#reader is SO elle woods coded

[fbfh]

just reread your rodrick x hyperfem reader AND IT HAS ME BACK INTO THE GOOD OLD CHOKEHOLD

so if you do still write for him (ignore if you dont <3) maybe some headcanons of them after the prom? 😋

(devon bostick is so FINE)

oh FUCK yes babes. lemme tell you something about roddy and hyperfemme reader. almost immediately after your song finishes and you lock lips in a kiss that rocks both your worlds and blows your minds, it's over for you. you're joint at the hip and locked at the lip every moment after that. both of your friend groups are pissed because whenever they're looking for you you're either sitting on Roddy's lap doing his eyeliner (and putting a little glittery highlighter here and there) or making out in the back of his van. you are completely a package deal, if someone wants one of you they are GOING to get both of you. after the last time roddy insisted on you sleeping in his room or threatening to run away and elope in vegas, Susan decided you know what? this could actually be a lot worse! at least most of Rodrick's energy (or lackthereof, please get this boy some antidepressants) is directed at you instead of harrassing his brother all the time. he still harasses Greg, but that's more of that brother stuff Susan doesn't know about. and that's how you in all your sparkly pink "what like it's hard?" lip glossed glory end up at the heffley's house more often than the actual heffleys.

[tteokdoroki]

ೀ⋆OCT 31ST LEGALLY BLONDE ━━ seishiro nagi + coercion !

୨୧ — caution, you are now watching. seishiro nagi + coercion. there’s no way someone broke up with nagi because he’s too blonde!? poor baby, maybe you could provide a little emotional support…(5.5K)

୨୧ — rated r. minors, blank and ageless blogs do not interact ! nsfw, heavy smut, dark content, characters aged up to 20s, college!au, strangers to lovers (?), teaching assistant/student relationship, dom/sub dynamics, some switching, reader is lifted up by nagi, coercion, dubcon, handjobs, virginity loss, cherry chasing, oral fixation, mind break, praise kink, creampies, soft sex, clothed sex, unprotected sex, TA!reader, elle woods!nagi.

୨୧ — director’s note. happy halloween my loves! i hope you enjoy the final kinktober fic! its been super fun writing and editing for you all. stay tuned for the bonus in the coming weeks <3 - m.list ⋆ kinktober m.list ⋆ taglist ✧

this law school thing wasn’t all what it cracked up to be. 

after the love of his life, reo mikage, had broken up with him for someone smarter, blander and richer than him — nagi had been blessed with the genius idea of following his ex all the way to one of the top law schools in the world. the plan was practically fool proof, the guys at his sorority worked hard to help seishiro study — pulling all nighters for practice tests and rewarding him with naps every time he had gotten a question right. 

rin itoshi had even convinced his parents to reach out to a hollywood director so that they could film nagi’s audition tape. it obviously featured isagi and bachira too. nagi had even worn his best designer swim trunks to impress the board of admissions. they’d all been super supportive of the light haired male in his endeavours and were there when he passed his LSAT exam

with all of this combined, he had managed to get in in — if that wasn’t enough for reo, then what was?

the answer? nothing.

reo still wanted that bland, basic bitch his family was marrying him off to. she was sensible, she was rich and seishiro quickly realised that he had only ever been a bit of ditzy fun to reo — a dumb blonde to stick his dick into whenever the time felt right. eye candy and nothing more. balancing his shattering hard with the complexities of law school had been tough for the white haired male and everything seemed to be going wrong. no one would study with him, reo wouldn’t even look at him and his friends back home were busy with the wedding plans nagi so desperately wished he had. 

however, that’s when you came along. 

after having the epiphany that he didn’t need reo to succeed — nagi knuckles down and studied hard for the law firm internship being offered amongst his cohort. he was relieved to have you as a teaching assistant in the process, not only were you absolutely gorgeous but you were compassionate and empathetic. you were smart, eloquent and everything seishiro wished he could be for his ex.

perhaps that’s what drew him to you, why he followed your every word like a puppy drooling after a treat. you’d been kind to nagi for the entire semester, from helping him out with studying for the internship right down to today, where he would be taking on his very first case in a court of law. it should have been easy, the facts were simple too. the client and fellow fraternity brother  (shidou ryousei) was accused of and arrested for the murder of his wife… but something about the events weren’t seeming to add up. nagi couldn’t come up with an alibi either. 

it was as if the words; the reasonings, the justification for shidou’s freedom were right in front of grey-scale eyes, only scrambled up like morse code. “how about we take a break?” as if you were a vision from his dreams or an angel from up above, you appear behind nagi’s tall frame as he slumps defeatedly against the hotel room desk — your hands fixing themselves to his broad shoulders for a massage. “you’ve been at this all night, seishiro.”

the law student swears your touch could heal all human ailments, the warmth of your palms seeping into the tense parts of his muscles like a cell performing diffusion — relaxation forming a comfortable fog over his brain. “i know shidou didn’t do it,” nagi defends with a grumpy pout, leaning back into you so that his head rests lazily against your stomach. “he told me… he said he was getting liposuction.” 

“we’ll need evidence of that,” you note, jerking your head to the side so that nagi can write it down. this entire time you’d been such a good mentor. “good boy.” something clicks in the light-haired male’s brain, a crackle of electricity shooting down his spine at your praise — swirling around in his guts as if to activate arousal.  “run me through the witness statements again.” there’s a sensual lilt to the tone of your voice and your touch cascades from his shoulders up to his neck like a backwards flowing waterfall.

seishiro isn’t sure if he’s making things up or reading the signs correctly — but he knows that there’s some kind of tension bubbling in the air. particles that resemble an aphrodisiac using kinetic energy to collide together, painting the room with lustful colours. “shidou’s step daughter says she heard a gunshot around 2:15pm after leaving the shower, walkin’ downstairs only to find shidou hangin’ over his wife’s body — covered in blood. ugh, this is too much hassle. this doesn’t make any sense!” he tosses an annoyed sigh into quietness of the room, moaning in surprise when you cup the base of nagi’s neck to pull his head up to face you and your eyes meet.

“you need a break seishiro, we can come back to this later,” you hum, the vibrations of your voice laced with sex appeal. as he swallows thickly, the law student’s Adam’s apple bobs under the pressure of your fairy-light grip on his throat — anticipating more from you. at this point, you’re half bent over him as he leans back in the chair, pink tongue slowly darting out to cover your lips in a spit shine. “how about it?” 

this feels so wrong. nagi’s cock stirring beneath his slacks at how good and kind you’re acting towards him. no one has ever gotten him this hot before — no one aside from reo. and you were still his teacher, by technicality, it would be wrong for nagi to even consider sucking your tongue down his throat. and yet, he can’t find it in himself to stop the temperature from rising between you, for falling into your dangerously salacious trap. 

“y-yeah,” he breathes deep when you squeeze his throat a little to test the waters. “i could do with a break.” 

“me too,” you gasp all too agreeably, bending the rest of the way down to capture seishiro’s lips in a searingly hot kiss. just as he wished you pry his mouth open with the tip of your curious tongue — pushing through his plush lips and curling around his own pink appendage. the lip lock is passionate, ravenous despite the mess and spit that you exchange. he chases your lips until he can’t breathe, sloppily accepting anything you give him, letting you lead where he can’t. 

he’s never done this before, not like this, not without reo. but in this moment, the silver-blonde doesn’t think he could ever go back to making out with his ex. not now that you’re the one kissing him. 

“i-i've never done any of this before.” the blonde gulps, swallowing down the copious amount of spit that builds on the palette of his tongue — looking into your eyes as a sense of hunger dawns on him, as if you’re the very meal he’s set to devour. “not without anyone that wasn’t—“

reo. 

sure they’d done stuff together. naughty touches here and there, hands ghosting over boxer briefs and fingers tweaking nipples (sei’s were especially sensitive because of the cute little piercings his ex insisted he get) — but nothing close to actual sex, nothing with a girl, nothing with someone like you. a burning heat, unlike anything nagi’s ever felt before, begins to brew in his lower stomach. his cock rises beneath his pants that suddenly feel all too tight.

nagi’s girth twitches against his thigh as your nails rake their way down his chest and slowly pop open the buttons of his crisply pressed white shirt. it heaves beneath his clothes — heart hammering against its calcium cage of his ribs. 

“i can tell, pretty boy.” you soothe him by purring into the shell of his ear, teeth tugging at the softness of his lobe. “but you’re a good kisser though. did reo teach you that?” your lips cascade down to his neck like a gentle flowing river at the same time that your hands delve below the belt to squeeze at seishiro’s swelling erection — testing the waters. 

his hips instinctively buck up into the warmth of your palm and a grin spreads across your plush lips at the feeling of his precum soaking his underwater and smearing across your fingers in thick, clingy webs. 

white and seedy and he’s nowhere close to cumming. almost like a little virgin. 

