Heather's Harmony

why I fell in love with my condo

When I was looking at places to live the idea of a condo or townehome seemed to fit me best but this was the first one that came with land, a charming backyard of my very own. It's very idealic and with a creek running through the backyard my heart melted and I made an offer. Through the years its changed a lot 

Unfortunately the past two years its flooded but never come into my house and this year the HOA decided to build in a drainage system and they are re-modeling all the backyards. They just started construction this week and I can hardly wait to see how great its going to look!

 

Another huge plus with this condo was a fireplace. I've snuggled up next to it several times with friends, books, movies, blankets, and coffee. I told myself if I bought this condo I would put the fireplace to good use and I think I have. Although I will say decorating the mantle of my fireplace has been really fun and its always changing.

Right now its decorated with my collection of Matrushka (stacking) dolls from Russia

Although one of my favorite things to do is line up a bunch of tea light candles... I'm a candle girl!

 

hope you've enjoyed my home tour so far!

You can see more here. 

snapshot saturday: water holes in Kauai

 

This photo was taken a year ago (exactly a year ago this week!) in Kauai, Hawaii

We stopped at this little lake? pond? accumulation of water? (not sure what its technically called) in the mountians while hiking and there was a place to jump, not too high up, but it was so fun.

I think I'd choose to be a mermaid in another life!

for more sunday snapshots go here

styling in small spaces

When I bought my condo in 2006 I was only 19 and as you can imagine I had a lot to lean about the housing market, risk, repairs, cost and utilizing small spaces. I in no way regret buying my condo, its been a very positive influence in my life and being a home owner has required me to step up when I otherwise might not have.

I've never been much of a rat pack; I thank my mother for this attribute (quite literally Thank you Mom!) If you were to ask me about my mom one thing I would say is that presentation matters, we had a kid Christmas tree downstairs and then the color coordinated tree showing in the living room window. One year my mom even wrapped all the presents in color coordinated wrapping paper and embellishments. Our home was decorated simply and beautifully never cluttered or full of nick knacks and trinkets.

In my condo the space is limited with barely any storage, through the years I’ve struggled with how to display, decorate and store my belongings. It didn’t take long to realize I needed more room in my kitchen and I debated a few solutions but ultimately decided to use the walls for storage and got these shelves from Ikea. I like that they are natural wood and while they can be painted I enjoy them just like they are!

On Display:

-  On either side are bouquets of roses from previous loves in my life.  Even though the guys aren’t still in my life I enjoy keeping reminders of happy/lovely/positive memories. (I’m a very sentimental person in case you haven’t noticed yet.)

-  Beautiful handcrafted glittered, decorated and jeweled drink cup my mom made for me. (she’s sweet like that)

-  A metal ‘h’ from a local antique shop.

-  On either side there are wine bottles from Kauai, HI.

-  Jar of water from the Pacific Ocean @ Huntington Beach.

-  Photo of my antique trinket jar. (It probably seems silly to have a photo of that but I entered it in  a photo contest once and wanted to reuse it)

-  A beautiful little tea cup I instantly fell in love with from a local antique shop

-  On the far right it looks like a photo but it’s actually a box with a beautiful aged photo of St. Basils Cathedral (my favorite cathedral). 

 

These are the shelves in my dining room as seen here ---> 


For more of my home tour go here.

Sure its only kitchen storage shelves, but just by looking at it you know a lot about the kind of person I am… right?

my life on display

This month is my five year anniversary of living in my condo. Which I'm selling to travel the world but before I move I wanted to document a little of my home and my style. It was a goal of mine that my home be a reflection of me. I wanted someone to walk through my home and get to know me.

 

 

  On display:

- Water from The Dead Sea, Hawaii, and the Mediterranean Sea.

- School books, my favorite childrens books, reasearch books, yearbooks, books to read, journals and books just for fun

- Trinkets and souvenirs from Russia, India, London, and Paris.

- On the top shelf is an antique mason jar full of random treasures and my collection of skeleton keys.

- Then of course on the bottom are my yearbooks, diplomas, caps and tassles from my hisgh school, junior college and Utah Valley University.

This is one of my very favorite parts of my condo and I'm sad to say I have only had it decorated this way for six months. Most of the time the shelves were cluttered and looked messy so I had a curtain covering them. It did the trick but I much prefer how this looks and that its a mini display of my life.  

You can see more of my home tour here.

The 15 Day International Travel Challenge Day 2

Day 2: Where would you like to travel next?

