Moving Pains

Moving Pains has Moved!

2010-04-19T05:49:00.001-07:00

Now that I am a seasoned homeowner (heh), I decided it was time to move to a new blog where I can do more than complain about my lack of decorating prowess.

The new address is: http://camerascupcakesandcinderella.blogspot.com/

Follow me there (all 3 of you!)

Blue Room

2010-02-11T06:53:00.000-08:00

No room is complete in my house (not sure if any ever will be!), but my daughter's room is about as close to complete as we are going to get right now. It still needs stuff on the walls and some decorative accessories safe for a wild 3 year old. I am very happy with how it came out so far. I kind of wish it was my room.

(A monogram by etsy seller LuckyBluebird)

Is this Thing On?

2010-02-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

Let me just apologize to my 3 readers for not posting for so long. Forgive me. Before I moved into this house, I lived in apartment. Time was a lot more abundant given that I had no yard, the trash went into a gigantic dumpster and I had about 2500 less square feet to clean and care for. I mistakenly thought that more space would mean more places for dust and dirt to hide, thus spreading out my cleaning times. Hah! Very wrong, indeed.

Last week marked the one year anniversary of when we first looked at this house-our house. So much has happened since then, I cannot believe a year has passed. The house next door is still for sale, but that is about all that is the same. I am still in a desperate search for curtains for almost every room in the house. I still am trying to meld my wants (a pink room) with my husband's style. I am still trying to keep my stainless steel fingerprint free (never going to happen). But, there is some new furniture, a couple of pieces of transferware and a definite feeling that this is "home."

Old School

2009-09-10T05:25:00.001-07:00

Finding artwork for the walls in my daughter's blue bedroom has been a challenge. I want to try to keep with the vintage/romantic look of the pale pink and blue, but I also want to find prints that will look nice and last beyond her 5th birthday. I was going through some of my old things http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifwhen I found a Mother Goose book of mine by Jessie Wilcox Smith. I always loved her illustrations, and had long forgotten about them. Some ideas:

I also love the look of Sarah Jane Studios on Etsy. If I don't use her prints in the bedroom, I think something of hers would be cute in the playroom.

Shady Character

2009-08-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

I am not a DIYer. You will not find patterns or instructional videos here. However, sometimes desperate times call for...well, a glue gun. Since we moved in, I have been on a quest for the perfect shades for our chandelier in the dining room. After a few weeks, I was ready to just find something that would match and reduce the operating room feel when we were eating dinner. Alas, I found nothing (short of shades that were $30 each for a tiny shade? No thank you). Finally, I stumbled across some plain, natural colored shades at Lowes (on a granite sealing mission) for the bargain price of $3.97. Perfection! They needed a little dressing up, so I grabbed 2 rolls of chocolate grosgrain ribbon, and viola! Personalized lampshades that cost around $4.25 each. Even if they are not perfect, the price is, and the ambiance is much improved.

Ironstoner

2009-08-14T04:46:00.000-07:00

Ironstone seems to be all the rage right now, of course. I hate to jump on any bandwagons, but I do LOVE the look of white ironstone. Simple, clean and elegant, I have aspirations of a wall o' ironstone in the dining room. Having a collection of ironstone pitchers would also be lovely.

Some decorating with ironstone:

(photo from Country Living)

(the HGTV dream home in Sonoma)

A Few of My Favorite Things...

2009-08-10T05:13:00.000-07:00

Now that I am an "expert" homeowner and fully indoctrinated into the world of cleaning, I thought I would share a few of my favorite items for housecleaning:

1) Method Wood For Good Floor Cleaner
I could actually do this entire post on method products alone. We are trying to be as green as possible with our home cleaning, and method fits the bill. All natural, Smells amazing, cleans really well, and when my daughter decided to squirt some of the window cleaner in her mouth last week, I did not panic. Just try not to eat this yummy almond scented floor cleaner.

2) Microfiber cloth
My cloth is very thick, from the Real Simple line that Target sold a few years ago. I have used it for dusting for a long time (works fabulously and you don't need any spray cleaner). I read somewhere how a person used hers for cleaning stainless steel. I just dampened the cloth on one end, wiped the fridge and dried with the other end. Amazing. Throw away all your stainless steel sprays and just use one of these. Nary a fingerprint to be seen. My favorite find of all time.

