Ta-Da!

On Friday, Adam and I made an offer on a gorgeous house.
A 1600 sq. foot, 2 story, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house.
ANNND... the offer was accepted (without being countered!) by the owners.

Hot-diggity!  We are so blessed.  This house is LITERALLY everything we wanted in a home.  Down to the exterior paint color; and we never thought we would be able to afford a house like this.  Not in a million years.

The home is short sale, so now the offer that we made goes to the owners' bank for processing and acceptance. This process could take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months.  But we're in it to win it.

Here are the photos of the house... there aren't any pictures of the upstairs yet.

On another note... It boggles my mind that agencies don't use hi-resolution photos on their websites. They must know something I don't.

   

 
 

 

    

Oh, The Fickle Human

Adam and I have had an amazing last few weeks.  We've been seriously blessed.

First, the dramatic raises.  Then (on the same day) a house-down-payment-gift-check from a family member which arrived in the mail (whoa!).  And finally, after a very long wait and a lot of hard work... we got a home loan pre-qualification.  Which very obviously means we can buy a home.  Which we plan on doing.  Which means that we are officially adults... or something like that (this could explain why I've been wearing button-up shirts all week.)

It's been such a good week; but for some reason, we are so exhausted.  I find myself so overwhelmed with all the things that are happening around us.  One minute I'm overjoyed, and the next I find myself in a frazzled rage.  My poor husband is so patient with my crazy outbursts of feeling (sometimes, I think he is interested in my emotional nature like a scientist is interested in specimens from another planet.  He doesn't really understand it... but it's so fascinating!)  To be fair to myself, and at the risk of sounding sexist... hormones are probably at least partially to blame for my "Gravitron of explosion-emotion."  But, also... wherever there's change, I find that there are usually strong feelings hiding not too far behind.

Ladies' Day Out

Yesterday afternoon, I got to spend some really good quality time with my wonderful friend Bruk of Bruklyn Belle Vintage.  Bruk and I met the first week of high school as very scared (and very unfashionable) freshman.  She sat in front of me in science class and her incredible, gorgeous, curly jet-black hair partially blocked my view.  Then she asked to sit with me at lunch (I still don't know why...).  The rest, oh dear reader, is history.
Both of us have been super busy lately and haven't gotten much of a chance to see each other (more to come later on the reason WHY Adam and I are so busy, but I digress); so yesterday, I visited her and we went out for a photo shoot!  Talk about blast from the past.  We went to all of our old favorite photoshoot places and lo and behold!... They weren't fun anymore.  So we found a brand new place where we could make some brand new memories.

The following photos have been unabashedly stolen from Bruk's blog:

 

 

 

 

 Funny story from this week.  Adam and I were talking about how Bruk has a good head on her shoulders... how she's straight and narrow, so to speak; and Adam accidentally said "She's got a good foundation on 'er" which, of course sounds like a hillbilly pick-up line.  And then I started singing "She's a briiick Hoooousee."

And then we laughed really hard.

As Promised

Baby fever takes over your brain like a BORG (those of you who don't know what a BORG is... you are probably better off not knowing.)  It infects you with its sly tricks.  It reels you in.  Every time you see a baby it says "Oh... look how cute and cuddly this baby is.  It is so sweet and warm... and, what's that... it has a beautiful baby smell?  Don't you like that baby smell? If you do, repeat after me: I WANT A BABY."

But I know better.  I know it's cute now... but as soon as that baby gets out of my earshot, it will start pooping and screaming.  Then, when it gets older, it will throw up on its parents, get them sick, color on the walls with permanent marker, get in fights at school, argue, and become a teenager.  At that point, it will do the most dangerous thing of all: develop its own free-thinking personality.

I know all of this.

So why is it so hard to just say no to babies?
Probably because I know they will look something like this:

Adam and Me @ 6 Months Old

Adam and Me @ 1 1/2 Years Old

Adam and Me @ Two Years Old

Adam and Me @ 4 Years Old

And Adam and Me @ 6 Years Old

Oh great.  These pictures just "done me in."

I'm doomed.

Stylin' and Profilin'

I'm pretty sure "Stylin' and Profilin'" is a saying.
And if it's not... who cares?  I don't.
Because I'm so stylish.

That's right.  Little me.  I'm stylish.
And to prove it, I have won the "Stylish Blogger Award," which has been bestowed upon me by April of Two Mathewsers!
In all seriousness, this is actually a very big honour for me (see, I even spell 'honour' the stylin' British way... I was posh before I knew it was cool to be posh!).  Ah hem... where was I?  Oh yes, I'm honoured.  You see, April's blog is one of my favorite blogs in the whole interwebs.  It's seriously pee-your-pants-laughing-because-it's-so-true-but-no-one-ever-admits-to-it funny.  She uses sentences like "...My sister told me not to write this, but I think it will really benefit you to know that it was so thick, I seriously felt like I was pooping out of my throat."  See!  You don't even need any context for this to be awesome.  April's blog is a very honest, refreshing look at everyday life.  Reading it helps to remind me that, when it comes to blogging (and real life, for that matter) I don't need try to be someone I'm not.  I can just be plain old me.


