Where you can find me

Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about you little blog. I've just been spending more time over here these days.

Do you ever blog in your head? I feel like I blog about stuff all day long - it just never makes it from my brain to the keyboard. And uploading pictures from my phone and/or camera just seems to be an extra hassle I haven't wanted to deal with lately.

So, because I kind of hate when people make excuses for not blogging; I have decided to do exactly that and give you a brief list of my excuses for not blogging lately.

1.No Internet at the new house. (We can actually use the 3G network on our Verizon phones to connect, but I don't really know for sure how much it's costing me so I've been limiting my usage.)

2. Work is killing me. (Read:  I've been reeeeeaaaal busy and probably shouldn't be blogging from work anyway...)

3. I'm pooped. (Summer hours ended last week, so I'm back to the usual 8 to 5. Throw in an extra 30 minutes each way on my new commute, plus dinner, dishes, laundry at the old house because we don't have our laundry room set up yet, playing and bath time with Luke, attempting to unpack boxes, chores, etc and whew! I'm ready for bed.

There it is. I haven't forgotten you. Just because I have a new mistress in the form of This Vine Life, doesn't mean our relationship has to end. I'll be back, I promise!

(Right after I get some rest, stop working so much and start putting together coherent thoughts again.)

Thoughts On Moving

I wish my moving experience could be more like a movie montage.

It would go something like this:  Paint rolling, floor sweeping, window washing, furniture carrying, photo hanging, flower arranging, etc. - all done in a fast forwarded, three-minute segment set to a peppy song culminating in real time when the cutely disheveled, pony-tailed, looks-awesome-in-jeans protaganist tosses a perfectly matched throw pillow onto her well-placed couch and then plops down looking adorably exhausted.

Sadly, my experience is a little more realistic, but it does have these two guys going for it.

And despite the paint covered hair, the five or six hours spent AFTER work getting the place ready (I'm very Type A about my painting) and the ick factor of cleaning up someone else's dirt, as well as the new "country bug" situation I am facing; I am reminded why we are doing it and just how blessed I am in this whole endeavor. Here's to embracing the adventure!

(I still wish I could be the cutely disheveled protaganist though.)

The Secret REVEALED

I feel like a jerk.

When I first announced "the secret" a few weeks ago I never expected to have to wait so long to reveal it. I just thought it would be a fun way to create a little intrigue and excitement; two words that I normally wouldn't associate with my method of storytelling.

As usual, things didn't go as planned and what I expected to be able to reveal at the end of June soon turned into the third week of July. Now that the third week of July is here I still don't feel like it's quite the right time to share my news. Thus, my feeling like a jerk.

However, against my better judgement, I'm going to tell you anyway. I promised something would happen on July 21st and I won't renege on that promise.

But first let me say how surprised I was that so many of you assumed that my secret had to do with being pregnant. I mean, can't a woman of child bearing age have a secret NOT related to her uterus? Jeez louise people!

So, let's recap shall we?

Clue #1

Tracy Byrd sings a song that goes something like... "We're from the country and we like it that way."

Clue #2



Grapes

Somewhere after Clue #2 I got a little bored with my clue giving because SOMEONE was spot on in their guessing and took the wind out of my sails. Hmpf!

Clue #3 was "July 21st"

Which is an important date that unfortunately is not going to go as we had anticipated.

The secret is...

We're moving!!!!

HERE!!!

to a vineyard!!!

Hopefully....

Long story short. We got an AMAZING deal on a foreclosure in Lodi wine country on a five acre vineyard. Crazy, right? The seller agreed to do some work on a few trouble spots. They did, but their contractor did a shoddy job (and when I say "shoddy" I mean it the way it is written as well as the way it sounds if you say it fast and it comes out like a bad swear) and now my kitchen looks like this and will continue to look like this for the indeterminate future.

(Not my kitchen, but you get the idea.)

So, we're still in escrow and the news of the delay kind of put a damper on how I wanted to share the news, which was by revealing my new blog! But, that will have to remain a revelation for another day. Gotta make sure my name is on that dotted line and the ink is dry before I'll be confident that THIS is going to be my new life.

Suffice it to say, it's beautiful and we love it and it gives us the perfect amount of house space for the needs of our current and hopefully future family. (But this isn't about my uterus people!)

Please excuse my son's ridiculously long bowl cut.

For the time being I'll keep fretting over paint chip colors and agonizing over my Pinterest inspiration boards deciding how to decorate my new digs. As evidenced in the photo above, we'll have our work cut out for us soon enough!

Thanks for bearing with me and my jerky secret keeping. More to come!