I am so excited to announce that I have switched domains. In A Dream is now Dream In Domestic, and you can find me at my new location here! I don’t plan on getting rid of In A Dream, but because it is a .org address, I am hoping to think of something really inspiring and great to do with it. In the meantime, please head to Dream In Domestic to read my new blog entries. I will soon be redirecting this website to that one, but I want to make sure anyone (if there is anyone out there) who reads my posts here has time to switch gears with me. I’m looking forward to great new things!

I actually was going to write this post earlier, but then I went shopping and was talked into buying the toggle coat I originally fell in love with. Here it is. Isn’t it great? I love green! This will hopefully make me a little happier when the winter comes (which in MN right now it almost feels as if winter will begin next week).

Do you like toggle coats? Do you own one? What’s your favorite winter coat style?

This post is a part of Hooked on Fridays at Hooked On Houses and Beautiful Life Friday at The Inspired Room.

I must say that living away from home is hard, and although I am thankful for my education it still is a constant struggle for me to get used to living so far that I only see my parent about every six weeks or so. I don’t even know when I will see them next. It’s all a part of growing up, I guess, but growing pains come with that.

The last two weeks have been good to me. Although I haven’t seen my parents, I do talk to them once a week on the phone and we stay in touch through twitter and my blog. One great thing they did for me was send me up some magazines that came for me and my hometowns newspaper. That really made my day because I kind of felt like I was at home, even just in spirit, and I knew they were thinking of me.

I have already found, even though I have only been blogging for a month, that great friends come from sharing your life online. Donita, one of my main commenters, was kind enough to send me a cookbook two weeks ago because she knows I love to cook. It made me so happy to open the package, and it even had a special note inside! I now see why people make friends by blogging. I really can’t wait to see what other friends I will make as I continue sharing my life, thoughts, and daily routines on my blog. So, I guess today I am thankful for technology, friends, family, and giving. What are you thankful for?

I showed more of the smaller houses in this neighborhood yesterday. Like this one.

I love smaller houses, but thought it was only fair to show the big kahunas too.

I am infatuated with the lower level basement. I can’t believe it’s the most functional garage because you would most likely have to carry groceries upstairs and stuff like that, but considering most houses in this neighborhood and all of the Twin Cities have detached garages in their backyards, this might actually give them a lot more yard space and would help beat the cold in the winter. Running from the detached garage to the house probably is not very fun in the harsh Minnesota winters. Plus, the nice patio it adds on the front is a nice feature. I’d live in this house!

That’s one high-pitched roof. I wonder what the ceilings look like on the second floor or if there is a finished attic space. I didn’t see the side to see what the roof looked like from that angle.

I love all the intricate brickwork on this house, but I find it a little too much with the Tudor beams on the right side. What do you think?

I love long one-story houses. They look so quaint but spacious at the same time. They aren’t always as pretty as two-stories, but they definitely have their benefits.

Sorry about the bad shot, the car was moving too fast!

These homes with the huge front yards were facing the Mississippi River. What a nice view to have.

I love a nice colonial home, but when stone like this is added I become green with envy! Well not really, considering I don’t even own a home, I can’t really envy someone else’s. I do love it though. It has so much character.

I love the look of all the doors on the first floor, but can’t say I would feel very safe with them.

Then in the middle of all these spectacular homes you have this. I’m not saying that it’s not spectacular, I’m not one to judge this type of house because I frankly don’t like them, but it really does say something about the eclectic grouping of homes in this area.

And now I want to preface the next house by saying that it is probably my dream home. There are a few missing aspects, but overall it fits almost every requirement.

Isn’t it gorgeous? I bet the interior is very bright and happy just like the outside! It has dormers, a balcony, a front patio, pale blue stucco, two chimneys, nice shaped windows, a flower box (which wasn’t even in my list of things I wanted), nice molding details, and tons of windows in each room (and that’s just on the front). I didn’t get a carport, ivy, a bay window (that I can see), or a tower, but this house is perfect in my eyes. I can’t even imagine how much it would cost to buy this house, but just knowing one version of my dream house is out there and that I found it very shortly after creating my perfect list for my dream home, it gives me confidence that many other versions are out there, too!

Well that concludes the two-part tour of the Highland neighborhood. Do you have a favorite from this half? Is there any particular neighborhood in the Twin Cities you know of and would like to see pictures of? I would love to take requests. I also would love to see tours of neighborhoods in your home towns, so please share if you would like to participate. Thanks for joining me!

