The dining room– all original, obviously.

For the last few weeks George and I have been trying to agree on a name for our 1978 Airstream Sovereign. Bombshell Betty, The Stream Machine, El Enmascarado de Plata. None of the names have stuck. If anyone has any suggestions for a name for our future home, I’d love to hear it in the comments!

In the meantime, I snapped these “before” pictures. Get Clinton and Stacy in here because it he she is in serious need of a makeover.

The kitchen

The bathroom scares me.

Why the shower was spray painted blue, I’ll never know.

The bedroom looking towards the kitchen.

There she blows! Is that saying appropriate? I don’t know. I’ve lost my mind thinking about how much work we have to put into our new home before it is livable.

Believe it or not, the pictures are more flattering than the actual product. The carpet looks way worse in person and there is a distinct wet dog smell– dampness is a problem common in older airstreams.  She has also been sitting for the last 4 years without much attention, so we’re hoping a little lot of love will help.

When we bought her, we knew she was going to be a huge gamble and a hell of a lot of work. But I don’t know if we actually realized the time it is going to take to fix her up. We’ve got a list a mile long and it keeps growing!

Despite our growing to-do list, and I don’t want to jinx it, but I still feel fairly calm about it all. Talk to me in June when my new job starts and our home isn’t fixed, then we’ll see how I feel!

Any tips or names for our big beauty queen? Leave ‘em in the comments!

love,
melanie

This weekend George and I picked up our new-to-us home. We will live in this 1978 Airstream Sovereign for the next year to save money and get out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. Is it an extreme scheme? Yes. Do I like to rhyme? Yes.

But seriously, folks, sometimes extreme schemes are necessary to make extreme changes. And you know what? I feel unusually calm about our plan– and I’m never calm about anything. I think this crazy ideas is actually going to work. By cutting out our major expense, rent, we will be able to save the majority of our paychecks. We will also cut out our water bill, (we’ll be using well water) and cut down on the electric bill.

We paid $5,000 for this beauty and we are planning on putting about $1,000 worth of renovations into her. We have already sold a bunch of unnecessary stuff to make up for the initial costs and in the next few weeks, we plan on selling a lot more at flea markets and online.

We will truly be living small and testing our ability to distinguish want from need. And of course, I’ll be posting our progress along the way.

Have you ever schemed up an extreme idea to save money? Did your plan work? I want to hear about it in the comments!

love and airstreams,
melanie

goodbye, little one.

I need to confess. I’ve had vivid fantasies of throwing a lit match onto a trail of gasoline as I speed out of my small town in my Civic and Alex Clare’s Too Close plays on the radio. Some days, leaving my town in a blaze of glory sounds so appealing. But as I was spackling up the nail holes in my apartment walls this weekend, I realized this place has taught me more than I could have ever imagined.

I hate to admit it, but the most valuable lesson my small, rural community has taught me is thankfulness. I took so many things for granted living in big(ger) city.

I risk sounding like a spoiled brat when I say this but, I’ve missed my little conveniences. A trip to Starbucks, a late-night run to the grocery store, more than one place to eat, a real bar!

I will be incredibly thankful to have my little conveniences back. But even more than those little things, I’ve become more thankful for big things too.

I’m thankful I have a loving husband.
I’m thankful I have an education.
I’m thankful I am literate.
I’m thankful I have supportive family.
I’m thankful I have a home.

I know I didn’t move to a third world country, but I took for granted so many things before moving to this small, rural community. I serve students and community members every day that have none of the “big things” I possess.

Thank you, little town, for teaching me to be more thankful. I won’t forget you.

love,
melanie

Terrified, excited, nervous, relieved– these past few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotion. My new job will force us to move and it has forced George and I to have long car-ride and late-night talks about our future.

Through those talks we’ve often discussed that world is not as it once was. I was told, we both were, that when we got out out of college the world would be waiting for us. As college graduates, no matter our major, someone would want us. They would pay us well. We would have healthy 401(k)s and retirement plans and we would soon be ready to buy a house. It’s the dream that our blue-collar parents did not easily achieve.

And as we are learning, it is not a dream we will easily achieve either. The world is not as it once was. An undergraduate education does not equate job safety– nor does a graduate education.  The job prospects in 2008 when I got out of school were abysmal– especially so for an English major and an Art major.

We hid out for a while in underemployment and in our parents’ houses. Then I hid out in graduate school where I was lucky enough to get a couple of assistantships, internships and a few very small scholarships. After a very long job search, George got an elementary school teaching position. We were thankful. And we were happy.

But our happiness was short-lived. We were again fearful when I graduated from my graduate program in 2011. The constant thought of how difficult my job search was in 2008 loomed in the background. I worried daily and we lived off canned soup and saltines. (Ultimately, our diet combined with the stress of looming unemployment made me very sick, but that is a story for another time.)

I applied to over 100 jobs and out of those 100 applications, I got one interview for a job at a small, rural community college. One job interview. But by some miracle, I got it. Again, I was thankful and relieved, but the job was in a rural area, hours away from any of our family and friends.

We were sad to leave the place that we had made our home for the past two years. We lived in a tiny, old apartment– only 400 square feet, but the rent was affordable, the area was walkable, and it was clean.

Moving to a rural area was hard for me. I still  struggle to find fresh fruits and vegetables at the grocery store and it is a 30 minute drive to the nearest Wal-Mart. Our rental choices in the area were slim and out of the two apartments available, we chose the more expensive choice because it was safe and didn’t have mold. Throughout it all, we made the best choices out of limited options.

