I live in a magazine.

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you’ve already seen my amazeball house.  Saturday night I literally stood in my dining room looking into my living room and I had to pinch myself that I was in MY house.  It was so surreal!

Friday night I had to get the house ready for my friend Whitney to come decorate early the next morning.  I had to remove venetian blinds, the hardware that held them up, I had to put my bed frame together among other things.  By the time we went to bed Friday night, the only things in my living room and dining room were my dining table and the new couch.

Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. Whitney and her husband came with both their SUVs which were filled with stuff, and Hannah had to go back to their house and fill up her car as well.  I was told to get the hockey puck out!  I had a granola bar and then went to the gym and walked a 5k.  I then went to Panera bread and had breakfast and read the new Cooking Light magazine while sipping coffee.  Went to a couple thrift stores, went to a new grocery store that opened by me.  It was a glorious morning.  I kept looking at my watch to see “is it time to go home yet?!”  Then I got a text that I needed to stay out another 30 minutes.  The anticipation was killing me.

So when I finally got the okay to come home, I was told to come in the front door.  As soon as Whitney opened my front door and I walked in, I started to cry.  I cried for so many reasons.

• I cried because it was beautiful
• I cried because we could finally live in this half of the house after months
• I cried because Tony isn’t here to enjoy it

Even Rummy is like “is this our house??!!”  It was all too much to soak in.  Remember in the beginning of June when it was discovered that basically the whole front of the house was rotten?!

It was worth the wait for sure.  The rest of this post is going to be picture heavy – somehow I set my alarm for 6:30 PM instead of AM and I didn’t actually wake up until 7:30 and I normally leave the house at 8!  Doh!

Please enjoy!!

Whenever I text Whitney I always send her a ton of emojis, so she bought this thumbs up night light – love it!

I love where she put this picture of Tony.  She told me that way his face would be the last thing when I went to bed and the first thing I saw when I woke up.  Love.

And I think this saying next to my bed says it all.

What Whitney did for me is amazing.  Her decorating skills are amazing to say the least.  Sadly, she’s an attorney by day, but this should truly be her life’s work.  You see, she made it possible for me to live in my home without Tony.  Before this remodel, we never spent any time in the living room.  Even before we had to tear everything down.  Jacob used to ask me “um, why don’t we use that half of the house?” and the easy answer was because that’s were Tony was nearly 100% of the time when he was awake, it was painful to walk in there and see his empty chair, knowing he was never going to fill it again.

What I love about this design is that it is totally ME if I could have come up with this scheme, and believe me, I never would have come up with this in a million years.  It’s classy comfy for lack of a better word, which trumps my previous decorating style of early miscellaneous.   I spent quite a bit of time in this living space this weekend.  Probably more hours this weekend than I have in the last 10 months, and I am so very grateful to her for this. 

I had Tony’s sister and nephew over for brunch – I haven’t been able to have company for months because, well, there was no where for anyone to sit!  Now I know I can live with intention, be bold and fearless, make a difference and live the life I was destined for.