later left our family to live down in Florida with her boyfriend, Lew.  I was lucky enough to visit them in their home after my first deployment in Iraq.  My grandmother’s boyfriend absolutely dotted on her and it was great when they would work out a visit with me while I was attending Florida Southern College from August 2002 to May 2003 (prior to becoming a Marine).  My grandmother never became a “computer person” so when I went to visit her, we had quite an interesting time.  We would watch the home shopping network (one of her favorite activities after her cancer left her frequently bedridden) and I watched “Gone with the Wind” for the first time with her.

Pleasant St., Portsmouth, Rhode Island (My parents bought a home!) (August 23, 1998-the present for my family)

My twin and I in our shared bedroom post high school

My family still lives here so no giving away the house number.

This raised ranch has undergone some changes over the years as has my family.

This is my family home.  According to Zillow.com, it was built in 1962, is a 3 bedroom (there is a downstairs room that is currently used as a bedroom), 2 bath, 1,366 sq. ft home that sits on 0.47 acres.  When my family went to look at this house, we actually got to meet some of our neighbors, who we are still friends with today.

I was a high school freshman in 1998.  My twin and I lived in the downstairs room, which is technically not a bedroom as it doesn’t meet the code for bedroom height.  There is a laundry room downstairs that also has access to the two car garage.  We’ve had several holiday dinners at this home although I haven’t been home in years for the holidays.  Last year, I was back there interning with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service but left in the middle of November.

The holidays I remember most are still the last ones I had with my mom before she succumbed to lung cancer on June 9, 2000.  That last Thanksgiving we had taken a video of our time together; she had already lost her hair at that point so it’s still pretty upsetting to see those images because they don’t truly represent the woman my mom was back before cancer.  She had written journal entries to each one of us in our own composition books and mine mentioned how happy she was that everyone had pitched in that year.  I made an ice cream pie I learned to make in my culinary class.  I do think this is one of those times where we really tried to make it through the holidays with very little complaints.  Christmas was also the same; it was particularly touching when my mom broke down in tears over my twin’s excitement with her Christmas present that year, a parakeet.

Mom’s last Christmas with us.

My family has changed over the years after my mom’s passing on June 9, 2000.  My dad remarried and my step mom, Sue,  and my step siblings, Kyle and Kaitlan, moved into our home. Over the years, my dad and step mom have done several projects to improve the home to include painting, updating the flooring, and putting in the new deck out front.

Little Bit and I sitting on the new front deck my dad built (Nov. 2011)

The home suits everyone a little bit better now that my older sister, my twin, and I have moved out and the house isn’t so crowded.  My three younger siblings all have their own rooms, which reflect their very different personalities.  My older sister, Leslie, currently lives in Texas.  My twin, lives up the street from my dad in her own apartment. And before I ended up where I am now, I made the journey to Florida for college.  See you for the next blog post.

Every House Has Memories-The Early Years in California

One of my former coworkers (and friend) has an uncle who writes this wonderful blog about his life and the most recent post describes the home he grew up in that his mom recently moved out of this month and it reminded me so much of the fact that homes have histories and memories.  Sometimes, these houses are loved by one family but so often is the case, nowadays, homes will go through more than one family.  The blog’s author, David Stalling, is unsure of who will love the home he grew up in but he shares some of his fondest memories of his childhood home that I just wanted to share his story.  Here is the link if you want to read further into his home story:

David’s Blog

Reading his story reminded me of my own childhood.  I did not grow up in just one place.  I have lived in several places growing up and as an adult have continued on this journey.  It is my goal that in the next few years that we are established enough to purchase a home for my family and that my daughter can spend almost her entire childhood living in this one home.

Anyway, I wanted to give you some of my personal background so here are the places I have lived.  I will try to update the dates once I have verified them.  It’s been so long that I kind of have to remember this as best as I can.

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I was born in 1984 in Rhode Island but I don’t know the places we lived at prior to my family’s  move to California.

I promise to post photos later as I get them; I still have a bunch of stuff in storage right now.  Sorry!

1540 B. Terrace Pine Lane, San Diego, California (1986 or 1987-1996)

1540 B. Terrace Pine Lane Kitchen

1540 B. Terrace Pine Lane, San Diego, CA

Zillow.com has listed this residence as a 3 bedroom, 1 and a half bathroom, 1,087 sq. foot condo built in 1979 that sold for $310,000 on 3/29/2006.  It has previously been sold for $95,000 in June of 2000.