“have you ever done this before, seishiro?” 

the sound of his name, salaciously spelt out on his tongue, earns you a high pitched whine from nagi — his head rolling to the side and his thighs squeezing together with vicious need. “n-no,” he pauses before he grunts out a response and his entire body seizes as you take a firmer grip on his cock — jamming a thumb into his leaky slit to spread his arousal. “but i wanted to i just… reo said not until marriage—“

“— you don’t have to listen to reo anymore.” you announce breathily, setting a steady pace to your fist to jerk him off with. you’ve barely started and yet your hand is already glossed in a slight sheen of pre, soiling your knuckles from its viscousness. it’s so much for someone who’s never gone father than sloppy kisses and grinding while making out. it nurtures a certain seed of satisfaction in your chest to see him so messy so fast. “you can listen to me, sweet boy. do you want this… do you want it with me?” 

without letting go of the fat, drippy cock within your grasp — you shift to stand between the desk and nagi’s chair, shoving papers and court notes to the ground in your lustful haze. nagi thrusts lazily into your closed fist as if it’s instinct, following the sensation like a moth takes to a candle light. his grey eyes grow murky like a pond, swimming with desire for you and only you.

who was reo mikage to seishiro nagi? when there was an angel like you willing to feed this inexperienced man morsels of a heavenly pleasure he’s never felt before. the lawyer in training nods at your words like an eager man fallen to siren’s song as bait. “i want you,” he whimpers airily. “i wanna with you.” 

you rub down his thick, lengthy dick far enough to have your fingertips briefly brush against seishiro’s sensitive, weightly balls — just pulsing full of seed to give to you. the feeling makes nagi jump up from his seat so that he immediately towers over you. his height doesn’t overwhelm you, not when the towering blonde collapses onto you with a case of the shakes. he trembles above you, supporting himself by using one hand on the table while is mouth sloppily finds your neck to suck on and pacify himself.

“good boy, sei,” you coo, voice as sweet as hot sugar or candy. “i want you too. i always have. you’re such a pure, darling boy. glad to see that it’s true.” your praise is hidden in your soft moans as seishiro licks at the crystalline salt on your bare skin. you’re a little too twisted, taking advantage of his inexperience and his position beneath you as a student, but neither of you seem to care in this very moment. 

sweat beads against nagi’s hairline like diamonds on an expensive Chanel necklace and roses bloom across his cheeks with exertion — his hips rise and fall into your sticky fist in fluid motions, changing the steady stream of ecstasy you provide him. your hand is a solace for his aching cock, but you still make your student work for it. make nagi chase you since he only works hard for the things he wants. and right now, he wants to reach the end of the tight rope of pleasure you have him walking on. and to stave off the stormy frustration he feels from the case.

your hand wriggles it’s way into his wet silver locks, dragging nagi’s hungry mouth over yours since he’s so desperate to taste you, to have at you. it shows in the way he roughly grabs your hips too, grip so tight it threatens to leave bruises he’ll have to apologise for later. “ngh… please. g-god. miss…a-angel please,” he stutters, his bucking into your hand faster and harder, back and forth, back and forth through the tight ring of your fist. his bright and angry red cockhead peeks through the other side, glazed in opaque white — it’s a nice feeling, blistering hot and sensitive. “i…hah… gotta—“

nagi’s lashes flutter against your cheek — a strained whine reverbing in the base of his throat while you let him fuck your hands to his heart’s content, let him chase this new pleasure he’s never known. let him fall from the high heavens with blackened and burnt angel’s wings. you make him sin, for the first time ever. something about this should feel off to nagi, his law teacher taking advantage of him like this — but at this point, he’s too far gone, drowning in a hellfire of lust. 

mocking his moans, your mouth falls open in one of your own as you follow along with the pitiful expressions crossing the contours of seishirou’s face. “what is it, sei? what do you need?”

the room is too hot. your bodies against each other are temperate in the sex tainted air — accompanied by wet slapping sounds from your hand around his throbbing cock. “n-need to let go. it h-hurts,” he sniffles out, forcing his tongue into your mouth again to calm himself down. the more you speed up, remorselessly jerking him off, the closer nagi gets to the end of his own tether. this sensation is unfamiliar, the crumbling foundation of his orgasm coming crashing down as you fling droplets of his precum and arousal about the place — some of it landing on your clothes, the desk and discarded papers. 

again, neither of you care. 

“surrender to me baby, it’s okay. i’ve got you.” guiding the pale blonde through his first ever orgasm, you pour your heated words into his slobbering mouth — tongue running over his pearly white teeth and tangling with his drool coated tongue. that’s all sei needs to hear before he crumples against you with a shout — the first wave of his high crashing over him and pulling him under. 

it’s world shattering, brain melting as he cums. his abdomen contracts under your never-ending touch, ropes of hot white dribbling from his stimulated tip like a tap that keeps running. nagi swears he almost blacks out, falling dizzy and victim to your lustful charms as he twitches and cums and cums into your soiled palm. 

“f-fuck,” a soft whimper bubbles up on his raw bitten lips, stuttered out in suprise. “w-what was that?” 

“you orgasmed for me, sei, so pretty baby.” comes another set of your gentle praises. he feels his entire body wrack with a shakes at your words, his cock doesn’t dare to soften either. “you look so good when you cum.” 

his greyish-brownish eyes roll back into his skull when you let him go, his tip slapping against his clothed tummy. the brush of his cotton shirt against the slit on his tip makes him writhe from the sensitivity. “c-can i cum for you again? promise i’ll keep being good.” 

“of course,” you grin, proud that to have corrupted the poor boy. “are you okay to let me touch you again or do you want it now?” 

“touch me. now.” he growls, gripping your hand and guiding it towards his dribbling shaft, aiding the movement of your palm around him to start slow and lazy — working seishiro up into a heat once more. this time, the way your hand languidly jerks him off is made smooth by the evidence of his last orgasm, which you now use as lube. if you weren’t pressed for time and with a court case first thing tomorrow, you would have gotten onto your knees to clean up his copious amounts of mess. 

you quickly reduce him to a babbling mess against you, drool laden on his tongue and dripping onto his skin as you drive your thumb over nagi’s hot tip in tight circles with your free hand — touching what doesn’t fit in the other. “reo treated you so badly, poor baby,” you mewl sweetly, kitten licking at his pulse point just below his neck. “you work so hard, you deserve so much better. you deserve me.” 

he believes you, blindly and naively. nodding tenderly despite the way he widely fucks both of your hands as if they’re a makeshift hole — warm and slick, all for him. dopamine shocks him at the stem of his brain, spreading throughout his body like a wildfire only you can tame — it burns so good and  feels even better to have your dainty, perfectly manicured fingers wrap around his chubby girth so deliciously.

for a moment, you let seishiro go to squeeze at his heavy breeder’s balls — noticing the way they pulsate in your palm to signify the pale blonde’s second impending orgasm. “i think…hah… i think ‘m gonna… c-cum! again!”

pushing at his shirt, you press a kiss to the creamy skin of nagi’s shoulder and hum pridefully. “thank you for letting me know, sweetheart. cum for me. give it to me.”

with your permission granted, another blinding ecstasy takes over nagi, and he falls victim to you and your merciless hands once again. blood rushes through his ears like a storm surge, drowning at your angel coos while you guide him through his high, never letting up as you palm him through it all. he quivers and his knees buckle, shooting a hot and hefty load of seed all over your hand and clothes and the papers nearby.  “o-oh! fuck…” nagi chokes on a weak sob, bleating like an innocent lamb at the slaughter house while he weighed against your shorter frame — allowing you to bare the brunt of his weight and height. 

he’s so pretty when he cums, silvering blonde locks matted to his forehead by sweat — cheeks pink and lips swollen and red. if you could, you’d swallow him whole and selfishly devour your student for all that he has to offer. silly little blonde, stupid for trusting you, for wanting to fuck you.

your hand doesn’t slow around his pulsing cock but instead speeds up, digging your thumb into his oozing slit as arousal pearls at its centre once more. “n-no, s’too much.” seishiro cries quietly, tears stinging a pathway down the apples of his milky cheeks. “it hurts.” 

“poor you, poor baby.” you say harshly, mocking the poor blonde’s sniffles and hiccups. he’s exhausted and frustrated but doesn’t dare to pull away — his hips running after your hand hungrily. “you’re so cute sei, panting for me like a bitch in heat, fucking my hand like the dumb little blonde you are.” he hisses at the overstimulation, gargles on spit as it floods his mouth to accompany his appetite for you. 

“i’m not…ngh… ‘m not dumb.” he whinges in response and before either of you know it, seishiro is cumming again. hard. soiling his lap with abundant amounts of white. his chest heaves as he comes down, collapsing against you. he might deny it later, but being dumbed down and reduced to a stupid blonde seemed to really do it for him. 

finding his lips again, you soothe nagi with short and sweet kisses that grow more feverish by his own demand. all of a sudden you find yourself pinned to the desk below with the tall blonde between your instinctually parted legs so that he can grind against your panty clad core. “you’re…you’re right,” you say, breathing deep through your nose as your composure threatens to fall apart. “you’re so smart, sei. you’re the best lawyer on our team but…” bucking your hips once, you lower your voice by an octave so that your words slip through his ears like molten chocolate. “you’re acting like a dumb slut right now. don’t you wanna be my dumb slut, sei?”

his palm flattens against the mahogany desk just above your head, caging you in against its cold surface. “y-yes i do, oh fuck. please lemme fuck you. lemme be inside. i’ll be good.” 

