Summer House Projects | 2020

Hello All!

This spring, Travis and I have taken to the outdoors much more than last year and have really kicked it into high gear with our house projects.

So far, we changed out all of our exterior lighting to match the lights on the front of our house. 

I ripped up all of the over grown hostas that were lining our back deck and we put in new mulch and re-lined the plant beds. 

Travis took down the old 60's deck railing and replaced it with new ballasts and they look amazing!

We edged the sidewalk to the garage and found out that it's not just an offset rectangle, there's weird elephant ears off the sides...it's whatever I guess. 

I got a new umbrella as the one we got last year was "tan" but when we got it, it was almost green? So now we have an ACTUAL tan umbrella. We didn't truly agree on a color, he wanted brown and I would've rather had white, so tan it is. 

I got it off of Amazon, by WUFF Bluu 10' Patio Offset Umbrella. We don't have it bolted into the deck so we don't have the extra long legs to help stabilize it. 

I had ordered a SUPER CUTE outdoor rug last summer and either Target or UPS lost my order and I was truly upset because it wasn't available anywhere else or this year. 

SOO I bought a new one this year from Target and it is the 5x7 Tassled Outdoor Rug Charcoal by Opalhouse. 

The cushions are the only deep seat grey outdoor cushions you can get from Walmart (in the store) I think they're the BHG one's. Same with all of the pillows. 

The patio set was from my friend and confidante, Mollie. Hi Mollie.

The lights are from Home Depot, and they're the same lights that we have in the front of the house and also now on our garage and our side entry. They're the "Colonade Collection 1-Light Sand Black Outdoor Wall Lantern Sconce with Clear Glass". 

I love them!

The lumber is all from Home Depot, including the ballasts. 

Here's the before:

This was most likely built in the 1960's and super chunky and the lattice was stained from the red stain which was obviously never kept up.

The "flower beds" were overgrown hostas with red crescent moon pavers and I took the whole. thing. out. 

Hit me up if you want some red brick pavers.

Hosta's are around a lot of peoples homes and most of them look great but they're definitely not for me and mine were overgrown aaaaaaand so I just removed them. 

We plan on staining the deck floor, the steps and the tops of the railings the same color and painting the tops and bottoms of the rails for the ballasts white along with the horizontal bars along the bottom. 

Don't get it? I'll show you eventually...

Now to the front!

SO! 

Here's a glimpse at what the exterior looked like before we purchased the house.

First off, can you see how the tree to the left of the house is now COMPLETELY leaning versus the bottom photo? You almost can't see it in the bottom photo because it's such a drastic movement from the storms last year. We're getting it removed sometime within the next month and that'll ease my mind whenever we have storms for sure. 

Overall, the façade wasn't terrible but again, the flowerbeds were overgrown and it was very dated. Immediately we painted the door because it was black and gold. We changed the lights, mailbox, and house numbers last fall and it totally changed the look. This year we planted new shrubs and flowers and laid down mulch. We extended the front steps and made it about 3 inches taller which then required another step. We basically just built around what was existing. We also squared off the columns as they were QUITE "classic". 

We're doing the same paint/stain scheme as the back deck. 

Travis added the shaker shingles to the front and this will be stained as well. 

We won't be staining anything until the treated lumber is completely dry which probably won't be until next year. 

We've also decided to remove the shutters (because they do NOTHING) and I'm going to paint the frames of the windows black. Simple. 

I'll do the same with the door but we're eventually going to get a new front door. 

Bonus, here's a couple other angles:

Those metal awnings on the side, girl, we took off almost immediately. Same with the camper awning attached to the back of the house. I'm not 60, I'm sorry Mom and Dad, but it's for sure not for me.

Let me know what you think of our improvements so far!

We have a TON of projects we want to do this year so stay tuned.

xxoo,

Myia

The BEST Shrimp Tacos

Hey People!

I thought about it and I figured, okay I'll make up the birthday shrimp taco recipe. 

We made some shrimp tacos the week before my birthday when we were at Candlewood but we A) didn't have salt and B) were kind of just making it up with what we could get minimally. But they were so good I wanted to have them again as my birthday dinner.

Now, I am not a chef nor do I claim to be. This is truly just off the top of my head and measurements aren't exact. Literally do what you'd like to the flavor levels you'd like. *shrugs*

Travis wasn't happy I'm sharing this recipe since we think if we ever open a food truck or restaurant (truly not sure when that would ever happen) we'd definitely have this on the menu...but I just gave the basics.

Sadly, this was the only photo I took of the tacos...

But! Here's what I can remedy of the recipe:

Ingredients:

-Any shrimp of choice (we used extra large pre-cooked frozen shrimp), you'll need about 4pcs of shrimp per taco.

