New Digs

First item of business:

it's tempting to apologize for so many pictures, but I'll refrain from doing that.

One day I'm going to love looking back on all these.

Ok, so remember when I told you I was planning a last minute trip to Austin to find a house?

Oh wait, that was only like 5 days ago.

Anyway, I did it, I went.

Thursday I (and by I, I obviously mean Christy and I...) landed at 1 pm.

We had just enough time to grab some hometown Texas BBQ before meeting with our real estate agent at 2:30.

I believe it was the third house on the tour (of 50 houses. I kid, I kid...kind of) and I instantly fell in love.

Now, mind you, falling in love doesn't mean it's always the one.

I knew we wanted to make an offer on the home but didn't know if it would be the lone house in that category.

I was going to find a home come hell or high water so I was prepped to make offers on multiple houses.

I was in business mode for sure!

We put together an offer late Thursday night and sent it off at the crack of dawn Friday morning.

And despite the time change hitting up downtown, riding a big ole teeter totter in some bar, busting a few moves with a couple random 20 year old, and listening to a few comedians at "The Velveeta", before a cute little bike taxi pedaled us back to our hotel at 1 am-ish, we were up and at em looking at homes again at 9 am. 

Make no mistake this was a work trip.

We saw many more homes Friday morning, some that would have been suitable back ups, but definite back ups still the same.

We stopped for lunch at Rudy's BBQ and it was starting to feel like deja vu.

Because exactly 24 hours earlier, Christy and I were sitting at Rudy's enjoying the same meat, creamed corn and potato salad.

But 24 hours ago on Rudy's trip #1 I had yet to meet my dream home.

But here on Rudy's trip #2, we got the phone call that they'd accepted our offer!

Boom time, just like that.

No negotiating, back and forth, fighting over mere percentages, they just said yes!

Much like the high emotions that follow popping the big question-

She said yes!

And we were thrilled.

Like meaning from ear to ear.

From there we went and spent an hour and a half at our new home.

Which I now present to you:

front yard view

from the street. Look how far off the street it is!

Dining Room. You can see the front door right there by the stairs.

Family Room.
These beams are what made me want to see the house.
Little did I know I'd fall in love with the rest of the house as quickly as I fell in love with the beams.

Family room from the kitchen looking in.

kitchen

Formal living room. Can see one side of the front doors.
And can we talk about the cat walk looking hallways?!!!
Love it- seriously one of the highlights of the house for me.
Hallway leads to all three upstairs bedrooms.

Couch faces outside patio.

Master bedroom.

It has a fireplace!

guest bedroom. love the paint color. think i'm going to go with the white scheme as well.

middle bedroom upstairs

1st upstairs bedroom

3rd upstairs bedroom

jack and jill bath bw middle and 3rd bedroom

home is like a horseshoe shape around the pool.
to the left left is the guest room, where chimney is is family room, master bed is to the right

patio area.
and please take note of the stringed lights!
pure love!
it's the little things!

putting green

Sports court

open grass area.
note tree house.
and don't you worry, there's a zipline that starts at the tree house and ends in one of the trees.
Yes, Christy did it and bailed halfway because she was cruising.
With a capital C.
Please tell me ww won't have any broken bones or bodies.....

There she is!

In love!

Times Keeps on Passing

You would think I'd have a hundred posts ready and waiting to be published after the 3 hours I spent sitting on the tarmac at the Austin airport last night. And don't forget to tack on the 3 hour flight. If my math doesn't fail me- and remember, math is one of my strengths- that equals a total of 6 hours sitting on an airplane. With nothing but one lousy magazine and my computer to keep me entertained. I made the horrible choice of opting out of a Diet Coke and candy while meandering the airport halls before boarding. I made the mature decision of grabbing a water and passing on the candy since I couldn't find any spicy cinnamon bears and that's all that my palette seemed to be calling for.
Rule #1 for traveling: Always have treats on hand that will entertain your bored self in case of emergency. Sitting on the tarmac for more than 10 minutes equals emergency.
Point being I think I was so bored and under-sugared that I couldn't even pull my crap together to write one of the hundred posts brewing in my mind. But alas, after threats of a canceled flight and a million different take off times, we made it home at the party hour of 1 am. There's nothing that makes me feel young like staying up til 1 am. Even if my ny day job starts at 6:30 am. This week I've kind of felt like the Disneyland mom. Our home was getting staged for the big sell as it will be hitting the market on Monday. The staging of our home has made me think, "Man, we should have done this 5 years ago!" It's looking good. Possibly I'll have to post a few pics when I get my hands of the professional ones taken yesterday.
With all the work going on in the home, it was necessary for the crew and I to be out of the home. So Disneyland was literally on the agenda where we got to see Aunt Michelle and Uncle Shawn and kids and Chelsi and Krewz and Baby Zu. That day ended with watching Dallin B's baseball game where the stands were filled, including his teacher and his "friend", Jessie, who received an invite via a hand-written note.... Mm hmmm.