“are you sure, baby?” 

“please—“ 

“but sei,” you brush a stray hair that curls at the centre of his forehead, the dumb blonde looking down at you with swimming grey eyes because he’s so needy. “it’d be your first time…” 

his face scrunches, nose crinkled at its bridge and brows knitted together in frustration. now that nagi’s had a taste of your sinful elixir he can’t seem to stop, you’re like a drug an addict can’t quit. something that could ruin his life or future prospects if he doesn’t get help. and yet he can’t look away, can’t pull his body away from yours and his achy dick from between your thighs — instead leaning closer so that it sinks between your plush pussy lips. 

nagi licks his lips, tongue rolling over his bottom one as he pants desperately. “please angel,” comes his broken beg, hanging pathetically in the sex tainted hair. “i need you. need it so bad. please please please— mph—!”

satisfied with his begging, you shove a set of cum soaked digits past the swell of seishiro’s pretty lips — chuckling darkly as his tongue laps over and in between them, and he whines at the salty taste of his arousal on your skin. “atta boy,” you coo, thrusting deep into the hot cavern of his mouth until the pale blonde gags around you, swallowing your fingers down like they’re a cock. he sucks so obediently, so desperately as if to please. like a good student too — and all the while, you work on kicking off your panties and flipping up your skirt so that he can get a nice rewarding view of your glistening cunt. 

“c’mere,” you reach out to the blonde and he leans into you, letting you wrap an arm around his shoulders to keep him in place. “sei,” you gasp at the first contact of his thick, long shaft against your throbbing wet mound — mouth agape as if you’ve taken a gunshot wound to the chest. “do you know how to do this, smart boy? do you know how to fuck?”

nagi nods, pressing his forehead to yours while his hips jut forward on their own and his seedy tip brushes against your pearling clit so deliciously. at first, his movements are lax and the room is filled with the lewd squelches of your sexes moving over one another, but your breathing soon grows ragged and the salacious bump and grind becomes stickier and wetter. 

“u-uhuh.” he mumbles in response.

he’s so good for you even when his mouth is full and his mind is dazed, sucking on your fingers while he lets you overwhelm him. however, the blonde is only so well behaved and patient, and it’s not long before he slips his girth past the tight ring of your entrance without any warning. his fingertips dance up to your waist, grabbing at the fat there and using it as leverage to drag you to the edge of the table so he can sink into you further.

“oh…fucking hell!” you whimper wetly against the junction of nagi’s neck, nails digging into his shoulders to steady yourself while he sets the pace to your sinful dance. he’s bigger than what you expected (despite mapping his girth out with your hands), stretching your sloppy walls wide to accommodate for his size. you don’t complain, however, eyes rolling as he brushes up against pleasure spots you could never reach on your own. “o-oh baby, fuck me.” 

you pull your fingers out of his mouth with a lewd pop, desperate to hear the symphony of his sweet, low and sexy moans instead of having them muffled by your fingers while he fucks you for the first time. the pale blonde can hardly believe it — having your warmth wrapped around him and your cunt drool down on him like a waterfall. 

the law student throws his weight into fucking you, bullying his way into the deepest parts of your womb to slothfully fuck up your gooey insides. your cunt, your moans, your whole body has some kind of control over nagi — dumbing him down and reducing him to a sex crazed mess. to the point where he can’t even remember his ex’s name. he’s a mop of pale blonde hair and sweaty clothes, entirely hunched over you. 

“y-you’re so tight,” he tells you in a dreamy sigh, lost in the heat of your core. nagi’s grabs at your pudgy thighs and drags you back and forth onto his dick, the new deepness to his thrusts causing you to squeeze and froth around the fat base of nagi’s cock. “hah, feels so…so good.” 

wrapping your shaky legs around his slender waist, you offer up the same treatment to nagi — pulling him close to the point where he’s buried in your sluice sex right up to the hilt. his precum smears against your ribbed walls and his broken whimper echoes around your hotel room. “that’s it, fuck me like you fucked my hand, sweet boy.” lust sparks against your sex slicked bodies, your breasts bouncing with every one of nagi’s calculated yet sloppy thrusts. you can’t get enough of one another, clinging and clawing at one another’s bodies madly. “you can do it, prove to reo that you don’t need him. only me.” 

“o-only you.” nagi repeats weakly, tucking his face into your neck as he pounds you to the high heavens. the desk creaks beneath the force of his thrusts, threatening to break at the nails and bolts that hold it together. his eyelashes flutter against your skin, his low and deep moans mixed with high pitched gasps send a hot rush of dopamine across your brain and it really is all too much. 

nagi’s already cum three times and managed to fold you in half over his desk as a virgin. he feel as though he might break with how much he loves this, loves fucking you senseless. another fresh set of tears burn tracks down his face and gather in his unfairly long lashes as they tickle your skin. he hiccups and heaves against you, whilst his breathing grows ragged every time his glistening cock escapes the snugness of your tight pussy, precum stringing along your puffy folds. 

“so good baby, s-so fucking good!” your voice is broken and husky as you praise him, making his dick pulse against your g-spot over and over again. you’re fairing no better than he is, your skin blistering hot to the touch and bruised from how tight your student is gripping you — pulling you back onto his cock.

the pale blonde feels though he might burst, cream your insides like he did your hand and ruin that pretty skirt of yours — the one that sticks to his pelvis because of how close your bodies are. it’s rubbed him raw while he fucks you raw. “‘m i the best?” seishiro asks, cherishing the embrace of your viscous walls, his shaft coated in a crude mix of white as it froths from your tight little hole. “t-tell me i’m the best…” 

“t-the best i’ve ever had! f-fuck, sei!” you squeal in response, only egging the law student on, babbling your praises while fat droplets of your arousal flies about the place — painting nagi’s pelvis in a shiny gloss, curling in his white happy trail as well. 

“‘m the best. i’m the best for you.” grunting from the exertion and the very force of his own thrusts, seishiro wraps both of his strong arms around your middle and stands up from the table — taking you with him. at the new angle, the coil in your stomach only tightens and you fling your arms around his neck to prepare yourself for what’s to come next. “s’not enough, not deep enough. fuuuck you’re so wet and warm. i-i can’t,” he drawls lowly, nipping at the shell of your ear on instinct. 

that’s when seishiro begins to use his sheer strength to lift and drop you back onto his thick girth, fucking up into you at the exact same time. “g-good god!” you cry out, your impending orgasm prickling at your pelvis — shooting down each section of your spine. all of it only serves to spur nagi on. 

“give me your fingers,” he demands huskily, cantering into you from bellow — your juices running a steamy track down his heavy balls as they harshly smack against your peachy ass. “wan’ suck on ‘em. give ‘em.”

you don’t have time to register his ask because he grabs your wrist before your mind can even catch up (too occupied with the way he’s churning up your guts) and has two of your fingers in his eager little mouth — sucking on them diligently. you shudder as nagi runs his tongue between them, coats them in spit and drool that tracks across his chin once he’s done with them. 

“touch yourself for me?” he pleads through a wet whine, almost too innocently. “wanna see you cum this time.” 

it’s only then that you realise he’s been holding himself back, staving off his orgasm so he can see you writhe and gush all for him. the overstimulation must be burning at his brain, sizzling off his nerve endings and it’s probably more than the dumb little blonde virgin can take. so you do as he asks, trailing your spit slicked fingers between your bodies as they grind down on one another and you with your sensitive clit, pulling its hood back to draw tight circles over the pleasure nub. 

“o-oh! seishiro!” 

“that’s right, touch yourself f’me. wanna see you lose it like you make me lose it,” he moans softly constraining with how rough nagi pounds up into you. one of his hands slips from your hips to grope at your ass, pushing you down on him and forcing his cock to grind against that one special spot threatening to make you break. “‘m sorry,” he whimpers as though he’s going to cry. “d-don’t think i can hold back, angel.” 

“then don’t,” you gasp at the new friction, holding onto your last strings of sanity as you fumble with your clit tucked away between your ravaged folds. “i know you wanna cum for me, sei. l-let go, yeah? wanna see you break for me, like a good blonde slut.” 

your encouragement doesn’t give seishiro much choice, and while he’s in control of your bodies — his lean, strong frame anchoring you down onto his cock as it bullies your insides, you are in control of his mind. you destroy his train of thought, ruin the self-made man he was and send him tumbling into his final high. nagi’s orgasm breaks the surface viciously, pouring another load of his cum against your ripe and rippling walls. there’s still so much of it, the warm and viscous white seeping from your cunt and smearing all over your hot mound. 

the force of nagi’s high is so strong that he nearly drops you, just about managing to pin you safely to the desk once more. he’s still cumming and cumming and cumming — but that doesn’t stop him from thrusting into you hard and fast, desperate to trigger your orgasm so he can reward himself. it doesn’t take long, he’d already had you seated on the edge before his mind had shattered to pieces just from fucking you. 

you gush down his length and all over what remains of your shitty case notes (he probably didn’t need them anyways) with a pornographic shout when you finally hit your peak. it’s like the crescendo of a beautiful song — the world around you spinning and flashing white as you squirt and gush for the white haired lawyer. 

