Birthday Rundown

I'm not a huge birthday person. All I ask is that it's acknowledged, with a "happy birthday" right when I wake up, maybe a card, and perhaps a day of not having to do dishes and laundry. This year, everyone went way above and beyond, and I have to admit, I liked it.

See, Matt is a serious birthday celebrator. Like, for real. He doesn't have a birthDAY, he has a birth-month. I think it's a little ridiculous, but I humor him :)

He hit the nail on the head by getting me a much needed spa day for my 28th. It was awesome. Pedicure and massage, a Starbuck's iced nonfat caramel macchiato in one hand and a trashy US Weekly in the other. Mindless relaxation at it's best. Heaven, really.

My dad gave me money to finish our new master bed (yay!), Kristin came down and took me and Madelyn to lunch, my mom got me the Best skinny jeans ever from Loft (I would wear them every. single. day if I could. I haven't even washed them yet because I'm afraid they won't be the same. I know it's gross, but if you could see how cute they are you'd understand) and an adorable cardigan (something else I live in). I also got money from Matt's family (I told you I was spoiled) and I did something I never do- I totally splurged on a new Coach bag and a Loft shopping spree. There was a major sale and I got two pairs of pants, a sweater, and 4 shirts for $120! Highway robbery. Usually I'd save the money, or buy something I needed instead of wanted, but for some reason this time I felt the need to just spoil myself.

Maybe next year we'll devote the entire month of January to celebrating my 29th...this big to-do isn't so bad after all ;)

Mi casa could be Su casa

We are officially 2 weeks into the "for sale" phase of our life and the house has never looked better. It's one of those funny things, that you make your house look it's absolute best right before your potential departure. We've had 4 people come see it, all who offered very positive feedback. And we may or may not be stalking the flier box in our yard. Our new form of exercise is to keep the blinds open all day and then run to them everytime a car slows near our house to see if they're helping themselves to our propaganda, analyzing their age, race, car, etc. It's more fun that it sounds....maybe not...anyways...

Our biggest hurdle is our glamorous outdoor laundry room. You heard me, Outdoor. Imagine that when it's 11 degrees outside. It's a little glimpse into life on Little House on the Prairie, a time where you had to walk out back to the outhouse to use the restroom in the middle of the night, or make a fire to boil water. Like cavemen times.

Here she is in all her glory, in the garage.

I'm giving this little eyesore some more needed TLC to try up her sex appeal if you will. If it works I'll show you some follow up snapshots, and if it doesn't work I'll spare you :) And if you know what the laundry room version of Victoria Secret's fancy crystal push up bra is, please let me know.

To remind you, the rest of our house is super cute, so send me some good house-selling karma...and a few potential buyers if you know any!

Warning: boring post-less week ahead

This is just a warning to my loyal followers (hi Mom, aunt Sue, and Kristin) that this week I'm buried in an offsite work meeting so I won't be posting my usual exciting updates on our life and Madelyn's newest accomplishments. Instead will leave you with a few quick notes below, and see you next week :)

Our house is officially on the market, and after being listed for 3 days we had 3 potential buyers! Good start. Of course, having to constantly keep our house clean while living with an 18lb tazmanian devil is adding a whole new dimension of fun to our everyday life :)

Madelyn is recovering from pink eye. In both eyes. Thank you day care.

I celebrated my 28th bday yesterday and had such a great day. More to come on that later. I was pretty spoiled.

It's finally in the 50's again, and even in the 60's today. I can't wait to stare at the beautiful weather from the prison conference room where I'll be spending the next three days.

I'm usually not this negative, I swear.

Snow Day!

On Friday the oh-so-Southern city of Atlanta got an inch of snow. That's right, just a single inch of snow. And it was just enough to shut us down. Granted, there was a great deal of ice on the roads in addition to the snow, I just laugh knowing what my friends and family up north must be thinking of our cautionary behavior.

The good news was that Madelyn's daycare was closed, so I got to enjoy an unplanned day at home with her! This set me back quite a bit with work, so this week is going to be crazy, but I'll never turn down a day at home with my little monkey:)

We stayed in our jammies all day, watched cartoons, read books, spent a lot of time looking out the window at the snow, and generally just hibernating. It's finally supposed to be back up in the 50's later this week (can I get an Amen?!) and I cannot wait. I'm dying to go for a jog and get some fresh air without fear of losing one my limbs to the single-degree temperatures. I mean Friday morning it was 2 degrees with the wind chill. That is just ridiculous.

Our front stoop after the vicious snow storm. I use the word vicious lightly.


Don't worry, my child usually does have pants on, but I'd just changed her diaper and she wiggled away from me. She's quick and squirmy these days, so every diaper change is really an adventure.

Precious.

Mom, check out my hand! It's so cool!

Blowing on the cold glass. This was usually followed by licking and/or

biting the window glass and frame.

