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Under a rock Thursday, March 04, 2010 I apologize to everyone for basically being the world's biggest sketchball over the past couple of months. Partially by choice, partially by weather, and partially by illness, the a, c, b clan has been living under a rock. Or, more appropriately, barely leaving the house. I ventured out in a major way last week, with a trip down to Tampa. Some visiting with friends, some running and some working. I completed (barely) my third marathon, and am officially in marathon-distance retirement for the remainder of 2010. NOBODY will be able to talk me into doing another 26.2 in 2010. 2011? We'll see. In other (actually quite major) news, we're moving again. Without getting into the details of it all, we put our suburban abode up for sale in mid-December, had an open house in January, and sold it later that week. Debating on whether we wanted to do 2 smaller homes with an extremely long commute between them (2 hour flight, FYI), or another suburban home around here, we chose neither. After a lot of talking, a lot of stressing, a lot of panic attacks (me) and a lot of lists (I love lists!), we decided that we aren't really suburb-people, are overwhelmed by the work that needed to be done to this house (we're not fix-it people), and mostly overwhelmed with the day-to-day stuff to maintain a big house that just holds 3 people. When we bought it a couple of years ago, it really seemed like the right choice, but quite frankly, we've not had the visitors we figured we would have, nor did we have the future babies that we figured we'd have, and all we did was feel (self-inflicted) pressure to fill it up with crap. While we can walk a few places here, and that's fun for us, we've decided to downsize our (overly gluttonous, see aforementioned filling of the home) lives, and have purchased an adorable brick, 1800s (completely, brand-spankin'-newly renovated) row home in Baltimore's historic Federal Hill neighborhood. We love, love, love it there. We love the house, and we love even more, the idea of simplifying our life a bit, being able to walk to restaurants, the movies, the Inner Harbor, church, coffee houses, etc. Andrew currently spends part of his time in his company's HQ just outside of Baltimore as it is, and the majority of the developers he has on his projects are there full-time, so he'll have a couple good-length commutes to Chantilly each week, but nothing ridiculous, and he tends to get up early to get his work-day done early, as it is. He's lucky to have such a flexible job, and is now excited to start following some pod-casts during his commuting days. I've got an appointment in a few minutes, so you'll have to wait to see pictures of the awesomeness that is our soon-to-be-new-home. But, I'll try to post them a little later!  This is the addition, off of the back of the house. It'll be my workspace, as well as where B's art supplies and craft table ends up.  Kitchen. Duh. Out to the addition/study. You can't see it, but the door has gorgeous blue glass in it.  One view of B's room. I love, love, love that they kept the old mantel there. Clearly, we have no interest in having a fireplace in a pre-schooler's bedroom, but it's there if we wanted to cut that wall out...I plan to do something fun with books in that space.  Benjamin is a fan of his new room.  We are fully comfortable admitting that we're more patio people than yard people. We'll visit family, or just go to the parks to get our fix of grass. If you know of any good container garden blogs, send them my way, please! I've already got some great plans in my head for that!  And I know, it's a yucko basement, but I've always wished I had a laundry/utility sink, but have never had the space in a laundry area to have one...this makes me happy!  These are just a few shots that Andrew took while at the home inspection earlier this week. The ONLY thing not redone in the entire house is (thankfully, we love them!) the hardwood flooring throughout the house; which is from when it was originally built. It has new plumbing, electric, appliances, water heater, roof, etc. There were three bullet points on the home inspection, and they were just tiny little oversights that we easily could have fixed ourselves. So, anyhow, we're beyond excited, and have been working hard around here to get rid of the excess stuff that has been moved from state-to-state-to-state-to-state, and now back to state #3. It's amazing how great it feels to purge stuff; especially if it can be handed over to someone who really wants or needs it. I took a lot of baby gear, extra scarves, mittens, etc., and bags full of books to our local homeless shelter. They were so appreciated, and when I went back the next day with some more things, they volunteer told me that the books and winter apparel was all taken within 5 minutes after I left; which made my day. Anyhow, so when are you coming to visit us in the new place? We'll be settled by mid-April...just in time for some nice weather, I hope! ~Courtney posted at 10:24:54 AM Sule Aygoren (Sunday, March 14, 2010, 3:27:08 PM) Awesome, awesome house Court!! I love Baltimore. Amy (Saturday, March 06, 2010, 11:32:51 PM) Congrats on the move! I am very happy for you! holly (Saturday, March 06, 2010, 2:41:41 PM) whoa I just hallucinated I think..we need to catch up-SOON Stephanie (Saturday, March 06, 2010, 9:11:06 AM) It's been a while since I've checked you out here, but I am SO so happy to see this post. Literally, I have tears in my eyes for you guys. This is perfect for you all! Perfect!! katie (Friday, March 05, 2010, 12:27:20 PM) Oh wow - cool! Love the exposed brick in the kitchen! Congrats and welcome to Charm City! Elizabeth Humiston - Glover (Friday, March 05, 2010, 10:47:11 AM) ourgloverfamily.com LOVE IT!!! City living is the best! :) Jen (Friday, March 05, 2010, 8:26:42 AM) Looks beautiful. Glad you found something that will make your family happy. Also, good job on donating all that useful stuff! Anna (Thursday, March 04, 2010, 9:21:29 PM) I love it! The kitchen looks amazing and the entire place has so much character. Benjamin looks very happy in his new place. Leah (Thursday, March 04, 2010, 5:22:06 PM) Gorgeous! I just love it and can't wait to visit. Allison (Thursday, March 04, 2010, 5:05:33 PM) SO EXCITED!!!!! Ali (Thursday, March 04, 2010, 4:15:45 PM) alongtheausable Congratulations! Love love love the red door, exposed brick, mantel, and of course the utility sink! I'm on the container gardening thing... Beck (Thursday, March 04, 2010, 2:16:53 PM) So excited that you will be even closer to me! City playdates on tap for summer no doubt! xo Courtney (Thursday, March 04, 2010, 1:57:51 PM) T--I had one on someone's site the other day that had the word "skank" in it. I giggled. Love it. Tera (Thursday, March 04, 2010, 1:19:58 PM) No now!! Post now!!! Enough teases, Court! My word verification is plus jerks, hee hee. |