“f-fuck.” you giggle with a soft smile, fatigue washing over the both of you come down from the gates of heaven — crashing back down to earth with ecstasy still buzzing in your veins. “good boy, sei. you did so good for me,” you hum softly. “do you feel any better?” 

seishiro looks up at you from where his heavy frame has collapsed on your chest — clothes sweaty and askew, and offers you a lazy grin in return. “better,” he mumbles meekly and kisses a slither of your exposed skin, still grinding his seed into you as if to make sure it sticks. “thank you.” 

bringing a hand up to toy with his hair and soothing him, you nod. “good, we should get some rest, you’ve got a big trial tomorrow, pretty boy.” 

“do you think I can do it?” 

“i know you can, sei.” you scratch at his scalp. “i meant it. what i said earlier. you’re the best lawyer on our team. shidou’s defence stands a pretty good chance.” 

nagi grins once more, only this time he leans up to press a chaste kiss to your unexpecting mouth — pouring all of his gratefulness into it. 

because thanks to you, he feels more confident about the trial, — almost as if he’s won the trial already. and even if nagi goes lose, at least he’s won you over.

꒰ end. — all rights reserved © tteokdoroki 2023. do not copy, repost, translate & recommend elsewhere.

[justawritterwithideas]

law in pink | s.r

♡ previous part | next part ♡

summary: A case takes them to Massachusetts, where you are reunited with your past and the people who carry it.

warnings: a bit of jealousy on Spencer's part, though overall nothing so far in this part.

this story is spencer reid (season 7) x ssa elle woods!reader

words: 1,185 words.

a/n: after a while, I finally bring you the third part of law in pink, the truth is that I've been wandering a lot about what to write, but I finally found it. I want to point out that this "chapter" will be divided in two or three parts (I'm not sure yet), to reward you for your time. Without anything else to add, thanks for reading.

Working in the FBI field always ended up surprising you.

Not because every day was a new adventure, with new cases that could border on the edge of human sanity, but because it could bring you face to face with people from your past.

A new case had dragged you to Massachusetts, where you saw old faces you recognized on your way to the police station.

The conversation with Emily was what was stealing your attention, and even more so when it was about one of the topics you dealt with the most, besides the criminal code, and that was hair care. You had recommended a new product to the woman and she was talking to you about how good her hair looked, it even looked shinier than usual from both perspectives.

"I know! Plus, it's not tested on animals and their products are 100% natural, it's like a little bit of paradise in your hands." You commented sipping from your coffee, placed your bag to the side as you watched Spencer walk in with a folder in his hands and well focused on it.

It was no secret that after his gift it had caused the two of you to connect a little more than usual, and everyone could tell with the little love language gestures you each had on each side, like how every morning you gave him his coffee the way he liked it because you had memorized them or how he took care to save you a spot next to him on the jet where the sunlight would hit so your skin would get the vitamin D it needed for the day.

You quickly pushed away the chair that was in front of the map the opposite had drawn up and watched him sit down, returning to your conversation with Emily. Spencer thanked you with a silent gesture, causing you to smile as you listened intently to Emily converse about the difference in her hair from week to week.

But, their conversation was interrupted as Derek and J.J were entering the room with a box of donuts.

"The breakfast express had just arrived, ladies... And Spencer." The smell of frying and sugar made you immediately turn to the table to see that they had found just the donuts you had been chatting about a couple of days ago.

"Are those the gluten-free donuts? I haven't seen them in years, they look just as delicious as when I was here." Your voice let out a soft sound of joy, approaching the one glazed with pink and had a flower drawn on top. "These are the best donuts you'll ever taste, and it's also suitable for the gluten intolerant."

The sweet taste of the donut made you stir as you brought a hand to your mouth in surprise, it was as if the past had just slapped you in the face.

You turned in the direction of Spencer, who looked quite immersed in his work.

"Spencie." The man looked up at your call. You brought the doughnut close to his face and smiled, letting the scent of your 'Miss Dior' perfume permeate his nose. "Try it."

"Ah, no thank you. I am at the moment somewhat busy, Y/N..." His hand was trying to push yours away, plus you kept watching him with that look that caused Spencer to give you the whole world. "B-besides! I'm faithful to my chocolate donut with sprinkles-"

"With sprinkles on top... Come on, Spencer, I'm not asking you to eat it all, just taste it."

The tasting-not tasting fight they were carrying on was interrupted when Hotch walked in where his face showed quite a bit of annoyance.

"What's going on, Hotch?"

"The suspect's lawyer is in the interrogation room." Commented Rossi, who simply modulated 'he's a jerk'.

"He's coming to talk to us now." Finished Hotch, who was heading straight for a cup of coffee but didn't quite reach for it when a rather annoying voice interrupted him.

You didn't know if it was your imagination or the memories of that place that made you cough, the smell of expensive cologne and mint made you push the donut away from your hands. You set it down on a napkin, listening as it echoed back to that voice that once spoke honeyed words to you.

"Agents, a pleasure. I'm defense attorney, Warner Huntington III."

Where was the closest place to hide from that character? You thought, but you wouldn't let the man you used to call "teddy bear" get you down at that moment.

" Lawyer Huntington, this is the BAU team. Agent Rossi, Morgan, Jareau, Prentiss, Dr. Reid and Agent Woods."

Your gaze connected with Warner's, who let out a gasp of surprise at the sight of you.

"Y/N... Wow, it's been a while, darli-"

"It's good to see you, Attorney Huntington." You commented as you watched him from your position.

You watched him approach you, plus Spencer's body made it so he couldn't take any more steps than intended, well... Spencer's leg was the one that separated you, as he stretched his legs out, separating you both just enough so that nothing of your bodies would rub together in any way.

A safe distance for both of them, thanks to Spencer.

"You two know each other?" J.J. asked, who watched intrigued.

"We were coupl-"

"We were part of the same Harvard Law generation, actually. We both graduated, but we took different paths." You lied in front of them, and they could read it when Warner's face grimaced.

It was clear that the two of you had a bond that was more than close, but the way you didn't want them to find out was the answer to resolving that which the others had to find out until you decided to talk about it.

"Rather, both of us-"

"Counselor, what exactly is the reason you're here?" asked Spencer, who watched from his position, with that feigned smile you already knew how to distinguish.

"Ah, yes. I was coming to introduce myself as the defense attorney, as well as discuss the legal issues surrounding my client." He turned to look at Hotch, who was drinking from his cup with that face that the situation displeased him. "I'd like to discuss a few things with Agent Woods, since we both graduated from Harvard and have the same degree from-"

"Actually, Agent Prentiss is also a Criminal Justice graduate, you could discuss with her along with Dr. Reid in addition to Agent Woods."

The way Hotch had cut Warner off made you let out a small chuckle, thanking in the direction of the major, who was simply giving you a discreet wink.

"Yeah, right. Three's better than one, you're right." Warner's voice wavered a bit before he opened his mouth again. "Good, then I'll come by later to discuss these details, they're calling me from the firm, excuse me."

Silence immediately settled in the room, but before they could blurt anything out, you immediately turned in everyone's direction and blurted out.

"I have a good explanation for this, I promise."

♡ first part | previous part ♡

If you like it, don't forget to like and repost it.

a lot of love, alme. ❀

[tojisun]

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/tojisun/738209656669896704

honestly the bit abt her acing classical tragedies and organic chem makes sooooo much sense to me because why wouldn’t she?? personally I see her as a very Elle Woods-y type of girl so even if she’s ditzy an airheaded it does mean she’s dumb, she just has different smarts!

of course she’s good at organic chem when she has to remember how different beauty products like makeup and skincare will have different reactions to various skin types and how to avoid cross contamination and allergies. and why wouldn’t she be interested in classical tragedies when she probably has equally horrible ones from girls’ night at the bar or awful rumors of what happened at a specific party.

and if bimbo!reader is able to follow the meticulous, thorough care instructions for taking care of her piercings and tattoos and acrylic nails, it just makes sense that she would be able to follow the same thorough instructions in building herself a table or fixing her leaky shower head or her door that sticks! (plus it means she gets an excuse to buy that cute hot pink toolset she saw at the hardware store the other day!!)

sorry for the long ramble i just love her so much and reading that post immediately made me think of that one court case from Legally Blonde with the hairspray 🥺 bimbo reader is sooooo cute and smart <3

YEAH!! ABSOLUTELY! OH U GET IT

U GET IT SO WELL!! smooching u so bad rn i hope u know that <33

I CHOSE O-CHEM BC OF THE BIT W HER DOING SKIN CARE ROUTINE W SIMON!! she’s very careful with her products!! not only because of repercussions regarding health reasons, but also? shit’s expensive. so no wonder she’s knowledgeable about these, and it’s so easy to translate it to her class!

n the classical studies? i see her getting into it bc shes tryna wrap her mind around the concept of fraternities and sororities. it snowballed from there!! it went from “what are panhellenic brotherhoods?” to “what are ancient cults?”!! so next sem, best believe she signed up for that course <33

and AHH YEA THAT is exactly why she can assemble ikea-instructions!! she can (and does) take care of her body art – piercings, tats, and fake nails – because she understands that u have to put in the work for something beautiful! and this is also why shes so patient when it comes to assembling stuff! it’s just natural for her atp to have to follow long winded instructions for somethings! AND YES, ABSOLUTELY, TO THE PINK TOOLSET! it matches her pink emergency kit <33

and omg pls don’t apologize for the long ramble 🥺 i love love seeing u guys interact and have fun with my works <33 bimbo!reader is so dear to me because shes just a sweetheart :(( and i love that u guys love her back

(and u guys are right! she is so elle woods coded <33)

[bluebellhairpin]

work song

Erwin Smith X Reader

Summary: Erwin needs help marking a class paper. You're called in, and domesticity ensues.

