Don't start packing your things just yet?

It is finally done! The house is ready and up for sale to buy! I am elated BUT would love to relax after the last 3 weeks and enjoy the nice cute house for a bit so I know you want to pack your things and move in but let a girl a rest! :)

Here's the link to my future old house's website (lol): Your Future Home

The realtor's honey-do list seemed to stretch on forever because I ended up getting sick 2 weekends out of the last 3 and the only time for me to work on anything at home are the weekends because of Bella and all my mommy duties. :( This last weekend was REAL bad (fever and all) and I even missed work. Ugh! If you know me, I always go to work even if I feel horrendous and only miss when Bella's sick. This was BAD (cough medicine with codeine bad). But I feel better, it got done and it's listed! I can not say enough THANK YOU'S to all my friends who helped! I owe y'all a nice big dinner when the house sells!

So now it's a hurry up and wait game. Let me add that I have an absolutely amazing, sweet, and patient realtor, Cheryl Nichols, who is also an Interior Designer/Photographer and staged the house beautifully. When and If you ever decide to sell your house make sure you go with a company that stages!! It's free and it makes such a difference. As you can see in the photos! She came in and used most of my stuff but moved things around and de-cluttered so it looked like a model home. When I got home I didn't want to move! I have already asked her to come in and do her interior design magic on my new place! Woo hoo!!

One more day till Friday! :)

My Sweet, Sweet Angel!

Last weekend, before the Grape Stomp, we did a quick Back to School photo shoot with Gwen, a photographer we've had since Bella was 2 or 3. She did another amazing job! I loved them all. Here are just a few I fell in love with!

Of course, My FAVORITE! What would I do without this beautiful, amazing sweetheart! :)

 

 

Be True Photography - check out her website...see if you can spot Bella when she was 3 and 4! :)

 

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Whew!!!

What a weekend! I am completely exhausted and will be lucky if I can get  up and move in the morning! Remember I am selling the house and the realtor gave me a list of to-do's... Recap of the weekend:

I had been feeling a little yucky since Monday but Thursday evening/Friday morning I woke up at 2am with a fever and took tylenol and ibuprofen. My throat AGAIN! Woke up an hour later completely drenched in sweat. Ugh! Took a shower and slept a few more hours. Got up, went to work and the meds wore off. I wanted to die. Went to an urgent care since my dr didn't have any appointments available and gave my medical history. I said, "I know, I'm a mess". He said, "More like a beautiful disaster". Awww, cute but I was still hurting! lol He put me on antibiotics, more reflux pills, and ....blood pressure meds. Double ugh! I haven't even hit 35 yet and I'm on blood pressure medication. Both my parents have it so he said it's genetic. It's still low, or on the lower scale of high (?) now so he's hoping I can keep it that way. So I go home and relax a bit....but I can't to long because I have to get a house ready to sell by the following week. I had moved all of Bella's furniture to the bigger room but hadn't done anything with her tornado remnants. I sat down and went through everything and either boxed or threw stuff out. Room cleaned out! Yay!

Saturday morning I woke up still feeling a little yucky but I had things to do! I cleaned house and went to Lowe's. I needed: baseboards for 2 rooms, 2 more gallons of paint, sheetrock, tape and float material, and siding. Went home and got started painting more of the trim inside. I am touching up the entire house, who's dumb idea was this?! By 6pm I gave up. I was beyond exhausted. Couldn't fall right to sleep but once I did, I was out until 6 Sunday morning.

What a glorious morning this morning was. The birds were singing, the sky was blue, there was a slight breeze in the air and I was feeling great! I love antibiotics!! :) I got up, put some painting clothes on and headed outside. The garage door was calling my name... and that was easy so I went onto the trim around the garage...not bad, why don't I do the shutters and trim AND paint the siding that they are going to replace since it's not even noon.  Ok now it's 1:00 and I'm feeling a bit tired but I must truck on!! I came inside for a small lunch and headed upstairs to repaint Bella's old room and that's where we start going downhill. It takes me a few hours to paint her room because I kept stopping. I was just crazy tired but if I stopped to long I wouldn't get to the other room. So I finally complete her room and head to the other LARGER room. The LARGER ROOM that has a Kelly green and navy 2 1/2 foot stripe across the top that I have to cover with a light gray neutral color. I hear the JAWS anthem as I walk in. I get most of the room. I made myself stop at 9:45 pm. Oh yes, this girl worked MANUAL labor for more than 12 hours straight. I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! Oh my word, I admire people that do this for a living. Painting is hard work! I am NOT a manual labor kind of girl. There I said it! I am not ashamed! I will partake in some activities but today was rough. My body hurts!

