Home sweet, wonderful, outdated home...

Party ovah' here, party ovah' there- we got the house!!

It was a bit touch and go for a while, but our offer was finally accepted!

We are in awe of how it all went down, and are praising God for His perfect timing and provision.  What a blessing this house is!  HUGE ENORMOUS GIGANTIC thanks to my Aunt Karla, aka. world famous realtor... lets just say without her wisdom, experience, and support we would not have this house.

We had the inspection last night.  I had NO idea what to expect, but the inspection was actually a very enjoyable experience.  Scott, our inspector, was so down to earth and funny, which really put us at ease and helped us to enjoy the night. AND, he ordered a pizza for the three of us to share, which is a sure-fire way to my heart. :)

This is what I was doing while the menfolk were inspecting:

Picking colors, babayy!!

We can not stinking wait to get in there and put our stamp on the place!!

Here are a couple (read: TONS) of pictures I snapped of the interior in it's pre-philipandshainatreatment state.  It goes without saying that these are BEFORE pictures.... =)   

MAIN FLOOR:

Front living room- first room you see when you come through the door

blurry pic of the fireplace.  It is a pass through and is shared by this room :

our favorite room in the house... beams on the ceiling,  fireplace, skylight...

other side of room- opens out to an enclosed porch!

Skylight!!

the enviable carpeted kitchen and dining area....

I actually really like the pendant light.  I have big plans for this space... stay tuned. 

view from kitchen to dining area

worlds teensiest bathroom off the kitchen

awesome lift on the toilet...

door to garage, door to basement, bathroom around the corner

bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

 bathroom... carpeted, naturally.

I actually kinda like the bathroom wallpaper... but not enough to keep it. 

"Swans in love"; artist unknown

Anyone want a wreath?  It has a $2 sticker on it, but we think it is priceless...

BASEMENT:

Jealousy inducing carpet

worlds second teensiest bathroom under the basement stairs

favorite feature: this beautiful wall 'mural' with custom lighting.  If you look closely, you will see a seam down the middle- it is a mirror image of itself on either side...

Score!  Another fireplace!! And a floral sofa!!  Double Score!!

Narnia lights and a sweet canning station...

Love this old thang

Our very own Detroit Jewel!!  Triple score!!  These things are honestly quite impressive.

In all seriousness, we LOVE the house and it's quirks and are SO excited to live there.  It is about 30 minutes away from my family, which is the only sad part of this whole picture and will certainly take a bit of getting used to... but we really feel that this is where we have been led, and so we will make the most of the longer commute.   We absolutely love love love the location in all other respects... it is close to all of our favorite hangouts: coffee shops, restaurants, parks, ANTHROPOLOGIE... oh my gosh.  I am going to be 5 minutes from an Anthropologie.  Pinch me!!   Who knows, my fam may move out to our side of town eventually anyways.  

Now we just can't wait to close so we can start tackling projects!  We have so many grand ideas swimming around in our heads for this place.  It will be a big job that will definitely keep us busy for a while, but we are confident it will be worth it!!


Have a great weekend!!
xoxo

Shaina

Moody Mondays.... {from scary to airy)

Happy Monday to y'all!!

 

I hope you had a lovely sunshiney weekend! 

We kicked our weekend off with a fabulous dinner and much cherished fellowship over at B-ma's house... we absolutely love her, her hubby ,and their beautiful babes.  They are true-blue freinds who love God with passion and zeal and live their lives with such zest and contageous joy... they are honest, encouraging, humble, caring, loving... and funny as all getout.  We are truly blessed to call them our friends.  (and blessed to eat Jana's famous cooking :)

 

Saturday consisted of working, and afterwords vegging on the sofa with my man and some Sherlock Holmes BBC action. 

 

On Sunday after church we went through the house a second time... and PUT IN AN OFFER!

 

We are supposed to find out tonight if they accept/counter our offer.... eeeek!!  I don't even know what to think.  I don't want to get too excited right now, because there is always a chance that it will not work out... but goodness, it would be pretty cool if it does.

SO excited to see what happens... whether or not we get this house, we know that there is a perfect plan unfolding that we get to be a part of!

 

 

In light of all of this, I have been very neglectful of this poor little blog lately.  At least im stickin' to my Moody Monday series...  that counts for something, right?

 

I have been playing on polyvore like crazy in the past few days, trying to get my creative juices flowing and forming a vision for this house, should it become our home.

One room that I would be VERY excited to transform is the main bathroom in all it's carpeted, wallpapered, flesh- colored tile glory. 