3) Swiffer sweepers
I once tried some generic dry swiffer cloths, and learned quickly not to mess with the original. I swiffer some part of my house almost daily, and I love how they pick up dirt, dust and hair that I did not even know existed. Okay, it is kind of gross to see, but I am glad it works as well as it does!

4) Palmolive Pure and Clear in Spring Fresh

Phosphate free and biodegradable, this dish washing soap has a wonderful smell that reminds me of my childhood, but I cannot quite place how. It washes amazingly well, smells good and has no dyes or harsh chemicals. Also like the phosphate free dishwasher soap by Palmolive.

5) Clorox Green Works Toilet Cleaner
It is tough to not use a toilet cleaner with harsh chemicals, especially when living with a man and a potty training toddler. I tried the Seventh Generation toilet cleaner, but found the pine smell too much like those ones you hang in your car. Green Works has a decent smell, cleans satisfactory and won't bleach your clothes, all pluses in my book.

Paper Goods

2009-07-30T05:18:00.001-07:00

We have been here a month now, and finally I decided on moving announcements and return address labels. Yes, I am that picky, and it took me all this time to figure out what I wanted. I finally settled on this announcement from tinyprints.com:

No, we are not the MCalisters from Georgia. I loved the little home, and figured that the yellow worked well since our new house is yellow. They should arrive in the mail today.

Felix Doolittle is having a 20% off sale on their return address labels, so I got these:

I know that getting these in my mailbox would definitely make me smile.

Peachy

2009-07-22T06:17:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of cooking in my kitchen since we moved in, but Monday marked my first time baking (have yet to use the convection function, though). Armed with some less than stellar peaches from the local Market Basket, I set about making the peach crisp in this month's issue of Real Simple.
Even my fruit/veggie hating daughter liked it. Best of all, it required no peeling of the peaches, a huge time drain.

Recipe, courtesy of Real Simple magazine

Peach Crisp
-5 pounds peaches each cut into 8 wedges
-1/3 c. granulated sugar
-3/4 c. plus 1 T flour
-1 1/4 c. light brown sugar
-1/4 t kosher salt
-3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
-2 c. rolled oats
-1 c. almonds, chopped (I skipped this an just added extra oats)

Heat oven to 350. In large bowl, toss the peaches with the granulated sugar, 1 tbsp flour. Transfer to shallow 3 qt baking dish.

In separate bowl, combine the brown sugar, salt and remaining flour. Using fingers, incorporate the butter until coarse crumbs form. Mix in oats and almonds.

Squeeze the topping into marble sized clumps and sprinkle on the peaches. Bake until top is golden and the fruit is tender, 45-55 minutes.

Of course, I add vanilla ice cream to this too. Enjoy!

Etsy

2009-07-22T05:20:00.000-07:00

I am trying to get the hang of Etsy, which so many of my friends use to find fabulous decor for their homes. I wish the search function was a little more detailed (or maybe I am using it wrong). When looking for some prints for my bathroom, I stumbled across this pretty picture.

From Seller LuckyBluebird

I love it. I have absolutely no idea where I could put this, but it is so fresh and pretty. Maybe someone else will find a home for it?

Love

2009-07-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

This lovely from Williams-Sonoma almost made me want to run home and change the accent color in my kitchen from cobalt to red (therefore needing to replace my Le Creuset pot, tea kettle, mixer, etc, costing a lot more than just the mixer price). Of course, I already have a Kitchen Aid mixer, but wouldn't this retro mixer with the glass bowl just look lovely in any kitchen?

Williams-Sonoma released this in honor of the 90th anniversary of Kitchen Aid, which is now owned by Whirlpool (what isn't?). You can get vintage ones on Ebay, but they are not as pretty as this one.

Kiddie Cribs

2009-07-09T05:13:00.000-07:00

It may take years to furnish and decorate my home to my liking, but my daughter is going to have her room accessorized, furnished and complete before we have even used the fireplace (though with the "summer" weather here in New England, that might be sooner than later).

Of course there have been multiple posts about the blue bedroom, which I can safely say that I LOVE as the color for her room now. I was previously apprehensive, but seeing the pink accents that are in place, with the white...I wish it was my room. While I know that my daughter would be happy with a Disney Princess encrusted room, I think this is one that will grow with her for years to come.

Here are all the pieces of the puzzle, which will hopefully come together by next week, when her bedroom set is delivered:

And for a refresher, inspiration photos:

To Celebrate My Becoming a Masshole...

