What’s the Tea: Officially Home

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It’s officially official. I said my final goodbye to the apartment today. Now instead of multiple residences and two storage units, I have one happy home. All of this consolidation has taken about a year, so a celebration is probably in order.

What's the Tea: Officially Home

The past couple weeks have been more chaotic than I expected. As most of you know, moving is no small task. (Please remind me not to do this again anytime soon.) Other than getting help with a few of the large pieces of furniture, I tackled this move entirely by myself. That included packing, loading, and transporting everything in the apartment plus two storage units – one with stuff from my St. Marys house and one with overflow and Christmas decor from the apartment.

Although my parents and brother generously offered to help, it just worked better for me to manage things on my own given my schedule. It was a bit much at times, yet somehow it seemed to work. At this point, I am happy and relieved that the move is finally complete.

That might lead you to think I’m totally settled, which couldn’t be further from my reality. I mentioned in my post about improvements I want to make to the house that I need to have the upstairs floors refinished right away. The previous owners ripped up the carpet before listing the house, leaving damage from the carpets and revealing a couple different stains on the floors.

Redoing the floors before moving any furniture upstairs just makes sense. However, it does make moving in and living in the house a bit more challenging.

What's the Tea: Officially Home

And all of this is to explain, not complain. I’m so excited, happy, and blessed. Thankfully, the gentleman who is working on my floors started on Monday, meaning I should be able to move into those rooms late next week after everything is fully cured. Hooray!

If you are local to Pittsburgh, I’ve contracted the flooring work with Horst Hardwood Services. So far, they’ve been wonderful. I’ll update you on that soon!

Along with the physical move, I’ve done a ton of planning and coordinating. I think I’ve met with a different contractor or tradesperson every other day. It’s great to be able to hire professionals for some of the big jobs, but making all of the arrangements and being available when needed takes time from my other work.

Speaking of time sucks, even though I’m self-employed, I’m not good at time management. How other people can get so much done in a day never ceases to amaze me. This is definitely something I need to keep working on.

I’ve also been having to make a LOT of decisions, which tends to stress me out. However, in general, things have gone well thus far.

Even though the transformations won’t always be dramatic or especially pretty, I will be creating posts to keep you updated on my progress with the house. Now that I’m fully moved in, I’m expecting life will slow down a bit, giving me more time for posting and sharing. Stay tuned!

Knowing that this past month would be chaotic and stressful, I purposefully scheduled several fun events. I love the summer months, and I believe it’s important to savor what the season offers.

You may have seen on Instagram that I went to the Justin Timberlake concert here in Pittsburgh. I was invited by Verizon Up to attend. They provided me and a guest with tickets to the concert, and we had a blast.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjgjKgrgF2i/?taken-by=inspiredbycharm

We were on the floor of the arena so our seats were excellent. Some people in front of us were actually able to get a fist bump from Justin! If you’re a JT fan, you should definitely try and get to a concert. He puts on a fantastic show.

What's the Tea: Officially Home

Also, be sure to check out Verizon Up. It’s Verizon’s rewards program which is totally worth joining if you use their services. Rewards just for paying my bill? Sign me up!

I’m also super excited because the farmers markets here in Pittsburgh are back! Even this early in the season, they have an excellent selection of fresh produce. In addition to fruits and vegetables, I’ve been picking up fresh cut flower bouquets which you know I love.

What's the Tea: Officially Home

This past Saturday I swung by the market in Bloomfield (which might be my favorite) and snagged this everything bagel with beet cream cheese from Pigeon Bagels along with a nitro coffee from Zeke’s. To me, that’s Saturday morning breakfast perfected. So good!

What's the Tea: Officially Home

A couple weeks ago I went to the Three Rivers Art Festival with a friend. We checked out the art, grabbed dinner, and listened to a free concert. The festival is a week-long event and definitely a must-visit.

This past weekend I drove back to St. Marys to spend Sunday with my dad. The weather was perfect. We swam all afternoon and had steaks for dinner.

My dad can be tricky to buy for, so I was excited to find this oversized outdoor Jenga game on Amazon. While I’ve seen these games before, I liked this one because some of the game pieces had holes cut out for Jell-O shots. (A bit of backstory: My dad hosts an annual Fourth-of-July party and makes a slew of Jell-O shots for it. It’s not a rowdy party, but it’s still lots of fun.) Of course, I thought this would make the perfect gift. I also purchased this hat for him. He thought both were pretty cool! Win! (affiliate links)

I think that should bring everyone up to speed with what’s happening around here. I hope you are enjoying the summer and making time to do the things that make you happy.

Thanks for giving me a chance to catch you up.

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9 Comments

  1. “Even though the transformations won’t always be dramatic or especially pretty” is keeping it real and true. That’s why I read your blog. BTW, beet cream cheese on an everything bagel is genius. I must have that in my life!

  2. Michael – congrats on your new home! Lots of work but it will be soooo worth it! Just wanted to let you know I hosted a large family event and served up your SW pasta salad. It was an instant hit! Living in New Mexico, it has to be spicy or they are just bored and your recipe hit the mark. I have had to share your recipe (and blog) with many of them. Also, when you get a moment, I would love to know more about that cabinet (right side of photo) in the first picture above! I just love it! Family heirloom or acquisition? Did you have to refinish it?

  3. I really enjoy reading your blog– it’s so newsy and it’s like you are talking to a friend. I am excited to see what you will do to the new home– you have so many great ideas. (The decorating gene went to my sister. I even have trouble picking out white!) And I’ve tried some of your recipes, too — good! Good luck as you go!

  4. I’m so excited fro all your new home posts!!! It sounds like you handled your move very well, and that can be very overwhelming and exhausting. Good for you to remember to do some fun things as well! Yay again for your new home, I can not wait for all the posts to come about it!!! So excited for you!