We bought a house!

I think that after reading the title of the post, it is pretty much downhill from here right? How can I top that?

Oh! How about this: I took three days off work! My first day of PTO since Christmas.

Okay, so, the house. Hubby and I, after 4 months of searching, found the right house, in the right town, in the right school district, with a reasonable commute to both of our offices.

It is a classic 1975 ranch... knotty pine paneling, olive green master bath, dark kitchen and all. However, it has so much potential with a perfect floor plan, an amazing fireplace/hearth and, is on a 1 acre wooded lot that is walking distance from the AMAZING public schools (not that we have kids, but we are planning to be here for a long time).

I need to make this last day off work count. I'm going to unpack boxes and clean out the fridge at the old townhouse (oh joy of joys!). Here is a picture of my kitchen an hour before the movers came yesterday.

P.S. If you are thinking of house hunting in Michigan, drop me a line. We had the most amazing team of professionals all the way, I would love to pass along some great people to help with your search!

New Year, Early Morning

In my mind, there are two types of people in this world: morning people and night people. I have yet to meet anyone who is both or neither. I am a morning person, Hubby is a night person. My mom is a morning person, my dad is a night person. The one thing we all have in common is that we love our respective times of day, because it is the time in our households when no one else is up. We feel like we are stealing a few hours from the darkness. I love that silent two or three hours on a Saturday morning (like right now) where Hubby is still asleep, there is no TV or radio on, and I can make a cup of coffee and tackle the morning at my own pace.

This morning I've been thinking a lot on conversations I've had in the last week about new year's resolutions, about how everyone handles this in a very different way, but a way that truly reflects them. The two friends I was most inspired by took two very different approaches to making their resolutions, the first is using them as an opportunity to put more good into the world, making goals about in-kind charitable giving and volunteer hours for the year. The second is using them to conquer her fears. I'm not talking about skydiving or snakes, I'm talking about going to the dentist for the first time in 5 years and taking actionable steps to improve her health and life.... that is scary stuff!

I am so inspired by these kind of people, that set long term goals and chip away at tasks until they are finished, especially when they are things that they don't want to do, but they know will improve their life or the lives of others. In the past years I have made resolutions, and I've done a pretty decent job of staying the course. However, I have often used them as an out for not doing more, "Eh, I have a resolution similar to that I'm already working on, so I'm not going to volunteer for this project." Not this year. This year is not another year of resolutions for me, this year I've decided on a guiding phrase. I measure my actions against it and when thinking about joining in or pulling back, I ask if it lines up with my guiding phrase. So, as we begin the new year, I invite you all to join me in 2014 and.....

Be Kind.