Caperlove

So since some of you have never seen our dear sweet Caper, I thought I would post some pictures of him. (Pretend you can't see how dusty our floor was.) So this was on the first day we had him. I think he was about 8 weeks. Also, his eyes aren't really that crazy blue color, but it would be cool if they were.


This next picture was taken at our house today. Oh how he has grown! He will be two in September and is very much still a puppy. He has tons of energy and a loud bark. We did the some basic training but I am thinking that he needs some more behavior focused training. He is totally great with us but has a variety of issues with other people he doesn't see frequently.


But oh how we do love him.

I Like Pad Thai

So the closing went smoothly, despite the time suddenly changing from noon to 10:30. That was no problem for me but a bit of an issue for Drew. But we got the keys and after work yesterday, Drew carried me over the threshhold. That was a bit awkward since the dog was going insane and the elbow slammed into the wall, but it's the thought that counts.

When we closed on our condo two years ago, we had KWW and family over and ate take-out Thai on the floor. It was all quite delicious even when the soup went flying. So in homage to our first home, we again had take-out on our floor with the Chicago family. As you can see from the picture, Caper is very interested in Simon's chicken wing. No soup was spilled last night but we did have a little beer on the floor.

After everyone left, Drew and I set out to determine how we want the house painted. There are lots of dings, scratches and marks on the wall and a new layer of paint will really freshen the house up. I think we have the colors decided, however I am little concerned since our color wheel is two years old that they have changed all the names of the colors we like. A trip to Thybony may be in store today.

It's all kind of unbelivable, that this whole house is ours and we can do whatever we want with it. It is hard to not start moving things in right away. But I think we will be happy to have all the painting done with by the time we move in.

On The Move

So we are closing on our house on Thursday. Yay! We are super excited while extremely anxious at the same time.

We currently live on the third floor of a 6-unit condo building. And while it has been a fine place for these two years, carrying groceries up the stairs and taking the dog up and down the stairs all day long has become strenuous on my arms and tedious on my mind. We weren't really seriously looking but I was browsing realtor.com one day this past spring and saw this one house nearby was having an open house. We weren't busy that Sunday and we ended up stopping by. We absolutely fell in love with it. It was larger than the normal teeny Chicago lots and had a front, side and backyard -perfect for the dog. It had a large master bedroom (with !organized closets! - my favorite thing ever - seriously. If I could marry California Closets I would.) and three smaller bedrooms. Now four bedrooms seems like two bedrooms too many but the "fourth" bedroom is really so small it can't be used for anything but a nursery or office. Downstairs there is a combo living room/dining room and then a large kitchen that blends into the family room. Everything is very open and there is lots of light. So we really just fell in love with every space that this house had and really could see ourselves living in every part of it. So all of a sudden we were in the housing market. Once we realized that we were serious we ended up talking with a real estate agent and seeing about 15 other houses. But nothing compared with the first.

So the day has almost arrived when that house is going to be ours. We close at noon on Thursday and all the blessings and headaches of owning an actual home will belong to us.

The major problem and reason why our anxiety level fluctuates is that our current condo has been on the market since late April and still hasn't sold. Now, we both entered into this knowing that the housing market is SLOW right now and that it will take a while to sell. But I think we were both secretly hoping and maybe actually believing that our place would have sold by now. I have cleaned the toliets in our condo more in the past three months in preparation for open houses and showings than I ever did while we lived here. (Not that we are gross and don't clean, it's just not something I normally do every two or three days.)

The condo is in a fantastic location. Half a block away from the main street of Andersonville, which is filled with restaurants, bars and boutique-y shops. But as our realtor pointed out to us the other day, there are 18 other two bed/two bath condos in our area that are also for sale. Ugh. The real problem is that we don't have parking. There are four garages and an open space for our building tenants, but there are given out on seniority. Usually street parking is really not that bad. No, you won't usually be able to park right in front of the building but not too far away (well, unless it's a weekend night). But everyone now wants an actual garage.

So, we are keeping our fingers crossed and figure the perfect owner will come around eventually (hopefully sooner vs. later) If anyone knows anyone in the market for a nice condo in the Chicago area, look us up! Meanwhile, I am going to concentrate on our new digs and prepare to move.

Second Post Pressure

First posts are easy. Explain why you are the bizillionth person to join the blogging world and how you hope this outlet will fulfill all of your as yet unrealized hopes and dreams. Throw up some links and you are set.

The second post is where it all really starts, where you actually have to start talking about something that might actually be somewhat entertaining to someone else. The pressure weighs heavily.



Thanks goodness it's over.

And so it begins...

So the inception of this blog is actually sad.

I have never been a writer. I have never enjoyed it. The whole purpose of my college career was to take classes that had minimal writing requirements. Darn those mandatory humanities classes! Give me a spreadsheet, a math problem or a petri dish and I'm golden. But give me a writing assignment and I fall apart and my innate abilities of procrastination start to shine.

So, blogging then seems like an idiotic choice for me. Why then? Well, I was somewhat blindsided recently when one of my dearest friends, who also happens to be my sister-in-law, got the opportunity of a lifetime. It's an amazing job experience that she will no doubt excel in. However, it requires her and her family to move away from the great city of Chicago.

Insert my tears and devastation here.

KWW, her husband and her two kids mean the world to me and the prospect of being so far away from them (well, ok, it's only 500 miles, but still that rules out weekly Sunday grilling) makes me very sad. While I know there will be family vacations and frequent visits back and forth, I also know it will not be the same. And so in an effort to keep up with each other and dish on all the latest gossip, I have decided to to start blogging. This way I hope I can keep them and anyone else up-to-date with what's happening with our new house, our crazy dog and any potential baby news whenever that becomes a reality.

A few rules for my site:

Comment, comment, comment. I want to hear from you.
However, do not comment on my writing skills - that would just be cruel.
Enjoy!