 

I don’t know exactly when my parents moved our family into this place but my dad, mom, and three sisters lived here.  My dad, my stepfather, moved in with us in 1988; my biological father was barely a presence in my life when I was younger and hasn’t been part of my life for years now.  When you walked into the condo you had the living room on your left with the half bath along the back wall, the dining room was on the right and the kitchen was located back behind the dining room space.  Up the stairs you had the bathroom on your immediate right (access was also available from the Master bedroom), next door was for the Master bedroom, and you had the two remaining bedroom (one on your right) and the other directly on the opposite end of the upstairs hallway.

Looks like we were having a good time.

Living directly across from my parents’ home was our neighbors, Rosy (the mom), Tammy and Angie (her daughters) Livington.  And let me tell you if you want a neighbor who will feed you all the time, live next to an Italian family.  They were wonderful friends to my parents and an extended family for us as my parents’ families lived in South Dakota and Rhode Island.  They were quite an argumentative bunch but still wonderful people.  We had the chance one time to meet some of their relatives who came out from Italy for a visit.  My dad took us all out on a tour of one of the aircraft carriers and ended up leading us around a bit because the tour guide didn’t know the ship as well as my dad, who being in the Navy at the time, had his fair experience of being on aircraft carriers.

We ended up moving out of this place sometime after an individual(s) tried setting our shared garage on fire.  I remember my parents thinking the target was actually the old lady who served as landlord for the premises as her condo was located directly above the garage.

1176 Thalia St. ,Imperial Beach, CA (1996-1997)

Moving on up in the world.  Leaving the condo behind, my parents found this home in a safer neighborhood.  During the time that we lived here, my grandmother (my mom’s mother) moved in with us after my grandfather passed away.  I remember my grandmother having severe social anxiety during the early part of her staying with us; she used to have such bad panic attacks we couldn’t even get her to go into the grocery store with us.  It did make for a funny experience though when us girls bought her a Mother’s Day gift (if I remember correctly, also using her own money) and then getting back into the car “screaming” at her that she couldn’t turn around.

My sisters, Megan (the little one), Leslie (the other one), Jennifer (my twin), and I in our dining room.

This 1,305 sq. ft home built in 1976 was a single story home with a two car garage and a sizable backyard (5,223 sq ft lot) compared to the tiny patio at the condo.  It sold for $224,500 back in 2001 (data is from Homes.com).  Walking into the home you had the living room on your right and walking down a narrow hallway, you had the dining space on your immediate left and the kitchen on the far left of the home (entrance into the garage from this space).  On your right, you have the Master bedroom (I believe with its own bathroom).  Going down the hallway, you have the first space bedroom on the left (it became my grandmother’s room after she moved in), a bathroom on your right, and two bedrooms at the end of the hallway (one on each side).

My mom would do her dictation work for her job out in the garage; she had a remnant of carpet out there to make it more comfortable and would also do her workout routine out there, sometimes with us working out as well.  The woman who quickly became my mom’s best friend, Melissa, would come over frequently for their chats.  Her and her husband, Nick, had struggled with infertility when we meet them but over the course of a number of years, they ended up welcoming three daughters into their family.  Melissa’s family came out from the Philippines one summer and I remember thinking how crazy it was that her nieces were “freezing” in our hot California climate.  Now that I’m older and have realized that there ARE places hotter than California in the summer, my childhood perception seems very naive.

Mom in her favorite seat in the house; her day always started at the kitchen table.

Our neighbors became an even more crucial link in our extended family after my dad began to suffer from Pancreatitis.  The problem became so severe that my dad was forced to be medically separated from the Navy.

Another tangent, if you don’t mind because it’s a great story, is that I was in the middle of my eighth grade year when we left here.  My older sister, my twin, and I had been going to school in the Coronado School District.  Since we were outside the school boundaries, my parents were paying to “rent” an apartment (really a room in an apartment) in Coronado to use as our address to go to school there.  I loved the experience, for the most part.  Coronado Middle School was in a beautiful location and I ran into a girl that I used to know at Nicoloff Elementary School.  It was the strangest thing but cool nonetheless.  My twin became friends with a bunch of girls, who quickly became my friends as well and we have a great experience, for once, having a shared group of people that got along with both of us.

With us living outside of the school boundaries, we rarely did anything after school in Coronado unless it had to deal with school projects, dances, and the occasional sleepover.  I never had someone come to our home because we didn’t actually live in Coronado.  My mom would drive my sisters and I to school out there and it was such a neat experience; we’d typically stop at Vons and get those glazed individually wrapped cinnamon buns that are incredibly horrible for you to eat.  Haha.  I am still tempted by their deliciousness.