During the time we’ve lived here, we’ve had some of the best and hardest times of our lives. Most importantly, we got married! But throughout the entire planning process, we struggled with the finances of a wedding. Ultimately, we made it out unscathed by being incredibly realistic with ourselves and I am so proud that we made that choice. But we ended up depleting our meager savings in the process.

We are also incredibly grateful to have very little debt. George and I worked throughout the time we were in school. (At one point, I had 3 jobs; it was kind of insane.) We got some scholarship help and our very middle class families helped us too. We know that we are incredibly lucky. And we know that we are better off than the majority of graduates.

Despite all of our luck and hard work, we still can’t get ahead. We still live paycheck to paycheck. If our rent and other bills stay the same, we won’t be able to buy a house in the foreseeable future.  George will never be able to pursue his art full-time. We won’t be able to afford a vacation or adopt a dog. We won’t get out of the cycle.

But we think we may have found a way to get ahead. To lead the life we want to lead, debt-free. And the answer is to live small.

For the next year, George and I will live smaller than we’ve ever lived before. Our budget will be smaller and our house will be much smaller (more details on this later!). But our bravery, our bravery will be big.

Have you ever had to take drastic measures to get out of the debt or break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle? I genuinely want to start an honest conversation about this in the comments.

living small but loving large,
melanie

Join me in congratulating Jeff! Although, the book giveaway is closed, you can still take the survey! I’d love hear your comments.

love,
melanie

The bun gives me super librarian powers.

I’m happy to report that after a long, hard journey I finally got a new job! I will be moving closer to my family and to a big (to me) city. I couldn’t be more excited.

I was hoping that this summer would be a relaxing one, anddddd now it won’t be, but I’m thankful for the change. I’ve never been 100% happy with my current job. I love being a librarian, but it is a struggle for me to live in a rural area away from most of the people that I love.

Now comes the moving part! I’m dreading the actual process of packing my things up once again. I’ve moved eleven times in the past ten years. Insane? Yes, probably. But so is life.

Do you have any big changes coming this summer? Tell me about them in the comments!

love,
melanie

Before

I was sick of my only pair of skinny jeans looking faded and making me feel less than skinny. Black is slimming! Grey, not so much. So into the dye they went!

Before detail shot

This may be one of my easiest DIY posts to date. Even if you’ve never journeyed into the wonderful world of tie-dye, you can figure this one out.

Supplies

• Faded jeans
• Clothes Dye (I’ve had good experiences with RIT dye, but this time I used Tulip.
• Very hot water

Follow the dye manufacturer’s instructions since they may vary by brand, but check out the hints below.

After!

Hint: I get the water even hotter than the package recommends. I don’t think water from the sink is hot enough to make the dye dark enough. I actually get the water to a very light simmer on the stove, then put in the dye and stir, stir, stir!

After detail.

Also: Don’t wear anything you even remotely like when dyeing clothes. It may splash on you and it will never come out– that’s the point!

Have you ever dyed clothing?

love,
melanie

As you guys know, my wedding was featured on Junebug Weddings. While I was totally honored to be on the blog, they didn’t pick my favorite photos. Wedding blogs, in general, are really interested in the details of it all. But I really didn’t care too much about the little things. Yes, I made my bouquet, but I didn’t carry it. It felt unnatural. I carried a purse instead.

So I decided to share some of my personal favorite photos today!

Weddings aren’t perfect. Life isn’t perfect. But it sure is amazing.

love,
melanie

Love Library wants your submissions! I’d love to see your best DIY, recipes and book recommendations. This little blog has had as many as 5,000 page views in a day, so this could be a great chance for you to get your work seen.

I am looking for posts with high quality, bright and beautiful pictures. I’m also looking for posts that encourage the DIY spirit and resourcefulness.

Think you’ve got what it takes? Shoot me an email.  I’d love to feature your work!

P.S. Don’t forget to comment on my Reader’s Survey. You could win a book!

love,
melanie

Your willing and able blog host reporting for duty!

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about where I want to take this blog. And if I’m being honest, I’ve been thinking a lot about the direction of my life too. I’ve got some major life changes coming up– good ones I think– and I’ve had to put on my big girl pants more than once these past couple of weeks and woman up.

Which leads me to this question… What do you all want from this blog? I need sage advice from my loyal and beautiful readers. I’m by no means a professional blogger and some days I struggle with things like:

• Topics – are there topics (specific or general) you’d like covered in the coming months?
• Types of Posts - DIY, recipes, books, fashion, personal stuff…. have your say about what you like most/least
• Posting Frequency – too many posts, not enough, just right?
• Design – I am planning a blog redesign this summer – so your comments and ideas would be helpful at this point
• Blog Features – what would make your reader experience better?
• Community – Are there features that you’d like added to help connect more? Do you feel connected to me?
• Services and Tools – what could I offer you to help you improve your life?
• What Frustrates You about  Love Library? What is Best about it?
• Other Ideas and Feedback – anything goes, big or little.

This list was heavily created from this post on Problogger.

Please leave your answers to one or all questions in the comments. I will leave the survey up indefinitely, but I will offer up the prize of a free book to one lucky, randomly selected commenter on Wednesday, May 1, 2013. The winner can be a previous winner and does not have to be a citizen of the U.S.A.

Please help me improve!

love always,
melanie