La Petite Chic

Grace Quatre

For those of you who follow my Twitters, you may have noticed that we got an offer on our condo last night!!  Though it is $27,000 less than our asking price, it is an offer nonetheless and we are very encouraged and willing to work with the potential buyer to make a deal.  We quickly submitted a counter-offer and are waiting to hear back from our realtor.  Fingers and toes crossed, please!!! 

Fabulous Find Friday...and Free Undies!

Well now, it's been a while since I've done one of these, hasn't it?  Since I'm feeling quite inspired by the 60 degree weather, here are some of my favorite items for spring:

The New Tote from Gap, on sale for $19.99.  I recently purchased the white one with blue flowers and it's the perfect tote for work!  Check in-store for it, because my Gap had all colors available.

The Mini Cooler from Vera Bradley, a special promotion at $15 with any Vera Bradley purchase.  I know some people think Vera Bradley bags are for old ladies, but you really can't get much fresher and more fun than this pattern!  It also comes in three other new patterns from Vera.  I just love bringing my lunch to work in this.

The Lightweight Intarsia Sweater from Old Navy at $25.00.  It comes in eight colors with either a bird or dragonfly graphic.  I'll probably wait for this one to go on sale, but I think it's just precious.

And thanks to my hubby's sleuthing (after I lamented to him last night about my lack of undies), he found this awesome coupon from Express, good for a free cotton panty!  Hooray!!  It's good today through Sunday so be sure to use it quickly.

Grace Trois

It's no secret that I hate winter.  I'm a warm weather girl through and through.  But if weren't for the bitterly cold days of winter that chap my skin and chill my bones, would I be as excited about the daffodil buds that I saw sprouting out of the dirt this morning while on my way to work?  Maybe, maybe not, but I do know that it thrilled me to no end to see this first sign of spring in Virginia! 

Here's a photo I took of them last year, March 26th to be exact.  It seems I have just a few more weeks until they're in full bloom!

 

Grace in 40 Days

Yesterday was the first day of Lent and rather than give up something in the physical sense like sweets, I've decided to go the more spiritual route this year.  I ever so briefly considered giving up alcohol, but this no birth control life I'm living means that I could become pregnant at any time requiring a whole nine months of seriously, no cheating abstaining from alcohol. I'm going to enjoy my wine while I can!

So instead, for the next 40 days, I'm going to do my best to live my life without worry.  Because really?  Worrying and being anxious is probably the worst habit I have.  I'm going to trust in God that everything happens for a reason and that everything will be okay in the end. 

Living without worry also means that I'll stop spending so much time dwelling on what I don't have and be grateful and joyful for what I do.  So every day, for the next 39 days (I'll do two today since I missed yesterday), I'll post what I'm happy about, grateful for or a positive take on something that would usually cause me anxiety.  Sort of akin to the Grace in Small Things phenomenon that has swept across the blogosphere, hence the title of this post.

Grace Une:

We have several squirrels that live in the trees outside of our balcony.  I've been feeding them for a few months now and they seriously bring me more joy than I would like to admit!  When they see me on the balcony, they'll usually venture down and perch on the tree to see if I've brought them any food.  They are adorable and they make me smile.

Grace Deux:

I've been applying for jobs in Baltimore for many months now.  Ironically, a full-time position opened up at my current organization (remember, I'm a contractor) here in Virginia and I was encouraged to apply.  I did and I've been interviewed and all signs point to a positive outcome.  It's been keeping me awake at night, but I'm not going to worry about it any more.  If I don't get it, fine.  If I do get it, I'll figure out the minor details (like the commute once we move) later.  For now, I'll be grateful that I even have this opportunity.

Oooh La Lola...

I realize that now is the absolute worst time to even consider getting a playmate for Lola, but while browsing through the available dogs at the animal rescue group I volunteer for, I found Lola's soulmate.

Internet, meet Patches:

He's a two years old chihuahua mix which would totally make Lola a cougar (she'll be six next month), but don't you think they would make the cutest pair?

Lola already had to leave behind her boyfriend, Homer, a Bichon Frise in our neighborhood and now she'll never get to meet her chihuahua soulmate. Sorry, Lola...if we had a house, we would definitely adopt him. 

On Ever After

Last night, out of the blue, Jon asked, "Where do you want to meet in Heaven when we die?"  The question caught me off guard as a) I was engrossed in the Oscars and the ever important critiquing of fashion do's and don'ts and b) more importantly, I've never entertained the idea of either one of us dying.  It's something I don't like to think about. 

And besides, I've always quite imagined the whole tunnel with the white light at the end of it thing, with Jon there to meet me as I step into the light.  Of course, that's presuming that he goes first, a notion at which he scoffs.  According to him, my recklessness makes me the likely candidate to go first, to which I sweetly replied, "Well, baby, I hope I do because I couldn't live without you."  Booyah! 