I especially like being "plain old me" when it wins me an award.

Okay... enough with the bragging.  I'm done.

Upon accepting this award, I must 1.) tell you seven random facts about myself and 2.) point you in the direction of ten stylish fellow-bloggers.
I am up to the challenge.  And so, without further adieu...


1. I sing.  Way too often.  My grandparents' nickname for me is "Little Song Bird."  I walk around the house, my work, the grocery store, and just plain everywhere humming and singing quietly to myself.  I don't usually mean to do it... and I can't even stop myself if I try.

 

2.  There is something about trees that I just really love.  I especially love painting them.  Trees carry some sort of symbolism for me.  Something about those earthy, life-giving roots being planted deep in the rich soil... I want to be like that:  planted, firm, secure, statuesque.  I want birds to live in my branches.  I want to grow moss.  Wait...

Growing is Forever from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

I've already shared this video... but I'm sharing it again because it is so freaking beautiful

3.  I don't mean to sound dumb and cliché, or like I'm making this up so that I can sound "spiritual"... but God (for real), very clearly and distinctly, told me that I was going to marry my husband before I had even seen his face or knew who he was.  That's right.  I saw him from the back of the church on a Sunday morning, and God was like "BAM!  I'm awesome.  Here he is!  Oh and guess what... don't introduce yourself to him yet."  And I didn't introduce myself or talk to him at all.  For another two years.  And then we randomly met (at a very interesting point in both of our lives) because he almost bought a painting of mine at an auction.  And then we were married within the year.  He didn't find out about that whole God-telling-me-I-was-going-to-marry-him part until after we got engaged.  Life is CRAZY.

Our first date at the Oregon Vortex.  Yes... that's right.  The Oregon Vortex.

4.  I LOVE sleeping.

 

This picture was taken while Adam and I were dating.  I was SO tired, and had fallen asleep in this incredibly strange position while we were watching a movie.

5.  I went through a very awkward, fairly ugly phase from the ages of about 8-13.  It's true.  And I have proof:

That is me on the left (holding my cat, Spot).  My sister is on the right (holding her dog, Nestle).

I had some serious teeth issues going on.  And don't even get me started on the jeans.

6.  The day I graduated high school, I thought it would be a really good idea to chop off ALL of my hair.  I was wrong.  Then a week later, I decided that since I had cut it all off in a moment of insanity, I would bleach it platinum blonde, purple and dark brown.  It was definitely freeing to not have hair to hide behind anymore... but let's just say I'll probably never cut my hair that short again.

 

You know that your hair is crazy when you are walking in downtown Seattle and people are staring at you as you walk past.

7.  And finally, I have been a ballerina for Halloween, not once, but twice.  Recently.  I wish I could wear that costume every day.  It's fabulous.  I actually had people ask me if I was an real ballerina when I wore it!  Also, a little boy fell in love with me the first year I dressed as a ballerina.  His mom told me that when they got home, he was saying his prayers before bed and said "... And Jesus, bless the pretty ballerina.  Amen."

And NOW for my favorite, stylin', hip-happenin' blogs.

In alphabetical order:

Boho Baby Bump - A stylish, bohemian mamma who decided that she didn't have to give up her hip style just because she became a mom.  This is her chronicle of daily stylin' life as a wife and mother.

bruklyn belle - Bruklyn is one of my best friends in the whole world.  She is super fly.  Read her fashion blog and you will become super fly too.  I guarantee it.

Color Me Katie - Geeze, talk about a inspiring color explosion!  Working as a photographer in NYC, participating in Improv Everywhere, inspiring total strangers with acts of zany kindness.  This girl is rad. 

Feathers and Things - The creative explosion in human form.  This lady is an artist, an earring maker, an Etsy runner, and an original soul with a jawline I would kill for.

MattandKaraAdopt - A very open, honest, big-hearted blog about the process that is adoption.  This wrenches my guts.

The Purloined Pizza Stone - A new blog full of wit and vigor, this one is.  And so grammatically correct, too!

seablanket - The creative space of a woman on a mission: to be crafty at all expense.

This Much - Full to the brim with some amazingly witty dry humor.  I die laughing when I read it.

tumor-ey side of me -  The "diary" of a very brave, uplifting, super beautiful young woman with a rare disease.  Warning: I found this blog this afternoon and I couldn't stop reading. 

When Body Becomes Word - And lastly, this blog is poetical gold.  Written by a for real artist and poet, it is full to the brim with beautiful poetic imagery.  Did I mention I'm a sucker for a good poem?

Writing this post has really motivated me to get back on track with blogging.  I WILL yet conquer laziness and busyness.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog where I will be talking about how wonderfully sucky baby fever is!