The game of house

Here is the thing about playing house... you never win the game. It never ends. Clean, decorate, furnish, cook, start over. Invest. All that said, our apartment is having a style contest via Instagram, and I'd love to win- the prize for first place is a Kindle Fire, so now I'm a competitive decorator.

Cheddar likes it okay- see that happy cat on the couch? I'm digging it, too. It sure is nice to feel like you have a cozy apartment, and roots, and all that squishy, comfortable stuff that makes a house a home. It isn't about the furniture or the decor, it's about the feeling. I haven't had a chance to truly settle down anywhere until now. I feel this uneasiness, as though I don't want to let myself settle down here, either. It's like I still think I'm just going to have to move again in one year. After years and years of annual moving, how do you let yourself sink into a place and call it your own?

I've had all these great years of bouncing around the country living here and there, but I don't have much experience in just being present in a moment, staying still in one place. I think that's why I'm all about the home stuff right now. This is the first chance I've given myself to relax into a place. And so, even though it means constant chores and never really being done, playing house remains my favorite game.

Casa updates

So, this is actually kind of older news, but we bought a sofa about a month ago. This might not seem like a big deal to many, but we haven't ever bought furniture so the sofa thing felt like this giant leap into adulthood. We finally got it together and put up a real living room. It took us awhile, but now that we have it all set up, it feels really cozy up in here. 

Turns out that you really can move a sofa without a truck! All you need is lots of rope, a Geo Prism, and to cross your fingers and hope for the best. Then we have a picture of the whole thing all set up. It's likely a temporary arrangement, but until we have a little more to work with, this makes an awesome book reading and cereal-eating nook. I'm glad that this place is finally starting to feel like home. This sofa nook is the perfect spot for drinking coffee and reading books (favorite things).

Also, here are some pictures of us from a night out in the crossroads art district. Lots of wine involved.

Yep, this is us being grown-ups :)

Playin' house

I started my first real job two weeks ago, I love Kansas City and am thrilled to be living with my fiancé again. We have been up to all sorts of shenanigans.

First off, when moving to a new town, it is important that one try every single new restaurant in the neighborhood at lightning speed (everyone does that, right?) We have discovered a great local deli that makes apple fritters as big as your face. Murray's Ice Cream shop in Westport actually makes a chocolate mole ice cream that is spicy. Breweries are all over the place, which is perfect for me.

Onto my new favorite pastime, playing house. Here is our living room today. Check out that killer hole in the wall! You can't tell from this picture, but the view is incredible. Living on the 7th floor definitely has it's perks, including perfect natural light. We have got to get some furniture up in here, so that has become a high priority talking point for these two apartment dwellers.

We went on an extreme sofa buying mission, which involved PHC sitting on every sofa we liked for pictures. Here are a few of my favorites:

The last one is the winner- or at least we think it will be. Paul's head is a little blurry because he is nodding. Super cozy couch. We are going to go back in a couple of weeks to shop around just one more time before we really decide. 

Also, we bought these curtains from Urban Outfitters, a very inexpensive source. Paul picked out the pattern, naturally I was going for something plain and boring...

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=24751646&parentid=A_RUGPILCUR

I've always been a little weird about this style of curtain, but we are going to try it on a tension rod and try not to put any holes into the walls of our lovely rental apartment. Not yet, anyway.