We are starting the home search on Wednesday, and I’m really looking forward to it because I think it’s kind of fun to spy on how other people set up their spaces. (Even if most houses during showings are freakishly clean — I mean, no one I know lives with nothing on their counter tops [...]

We’ve landed, unpacked what we need for now, and I’ve had that first cup of coffee… it was even better than I’d hoped.
(I’m way behind on email, if you’ve written. Swamped with work. But I’ll get back to you soon. Thanks for your patience!)
I’ve missed you all here in blog-land…
xoxo

 
It is done! We officially closed on the sale of our house yesterday at 3pm. It went really smoothly. (I knocked on wood every chance I got the day preceding!) Everyone, lawyer included, was telling jokes and having a good time. A good time at a house closing?! Yeah, that’s what I thought… :) After [...]

This move has been sooo stressful. Just one thing after another. I have been waking up in the wee hours of the morning with my heart racing and my brain going a million miles an hour, spinning over and over all the stuff we have yet to do. We are supposed to close tomorrow. I [...]

Last night instead of continuing discussion about all this poo that’s happening right now, we decided to take ourselves to cheap dinner out and margaritas. (I don’t drink much at all, if any, these days since we’ve been trying for a kiddo. So an icy lime margarita was a real treat.) And we toasted to [...]

Calling all miracles. You are needed front and center immediately.
There’s so much going on right now that I’ve been quiet about here. But I think I finally need to open it up and just ask for some good vibes, if you have any to spare…
The thing is: During May’s blog break, we sold our house [...]

It does and it is. Finally…
Last year (continuing on into this one) I feel like I picked up most of the pieces of my life and tossed them up in the air violently and all at once. And they’ve remained suspended until recently when they’ve started gently raining back down on me. Settling into their [...]

I don’t know if you do this, but it always helps me to design a space when I have some inspiration to go by… I am not so good at making up interior design I guess. So I keep a book of cut out pictures from magazines, paint chips, fabrics, etc. It helps me to [...]

10 days of intense physical labor.
16 hour days.
6 hours of sleep per night.
3 people.
1 KICK ASS transformation.
I can’t believe how much was accomplished in the last ten days. We tore down ceilings, painted ceilings, painted walls, did more painting, replaced floors, built things, hung doors, you name it. We tackled almost every room in the [...]

Yeah, I was SO not kidding about that granny thing… I’m definitely creeping at this point. We’ve put in long days since 8am friday morning… Little bit tired to say the least.
I’m really grateful that my brother and his marine buddy, Dan the man, could come help! We could never do all this without them. [...]

Looks like I struck a chord with the anti-party thing, huh. I didn’t realize so many people were opposed to parties like me! I think we should band together and have an anti-party party. At my new house… yeah! You all can come over and we’ll each bring a book that we’re into and something [...]

I am sitting here at my desk which has been moved into the dining room (disassembled the dining room table to make room)… one dog and one cat are at my feet, so my chair is pushed back so I have room for my legs. It’s a tight spot… but they seem so content, so [...]

I did the above illustration for Balt Sun a few months back, not realizing it was a little off. With some moving experience now under my belt, I should have drawn three times that many boxes around the woman and her huddled down in the corner, crying-mixing-with-laughing. I would still draw the wine though.
Good grief. [...]

Yesterday we arrived safely to our small apartment in South Carolina. It was full of surprises… not the gem I’d secretly hoped it’d be, but definitely okay. The balcony, we discovered, looks out over a small patch of trees and we can spot the river through them. This morning it was sparkling like yellow-tinged diamonds [...]

My birthday is next week (the day the moving truck comes to take all our stuff) and all I want is one thing: our house to sell. Pretty please… I’ve been good all year.

During a phone conversation yesterday with a few of my friends, I told them how stressful this time right now is for me… Worried about the house selling (no bites yet), busy sorting and packing all our belongings, working on a bunch of really fun assignments (had a good drawing day yesterday… I needed that!), [...]

The packing has begun. And it’s begun with the dangerous question: keep or toss. Dangerous because I always lean toward toss. I want to get rid of everything… start anew. A clean slate. If I haven’t worn it, looked at it, touched it, used it, loved it, thought of it in the last year or [...]

I am having a helluva time trying to concentrate today. I feel like I’m being pulled in a million directions. Canceling my life here in the midwest getting ready for the move south. And it comes with so much stress. Selling a house is taxing! No wonder they make buying easier… you need the break [...]

Today I can finally tell you what I’ve been so busy working on / planning / thinking about / doing lately. It’s been consuming all my thoughts. I’ve hated keeping this a secret, but it’s one of those things you have to be hush hush about for various reasons…
We are moving to South Carolina. In [...]