About us.

Thanks again for all of your questions in the Whadya Wanna Know post. I'm pretty sure this will be the most.boring.post.ever but here goes it.

Who are you? What do you do? (and other such questions)

Overall, we're a pretty dull couple. Of course, we both like to think we have sparkling personalities and razor sharp wit (and humble too!) but aside from that, we don't live a very interstesting life. That's why I don't mention much outside of our home adventures. We go to our respective jobs, spend a few hours together before sleeping 1/3 of our life away, get up and do it all over again.

But since you asked, I feel obliged to share. Me? My 9 to 5 is in financial services. A decidedly left brain sort of pursuit that helps pay the bills but doesn't fulfill my creative desires. In order to challenge the other side of my noggin, I run a small graphic design business in my 'free time'. The Mr. is a civil servant very dedicated to his job and industry. He also happens to be a great cook (the world's best baked ziti!) and excellent at spatial reasoning.

As you can probably tell, I like to dabble in all things creative like home decor, photography, entertaining, crafts, etc. I've even started to pick up some skills in the cooking and baking category much to the appreciation of the Mr. I'm not the best in any of these categories but I really enjoy the challenges. The next skill on my agenda is sewing. I just need to find the time to take a beginners class. I spend WAY too much time watching television - reality game shows like Top Chef and Project Runway are a particular weakness.

The Mr. and I were married 6+ years after dating for 7. So yea, we've been together a long time. We have no children but we do have one cat.

Unfortunately for us, we are not rich or famous. We saved our money to buy and renovate this home after spending nearly a decade in a 800 square foot home. (Which, by the way, I never felt was too small or that difficult to live with a single bathroom. This is the very first time either of us have lived in a home with more than one toilet!) I don't own a single pair of designer jeans or shoes or sunglasses. We have one 5 year old car. We don't go to nightclubs or the opera. We rarely even go out for drinks as we are very much old farts before our time.

Obviously, we spent a lot of money renovating. And even though 99% of my home purchases are from Target, Ikea or Junk stores, the costs still add up. So a good deal of our discretionary money goes to what you see on this blog. Other than that, we both love to travel. I have a penchant for luxury hotels while Mr. Limestone has a obsession with frequent flyer miles. Those factors coupled with limited vacation time and funds add up to a few (sometimes short but) semi-swank vacations a year.

I tend to be the one behind the camera so I don't have that many photos of myself to begin with. Of those few, I don't like most of them. And I'm not about to show a bunch of photos displaying my mouth open or excess chins. If I were rich and famous, I'd like to have a photographer follow me around every once in a while to take some fabulous and flattering action shots of me. Until then, this is my favorite photo of myself. It was taken on my 30th birthday in Paris. I'm wearing my favorite dress ($65!!) and highest heels I own.


Design Inspirations?

I like read to all sorts of home decor related magazines and books. Particularly fond of Martha Stewart and all her crafty elves for their inspiration and good taste. I don't have one style icon, really. I tend to take a lot in and then pick and choose what suits me best. I try my best to keep a style tickler file when it comes to home projects. If you're curious, you can take a peak at my home inspiration and good idea flickr sets.

The magazines I subscribe to religiously are Martha Stewart, Domino (now defunct). I loved Blueprint and still miss it. I just recently subscribed to ReadyMade, House Beautiful and Better Homes & Gardens so the jury is still out. I used to subscribe to Real Simple but found it was the same ol stuff recycled over and over. Boo on them.

As a general rule, I have an idea of the finished product in my head before I start a project. That goes for renovating or doing a design project or planning a party. The trouble is I often can't explain what I have in my mind very well which is why I tend to have to do things myself. (That and I'm a bit of a control freak.) Sometimes the end result is different from what I imagined - sometimes better, sometimes worse.

I think that is pretty much it for the more generic questions. I'll answer the more specific ones in my next post. Until then, I hope I haven't bored you too much and feel free to ask anything else you're wondering about.