Wednesday I accompanied Porter's class to the Natural History Museum and the Butterfly Pavilion. Those hours were filled with heart pumping moments. My little Pistol let go of my hand for no longer than 7 seconds interludes. He insisted on being hand in hand and it touched me in such a way that left me hungry for a time trap. To bottle up those hours, to bottle up those feelings that made me feel as lucky as I imagine the 20 million dollar Powerball winner feels.

That field trip was followed by taking the babies- Deeter and Kaia- to cute Elliana's birthday party in Camarillo. You know what's so great about these kind of outings? It's the confirmation that comes from not only the willingness, but the excitement, to drive an hour for a four year old's birthday party. Because it reminds me of the relationships we have here in California that barely fall shy of family. How lucky are we to have a group of people that might as well be blood-related? I would say pretty lucky.
So life has been crazy the last couple of weeks. But the best possible kind of crazy out there. It's made me anxious to be around these kids and hear Kaia ask for a "hot tub"- aka, a bath. To hear Dallin talk about "wasting money". Or in other words spending money. "Mom, it's okay. I'm just going to waste my money on this Skylander guy." {If only he knew it really was a waste of money...} To hear Deeter demand to come with me to pick up "the blothers". I will be so sad when he learns to pronounce his r's. And when Dallin realizes his contextual misuse of the word waste and when Kaia reverts back to the boring request of just a bath.
Time is flying by and I'm in a real good spot right now as I feel like I'm actually touching and feeling the moments that make life so incredible.   

Want to see who I'm crushing on? Introducing some homes.

Can you all please appreciate the fact that I'm here in Texas trying to do the best I can to get to know this place, and find our family a home, and act mature and responsible in front of my real estate agent because he needs to think know I'm legit? Which, truth be known, I am legit. Because I'm really good at Math and I speak fluent Spanish.
But it's just that this whole going from house to house, meeting agent after agent, acting like I'm interested in a house that I'm absolutely not...well, it all feels like museum touring to me. And guess what? I don't do museums. For more than an hour, that is. I'll give my best for an hour and then I'm out. Even at The Louvre. You know, the world famous Parisian museum? A quick round, take a peek at Mona Lisa's infamous smile, possibly one illegal flashed photo, and I'm out the door and fully satisfied.
  The same routine doesn't quite work for looking at houses and isn't that easy while being on someone else's watch. It would be rude to up and leave and disregard their hard work. And since I'm not rude...
But sometimes Christy is. Or maybe Christy just hasn't been in many an awkward situation where I introduce myself... "Hi, I'm Gay." Please note the difference between, "Hi, I'm Gay," and "Hi, I'm gay." And also please note that this difference is much more distinguishable in writing rather than speech. Trying saying the two out loud if you're needing clarification on the difference that really sounds exactly the same.
Anyway, we pulled up to a house that received an obvious two thumbs down before we even stepped foot in it. No yard, steep hills, three stories= not for me. And standing by the house was the selling agent. Pretty quickly, it could be assumed that this very well-dressed man was gay. Not just because he was well-dressed. Now me, being a veteran in this situation, I confidently walked up to him, gave a nice firm handshake and said.... You guessed it, "Hi, I'm Gay." Which caused unintentional, stifled giggles from the peanut gallery. And the conversation only got more uncomfortable {for her} as I turned around and politely fixed her necklace chain so that the clasp would find it's way to the back of her neck where it belonged.  And, as is obvious, it takes two people being in close proximity to get the necklace situation corrected. I understand how Gay could be mistaken for gay but gay people don't introduce themselves as gay, only girls named Gay. Jim didn't for one second think I was telling him I was gay. But Christy wasn't sure if he had understood that I was gay or Gay. Hence, the reoccurring humor in my name. And the sometimes reoccurring awkwardness in my name. 
But Jim didn't skip a beat, Christy pulled it together before making a fool of herself, and I couldn't understand how this situation was anything outside of normal. 
The house was terrible. We thanked him for his time. And were on our way.
You want to see my front runner in the home department after enduring the tour? Here it is:

Love it. I've been falling for modern/contemporary homes every since we moved to LA. If it's at all in the cards, our next home will be that feel. And I wouldn't argue if our next home was this one.
Although I've Xed this next one out as a contender, make no mistake that I'm completely obsessed with it.

Fingers crossed that we find a home soon in Austin. Even if it isn't my front runner. No need to push anything. If it's meant to be, it works out. If not, there'll be another one around the corner.
 Are you a modern home lover??? Never thought I would be....but here we are.