Spreckels Park (photo courtesy of City of Coronado’s website)

Coronado will always be a place of memories for me.  It was such a good experience . I loved getting to visit Spreckels Park.  I loved how my sixth grade science teacher had baby chicks in her classroom.  I did so many unique homework and classroom assignments.  It was during this time period that Dolly the Sheep was cloned (I got the second highest grade in my class on my project for this subject). One of my teachers taught us about slavery but taping a section on her classroom floor and making us squeeze ourselves in that section as best as possible to represent the tight quarters slaves had to endured.  We wore Physical Education uniforms; they consisted of a heather grey shirt with the school’s name and a blocked off section to write our names (no way for someone to steal your uniform and wear it as their own!) and blue shorts, also with a name label spot.  We read A Thousand Paper Cranes to learn about the aftermath of the bombing Japan.  One of my classmates wrote a story for an assignment about a man who was illiterate that I still remember quite vividly.  I had two classmates with names I absolutely love-Thalia (Ta-Lee-A although I’ve seen it with the “H” being pronounced) and Xochitl (S-oh-cheel).  I have so many memories of the people I knew then but I am not sure if those people remember me from that short period of time they were a part of my life.

Anyways, onward to Rhode Island. See you in the next blog entry.

I PROMISE I’m not Slacking Off.

Sorry, I must admit I don’t want to take this long getting around to the blog post I owe you but it is something that’s taking some time.  I am in the process of writing you a true blog entry about the places I’ve lived in my life and it’s more time-consuming than I had originally anticipated.

While I haven’t been slacking off on writing that post for you all, I have been slacking off on a ton of other things.  Working out.  Really making dinner, not just the frozen pizza kind.  Working out….yes, I said it before but I feel HORRIBLE about letting myself get out of shape.

When I’m gainfully employed, it seems so much easier to designate time for myself.  For the most part, my life is currently consumed with my job hunt (currently sitting at 40 positions I’ve applied for since December 23rd) and it’s incredibly frustrating that I worked hard on earning two Bachelor’s degrees and STILL can’t find someone to hire me.

I don’t want to bore you too much with my unemployment woes so here’s some goodies for you. By the way, listening to The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson. Seriously, he was a strange person but such an INCREDIBLE singer.

Goodies (ENJOY)

The Broken Plow (home renovation blog….a find of mine today)

Curtains for Miss A’s room. Too gorgeous and cheap, too. $14.99 from Ikea (Eivor curtains)

I scored these Francoise stripe pillow cases last year from Pottery Barn. However, I am still working on how to incorporate into my home design scheme.

Color #1: Contented

Here’s what I want for the main color in our home.

This image is courtesy of Ladies’ Home Journal July 2012 issue.

As I’m writing this post to you, we are sitting here watching “Property Brothers”.  We JUST found out that butcher block comes in different colors than just that natural piney look….so…..we might just be considering this stuff in our home.  Haha.  WE’RE SO EASY!!!

Model Scouting

I’ve been a little hesitant to be 100% honest with you all about how much house hunting I like to do but today we went out on another great adventure and it was too wonderful not to share.  Since our move down here in July, we have checked out quite a number of neighborhoods.

We have visited Hastings Farms as I’ve told you in a previous post (a William Lyons community) down in Queen Creek, Layton Lakes in Gilbert (Lennar Homes), Bella Via Maestro in Mesa (both the Richmond American Homes and Pulte Homes),  and driven up to the Spaces at Evans Ranch (Shea Homes) in Gilbert. Spaces was by far a great disappointment to us because the front is designed to look modern but if you look it’s just a facade. The sides have a regular roof like all the other homes in the community; we happened to have visited on a Friday only to find out that they didn’t open til noon. We had other places to go so we didn’t wait around to look inside; the upside to that little outing is that we found out the development is right next to Basha High School (one of Chandler District’s schools that we liked).

However, the builder that has stood out to use the most is Meritage Homes.  We have visited their Villages at Val Vista neighborhood (Gilbert) not too long ago and today went to their Lyon’s Gate community.  The two story models in both communities had mountain views on three sides, which I love.  We did prefer the location of the homes we saw today versus the one at Villages but honestly, I think when the time is right any Meritage home community in Gilbert will suit us well.

Today’s adventure was mostly to scout out design ideas and compare floor plans. At Villages at Val Vista, the Sierra was our favorite but we also like the Tamarisk.  At Lyon’s Gate, we liked the Palo Brea model, but at 2,778 sq. feet it is still a large home for our family.  One of their slightly smaller options, the Arizona Ash, is likely to fit us better since it’s 2,413 sq. feet.

The community has about twenty more two story home sites available so we would have to purchase a resale if we bought into this community; right now, the salesperson we spoke to today said the community is selling about four to five homes a month so it’s very likely the community will be bought out by the end of this year or early next year.  It’s not such a big deal because there are a number of infill properties throughout Gilbert and Meritage still has plans to build other communities.

