Office Space

Hi Y'all!  Today I thought I would share the progress of our office.  We are still working on the details and final decor, but it is coming along :)  So exciting!  We found Seth's new desk on Craiglist for $130.  It is an antique desk and we LOVE it.  When we were out shopping at the furniture stores, we saw so many desks similar to this and they were between $250 and $450.  I love Craigslist.  The first picture below shows the new desk without Seth's stuff, and the 2nd shows with. It is actually a perfect setup.  The computer cords are all in the closet and it's not cramped.  He also doesn't have to worry about a glare on his screen when he edits now.

The 3rd picture is the wall opposite of my desk and it has a cabinet with most of our art stuff in it.  The REALLY cool old wooden box on top is an antique toolbox we found on South Congress in Austin.  I am using it to store scrapbooking stuff :). 

The 4th picture is my new office setup.  I am still planning on hanging shelving and the chalkboard and frame on the wall above the desk, but haven't gotten there yet!  The drawers have more scrapbooking and art supplies in them.  This desk I also found on Craigslist last year for Seth.  It is custom made out of wood and gas piping and I LOVE it.  

The last picture is our wall of books.  This is probably my favorite part of the office.  Can't wait to completely fill it.  We're almost there.  

As you can tell, we love the collected look.  We like the mixture of the old and new.  There is something so cool about collecting pieces and not buying everything from Pier1.  It has taken us longer to get everything decorated because we are so particular about what we want.  Right now, aside from the collage wall we started, we only have one picture on the wall (a 5ft picture of a homeless man that Seth took).  I am so excited about finally getting things on the wall, but what is going to be so nice is that is will be pictures we have taken or artwork that we have created- not a generic painting or photo that you can buy in the store :) 

I hope to be finished with the office very soon, so I will post the final product soon!!  

With Love,
Deanna

Done With the DMV!

Hola!  I can't believe it's already been 5 days since my last post...sorry guys!  I have been a little busy.  Big news!  I got my California Driver's License!  I was actually really nervous that I wasn't going to pass the written exam... I didn't really know how different the driving laws were from Texas.  Fortunately, I passed and only missed 3 out of 36!  Yay!  

The DMV was surprisingly not too bad.  It was pretty funny though, the test was given basically on a scantron with a pencil.  It definitely seemed a little behind the times. 

In Austin, when I took my test (almost 10 years ago) I took it on a computer.  However, the last time I went to the DMV in Austin, I waited 2.5 hours just to get my license renewed.  The DMV in Austin does not let you make appointments and likes to have like 2 people working even though there are 10 windows.  In California, I was able to make and appointment and was in and out in about an hour, and took a test.  I will gladly take a pencil and paper test rather than a computer test if I can wait half the time! 

My picture on my license however will be my worst one ever!  So annoying. The lady was rushing me and it is WAY too close up.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.  

Now, I am officially Deanna Wimmer, everywhere!  I was almost, Deanna WILMER, because the DMV lady kept making mistakes when entering my information... 

We are making so much progress on the house and found a desk for Seth's section of the office (the closet) :)!  I have tons to share so I will be posting away this week! 

With Love,
Deanna

Oven Lovin'

       Hey Y'all!  I hope everyone is having a great week!  I woke up feeling a little sick this morning :( My throat is pretty sore.  Ew.  I rarely get sick so hopefully I'll get over it quickly!  I haven't been up to much, aside from playing house.  I have been cooking and baking and cleaning, I've got to keep up with my housewife duties :)  I will be sharing some of the delicious meals I've been making soon, but today I wanted to share my Blueberry Banana Bread I made yesterday, it is SO good!  Seth and I ate one whole loaf of it yesterday haha.  It's so moist, you don't even need to add butter before you eat it or warm it up...YUM!  

So here it is...

                                                            And here's the recipe...


Blueberry Banana Bread
(Yields 2 loafs)

2.5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1/4 C shortening
3/4 C Butter
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Almond extract
2 tsp honey
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
3 ripe bananas
4 large or 3 extra large eggs

Beat wet ingredients well. Mix in dry ingredients. Don't over mix. Fold in 2 Cups of Blueberries.

Pour half of the batter into each well greased loaf pan, then add a layer of cinnamon sugar, then pour remaining batter on top of the layer of cinnamon and sugar.  Top both with a good amount of cinnamon and sugar and bake for about 35 minutes at 350. 

I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think or how it turns out for you!  Please let me know if you have any questions!

I will be posting more recipes soon.  I am going to attempt to get my Driver's License on Friday!  I have to take a written test, so let's hope I pass :)

With Love,
Deanna

Keep Your Eyes on The Road

        So I just went on my very 1st solo outing to Staples, Radio Shack, the gas station, and Smart and Final.  It was actually not too bad.  I feel all grown up!  The thing about driving around here is that the traffic always sucks and the pedestrians and bicyclists that randomly cross the street.  The nice thing is that there is a million different ways to get anywhere, so you can kind of avoid most of the traffic. I made it safely without getting honked at and without getting lost!  Big achievement!  

      Driving here you realize, you can't have road rage because people are crazy.  In Texas, I may or may not have flipped a couple birds on a regular basis and said many choice words to the other drivers who could not hear me, but it is too scary to do any of that here.  I guess I will just have to get some patience and leave a lot earlier.

Making a left turn in L.A. is one of the harder things you're going to do in life.