I do have a few pictures but I am too tired to put them on now. lol I will put them on tomorrow.

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope y'all had a great weekend! G'nite!

It's Friday!!

Yay! It's Friday! It was a short week and there was a lot to do. So glad the weekend is finally here!

If you haven't gone out and bought some of these amazing leather pants, you need to! I bought these last fall and love them. They are great to wear for all events and they can even dress up a t-shirt (as seen below).  :)



I want these doors for my future house!



Old Navy tee, Michael Kors faux leather leggings (similar here), Stella & Dot jewelry

Happy Friday!
Have a GREAT weekend!

On top of all the other fun stuff going on... :)

I received two texts yesterday:

One from a girlfriend, Linda, that has started a non-profit organization, Grow With the Arts, which brings Art back into schools and she has asked me to be on the board as the Events Planner. Our girls school, Longs Creek Elementary, will be a test/pilot school for the organization. Way to put a girl on the spot! But I can't do a terrible job when it's for kids. I have to up the game and make sure I raise a lot of money! Oh yes, you will be asked to contribute!! :) Linda owns a company that assists creative professionals with publicity services and career development resources. Need I say more on how much fun these events will be?! You can contact me now if you'd like to purchase a ticket to "To Be Determined" fundraiser! (I have one in the works but I can't say what it is because we're still setting everything in stone....hint: tutu's)

The other text was from one of the mom's from Bella's school who is the Room Mom coordinator, Patricia... If I can digress for a moment, at the Meet the Teacher night a week and a half ago I walked into Bella's class to find the "Power Moms"! lol This is Bella's 4th  year at this school and it's a wonderful, small community so we all know each other but there are those moms that up the game and I call them - Power Moms (Pinterest Moms). Everything is - go big or go home. Well Bella has like 8 of these moms in her class. I told her teacher she was in for a wild year! The PTA President mom, the Coordinator mom, the others that are always room moms... Since Kinder it's been just me and another mom so when the Room Mom form went out, I filled it out and put a note to Patricia - who's son is in Bella's class, "Patricia - Don't pick favorites! Unless I'm one of them! ;)" They normally pick 2 and other moms can help. She texted me this and I couldn't stop laughing:

 

So looks like I'll be busy with fun Room Parent stuff too! I can't wait! I LOVE Pinterest and all these blogs with ideas! You will definitely see a few things on here. Who says we need sleep?! Our kids need us!!! :)

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

 

BitterSweet Weekend!

What a great Labor Day weekend! Not as relaxing as I would have hoped but spent with wonderful friends. The Grape Stomp was fun and our friends, David and Lizzy, cooked a pig Monday that was delicious!

This weekend I decided to call a realtor and put my house up for sale. I feel relief and excitement. The last few weeks have been a bit of a homeowner's nightmare. I walked into my utility room to find a puddle of water dripping from the ceiling. Because the A/C had been giving me problems we immediately thought it was that but upon further inspection (tearing apart the ceiling and wall) a small pinhole was found in a water pipe. Thankfully it's an easy fix and it was not leaking for long so there wasn't any mold BUT with just having an annulment and having a 2300 square foot house to maintain AND a pool AND a big backyard this was the straw that broke the camel's back. I have decided that life is too short to worry about all this and I need to be spending my time enjoying life with Bella!

BUT I do have GREAT memories here and have had tears in my eyes off and on all weekend with the realization that I'm going to leave them all behind. I've had the house a little over 4 years and I keep remembering all the time spent here with family and friends. It's not even on the market! lol Oh yes, there have been quite a few tears but I know, without a doubt, this is the best move! I think I am surprised I'm feeling this emotional after the last few weeks.

I haven't decided what the next step is... Isabella needs to stay at her school for the next 3 years so I have a few options: buy a smaller house, rent a house, or find an apartment until I find a house.... In the meantime, I am spending every hour I'm home repainting trim, fixing little things here and there and getting ready to move on! I just need to make sure I make a decision that will allow me more relief than work. :)

Wish me luck!!




To find it...

The tiny pinhole (the small line in the middle)

Where it was!

 

My Princess

Alex, Me, Lizzy, & David

 
 

The Girls (they didn't think stomping grapes was fun so wouldn't get in)