Marsia's Diary

I think I've turned a corner and am really enthused about moving now. I got happy and scrubbed the whole apt. and went and got boxes and made a nice list of things to get for the new house and possible paint colors to try out. We're also trying to plan a trip for K and her friends to go camping in the rv together. I ate a huge salad today and snacked enough so I think I should stop eating for the day now. I may try eating in a 6 hour window again. That really helps so I don't keep snacking.
 
Eating in a 6-hour window really did work well for you before. I just can't do it. I think it's probably best that you haven't had much of a chance to really settle into the apartment before moving as you will still be in packing/unpacking mode & should be able to find things easier when you are reunited will all of your stuff. I wonder if you will declutter some more when you go through it all.
 
Hi Cate and LaMa! I plan to de-clutter more when we get there. I may also not bring all the furniture I'd planned to now that I see all the built-in storage there. I am looking at nice coastal modern design and planning on refinishing some of my family's antique armoires and things to be more bright and fresh looking. I am really getting into interior decorating and J will get me a nice e-book on coastal lowcountry (the river delta region between the ocean and the main land) design to read because she explains interior design basics well so I really might know what I'm doing when I'm done reading the book.

I am eating pretty well, and do plan to start the 6 hour window today. It feels good to eat just a couple of meals and then I don't get tempted anymore after that. I wish it worked for you, Cate, but I'm so glad that what you are doing is working great, too!

I am just doing work for J today and picking out furniture that the seller is selling to us if we want it. They have very expensive taste, but are selling their furniture at a ridiculously good price, which works out for us because moving all our stuff is horribly expensive, so I may give away some of our less expensive furniture and upgrade to their stuff, which I don't have to move. One of the pieces we are getting is a huge decorative piece of driftwood. That's a thing there. I will maybe bring my outdoor pagoda and put it on a little rug next to the driftwood. I want to make the new house fun and cozy.

Thank you guys so much for repeating to me about how things are going to get nicer. It has helped a lot and I am feeling like the heavy mood from all the stress is finally lifting, and I am ready to get serious about weight and health and do the IF thing well and stay on track.

Oh, also new favorite breakfast - dragonfruit and yogurt - YUM! And keep forgetting to record that I'm taking nice walks by the beach. Not a couch potato!
 
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Hi Marsia. In my mind, your new place sounds like the house in Ozark. Except without the cartel after you, haha! Sounds amazing. And buying some of the furniture that's in the house already sounds like it will save you a lot of stress and effort in the longrun.

I don't know anything about South Carolina, but I loved your description of it.
 
Thanks guys! The pagoda is probably up to my belly button and is a nice stone one. It came with the last house.

Em, I had to look up the house in Ozark, because we don't watch much tv. Our house is sorta like that, and the show looks so fun - will have to watch it! The people J met out there were super friendly, and not redneck-y at all. The Charleston area is pretty liberal and is supposed to be a big party town which oozes southern hospitality. (So hopefully no Cartel!)

I made a nice tandoori chicken dish today and also some Indian rice with spices and onion. I won't have much because its made with white rice, but it came out good. Finished eating for the day and stayed to the IF schedule. Thank goodness for herbal tea so I have something nice after food cut off time!

It's feeling really good planning out the move and getting the moving van scheduled in and everything. K doesn't have much homework, so she'll play at open mike night tonight. It's been a long time, and we've really missed that a lot!
 
The pagoda sounds really nice. It's great that you are excited about moving. I hope you enjoyed the open mike night. We had a lovely time listening to music last night too, outside. It's starting to really chill off here as it is probably warming up over there.
 
It's been fun experimenting with Indian food. I am partially doing it because it has so many spices that help keep immunity up. I also like how the apartment smells afterward - nice bonus! When J ate out in the Charleston area, he ate a lot of local seafood - she-crab soup, shrimp and grits, fresh oysters, and blue crabs. I've read that there is the coastal Gullah culture (people who descended from ex-slaves who bought beautiful farmland in the lowcountry) who bring Cajun food to the area, too. I fell in love with that cuisine on an amazing trip to New Orleans. I think I'm going to have to be really active there so I can indulge in the food a lot!

I am puzzling over bringing all our California more modern style furniture and family antiques from the New England area to a house where the outside looks quintessentially Southern, but the inside is contemporary for the most part. So I'll be mixing modern Californian, New England antiques, and a few Southern traditional pieces. I will probably end up refinishing some of the antique stuff to make it look more fresh and contemporary. Eclectic style by necessity, I guess!

