where to begin?!

check it, i sooo want this duvet. it's basically a bunch of gathered white fabric held together with adorable little wooden flower-shaped buttons. *swoon* it makes me want to nap and drink champagne and nibble chocolates in bed.

it costs $300.00 from anthropologie.

wtf?!

i am considering making it myself, but am not sure about the type of fabric to use, not to mention how much fabric will be needed - all those buttons and so much of it is just gathers of fabric. piles and piles of soft, luxurious fabric. ... *more swooning*

LIFE tile

we are officially homeowners!

i've kept this one close to my chest because i SO didn't want to jinx the process. house hunting is a PAIN IN THE ASS and 3 months of frustration have finally paid off.

all of this started last october when we were pre-approved for a loan and took care of niggling credit issues (like when ant's credit report had 2 other random SSNs attached to it, belonging to two totally different people, bringing down his score). we met with a realtor (affectionately known to the two of us as 'fuzzy face') and off we ran!

house hunting is beyond fun in the beginning: you're going into empty homes full of possibilities and echoes, and lived-in homes, cluttered or clean, seeing how people live, peeking into closets and bathrooms and garages.

and then... it starts to quickly roll downhill. empty homes that smell of mold - don't touch the brown stuff growing all over the counters! homes with 50 billion pairs of shoes and water jugs and open containers of food and 200 lbs. of dog hair and squatters about to jump out at you from every darkened closet and pried open attic space. homes with additions whose floors slant at a 30 degree angle, causing me instant vertigo (lucille 2!). homes taken off the market just after you put in your offer. homes that look absolutely incredible and are ridiculously priced, but are short sales that take 6+ months to close. it's very exhausting, time-consuming and frustrating. all your weekends are shot and you rarely visit family since you're trying to always be available to view your potential new house.

but finally, over! the close was set for yesterday at 4:00. naturally, 4:00 found us in the lobby of my bank, waiting for a phone call for the amount of the cashier's check we needed to get. the call came through at 4:50 and we headed to the title company where it then took almost 4 hours to sign documents and get through the whole procedure. did i mention i hadn't eaten since 11:00 that afternoon?! we decimated their candy bowl.

once everything was signed, the sellers gave us a bottle of red chilean wine and their forwarding address (only a mile away) in case we needed any help or assistance. so exciting! they're exactly 10 years older than me and ant and as couples, we are very similar - it was great to meet them as they were very cool couple and family!

ahhh... now to get through the move this weekend and recover...

to the nines

our friends have the best dressed kids EVER. seriously, how adorable is scarlett? cute little tutu and rainbow leggings. the other night she came over wearing adorable blue miami pants (tight around the knee, baggy at the top), the viking hat i knitted her and big pink flower sunglasses. apparently, she loves her accessories and asks for them before they leave the house.



and maddox?! adorable! granted, the scarf was amy's - it was the day of milo's party and it was freezing. everyone's hands were shaking and we couldn't keep the hot chocolate flowing fast enough. that hat is just precious!

*twitch*

from various blog sites and shared reader items, i came across snapsort, a website which compares cameras.

after i read about the incredible light sensitivity of the nikon d3s... i compared it to my current camera.

how much do i want this camera?

A LOT.

but, i suppose... not $5,200 want. *big sigh*

so long, farewell

sadly, rachel & lawrence left yesterday for fort worth, texas. monday afternoon was spent assisting in packing up their moving van and general cleaning. a fond farewell party was held at new world brewery where i got driz-unk on 4 glasses of beer (one was a blue moon from giordano's for $1.87! so cheap!) (and then i bought a $7 glass of delirium on draft - SO GOOD).

(i actually only like giordano's for their beer right now. stuffed pizza?! christ, it was like eating a loaf of cheese. even thinking about it grosses me out.)

you two will be missed! i will always keep a seat warm for you at la creperia and i'll toast you with every bottle of wine we drink! stay warm in texas and i hope to see you in austin in march!

for jimothy

1920x1200

1280x1024

right, so, after some prodding (*ahem*) i have finally put this image up. this is not my ideal display format, however, since i don't actually have a way to do this easily... this will have to work for now.

ideally, i should have a template for this and then link them to a spot on my website storage... but for now, that's just not going to happen. the largest of these is about 200kb. i'm hoping that's not too big. if so, OH WELL! actually, if you have feedback on size or quality, let me know. if it were up to me, i'd probably end up putting the ginormous full size 20-30 mb image. hahahaha. ha.

more travel, please

closing my eyes while walking in to work today, i could have sworn i was in italy and in a few moments i would be walking into a pasticcheria and getting a cappuccino and pastry.

perfect

today was that perfect cold - where it feels good and brisk and exciting!

the last few days were bone bitingly cold (and no, i don't want to hear from you winter snobs about how cold it is where you live). our heat is broken and our apartment leasing office is characteristically silent. my mom had brought up an electric blanket (king size!) and it's been keeping us cozy at night.

right now, i'm actually wishing i had a pair of long john's - it's supposed to get colder over the weekend!

in other news, my voice has returned from it's week-long vacation to ibiza, albeit a little more gruff and coarse for the wear. i'm sure it'll smooth out over this weekend.

happy birthday milo!

we actually celebrated last sunday at the park. it. was. FREEZING. but running around after kids kept me pretty warm. (not to mention 3 layers, 2 of which were sweaters, and a 4th layer pea coat.) the best part was the hot chocolate and coffee and the delicious hot vegetarian chili!

it's so weird, but i actually feel almost a little left out and sad that my kids won't grow up at the same time as these kids. but i'm stoked that when we do decide to have kids, we'll have a great base of families with which to play.

new new new

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[whoops, a little too fast on the posting there, gotta control that, no?]

anyways, hope it's been fantastic for everyone! lots of celebration and delicious fizzy drinks and, possibly, cake! one can never have too much cake.

the holidays have been this mad rush of parties and i completely lost my voice on new year's eve. it's still wonky after 4 days, so i'm trying to talk as little as possible today in order to give the throat a little rest. unfortunately, my cough is still pretty bad, but i was finally able to sleep last night without it waking me up every 5 minutes! hurray! hopefully it'll be better for yet another shindig this weekend.

there are schemes within schemes and plans within plans afoot. i can't share the big one yet, mostly because i don't want to jinx it. but keep your fingers crossed for me! an odd number, please, like in the (original) parent trap (one hand, or two hands and your arms).