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OUR LITTLE CLAY TRADITION

April 26, 2021

My oh my, where has 2021 gone? We posted in January that we were going to blog more and, well, yikes! Anyway, we thought we’d blow the dust off of http://www.thebeckstreethouse.com today and share a little bit about a holiday tradition that we’ve been doing for the past four years. Since 2017, Laryssa and I have ordered a handmade polymer clay ornament from one of our favorite artists: Little Clay Land.

Our “little clay tradition” started when I found Laura of Little Clay Land on Instagram, and I knew it would make a perfect Christmas gift for Laryssa. It was the one gift I made Laryssa open first, and let’s be honest, if she would have let me, I probably would have let open it as soon as it showed up the mail. 2017 was a big year for us. We had both graduated from college, got engaged, and moved into our apartment together just outside of Detroit. We both secured grown-up jobs, too. Even though Laryssa’s was extremely shitty, and it’s what brought us to the area.

And then 2018 took us for a spin. Practically over night (okay, over the course of a week), we uprooted our lives in our apartment outside of Detroit when I took a teaching job in Laryssa’s home town, just three days before the school year started. It was nuts. A few weeks later, we packed up everything we had, sold our college-grade furniture on Facebook Marketplace, and shoved everything we could into two 5×10 storage units.

We moved in with her parents for six months (which we are still so grateful for), as we tried to close on our house. It was a helluva process. We ended up closing on our house on January 15, 2019, but ordered our ornament a little early, but that’s okay. In our 2018 ornament, I’m holding an apple (to symbolize the start of my teaching career, which really didn’t last that long), Laryssa’s holding a key to our future house, and we’re sitting on top of a moving box (notice the arrow).

And here’s some bonus content for ya. After more than two years of wedding planning and being together for more than five years (1892 days to be exact—we have a sign), we finally got married on September 7, 2019! We were so excited when Little Clay Land was able to make our cake topper, too. And even though our girl Lou couldn’t be there for our big day, she definitely made it onto the cake topper. Look at her collar.

Which leads us to our favorite portrait so far; 2019. A week after our wedding, we threw together some sub plans, packed our bags, and honeymooned in Maui. Best trip ever! We relaxed, swam at some of the coolest beaches on Earth, road around in a Jeep, stayed in a tiny house on a fruit farm and in a star dome, got sunburnt (of course), and ate shaved ice. So much shaved ice. Seriously, we ate shaved ice every day. We’re still wishing we never left.

And finally, our 2020 ornament.

Even though 2020 was nothing but normal, we had a some what normal year. Since COVID-19 started, Laryssa has developed a passion for reading, and I’ve been building my woodworking business (but there wasn’t a good way to add a table saw or a cutting board to our portrait). We also adopted the most beautiful, spunky, and slightly timid Husky Poodle whom we like to call Baby Boy Barkley. He brings so much joy into our life. He’s a lover of walks, going outside, and human food, especially macaroni and cheese. So much so that we had to include a bowl of macaroni and cheese in his first official portrait. It just seemed so perfect.

Oh, and for more bonus content, we also splurged and bought one of Little Clay Land’s nativity scenes this year. She only makes a select number each year, and we were so excited to get one! Ours is packed away, so here’s a picture we stole off of our website. It’s personally one of my favorite Christmas decorations that we have.

But seriously, if you are looking for a meaningful gift for any occasion—weddings, birthdays, Christmas, or just because—we highly recommend ordering a portrait from Little Clay Land. Not to toot our own horn, but we’ve been a loyal customers from the very beginning. We’re always amazed by how much accuracy and detail she puts into every piece. It’s so much fun when it arrives in the mail, and you get to open it up to see the piece of art she made just for you. If you’re looking for some inspiration, check out her website and Instagram page. She’s offering a free USA Shipping when you sign up for her email newsletters, and often times runs sales before major holidays. Seriously, check her out!

This is one of our favorite traditions we have; it’s always exciting to order each portrait, and to also spend time thinking about what next year’s portrait will look like. It’s still a little early for us to guess what our 2021 ornament will look like, but we can’t wait! What are some of your favorite traditions?

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Two young lovebirds working to make our first house our forever home. Tag along as we tackle DIY projects, drop gallons of paint, and use the occasional filthy word.