Warnings: Modern AU. Bit of making out, alluded to further smut but also doesn't. Selfship coded (but dw, it's just concepts/relationships, physical descriptions are non-existent). Reader is called 'Mrs Smith' like once though, otherwise GN/no pronouns used.

Listening to: 'Work Song' by Hozier - "I just think about my baby, I'm so full of love I could barely eat... No grave can hold my body down, I'll crawl home to her."

Masterlist || Ko-Fi

It was almost 10 PM when your husband called you from his study. “Honey, come here for a second?” 

You looked between the dog head resting on your lap, and the half-finished movie playing on the TV. You knew when he called you at a time like this, it was going to be a long haul. Grading papers wasn’t ever easy, but when he needed your help you knew he was stuck - you always doubted how much you could help, he promised you helped more than you knew. 

Elle Woods would have to wait. 

You petted Atticus’ head, a half apology for having to remove yourself as the Rottweiler's pillow (he would follow you, he always did), before scampering off down the hall to the study which, tonight, was Erwin's. 

Really, the room was shared. The wall opposite the door held the only window in the room, curtains shut but the window itself was open - the warmish breeze blowing in proved so. The walls were painted a dark green to contrast the gold picture frames and the red rug on the floor. Either side of the room held a desk, personalized to match you on the right, and your husband on the left. The - the prize of the whole room - the bookshelf. It spanned from floor to ceiling, and surrounded the doorway - an ode to try and wash yourself full of knowledge as soon as you walked into the space. 

You dreamt of having a room like this since you were a teenager. 

Erwin noticed your presence before he even looked up from where he was hunched over a stack of messy papers. The hand that previously housed his head reached out to you wordlessly, and as you walked closer it snaked around your hips to pull you closer. 

“Do you have him in your classes?” Erwin asked, tapping the name at the top of the papers he was grading. You lent down, reading the messy scrawl and hiding a wince. 

“I do,” you said quietly, “Why?” 

“Because,” he said, sighing, “I’m struggling a little.” He slowly pulled you down onto his lap, resting his forehead between your shoulders. “Read through it for me?” 

You hummed, agreeing, then turned to press a kiss to his blond hair before going back to the papers and reading over them yourself. 

Minutes ticked by as you read over the character analysis from Jane Eyre. You’d heard Atticus trot in, take his place somewhere on your rug, and behind you Erwin stayed quiet. He was quite still aside from one instance when he inched a hand under the hem of your shirt. You were going to start wriggling in protest, staying something about not being a distraction - but he read you like a book. 

“I’m not starting anything. You’re just warm,” he mumbled, “And soft.” he pressed a kiss to your back through your shirt, then sat idle again, this time with a hand snugly pressed to your tummy. 

However, as you kept on reading the paper, you came to realize it was messy, at best. You wondered a little how it came to be that one of your students produced a paper quite like this - both Smith’s prided themselves on taking the time to make sure their students did their best. While this one was never top of the class, he was never quite this bad either. 

You took note of the name scrawled at the top again, then hummed. 

“Did you realize this is the same Jaeger as -”

“- as the World War II professor who teaches in block two.” Erwin finished. “Yes I am aware.” You could hear the crease in his brow - a skill only picked up after so long knowing him. 

“Well excuse me for trying to impart fresh knowledge on your impressionable brain.” 

“He’s Zeke’s kid brother from his fathers second marriage.” 

“How the hell do you even just know that.” you said, “I never even knew his name was Zeke.” 

“What, does it even matter?” 

“As smart as you are, you can be a silly man sometimes.” you said, turning to wrap an arm over his broad shoulder, then quietly added; “Their father passed away on the weekend. I don’t know how close their relationship was, but considering this is dated to yesterday, I’d say some grief is showing.” 

“I’ll try and sit down with him then,” Erwin said, “See if we can revise it together.” 

He was still resting his head on you, tired no doubt - you hoped this would be the last one of the night, that maybe you could persuade him to an early bed since he’d been lacking such a luxury the past week. How you longed to see those blue eyes, how they looked framed by a face of barely there freckles and sun kisses - but you knew he’d rather have a few more moments to keep them closed. 

That didn't mean your mind didn’t wander, though. 

“So how did you know Zeke’s name?” you asked, one hand wandering down to rest on top of his. 

“We went to the same college.” Erwin said after a moment's wait. “He persistently tried to steal my boyfriend.” 

“Which one,” you started, “Your D’n’D bestie, or the one that now works as a janitor?” 

“Miche was never my boyfriend and you know that,” he said, pinching your hip, “And that janitor’s name is Levi. Just so you know.” 

“I think he kind of was,” you mused, mind dwelling on Miche, “Normal best friends don’t experiment like you said you both did.” You were finished, but then added with a teasing smile, ”Just so you know.” 

“I would have to say, since you’re bringing it up, that we should agree neither of us did ‘normal’ things with our best friends and leave it at that.” He said, finally opening his eyes up at you with a look that spoke a hundred teasing words. “Look, both of us married our best friend.” 

“I’d say that’s normal. Healthy even. Wouldn’t have wanted to have married someone I didn’t like this much.” you said with a smile. 

“Well good, because I like you too,” Erwin said, a sly smile reaching his eyes, “Might even love you a bit as well.” He loved you a lot, actually. He told you so very often.

“I quite like the idea of that.” you replied, leaning forward to kiss the corner of his mouth. He only hummed, chasing your lips for another, and another. 

The hand on your stomach pulled you closer, your thighs pressed down onto his. The fingers you grazed over his undercut were met with a light groan of approval. Your free hands met, fingers laced together tightly like a lifeline among the soft push and pull that was the slow mind-melting kisses granted in this moment. 

You barely pulled away, wishing to stay just like that forever. “How many more do you have left?” 

His eyes had stayed closed, lips were seeking yours on instinct - longing for the soft comfort your taste brought - but his head all but shook. 

“None anymore.” he said, stealing another tired and slow kiss. “Take me to bed Mrs Smith.”

[lunarcovehq]

WHITE ELEPHANT WRAP UP - PART 2

The first chaos plot drop will be posted in just a minute, but before it is, we did want to post a gift wrap-up. Below is a full breakdown of all of the gifts that were given during the White Elephant Party and who they ended up going home with. This will be in two parts as as there were so many gifts.

GIFT #26: from Bri, inside you find: This gift is three presents wrapped in pink wrapping paper & tied together with a white bow. The first present has instructions on the outside of the package warning the individual not to shake it as it is fragile and will break. Inside the first present, is a glass case with a pink rose that is an ode to Beauty and the Beast. Inside the glass case is another little box containing a set of numbers. Are they coordinates? Are they a key code? What the numbers are for are only for the owner of this gift to know. In the second present, you will find a detailed book nook book end. The book end is of a library of another famous novel being of that of the Great Gatsby. The third present comes with a card. Inside the card is a note that says "Dearest Reader, you have been gifted with a once in a lifetime opportunity to pick the theme of Cabaret for next month. You can select any musical of your choice, but it must be an existing musical (Happy Feet does not count- looking at you, Mason). You will also have a chance to select an activity to be held at Cabaret that goes along with the chosen musical (i.e. Murder Mystery Dinner for The Mystery of Edwin Drood). What Musical would you like to be transported into next month? - Xoxo, B". Within the final gift, is a vampire funkopop wearing a pink beret hat- an ode to the Vampire Garlic shaker Bri was unable to win last year at White Elephant that she is totally not still salty about or anything.

Ended up with - Julian

GIFT #27 from JC, inside you find: A season membership to the Providence Bruins, featuring two reserved seats at all home games, special events including skating with the team, and game day perks, such as the opportunity for scoreboard messages and team store discounts.

Ended up with - Linden

GIFT #28 from Rae Elle, inside you find: In a nice bag with evergreen trees on it; it's festive but not holiday specific, and it's got a decent weight to it. Inside, there's a journal that contains several hand drawn maps of the country, with close ups and details about specific places; it's essentially a travel guide. Towards the back there are newer entries that include places around Lunar Cove, both in the woods and in town, that the owner of the journal clearly finds interesting. There's also a few gift cards tucked inside for places around town: Blush Boutique, Broken Record, the Daily Drip, and End of the Line.