AHEM.  Anyhow, Jon suggested we meet at Whitlows, the bar where we met back in 2004.  While I understand the romantic meaning behind that, there's something about reuniting in a bar in Heaven that just doesn't do it for me.  I didn't have an answer for him last night, but I've had the whole day to ponder it and I think I've come up with one.

When I see my love again in Heaven (after a long lifetime together, of course), I want to meet him here:

"And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, they danced by the light of the moon, the moon, they danced by the light of the moon." ~Edward Lear~

(picture taken on our first anniversarymoon in Jamaica)

Home Sweet Home

You know what I really hate about having our place on the market?  It's not the keeping it in the constant "nobody lives here state" nor the having to clean out most of our booze nor the keeping of Lola at my parent's house (though that one is really killing me too).  It's the thought of strange-ass people walking through my home, running their fingers over my countertops, peeking in my pantry, sitting on my furniture and everything else that strangers do when viewing your home. It completely creeps me out and really kind of annoys me off. 

Yes,I know it's a necessary evil in order to get our condo sold but I just can't seem to get over it.  For an OCDish, never-leave-the-house-without-antibacterial-hand-soap person like me, this is going to be torture. 

We had our very first open house today and six separate groups stopped by, which apparently is pretty good.  One couple stayed for over a half hour and, according to our realtor, oohed and ahhed over everything.  He said that people don't stay for a half hour if they don't like the place, especially in a one bedroom condo that doesn't take very long at all to see.  That doesn't necessarily mean that they'll make an offer, but still, it's promising.

And now, after the day of being "kicked out" of our home for the open house, I'm thrilled just to be sitting on the couch and taking in the Oscars with my hubby beside me.  Home is always where he is, no matter what.

Welcome To Our Home!

The photos are finally up!  I'm not completely happy with them, but I think they'll do the job to get a potential buyer in.  I'm especially not thrilled with the bathroom photos because you can't even see our gorgeous vessel sink nor the granite countertop.  Le sigh.  Also adding to my frustration is the fact that another condo in our community went on the market a day before ours at $60,000 less than our asking price!  It's a short sale, however, and frankly, Jon and I have no idea how or why they're asking for so little.  I just hope it doesn't have too big of an impact on the sale of our condo.  Again, le sigh...

We'll start our tour in the kitchen:

It features all stainless steel appliances, an above-range microwave, granite countertops, fresh paint, new hardware on the cabinets, upgraded track lighting/above sink lighting and ceramic tile.  We did all of the upgrades above, minus the stainless steel appliances (except Jon installed the microwave) and the ceramic tile.  Remember the before pictures?

Here's a view of the kitchen from the pantry:

For some reason, our cabinets look really washed out in the photos, but they're a birch color.

Next, you'll see the bar area:

And here's a panned out view:

The bar is one of our proudest features because it used to have a really high backsplash that doubled as a bar so tall that only giants could sit there.  We made it all one level and extended and curved it out a bit to make it more sitting/dining friendly.

The bar area leads right into our living room:

If you remember, we installed those beautiful bamboo floors all by ourselves.  The paint is our handywork too.  I love our red accent wall, the venetian blinds and just how cozy it is.  We used to have a leather "man chair" to the right of the sofa, but removed it for staging purposes.  We also had the leaning desk to match the bookshelf, but also removed it for staging purposes. 

Our living room flows right into the dining room:

We (rather, Jon and my dad) installed the new chandelier and a new programmable thermostat.  We had to move our beloved Crate & Barrel wine towers as part of the staging process, and along with them, a lot of our wine and liquour.

Next, we'll walk into the bedroom:

We originally had a gorgeous palm leaf ceiling fan in there that we installed when we moved in, but our realtor advised us to put a smaller one in there that was more in scale with the size of our room.  I love the sea glass blue and chocolate accents.  We were also advised to move our crucifix off the wall which we politely declined. 

Here's a view from the bathroom looking in:

Finally, here is our bathroom:

You can barely see the granite countertop and vessel sink, but I assure you that they're beautiful.  We also installed the mirror (which I adore and wish we could bring with us), the new light fixture and the hardware on the medicine cabinet.  Oh, and yes, the paint!  I picked it out and painted one weekend when Jon had class.  He doesn't love it quite as much as I do. 

Here's the rest of the bathroom:

We (rather, Jon and his Dad), installed the shower doors and new light/fan.  If you're really observant, you might have noticed that this is the only room that doesn't have a popcorn ceiling.  We got ambitious one weekend after watching Designed To Sell in which they made it look super easy to remove a popcorn ceiling.  It wasn't.  AT ALL.  Therefore, this was the only room we did.

And that is our home!  They didn't take pictures of our entry hall, but you're not really missing much anyway.  We're already having an open house on Sunday...cross your fingers for a quick sale!

