Settled In

    I think that Jeff and I are feeling settled in now. Can you believe we have been living here for about 2 1/2 months. Time passes too quickly. Unfortunately, with the season change we both got sick. I had ear infections and Jeff got the famous scratchy throat. I haven't posted much because life is starting to pick up! :) Jeff has been busy at work.  They have done about 20 installs. We are so thrilled that things are going well. I have been busy working too. I'm learning so many new techniques so I have a major itch to get heads to try them on.  I truly LOVE doing hair and being at the salon is helping me gain a new confidence.  I have a talent and I just need a little reminder sometimes. Some days I feel it's torture just watching her working though.  The reason it is tortuous is because I just want to jump in there my self and get my hands on their hair.  It is a satisfaction when you get a great result and know that you created a work of art. At the same time I surprise myself with how much I actually do know and wonder how I've gotten so down on myself in the past. Even if I do not end up working at a salon I am so glad I am doing this to improve my talent. Not much has changed around here except, oh yeah, my hair! I think I've got the hair dresser bug ;).

We also recently purchased a new mattress. We now have a California King.  Jeff's legs finally fit on the edge of the bed and we have plenty of room for those future nights when we have kids and need room for more than me and Jeff. Sometimes I feel like I'm swimming in the sheets though because its so big, but we love it.

We have really enjoyed spring. We wish it would last forever. It's beautiful.  We hear from the locals that the summer temps are going to be sizzling. They say it usually gets in the 100's.....ugh. This is a picture of an orchard just down the street from us. 

My visiting teacher brought me over some shamrocks. I love it! I have never seen them before and they have been so fun to look at. The best part is that I haven't killed them. She brought the plant over at the beginning of the month.  HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!!

Also I look forward to posting some art related posts I found this project from high-school I would like to finish. I am also working on an art trade with someone. *rubbing hands together* I can't wait to show you! 

Are you renting??

Wow! I have really been slacking on posting.  I have been talking about posting since around valentines day. A lot has been going on lately.  I put up decals on the wall that I ordered online a while ago, I tried a new sugar cookie recipe and made valentine cookies (I've eaten way to many), and I found some great goodies at the thrift store. But most importantly, I have been working. What? What? Satori is the salon I work at and they are in need of a receptionist.  They offered me the position, but I turned it down.  However, I did tell them I would fill in for them until they find someone.  It's fun to be in the salon atmosphere again.  The down side of it is that I am not actually a stylist there. Every day I watch everyone with their clients and I just want to jump right in there and touch some one's hair! I know that may sound strange but sitting on the sidelines is kind of a bummer. It's 20 hours a week, and it's Monday through Friday.  I am so happy to have Saturdays off so that I can have one day I get to stay in my pj's for the entire day if wanted. Now I want to get back to talking about the wall decals.  These things are amazing! I absolutely love all of the designs you can do with the geometric shapes! The best part is that it ISN'T PERMANENT!!!! If you are a renter and like me, its sad to think you can't add a pop of color with paint. Sooooo... I was really happy when I found these babies to brighten my days.  I drew up a couple of patterns and finally came up with this. I love it! The small yellow triangles I cut myself from the left over large triangle that I had so if you order them. Just know that their small triangles are bigger than the ones in my picture. Well let's get to it. Here are the pictures of the patterns I drew out and our beautiful wall.  I'm not finished decorating the top of the piano so someday when it's complete I will post a picture with the piano against the wall.

Drafting

# 1

# 2

Here we go

Making progress

All done (whew, that was a lot of work.)

Thank you Walls by Murr for the great product! You can get their product online here.

DRESSER!

It's finally done and I couldn't be any more happy with the results! I'm in love!!! Here are the before and after pictures.  If you guys want me to post pictures of the process let me know and I'll do a semi tutorial.

This is after I sanded down half of the top. I love seeing how different it looked after. 

I had a little trouble finding knobs I liked. The funny thing about it though is that I bought the top four knobs at target on clearance a few weeks ago just because I liked them and I thought to myself, "I'll use these someday. I don't know what for yet, but I LIKE them!"... So I bought 'em.  I had some rewards from buying our dinning room table at World Market which means I got the other four for a very hefty price.  FREE! I didn't even think to put the two different knobs together on this project until I got home. I think the two different designs really make this piece. Enjoy!  

The best part is that it matches the chair I reupholstered. Winning!

My inspiration came mostly from this dresser I found on Pinterest of course. Unfortunately it didn't have a link to where the picture was found so I can't give photo or blogging credit. So if the person who did this sees my post. THANK YOU for the inpiration.  

I when I was struggling to get the pattern just right. This photo helped me get back on track. This photo was also found on Pinterest. You can find more about this dresser here.

What's new?

