Introducing...

When we found out we were moving back to Ohio I was convinced I would never love another house like Martha.  I even vowed that I would not care about my next house.  As my friends asked, "Are you excited about getting to pull together a new house?" I would respond with, "No.  I'm done.  I can't do it again and I don't care.  This next house is just going to sit as is."  I could tell from their faces that not one ounce of them believed the words that were coming out of my mouth.  But, as good friends do, they would still add words of support to encourage me to be more excited about my next house.  They knew I would come around before I did.

The journey to our new house was not as picturesque as how we had come upon Martha.  It started with a battle between my husband and I on location.  Carried forth with an exhausting house hunting trip where we looked at 30 houses and didn't like any of them.  Then, just when we arrived back to DC, our new house posted.  We liked it but we were 6 1/2 hours away.  So, we did the only thing we could, a Face Time walk-thru .  Then, just like that we bought a house we had never seen in person.  

I liked the house.  It's new.  It's nice.  It's bigger than Martha.  But, it was just a house.  I did my first walk-thru of the house (in person) and it was what I expected.  Afterwards I was relieved but still not ready to commit to making it "Our House". 

After the closing we had set up a meeting with the current owners to go over things in the house, any tips they had, services we should continue,  the basics.  It was an overcast, windy Ohio day and I was ready to just be done.  I rang the bell and the nicest lady answered.  She was packing and in the midst of the chaos I had just gone through.  There was a box neatly packed with all the things we needed and an organized file storage container with the warranties to everything in the house.  She loved her house and I instantly felt connected to her.  They had built the house.  They picked out every finish, every color, every detail.  No one knew that house better than her and she was sad to leave it.  I knew exactly how she was feeling.  She was leaving her life too.  Her little boy would have to find new friends and she was also leaving a best friend neighbor she had gone to college with.  After meeting her I knew the house had been built with love and I had no choice but to keep loving her house as I make it "ours".

So, as my friends knew I would do before I did, I am starting over and working on my new house just as I did Martha.  She has great bones and some interesting details.  She is young but still has some of the same refined traits as Martha.  I can not compare the two because they are so different but I feel as though they both have a sense of understated elegance.  I will have some remnants of Martha throughout but it will be a new look.  I won't move as fast on this house but I hope for steady progress.  She will be a good house or better yet a great house!  I will put aside my fear of not posting anything until it's finished and focus on the little steps and progress we make.  With that being said, I would like to proudly introduce Milly... and I can't wait to make her "Our House"!

Sorry Milly's debut picture is so small but it's all we have... for now!