Some recent improvements.

It's finally Spring in Chicago! That doesn't mean that much, actually, just that the temperature exceeds 50 degrees more days than not. And I am happy about that! I've had a case of Spring cleaning fever and have been doing some fun little things to our apartment to make it the coziest, happiest place possible.

First, meet our herb garden! These pots have sat empty since my birthday in February and are finally holding these adorable, very useful little plants. From left to right: mint, lavender, oregano, lemon balm, and basil. They like water and gazing at the city through the window. I hope I can keep them alive!

This was my latest find at Salvation Army. I went to drop off a bag of clothes and couldn't help but look through their dishes. I found this one for $3! Shawn says it looks noble.

For now, it is proudly holding a single bruised apple on our kitchen table. Hopefully we can find more noble purposes for it in the future. :)

Speaking of our kitchen table, this might be my favorite spot in our entire apartment. We love making meals special and this little breakfast nook is the perfect place to do it.


Meet our other new plant addition: our coffee table succulent. This green glass bowl is also a thrift store find and it all just looks so happy to me!

This is our new bed! We got most of our bedding as wedding gifts, but didn't register for any throw pillows or shams. So it just didn't look finished for the longest time, and it was embarrassing ever having people look at our bedroom and saying, "Oh, don't mind that." The king-sized giant of a bed with no pillows. Well, we now have pillows! It's not really "there" yet in my opinion, but looks 100% more inviting and finished than before.


This picture is just proof that we have finally gotten some wedding pictures printed! After 4 months, we thought it might be about time. :) It's fun to see the best day of our lives in photos all over the apartment!


Last but not least... our cedar chest. This was a gift from my grandparents who have had it since their first Christmas that they were married. It was a gift from my Grandpa to my Grandma and still has a plaque inscribed with "To Janet, from Dick" inside. Precious. They gave it to me for my 10th birthday (or something like that) and I remember being so excited when it arrived in the back of their car from Ohio. What amazing grandparents to give a 10 year old heirloom furniture! I'm a lucky granddaughter. :) The cedar chest now holds various treasures like my engagement ring box, our marriage license, my teeth (ok, maybe those are not really treasures... but I can't throw them away!). I have always loved it and my grandparents actually recovered it when I was in middle school, but I thought it needed a little updating to match our current style.


Shawn and I chose this fabric by Amy Butler... one of my favorites.


Then I stripped the poor thing.

And voila! My staple gun and I had a great time this morning transforming this into what it is now. I really like the result! We may even find some new blue knobs to go with it.


And here it is in all its glory, perched under our wedding gift from Shannon and Erik. New York City is quite a special place to us (for obvious reasons) so we love seeing it every day!

Hope you enjoyed the tour! We can't wait for our parents, who are ALL coming to visit in May, to be here and see this in person! :)