About Me

When I started my blog a year ago (March 2010) my husband and I were coming up on our 1 year anniversary in our house. We bought our first house in March 2009 after looking for 7 months and 100+ homes. We never thought we would find one we loved until we walked into this one. However, the first time around was a complete disappointment. We had first looked at the house in February only to learn that there was another offer on the house and one we could not compete with. About 2 months later I noticed the house was still on the market. It was a Saturday. I emailed our Realtor immediately to inquire and we had papers drawn up on Monday. Turns out the couple with the offer could not settle on the house until end of April. We were able to settle immediately (we were both living with our parents). We got the house!! It happened so quickly and we were so in love! This was the only house of the 100+ homes we toured that we loved. We loved the open floor plan, the square footage (of course), the closet space (we both had a lot of stuff), the hardwood floors, the 2 fireplaces- one gas & one wood-burning, and the large backyard. It was perfect. This was not only our 1st house, but a house we could grow into.

We were married in July 3, 2009 after being engaged for a year and a half and dating for 6 years. It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky and perfect weather. The ceremony was outside as I had always imagined on plush greens with white chairs and flower petals lining the walkway. The groomsmen wore khaki suits and pink ties while the bridesmaids wore my favorite color- fuchsia. It was picture perfect. Then, we moved to cocktail hour on the outside terrace and inside for the reception. Our first dance was to Alicia Keys, "No One" and we had a night of dancing (which we love to do) and our cupcake tower in place of the traditional wedding cake, and favors of a pink candy table, which was a huge hit. It was our dream wedding and a perfect night.

A year later (a year of enjoying our house and being married) we were pregnant! This past July and one very early morning (5am) we received the most exciting news that we were going to have a baby! We were so excited and wanted to tell the world, but waited till 8 weeks to tell our families and 12 weeks to tell our friends (and the rest of the world). We were due April 7, 2011.

We told our parents that we were pregnant in an intimate setting- just us with his parents, then us with my parents. We told them both that we had finally framed a wedding photo for them and put it in a gift bag. It was actually a baby frame that said, "Hi Grandmom & Pop-Pop! I look forward to meeting you on or around April 7th, 2011!" Then we told the rest of our families in fun little ways.

On November 16th we found out it was a girl and I was shocked! I didn't actually have a feeling one way or another or a preference, but I heard lots of "it's definitely a boy." Another surprise to tell our families: we bought a few pink items and placed them inside a gift bag with blue tissue paper. I think they caught on with the blue and that just maybe it was a girl, and they were right!

Her name is the one surprise we are keeping till she is born. We wanted to keep something to ourselves and surprise our families on the day she is welcomed to the world. She will be here any day now and we are so anxious to meet her!

It's now been 2 years and we still tell each other how much we love our house. I started this blog because I love decorating and wanted to share my ideas and progress of our house with others. Two of my best friends actually urged me to start one, which is how Luscious Life & Decor began. I recently, and finally, updated my blog with a new look and still have to update pictures of our home. Thank you for reading!! 

Now that you know where I am in my life here are a few fun facts about me:

• I love the color pink
• I love to exercise, particularly running and ran my first half-marathon before turning 30 in September 2010
• In 2003 I found out a had a half sister, also named Emily, who contacted our Mom before she was getting married and now is part of our family. I am so lucky to have been able to develop a relationship with her and it's really a great story with a happy ending!
• I have an Exercise & Sports Science degree and went back to school to become a Health & PE teacher & get my Master's in Education. I look forward to working again after our kids are older.
• My husband is also a Health & PE teacher.
• I coach High School Girls Field Hockey and officiate Women's Lacrosse. Both are passions of mine.
• I have a beautiful niece (and goddaughter- a very good reason to spoil her) and two very funny and adorable nephews. 
• I love spending time with family. I'm also very lucky to have such great girlfriends.
• Black raspberry is my favorite ice cream.
• San Diego is my favorite place to visit and probably my favorite place ever! 
• I would love to learn how to surf and be really good at it! (Update: I finally learned to surf in summer 2012 and actually mastered riding a wave. I'm hooked!)
• I literally "bumped" into my (now) husband the night after Thanksgiving in my hometown. Turns out I had dated his best friend 5 years before and had never met Nick, my husband, until this night. I was finishing my last year of college that year and he told me to call him the next time I came back home. He called me 2 days later and we started dating...
• I love to write hand-written notes even if it's just a "thinking about you" note. 
• I love organization and making to-do lists. Thank goodness for the 'notes' section on my iPhone!
• Summer is my favorite season & Christmas is my favorite holiday.
• I love to dance. I used to take hip hop classes (so much fun!) in college and thinking maybe I'll start up again someday. It's an incredible workout!

About Me Part 2 Updates:

If you just starting reading my blog (welcome, and thank you!) my daughter was born April 12th, 2011 (5 days late!). Her name is Ellie Skye. She is now 20 months old and we are expecting another baby girl the same month- April 28th, 2013. Ellie and her sister will be only two years apart. I am excited for Ellie to have a sister bond. They are the best. My sister and I are very close, but we are five years apart. As we did with Ellie we plan to keep the name a secret until her birth.

We have made a few updates in our home and lots of decorating changes as you can see in my posts and pictures. I am lucky that we will not have to change the color of my dressing room for the new baby. It is currently hot pink! A perfect, fun color for a girl. Check back for updates on our second girl nursery- coming soon!