The Name Change

My previous blog name and address {living and loving in the midwest} had no real meaning or relevance to me or the blog.  Really, I needed a new name quickly and it was the only thing off the top of my head that wasn’t already taken.  I never really liked it.  It was kind of a cliche phrase, not to mention the fact that I live in Oklahoma, and depending on who you ask, there is great controversy over whether we are considered the midwest or the south.  I often had visions of people seeing my blog name and then realizing that I live in OK, and snickering at me because they didn’t think that was the midwest.  Yes, I’m completely lame and think about these things.

Anyhoo, I was looooong overdue for a new name.  I wanted something that was meaningful to my family, but that was different.  One day I had an epiphany.  4513 was the street address of our first house.  The one that I was so anxious to get out of and into something I thought would be “better”.  Well, we did get out of it, into a beautiful, perfect-for-us new home.  But, to my complete surprise, I find myself missing that old house almost on a daily basis.  Not like I want to move back, I love our new home.  But I do miss all of the memories that that house held for us.

It was my first house, and I purchased it on my own with my first “real” job out of college

It was the first place Lee and I lived together (yes, we lived in sin, as my mother stated)

We got engaged in the living room

I ‘met’ one of my best friends because of that house; she lived right down the street from me (met is in quotes because we actually were in the same sorority/circle of friends, but never really crossed paths somehow)

I was sitting in the kitchen when I was offered my current job, a blessing if you knew how badly I needed the change at the time

I found out I was pregnant in the bathroom of that house

It’s where we brought our precious, first born baby home

It’s where I learned to be a wife and a mother.

It’s also where I learned that Lee had no idea how to cook, and never cleans the bathroom.  But that’s neither here nor there…

Basically, that house made me and our little family who we are today.  I feel like it will always be a part of us, and totally fitting to be the namesake for this blog.

See, I love it so much, I commissioned a custom drawing of it!

A big, giant thank you to Tiffany of TKC Designs for working with me so much on the new design!  I can be very demanding (nothing you didn’t already know) and she was so easy to work with!