On our way to Minnehaha Park we drove along the Mississippi River which divides a large part of St. Paul and Minneapolis and saw the beautiful houses in St. Paul’s Highland Neighborhood. We went back this weekend to scope the place out more. We didn’t see it all, but we drove down a few streets and took some pictures. I must say, as much as I want to move somewhere smaller after I graduate, I find myself in awe of all the unique types of architecture grouped in many areas of the Twin Cities. I haven’t seen that in many other places in Minnesota. It’s a really cool place to live, if you like the whole city thing. The neighborhood was actually fairly quiet with lots of children wandering around, which felt more like home to me.

I must say that I am still getting used to taking pictures in public. I feel a little creepy taking pictures of people’s homes, but I have searched and found that it is legal. I just don’t want people to think I am a burglar or something. I try to keep in mind that if I lived in a big city and people were taking pictures of my home (and other homes in the neighborhood) and they looked like decent people (which I hope I do!) that I would feel flattered my home was nice enough to have a picture taken of it. What are your thoughts on that?

We ended up taking so many pictures that I had to split them into two posts. I will post the second half tomorrow. I couldn’t leave any out, so hopefully you are up for lots of house gazing!

It’s nice to see that there is still some patriotism in this country!

I reached across the car to take this one because those bay windows are drool-worthy! It’s amazing enough to have one in a house, but to have one on each side is fantastic! I need to add that to my list of things I want in my dream home.

I loved the symmetry of this home and the cottage feel it had. I’m not quite sure what is up with the yellow and green trim, however.

And of course, more tudors! I tryed to narrow them down, but they are all so beautiful. I’m just attracted to them, I guess.

Will you look at that stone and the shapes of the windows and doors! So much drama and little remnants of history in this one house!

Again with the ivy. I must bore everyone with my love of ivy! Warning: There is more coming your way in this post! Like, right after you read this. Turn around now if you can’t stand it any longer. If it makes you feel any better, there is a really pretty door on that house, too!

Good, you’re still with me! I could not get a decent picture of this house, but the most beautiful part of it was the colorful green and burgundy ivy growing up the chimney. It just feels like an ancient cottage surrounded by gardens in the middle of the city (in my twisted head, anyway).

Here’s another view. It is just me, or does it seem like whoever lives in this house really likes their privacy? I would love to see those upper windows from the inside. It looks kind of funky on the outside, but very interesting.

To end this half of the tour, I would like to let you in on things from my perspective. In the car, this is what I see.

Yep, that’s right. My boyfriend has a Spongebob stuffed animal sitting on his dashboard protecting him from harm. Ladies, be jealous! Nah, I think it’s cute. Makes me feel safe.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the second half of this tour. I saved the best for last and think I may have found a house that might fit all criteria for my perfect dream home! Which house did you like most from the first half?

I dedicated Sunday night to be my cook-for-the-week night. I gathered all the ingredients (including my sustitutes) and went to town. Note: picture quality is lacking because I haven’t exactly informed all of my roommates that I have a blog (I don’t really know why, I’m just kind of shy about it I guess), so I tried to hide the camera as I took pictures. I really should just tell them. Anyway, this is what I began with.

I used chicken instead of chicken sausage, only because I had it on hand. I’m sure the sausage would taste a lot better, but again, I’m doing this to save time and money. I also used mostaccioli instead of rigatoni which I also had on hand. Instead of buying a head of broccoli, I bought a bag of already cut broccoli so I can use it as a side dish with other meals. The rest I used straight from the recipe. The onion is in a bag because I chop one up and use it throughout the week in tuna, wraps, pasta, etc. until it runs out. One onion lasts a long time when cooking for one.

What I really liked about this dish is that it only involves one pot and one pan. We don’t have a dishwasher, so easy cleanup is very important to me when cooking. After I finished cooking it, I transferred it straight into a large storage container. I didn’t even eat if for supper! I stole a quick bite which was very tasty, and then made myself a tuna sandwich with pepperoni. I added the pepperoni because I was feeling ambitious, and it was actually very good.

And there you have it. If you liked the looks of this, head over to Sweetnicks for the recipe. Because this recipe made so much I probably can live off of it for four days! I’ll see if I get sick of it. I have lots of options to switch it up though, so I’m sure I’ll be fine. There are always roommates to feed, as well. How many of you cook your meals ahead of time? Any suggestions? I hope everyone had a great weekend!

This post is a part of Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

So what is the point of this post? I have picked a new name that I am ecstatic about and I want the website to be more functional, so I am redesigning the layout. I just wanted to give everyone (if there is anyone reading this) a heads up. This blog is still new, so I feel that it might be weird to change everything at this stage, but at the same time I want to make the most out of my blog and switching will help me do that. I have ideas for what I will do with this domain in the future that makes the .org extension perfect.

For now, everything will run as normal, but I have been trying to write posts way in advance so I have more time to work on this new project!

