A New Lovely Adventure
/Well, in case this is your first time reading about my lovely adventure I'll give you the really really short version of my life....
I'm Andrea. I was born and raised in near Kansas City, Missouri. I went to college for a degree in Psychology (which I do not use unless I am working my part-time job as a people watcher). In 2007 I spent my first summer at Heartland Camp (my favorite place in the whole world) as a counselor. I fell in love with camp and with my now husband, Russell. He's Australian and I married him mostly for his super cool accent ... and I suppose for other reasons like his heart of gold.
After college we got married and I began working full time for Heartland Camp as the Assistant Program Director. God showed me who I was and revealed gifts I never knew I had. We lived at camp with our two pups for three years until Russell's dream job called from Colorado. Now I'm here in Grand Junction, Colorado learning again who I am and why God planned this place to be a part of my Lovely Adventure.
So, for those of you who have spent months requesting pictures of our little rental house, today is your lucky day. And for those of you who haven't, just pretend you have so that today can also be your lucky day.
I love this little house and it's been the perfect distraction to being in a new town, having a traveling husband and being so far from family. I've spent almost every weekend at estate sales and garage sales slowly collecting a lot of the things you'll see in these pictures. I love to repurpose and buy second hand. I'm learning that curating my style takes patience and waiting for that perfect piece that just glows when I look at it. P.s. Glowing furniture/home decor is a thing.
Welcome to The Cronin's...
This is the view as you walk up the stairs from the front door. It's my favorite and makes me smile every time. I think it is those curtains... they melt my heart. And the sweetest old lady sold them to me on my birthday a few years ago... I love that so many things I have come with a story. Our house also has the best light... big windows make me happy.
The view from the living room area to the dining room/office. I feel like I should win an award for fitting this much stuff in a small space, people! Those chairs though... so so comfortable. I searched f..o..r..e..v..e..r.. for chairs or a love seat and these were glowing at me... really, they were.
My little desk area... I searched forever for a desk too and cheered when the owners helped me fit it in my tiny car. I dream of painting it one day.. but for now it fits perfectly in my little space and is big enough to hold the world.. sooo... it's pretty great.
These are the shutters that pretend not to be placed directly in front of all the wires and cords that come out of the wall for our internet...and also they hold all the love we receive in the mail. So, if you send me some... it gets a pretty high profile spot... just sayin'.
These are my dogs that are pretending to be good. Minion is the biggest and Phnowphlake (like snowflake with a lisp) is the little one. They are only the worst sometimes. And this is the spot that is sort of a "catch-all" when we walk in the door. It looks very lovely and clean right now... don't let it fool you.
My favorite spot where all the light streams in. Our giant table also has two leaves... like for when we have a million people over at our house which has happened approximately twice because we are professional introverts. And that gallery wall is a collection of all of my favorite things. Our house came already painted with my favorite colors, it's the best.
Decorating our table is my new favorite thing. And fresh flowers. And apparently collecting glass vases... don't tell my husband.
Our GIANT kitchen that I love. If you ever come over I'll probably take you to the Chinese place down the street (seriously, so good) because I can't really cook but I pretend to cook a lot of things in this kitchen and my husband pretends to like my cooking.
Down stairs... our house has all these marble shelves everywhere... it's a hoarders dream. All my little trinkets and things I don't have wall space for get set on these shelves. Obviously I have a thing for maps.
It feels really weird posting a picture of my bathroom on the internet.. but I know all you nosey people will ask me about it. And I probably would have also asked me about it so, you're welcome. These "Hot Baths" hooks are my favorite thing in the bathroom.
Our bedroom is probably the room that has been least loved by the decorating fairy. She's been waiting for the perfect bedside tables to glow at an estate sale and for the crazy lady that lives here to stop putting everything she owns on the dang marble shelf that goes all the way around the room. Also, I spared you a picture of our dressers because I have yet to paint them... one is still neon orange, blue and green from when it was in my sister's bedroom back in 1999 when she was in 3rd grade... I sanded it and then I got distracted by glitter or something...
Behold, my craft room. In all its cluttered and creative crazy glory. It looks like this for about 1 minute before the human tornado (aka me) starts doing anything in this room.
Yes, that is a Lisa Frank calendar. I may be 27 but I am still riding on the feeling of being super cool while walking into my 2nd grade classroom with brand new Lisa Frank folders. You know... don't act like you don't. And if you seriously don't know... just ask anyone in their 20's... they can't fight the Lisa Frank love.
I'm even showing you a picture of my Pinterest perfect closet. There are some mind blowing oranizational techniques going on here. Go ahead, pin it. It's pretty great. And if you haven't noticed, sarcasm is my second language. I inherited it from my father. I'm pretty sure he invented sarcasm.
aaaaand we'll just end with this pretty picture so my Pinterest worthy closet isn't the last thing I leave your memory.
But, all sarcasm aside, I really do love this house. I'm learning a lot about myself, falling in love with Grand Junction and Colorado. I'm so excited to share pieces of my little lovely adventure with you. Thanks for reading.
You're the best,
The Lovely Adventurer