Life Lately

Cannizaro Park

Life lately has consisted of walks or runs in my favorite park, squeezing in extra time with friends and realizing how much crap we've accumulated over a year. I always say this when I move, but I want to be more of a minimalist, gah!

In 10 days we fly to Chicago and we've already decided to have dinner at Cracker Barrel that night. I guess you could say we're getting our priorities straight. But even though we're super excited to go "home" (which we think will be the Chicago area, but you can never be too sure), leaving England is sad. 

I'll miss my walks up to the Wimbledon Common and through Cannizaro Park. I often have surreal moments there when I feel like I'm walking through Emma's back yard or half expect to see Mr. Darcy come down the path. Those parks have been a sort of haven for me. I'd go when I thought I couldn't stand the city one more second, smell the flowers, listen to the trees and occasionally camp out under a tree until rain passed.

I'll also miss the history here. Every other building reminds me of a time past; I'm always imagining what things were like hundreds or thousands of years ago. I walk passed the site where William Wilberforce's home used to be almost every week, how cool is that? The constant reminder of history has challenged me to read more and has given me more of an appreciation for the classics I was told to read growing up.

I've learned a lot about friendship, what it takes to build them and why they're so so important. I realized I'm an extrovert that's insecure and doesn't trust easily (not a surprising combo) and thankfully, being here's been the perfect environment for a lot of stretching. The people we've come to know and love are truly dear, it's going to be hard to say bye. And I'm not going to lie, I'll miss the countless conversations about our differing accents and Paula Deen's deep-fried cheesecake.

I'll also miss The Lawn Bakery and this handmade ice cream.

Michaela Rae

One Month In

With today marking one month since arriving in England, I've been reflecting on our time here and figured it was a good time to blog. :-)

I'm beginning to really warm up to life across the pond. Big things like being with a best friend who I can share all my new experiences with, landing a job and finding community, have been really helpful. Small things are also helping me feel at "home" more each day, things like: Skype calls, a date night out for fish and chips, learning the tube and train routes and so on. It's amazing how much we (I'm assuming it's all of humanity) cling to familiarity. I think it's good to have it pulled from beneath us every now and again. Having my habit-slate wiped clean has given me the opportunity to re-evaluate what I hold dear and start afresh in certain areas.

My friend Kaitlin, who recently married and moved to Holland, told me that living abroad would put Kurt and me on "the fast track to becoming one." She wasn't kidding! It's such a great way to start our life together. Although being newlyweds and living in another country means more challenges, it also means the experience of being here is worlds more fun. I would gladly take the challenges over being here by myself. In much the same way that a long-distance relationship pushes you to learn good communication fast, being here is pushing us, in many ways, to build a strong marriage. And seeing as we're stuck together anyway, why not start now? haha.

I thought it'd be fun to share my first month in Instagram photos. So here we have it!

What are some ways that you stop and re-evaluate what you hold close? Oh and I'm curious what motivates you the most to work on building your marriage or relationship(s).

Michaela Rae

P.S. Thanks for all the book suggestions! I went to the library with a vary ambitious book list for only a 3 week loan. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), The Hobbit and A Severe Mercy were already on loan, but I found Austen's, Love and Friendship, and Dickens', A Tail of Two Cities. :-)

Settling in to Life in England

Ello from London!
The last few days have been a blur, but we've made it in one piece to our home for the next one, possibly three, years! We've been learning how to open a bank account/transfer funds, use the bus and tube system and the best way to flat hunt. Today's been exciting and I feel nearly recovered from jet-lag so I wanted to share some about it.

Yesterday we started to feel discouraged. All the flats we viewed were either out of our budget or too far from transportation. To make matters worse, most of the letting agents we spoke with were a little greasy. We weren't sure we could trust anything they said. But today the cloud finally broke over-head (actually, literally, it was sunny), we found a flat in Wimbledon. It's right across the street from the tube station, in an awesome part of town, on the main road full of shops and restaurants, has two bedrooms (something we definitely weren't expecting) and move in day's tomorrow! Kurt also excited that it's located above a Subway restaurant, haha. It's in need of cleaning and cute decorating, but all things considered, a great catch. I'll be sure to post pictures soon. It's such a relief to have a home.