It was the perfect August day for a garden tour, which was odd for Galena. We were told that the whole summer had been rainy except for the days we vacationed there. How lucky! As we were waiting for the tour to begin, a cat came up to greet us. The tour guide explained that the cat, Sally, lived somewhere else but had “adopted” them. She would come by the garden immediately before both tours, each an hour apart, and would walk the garden with the touring group. Then she would leave. Every day this happened! What a great story to start off the tour with.

As we started the tour with Sally following us around, I realized that I love gardens that include unexpected items. This garden had a lot to offer besides the normal flowers and greenery. They had a good amount of water features and other fun elements that made the garden even more beautiful.

The most interesting part of the garden was this little hidden “room” which was created from the remains of what I believe was the first African American church in the region. It was lower than the rest of the garden, which made it a whole other place. It was incredibly serene.

The other unique elements that I loved were the sculptures.

This owl was one of my favorite parts of the garden. I thought it was so clever to build it into the wall! I almost walked right past it. That’s what I love about these kinds of gardens – there are tons of little details that keep you coming back because noticing them is so much fun.

And, of course, what’s a garden without the plants?

I was fascinated by this mulberry tree. I don’t know what I loved exactly, but I kept telling my boyfriend, “Take a picture of that! I want one just like it one day!” He was the photographer for me that day, and I kept making him take pictures, not just because it was a beautiful place, but because I wanted to start a folder for future gardening purposes. This tree definitely made the file! The house in the background is historic too, but we didn’t get to tour it or anything.

I’m already feeling a little less grumpy after sharing all of these photos. What do you do to cheer yourself up on a gloomy day, or are you one of those people I envy who actually like rainy weather?

This post is a part of Hooked on Fridays over at Hooked On Houses and Beautiful Life Friday at The Inspired Room.

Well, then I went to work and was swiping cards when a woman walked over and handed me a carnation and asked if I wanted a flower. I was a little shocked at first because these things don’t happen every day, but I took it anyway. I thanked her and she walked away.

I noticed that attached to the flower was a tag:

On the back it said, “Keep this for yourself as a reminder to watch out for Acts of Kindness…or pass it on to someone who you’ve seen performing one.” It made me so happy! I decided to keep it so I could share the message with my roommates. I have performed and been on the receiving end of a good amount of random acts of kindness, but to have this one labeled in this way, encouraging others to do the same, was very sweet and uplifting. Sometimes I get caught up in getting through my day and don’t realize that others around me might be having a bad day. I know of people who set a goal to perform a random act of kindness every day. I want to start. I do it as much as I can, but I could do better. I’m thankful to have an actual organization at my school dedicated solely to randomly giving to others and spreading love. That’s what life’s all about anyway. Spread the love while you still can.

Have you ever been a part of a moving random act of kindness or seen one occur? I’d love to hear about it! What are you thankful for?

I would like to share what my perfect dream home would look like if I were to have a big family (which I will be honest, I think I want five kids, but I realize that might change once I have the first).

First, I think it would be a yellow two story, or at least have yellow as one of the colors found in the house and it would have white trim. It would have similar charm to this home, with the detailing.

It would also either have a porch or a nice pergola like this house has. It would have dormers like this and maybe a similar roof type. And maybe instead of yellow, it would be blue (I’m already changing my mind and I’m not even half way through this post)!

I would love a carport and would maybe somehow squeeze a garage in too without it looking weird. Some of the windows would have nice detailing like those upper windows, too. And there would be windows as you went up the stairs inside which would make a diagonal row of window on the outside (by the carport).

The house would have to have a nice tower on one side, and if I happened to pop out many sets of multiples, this may be the only house in the running. Otherwise, it is too big. It also would have a chimney because of all the fireplaces on the inside!

My dream home would definitely have at least one bay window (and throw in a window seat on the inside) as well as great molding along the roof line. And the door would be a contrasting color of the siding.

I have always loved a room full of windows to relax in, so that is a must.

Then I’d throw some ivy on the side to add even more character…

And top it all off with an iron balcony of some sort. That is my dream home! Now, I have no idea if all of that could be added to make something I would actually like, but I’m still in the dreaming phase so I can pick whatever I want! And if you think my tastes are all over the place on the outside of the house, I won’t even tell you how many styles would be mashed into one if I were to do this for the interior. I’m almost glad I will probably never have enough money to design my dream home because I would never be able to decide! I think wherever I choose to live I will make it into my dream home (just like John and Sherry of Young House Love – congrats on two years). I had to add that, I am just so happy to join in the celebration with them right now! They have inspired me so much in the past year and made me dream even more about owning a home.

Anyway, I want to know what your dream house would look like and if you would rather buy a house and turn it into your dream or if you would rather design it from scratch. Anyone done either? I would love to hear about it!

Sources: Old House Dreamer 1, 2, 3, Whatever, and DesignTies. If you know where any of the others are from, please let me know.