Tarjay

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

There is no question that Target is hands down my favorite store. What else could inspire me to quote Shakespeare? So naturally, when I realized our potential next house would require a new dining set for our eat in kitchen, I began my search on Target.com. And here is what I found. I'm sure Matt wouldn't mind a hobby in furniture construction were any of these to require a bit of light labor ;)

I love this table, and would definitely want something round if it fits the space. I also love these chairs. I don't know if they're comfy, but they're very cute. I really like the woven texture.

Paisley AND a skirt? I die. I generally hate the color yellow but I adore this chair for reasons I can't explain!

Adventures in finger foods

Last night the cooking bug hit me and I went bananas. I made a spinach and tortellini soup recipe from the Sara Moulton Weeknight Meals cookbook that my brother in law Luke and future sister in law (yay!) Lacie got me for Christmas. Sara is the editor in chief of Gourmet magazine and this book is her take on quick healthy (mostly) meals for busy week nights. This soup was suuuper easy and really yummy. Seeing as how I got THREE cookbooks for Christmas, word has clearly gotten around that I like to cook :)

I also decided to take charge of Madelyn's venture into finger foods since our big girl has decided she's far too advanced for baby food, and all she wants to do is feed herself. A while ago Matt's mom gave me Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook about strategically "hiding" veggies in food that your kids love- pancakes, cookies, mac and cheese, etc. As a whole I completely disagree with this because I feel like children just need to learn to eat veggies, BUT, if they are already doing so like Madelyn, why not take advantage of their love of carbalicious treats and add some extra nutrition in there? I made her some pancakes with sweet potatoes in them (surprisingly delicious) and then began to make apple carrot muffins when my blender went kaput on me and quit pureeing the carrots. Hence, I was left with a kitchen covered in carrots and nothing to show for it. Another day I'll get to those. My plan is to freeze both items and just defrost as necessary. I love the idea of having a freezer full of good healthy food that is ready to go- especially on those super busy days.

Our weekend is going to be a busy one, and it looks like this:

Matt: Clean up yard, touch up paint on ceiling, new locks on kitchen windows, finish fixing hole in dining room ceiling, clean garage.

Me: Feed Madelyn, play with Madelyn, ooh and aah over Madelyn, and organize the house while she naps.

Can you tell who has the easier weekend coming up?

Luke, our family realtor :) is coming down Saturday to take pictures of and list the house (!!). I don't know why I'm so excited, you think I'd be stressed, but instead I'm just bursting with anticipation and hope.

Please send lots of prayers our way that the right buyers find us- and soon!!

Please don't...

tell Matt that I'm already rifling through all of my inspiration pictures looking for decor ideas for the new house.

(these lovely photos courtesy of Southern Living.com)

Please also don't mention that I've already picked out a floor plan for our potential new house and space planned all of our furniture. Or planned the menu for our mojitos and burritos housewarming party. He already thinks I'm crazy as it is, no need to give him any further ammunition.

It's On!

Well, it's official. We are putting our house on the market and moving on! We found The neighborhood we want to move to, so now it's all systems go to get the house on the market ASAP so we can proceed with our next home. Matt is nervous, and I am just bursting with excitement. Really, I can't stop thinking about it.

The neighborhood is brand new, so we'll either buy a spec home or build. It has a pool, clubhouse, bball and tennis courts, a huge playground, and sidewalks, so we think it will be the perfect place to raise our family. It's the same distance from the interstate as where we are now, but nestled in between two Great little towns- Senoia and Peachtree City. Downtown Senoia is just 2 miles outside our 'hood and the hub of Ptree City is 5 mins away. Madelyn will be in a great school when the time comes, and to top it off we'll be getting a gorgeous new home! Here is a picture of the spec house for sale now that we like. Granted, we can't do anything until our house sells, we're keeping an eye on this baby. It's a 3/2.5 on a full basement, which is plenty of space for us, and Gorgeous on the inside.

Of course, now we will be busting our little behinds trying to get the house on the market in the next week or so, and saying lots of prayers that God sends the right buyers our way! That means that every night, after we put our little angel to bed, extreme makeover home edition begins and Matt will be doing heavy-duty jobs while I clean and de-clutter. It's going to be exhausting, but well worth it.

In other news, Santa really spoiled us this year and tomorrow one of our presents is being delivered- a new king size mattress! We have been in desperate need of a new mattress for a while now, so we are very much looking forward to a good night's sleep tomorrow evening. We also got a Keurig single-serve coffee machine and we are seriously in love with it. I recommend it to all coffee drinkers out there. It's also nice for tea or hot chocolate because it can also just dispense hot water if you'd like. AND there is no pot or messy filter to clean! Love that.

And just for you Madelyn fan club members out there, here is a picture of my little one helping me with the Swiffer duster yesterday. She's going to be a natural born cleaner like her mommy. I can't wait until she's older and I can put her to work! ;)