housing update

in case you were curious, i thought i'd give everyone a status update on our condo-to-be (hopefully!). we submitted our offer almost 3 weeks ago, and although we were hoping/expecting to close somewhere in the 90 day range (mid to end of june), the seller's attorney informed us they are expecting to close in may! now, i have no idea how they arrived at this conclusion or if the seller's attorney has any reason to think that, but it does give us cause to hope...

if we do close in may, it might mean we've got a signed contract by the end of april, which would make us eligible for the new homebuyer's tax credit. we had thought for sure we wouldn't get everything done in time for that, and we still might not, but we're praying for God's timing on this, and if it includes an extra $8K, that would be nice :)

on a less important and more fun note, we're considering buying a sofa bed from one of my coworkers, which would mean we'd have the futon AND a queen size sofa bed for out-of-town guests (hint hint). and this is no ordinary uncomfortable sofa bed - it has an inflatable top half so it feels more like an aerobed! if this all works out, you are all invited for a house-warming party!!!

popular girls' names - who knew??

today i was taking a sporcle quiz on the 100 most popular girls names in 2000 (it's friday, after all). there were some i expected - emily (1), sarah (12), katherine (36), ashley (8), kayla (20), jennifer (37) - and several i did not expect - emma (3), hannah (4), abigail (6), brianna (17), victoria (25), trinity (59). and then some other names didn't even make the list - meredith, heather, anne, christina, lisa.

now i know i'm not around a lot of kids, so i have to ask you teachers,do you have any maya's (79) or destiny's (32), or ava's (19)??? i think sporcle may be a little off base on this one...

wedding website up and running!

two posts in one day - crazy, i know - but this was too important not to put up! i have finally finished our wedding website - our registries are up, hotel information is up, and a few pictures are up. take a look when you get a chance, sign the guest book, and if you have any problems with anything, please let me know! Here is the link.

wishing i was in williamsburg...

days like today make me wish i was back in college - it's one of the first real days of spring, sunny, 65 degrees, just a few puffy white clouds in the sky, and all i want to do is take the afternoon off, go outside and read or nap or play cornhole...maybe all of the above. i want to take a spring break trip to the OBX, wake up late, drink tea on the porch, wear sweatshirts on the beach while playing bocce, and then cook dinner and play games with friends.

whenever i start feeling like this, although i miss W&M and all it meant to me, i am also incredibly grateful for my time there, because i really feel like we lived our college experiences to the fullest. miss you all and wish we together to enjoy the weather :)

super fun weekend

this weekend was a lot of fun - alex and i got to hang out a lot and do some pretty cool stuff :) saturday morning, we met at a little diner called Seven Dwarfs for breakfast - for anyone that knows alex, this will come as no surprise, but for those that don't, you should understand he LOVES diners. loves them. and so for Christmas, my brother had gotten him a gift certificate to this little diner. when we got there, it was something straight out of the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding - the Dancing Zorba anyone? the owner was Greek, a lot of the waitresses were related to him, and as he was running around clearing tables and seating people, he's shout "opa!" for no particular reason. i kid you not - it was awesome. the food was good and inexpensive, and we were excited because the gift certificate is going to last us for another saturday morning breakfast!

after breakfast, we headed out in the drizzle and 45 degree weather to walk in a st. patrick's day parade for my boss. although you'd think the weather would have dampened our spirits (and our clothes), it did not! we came prepared with rain coats and the comradery of the event made it a lot of fun. when we got there, we didn't realize how far the start of the parade was from where we parked, so we made a mad dash through the crowds to get to our group just in time. i think that little run helped keep us warm too :)

after the parade, we got to our main task for the weekend - registering for wedding gifts! i have to say, i was totally psyched for this process - who wouldn't want to peruse a few stores picking out presents for your future life together?? we picked cookware and bakeware and small applicances and bedding and bathroom stuff...the list goes on, and we're really excited about everything we selected. although it took awhile (several hours on saturday AND sunday - alex was a trooper), it will be worth it in the end. we're excited about building a real life and home together, and although the "stuff" is a very small part of that, it allowed us to really picture our new life - and it looks awesome :)

made an offer!

yesterday alex and i made an offer on a condo!!! we're really excited about the unit - it has 2 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms (plenty of room for out of town guests!), 2 small patios, updated kitchen and bathrooms, first floor, washer/dryer in the unit, and central AC. we like the location too - across the street from a forest preserve, great highway access, near groceries and shopping, and we already know a couple living in the complex (my good friend from high school)!

however, we obviously don't have an contract signed yet or anything, and probably won't for a while, as it's a short sale. But, the short sale means it's a great deal, so hopefully we'll get our offer approved without too much delay or hassle - that's our prayer anyways :) here are a few pictures!

we'd be on the corner on the first floor of this building - that window on the front look into the kitchen...


which looks like this (sorry for the blur...)!


you walk out of the kitchen into the dining area, which looks onto the second little patio and connects to the master bedroom (door on the right).

AT: when your computer is smarter than you think it is, take 2!

today i went to send an email that was supposed to have an attachment. i wrote "i have attached" in the body of the email, but forgot to actually attach the file. well, when i clicked send, i got a message that said, "you wrote 'i have attached' in your email, but there is no attachment. send anyway?". relieved that gmail had caught my mistake, i hit cancel, attached the file, and then sent my email again, correctly this time.

can you believe that?? gmail looked at the text in my email, saw something i had forgotten to do, and warned me about it before i messed it up! that is totally AWESOME!

PS - please don't judge me for getting this excited about my email. it is monday morning, after all.