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  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

    You can find me writing for HGTV and DIY Network, follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

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Maydays

June 8, 2014

The month of May flew through without thought to two “celebrations” I’ve grown fond of appreciating: Buying my first house (this year was the 5 anniversary of closing! Read up on year 2, year 3, and year 4 here! I don’t even live there anymore, in fact I sold it after renting for a few years!); and quitting my job to go freelance, which was already 3 quick years ago. Moving on and settling in to the extent that you can is so happy. It feels good to be at a completely different point in my life than I was 5, 6, 7 years ago, and for that, I should probably celebrate (with cake, campfires, and maybe a splurge at CB2).

Anyways, moving on happened, but I’m actually still at the old house more than you’d expect. If you missed it back when we left, we decided to continue to maintain it as a rental property; it’s not so much as a way to make some extra dough (it just helps to cover the mortgage and taxes), but maybe in ~15 years when it’s paid off, it’ll be a nice little asset in my retirement arsenal. I have a note in my ever-shifting editorial calendar to give you an update on how that’s been going, because in reality, it’s not the same as what you see on Income Property. Oh, Scott McGillivray, you are one crazy tease.

Planting in the window boxes at the rental house.

And I’m still a freelancer, doing contract work for DIY Network and its blog Made + Remade (speaking of things I’ve been meaning to write about for documentation’s sake, I actually met my team for the first time in early May after 30 months of working together!!!).

The Made + Remade video shoot, May 2014.

In addition to nomming down s’mores and browsing the new selections of outdoor furniture (which I’m still not convinced is practical in a backyard that showers leaves and caterpillars), I made a modest list of things I’d like to try and accomplish this summer–not for the sake of publishing here because doing that will create way too much unnecessary pressure (bloggers, stop making to-do lists), but list things I want to get done as time permits–things like power washing the garage door and painting the window trim in the kitchen. And repairing the upper level of the barn, while reinventing the lower level as a radical play area. And buying rugs. And dining chairs. And a bed frame. And the beat goes on.

My weekly photo series continues strong. Honestly, it’s probably my favorite project ever-ever-ever, and I love it so much that I might just continue it as long as possible, even after we hit the 1-year mark. I think Hattie will appreciate it someday.

Our baby photo series, weekly photos with mama.

Thursday marks our 1-year since closing on this cool, new house, and it’s hard to believe the time has passed so quickly. If you never saw the “before” video of our house, watch it here; it will always be radically special to us. Here’s to many more.

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Casual Celebrations

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

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  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

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    One straggler from #garlic2021 debuted with 7 stal One straggler from #garlic2021 debuted with 7 stalks and 7 scapes, and I can’t wait to see this mammoth looks like when it’s pulled next month. #garlic2022 

Also, fierce springtime performance by parsley, chamomile, and self-seeded cilantro.
    Annual garlic notes #garden2022 ~315 cloves total Annual garlic notes #garden2022
~315 cloves total
50 in new, unfenced garden
Still need thick mulch on everything
Did a terrible job tracking varieties when I harvested, so it’s all a mix of hardneck now 😒
Added some big cloves from @chasefarms and look forward to adding some @fruition_seeds in #garden2023 when @porterfarmscsa delivers.
    #smellovision — 22 pounds of concord grapes harv #smellovision — 22 pounds of concord grapes harvested from my parents pseudo-vineyard 🌈🍇 happy holidays, everyone. You’re getting jelly. #grapesfarming
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