Ended up with - Eren

GIFT #29 from Ralph, inside you find: A signed baseball to Marty from Buzz Aldrin. It is a mystery who Marty is, why an astronaut was signing baseballs, or if it's even authentic.

Ended up with - Safiye

GIFT #30 from Meena, inside you find: A sleek black stack of envelopes with a gold pressed seals. In the first envelope, there is a handwritten letter that says "The Heart of the Ocean will be yours on one condition. You and your chosen partner must follow all of the instructions in this envelope without question to receive your prize- a sapphire necklace inlayed with hundreds of diamond that is inspired by the Heart of the Ocean from the movie Titanic and the Hope Diamond. The necklace at auction is estimated to be worth around ten million dollars give or take. Do you chose to accept your prize?". If you accept it, you can proceed to open the next envelope. Inside is the gift of being able to have any outfit from the movie Titanic custom created for you and your fellow adventurer. You must go to a wardrobe fitting to have your garments created. After such, you can open envelope three. Inside envelope three, you will find two boarding passes to the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, TN. You will have the museum to yourselves and are tasked with recreating one scene from the movie while you are there. You will be able to spend the night within the museum and all of your travel and accommodations will be covered. Inside envelope four, you will find that you and your fellow adventurer have been signed up to model to get your portraits drawn (clothing is optional) as you are painted like the french girls you know you are deep down. Envelope five is addressed to your fellow adventurer for them to open alone. Inside envelope five, your companion, whoever it is you have chosen, can decide whether they want to take the final prize being the $10M dollar necklace for themselves or let you have it. Your fellow adventurer is then instructed to find Meena where she will gift either your chosen companion or you with the expensive necklace that you may wear or sell and the adventure/your gift will come to an end. If you want to sell the necklace, Meena can also help facilitate that as well so that you or your companion can walk away with $10M in cash instead. Let the games begin!

Ended up with - Ralph

GIFT #31 from Safiye, inside you find: The wrapping paper around the gift is different Christmas themed food. Inside is an assortment of different food related items items such as a pizza blanket, pizza socks, bacon bandaids, a bread pillow, light saber chopsticks, and a heart shaped waffle maker.

Ended up with - Leyla

GIFT #32 from Culver, inside you find: Art is in the eye of the beholder? Meet Toothtail. This handmade necklace depicts a rabbit (?), crafted out wire and other bits and bobs. It is suitable for wearing or pulling out of a hat, so long as you mind its edges. In the presence of certain witches, its eyes and mouth even animate (which is funny).

Ended up with - Kitty

[killjoy1996]

The PhD application process, especially in the U.S. seems to be specially designed to depress you. 

No, its not the casual ‘depression word’ drop, there is no ‘it’ll get better’ i could hear to casually move to the next conversation topic.

The first aspect of it all is, its shit costly. I live in a third world country. One dollar is 76 rupees here. Let me put that in perspective for you, one loaf of bread which can feed three medium eaters is 40 rupees here. So when an application costs 75 dollars on average... that is 5700 rupees. 6000 rupees is my share of rent for a flat in the middle of the capital city of Kerala, one of the most developed states in India. So every time I, an independent scholar, want to add another application to my list, there goes another month’s rent. But the expenses doesn't end with the application fee now, no this is hell my dear reader and there is no respite. GRE 15000, TOEFL 15000, WES certificate verifications 20000. I think I’ll stop here and let you know, I was outstandingly broke by the end of the whole deal. American Altruism, my foot.

By the time you get around to paying this money, you will also want to put the right things in your application materials. But god forbid they tell you clearly what they want. It is like they are looking for some secret code which is hidden in the SOP.

Now I've heard there was a secret chord

That David played, and it pleased the Lord

But you don't really care for music, do you?

It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth

The minor falls, the major lifts

The baffled king composing Hallelujah

But believe me I was never baffled at discovering this secret code/chord. It never came to me and I never pleased the gods/selection committee.

Whoever wrote the script to Legally Blonde, especially that scene where Elle Woods sends in that video of her chilling in the pool in her pink bikini to Harvard and later gets in, I have select words for you which are not in an English Oxford dictionary.

  And then as a person who has no previous knowledge of how the American academia likes SOPs, you do your best. You beg people to read and review, you panic every two days and scare your partner and your friends. It was all a mess, I was a mess. There is some part of me I lost in the application process that I will never get back, there is time, energy and mental peace I lost trying to decipher these codes that I will never get back. Adieu, old Ann. I fancy myself to be Taylor Swift in Look What you Made me do. The girl understands feminine urges.

  All of this is surely infuriating, but you know what really trumps you. That the American academia has collectively decided to not do the work they are taking money from you for. They send rejection letters like a water flowing down the creeks, natural and expected. They tell you it was hard to choose, but not why they chose another's over mine. It hurts but it also makes you angry that they took so much money, effort and time from you and didn't give one useful sentence of feedback.

  So this year, I have decided things will be better. I have had no grand remake of myself with snakes and tubs of Jewellery like Taylor. But I am jaded, and I know better what to expect. I wont reduce the previous application cycle to being a trial run, it mattered much more to me. It cost me pride I worked hard to have. This year, I will merely attempt to do better. But there will be no desperation, no panics and no breakdowns. I will try everything not to lose parts of myself.

[sunflowergirl522]

Legally Blonde 3: Harvard Variations

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Just a legally blonde AU with you starring as Elle Woods. Based on both the movie and the musical.

Warnings: Language

Word Count: 1908

Series Masterlist | Masterlist

Pulling up to the school fills you with excitement. It’s a new atmosphere than it is back in California but you’re enjoying it so far. 

“Oh, Rocket! It’s so exciting! Look, Harvard!” Rocket turns from the window of your convertible to you and gives back a small bark with his tail wagging.

The moving van pulls up right behind you when you get to your dorm building. Students begin to gather around and chatter amongst themselves about the scene in front of them. 

“Well this is our home for the next three years, Rocket. Oh, are you thirsty? Let’s get you some water. Sweetheart, you just look parched. Here you go.” You pull out a collapsible dog bowl out of your purse and fill it up while placing Rocket on the ground. “Good boy, Steve’s gonna be so excited to see you. Guys, this way.” You walk into the building with Rocket and the moving guys right behind you, ignoring the comments a few people yell towards you. “Now, don’t be scared. Everyone will love you.” You look down and say it to Rocket when in reality you’re just trying to hype yourself up for this.

***

“Hi. Y/L/N, comma, Y/n.” The man behind the table looks you up and down before handing you your group of papers.

“Class schedule, map, book list.” He flips through his list of names to mark you off.

“Wait a second, my social events calendar is missing.” This causes him to look up at you, not sure what you’re talking about.

“Your what?”

“Social events. You know, mixers, formals, clam bakes, trips to the Cape.” He only chuckles and looks back down at his clipboard. “Okay. Has Steve Rogers checked in yet?”

“Um… No. You know, maybe you should check with the cruise director on the lido deck.”

You only hum to yourself before turning and walking away trying to ignore how the comment affected you. You pretend as if you didn’t feel a stab in your heart and a twist in your stomach. You just place a happy smile on your face ignoring the thought of what if you can’t do this.

***

“Hello, I’m Bucky Barnes, welcome to the hallowed halls of Harvard Law. I know first hand how hard you’ve all worked to be here today so let’s go around and say a few things about yourselves.” Bucky speaks to the three students on the bench in front of him.

“My name is Thor Odinson. I have a masters in Scandinavian Studies, and a Ph.D. in Theology. And for the last eighteen months I’ve been teaching self defense classes to those who need them.”

“Welcome to Harvard.”

“Tony Stark. I won a Fulbright and a Rhodes. I write financial software codes but that’s a challenge I’ve outgrown. How many yachts can one man own? Some say that I’m a pompous creep, somehow I don’t lose that much sleep. Why bother with false modesty? Harvard’s the perfect place for me.”

“Welcome to Harvard.”

“Hey how’re you doing, I’m Valkyrie. I got a Ph.D. from Berkely in Women's studies, emphasis in the History of Combat. I did the Peace Corp overseas, inoculating refugees in family clinics that I built myself from mud and trees. I fought to clean up their lagoons and save their rare, endangered loons.” Just as Bucky is about to welcome her she stands up and speaks again. Bucky just sits in her old spot. “But now I’m on the legal track, because this country’s out of whack and only women have the guts to go and take it back. We'll make the government come clean and get more people voting Green, and really stick it to the phallocentric war machine.”

“I love your top, it is so fatigue chic!” All of their heads turn to look at you when you speak. “So how psyched are you guys? First day at Harvard Law! My name is Y/n Y/l/n and this is Rocket Y/l/n.” You move in front of Valkyrie and shake her hand. 

“Uh, we were just going around the circle, tell us something about yourself.” 

