Hello. My name is Mariya – a Friendly Introduction

I am a wife and a mother of two adult boys. We all come from Central Asia and now live in California. I work full-time as a teacher at a school.
We rent an apartment, and we’ve moved twice in the six years we’ve lived in the United States.

There were times when I didn’t feel comfortable inviting people to our place because I didn’t think it was nice.
I also didn’t think it was worth putting effort into our place because it’s a rental and we didn’t own it. But as the years passed, I realized how miserable my life had become in a place I didn’t like. My family couldn’t enjoy it, and we couldn’t invite friends over.

On the pages of my blog, I’d like to share my journey and experience of making a HOME in a rental. I now believe that we can love the place where we live, and with little investment and some time, we can make it beautiful and inviting for our family and friends.