Hia!

I started this newsletter in my head about a million times. Every version either sounded way to series or like I was trying too hard for it to be perfect. So… I’m just going to write this the same way I’d update a friend if I was ranting over coffee.

No fancy introductions. No life advice pretending I have it all figured out (because I don’t lol.) Just a monthly catch up with all the things I didn’t want to forget.

At the beginning of the month, Atlas was technically my foster. After moving back to Tennessee from Texas where I had fostered tons of dogs, I really did get back into fostering with every intention in helping him find a home. Then he casted this cute little spell on me and made me fall in love with him and the thought of letting him go DESTROYED me.

Somewhere between showing him he can trust me and watching his personality come out I fell in love with him. So now he’s officially ours!

Atlas and Melvin have also decided they make an excellent tag team. Their latest accomplishment? Taking me out 🥲

I thought it’d be cute to take them on a walk together for the first time. Instead, they wrapped themselves in a way the made me trip and absolutely demolished my knee. My pride suffered the most but the dogs ??? unbothered.

This month I painted our bedroom the same warm brown as the hallway, and I already have a million ideas for decorating it.

I'm going for my usual cottagecore... which is really just my excuse to buy old wooden furniture and convince myself every thrift store stop is "for the house."

I've also been antiquing more than usual because I'm determined to make this place feel like home instead of "the house we moved into and haven't finished unpacking." It's getting there. Slowly.

Very slowly.

We officially closed on our construction loan. Which feels funny to say because if you've been following along, you know we've already been working on the building. We've basically been in "let's do everything we can ourselves until the paperwork catches up" mode.

Now we can actually start moving a lot faster, and I honestly can't wait.

This week I'm even helping paint ceilings.. not looking forward to that but it’s got to get done and my mom’s shoulder is hurt so she needs help.

Jonathan and I leave for a cruise next month. I’m excited I am.. I'm also trying not to think too much about the fact that it'll be Atlas's first time staying with someone else. Tomorrow, we meet a potential sitter, and logically I know he'll probably have a great time. Emotionally? I'm already planning to write him a novel length list of instructions. Will he need seventeen reminders that he likes to steal socks and needs music to fall asleep to? Probably not. Will I include them anyway?

Absolutely.

I already have a sitter set up for Melvin and Pakkun but if this new one is good for Atlas, I’ll probably switch them all for the next time I need a sitter so they can all be together.

Anyway... That's everything I didn't want to forget this month. Thanks for spending a little bit of your day here. It honestly means a lot that you'd choose to read my rambling little life updates.

I'm really excited to see what this turns into.

See you next month! <3

— Alexia 🌿