dining room

dining room by hillaryeverafter featuring Cost Plus World Market

Minka Lavery clear glass lamp
lampsplus.com

CB2 white curtain panel
cb2.com

Acacia furniture
onekingslane.com

Christopher Knight Home sideboard
overstock.com

Cost Plus World Market dining chair
worldmarket.com

our first new york christmas

Time really does fly. We've been in New York for 9 months now and this Christmas season has us feeling grateful at how far we have come since our move.   It seemed like our world was turned upside down and we started all over from the beginning. 2013 has been emotional, and scary at times but I feel that we are truly becoming stronger and growing into ourselves. 

Some successes we are celebrating are:

• we both got great new jobs
• we moved into a bigger apartment
• We have made some really amazing friends here
• Old friends have come to visit, and we got to share some of the city with them

We went to Brant Park and Rockefeller center last night to experience one of my favorite things in the whole world.... sparkly, twinkly, shiny, shimmery pretty things! It was freezing and we could not BELIEVE how many people were out (we need to do more research before NYE) but the energy of New York at Christmas is like nowhere else in the world.  

(SANTA! I know him!) 

1. 
   

Merry Christmas! 

love, 

Moxie and the Mister. 

in full bloom

Confession: sometimes i plan my outfits around pretty trees in the neighborhood. Yes, i'm a little eccentric, but i live in New York now.... city of eccentricity!  Also this is my first outfit post. I tried my best to channel my inner Blair Eadie. Let me know how you think it went!

flower petals everywhere are like summer confetti!

 

Hope everyone is enjoying June! 

xoxo, Moxie

Snail Mail and Signs of Spring

Hello! I wanted to update everyone on how our adventure is going so far! It's been almost 3 months since we moved. Are we "real" new yorkers yet? I don't know about that. It's been quite the adjustment. We have been exhausted but we are getting used to the pace of things.  Everyday tasks here sometimes seem like a big undertaking. Yes everything is just a subway ride away.  But it's also half a mile walk to the subway; carrying everything you'll need; exposed to whatever the weather is doing. I can easily walk to both of the places that i work which is so nice. A ten minute walk in the pouring rain though can be... challenging.  The other challenge that we are dealing with is living in such a small space. We are still constantly re-evaluating the space and getting rid of clothes and other belongings. Two people in 300 sq feet seems nuts some days. Also if you leave one thing on the floor..... your house is messy. While we would like to have a little bit larger apartment after this lease, i don't want it to be too much bigger. I think this is a very important life lesson for me; How to need less. Humph.... I'll get there! Baby steps!

Here are some of the things that have made this month wonderful...

Years in suburbia had my mailbox full often. Wedding or graduation invites, bills, and then of course, anthropologie, jcrew, and nordstrom catalogs and other pretty things of that nature. For the past several weeks I've opened our little box to find nothing. No bills, crap mail, nothing. In a strange way it reminded me of how isolated we are from everyone we love back home. BUT!!! a few days ago, i came home to some much needed snail mail from one of my nearest and dearest friends. It lifted my spirits for several days and now has a happy place on our refrigerator. 

                                         Sending a little snail mail of our own. :)

 

Confession: We have found our comfort food on the block! We miss pei wei and taco bueno. But! We have discovered a $7 meatball hero that is enormous and feeds us both. Its got plenty of meat and is uber cheesy and....need i go on?! score. 

Look at how beautiful all the trees are now! Everything around us is just oozing with flowers and green. It gives a different connotation to the term "urban jungle"

                          This is our block. Brownstones,  beauty....construction. 

         We are starting to recognize all of the neighborhood dogs. This little guy is one of my favorites!


Happy spring everyone! Will write soon!

xxo,
Moxie

apartment first look

well! here it is! the first look at our new place! we have officially been new yorkers for two weeks now and a great deal of that two weeks has been spent working in the apartment. 

before we left home, we sold or donated half of everything we owned. i knew that we wouldn't be able to fit it all into our apartment but.... i underestimated how small it would really be! we still brought way too much with us. we have been very hard at work trying to make everything function in 300 square feet.  it still needs alot of work but i'm going to let it evolve over time.

 

for size reference.... we tried to fit our  bed into this little cubby but it was too big.

here is the main space. our first experience with a radiator has been humorous to say the least. he has been named "Horace". he has his own personality....horribly noisy and leaky are some of his most notable characteristics.

check out the sexy 70s adhesive wall tiles. they were not pleasant to remove but we were all in agreement that they were not staying.....

ok ok! i know i've been known in the past to exaggerate....but REALLY! we brought way to much stuff. i wasn't kidding.  we shifted and re-stacked this pile a million times to paint and assemble furniture (i know, i'm a freak) before it got smaller.

    ahh... much better! it's my first time going a deep blue and i am so happy with the results.

 there is hubby's workspace over there!  that desk used to be my vanity space in oklahoma , filled and covered to the brim with cosmetics and brushes. we are still trying to find a good setup for this makeup junkie to get ready. currently operating out of a tupperware bin is not cutting it.

  most people think i'm nuts for buying a canopy bed for such a small space. i am really pleased at how it has helped define spaces and create some walls. oops! i didn't hide very well. that mirror was a $69 dollar score from tuesday mornings in oklahoma. it was originally black but a couple coats of metallic spray paint and i love her.

there is a small peek into our kitchen. it still needs some work. thank goodness we brought that stepladder from home. we have to use it several times a day. vertical storage is essential in a small space and we have extra linens, shoes, etc stacked high to the ceiling in our closet.

sorry for the delay in pictures! it's taken a bit to get into the swing of things. now that things are more organized i promise more regular posts! i have so much to show you!

xoxo

Moxie

Hello World

Blogosphere! I'm here! It's been three years since i finished college and i feel like i've been waiting for my life to start. Well, husband and i are moving to new york in March! this is going to be my creative outlet and a way to chronicle our journey for all those back home.

Here is a quick recap of all the crazy things that happend in 2012!

 We got engaged last New Years Eve! It was a proposal that only he would pull off, complete with my kidnapping and a scavenger hunt to different people who have helped us in the course of our relationship. That day was an adventure. Actually, every day with him is an adventure. 

 

 Holy Cow! Wedding planning was not like i expected at all! Most of you know i am a workaholic and am always working two or three jobs but I DEFINITELY will never go into the wedding business. totally not for me :) All that aside.... On September 15, I married my dream guy. BEST. DAY. EVER!

 We honeymooned in New York, naturally! It was husband's first trip there and i was so nervous he would hate it. All it took was one bagel with jalepeno asiago cream cheese and he was hooked.        

Husband graduated in December so now that THAT'S out of the way... we've sold most of our stuff and we moving to NYC in 21 days! I feel somedays that i am in over my head, but i'm grateful that i'm not doing this alone.

Stay tuned to see what happens!

xo, Moxie