-Butter (about 2-3 tbs for the shrimp and extra for browning the tortillas

-Garlic (about 2-3 cloves, minced)

-4-6 tortillas, depending on how many people and how many tacos are being had (we had two each)

-1/2 to 1c of guacamole (I make my own, not gonna share the recipe but store bought or your own is fine)

-Half a bag of broccoli slaw

-About 1/4c of a creamy lime dressing (we used store bought)

-1-2tbs mediterranean seasoning

-1 lime

-1/4 to 1/2c Salsa verde (again, we used store bought)

-About 1/2 to 1c. Mexican cheese blend for topping (honestly use however much you'd like, I think the more the merrier)

Directions:

1) If the shrimp hasn't been thawed, do so. Peel, de-vein and remove tails.

2) Take the broccoli slaw out of the bag into medium bowl. Add cilantro lime dressing and mix. Squeeze rest of half of the juice from one half of the lime to slaw and mix.  

3) Add butter and garlic to pan and heat to just melt. Add thawed shrimp and sauté until just turn pink. Make sure to not overcook shrimp or it becomes rubbery. This should take only a few minutes on medium to medium-high heat.

4) Remove shrimp from pan and set aside, if no butter remains in pan, melt a bit more to brown tortillas. Heat/ lightly brown tortillas in pan on both sides at same temp. Once brown, set aside.

5) Assemble tacos with shrimp, slaw, guac, salsa verde, and cheese to top. Squeeze other half of lime on top of each taco for added acidity. 

6) Enjoy!

xoxo

Myia

Powder Room Remodel | Residence Robinson

Hello People!

I thought I'd share our main floor powder room remodel on here for you.

I shared previously over on my instagram back right after it was done but here is a more detailed list of where everything is from. 

So here is what we started with when we moved into the house a year ago:

It was a royal blue outdated monstrosity. The floors were the same laminate as are throughout the rest of the main floor. The toilet seat cover was a shell shape, the counter was made of this faux tile and as you can see was drug up the walls to be like a backsplash. The mirror, which was also a medicine cabinet, was above the toilet because the sink was right under a window. Overall I hated everything about it.

We changed the toilet and painted one weekend back in October of 2019 (I thought it was back in February, but much longer ago!)

In March, we decided to tackle the whole thing. 

Travis made the vanity, moved the plumbing from one corner to where it currently is next to the toilet, changed out the floor and added the wainscoting as you see below:

The finished product! Isn't it such a great change? The wainscoting really brightened up the room.

These shelves were also installed on the opposite wall of the sink.

I also made this piece to put in the frame above the toilet as the one that was in the frame the time I took the photo was from college and of someone I'd rather see less of *cry-laugh emoji*. 

Here are the links to everything:

-Wood for vanity, shelves and wainscoting all from Home Depot.

I don't have an exact amount of how much was used or what exactly

we purchased but it was mostly pine except for the particle board sheets.

-Toilet by Kohler

-Sink from Amazon

-Faucet from Amazon

-Lights from Amazon

-Mirror from Amazon

-Pop Up Drain from Amazon

-Under sink storage baskets (large)

-Soap Pump from Target

-Curtain Rod from Target

-Curtain (That I hemmed to desired length)

-Striped towels

-Other towels

-Waste basket (mine is sold out but this one is similar!)

-Similar rug

-Similar baskets on shelf

-Similar wooden storage box on shelf

-Ceramic pots/planters were from TJ Maxx (small grey and brown on bottom shelf was a cleaned out Hearth&Hand candle)

-Shelf brackets

-Flooring

-Toilet paper holder

-Towel hook

-Ceiling Light (Oil rubbed bronze)

-Stain for the vanity and shelves

-Our paint color for the walls is called "Camping Tent" by Behr

-The wainscoting is just the standard white base of the satin interior paint by Behr

The trim around the window and door were there as were the switch plates and switches.

We're also changing out the door, handles and window but more on that later!

xoxo

Myia

BreakTime with Myia & Mollie | The Podcast

Hey all you people!

If you've seen my last post or been following my instagram stories you'll know that the first episode of my podcast with my friend, Mollie is available!

Our podcast is titled, BreakTime with Myia & Mollie. 

We started recording podcast episodes back in 2018 and it was originally called Creative Differences. We didn't have much of a structure or really knew what it was about or what our main goal was so the episodes were kind of an elongated run on sentence. We recorded episodes until May of 2019 when Mollie had to have an emergency appendectomy! 

We took a few months off and late 2019 we re-kindled the idea of recording episodes and now we're official!

Our first episode, Childhood Crushes is available wherever you'd like to listen but you can check out our podcast website here! 

Mollie and I met in college and didn't become close friends until we started working together back in 2018. We hit it off right away and since we both worked in the same department, we took our breaks and lunches together. We had the most amusing break times and would constantly be laughing uncomfortably loud in the cafeteria. We then changed our name to BreakTime with Myia & Mollie. 

We get along really well as we have a similar sense of humor, willingness to try new things and similar views of the world. 

We're both from central Wisconsin and attended the same college, UWSP (go Pointers, amirite?)

Our episodes will be released on Mondays beginning June 1st, 2020. 

You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you'd like to listen!

Follow us on instagram, twitter, and facebook.

xoxo

Myia

This is 27

Hello people,

I'm coming to you as a newly turned 27 year old woman. I'm not entirely sure what that's supposed to mean. 