 

I would show you a picture, but I don't want to give you bad dreams.

 

Below is the mood board I threw together for the space, hoping to turn it from scary to airy.



bathroom inspiration

I would love to find (or have my dad build) a vintagey, Mid Century looking buffet in an oiled walnut finish that we could use as the bathroom vanity.  Im thinking we could get a slab of marble for the top and some vessel sinks... and of course some sweet vintage mirrors and swing arm sconces to go above.  I would LOVE to do either white or grey- veined marble penny tile on the floors and a beautiful, pale, seafoamy gray for the walls.  I would want to complete the look with a vintage, possibly overdyed, kilim rug and a clean graphic shower curtain.  (which would replace the oh-so-lovely exsisting glass shower doors, complete with a pair of etched swans....) 

If we do get the house, it would likely be a while before we could tackle this project, but at least I have a plan should that day come!  =)

xoxoxo
Shaina

 

~valentines day~

Happy Valentines day everyone!!!  

~me and my super hott valentine~

I love valentines day.  

There.  I said it.

I know that some people cant stand the holiday and claim it is  just a way for hallmark to make more money, but I really enjoy the chance to celebrate love, and frankly I will take any excuse to eat more chocolate.  

I also think its a great time to reflect on and praise the One who is Love, and to remember what love really means... and what Love did.  It's SO much more than warm-fuzzies and hand holding,  red and pink,  chocolate and love songs, frills and froofyness.   (yup. froofyness.  that's my word and I'm stickin' to it.)

 Speaking of what love means, this song is amazing:

..."For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:38 - 39

..."In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  This is Love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."  1 John 4:9-11

Have a really wonderful day, friends.  Know that you are loved SO BIG today and each day.

XOXOXOXOXO,

Lily

PS.  this is totally random, but my valentine sent me this link and I almost peed my pants laughing.... he travels a LOT this time of the year, and this pretty much sums up how weird and awkward I feel when he is gone.

Moody Mondays... {romance}

Good Morning sunshines!  

It's Monday, and you know what that means...time for another mood board!

With Valentines being only three days away, I have been dreaming of romance....  and of course a cozy, romantic hideaway. ;)

via Polyvore

Frock and I had fun playing around with this one.  We wanted to create a sophisticated, cozy, and sensual atmosphere, and tried to balance the masculine and feminine elements. 
Of course we had to include candles, a fireplace, some fur, a champagne bucket, and some volumes of poetry. ;)   

What is your idea of a romantic hideaway?

daddy long-legs

Today is a very special day.
This is the day that our family gets to celebrate the life of a truly incredible man.  He is the irreplaceable 'daddy long-legs' to us kids ...  handsome husband to our mother... and a talented woodworker named John to the rest of the world. 

Birthday boy!!

I am so fortunate to have this man for my father.  

He has been, and continues to be, an amazing Christ-like example to each of us.   He treats everyone with respect and integrity, regardless of their 'status'.   He truly lays down his life for his family, working his hind-end off to provide while always making time for morning Biblestudy, ping-pong with my little brother, cigars with my mister, coffee with me and my sister, date nights with my mom... etc.  He is probably the most patient, strong, gracious, faithful, and genuine person I have ever encountered, not even exaggerating.  


Happy Birthday Daddy long-legs!!!
 I love you SO very much.

Thank you for being the man that you are.

I pray that you have a wonderful, blessed year!
...and may you have many many MANY more... :)

Random...

Good afternoon, dear readers.

Today- because it is a randomly warm and rainy winter Tuesday, because I have a lot of random crap on the brain, and because I don't feel like cleaning the bathroom or grocery shopping- I shall assemble my random thoughts in list form for your reading enjoyment. (...and lets be honest, who doesn't love to read random lists? Actually, don't answer that...) 

photo of Florence, Italy

taken by the talented Frock, via

1. I loved this movie. I cried my eyes out like a little pansy, but not necessarily because it was sad. It was mostly because of the powerful message of grace, and the incredible talent that I was beholding. These tears were in the same catagory as beautiful-sunset tears and listening-to-Jackie-Evancho-sing tears and eating-amazing-food tears.

Am I the only one who gets misty-eyed over an incredible culinary experience?

2. Speaking of culinary experiences, my mister and I had an epic one this weekend. Our lives are forever changed. The sky has turned a deeper shade of blue, and the future looks ever so bright.

Why? Cheddar Cheese Grits. Thats why.