Primal Instinct in the Face of Death

In just sitting here on the airplane, fresh dressed like a million bucks in my neon pants and my own white chucks.
And while it's tempting to sit here and talk about how much I love my neon pants-- because I am infatuated, it's true-- I'm not going to do that. Instead I'm going to talk about this shirt that allows me the femininity of lace and also the comfortability of a sweatshirt. Freaking win win. Thank you, Annie Kimball, for being awesome. And ps, I'm actually not going to talk about that either.

What I am going to talk about is dying. Because about 5 minutes ago I thought I was plunging to my death. And it's not often that you can say that and mean it in a literal sense. But this time, I mean it completely literally. This airplane is dipping and diving so much that I'm contemplating buying my seat neighbor- who also happens to be my BFF- a shot to calm her nerves. Often we ask ourselves,"How would I react in the face of death?" After experiencing the first dip where there was no question in our minds that the plane had most definitely taken a sudden nose dive at the approximate speed of Superman mph, we instinctively knew we were facing death and primal instincts took over. While I have no idea what I did, I I can tell you how Christy reacts in the face of death-- she goes straight to intimacy. I nearly got my crotch grabbed. Just a one handed grab. {Meanwhile the kids- Dallin, Porter, and Avani- didn't skip a beat on their iPads and Chander didn't even open his slumbering eyes.}

The calm after the storm. Not sure I believe the calm...

Now the good news for all of us {except those of you that have a death contract out on me} is that I survived. We survived. American Airline Flight don't-have-a-clue survived. Come to find out that momentary roller coaster ride that had my stomach fall to the ground-- you know the feeling, where there is a very tangible delay in your stomach completing the upside down loopy loo after the rest of your body-- was just "turbulence".
Why is it that our minds, without even a moments notice, assume worse case scenario? It's crazy. Maybe it's to create a sense of relativity and all of a sudden, whatever the actual reality is...no longer seems all that bad. And all of a sudden, all this bouncing up and down doesn't seem so bad. Because we're actually not dying. Unless we are and this whole relativity check was just a cruel case of reverse psychology. In which case, these were my dying words. In which case, instead of only talking about Snoop Dogg and Christy's crotch grabbing,  I better add that I love Yosh and my kids. And Deeter and Kaia, I'm really sorry I didn't bring you with me. It was a heart wrenching decision, I truly felt bad. But now I guess I don't? Because I saved their lives? Whatever, this is getting weird and complicated.
Peace and Chicken Grease. Even lamer last words.

It's Time to Share our big News

Oh shoot, this could get messy. Only because it's 8:50 pm, which for me is the equivalent of either being 2 am or drunk. Add that to the fact that I'm perioding so much these days- which swings me from being enraged one day to crying about a dead bee the next- that I'm mildly convinced I'm menopausing at the mature age of 32. And I may not argue against this sentence if it means no more periods and no more IUDs.

You see how I'm rambling??? I think I'm stalling...

So here it is--

I'm moving. We're moving.

From the place where, nearly 8 years ago, I declared the only way I would leave is kicking and screaming.

I love LA- the weather, the people, the beach, mix in a straight shot of Californication and it's my paradise.

I have some of the best friends a girl could ask for.

Yes, I know I know-- I'll meet new great people.

But I've got a lot of work invested in these friendships and I don't want to replace them.

I want these friendships.

Inevitably distance changes relationships.

And that kinda makes my eyes fill up.

Scratch that-- I'm crying.

How sappy do I get on here? Do I tell you how I feel like these girls have helped me find myself? Like the best version of myself? Or how they've let me whine and vent and never judged me? Or how they've become family to me? Or how they've supported my crazy shenanigans all in the name of having "fun"?

I know I'll meet new people, but there's part of me that doesn't want to. And at 2 am 9 pm that part of me seems to be the winning part.

And in the same breath, I have to confess....

I'm excited. I have this isolated memory of when Yosh and I had recently moved to California and I was laying in bed next to my sleeping husband. The night was quiet, the darkness was heavy and I felt the truth of our situation...that we were alone. That it was me and him against the world. We didn't have friends, we didn't have family, we didn't have anything familiar. It was just us- sink or swim, baby. And we got to flailing our little arms and legs and figured it out, figured us out. We swam. Like champs. 

And I can feel that memory foreshadowing what's to come for our now family of six. Where we'll only have each other, crusading a new adventure with our family stamp on it, taking on the challenge to sink or swim. As we go through waves of unfamiliarity, loneliness, wishing for what we had before, we'll be doing it together. Just us. No friends, no family, no crutches. It'll make our little family stronger.

Adventure has always made my heart stir. Running away has always been a sweet temptation. So here we go!

And to boot, I can't imagine getting to see the majority of our paycheck reach the bank accounts...what will I do with all this extra money?!! Everything is bigger in Texas...except the taxes! Yea baby!

So there it is. Sometime this summer it's good bye LA, hello Austin.