2009-07-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

I think I need one of these prints, perhaps framed in the eat in kitchen area?

From here. They also have a diagram of the heart, which I think would be fabulous in my cardiologist husband's office.

We Did It!

2009-06-26T04:32:00.000-07:00

In the words of my daughter's favorite cartoon girl, Dora The Explorer, We did it! We moved into the house and now are living among boxes and woefully inadequate furniture. I have learned a few things since our move 3 days ago:
1) I love my kitchen (duh).
2) I am not sure how I ever lived without a giant whirlpool tub
3) I might need a walkie talkie to get my husband to hear me when we are on different floors.

Stay tuned for pictures and decor problems to solve in the upcoming weeks.

Mirror, Mirror

2009-06-11T06:11:00.000-07:00

I love vintage cut glass mirrors. Perfect art piece/functional decor, which I think is the entire package. If I had an extra $17k to throw around, this would totally be mine:

source: newel.com

Alas, that is not going to happen. Also, I am pretty sure that having something that cost that much would mean that it would break immediately. This one is a little more reasonable:

Though still not quite there for $500. I am looking to put the mirror in my toddler's bedroom, over her dresser with a vintage framed print on either side. Some more wallet friendly options:

Ballard Designs-Stella Mirror

Target-Fifi Antiqued Mirror

Pottery Barn-Elise Mirror

Top Ten

2009-06-08T04:57:00.000-07:00

With the move 2 weeks away (!), I have been thinking about Maine and everything that I will miss about living here on a daily basis.

The Top 10 things I will Miss about Living in Maine
1. Living on the ocean. The smell of the salty air is one of my favorite things.
2. Red's Ice cream. Right down the street from us. Some of my heaviest eating when I was pregnant took place here.
3. Driving to visit my dad and brothers in my hometown. I can still do this when I move, but it will take 2 hours instead of 40 minutes.
4. Knowing where I am going and being familiar with the area.
5. Running into people I know, no matter where I go. Both a good thing and a bad thing.
6. Our church. We were married here, had our child baptized here and made some lifelong friends.
7. The food.
8. My jeweler. Seriously the most gorgeous jewelery I have ever owned. Plus, I love walking in and getting my rings cleaned whenever I felt like it.
9. Shopping in Freeport-LL Bean, the outlets. A favorite place to shop and always get a great deal.
10. Walking the greenbelt. So many happy memories walking this path, right outside our door and down to the ocean.

There are many more things I will miss, but I think some I will not even realize until I actually leave. We have so much to look forward to with the move, but it is bittersweet to leave the place I have known my entire life.

Hope

2009-05-15T06:33:00.001-07:00

A glimmer of hope is on the horizon, so maybe all the work and dreams are not for nothing. Keeping everything crossed, but I won't be fully optimistic until I have the house key in hand.

2009-05-08T05:31:00.000-07:00

The biggest moving pain of all? Losing the house at the 11th hour. Back to the drawing board...whatever that might be.

Moving Announcements

2009-03-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

I will admit it, I am a sucker for good paper. I love a pretty greeting card or monogrammed stationery. Yes, the art of the letter or card has kind of fallen by the wayside, but nothing makes me happier than going to my mailbox and finding a card for no reason at all. So, it makes perfect sense that I would become obsessed with moving announcements. Why bother, right? Especially when I can just email everyone for free and be done with it. What fun is that? I am sure that some people will be getting emails, but for a select few, I would love to send one of these pretties out (or I could just commission my talented friend at Smashing Cards to make some for me):

(both from Tinyprints.com)

(Robyn Miller Designs)

(Royal Imprints)

(Lemontreepaperie.com)

Master Bedroom

2009-03-06T04:55:00.001-08:00

As much enthusiasm as I have for my daughter's room, I have very little for my own bedroom. For some reason I just do not care about decor in the master bedroom. I guess it is because it is rarely seen by others and it is kind of just a functional room? One thing I do know is that I want some toile in the master bedroom. I love toile. If having a toile accent piece in every room in the house was possible, I would do it. But, I know that too much toile can result in your room looking like a French country bed and breakfast. No thank-you. So, to be clear, this is NOT the look I am going for:

I wandered over to the Pottery Barn sale and found that they were having a very good sale on the ink blue toile bedding. Score! I wavered back and forth about what pieces to get (pillow shams for $12!) and finally decided on just the shams and the bedskirt. The pattern is this:

As a refresher, these are photos of the Master Bedroom:

I had originally liked the powder blue toile bedding, but I think the darker blue will stand out more against the taupey-yellow walls. I think I will get some kind of textured white duvet cover, like this one from Martha Stewart. I have always had a dream of a fluffy white bed. I think this quilt would also be perfect, in the Ink Blue:

Our bedroom furniture is kind of an antique honey color, so not too dark or light. My problem comes with wanting add an accent color. Navy blue is not the easiest to pair with, even though I guess it is considered a neutral. Since the navy is so dark and will pop on its own, I want a more subtle color to be an accent. Would a pale yellow (butter) work? Or are the walls too close to that and it would be weird?

Some color ideas:

(Photo from Apartment Therapy)

I like the butter color of the pillows in this one:

(photo from Domino)

Really loving this yellow lamp, from Pottery Barn:

New Inspiration

2009-02-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

Just scrap that last post on the Big Girl room...Some might think I am nuts, but after a good friend sent me some inspiration photos (and some discussion with the husband-yes, he cares a little about the decor), I am going back to what I originally thought about wanting. I think I can throw in some red if I want, but the main color scheme is going to be the pinks with white and blue. A bit on the shabby chic side, but not TOO shabby, if you know what I mean.

Love this lamp (from Land of Nod):

These hatboxes (also from LON) are also so cute and would look nice stacked somewhere:

This pillow (from Target), but do the pom-poms bring it into Grandma's living room territory?

I won this quilt on Ebay, hopefully it will work. I like the subtle toile look of it, and I think it is pretty versatile:

(Just the quilt folded at the end of the bed, not the flowery duvet)

Close up of the pattern:

I think a simple white bedskirt with quilted white shams would work well. I have also always wanted to do some of these flowers from Paper Source (anyone know if it is tough?) and maybe put them in a white milk glass/hobnail vase.

I actually feel really confident about this style for her room, and it also means I can incorporate some of the prints I originally wanted.

One Step Closer...

2009-02-25T09:35:00.000-08:00

The purchase and sale agreement was signed today! Yay! Now we just have to wait to close on May 8th. How many days is that from now???

Big Girl Room, Take 2

2009-02-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

It is incredibly difficult to find inspiration pictures of blue girl's bedrooms. Maybe I am not that good at Googling, but it has been nearly impossible. You would think that with the trend towards modern, there would be a lot more non-pink rooms. No such luck. I am currently obsessed with this bedroom combo for my daughter's room, but I am feeling much to wimpy to pull the trigger. Of course all of it is discontinued and on Ebay, which makes it that much harder:

This duvet (I like to use one year round):

This quilt:

Cute lamp (maybe in pink so as not to be too matchy):

The curtains would have to be plain, maybe light pink or white. I also would have to rethink the Tasha Tudor prints. I do like these, but of course they are sold out too:

The Big Girl Room

2009-02-20T12:35:00.000-08:00

I must confess that getting to decorate my daughter's room is more exciting to me than any other aspect of owning a new home. Since her birth, she has shared a room with an office and then had to have a room in an apartment beneath the world's loudest people. Not to mention that she has a listing particle board bookshelf and mismatched Target furniture (besides her crib and changing table, which actually are nice and match). After the home inspection on Sunday (!!), I will have a better idea of what will room will be hers, but I think it is going to be this one:

I think it is a little bluer in person (but can I just say now how much I adore the double closet doors in this house?). Not my absolute first choice for her bedroom color (I was thinking more of a green shade), but it is brand new and I am not for repainting at this point.

This is going to be a room with a bed, since she will be almost 3 when we move in. I know that I want white furniture, possibly with a Jenny Lind style bed. I am also leaning toward a blue/light pink/red palette or a blue/pink/green one. The bedding that I like so far seems to all be discontinued (of course), so I am going to have to stalk Ebay for a bit. The ones that I like:

Sophie bedding (only in crib bedding at PB now)

Stella bedding. This was a longtime favorite for me, but I really feel like I need a punch of pink or red in this room.

Brooke bedding. I kind of love this one a lot right now, and I think the colors work and it is not too baby-ish or themed.

