home sweet home

I never realized how much I loved having a place to call home until I didn't anymore. I spent 18 ridiculously happy years at home. I was a homebody. I would much prefer to stay home almost any day. There were a few exceptions such as the Holmes house and the Wils house and the Leaf house. But at the end of the night I liked coming home. I had a big room all to myself. The walls were painted my favorite childhood color, purple, with flowers creeping up the wall. I had notes and pictures and all sorts of cutouts on my walls. I even had my own purple phone in my room. There was a beautiful fireplace in the living room. There was a wood stove making he basement the most cozy place on earth. In the summer there were acres upon acres to dance through and explore and more than once I had found a nice place in the tall grass and taken a nap. 

my woods up North

being silly in my old room

So, it is pretty obvious I was ridiculously lucky having the best home ever. Then I grew up and I didn't know where my home was. I moved to Madison, which had been my dream since I could remember. I was ecstatic, but my apartment was not home. Moving around every year doesn't help the situation. I would use the word "home" for just about every place after awhile. My parents house was "home", Matt's house was "home", my apartment was "home".  And no matter where I was I didn't feel "home". I would cry sometimes just wanting a place that was "truly home". 


Before I knew it the only place I felt like I was home was with Matt. That was the only time I didn't feel lonely and confused. I was with him as much as possible because I wanted that homey feeling. 


We both moved to Milwaukee in September. I set up our apartment and got everything ready for us to live together. A month after I moved into our apartment we got married and we both came home. We didn't get a honeymoon after our wedding and so after the weekend in Green Bay we came back to Milwaukee. We started trudging up the 3 flights of stairs with our hands and arms full of wedding presents. Right there on the first landing was a pile of puke. yep. you heard me. The air was stagnant with the smell of beer and there was a pile of beer puke on our stairs. WELCOME HOME! I laughed so hard. When we got to the 3rd floor we both dropped our pile and Matt held out his arms for me to hop in and carried me into our apartment. We were home. I truly had a home that felt like "home". It was wonderful. Over the last 4.5 months that we have been married our apartment feels more and more like home and now we say things like "traveling up North" and "heading to New Glarus". And when I say it's time to go back home we both know exactly what I mean. 
I realized having a "home" means having people with you who are your family. I lived with my family as a child. I could relax around them. I could show them my real self and I knew no matter what they would always love me. Now I have a new family and I know no matter what he will still love me. I think that is what makes up a home. 


Since a lot of people still haven't seen my home, here are the highlights:

my living room from the entry door

one of my favorite wedding presents, thanks Kris

the door with the wreath is the entry door and through the hall there is the kitchen

our bathroom... I LOVE my shower curtain!

our bathroom is nice and big, which I like

messy kitchen

other view of the kitchen

our fridge, full of love

we have some really old cabinets an sink

through the key hole into the bathroom, Matt doesn't like this. 

pretty soap

I love that these are the doorknobs in our apartment

bedroom

our cozy, wonderful bed

cool part of the room

putting wedding decorations to good use

more wedding decorations, thanks mom

Matt's grandma made us a quilt for the wedding. It is really sweet. 

more decorations

Matt's flower for me

hello

definitely my favorite part of the apartment

I hope someday we can have a magnificent house. My husband is going to be an architect after all. We talk at night about all the things we want our house to look like. It is going to have a secret  door and I will have a library with a spiral staircase. Matt will have an awesome shop for all his manly arts. We will have a big bedroom with a whirlpool tub and outside my window will be a forest. Those are our someday dreams. They may or may not come true. I know that whether or not they do come true doesn't really matter. I will always have a home now. Whether it is a tiny 4 room apartment in a big smelly city or a sprawling fortress in a beautiful forest, we will always be home because we will always have each other. That sounds ridiculously cheesy, but I don't care...
That makes me ridiculously happy!


ps: hope you enjoyed all the pictures