Everyone Else Was Doing It!

To celebrate our condo going on the market today (EEK!), I figured I would succumb to peer pressure and finally do that 25 Random, Weird, Interesting Things About Me meme that I'm still getting tagged for on Facebook.  Because really, there's not much else on my mind and I don't want to subject you all to more talk of paint and cleaning and staging and the sad state of my hands and fingernails after doing all of the above for about a week now.  You're welcome :)

1.  I was a huge fan of WWF wrestling when I was a little girl.  I had the toy wrestling ring and the figurines and even went to two matches where I was kissed on the cheek by El Matador.  On the same note, when I was about 18 or so, I was at the Boardwalk in Ocean City and the Iron Sheik was signing autographs!  I was the only girl in line and when it was my turn to meet him, I blathered on and on about his signature move, the Camel Clutch.  I'm such a dork.  And no, I don't watch wrestling anymore!

2.  I lived in Wiesbaden, Germany for 4½ years (ages 8-12) after my Dad was stationed there for his job.  My love for travel was definitely born there as that's how we spent our free time.  While living there, we visited Italy, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, former Czechoslovakia, Poland, England, Ireland, and Scotland.  Those were some of the best years of my life. 

3.  My hair was white-blond until I was about 4 or 5 years old.  It then turned dirty blond, then eventually became the medium shade of brown it is now.  I have a lot of natural blond and red highlights in my hair and have grown to love my natural color.  That still doesn't stop me from pumping up the blond highlights in the summer though!

4.  Despite the colors on my blog, my favorite color is yellow.  It makes me happy.  When my sister and I were really small, my mom would buy two of everything (toys, clothes, etc...) and my sister would always get pink or purple and I would always get yellow or green.  I wonder if it goes back to that?

5.  I HATE taking medicine.  When I'm not feeling well, Jon has to practically force it on me.  I usually refuse, unless I'm absolutely miserable.  I prefer to let things run their course and use other, more natural, methods of healing.

6.  I have 22 first cousins.  My mom is one of six and my dad is one of four.  Yes, we're Catholic :)

7.  I met Martin Sheen when I was an intern for Kathleen Kennedy Townsend while in college.  He was such a nice man, but wasn't much taller than I am.  When I went to shake his hand, he laughed and embraced me and said, "I always hug the ladies".  (It was in a completely friendly and non-creepy way.)

8.  I've only been to Vegas once and the only time I gambled was when I was sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home.  They had slot machines there, so I gave it a chance because I couldn't leave Vegas without gambling at all!  I didn't win.  I did, however, win a blackjack tournament on our first cruise about 6 months later.  It was my first time ever playing and I royally pissed off all the old men I played with.

9.  My family has traced our roots back to Albert Schweitzer.  Not sure how accurate that is, but he is a pretty awesome person to have in your ancestry.

10.  My all-time favorite song is Stay, by Lisa Loeb.  I'm also quite partial to Try A Little Tenderness(Otis Redding), Sweet Dreams(Eurythmics), Addictive (Truth Hurts), Who's Your Daddy (Toby Keith) and Kissing You(Des'ree).  Obviously, I like a little bit of everything!

11.  I'm on the 3rd version of my engagement ring.  I went from a princess cut with baguettes, to a princess cut with smaller princess cut diamonds to my current, a round brilliant set on a band of pavé diamonds.  Have I mentioned I'm indecisive?

12.  I was voted Homecoming Queen in high school.  I was also nominated for Homecoming Queen in college, but didn't win.

13.  I'm a PADI certified SCUBA diver.  Jon and I took the training classes here in Virginia in the months leading up to our honeymoon, then took our certification dives on the second half of our honeymoon in Jamaica.  You have to do two dives and I almost didn't make it out for the second one because I was so seasick.  Luckily, there was some Dramamine handy which helped immensely and I was able to go back out and pass the test!

14.  I donate blood about 2-3 times a year even though I fall a good ten pounds under their weight requirements.  I'm always fine afterwards, so I just lie when they ask for my weight.

15.  I took a drawing class during my last semester of senior year in college.  I loved it and one of my drawings was selected to hang in Richmond's library for a year.  I haven't drawn seriously since.

16.  On a similar note, I love school supplies.  Just give me a big box of pencils and crayons and fun paper and I'm a happy girl.  The smell of all those things is just intoxicating to me.

17.   I haven't raced since my last college race in the A-10 Championship.  It was the 3k steeplechase and I had the lead for a bit, but lost it in the last 150 meters.  It still earned me second team All-Conference honors and a school record though!

18.  My favorite flower is the gerbera daisy.  My wedding bouquet was full of hot pink and tangerine ones, along with roses and little lime green berries filling in. 