This year Travis and I didn't celebrate out of the country like we have the past two years. This was more or less because last year we bought our house and we didn't want to bring on another big purchase.

Since we've last chatted, we've updated our main floor powder room, celebrated our 3 year anniversary, spent another great time at Candlewood Cabins and did quite a bit of updating outside of our house. 

I've also officially published a podcast with my friend, Mollie!

It's called BreakTime with Myia & Mollie. 

You can listen to our first episode here!

We hope you enjoy!

I'll be making a post about the podcast with further details later on, so stay tuned.

Travis has recently moved his music to Spotify and you can listen here.

Take a listen and share with friends and family!

He also has a twitter, facebook page, instagram, and tiktok so go check him out.

We have a lot of plans left for the house but are a bit slow moving as it costs money, y'know?

I'll be doing a few more posts about home updates and our plans as they come along. 

Currently most major events are cancelled or rescheduled for later this summer due to Covid, so we'll see what the rest of this year brings. 

xoxo

Myia

2020 | My Outlook

Hello All.

Long time, no?

Hope everyone had a great set of holidays and New Year's Eve/Day. 

Mine were spent with family and friends as they should be. I spent Thanksgiving with a different side of my family and it was absolutely amazing and a total soul cleanse. 

My many Christmases were spent with old friends, very close family discussing what is considered "old" music, and my love spoiling me more than usual (and no, we are not planning any big trips this year). 

New Year's Eve was spent at home, with some nice steaks and shrimp (as Uncle Jill would say, MOOMACH!) and we started a new tradition of watching 'the best' movie of that year. Since, that was  basically all on people's opinions we just watched a few we hadn't seen, including 'Book Smart', 'Jo Jo Rabbit' and then I watched 'The Aristocats' because it was my favorite when I was a kid and hadn't seen it since. 

Now we are here!

I am still enjoying my 'new' job and right now is our slower part of the year so I'm learning to get creative with my time. 

During some down time, I mentally listed my goals for this year. 

As of now, not all of them are an "absolutely must be done" type of goal because if they don't happen then I will feel like a total pile of garbage but I'm making a real effort to achieve them.

My main goal is to become financially comfortable and learn to actually budget.

I am absolutely a spender and if I know I have extra money that I can burn, I absolutely will go to Target or get those other throw pillows that caught my eye. 

I KNOW I don't need anymore throw pillows, I'm friggen set. 

I sat myself down and calculated how I would be able to pay off my credit card debt by this September and if I stick to my guns and no major issues arise, it'll be done.  

I will have the obvious student loans to keep chugging along on and my vehicle payment but with the extra credit card payments out of the way, I can double up on my payments and still be comfortable.

We're planning on doing some more updates on our house this year including the half bath on the main level and the entry/ mudroom.

We have plans to do a major remodel on our upstairs bath and guest room which includes dormers and moving walls around so that may have to be planned for 2021 or later. 

We still would like to put in new flooring everywhere and we absolutely NEED new windows, but we would like to do that as we go. The kitchen and dining area will probably be one of the last projects since it would mostly be new appliances and doesn't have to be done right away.

Some of you may know but my friend, Mollie and I have a podcast that we started back in 2018 and have recorded about 4-5 episodes. We stopped recording when she had her appendix out and I want to pick it back up as we have everything to make it happen. What is it about you ask? Basically nothing, we discuss everything and anything and don't have guidelines to follow and maybe they'll show up magically. This is the big goal that I don't have a tight grip on it but even if we get it published finally,  I'll feel like I've got it accomplished.

This past year was a lot. Travis and I bought a house, visited Scotland, I changed jobs, and we added a puppy to our family. 

All of these major highs were absolutely great, but for the majority of the year I wasn't having a great time mentally. I really fell out of love with myself and cut a few ties with people because I was absolutely sick of being the only one making an effort. 

I started to care less and less about the things I used to find joy in and basically stopped caring about my appearance. Some people saw that and would make comments and that obviously just made it worse.

There were a few moments here and there where that wasn't the case but they truly didn't last long enough to make an actual affect.

I stopped making posts here and on instagram because I truly felt like I had nothing worth sharing with anyone, and when I took a few photos to share what we've been up to, I hated everything about it and changed my mind.

This holiday season really didn't feel like a happy Christmas time for me and I know it doesn't always have to but I just wanted everything to be over. 

I guess what had to happen was a new year and a new decade to bring an idea of renewal and clear thinking. I know most people don't follow through on their resolutions and yearly goals but my absolutely main goal is to just be happier.

I don't know what will need to happen for that to be, but I'm excited for it none the less. 

I have hope for a better year and a really clear vision for my goals, I just need to suck it up and do it. 

And I will.

I'm not going to waste my time on people that don't deserve it. If you want to be in my life, make an effort. And if you know me at all, I don't require much to be my friend. 

I'm making an actual effort to get my finances in order because even as I am extremely fortunate to have what I have, finances are something that stress me out to the max even if I even come close.

And that's the real real, from me to you.

I hope all of you have had a wonderful new year and are hopeful for new beginnings and growth.

xoxo

Myia