About

Who are we? We are Brian and Aleah – 20-somethings, newly married, dog lovers, and first time homeowners.  Besides discovering windows built within the walls of our home, tearing out lath and plaster, and hanging drywall, we do have real lives and real jobs.

Aleah is a telecommuting marketer in the real estate industry who loves all things crafty and sugary, while Brian works in transportation logistics and loves cooking anything spicy.  Brian took a leap of faith in the summer of 2008 and accepted a transfer to the Los Angeles area to begin a new division for his company.  After becoming engaged, Aleah followed in January 2009, packing everything up in one U-Haul trailer and leaving our Northern California roots.  We were married in July 2009 in beautiful Stinson Beach in the Bay Area and have since purchased a fixer-upper in the little town we fell in love with that is “nothing LA” though still in Los Angeles County.  Now, trying to turn this fixer into a home fit for a family… this is our journey.

Where does the name of the blog come from? Our last name is Baklenko, and the “Hey Baklenko!” actually came from Aleah’s best friend’s father, who couldn’t pronounce Brian’s last name while we were dating. He would sing “Hey, Baklenko” to the tune of the Macarena (heeeey, bach-a-lane-co). It stuck. Originally this was our wedding website and we’ve kept it to keep people updated on our lives.

You can contact us at aleahcook@gmail.com