Hi guys! We’re going to be doing our “let’s get casual” posts a little differently this year. We thought it would be fun to include a round-up of our favorite things, like we always have, and also add a quick recap of our month. Let us know what you think of the new format!

It’s sort of crazy to look back at a month. You should try it. Things that seem like they happened SO LONG ago were just four short weeks (or less!). It’s a very cool exercise in just remembering how much you’ve done and what you’ve accomplished.

1. This month we started by making an EPIC announcement: we bought a cabin in Northern Michigan!!! I’m still pinching myself and, since we haven’t actually seen the house since November when we did the home inspection, it’s still not feeling quite real.
2. Closing on the new cabin was immediately followed by celebrating Joanna’s third birthday. We spent the day going to the Children’s Museum of Cleveland, which we loved, followed by a tater tot lunch at Happy Dog and finally a giant banana split at Sweet Moses. Joey asked for a banana cake AND bananas for dinner for her birthday, so we figured a banana split sounded better!
3. We had a big snowstorm that was followed by a really pretty day, so we had a lot of fun getting outside to shovel (not as fun) and play in the snow.
4. It’s been a surprisingly sunny month for January in Cleveland. Has anyone else noticed this? I will take cold-and-sunny over anything-else-and-grey ANY DAY. Our cat Mocha feels the same.
5. I shared a photo on Instagram of a not-often-seen view of our house, towards the living room stairs and TV, and how incredibly different it looked a few years ago when we moved in. I sometimes forget we had to walk through a door to get into the kitchen!
6. Joey got her very first haircut! She had been getting bang trims for a couple of months but her hair in the back had gotten really long and sort of scraggly. We decided to cut it into an adorable little bob to even it out. She was as cool as a cucumber through the whole cut (Tiffanie at Dante Lucci Salon in Avon is so good with her! She does my hair too.), and Joey looks so, so cute.
7. We escaped the cold weather and went to the glasshouses at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. The kids loved getting to meet a turtle up close and looking at the birds. I loved the orchid exhibit and took about a million photos of flowers!
8. The Botanical Gardens inspired me to finally buy the giant 6-1/2-foot-tall faux banana leaf tree at Target that Andy and I have been eyeing for a while. It brings so much (faux) life and warmth to our living room and I’m in love.
9. Andy has been in Albuquerque all week for work. He snapped this photo this morning from the hotel balcony — and then found himself locked out, haha! He managed to escape and is currently on a plane on his way home. We couldn’t be more excited to see him later tonight.

Here’s some things we’ve been loving this month:

• Photo above: I was freaking out about this tiny kitchen remodel on Emily Henderson’s blog (and immediately texting links and pictures to Andy) since we’re currently in the process of designing an equally tiny kitchen in our cabin. So. Much. Inspiration. Some of it is very similar to what we were already planning (same fridge!) but we didn’t even know this oven/microwave combo situation even existed.
• We’ve (finally) been catching up on season one of HGTV’s Restored by the Fords before the new season starts. Leanne and Steve Ford are a Pittsburgh-based brother/sister design/contractor duo with a modern style that’s up our alley. Leanne wears a lot of overalls and looks super cool, which has me remembering that time in 1995 that I went to the farm-supply store in my small town trying desperately to find a pair of Dickies overalls that would fit me, but they were all for men and way too big (and everyone at the store thought I was so weird because they didn’t understand fashion trends!). BUT now I see that there are Dickies overalls in women’s sizes and I STILL reeeeally want some. Can I pull it off?
• This. 1,000 times this. Haha
• Is this the prettiest laundry room wallpaper or what? Sarah Sherman Samuel kills it every time.
• I’ve been pinning A TON to my “Cabin” board on Pinterest. Follow along for sneak peeks of what we’re planning!
• If you missed it, be sure to check out our last post and weigh in on how many beds you think we should have at the cabin! We are just having the hardest time deciding!

Happy Almost February, guys!!