Well that response could never end so I’ll respond with where I’m most likely going to travel to next. (Keep in mind this is totally subject to change!) If you’re brand new to my blog it may help to take a peek here.

found here

In the lead of where I am considering moving next year is…. South Korea. (Did you see that coming?) 

  

When looking into possible places to move Korea seems to fit what I am looking for. I mainly wanted to go to an Asian country since I don’t really see myself settling down there but have always wanted to go it seemed like a good place to start. Not to mention it’s an easy boat/ferry ride to China or Japan. Not to mention that after taking my Buddhism class last semester I would really like to learn more about it and come to find out there is a very large Buddhist following in South Korea and several temples I’d love to visit!

 

I'm thinking the South side of the island, everyone seems so in love with Seoul and so I'd rather fall in love with something new!

 

found here

  
found here

 

My idea behind lifting my roots for a life of travel is to follow the opportunities the universe offers me. It was by recommendation I take a class by Professor Wayne Hanewicz at UVU before I graduate and wouldn’t you know it he was teaching one class at the exact time I needed. It was a topics course discussing correlations between science and Buddhism, and since then their have been signs that I should continue looking into Buddhism. I’m looking into teaching English abroad like I did in Russia, and South Korea seems to be ideal and then I found out about the Buddhist population there and I’ve got a feeling that isn’t a coincidence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1: Favorite place(s) you've been to?

 

*You may also notice I'm not posting consecutively. I wanted to spread them out a little bit. :)

dresses galore

I heart Anthropologie's dresses... how I will miss them in winter!

        

pictures... pictures... pictures

 

This is a wall in my bedroom. When I decorated this room I was just returning to school and wanted to surround myself with inspiration and encouragement to remind me why I'm finishing school.  There are photos with my family, best friends, landmarks, trinkets, vacations and scenery. Every photo was taken by me or has me in it, I prefer to use my own photos, its much more personal and sentimental.  I plan to keep this tradition in all my homes, its also fun because throughout the years I've switched and updated the photos.

home, this is where my hearts been for five years this month

Why pay for art and photography when I have thousands already!?! This has always been my way of thinking. I am an incredibly sentimental person, and I love to live that quality UP! You'll see very quickly my home... is me.

  

 

I have a red accent wall in my bedroom and these are the three photos I have hanging there.

 

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia.

*my favorite Cathedral in Russia*

(maybe in the world)

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of my very favorite photos of me from Russia

I have a tendency to do this pose a lot. However, this photo is a good reflection of my time in Russia. I moved there in 2005 to teach english. It was hands down one of the most difficult things I've done and consequently the best and most beneficial things I've done.

to me this photo reflects the strength I had and cultivated

  


The Chicago Theatre

I snapped this photo out of the backseat of the first taxi I'd ever ridden in. It just occured to me how odd that seems since by the time I took this photo I had already lived in Russia, been to London, Mexico, Paris and several other countries and places in the US. (I prefer to use public transport.

what makes this photo special though?

- It was my first time traveling with an event coordinating job I had at the time.

- first time in Chicago

- first time seeing a Broadway play (Wicked, loved it!)

- first time in a tiffany's store

- My mom joined me and participated in the event and stayed a few days after with me so we could enjoy the city

- this trip also has major sentimental and emotional significance that is too detailed and personal for this blog post. sorry

 

Sometimes I just want to....

 

Where do you go to think, get away, escape from reality?

I go to the airport.  I sit in the park in wait and watch the planes come in. I always watchthe screen scroll through where the arrivals are coming from and pick out where I would go.

I think about where I would go once I got there, what I would need to bring with me, who would want to come. Its one of my quirky things, I love to dream and plan trips that I may never take, it relaxes me and instantly puts me in a better mood!

i heart camping with my family!

Hope you have an amazing long weekend... I'm heading to the mountains to go camping with my family. This could be my last camping trip, not just for this year, but for who knows how many years!

Kinda crazy when you change the perception a bit huh? There is sure to be four-wheeling, fishing, hunting, lots of kids, smoores, yummy food and birthday cake! (Shhh, the cakes a secret! I know about the cake since I made it. It's my stepfathers birthday and I made the very best chocolate cake I know of)

 
 

These are photos from last year when I learned to catch and gut a fish for the first time. My family likes to tease me for being a girly girl, which I will admit I can be. However, I also pride myself on two things 1) being a good mixture of girly and burly 2) facing the unknown, feared or dangerous headon!

 

 
So I took their laughter and teasing and I gutted a fish barehanded right in front of everyone!