After finding the flat we decided to venture into central London. The city is beautiful by night! A bit different than I expected but I love it. I snapped a few photos but I can't seem to load them now. I'll be more on top of things in the future. ;-)

England is beautiful. I knew from the moment I looked out the plane window, and saw all the clay-shingled roofs and luscious green below, that I'd like it. I've also been surprised by how friendly people are. I love all the conversations you have throughout the day on the tube, in the grocery store or waiting in queue. I definitely don't feel like a fish out of water as much as I expected I would.



Cheers!
Michaela Rae

Link up to my sister's blog to share your Thursday adventures: Alicia's Homemaking.

Goodbye America, my home sweet home

Last night sitting in Cracker Barrel, perhaps the best American restaurant ever (don't even bother trying to refute it), the reality that on Monday Kurt and I will fly far away began setting in. We waited for over two months for my stupid visa to arrive and I thought it would never happen (which it didn't). I was antsy and frustrated. But now we're actually leaving and boy has the mood swung.

I really do love America. It really is my home sweet home. Oh don't give me a hard time, no I'm not a Americacandonowrongredwhiteandbluefriedchickenmashedtatters(okwellmaybe)patrioticfanatic. But, I love the familiarity and comfort of home. I've experienced living in another country. Yes, not for terribly long, but long enough to get a taste of culture shock and have those please, just give me a burger and fries and a slice of apple pie feelings.

Don't get me wrong, I'm beyond excited. I know we're in for one heck of an adventure. I would never have thought we'd have this opportunity. I'm excited for city-life, Euro culture, scarves and boots and accents and pints at the corner pub. But with every new phase in life there are goodbyes. Before all of the "hello, nice to meet you"s, there are so many "see you later"s and "I'll miss you"s...and those are hard.

Please pray that Kurt and I will be able to create a new type of home in London. Pray that in each other and in our little flat, we'll have a safe haven. Pray we can find the comfort of familiarity in the hearts of Christians we meet there. Pray we find community - where we can love and be loved.

Michaela Rae

P.S. I just need to mention, if you make the recipe below and are wondering about ways to use your left over Baileys...try Baileys iced coffee. It's perfect because it's sweet enough to substitute your cream and sugar. Or, try it over vanilla icecream. Mmmm...

Living Large in Small Spaces

Lesson learned the last 3 weeks: the waiting game is a very painfuuuulll one. After sending my appeal to the UK border agency (they rejected my application over a paperwork mix-up) they said they'd get back to us within 10 days. Tomorrow is the 10th day. EEEeeee! So hopeful and so ready to get on that plane to London.

In the mean time, Kurt and I have been packing and prepping. Kurt's undoubtably put in over 10 hours of flat hunting. It's becoming very apparent how small our flat will be. If not a studio, it'll be a small one bedroom flat. I've been thinking about how I can make such a small space feel like home and I've found a lot of inspiration the last few days.

My mother-in-law has a House Beautiful subscription and this month's cover caught my eye immediately. Inside I found two articles on decorating a 295 square foot room and a 650 square foot studio. Every piece of furniture and color matters in a small space and I love how everything meshes so well in the rooms the designers put together.

Awhile back I came across an awesome blog, Life in a 320 square foot Cottage. This week I went back to see how she uses every inch of her space for efficiency & enjoyability. Here are a few photos of her cottage. Isn't it quaint?

I found the most inspiration from Apartment Therapy though.

{565 square feet}

{240 square feet}

{210 square feet}

{594 square feet}

What's the smallest space you've ever lived in? What did you do to make it feel homey? 

Michaela Rae

Great Lakes Beach Trip

What a fun & productive weekend!

Saturday Claire and I went to a rubber stamp workshop at the Paper Source in Oak Brook. I loved learning all of the different stamping techniques and I bought a few things afterward so I can emboss now. I shouldn't be adding to my crafting supplies but I know I'll put them to use when writing letters and postcards to family and friends.

After church on Sunday Kurt and I went with his parents to Racine Beach in Wisconsin - my first Great Lakes beach trip. I was definitely impressed by the cool water and big sandy beaches, but I still stand by Florida beaches as the best, with California beaches a close second. It just wasn't the same without the salty oceanside smell I love and wind that keeps the bugs away. It was also strange, in a cool sort of way, to have the sun shining from behind me while on the beach.

