As I mentioned in my last post, moving in is going a lot slower than we thought. It’s been a game of Tetris for sure, and we’ve had a few hiccups along the way. We also got rid of a great deal of items before leaving, both items that we simply didn’t want or need anymore and items that we wanted new versions of. So we’ve been rushing around trying to make things work out and replenishing our stock of cleaning supplies and groceries. We’ve made four trips to Ikea (a place that I positively loathe) countless trips to Target, and quite a few to Home Depot. There are still unpacked boxes scattered around, and a mound of empty boxes on our patio that we have yet to haul out to the recycling. But here is a little peak into our lives lately. If you follow me on Instagram then these will be old photos to you, but if you don’t follow me (just search for atomic_redhead) or don’t have an Instagram account, then these will be fresh!

I received this delightful golden horseshoe has a going away present from Christine of Living Threads Vintage, one of Portland’s finest vintage clothing stores. Not only does it offer a delightful western touch, the “saloon” inside Disneyland’s Frontierland is called The Golden Horseshoe! I also recently unpacked my boxes of records. Before leaving my dad let me go through his record collection, and I was granted permission to take some of his records, including original pressings of three of Gram Parsons’ albums, The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo and the first two Flying Burrito Brothers albums!

One item we got rid of was our entertainment center, wanting to find a Heywood Wakefield buffet or something vintage that could house our TV, media players, and movies. While searching we found one of my dream Hey-Wake pieces, the room divider. Often described as the “Holy Grail” of Hey-Wake, the room divider is one of the most versatile pieces their line, as it is finished all the way around, and can serve, as its name boasts, as a room divider, with cabinets on one side, and open shelving on the other on its lower half, and and open bookcase on top. The piece can act as a wonderful library piece, or as a China hutch of sorts. Additionally, the top and the bottom are two separate pieces, and separating them is very easy, and leaves no trace that the two really go together (for example, there are no holes or pegs to keep the shelf portion in line with the bottom). So for us, we are now using the bottom as our entertainment center, and the top is sitting by itself as a bookshelf. Here you see Patrick setting up our new TV and the room divider as it is suppose to be used. I’m a bit sad that we won’t be using it as it was intended at the moment, but one day we shall reunite the two!

Saturday we took a brief break and went to Disneyland for dinner, where I enjoyed a tasty and adorable coffin shaped cake, and Fantasmic. Fantasmic is quite possibly my favorite thing at Disneyland. In case you haven’t been to Disneyland and/or haven’t seen Fantasmic, it is a live, water, fire and laser show that happens along the Rivers of America, where Mickey explores the power of the imagination, and explores beautiful fantasies, while also experiencing nightmares, using live characters, projects on water screens and use of the Mark Twain Riverboat and the Sailing Ship Columbia. The show’s climax is Mickey facing off against Maleficent when she turns into the dragon version of herself and breathes fire and lighting fire to the water. It’s nothing short of spectacular!

Well, there you have it, a quick little update! Now it’s back to unpacking! I really can’t wait to have this place in order and share it with all of you! It may be a series of posts, sharing a room or two at a time to showcase some details within our place.