“Me?” Bucky just motions for the seat between him and Tony and nods. “Okay, well I have a bachelor’s degree from UCLA where I was Zeta Lambda Nu sweetheart and president of my sorority, Delta Nu, and last year I was homecoming queen. Oh! Two weeks ago I saw Beyonce at Fred Segal, and I talked her out of buying this truly heinous cable knit tube top. Whoever said orange is the new pink was seriously disturbed!”

Bucky chuckles a bit at that more at the way you said it than anything else. “I did not know that.” 

“Does anyone know where I can find Civil Procedures Class with Professor Fury?”

“Actually some of us are heading there, so I’m sure somebody would be happy to show you.” Bucky missed when everyone darted away. “Ah well it’s in Hauser, over there, second building on the left.

“Thank you.” You smile at him and get up to leave.

“You know, I don’t think dogs are exactly allowed in class.” Bucky stands and you turn towards him.

“Oh, Rocket’s not a dog, Rocket’s family. I’ll just drop him off in my room, he’d be happier there anyway. I’ll see you later then!” You give him a little wave before turning and leaving. Bucky just stands there for another minute with a small smile on his face.

***

Walking down the hall to your class you see Steve reading things off of a bulletin board. It stops you in your tracks. With a new found confidence you walk up and start to pass him. 

Steve does a double take as you pass. “Y/n?”

You fake surprise as you turn to look at him. “Steve? I totally forgot you go here.”

“What are you talking about? I’m sorry. Are you here to see me?”

“No, silly. I go here.”

“You go where?” You can hear the confusion seeping out of his voice.

“Harvard. Law school.”

“You got into Harvard Law?”

“What, like it’s hard?” You completely down play all of the hard work you did to get here. “Oh, my gosh, Steve, it’s gonna be so great.” Steve’s mouth stays agape as he tries to come to terms with all of this. “Oh, uh, time to go. I have to go to class, but meet me after on the benches, okay? Alright bye!” You leave Steve behind with his mouth still wide open in complete and utter shock.

You sit in the front of the class and pull out your little notebook after seeing your classmates all on laptops ready to type notes.

“A legal education means you will learn to speak in a new language. You will be taught to achieve insight into the world around you, and to sharply question what you know.The seat you have picked will be yours for the next nine months of your life. And those of you in the front row...Beware.” The professor looks straight at you with the eye without the patch and your smile falls for a minute. “The law is reason free from passion. Does anyone know who spoke those immortal words? Yes?” He calls on the big guy you had seen when everyone was introducing themselves.

“Aristotle.”

“Are you sure?” Professor Fury approaches him and leans towards him.

“Yes.”

“Would you be willing to stake your life on it?” 

“I think so.”

“Oh. What about his life?”

“Ow.” The man that the professor hit with a pencil ducks down.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, I recommend knowing before speaking. The law leaves much room for interpretation, but very little for self doubt.” Fury takes the seating chart from in front of you on his way back to the front. “And you were right. It was Aristotle. I assume all of you have read pages one through forty-eight and are now well-versed in subject matter jurisdiction. Who can tell us about Gordon v. Steele? Someone from the hot zone. Y/n Y/l/n?” You look up and get surprised with him in front of you.

“Um, actually, I wasn’t aware that we had an assignment.”

“Peggy Carter. Do you think it’s acceptable that Ms. Y/l/n is not prepared?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Would you support my decision to ask her to leave class and return only when she is prepared?”

“Absolutely.” Fury turns to look at you expectantly. You close your mouth fuming over this and pack up your stuff before getting up and leaving. You go straight outside to the benches where you’re supposed to meet Steve. 

Bucky looks up and follows you as you sit down before going back to his work. When you begin mumbling to yourself he begins to get concerned. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Ya. Do they put you on the spot like that all the time?”

“The professors? Yeah, they tend to do that. What did Fury kick you out for?” You haven’t looked up yet so it shocked you that the man speaking knew whose class you were just in.

“Oh hello again!” You smile at Bucky when you turn to see him behind you. “I didn’t know there was a reading.”

“He made me cry once, not in class, I waited till I was in my room but yeah. He’ll kick you in the ass. He’s tough, really tough.”

“Great.” You sigh and turn back around.

“It gets better though. Who else do you have?”

“I have Pierce, Hill, and McCoy.”

“Speak up in Pierce’s class. He likes people who are opinionated. And in McCoy’s class try to sit in the back. He tends to spit when he talks about product liability. And for Hill, make sure you read the footnotes, ‘cause that’s where she gets a lot of her exam questions from.”

“Wow, I’m really glad I met you.” You beam at him and Bucky likes you he can feel it.

“Hey, Y/n.” Steve comes up to you and your attention immediately goes to him.

“Hey! Thanks for all your help.” 

“Good luck.” Bucky watches you get up and approach Steve before he gets up himself.

“Hi, Steve.”

“Hi. Uh, so… How was your first class?”

Oh, it was good, except for this horrible preppy girl who tried to make me look bad in front of the professor. But no biggie. You’re here now. So how was your summer?”

“Good. It was good.” Steve stumbles over his words, still not believing that you’re here.

“Did you do anything exciting?” It was at that moment when the girl, Peggy, comes up from behind Steve.

“Hey!” Steve chuckles nervously not sure how this will all pan out. “Have you met Peggy?”

“Oh, hi. Peggy Carter.”

“Do you know her?”

“Uh, she’s…”

“I’m his fiancee.” His grandmothers ring glistens in the sunlight.

“I’m sorry. I just hallucinated. What?”

“Yeah. She was my girlfriend in prep school. And we got back together this summer at my grandmother’s birthday party.”

“Steve told me all about you. You’re famous at our club. But he didn’t tell me you’d be here.”

“Boo Bear, I didn’t know she would be here.” Hearing him call her the nickname he called you was just a stab in the chest.

“Excuse me.” And with that last word you turn to walk away, tears in your eyes.

[blogwritetheworld]

The Write Place: Fishing for Clues in Mystery Writing

Looking for the right advice on pursuing the writer’s life? You’ve come to the write place!

by Lisa Hiton

My first encounters with mysteries were playing Clue (or Cluedo!), reading Nancy Drew Notebooks and the Cam Jansen series, playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and inventing convoluted, adventurous riddles with my friends in my backyard. Mystery is a driving force in many genres. The word comes from Latin and Greek and relates to mysticism—the kind of symbols that would relate to God or the gods, the unsolvable questions in the universe. Nowadays, when we think “mystery”, we think of whodunit stories, sleuths, crime, thrillers, and suspenseful stories that keep us guessing right up to the last page.

Writing in the mystery genre has many of its own devices. Whether you’re writing crime fiction, a psychological thriller, or a true whodunit, you’ll find yourself wondering when to reveal all of the clues and their answers to your readers. So what are the most common techniques of mysteries? How are they used?

SOMETHING’S FISHY: RED HERRINGS AND MISLEADING PLOTS

A common tool used by mystery writers is to plant a “red herring”. Like any stinky fish, the red herring is meant to draw a reader’s attention to a false clue or plot piece. A well placed object or action can make the reader think that something is going on that’s really not, which distracts from the truer plotline.

For example, let’s say a detective is put on a case to solve a crime. When she arrives at the scene of the crime, a café, she finds a bunch of cracked glass pieces. When put together, the glass reveals a bottle of soda pop with Greek writing. Then the writer may show us a character who is always seen at this same café drinking that specific drink. We would begin to suspect that the café-goer is involved in the unsolved crime. By focusing on these details, the reader and detective can be misled down a path while the real criminal is at large. This is a common technique and is famously used in Sherlock Holmes, The Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter, and even Jane Eyre. Red Herrings can lead your readers down a winding path before the right answers are revealed.

MODERN EXAMPLES **SPOILER ALERT: Plot twists will be revealed ahead**

Legally Blonde, directed by Robert Luketic, features Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) helping defendant, Brook Wyndam, prove she didn’t kill her husband. All along, the viewer is led to believe she did it, from the eyewitness testimony to her lack of alibi. It takes Elle Woods to take this misleading plotline and turn it in the right direction!

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling: During Harry’s first Quidditch game, his broomstick has a mind of its own, wobbling and nearly throwing him off. Hermione sees Snape speaking in tongues below his breath in the stands when no one is looking. The reader—along with Hermione, Harry, and Ron—is meant to think that Snape is responsible for Harry’s near-death flight. For the whole book, we suspect that Snape has a vendetta against Harry (which is used in all of the books). It isn’t until the end of the first book that we know Snape was actually trying to save Harry from that fateful Quidditch match, and Quirrell was the one who was after Harry in the name of Voldemort all along.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon: The story opens when the protagonist, 15 year old Christopher, discovers a dead dog’s body, speared by a garden fork. When the dog’s owner calls the police, Christopher comes under suspicion and is arrested. Christopher is eventually released to his widowed father. Later, we find out that his father could have proven who really committed the crime all along. And that he is hiding more facts than meet the eye.

