Monday, April 19, 2021

Currently #7


(I had a few friends ask and no, this isn't our new house! I just finally started posting again to my Sweet Homes of Chicago Instagram again :) 


Oh hi there! It's been a looooong minute since I was posting regularly, and honestly, I'm not seeing regular posting starting up again any time soon, mainly because... WE'RE MOVING!! Since I stopped posting at the beginning of March, we fixed up our condo to list it, found a buyer, found a new house, and now are engrossed in contract negotiations on both properties and trying to plan for our move. It is freaking exhausting, and I keep singing to Jeff (to the tune of No Sleep Til Brooklyn) "No! Sleep! Til Close Date!" because one or both of us have been up in the middle of the night just about every night stressing for the past month. 

BUT I'm so so excited for everything to work out and for us to move into our new single family home!! We ended up finding a place in Roscoe Village (after coming this close to putting in an offer on a place in the North Shore) which I'm so excited about. Mia will be a stone's throw from her neighborhood elementary school, we're right by a playground and the Roscoe Village downtown, and we're moving into what we hear from friends is a vibrant, fun neighborhood that has a small town feel in the middle of the city. I always hoped we'd be able to be city kids for life, and am psyched that we're managing to do it. 

Before we get to move in though, we'll be staying with Jeff's parents in the suburbs for two months! It turns out early spring is the perfect time to sell a condo in Chicago (particularly one with a roof deck like ours!) but not the perfect time to buy a house in a neighborhood full of families that send their kids to CPS, because Chicago schools don't let out for the summer until the end of June so no one wants to close before then. It took me a little time to accept that we won't get to move straight from one house to another, but now I'm game for two months of having built-in babysitters for Mia (and potentially some date nights?!) which after a year of quarantining sounds amazing. Hello adult time! His parents are also members of a pool, and Jeff's best friends just bought a house nearby with a pool, so I'm hoping for some warm weather so I can pretend we're on a two month vacation ;) Their house is also close enough to downtown that we can keep Mia in her preschool pod (and have an excuse to come into the city every day). 

In case you came here for some of my usual Currently content and not just a 500 word life update, here you go: 

READING 

I finished Leave The World Behind a couple of weeks ago, and if you were thinking you wanted to read something that's half dreamy vacation and half disturbing dystopian nightmare, than I found the book for you! I don't want to give the story away, but it's about a family vacation in the Hamptons where things all the sudden take a turn. The writing is very poetic and dreamy and almost made me put it down after the first page because I couldn't tell what was happening, but I ended up getting really into it - it makes you wonder if what you're reading is really happening or not. 

WATCHING

Jeff and I are two episodes in on The Great on Hulu, and I am loving it so much. It's a satire (very) loosely based on Catherine the Great, and was created by one of the writers of The Favourite and so shares a similar vibe. The show is hilarious and dark as it follows Catherine's attempt to murder her husband and become Empress of Russia. 

I also started Ginny & Georgia on Netflix, which I heard described as similar to Gilmore Girls, but only if Lorelei was a criminal. Ginny is a biracial teen who moves to a wealthy white suburb with her hot young mom. She thinks she's studious and conservative, but this new town shows her she might be a lot more like her mom than she thinks. The show has a similar mother-daughter bond to Gilmore Girls, but also lots of sex, drugs, and guns. 

PINNING 

Lots of pretty white bathrooms! Our new house was built in the '90s and parts of it really feel like they were built in the '90s, so we're planning on redoing the primary bedroom / bathroom ASAP when we move in. I've reached out to a few designers and all of them told me to start with a Pinterest board. I managed to nail down exactly what I want for a bathroom in about 30 minutes (contemporary, white, texture, interesting finishes that don't feel so "now" that it'll feel outdated in a few years) but am seriously struggling with what I want for a bedroom. There are really high, vaulted ceilings so I'm thinking some exposed beams and a four poster bed, but I also don't want it to feel too farmhouse. Although the kitchen leans toward farmhouse, so maybe I should just embrace it and put barn doors everywhere? Send help pls. 

