Friday Favorites // Life Update

So it's been a week. I wanted to post last Friday since I was off and in our house for the first full day, but I just couldn't get myself to do much of anything that day.

This house transition has been a bigger struggle than I thought, but I think I'm starting to see the light even after only a week, which in the grand scheme of things, is not long at. all. Despite that fact, the first few days were extremely hard and lonely and I was constantly in need of a distraction (mostly in the form of New Girl) from my own thoughts. I feel like admitting to this makes it seem like I have no appreciation for what we have and what we're building and that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm so excited for this journey, but I'm sad about my chapter of living at home ending. So I'm just trying to navigate through the ebbing and flowing of these thoughts and feelings until I come out fully on the other side. We're getting there.

For now, I definitely have some favorites to share!

Crystal Lake is officially stuck with us :) We closed and moved in last Thursday and it couldn't have gone more smoothly which we were extremely grateful for.

Our parents have continued to be the most amazing human beings. Sammy's mother showed up to our house having bought us a bunch of groceries to start us off and my mom bought my huge grocery haul on Sunday night. Free groceries are definitely a favorite. Our moms are an even bigger favorite :)

This was right after our incredible couch was delivered and all four of parents sat down at the exact same time and I immediately grabbed my phone to take a picture haha. They worked so hard to help us on Thursday and we can't thank them enough. This is seriously my favorite photo and I can't wait to frame it and have it in our home. Every time I look at it, I get teary eyed haha. I just love these people.

Had to document our first (I'm sure of many...) trip to Home Depot. I was kind of checked out at this point because it was Thursday night after we had been up all day moving, but we ended up picking out the paint color of our entire first floor, so that felt like an accomplishment.

We went with Behr's "French Beige" (about nine people told me "of course you'd pick something French" when I told them the name of the color--ha!) and we really like it a lot.

 I spent most of Friday at the house by myself since Sammy had to work. I fielded the remaining Amazon boxes that were being delivered from the initial enormous order we placed a few days prior, built the arm chair for our family room, and tried to keep my anxious thoughts to a minimum haha.

Sammy didn't get off his shift until closer to 11 p.m. but we had plans to meet a coworker of his (the one I've been dying to meet) at a bar in downtown Crystal Lake, so we headed over there and stayed for a quick drink. It was nice to get out of the house and be in the part of town that I really enjoy. And his coworker couldn't have been nicer and now I can't wait to meet his girlfriend!

Saturday morning Sammy's parents came over and his dad helped him paint the entire kitchen and part of the living room. I was SO happy to see those flowers go. Someone in our neighborhood hand painted them for the previous owners and I felt terrible about painting over them but they were just a constant reminder of how the house didn't feel like ours yet because it just wasn't our style.

Ugh so good haha. I felt like I was finally able to breathe once that roller went over the first bunch of flowers. It's amazing how symbolic one thing can be and how it can effect your mood.

I left CL that morning to meet my girlfriends in Arlington Heights for our girlfriend's daughter's first birthday. It was a woodland themed party and the details were so cute!

From there, we met up with the rest of our crew to head downtown to see Shania Twain. A few of our friends really love her, so we decided to make a girl's night of it. I only know a few songs (like two haha) but it's rare all six of us are together, so I wasn't going to miss it.

 Meanwhile back at home, Sammy sent me this snap when the whole wall was done. SO much better.

I spent the night at my mom's house since we all got back after 1 a.m. and I loved being back in my bed haha although it probably only added to my anxiety of going back to our house in CL. 

Her and I ran errands on Sunday and then headed back to CL. My dad, brother, uncle, and grandma stopped by for dinner and to see the house for the first time (except my Dad, he'd obviously seen it before). Now we just have to get my sister out to see the house and a few other immediate family members. Already planning some major house warming parties :)

I started my new commute Monday morning. I'm luckily on the same train line with the same stops and conductors so I was happy to keep some of my routine the same, but I'm obviously starting out at a different train station now.

Monday night was the first night coming home to our house by myself. Sammy was working, so I started dinner while talking to my grandma on the phone. I threw some potatoes and chicken tenderloins into a 9x13 and spread this roasted chicken Cook House sauce my mom and I found at Aldi all over it. We really liked it and for just over $1 per sauce, I'm definitely going to be stocking up.

Sammy brought his coworker over to see the house during his half hour dinner break (huge bonus to living in the town he works, he can take a half hour for dinner and come home if he's not too busy) and it totally changed my mood for whatever reason which resulted in feeling the most comfortable I had felt in the house thus far which was such a relief.

My sister turned 21 on Tuesday (!) so my whole family gathered to celebrate at Hala Kahiki, a kitschy Hawaiian bar, near Gene and Jude's in River Grove. "Happy Hour" went until 10 p.m. so you can imagine how good I was feeling by the time we left.

My mom surprised my sister and invited all our extended cousins to celebrate with us and they all walked in intermittently throughout the night and it was SO fun to see them all show up. Did my soul so, so, so much good.

We walked next-door to Gene & Jude's and had the best late-night snack of all time.

Let's excuse what a TERRIBLE photo of me this is (When I'm drunk, my face gets so swollen, it's absolutely ridiculous.) because I had to have a sibling photo before the night ended. 

I laughed so much this night that Wednesday at work I coughed and noticed just how sore the muscles in my stomach were. It was simply the best.

These were a little surprise from Sammy when I got back to the house on Sunday night. I live with a sweet guy. And I'm obsessed with my $12.99 table runner from World Market I bought months and months prior to even owning a house ;)

We bought this tv stand a few days ago when the Memorial Day sales started popping up and it's delivering today. I can't wait to reclaim my little end table (which is what our tv is currently sitting on), get this set up, and get our tv mounted on the wall. Our family room is almost completely done! We just need our floating shelves and new blinds and we're good to decorate with some finishing touches--the fun part! 

The first night in our house we realized the family room didn't have any light fixture when we came back from Home Depot to total darkness haha. All the rooms have overhead lighting or ceiling fans with lighting so I think we just assumed this room would too. We picked up this standing lamp from Walmart (neverrrr my favorite choice of store, but we were a little desperate for a cheap item) and really love it in the space.

Wednesday night Sammy made pulled pork using another one of the Cook House sauces. Another hit. As I said, definitely stocking up.

I purchased a similar rug on Amazon for our family room and am hoping it works in the space with our furniture. I'm learning that light fixtures and rugs are my least favorite thing to look for because I seem to not like anything haha. And why are rugs so damn expensive?!

That's it for me! 

Our office is closing a little early today in order to get a jumpstart on the long weekend which is great. Sammy and I are going to a party tonight for a coworker of his who's moving to another department. And then I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a bachelorette party in Milwaukee which should be so much fun. Can't wait to be with my crew. I have plans with my mom to tackle a few projects around the house on Sunday and Monday, and possibly stop by the parade Monday morning to see Sammy participating in uniform. 

This weekend begins the string of busy weekends but I'm excited for all the fun to commence! 

Wishing everyone a wonderful long weekend. 

xo

*Linking up with April and Andrea!