~Mack, Grand Canyon

        One of the other scary things about venturing out alone is the sketchy people.  I've always hated going to gas stations alone because for some odd reason it seems to be where all the creeps hang out.  I swear someone always stares or yells things at me and it freaks me out.  Today however, the gas station was fine (besides me not knowing my zip code for my credit card...couldn't remember which zip code! Oy!), it was the rest of the places that were sketchy.  I had a really creepy guy following me around Staples and yes, I am positive he was following me.  Scary.  Then when I was leaving Radio Shack I had 2 guys walking behind me start yelling "Hey Miss, Excuse me Miss!".  I obviously pretended I didn't hear them, but since I was parked on the street, I had to wait for traffic to slow before I could get in my car while they were right behind me!  I don't know if I am overly afraid, but I don't care.  I've watched enough shows on Discovery ID to know not to trust people...especially in this city.

          As of today, I have officially been here for 2 weeks.  It still feels like vacation...minus all the housework  :)

With Love,
Deanna

Picture This

        Hey Y'all! I haven't had too much going on this week…but I'm trying to stay busy!  Seth and I have been trying to do some shopping for the house this week and we've been a little unsuccessful.  We are trying to find a new dresser for our master bedroom--apparently we have a lot of stuff and can't fit it in the closet or the current dresser.  We are specifically looking for a white lacquer dresser that is at least 5 ft. long, 2.5-3 ft deep, and 3-4ft. tall.  Apparently no one else wants a cool dresser like that because we can't find one.  Boo.  We have found some contenders that might work, so I'll keep you posted when we decide!  We are also looking for a desk to put in the closet, yes, the closet.  My sweet husband has decided that he will put a desk in the closet of the office for his computers and "stuff" and I can have the main office for my desk, scrapbooking, and craft stuff :)   I cannot wait to get the room finished!  We currently have an entire wall of floor to "almost ceiling" bookshelves and they are almost completely full of books.  We LOVE books.  

           Ahh I am so anxious to get the office finished….and all of the other rooms too.  I keep seeing people posting pictures of their homes and I can't wait to share ours.  

            I am so anxious to share, I have decided to share with you the current project we have started.  This is our new collage wall.  The pictures on the wall are all going to be black and white or sepia family photos.  We are so in love with vintage things and we have been so lucky to find all of these old photos of our family members.  We will also include a few photos that we have taken on our photo adventures.  All of the frames we have also collected over the past year from antique stores, garage sales, and family.   I will be sure to post pictures when we are finally complete!

I will start posting progress more regularly so be sure to check back in!

With love,

Deanna

Love in LA

     I have officially been a resident of Venice for 1 week and 1 day!  It has been quite the productive week.   I have unpacked all but 2 boxes!  Yay me!  I have reorganized the kitchen to make everything fit… we have a lot of crap…and by crap I just mean stuff :)  The most difficult part has proven to be squeezing both of our wardrobes into one closet.  Yikes.  The problem with Los Angeles is that there really isn't any seasons.  It's pretty much always 60's-70's and FREEZING at night.  Yes, FREEZING.  When you come from Texas, anything under 80 is cold.  We live about 7 blocks from the ocean and the Pacific Ocean is so cold that it makes a big difference in the temperature outside.  I'm learning to layer.  It's a little disappointing that people back in Texas keep posting about the 80 degree weather and going to the pool when I'm so cold here, but I know summertime will be better here- and it's not like it's snowing here... just cold. :/

       I have already been driving around, only twice by myself, but I'm getting comfortable!  I do hope that I continue to be a nice driver, unlike the drivers out here.  I am learning that you pretty much need to just stay in the lane you want to be in because NO ONE will let you over.  Thanks jerks.  I also have terrible road rage, but am learning that you can't really make it out here if you don't remain calm haha.  

        Cowboy and Seth both seem to enjoy me being here and I am adjusting to the "housewife" role for now.  It is so weird not working, we'll see how long it lasts!  It definitely has not set in that this is my home now and I think it will take a while.  

         I will try to start posting some of our fun organizing and decorating as we make some progress!  For now, here is one of our newly organized kitchen cabinets.

With Love,

Deanna

MOVING DAY!

      Today is THE day!  I am moving. Across the country!  Wow, I have waited so long for this day.  Seth and I have now been together oven 3 1/2 years and today will be the 1st day we actually live in the SAME city.  It is so exciting and so nerve racking at the same time.  I will be moving into his house and am hoping to not overwhelm him with my OCD nature.  I am a little bit of a neat freak.  Not always, but most of the time.  So far, Seth seems to not mind it, I just hope it stays that way.  

      I am most nervous about driving in this crazy city.  Pedestrians and cyclists everywhere…even more than in Austin (hard to believe).  Not only that, but they cross in the middle of big streets ALL the time.  All of the street parking also makes it a little difficult to see if anyone is ever coming, either direction.  Wish me luck!

With Love,

Deanna

Farewell Friends and Belongings

      After today, there is no turning back!  All of my stuff was packed into the UHAUL and Seth's dad's friends left with it, towing my car behind.  So exciting!!  It's real… They are planning on being in Los Angeles by Monday, which will also be the day I arrive!  I ended up with 45 boxes total…which includes about 20 boxes of just wedding gifts.  I am so anxious to be unpacked and settled in.  We will see how long that takes me!

      Tonight I got to have dinner with most of my friends that I have known since childhood.  It was such a great time catching up and getting to see everyone before I left.  It's still hard to believe we will be so far away.  We went to a local hole in the well mexican restaurant that we basically ate at weekly throughout high school.  

      I will miss them and hope I will have some visitors out here soon!!

With Love,

Deanna