19.  I have freakishly long toes.  Jon calls them my talons and others have referred to them as finger toes.  I can even pick stuff up off the floor with them.  I used to be ashamed of them, but now I embrace them because they're mine and I think they're beautiful!  I inherited them from my father and I just know our kids will have them too.

20.  My favorite wild animal is the elephant.  I've seen them, even fed them, in zoos, but would love to travel to Africa or Asia to see one in the wild. 

21.  Jon and I broke up once for a half hour about six months into our relationship.  He had actually been about to start looking for rings, but after that, we went through a major relationship rehab and fixed some things that needed to be fixed and we're much better for it. 

22.  I don't cry at funerals. 

23.  I came up with my blog name years before I started blogging.  I've always wanted to open a boutique geared towards the under-served petite population and thought it would be the perfect name for a shop.

24.  I have a 3½ inch scar on my abdomen just above and to the right of my belly button from where I had my gallbladder removed.  I had gallstones when I was 6 and it just had to come out.  I usually forget I have it until someone asks where I got my cool scar from. 

25.  If I could change one thing about my physical appearance, I would give myself a smaller nose.  Though, my sense of smell is the strongest of all my senses, so I wonder if that would be diminished?

And there you have it!  Phew, that took forever!  I'll post pictures of our condo once we have them. 

Full of Love

You know what's crazy?  Last night, I dreamed that I found two mice in our bedroom.  When I got to work this morning, I discovered that I had a little visitor in my cube over the weekend.  The foil covered chocolate heart that a co-worker left on my desk on Friday was no more, and the only thing left was the shredded foil!  Then I found not one, but two mouse turds on my desk.  Gross!!  I spent the next hour scrubbing my desk with Lysol.  Not sure if it was related to my dream in any way, but it sure was unusual!

Speaking of hearts, Jon completed melted mine on Valentine's Day.  We've never been go-all-out Valentines and prefer to spend a quiet evening at home rather than spending a lot of money on a fancy dinner in a crowded restaurant.  If you remember, I spent last Valentine's Day at the hair salon, getting my long hair chopped off for Beautiful Lengths while Jon was at class.  Clearly, Valentine's Day is not that big of a deal to us!

This year, Jon got up bright and early to go grocery shopping while I got a head start on packing.  He came home with more than just groceries.  Just look at this beautiful bouquet of a dozen and a half yellow roses, my favorite color!

 

As romantic as the start of our day was, we then spent the next eight or so hours visiting Ikea, clearing out cabinets and closets and packing moving boxes.  I honestly had no idea how much stuff we have until I actually had to start packing it.  Thankfully, clearing these little things out now is going to make the move a lot easier once we sell.  And our place?  It looks gorgeous!  The photographer is coming on Wednesday morning to take the photos for our condo's website (yes, it gets it's own website!) so I'll be sure to post them once they're up. 

Finally, around 6:00 PM, we had both had enough so we called it a day and sat down to a delicious assortment of appetizers (Asiago cheese filone, olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar, black olive tapenade and bruschetta).  And we popped open a bottle of wine that we got while in Europe last May.  It was so good!! 

 

About an hour later, Jon got started making the main course, Penne a la Vodka, my favorite pasta dish. He used a recipe that I pulled off of The Pioneer Woman's cooking site several weeks ago.  It was so delicious that I forgot to get a picture of the final product, but here's one of the garlic and onions simmering in a lot of olive oil and butter.  Mmmm....

 

As a final course, Jon whipped out an incredible Margarita Pie that he made at some point in the day while I was packing the linen closet.  The crust was to die for...it was a sinful mixture of crumbled pretzels, sugar and butter.  It's making my mouth water just to think of it!  The filling tasted almost like key lime pie, one of my favorites.  I'm definitely going to request that he make this again! 

 

And the cherry on top of this wonderfully romantic and unexpected Valentine's Day?  Jon showed he was paying attention and bought me a cookbook that I've been itching to add to my collection, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea.  It's a fantastic collection of Southern recipes and anecdotes from the author and I just adore it! 

 

It was back to reality on Sunday as we drove two truckloads of boxes and furniture to my parent's house.  I was quite nervous as I drove my Dad's pick-up truck all by myself with furniture in the back and I thought for sure that something would fall out.  I had to drive on both 495 and 95 where 90 mph is not uncommon, but I just stayed in the far right lane and kept my speed at a modest 60 mph.  Yes, people were flying by me, but I didn't lose any cargo!  Sadly, we were also dropping Lola off at her temporary home with Gram and Pop.  Once our condo lists, people can come by with their realtors all day and we just don't want to subject Lola to strange people coming in and out.  She's wary of people anyway, so I don't want to upset her.  I miss her so much already, but Jon is humoring me by letting me pet his belly when I'm feeling especially lonesome without her.  Such a good husband!