EATING 

All of the Blue Apron meals! I decided when we started freaking out trying to paint and caulk every surface in our condo that something from my schedule had to give, and that something turned out to be meal planning and grocery shopping. We had done a meal kit boxes a few years ago when I had a really long commute but never really loved it and ended up skipping a lot of weeks because there was nothing on the menu I wanted. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Blue Apron has a ton of options to choose from and lets you make swaps in the meals (i.e., chicken instead of shrimp, a better cut of steak, etc.) as well as lets you choose from 2 person or 4 person meals. I don't think we'll be continuing after we move because honestly after 6 weeks I'm starting to miss meal planning, but it's definitely nice for getting out of a cooking rut and for saving time. If you're looking to start Blue Apron, google for promo codes before you sign up. Usually you can get $60 or $80 off your first month. 

BUYING

A swimsuit (or two) for Mia! Last year I ended up with four or five swimsuits for her (thanks in part to a few grandmas who wanted to buy her gifts - thanks grandmas!) but ended up putting her in the same one every time because it had long sleeves and didn't expose her stomach, which meant a lot less sunscreen time for a wiggly little toddler. Mia seems a lot more amiable to sunscreen application so far this year, but I still wanted a long sleeve suit. I ended up ordering this cute one that's a rashguard and bottoms, but I'm still on the hunt for a cute long sleeved one piece. 

I also am allllllll about the cute spring dresses right now and just ordered this pretty white eyelet dress - hoping it will be similar to a shirtdress I wore on our honeymoon in Italy! I also ordered this dress in mint, I had it in white last summer and loved how comfy and easy it was. 




Follow along with everything Kristina does via Bloglovin!

Monday, April 12, 2021

March Budget

I share my clothing budget here every month. My budget per month is $350, which may seem like a lot to some people or a little to others, but for me feels just right. I include all of my clothes, coats, shoes, and accessories in that budget, but not athletic gear, pajamas, or intimates.


Better late than never on this post, amiright?! I apparently did one LOFT order in March, and purchased nothing else. This is the time of year when we have one warm day I'm like "GAH NEED ALL THE SPRING CLOTHES" which is exactly what happened here. We had a few days in the 70's and 80's so I got to wear a few of these, and my fav is definitely the black dress - it's so easy and fun to wear! 

Here's what I bought in March: 


LOFT Peplum Tee (sold out noooo - here are one, two, three similar tops) - originally $59.50, on sale $35.70. It's a little breezy for Chicago weather, but super cute! I somehow got a stain on it immediately when wearing it the first time so I'm currently crossing my fingers it comes out in the wash! 
LOFT Black Shirtdress - originally $89.50, on sale $44.75. This is my favorite cut of dress from LOFT from last summer so I was excited to see it again. It's very light and breezy, perfect for hot hot summer days. The only funny thing about it is that the buttons are all functional, and I did look in the mirror while wearing it and realized one of the middle buttons had come undone - whoops! 
LOFT Everyday Sweater - originally $49.50, on sale $24.75. Actually I'm not sure why I said the black dress was my favorite because I have definitely been reaching for this sweater every time it comes out of the wash. It's a great lightweight sweater for spring, but the fabric is still really soft, not scratchy like a lot of lightweight sweaters can be. I might need it in another color or two...
LOFT V-Neck Shell - originally $44.50, on sale $22.25. I always want to wear cute little camis under sweaters and blazers, but they look terrible with my bras when I inevitably get too hot and take the top layer off. I love that this has the feel of a cami but with the ability to hide thicker straps. 

Total spent: $127.45

In April I'm trying really hard not to buy anything because... we're moving!! More details to come, but we are spending this month packing so I probably don't need to buy anything more to pack up... right? Right. Right? 

We'll see in a month ;)



Follow along with everything Kristina does via Bloglovin!