The Giver by Lois Lowry: The protagonist, Jonas, is reassured by his father, a “Nurturer”, that he will be assigned a role in the world that suits him. All along, we suspect the father’s title indicates his nurturing personality and a kind of moral high ground he occupies in his role caring for new babies. Until Jonas sees what his father really does. Then the reader and Jonas realize they’ve been misled all along.

SUSPENSE: CASTING LINES AND WAITING / IF THERE’S A GUN IN ACT I, IT WILL BE USED BY ACT III

Does anyone remember the scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when Dumbledore takes Harry Potter to find the second horcrux, and Dumbledore asks Harry to get him water after having to drink a horrid potion? Harry walks down to the dark water of the cave. There is no sound—no music, no wind, nothing. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for doom to come out of the black water as Harry reached into it. It’s the lack of sound and waiting that makes us feel suspense even more so than Voldemort’s inferi that come out of the water afterwards! Though we do not have the advantage of sound effects in writing, it is our job to translate this feeling of utterly thrilling, spine-tingling, suspense by giving an order to how and when we reveal clues, plot points, and secrets to our readers.

Suspense is absolutely critical to mystery writing. But unfortunately, we oftentimes think that violence alone can produce this feeling. So instead of taking the long route to a plot point, we tend to get off at the first exit. And in the end, the more violence or death that occurs in a story, the less meaningful it becomes. We tend to use violence in this genre because it is, innately, scary. But what makes readers and audiences feel that sensation most is the careful timing of action and how things are revealed. Surprise causes the most shock. So we must learn to make our readers wait. Let them wait and wait for the right action to begin.

Another way to do this is to show your reader the smoking gun (be it a real gun or a metaphorical one) at the beginning. Then don’t bring it up again until the action happens. This is a technique that Alfred Hitchcock mastered famously. If the audience sees a character set a bomb to go off twenty four hours later, the whole rest of the movie, the audience will be panicked waiting to see how and when the bomb is returned to, when it will go off, and who it will impact. In the theater they say: “If there’s a gun in Act I, it will be used by Act III”. Making the reader and the characters wait can build the most suspense, more than simply using violence because it’s scary.

SUSPENSEFUL MOMENTS IN LITERATURE **Spoiler Alert: plot twists will be revealed ahead**

Beauty and the Beast: At the story’s onset, there is a rose losing its petals. While at times, the magic of the story distracts us from the looming fate of the beast and his servants, the rose is the way the audience and the characters keep time. The urgency of the situation is alluded to each time a petal falls.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre meets Edward Rochester when he’s thrown from his horse one eerie night. Jane meets Mr. Rochester at his estate, Thronfield Hall. From then on, strange things happen in the house. From voices, to a mysterious fire, the house is clearly haunted. There is a whale of a reveal in store for the reader about these eerie occurrences, but the reader and Jane are made to wait and wait (or wade and wade, if you will).

Reading and writing mysteries is a thrill. So as you practice by playing Clue, reading your favorite mysteries, and sleuthing around your mind for a great new plot, don’t forget to cast your lines and see what you catch—the small fish can be used to stink up a false plot while we all wait to catch the big whale!

About Lisa

Lisa Hiton is an editorial associate at Write the World. She writes two series on our blog: The Write Place where she comments on life as a writer, and Reading like a Writer where she recommends books about writing in different genres. She’s also the interviews editor of Cosmonauts Avenue and the poetry editor of the Adroit Journal.

[truereviewpage]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

And here’s the post full of the other woo-woo skin stuff Sherry swears by (including not washing her face, and using things you usually find in the kitchen).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://aireloomreview.tumblr.com/

[endlessarchite]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

And here’s the post full of the other woo-woo skin stuff Sherry swears by (including not washing her face, and using things you usually find in the kitchen).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://bakerskitchenslimited.tumblr.com/

[billydmacklin]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://carpetgurus.tumblr.com/

[additionallysad]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room https://ift.tt/2P01A3h

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

[lowmaticnews]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://landscapingmates.blogspot.com

[vincentbnaughton]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

[lukerhill]

#85: What We Got Wrong In Our Beach House Kitchen

This week I’m fessing up to a design choice that I insisted we make in our beach house kitchen, but now realize was – shall we say – misguided? Thankfully it’s not too hard to undo, so we’re explaining our change of heart, and what we’re doing to fix it. There’s also a polarizing design “trend” that we’ve been asked to weigh in on, so we’re sharing our take – and why we think it gets people so worked up (this trend literally can make people get rage-y). We’re also sharing some secrets for recreating that super cozy, uber luxurious bed you see in the pages of magazines… and why there are some bed-making tricks that are best left to the pros. Also, does Young House Love have a board game? 

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you might have to click through to the post to see the player. 

What’s New

The photo above shows how close the mini fridge was to the pantry, which houses the full-size fridge.

You can hear more about the original beach house fridge debate and why we landed on that two-fridge solution in Episode #74.

This post about buying our appliances also shows some of our thought process for nixing a full-sized fridge in the main kitchen (and deciding to turn the breakfast nook into a walk-in pantry).

But we actually were able to make the fridge/cabinet switcheroo this weekend! So now that space is looking a little more like this (still need to add hardware and finish some baseboard stuff):

You can also read how we built the pantry shelves that surround our full-size fridge, pictured below:

fridge / white bins / similar woven baskets / similar pendant light

And if you want to actually “walk through” the pantry/kitchen layout for yourself, here’s a post with a video tour that’ll help you picture how it all fits together.

Can We Just Talk About

(image source)

Here’s the impassioned article from Elle Decor about why they aren’t fans of backward books (like the ones pictured above).

And below is an example of one of the other “trendy” bookcase choices, the rainbow bookshelf.

(image source)

And finally, here’s what we landed on for the bookshelves in our home: general color groupings, but not in a rainbow order (and not totally perfect).

living room chairs / similar wood dresser / similar rug / kitchen pendants

Here’s a shot of the other side, taken around Christmastime (hence the miniature ceramic Mr. & Mrs. Clause who are showing their affection for each other in front of a ceramic succulent).

Listener Question

  Let’s first look at some examples of those extra comfy looking beds that we talked about. Here are some images we’ve come across in some recent catalogs. Above is a shot from West Elm, and below is Pottery Barn. Both of them sport that “lived in” bed look. Don’t you just wanna be that dog?

There are also some more tailored looking beds, like the one below from Ballard Designs. They still utilize overlapping layers to create lots of volume on their beds, theirs just looks a bit more formal.

And here’s an even more neatly made bed from a recent Annie Selke catalog – still rocking that extra layered bedding theme, along with an oversized tufted headboard.

We won’t ever pretend our beds can live up to the immaculate styling of those professional photos, but here’s where you can see the “formula” that works for us in real life.

On this queen-sized bed we have: a king-sized duvet & insert, two king-sized pillows with shams in front of our two sleep pillows, and one accent pillow in the middle. Extra credit: a king-sized blanket folded at the foot of the bed. That’s it! Note: There’s more on why we size up the duvet, insert, and blanket in this podcast – along with some other tips for mixing and matching, choosing headboards, etc. 

duvet / blue pillow / white blanket / art / headboard / sconce / night stands / sound machine

I’m realizing I don’t have a lot of straight on “bed shots” from the beach house (can you tell we avoid taking them at all costs!?) but these give you a glimpse of the mix. And you can see how we split the striped duvet set across two beds – the bed above got the duvet itself, and the one below got the pillow shams:

headboard / rug / blue blanket / side table / lamp /  curtain rods / curtains / sound machine

Here’s the tutorial for making your own upholstered headboard too. The one pictured below is the same one in the tutorial, we just recovered it with more neutral fabric a year or two ago.

lamp / duvet (we flipped it over) / similar night stand / gold frames / similar mobile

If you’re looking for all of the paint colors and other sources from our beach house, we created a page with all of that info for you. And we’re working on a Before & After page, which is ridiculously exciting after over a year and a half of renovating this thing. That’ll be up soon I hope!

And we’ll wrap up this section with that Taco Bell parody Sherry mentioned from Saturday Night Life (an oldie, but a goodie!)

We’re Digging

If you want to see all of the board game excitement that ensued on Instagram, Sherry archived that “InstaStory” on our profile so it won’t disappear. Just visit our profile page on your mobile IG app and scroll through the little circles (see above) until you come to the one that says “YHL Game?” If you click that, you can watch all of the fun board-game-related hijinks thanks to that fateful MermaidFitJess dream.

And if you want to check out the games we recommended, here’s Exploding Kittens (and the Imploding Kittens expansion pack) as well as Bears Vs. Babies. We’re also open to more game suggestions if you guys have others that you love!

Also, good news for people who want to expand their nasal horizons like Sherry: the basil hand soap she recently fell for also comes in a dishwashing liquid. And the “special edition” Mrs. Meyer’s Iowa Pine scent is still available on Amazon (here’s a sampler pack or a 6-pack of hand soap).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes.

And lastly, a big thank you to Agility Bed for sponsoring this episode. You can get $150 off your order of any Agility Bed mattress by visiting AgilityBed.com and entering the code YHL150.

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #85: What We Got Wrong In Our Beach House Kitchen appeared first on Young House Love.