My husband did fall in love with the idea of modern touches throughout the home after we saw some interesting upgrades to the models we saw today.  The Sissoo model has shown the den enclosed with frosted panel doors on a track system, which gives it a very modern feel.  We were discussing today that depending on the type of home we might get we would consider including modern features into our home.  Thomas likes the idea of a glass raised bar top on the kitchen island (also featured in the Sissoo model).  We both like the idea of glass banister panels with stainless steel posts.  I’m sure our ideas will continue to evolve the more homes we go and scout so please keep reading.

-Cheryl

The frosted door panels in the Sissoo model (2,088 sq. ft)

Here you can see the glass raised bar top and a good view of the frosted door panels from the kitchen. (Photo courtesy of Meritage Home’s Lyon’s Gate website.)

Masculine Master

I don’t know about you but I’m always a bit more charmed by a home when I walk into a space that is designed with a more masculine feel. I don’t want frills, flowers, bright feminine colors, or too much fluff that expresses not only does a man NOT live in this space, it’s unlikely he’s ever even visited.

When we visited the home model that has become our favorite floor plan, I enjoyed the fact that the home was more masculine in its design.  One of our favorite things about it as well was the slate floors; my husband loved them so much he decided that he wanted slate floors in our own home.  We finally found a color we liked called Ember Ash by American Slate and this floor is going to be used to set the tone in our home.

For the master, our goal is to use reclaimed wine barrel planks to cover the ceiling and engineered wood beams in a perpendicular design to create an emphasis that the space is older than it is truly.  I have also developed a love for Restoration Hardware’s linen bedding collection after going to their store in person at the Providence Place Mall in Providence, Rhode Island. Funny story about that adventure, too.

I was there with my step mom, Sue, and she pointed out the actor James Woods to me. And I kid you not that I totally spaced on who she was talking about until she kept talking about him and then I placed him as the voice of Hades.  Seriously, I should have recognized that connection a lot sooner because I tend to speak as quickly as his character did in the movie.  I still think my favorite part of the film was when he says, “Whoa. Is my hair out?”

OK tangents aside, I do want to create a nice home for my family. And given the fact that men are so often forgotten in the design process, I have come up with a scheme that is perfectly masculine for our master bedroom.  I figure my husband isn’t getting a man cave because if it’s between Call of Duty and me, I’m going to lose out; he’s getting the (mostly) manly bedroom instead.  And I’m even giving him a pretty good say in the space so hopefully he will leave more of the kitchen design up to me.  Fingers crossed, people!

1. Garment-Dyed Textured Linen Bedding Collection ($59-$279, Restoration Hardware)

2. Aubusson Rug (wool) ($4,125, The Rug Company)

3. Cooperage wood floor planks (Fontenay Woods)

4. 18th Century Lion’s Head Tables ($795 each, Restoration Hardware)

5. Ember Ash slate floor tiles, 24″by 24″ (American Slate)

When the Little Things Come Together

I must admit that I am not always as tech savvy as I would like to be and I’ve struggled to learn some of the finer points of blogging like making a collage.  Yesterday, after letting my frustration get the best of me, I Googled different ways to teach myself this task and sure enough, found out about Picmonkey.  With a little bit of effort, I have now learned how to make my first collage.  I’ve been eagerly looking forward to the day when I can lump my ideas together to share my design sense so today I am sharing with you some ideas for my daughter’s bedroom.
As well, NO SURPRISE TO ME, I have changed my mind again about a home.  I don’t want to talk too much about it right now since a home purchase is still likely to be a bit down the road.  My husband, daughter, and I made the transition to Arizona in the middle of July (I am probably one of the only people that welcomed this intense heat but living in Wyoming was not warm enough for me) and have been scouring the area for the right neighborhood.  After we moved down here, I finished my sex offender population map for the areas of Chandler, Gilbert, and Mesa.  Originally, Queen Creek had been on the list as well but after driving down to the Hastings Farms development, we were really turned off by the commute.
I will go on later about all these wonderful changes and plans for my family but let me share with you my first blog collage. 🙂

Girly girl room with just a touch of pink.

Item Wishlist

1. Capiz Pendant (Pottery Barn, $199)

2. Cherry Blossom Canvas Print (Shades of Light, $299)

3. Seagrass Lidded Basket, Burgundy/Orange (Pier 1 Imports, $19.95)

4. Pink Throw Blanket (Anthropologie, no longer available so I might have to find this one on eBay)

5. Monson Moon Cushion (Holly’s House, £65)

6. Pearl and Gold Mirror (Pier 1 Imports, $179.95)