The open mike last night was so good. K wanted to leave early so she could talk on the phone with her best friend who she keeps postponing with. So we have to go back at least once more before we move. It's good soaking up the lovely things about this place before we move. I took a nice long walk with J yesterday in the forest by a creek - one of K and my favorite walks that ends in a bridge over the creek that has a little shrine under it to a couple of family members who also must have loved that spot. The cliffs there are covered in moss and the water is a deep green-y blue, and it's just so tranquil with the redwoods towering above everything. Where we are moving is an old growth pine forest, so there will be tall trees surrounding the property. Can't wait to see in person!

I am allowing myself some oat milk in the evenings - not more than 50 calories so it doesn't break my fast. I really like tea with cream, so this is my compromise to get me through the evening for now. I have been so so snack-y, and the IF is helping me maintain my weight. I am just so happy it isn't inching back up, and should start to drop if I keep up with IF.
 
I'm sure you'll make a wonderful whole out of all those beloved piece of furniture. It all feels so exciting!
 
I like mixing old with new furniture but am not attached to any of our newish stuff. Our house is so earthy that I can't imagine our furniture fitting into a new, very modern home. I have decided to not even think about moving. You will make it work in your new place, M I'm sure. You really seem to have a knack for it. It is very exciting and I am looking forward to hearing all about it when you move.
 
Thanks Cate and LaMa! I am having fun thinking about adding 3D wallpaper panels or little murals to some of the old armoires and things when I paint them. They got a little scratched up in the move, so it'll be fun refinishing them. I inherited back a lovely huge oak table that my dad and I refinished when I was very young, so I'll have my first refinished piece back and will probably use it as our dining table. I think this is going to be a fun challenge. And wow, when I look at some of the really expensive houses on the market, they are like from a movie set with art from every period and glam mixed with every other style imaginable. There are some seriously fun designers here! I am writing my college friend about helping me figure things out. In college he did the display windows of a lovely old fashioned department store, and we loved going to visit him while he was decorating there. His Christmas windows were just incredible.

Cate, I love earthy and homey, and it was painful making our old house so contemporary for selling it. But I did learn a lot from the designer who helped us. It was like getting a crash course where your own house is the case study. One pain in the neck thing is that our cat started scratching the furniture that she had left alone before. She doesn't like going outside here and is stir crazy. So it looks like we will be limited to velvet sofas when we move (because for some reason she luckily doesn't scratch velvet.). I spray her with water when she scratches, but she is being a stubborn little thing about it. We got her just a little too late to train her out of every bad behavior - the scratching is the one I couldn't change completely.

Good food day. K even made me nice eggs for lunch. We put together a couple more big raised bed kits with S today. I'm hoping to have a lot of the plants I gave her either in the ground or in the raised beds before we go.
 
I don't think it will be possible to make our house contemporary looking. I just couldn't do it as it would really pain me. It's of the earth really & contemporary would look so wrong. I will de elephant it probably & declutter our bedroom. I'm decluttering for us really, rather than thinking of moving. It just feels better to have less stuff.
I started rabbiting on & realised I'm in your diary so have cut & will paste in my diary :blush5:
 
Cate said:
I will de elephant it probably & declutter our bedroom. I'm decluttering for us really, rather than thinking of moving. It just feels better to have less stuff.
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Hi Cate, is "de elephant" a typo? I looked it up and am not getting anything. But it does sound like a thing! I'm so glad you are making your house even more beautiful for you, and earthy sounds so perfect! I'll stop mentioning moving! Anyway, your decluttering sounds really transformative and nice. Have you thought of taking before and after pics?

Also, you could never rabbit away, I love what you have to say!

LlaMa, my cat is bored to tears, and moving somewhere else is going to be so good for her. I know she misses her barn cat friends and her lovely old property. I try to fuss over her, and she is appreciative. She gets me to turn on the tub for her so she can drink out of the faucet, and I hold her in the sun and brush her out and get her special treats. She also likes if you sing to her.
 
Marsia said:
She gets me to turn on the tub for her so she can drink out of the faucet, and I hold her in the sun and brush her out and get her special treats.
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That's adorable! Glad she's just bored and not prickly due to lack of alone time (my introvert assumption).
 
Hi, de elephant is not a thing as far as I know🤣 but there wouldn’t be many living rooms with a big wooden elephant head on the wall. The 2 statues are made of black stone. I love this section of the house. My taste wouldn’t suit everyone, but looking at this makes me feel really good.
Marsia said:
Also, you could never rabbit away, I love what you have to say!
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That’s sweet of you to say 😘
 

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I love that elephant head!
 
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