This one works well mainly for the duvet and the sheets, which are the blue leaf print:

Hopefully there will be some new lines out for Spring. Is there anywhere else that people like to go for bedding? I struck out at Land of Nod, and I do not want to spend a zillion dollars.

The other part I am certain I want to add for decor are Tasha Tudor prints. I grew up reading her books with my Nana, and even received my own set of prints for my 4th birthday (I only have one left, and it is in Amelia's room).
Some that I like (though I could also take one of her books and frame prints from it):

I think I would be willing to leave my bedroom blank as long as her's is cute.

Dining Time

2009-02-18T12:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, so the purchase and sale agreement is not signed until next week, but it is okay if I start decorating the place now, right? Even before we decided to put an offer in on the house, I was in love with the dining room. It is the perfect shade of slate/gray-blue, which is exactly what I have always wanted my dining room to be. Weird, I know, but it is a shade that is in my wedding china. I could not go and have my walls painted bright red and clash with all my plates, now could I?

So, after deciding that the walls were perfect, I started thinking about a rug for the room. I have long loved this rug, and I think that it might possibly be perfect for the space:

This is the new table that we have (about 7 months new):

I would love a buffet/sidebar like this one:

I really like this one too, but I am afraid that the roughness of it would not work with that wainscoting:

Because of the wainscoting, does a wide buffet seem out of the question? Would I need a taller, hutch type or just go with a sideboard? Ugh, already stressing out and the closing date is months away.

It is Ours! (or it will be)

2009-02-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

Well, this was certainly unexpected. Our Realtor called us at 230 this afternoon to tell us that the seller accepted our offer! Actually, it was better than what we offered, thanks to our agent's awesome negotiating prowess. I am still in disbelief that I am actually going to be living in my dream home. Pretty crazy, huh? So, if no other snags are hit (keeping everything crossed), this will be ours on May 8th:

Can't you just see me sitting in the driveway a la Kate Gosselin while my kids play in the yard/driveway?

Drama

2009-02-15T06:03:00.000-08:00

After a few days, we are STILL in negotiations. My husband and I negotiated what will likely be out last offer on Valentine's day, all while sick with colds and stomach bugs. Yeah, fun AND romantic. Bascially, he said our offer was fine, but only if we upped our moving date by 2 months. We cannot afford to do that (carry a mortgage AND rent for 3 months), so we offered to move one month earlier. We will see if he takes it, but I am having my doubts. All of this is so frustrating. Our Realtor has been doing this for 15 years, and said she has never seen negotiations go on longer than 48 hours before there is some resolution. We are well beyond that now. There is the house next door to this one that we have offered on, and it is very similar...and it has a white kitchen. So, I am not shutting all all possibility that we could still get a house we love.

Feeling Icky

2009-02-12T04:43:00.000-08:00

After that strange counter offer yesterday, our mortgage broker (love him! is it weird to love a mortgage broker?) and our real estate agent have been working overtime to find a way to make buying this house work. It all amounts to a lot of fuzzy math for us, where in the end we pay the asking price, but then get back money from the seller for closing costs and to buy down a percentage on the interest rate. Confused? I sure as heck am, and it has been explained to me a million times!

We are not sure what to do. Part of me is SO over this already. How can ANYONE think it is okay to not budge on an asking price in this market? Really, I feel like flipping this guy off...but I do love the house. Still, all this feels kind of smarmy, like buying a car, which I always feel like I need to shower after doing. I guess in times like this, I don't want to be an adult. I want someone to come in and tell me what the right thing to do is. This is NOT how HGTV told me it would be.

The Counter Offer that Wasn't

2009-02-11T10:26:00.000-08:00

We got our counter offer from the builder today, and.....well, to me it really was not a counter offer. The guy refuses to budge on the price (seriously? has he looked at the market lately?) and wants to pay $10k in closing costs. Gee, thanks. First of all, WE can cover the closing costs if we had to. Second, they are likely to be MORE than $10k. Ugh. I kind of had a feeling this was going to happen. Builders are notorious for having large egos, and obviously this guy is no different. The same exact thing happened when we tried to buy a house in Maine (thankfully we did not, since we would be selling now) that was new.

So, we can counter, which I assume we will, but I am not really that optimistic about it. Weirdly enough, I am okay with it. We are very firm with what we want to spend,and made a pact to walk away if we could not get there. Buying a house is just too much drama and we just started!

Off to stalk Realtor.com!