I want to eat them every day for the rest of my life. I'm hardly kidding. Along with Buttermilk Baconcakes.

Oh. my. goodness.

 3. I need to get out of this peculiar cooking rut I am in. I have literally been cooking nothing but soup for the past couple weeks.... and usually it is of the pureed variety. Poor Mister. His wife keeps feeding him baby food.  Maybe someday I can learn to cook like the famous Bengali Mama....  a girl can dream, right?

 4. I am so excited to have a house of our own to play with, but I'm truly so thankful for where we are right now.   I love our little rental and I know leaving it will be bittersweet.

5. Currently listening to (and loving!) this.

6. I loved this post about hospitality. Actually, I just love her whole blog and have been a faithful reader for the past few years. God has seriously used her words to challenge and break my heart in so many ways... my dreams and prayers for the future definitely look a bit different because of this.

 7. If you are bored, you should read the reviews for this. Too stinkin' funny!


 8. I am looking into this program... anyone have experience/ thoughts?

9. I have developed a dangerous new habit of adding vanilla ice-cream to my coffee.   Send help quickly!


 10. Do yourself a favor and watch this video: 

Well, I'm off to figure out more ways to put off cleaning the bathroom.  Wish me luck!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

xoxo

Snow day

Today was a snow day. 

 It was reading in front of the fireplace with a steaming mug of coffee.  It was cozy slippers and yoga pants, topped off with a sock bun and a little mascara for good measure.  It was hanging with my sister, sharing laughs and tears and leftover chili.  It was attempting yoga, while chuckling about Sir Rodney Yee's word choices...."move your buttock flesh downward as you breeeathe...".   It was burning three bags of popcorn only to discover that they had expired, uh, SEVEN years ago.   It was Disney movies and soft blankets, afternoon naps and texts that made me smile.  

Today was unexpected, blissfully slow, and beautiful.  

Today was a gift and I am so thankful for it.

xo,

Shaina

Much-Afraid

Link party over at Jones Design Company! 

"All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and it's most splendid achievements are always those which no one else knows anything about, or can only dimly guess at.  Every inner response of the human heart to Love and every conquest over self-love is a new flower on the tree of love."

                                                                   - the Shepherd to Much-Afraid,  'Hinds Feet on HighPlaces' by Hannah Hurnard

So, there's this book i'm reading right now.   (thanks to my friend, the resplendent Bengali Mama, for the recommendation :)  It is really hitting a nerve, and in a good way.   I have about 37 pages bookmarked (obsessive much?) and I'll be darned if there arent 37 more by the weekend.  There are gems in this book, and I do not want to forget their beauty and richness.  

Written in a simple, approachable manner, the book follows crippled Much-Afraid as she meets the Good Shepherd, who woos her and calls her to take the difficult journey to the High places. The Shepherd has provided two guides to accompany her up the mountain.  Suffering, and her twin sister Sorrow.  Yikes!  
The story is similar to 'Pilgrims Progress', in that Much-Afraid must come face to face with many 'foes' on the journey.  Pride, Self- Pity, Lonliness, Resentment... all these the Shepherd helps her to leave behind.   
So, so good. 

Here's the thing- keeping secrets is not something I enjoy.   Especially when they are good ones. Therefore, I have unfortunately taken to making poor innocent people read excerpts of this book upon entering my home whilst I watch awkwardly, waiting for them to laugh or cry or break out in song or something.  

And now, lucky for you, we are going to pretend this blog is my house, and you just came over.  

***

Oh my word, Hi!  Its SO good to see you thanks for coming over loveyournewhairdoblahblahblah oh my gosh READ THIS:  

(... you think I'm kidding.  how cute.  Im not.)

***

....."This" said he, motioning toward the first of the silent figures, "is named Sorrow.  And the other is her twin sister, Suffering.".....Much-Afraid's cheeks blanched and she began to tremble from head to foot.  She felt so like fainting that she clung to the Shepherd for support.

  "I can't go with them," she gasped.  "I can't!  I can't!!  O my Lord Shepherd, why do you do this to me?  How can I travel in their company?  It is more than I can bear.  You tell me that the mountain way itself is so steep and difficult that I cannot climb it alone.  Then why, oh why must you allow Sorrow and Suffering to be my companions?"

A strange look passed over the Shepherd's face as he listened to this outburst, then looking at the veiled figures as he spoke, he answered very gently,..."Remember your promise.  Will you still trust me, Much- Afraid?  Or do you wish to turn back to the Valley, to all your Fearing relatives, to Craven Fear himself?"

