So long, Plano!

We've been living in a lovely house (read: grown-up fancy-pants neighborhood in far too large a house) that we got a STEAL in rent on since July 2008. What Brian and I will forever refer to as the glory days are about to end. Truly, God blessed us with a really great deal for a while, and we got to pretend that this large and in charge home was ours. Alas, all good things come to an end- the owners want the house back...

Here's the really frustrating part- the owners don't want to live in the home. They've been working/ living abroad for the last 5 years, and they just want to live in the house temporarily until they find a different house to buy. Should take them 2-4 months, but, that means we have to move out. SERIOUSLY!?!?! (While it sure isn't the appropriate WWJD attitude, if you feel the need to avenge the demise of our really awesome rent deal, I wouldn't hate it if you left a flaming bag of dog poo on their front porch after we're gone... just kidding... kind of...)

While we were extremely upset and peeved for a while, finding a new home to move in to has really relieved some stress, and helped us transition into acceptance. Since I do some work for a real estate company, I've been able to stalk the MLS 'For Lease' listings. We'd looked at 7-9 houses last week, and on a whim, Brian checked Zillow before we went to bed last Friday night. He found a listing not associated with any real estate company, and we called the owner on Saturday morning. After seeing the home on Saturday afternoon, Brian and I were in agreement that this was probably the best deal we were going to find. (Everything that we were looking at was more expensive than we have been paying, and not nearly as nice.)

We put a deposit down on Wednesday night, and will be moving back to McKinney on or before July 1. Looking back, my first and second blog posts were about moving into our Plano house. I wrote about how sad we were to be moving further from church and life group friends, so it is exciting to be moving back closer to those important ties. But. Some of our dear friends just very recently moved to Plano, so moving away from them is hard.

Alas, McKinney, here we come! Again! I don't have any actual pictures of my own yet, but I got on Google Maps and got a screenshot of a satellite picture.



Pretty trippy that I could do that! I guess this picture was taken around Christmas, because I think those are Christmas decorations out front...

Anyways, that's what is new with us! We're excited!

Sorry, Charlies...

I get really frustrated when I follow a blog (ahem, stalk people via their blogs) and they don't update frequently enough. Funnily enough, I'm so often guilty of committing this blogging sin. However, don't for ONE SECOND think that I'm not blogging at all. In fact, I'm blogging for a living these days!! I am solely responsible for creating content on the following blogs, which you're welcome to visit if you're longing to read my words:

Creekview Realty
For Sale by Owner Homes
Creekview Realty's Trulia Blog
Fresh Look Creative
And, um, this one

Add in tweeting and other geeky stuff, and the last thing I can seem to get around to is blogging for myself. Which is unfortunate, because this is an amazing outlet for me.

So, to catch up, I turned 28 a few weeks ago. Really isn't that old unless you have a 22-yr-old brother, and you're constantly reminded exactly how old you are as he discusses his life with you and asks you questions like "What do you mean, you didn't do anything on Friday night? You went to bed at 10:30pm???!?!? I saw the sun come up and then ran a marathon at 7am!" (Not really on the marathon part, but seriously, he makes me feel really, really old.)

We celebrated by eating a cross cake, made by this guy...



This is Christy's hubby, Johnny. He loves to bake cakes. And I love him for that. (Oddly enough, this isn't a picture of him baking my cake. I went to find a picture of him on his Facebook page and discovered this one. He will be thrilled I'm sharing it with you...)

Oh, and the cross cake... My b-day was on Easter, so me and Jesus shared the cake, symbolically. ;-)

We also celebrated by purchasing a loveseat to take the place of the red/pink/flowerdy monstrosity that currently resides in our living room, which I have owned since I was 21, and found in the Thrifty Nickel. It was time to say goodbye. We don't actually have it yet, but here it is....



We didn't get the whole room, just the loveseat.

In other news, I'm a Godmomma!!! I know, I was excited too... ;-)

Clara Violet Boyle was born on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 to Brooke (my bestie) and Alan Boyle.



Don't you just want to eat her face??!?!?! She's the most adorable baby ever!!! I'll see her (in person- we've been video chatting like mad people...) in May when I go for her baptism, so get ready for a ton of pictures!!

I think that's it!! Forgive my prolonged absences- I miss you guys!

"This Will Change Your Life!!"

This post is probably not going to be what you expect when you think of 'life changing'. It will be better.

Recently, I've started saying "This will change your life!" when I'm eating a really tasty food. I don't know when or how this started, but I've noticed it, so I'm sure other people have noticed and think I'm insane. Here, in no particular order, are foods that have "changed my life" recently. (You know, changed my life in a way other than adding an extra five pounds here or there...)

The chocolate mousse cake Erin brought to work yesterday

These potatoes that I made the other day (don't skimp on the olive oil. trust me.)

Chicken Pad Thai from Tamarind

The FREAKING amazing corn bread that Lindsay made on Saturday (Oh. My. Lord.)

My mom's spaghetti recipe she recently found. Don't know why she couldn't have found it before I moved 7 hours away, but whatever.

This banana pudding. It's more unbelievable than the recipe seems.

The pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes that Amanda makes. She makes them with FRESH pumpkin. I didn't even know that was possible. Really, folks, these will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. (She also uses regular sized chocolate chips. That's important, I think.)

Well, I'm officially ready for food at 9:45am. What food changes your life? Or, you know, what food do you really, really like? (I know that not ALL of you are drama queens like SOME people.)