I enjoyed my new book, The Mom Factor, while lying on the beach. It caught my eye in the church bookstore yesterday and I've hardly put it down since. It explores how moms shape you as a child and continue to influence you as an adult. It focuses on the correlation between how she handled your needs growing up and who you are today. It's fascinating and I highly recommend giving it a read.

Kurt and I spent nearly 4 hours in Bed Bath & Beyond today. Talk about exhausting! We bought $400 worth of things with giftcards & our 10% off registry coupon. It took forever because we were strategizing for things to take to London. We found a lot of collapsable kitchenware that will work perfectly. My favorite items of the day are a cherry patterned apron and Magic Bullet! I've wanted one of those things ever since they came out.

Michaela Rae

Packing On the Brain

I was getting ready for bed last night when my brain started ticking: what and how am I going to pack for our move? I've packed big before, once for a three month trip to Argentina and then my move to Cali. Moving overseas takes it to a whole new level though.

Our goal is to each check two bags for our flight. Once we find where we'll live we might have a box of books and perhaps one with kitchen/household supplies shipped to us. On previous trips I've used vacuum bags for clothes and they've worked tremendously. We were gifted some so I'll definitely use them. I also like the roll up method for packing clothes. It seems to save space but I'm not 100% sure. What do you think? I'm praying I'll have room for my crafting supplies. I'd be pretty sad if I can't squeeze them in.

I'd love to hear any packing tips you have. Also, if you've been to/lived in England, which things you'd advice we take along. A sweet lady from our church in CA, for example, bought us all the spices we could possibly need because she says food there is bland. I wouldn't have thought of that.

In other news, Kurt and I had a much needed date night tonight. It seems funny to say that since we've been spending so much time together, but with all the traveling and staying with family, our regular way of communicating and "spending time" together had been thrown off. It was nice to get away. We went to cute downtown Downers Grove and had Giordano's. Mmmm! I love Chicago style pizza.

Michaela Rae

On the Road Again

Packing everything up and saying our goodbyes in La Mirada was bittersweet. As much as I'm ready to move on from SoCal, there were many things I'd grown to love. Seeing mountains every day, amazing soft-serve yogurt, cool nights and mornings and East Whittier United Methodist, the church Kurt and I attended, will all be greatly missed.  I think leaving was harder for Kurt though. It'd been his home away from home for nearly five years. One thing is of great comfort though, no matter where we go in life from here on out we have each other. It's such a comfort!

We've been back on the road for nearly two weeks now. I feel like our marriage has been one stop and go marathon. We're having so much fun though and I can't believe how much of the country I've seen over the last couple months. We left La Mirada on July 26th and traveled cross-country to Memphis first to visit Kurt's sister and brother in-law. The heat caught us off guard but made for great time spent in the pool. We stayed a couple nights and then drove down to Tallahassee, Florida where we're visiting my family. We leave tomorrow and my heart feels like it's being pulled in so many directions. I'm excited to head back up to Chicago to see my new family and to continue prepping for London but I can't believe this is the last time I'll see everyone before our big move. 

Seeing my long-time best friends Hannah & Shalom in Florida was definitely one of the highlights of this trip. Hannah is 3 months pregnant and I couldn't wait to see her cute little self. Both of them have been such amazing friends over the years and are the type are always there for me no matter how far apart we are. A true treasure.

In Albuquerque Kurt and I stopped at an old diner on Route 66.

Moe's, one of the South's best treats. Kurt can never seem to get enough.

My sweet sister Lindsey and me. Kurt and I got to go on a double date with her and her hubby, Jared, to see Super 8. Such a cute film.

In Memphis I picked up Tart Deco from Target and I'm loving how summery it is.

We drove two cars from California to Memphis. I wasn't looking forward to driving separately but we bought walkie talkies and it was the best decision. It helped us keep each other awake, play eye-spy games and smack talk when we raced into new states. We passed the Insight on to Kurt's brother and now we only have one car. Can you believe we fit all that stuff in the small two-seater? 

I had no oven for the 6 weeks in California and I was itching to bake something when we got to Tallahassee. I made Sour Cream Raspberry Cupcakes. DELICIOUS!

My adorable Nephew, William. It worked out perfectly that he and Alicia came to visit for a wedding just when we got in town. 

My friend Victoria graduated from FSU this past weekend, another perfect coincidence. I got to hang out with her three times and it was an absolute blast. We love El Jaliscos!

Michaela Rae