The choice seemed terrible.  Fear she knew only too well, but Sorrow and Suffering had always seemed to her the most terrifying things she could encounter.  How could she go with them and abandon herself to their power?

She looked at the Shepherd and suddenly knew... if she were unfit to love and be loved by anyone else in the world, yet in her trembling, miserable little heart, she did love him.  Even if he asked the impossible, she would not refuse.  

"Others have gone this way before me," she thought, "and they could even sing about it afterwards.  Will he who is so strong and gentle be less faithful and gracious to me, weak and cowardly though I am, when it is so obvious that the thing he delights in most of all is to deliver his followers from all their fears and take them to the High Places??" 

She replied, "Do I wish to turn back?  O Shepherd, to whom should I go?  In all the world I have none but you.  Help me to follow you, even though it seems impossible.  Help me to trust you as much as I long to love you."

... He replied softly, "Fear not, Much-Afraid, only believe.  My Peace I leave with you.  My Joy be fulfilled in you.  Remember that I pledge myself to bring you to the High Places at the top of these mountains and that you shall not be put to shame and now 'till the day break and the shadows flee away, I will be like a roe or a young hart on the mountains."

Then, before Much-Afraid could realize what was happening, he was leaping up the mountains, springing from height to height, going on before them....

Excerpt (slightly paraphrased) from 'Hinds Feet on High Places' by Hannah Hurdard

I am sure a lot of us can relate to poor little Much-Afraid.  I know I most certainly can.   I have had a pretty easy life so far, and Suffering?  Sorrow?   They scare the living daylights out of me.  I will stay right where I am, thank you very much.  The thought, no, the promise that these will at times accompany us on this narrow road makes me want to run back to that familiar valley.  However, I have been called to the High Places by my loving Sheperd. Whether Sorrow or Suffering accompany me, I know that He has gone before me.  He has made a way for this cripple to journey up the mountain.  

..."The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."     

Romans 8:16-18, NIV  (emphasis mine :)

..."Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  

John 14:27, NIV

I'm so glad you came over today.  Come back soon, okay?  Then I can force some more reading on you!  That sounds fun, right?  Right??

xoxo

....thoughts for the new year....

flowerlove

 Confession: I did not make a resolution this year.

{gasp!}

Sure, I could come up with a list 37 miles long of things I should 'work on' or habits I could tweak, but making resolutions and proceeding to break them has not proved to be an edifying practice for me.   

 

 It turns out I'm in good company- there are apparently lots of other folks who want a simple focus for the year ahead.   It seems the New Years 'word' is replacing the resolution for many across blog-land.

This year I decided to jump on the 'word' bandwagon.

 Its a nice wagon.  I rather like it. 

As my good friend Anne Shirley would say, 'there is so much more scope for the imagination'. 

At the start of the year I took some time to reflect and pray and listen.  As I did so, i realized how withered and dry I had become, and the words 'refresh' and 'revive' began to settle into my mind.  Spiritually, relationally, creatively... I realized that I have been letting my passion shrivel up in so many areas.  My prayer for 2013 is for much needed refreshment and revival to happen in my own heart, and that I might be able share that refreshment with other thirsty souls.  

'Refresh':  to restore strength and animation to, revive; to freshen up; to restore or maintain by renewing supply; replenish, arouse, stimulate; to run water over or restore water to, to restore well- being and vigor 

'Revive': to return to consciousness or life; to become active or flourishing again; to restore from a depressed, inactive, or unused state; bring back

Do you have a word (or two :) for the new year?  Im all ears!

Hello there!

My mister and me

Thanks so much for stopping by!  
Right now you might be saying "Shaina, what is the deal with your blog's weirdo name?".
I will tell you!
Hock and Frock are my mom and grandma.  Lily... that's me.
We really like to decorate and create together, and somewhere along the way (none of us quite remembers how or why) we became Hock, Frock, and Lily.   
Utterly nonsensical, yes, but also sentimental and a little catchy.

This blog is going to be a place for me to *attempt to* organize my rather abstract thoughts, chronicle my design dreams, relay adventures in cooking and entertaining, share encouragement, record memories, and hopefully meet some friends... and maybe learn how to NOT take 3 hours writing a single post.  Who knows, maybe I'll even get Hock and Frock to join in the blogging fun from time to time!

Wulp, here goes nothin! 
(nothing but 3 hours worth of typing and deleting, that is)

-Shaina, aka. Lily