Amanda goes to Washington

and Baltimore too as it turns out.

I actually frequent this part of the country with all the family in Maryland, but this trip was unrelated to visiting family. The lady that I babysit for regularly was participating in some conferences in Baltimore as well as DC and she had me come with her to help out with munchy-poo Robbie while she was unavailable.



So in an attempt to have as much fun as possible (which is always on my agenda) I met up with my oldest brother Rob, my sissy-in-law Dyan and two of my nephews, Robbie and Nick. We went to the national aquarium at the Inner Harbor on Saturday afternoon.



I was so amazed. Like seriously. I couldn't believe how cool this place was. Very much worth the ridiculous ticket prices. And since munchy-poo got along with Big Rob so well I really did enjoy it and wasn't making silly noises pointing to "fishy" the whole time... lol.





I was very very close to leaving my camera at the hotel because it's just a lot of extra weight to carry... esp since they didn't allow strollers in the aquarium... but I am so glad I took it along! I feel like I never take pictures anymore. and I always kick myself for it.













Being with the jellies I really felt like it was in a sci-fi movie. The blue picture of the jellies is sooc, nothing at all... crazy right?

Well, on Sunday we headed to DC and checked into our hotel mid morning. When Wendy's conference ended that afternoon we decided to trek it on over to the monuments and check out the Cherry Blossoms which I mentioned before I have not been able to make it to see during festival time.



Earlier on in the day they had some kite festival... and by the time we made it down there weren't many still flying... and because I didn't care to not blow out the sky, you can't actually see any of them flying. But they're there.





I think Robbie enjoyed the blossoms as much as we did ;) So nice to see a little one love nature.



And then there's me. Who loves nature, DC, turtles, lots of colors, my husby, venetian blinds and light bulbs in my laundry room.

Love,

today is the new tomorrow

I say that because it has taken me now like a week to get to "tomorrow" when I said I'd post more about how there is a giant U-haul parked in my parents' driveway...

Well thank goodness that is no longer a current statement... it's old news... because we now live in a house, not a U-haul. And for $30+ a day, I can find a pretty decent apartment to be livin in... the truck just didn't cut it ;P

And since today is the first day in almost 2 weeks I've actually had internet on my computer I'm finally catching up with a little of what I've missed! I've got a droid but it's hard to keep up with emails, facebook etc on it since the typing isn't the easiest. Back to my trusty rusty desktop ;) mmmmmalicious!

Anyways, here is the truck with the giant mushrooms on the side...



anyone know anything about the humongous fungus? I was like omg that's totes disgusting. TOTES people! (btw I just made myself barf a little just typing that word)



And heeeeere is a pic of the house! I will eventually post more nice ones, but everything is so disheveled right now... I just want to get off here and put some stuff away!



Oh ya, and that's me on the right side... wearing my bills hoodie with the hood up, because apparently it only ever rains and snows here now.

on buying a house

What would the house buying experience be if there wasn't a crazy story to go with it? I mean, for awhile things were going so smoothly that I was afraid we might make it through without a hitch and when the conversation started round the dinner table I might be met with blank stares as I explained, "well, when we bought our house, there were no problems. it was easy peasy. everything went as planned."

Well let me tell you how relieved I am to know that will never happen to me! I was starting to get worried...

When we wrote up the purchase offer agreement, it was stated that the closing date would be on or before April 18th. Now, although this is a nebulous date (moreorless) we were still told that it was ok to plan around it... and hopefully things would just fall into place.

Common problems not allowing us to close by then would most likely involve the bank, or some unfinished paperwork. So we decided to move out of our apartment on Sunday April 17 and stay overnight at my mom and dad's, close sometime Monday the 18th and then move in then and the next day.

On Sunday evening we went to the house for the final walkthrough... and found that the sellers had taken pre-posession of the house they are buying and were still in the process of moving out of our house but had no plans to close the next day.

At this point, we live in a U-haul.

Apparently, closing on the 18th wasn't convenient for them.

It's more convenient for them to have posession of both houses while they take their time to move.

So it's Tuesday night and we still have not closed.

The bank is ready. The lawyers are ready. We are ready. But the sellers, well, they're not.

What a great story right? I know, that's what I was thinking too ;)

Here's to hoping this all gets sorted out in the morning :) and I will have to dig out my camera from the bottom of my car and take a picture of the moving truck outside my parents house so you can see just how giant the humongous fungus from michigan is on the side of it.

I laugh so I don't cry ;)

catch-up

It's official... I am one of those non-blogger bloggers. You know, the ones you label as "friends who have blogs but never blog" in your reader... (well at least I have one of those labels, you don't?) I'm one of them! And I am not a happy camper. Where has all the mojo gone???

Also, this is one of my pet peeves, people who blog about how they never blog. Yep, I'm actually annoying myself right now by writing this. But who cares, if you didn't, you wouldn't be reading this... errr, I think.

Anyways, I think I will do a little catch up on here in bullet form.

- In January we started looking for a house... one to buy, not rent.

- We bought one.

- We're moving this weekend!

- I'm still babysitting part time.

- I almost never take pictures lately. Ugh... maybe because I hate sitting at my computer. I really think this is a valid point... my computer is in my most hated room of my apartment... and since most of the time I've lived here I've had to climb over boxes to get to it, I am just in no mood to take pictures I will feel guilty about letting sit in my camera.

- When we move, I will have a new office, all big and bright and just mine :) I can't wait!

- Last weekend I went to Baltimore and DC with the lady I babysit for. I watched the baby while she was at conferences and meetings. It was an adventure for sure and we did lots of fun things. Like, the aquarium at the inner harbor and also was able to make it to the tidal basin where the cherry trees are... AND the fact that it was actually cherry blossom festival time was like, a miracle. I've been going down there almost my whole life, wishing, hoping, waiting for the trip that would land during that time... but alas, it's always the week before or the week after.

- I actually DID take pictures of the weekend. Since I'm supposed to be packing and not blogging I only took time to pull one of them... but a goal for next week will be to do a few more so I can show off the super sweet aquarium... I dragged my camera along though I was *this* close to leaving it... I'm such an oxymoron!



- Yesterday I took two boxes into the kitchen thinking that would be enough to empty the cupboards of food. It took six. I am just amazed at how much stuff I have... and I really thought I did a good job of minimizing over the last year... just think if I hadn't.

- I tried playing pandora on my computer but the dang speakers weren't working properly. However I plugged them into my phone and they played just fine... so I'm wasting my battery by playing pandora on my phone while I sit in front of the computer...

- Oh! A couple months ago I set out to make some changes around here with our food. I wanted to cook a lot more than I was, because a) it's cheaper to cook and b) it's easier to control what's in your food if you cook it. And I have been loving this new adventure. I thought I did a pretty good job at cooking before, but now I feel like I'm doing a lot better. I meal plan a month in advance and buy everything besides perishables at the beginning of the month. This way I can budget more effectively... and this is all thanks to my friend Erin. She turned me on to this and I'm so glad!

- I've had some really amazing personal revelation lately... I haven't had so much direction in my life like pretty much ever. I am just blown away by a few things that have fallen into place and how it was that I hadn't ever seen it before!

- We're planning a bunch of traveling this summer, the next trip is to visit the inlaws in PA and our friends in MD. I'm very excited to see all of them, it's been quite awhile now.

I think that's all I have for now... til next time... and hopefully that doesn't mean in like 2 months lol