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Our poor front yard. Year after year, it can't seem to catch a break. Last year, we lost a huge part of our beautiful maple tree, and this year, we're having two trees taken down (one already down just waiting on it to be milled), and our utility company is replacing a gas line.
We really need to get around to writing a blog post about our new desks, but are struggling to come up with a witty title. Anyway, we are loving our new @autonomousdotai SmartDesks. When we both started working from home, our temporary solution, which stuck around for 12+ months, was our old dining room table from our first apartment. With two laptops and two extra monitors, we literally had no space. Now? So much room for activities!
It's been a while since we've updated our blog or posted on Instagram, but we thought we'd blow the dust off today and share one of our favorite traditions. Since 2017, we've ordered a polymer clay portrait from @littleclayland. Check out our latest blog post to see more! Link in our bio! #TheBeckStreetHouse
Having an [almost] finished dining room is seriously the greatest thing. We’ve been working on this room in some way or another for the past two years we’ve lived here, including some window trim we put up, decided a few minutes later that we hated it, and it sat for almost a year 🥴. We splurged and bought our first real dining room set - a beautiful cherry set from a local furniture company [@gaschofurniture] and it definitely completes the space. We’re so darn excited that it has a leaf too. Still on the to do list is figure out some window treatments and switch out the light for something more our style. Oh, and new flooring someday. And house plants. Definitely more house plants.
Here we go again! We want to blog more this year, and we're kicking off 2021 with a post recapping our 2020 (in a really, really long run-on sentence), sharing our goals for The Beck Street House, along with a list of projects (with sarcastic commentary) we're hoping to cross off the list between now and December 31.
Merry Christmas from the Beck Street House! We are obsessed with this original water color painting of our favorite place on Earth from Laryssa’s sister. It’s perfect; right down to Barkley’s one floppy ear and one stiff ear. Merry Christmas!

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Our poor front yard. Year after year, it can't see Our poor front yard. Year after year, it can't seem to catch a break. Last year, we lost a huge part of our beautiful maple tree, and this year, we're having two trees taken down (one already down just waiting on it to be milled), and our utility company is replacing a gas line. 

Makin' the Beverly Hillbillies look good. 

#TheBeckStreetHouse
We really need to get around to writing a blog pos We really need to get around to writing a blog post about our new desks, but are struggling to come up with a witty title. Anyway, we are loving our new @autonomousdotai SmartDesks. When we both started working from home, our temporary solution, which stuck around for 12+ months, was our old dining room table from our first apartment. With two laptops and two extra monitors, we literally had no space. Now? So much room for activities!

#TheBeckStreetHouse
It's been a while since we've updated our blog or It's been a while since we've updated our blog or posted on Instagram, but we thought we'd blow the dust off today and share one of our favorite traditions. Since 2017, we've ordered a polymer clay portrait from @littleclayland. Check out our latest blog post to see more! Link in our bio! #TheBeckStreetHouse
Having an [almost] finished dining room is serious Having an [almost] finished dining room is seriously the greatest thing. We’ve been working on this room in some way or another for the past two years we’ve lived here, including some window trim we put up, decided a few minutes later that we hated it, and it sat for almost a year 🥴. We splurged and bought our first real dining room set - a beautiful cherry set from a local furniture company [@gaschofurniture] and it definitely completes the space. We’re so darn excited that it has a leaf too. Still on the to do list is figure out some window treatments and switch out the light for something more our style. Oh, and new flooring someday. And house plants. Definitely more house plants.

#TheBeckStreetHouse
Here we go again! We want to blog more this year, Here we go again! We want to blog more this year, and we're kicking off 2021 with a post recapping our 2020 (in a really, really long run-on sentence), sharing our goals for The Beck Street House, along with a list of projects (with sarcastic commentary) we're hoping to cross off the list between now and December 31.
Take a look for yourself! New blog post is up! Link in bio! #TheBeckStreetHouse
Merry Christmas from the Beck Street House! We are Merry Christmas from the Beck Street House! We are obsessed with this original water color painting of our favorite place on Earth from Laryssa’s sister. It’s perfect; right down to Barkley’s one floppy ear and one stiff ear. Merry Christmas! 

A+L+L+B 

#TheBeckStreetHouse
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