Making an Offer

2009-02-10T05:18:00.000-08:00

After months and months of deliberation (okay, 2 weeks, but trust me, there was a lot of deliberation), we are making an offer on a house. It is kind of surreal actually. We still have 4 months until we move, but we love love love this house. Also, in the 2 weeks since we met our (hopefully) future home, not a single home has come on the market that we are interested in. In reality, only about 5 homes have even come on the market anyway.

Having never bought a house before, this is terrifying. Spending SO much money on one thing is enough to induce hives in me, a gal who never shops without a coupon! I have no idea how this process is going to play out, and even if we end up without the house, I will feel good knowing that we tried. Of course I might stalk the person who ends up with this house...not REALLY stalk, but drive by the house and glare at them from time to time.

So, in a few short months, this could be the house my family ends up in:

Did I mention that the master bedroom has 3 walk in closets?

Cornish

2009-02-07T09:19:00.000-08:00

When most people see that work, I am sure they are reminded of the game hen. When I see the word "Cornish", I immediately think of home. It is the name of the town I grew up in and where most of my family still resides. I also found out about a year ago that it is also the name of a British Pottery known for its blue and white stripes. Anyone who knows me knows that I love stripes. So, this pottery is the perfect match for me. While I haven't collected any pottery yet, it is something I hope to do when I have a home. I find apartment living not very conducive to a decorating style when you cannot put anything out, and everything is a yucky beige color. So, when I am settled into my new home, I hope to have a few of these pieces on display.
I love how the canisters have labels such as "Prunes" and "Crumbs"

Apparently the polka-dot variety is rare, but I also love them and would be thrilled to have one plate. And how cute is the striped rolling pin?

What in the World?

2009-02-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

~~Obsessing over~~ reading the MLS listings every day, I have seen every type of house for every price imaginable. This segment is called, WTF? and showcases some of the scarier listings I have come across. I am sure a better person could see some potential in these places, but I am not one of them.

If the exterior of this house (listed at $629,000) doesn't terrify you:

Perhaps the kitchen (or the ovens in the kitchen) will:

I have found that describing a house as "contemporary" is actually codeword for "fugly"

Or I guess it could mean that your oven and microwave are embedded into stone:

I know paint color is easily changed, but peacock/teal green? This house is listed as a "Contemporary Colonial" which is a bit of an oxymoron, no?

Not sure why it has an office/exercise room/family room all in one place. Maybe they are really about togetherness.

I wonder if these homes will find kind owners, especially in this market.

2009-02-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

I know that you need to buy a house based on many things, not just because you like the paint color or because the master bathroom has a bidet. However, if there is one deal breaker/maker for me, it has to be the kitchen. I think I spend more time in the kitchen than the average person. The kitchen that I currently occupy is a little bigger than a galley kitchen, and throw in another adult and a toddler and quickly there are way too many cooks in the kitchen. In the new home, my wishlist includes a pantry (what I would give to have a butler's pantry, but those are rare), granite countertops, hardwood floors and dark or white cabinets. Stainless steel appliances are a plus, and if you find one with a pot filler over the stove and a farmer's sink...icing on the cake. Here are some photos of kitchens in our price range. Care to guess which ones are good and which are bad?

I have a serious visceral response to wallpaper. No offense to those who love it, but I could not hate it more.

What is with these tiles?

This is pretty much the kitchen I dream about, except I know that I could never keep all the white cabinets clean:

photo courtesy newoldhousemag.com

The Final Countdown

2009-02-03T05:42:00.000-08:00

In less than 5 months, I will (hopefully) never live in apartment again. After living in dorm rooms, a studio apartment, tiny apartments and big apartments, this is one of the most thrilling times of my life. It is exciting to think that in 5 short months, I will:

-never again hear my neighbors having sex, moving furniture, jumping on a trampoline, sacrificing animals, etc

-never again have to go outside 3-4 times during a snowstorm and move my car so that the plow can clear the parking lot

-be able to bring my groceries into the house without the use of an elevator, a locked lobby and a screaming toddler

-flush all my money down the toilet for a place that has beige walls and carpet and no character

-be able to actually decorate the way I want to without fear of losing my security deposit

-be able to sit outside on the deck without listening to my neighbors talk on the phone and ash their cigarette on my head

The list could possibly go on for 20 pages, but those are some of the ones that I am most excited about. Let the countdown begin!