1920's Murder Mystery Party

We hosted a 1920's murder mystery party for our friend James. Everyone dressed up so well and it only made it more fun. We had good jazz music playing, red Edison bulbs, rearranged our apartment to look like a café (the scene of the crime) and got to sleuthing. Roslyn even got in on it with her gold details on her onesie and a turban. 

Our New Lofty Apartment

 

This is our new place! It has a strange wall color strangely paired with a bright orange wall and really steep stairs and full height walls blocking off the bedroom. It's awesome! Joshua described it as my dream apartment minus a giant exposed brick wall, and it is. (We even still have a tiny strip of brick that we put our record player under, it's our hearth) I've always wanted a loft and this one has beautiful 20ish foot ceilings and bay windows all the way to the top. We even got to hang our bikes, which makes me feel cool!

hearth :)

steep stairs

all six bikes tucked safely under the stairs

kitchen with no counter space! so we got the cute wood hutch to fix all our woes!

We feel so lucky to have found this place! It feels like we're in a permanent coffee shop that caters perfectly to us! I love leaving the door open with a record on and hearing all the people walking by and sometimes friends randomly popping their heads in. I also leave the door open hoping a puppy will walk in and then I can trap it and make it mine, so far 2! have wandered in but only to the doormat. I think they saw the hunger in my eyes and knew I was thinking of how to trap them inside to snuggle them to death.

worlds largest bathroom, more counter space than kitchen, weird

view from above, love throwing blankets and pillows over the edge

largest bedroom I've ever had and it has a fun bunk bed feeling 

That's it the Elrod's new abode, come visit!!!



A new Place

I've been absent from here for awhile, because I've been uninspired. I haven't cooked any food past rice and veggies in over a month, I haven't  crafted, or gone on many adventures. We've been feeling stuck and a little down to be honest.

But God answers prayers and he has definitely been brewing some things in our life lately. We've wanted a new apartment for awhile and we finally found one and it's in Ballard which is where we really wanted to go. So yay, we're really excited for it.

We loved our place in the U-district, but our friends have since moved away from there, it isn't really feeling like home anymore. We were feeling a little lost and unconnected there. But on Sunday we got to move it all out and into a new apartment that just feels like us and had us inspired and energized. As we were moving in a friend even passed us and said hi, which just made it feel even more right, even more like this place will be home.

Joshua and I are really looking forward to living closer to people and being able to have casual hang outs and impromptu coffee dates because we are closer to them, learning more how to open up our place and share it anytime, and walking to get our favorite pizza (also our favorite brunch place is a 1/4 mile away uh oh!) Moving all our stuff in was exhausting but also felt like a cleansing and like we were shaking off this rut and letting the blessings of life seep into us instead of pass by unnoticed.

So yeah, we're stoked for this new change in life and all that God has started to change in us and put on our hearts as we move through it.

P.S. always have to get move in Chinese take out!

Apartment Updates

Ha so I'm sure not many people care about the new things in our apartment but Joshua and I were pretty excited about them so I'm going to share anways :)

We have been getting antsy about our apartment, but the cost and location are right so we tried to make it feel new to us.

my parent gave me these for Christmas, from a thrift store in amish country

 


a few more airplants, as you can see this one is named Whitaker



We traded in a high table for a low longer one. All the food for dinner actually fits on the table now :) Plus we didn't realize how badly we missed sitting at a regular height table.

 





We got a new light,we didn't want anymore table lamps because we don't have space but it was pretty dark in this corner of the apartment at night, plus it is really nice now not to have to have the light in front of you on when you're on the couch. Plus at night it creates a really warm happy glow.





the most adorable string glass lights ever!





thirft store deal on little pouf things that stack for extra seating




little caddy for our spirits





record storage :)



ah organization. I love that all my
things on rolls fit inside this







We bought a new dresser (craigslist) and removed our closet doors, and moved the bed around. It feels much more open and now I get more than one drawer.

That's about all, but it's the little things. We feel much better- I know you do too hehe









shuffled around boxes into nightstand, of course a thrift store french horn



A good one

We had a really great weekend. We have been feeling a little out of sorts after we got back from visiting in Cincinnati, but this weekend we felt normal again and we had a very full awesome weekend that helped with that.

On Friday we got a new table, one that isn't bar height yay! Friday night we went over to one of Joshua's coworkers place to play Settlers and drink growlers.
It was one of those nights where you just feel like yourself and don't have to filter or restrain we were just goofy and had a great time.

Saturday we had brunch in Capitol Hill, got our hair cut, picked up a new dresser, went to his work and made the frame for the calendar I designed, and went to a housewarming party. One of the housewarming parties that ends with dubstep playing loudly, kegs, and moonwalking.

Sunday we reorganized a lot of stuff and pulled out a bunch of stuff to donate, ate pumpkin pancakes, listened to some good sermons, went on a run in the sunshine- SUNSHINE, and had dinner in Queen Anne with some good friends.

And now we're tired and almost ended up being late to work :)
So worth it though, we really needed a full Seattle weekend to get us back into things and feeling good about where we are and why we want to be here.

Art of all sorts

One of the gals from small group said our apartment is like a gallery- it kind of made my night. I love the artwork and photos we've collected and I love even more that most or them are personal to us- either have something to do with our lives, jokes, or from someone we love.

The new piece that finally arrived in the mail is no exception.
For our honeymoon we drove across the country and towed all of our bikes with us. We also biked everywhere on our honeymoon.
We didn't buy and souveniers really on the whole trip and we don't really want to post photos of it we took at an arms length all over but it was an experience of a lifetime but I still really wanted something to remind us of that trip.
I found this artist on etsy who uses maps and bikes and creates really fun collages. She happened to have one of
Colorado- including Boulder where we were for 5 days of our honeymoon and lived on our bikes
Seattle- our destination where we now bike more often than drive
and I had her make me a custom of Cincinnati- where we started and first got into biking.

I really love that it tells a journey and progression of our lives and it will forever bring back floods of memories from our unique honeymoon that only we can share in!


Also I made more postcards!
We absolutely love recieving all of your postcards. I can't believe how many wonderful people have though of us and sent us a little note and we can't THANK YOU ENOUGH, we really cherish them and hearing a little bit about you. We have them all kept in a cute drawer in our library cabinet!

 I think the Missoni chevrons from Target were inspiring me :)