New house, consider yourself warmed.

This past weekend we had our housewarming weekend! It’s been close to a month since we officially moved in, and the past few weeks have been a little hectic unpacking, putting things away, cleaning and buying new furniture. I know we have all the time in the world to “get settled,” as we’ll be in this house forever. (I’m never moving again, thanks). But I did feel a little anxious knowing people would be coming over, plus I wanted it to start to feel like home.

So over the past few weeks we’ve been organizing, unpacking, taking inventory, organizing, unpacking, decorating, unpacking, moving things, finding things, buying things. It’s overwhelming to say the least. I love the idea of starting from “scratch” – a brand new house with nothing in it, and then decorating as I go. I love a clean slate. This new house is the beginning of a chapter. And it will take time. It will take time to fill the walls and the rooms. It will take time to pick color schemes, buy pieces, and fill in the blanks. And time we have. There’s no rush. The pieces that will fill the house will come from life, like they already have. We’ll collect pieces as we go and live, from traveling, from art shows, from here and there.



Beautiful sign for our front yard made by Uncle Gary!

Like most other things in life, when decorating the house or choosing things I use my gut instinct. Usually I know right away if I like something or not. I know when it works and when it doesn’t. If I have any doubts, I won’t buy it or it doesn’t go there. I probably arranged and rearranged our hutch and curio 75 times placing our picture frames, decanters, Judaica and crystal vases in the perfect spots. And I love it. I love doing that. I love being able to look at the beautiful items we got from our wedding and arrange them and rearrange them so they represent us and our love.


Cam was tired from all the chaos!

Seriously, though, half the fun has been actually opening and unpacking and putting away wedding gifts we didn’t have room for before. And finding places for all of the beautiful things I love. And actually using them. And feeling like a real, live grownup woman.

Speaking of becoming a woman, I cooked dinner for 18 last Friday night. SUCCESSFULLY.

Our backyard fence was completed just in time for the housewarming weekend!

I’ve never made dinner for more than two people before, and one of those people (Sean) doesn’t always eat everything I’ve made. So this was a real first for me. I knew, when we started planning our housewarming weekend, that I wanted to cook dinner for my family in my home. That family dinner grew to 18 people. I planned a menu, Sean and I bought the food, and I prepared some ahead of time, and on the day of the dinner I had help from everyone. Everything went off without a hitch, save some plastic tags leftover inside the oven that we discovered when we turned the oven on. But besides that, the goat cheese stuffed peppers I imagined in my head came out great; the salmon’s honey mustard sesame glaze (that I also came up with) actually tasted wonderful; the sweet potatoes, asparagus and quinoa with cranberries and walnuts (another one of my inventions, might I brag a little!); tasted wonderful and people actually enjoyed everything! And like I said, I had a TON of help, from my mothers Ruth and Becky bringing cakes and cookies and making fruit salad, to Dan and Julie making the perfect hummus using fresh garlic and tahini – it was amazing. And then Sunday we had an open house party, where some 50 people came throughout the day. Sean, my father-in-law Jeff and Uncle Gary grilled hotdogs, hamburgers and chicken in the backyard as people filtered in and out. Oh, the food and the wine and the flowers. We gave tours and people drank beer and Coke out of the 1960s Coke machine. And Sean wore his football grilling apron, which I love.

It was really such a beautiful weekend. Though hectic, it was exactly what we wanted and a very me and Sean thing: opening our house to all the people we love. We even had a few surprise guests come in from out of town on their way back from Arts Fest and weddings, which was amazing.

Mom brought me a high heel candy/nut dish! Perfect for me, right?!

Yes, it was chaotic and even I thought it was a little crazy to host that many people only weeks after we moved in, but it’s what we wanted. That’s me and Sean. That’s us. We thrive off a little chaos. And as much as I was anxious about cooking dinner for 18 people, I loved the hustle bustle in the kitchen. I loved the layering of the courses – this goes in the oven while someone washes this and someone chops this and someone opens this wine. And it was loud and hot and busy, but it was FUN! A bunch of people crowded in the kitchen each doing a different thing or preparing a different food, and all talking over one another and laughing, and asking me where this serving plate is and where this knife goes and when to open this bag. I love it. I secretly, and not so secretly, love a little chaos (or a lot) in the kitchen. I love the warmness of being surrounded by family and friends and preparing food. And more than anything I loved the occasion. Celebrating a new house in good health and happiness. In the future. In moving forward. In a new beginning.

And everybody knows this already, but I love a good party. I love to plan. I love to host. I love having people over.

Julie and Campbell in the backyard!

For the first time this past weekend I felt like a homeowner. It was MY kitchen and it was full of the people I love and it was a dinner I planned and a dinner I served. I never thought in a million years I would have such a beautiful house with such a beautiful husband with such a beautiful dog with such a beautiful community of family, friends, neighbors and co-workers, who came from near and far to celebrate this huge milestone.

Housewarming hydrangeas from Drew and Anna!

Plenty of open spaces remain in the new house for furniture, rugs and wall art. The new house, which Sean and I named Project Prairie Rose during the construction of it (Prairie Rose is our street name), can now be called Prairie Rose. Sure, it’s still a project. We still have years of work ahead of us, from covering the walls with paint and pictures to furnishing and re-furnishing, to finishing the basement to building a deck to ordering chairs for the porch … the list goes on and on. But we are in it. We are living in Prairie Rose. And this past weekend it was introduced to the hustle and bustle, the love, of our life.

Little Miss Prairie Rose, with your beautiful newness, consider yourself warmed. Love, your new owners, the Millers.