     So sorry for posting so late but I got a little carried away with a project today.  Don't worry I'm putting a couple sneak peek pictures up so you can get excited.  I can't wait to show you all when I'm done. :) Let's get down to business though! I finally finished decorating one room in the house. Yay! Can you guess which room?? The spare bathroom! I forgive you if you guessed wrong. I am loving everything about how it turned out.  I even explored around the neighborhood a while ago and took some photos, which are now displayed in the bathroom. There isn't anything too exciting about them, but I like them so that's all that matters I guess. Jeff is on a business trip in Fresno for a couple of days so I am really hoping to get some serious stuff done while he's gone so that I can keep myself busy.  So far Pandora has been my best friend. Now what you all have been waiting for pictures!! I'm too lazy to edit them so just pretend they are really pretty, bright, and fun photos. I know you all have creative minds. :)

This one looks kind of funky because it is a panoramic pic. I just took it so you can see the set up better.

And now for the quick looks at my upcoming projects. 

Sweet dreams everyone!!

Slight Change of Plans

This week has been really great! I am feeling very accomplished because I have been making meal plans and following through with preparing meals at home. My goal is to go grocery shopping once a week on Saturdays so we are all stocked up on Sundays and wont be tempted to go to the store for that missing ingredient that you forgot to account for when you planned dinner off of the top of your head from the couch watching T.V.  So far everything is going smooth. Yay me! Yes, I'm gloating. ha. Some exciting news that I have been wanting to tell everyone but haven't yet because it wasn't really official until today. Earlier this week I was walking to the mail box and I met one of my neighbors for the first time.  It turns out that she and her daughter own a hair salon together here in Chico.  After talking with her one of the stylist at her salon moved away but comes back every 5 or 6 weeks and stays for about a week and crams in as many clients as she can while she is here. She is in need of an assistant and this girl is hired! So this means change of plans, I will be working.  This is really perfect for me because I will learn more about color which is my weak spot in my cosmetology skills. When the opportunity just fell in my lap I felt like I couldn't pass it up. Tomorrow is my first day. We are going to see how we work together to see if things mesh well and then we will go from there.  If things go well it's possible I may start assisting other stylist as well or possibly just help this girl every time she comes in to town. I love that it is only one week at a time because I will still have plenty of time to work on my projects and I wont get burnt out too fast.  Wish me luck!

Our Home

I know you all have been waiting for pictures of the house. I will slowly be putting pictures up when I'm happy with how each room looks. So far most of the house is pretty bare.  We are excited to say that we have purchased our first dining room table. We love everything about it! It has two leaves and can seat four to eight people. We thought that would be perfect for us for when we have guests and of course someday when our family of two grows a little larger. I'll keep this post short and simple.

Our cute little house that we love!

One of my favorite features of the house is the detail on the front door glass.

When we bought the furniture they only had five chairs in the store. That is why there are only five chairs in the photo.  I took these photos before the sixth chair came in but, we got the sixth chair yesterday so now we have the whole set!

CHICO

I've had a few special requests to start up the blog again. So here I am typing away! As most of you know this is an exciting time in the Beck's life.  We have started a new adventure in Chico, California. It is a little cooler here and in the evenings I find myself sitting next to the fire place trying to keep my toesies warm. I have been so spoiled the past 6 years living in Ventura county with such great weather year round.  Why are we here again? Oh yeah, Jeff works for Vivint Solar and is currently opening a new office for them here. He is loving his new position as the operational manager. When he first started work up here he was mostly doing interviews to try and find the perfect crew to make the Chico office a success! He has majority of his staff hired and they are hoping to have this office up and running this coming week. I have been putting the house together and playing house wife. I'd say I'm getting pretty good at it. ;) It's amazing how much easier it is to want to cook meals when I don't have school or work draining my energy. Of course it has been an adjustment being home by myself during the day but I'm sure I'll be used to it soon. One of the frequently asked question I get when people find out we have relocated is "Are you going to look for a job?"  The answer to this question is no. Jeff and I discussed it and we decided I would spend my days putting the house together and working on projects that I've been wanting to do for a while now. Luckily the timing of this new position could not have been any better for us. I am currently waiting for my associates degree in the mail which means that to leave school wasn't too disappointing for me.  I do have one more class I need to take to transfer to a University so I will be looking into that so I can continue my education. Today was our first day going to church out here. Everyone was super friendly which at times was a little overwhelming for me. (I know it sounds weird but I am who I am.)  I love change but the transition is usually a little hard for me. If I'm being completely honest I was nervous and all the questions about "The Beck's" made me go into awkward mode and I felt like I forgot how to talk. ha. I told Jeff that since we have been here I kind of feel like I have been on vacation but after going to church today it all became more real for me that this is our new home. Of course Jeff is adjusting fine which makes me a little jealous. But, all is well with us and we are loving life. I will slowly be posting pictures of the house when things start coming together more but for now here are a few pics. Love you all! Thank you for all of the love and support we are very blessed!
 
We love our neighbors! One of them brought over these flowers. I posted two pictures because I wanted to show how they bloomed.

 

Our other neighbor works for a bread company and brought us all of this bread. It's amazing having a neighborhood that is its own little community.

 Our church building is less than 5 minutes away from our house. I really love how the outside of our church building looks so I made Jeff take a picture of me and then I wanted a picture of us together.

Happy sunday people.