No news!

She counter offered yesterday at the deadline; we counter offered back.  She has until today at noon to let us know if she is going to accept our final offer.  This waiting game is NOT fun, and the thought of going house hunting again doesn't thrill me either.  Hopefully she will accept it though- it's a great house!!! 

I'll update later!

PS- How funny was Jim's quote last night?  "Yes I'm the popular networking site known as BookFace."  Hysterical and SO Jim.  And how creepy was Andy when he kissed Pam's belly?  Ewwwww.........  Though he slightly redeemed himself when he mentioned that he just really wanted a wife and kids.  He would be a great, incredibly dorky yet oh so fun, dad. 

Updates..............

Most of my birthday day was spent organizing paperwork to get approved for a mortgage loan. LOTS and lots of paperwork involved (and I'm truly not as organized as I should be!). I did get a pedicure later in the afternoon, and it was wonderful!! I should have written down the color I picked because I love it.  It's the perfect mix of wine and berry with a hint of shimmer.  A great fall color.  We have a black tie wedding this Saturday, and I think this color will look great peeking out from my shoes!

B came home from work, I opened my presents (jewelry and Tory Burch heels that are amazing!!), we went to see our friends ultrasound pictures, and then went downtown to dinner at Wildfire.  I must get steak on my birthday, and we had a gift certificate that needed to be used asap, so it worked out well for us to go there.  The dinner was great and it allowed us time to talk about the houses we saw, the paperwork we needed to complete, and our offer we wanted to put in.  We were easily preapproved for a mortgage, and we've got enough for a down payment, so it's really just gathering all the crazy paperwork that is going to be the hard work.  It's good for me though- forces me to continually purge unnecessary paperwork and file old paperwork that is necessary. 

Tuesday night at 10 p.m. we actually put an offer in on a house!  I can't believe it.  It's a wonderful house in a great school district (I don't want to jinx anything so I'm not posting pics yet).  We didn't hear ANYTHING yesterday, so needless to say we're both a little frustrated.  The seller has to get back to us by noon today, so we'll see what she counter offers with (or if she counter offers).  Apparently another family went yesterday for a showing, so we think she's holding out as long as she can in case they also put in an offer.  Once we hear anything, I'll let you guys know!  And, if we get it, I'm going to need some major decorating help (so much fun!!), so we'll definitely have lots of blog posts about that :)  Wish us luck today!! 

Happy Birthday to Me!

photo from flicker- lemon and strawberry cake; two of my favorite flavors!!

Today is my birthday!!  Yea!  I am home today (working on a TON of paperwork- blah) and waiting for my darling husband to get home so that we can go have a great dinner downtown.  Before our dinner we are stopping over at our friends' house to see their 20 week sonogram which they are having done this afternoon.  New babies are so exciting, don't you think?  We had a good weekend house hunting- details to come later in the week :) 

Have a wonderful Monday!!

Big News and Future Changes!

Last year, B started looking for a new job, and we had focused our search not only on the midwest, but even more specifically in Michigan.  Yes, it makes a lot of sense to move in the middle of an economic downturn to the financially worst state in the country (doesn't it?)................................    Unfortunately nothing really panned out, and he ended up taking a new job in the Chicago suburbs in early July.  After awhile, he realized that his job was something that could be done from home- few meetings, everything done on the phone or via email, his boss lives and works in Dallas, etc.  He encouraged me to apply for my dream job in Michigan figuring that if the interviews went well, he would talk to his boss and see what would progress from there.  Well, the great news is that I had two interviews for this job and was offered the position at the beginning of this month!!!!!!!  It's an awesome job, one that I'm quite knowledgable in, and the others in the practice are wonderful.  I cannot wait to start!  I am currently waiting for licensure and then have to go through hospital credentialing, so, if all goes well, I'll start in December (though it could be January). 

The discouraging news is that B's company "restructured" last week and his job is not as secure as we thought.  We will be okay for awhile, but we're definitely looking into other options asap.  The new boss he would have had in the restructuring isn't wonderful (at best!), so even had we stayed in Chi-town, he would have been looking for something else anyway.  We've decided just to go for the new and not look back on other possibilities.  We both REALLY want to be in Michigan, and we'll just have to figure things out as we go along.  I'm so glad we are good with money and saving because we know we have a huge cushion to work with which makes this whole thing a lot less intimidating.  This makes not buying all the frivolous purchases that I've dreamt of over the years truly worth it.

We're heading up there on Friday night to house hunt for the weekend.  We've got two main school districts we're looking into and quite a list of houses to go through on Sat and Sunday.  Our realtor said no more than 8 houses per day- that's 5 hours each day of house "shopping" as B likes to call it.  I think that will be plenty!!  We're also going to see his wonderful cousin and a friend of mine who just got her dossier on her new TWIN baby boys that they are adopting from Africa!  It should be a wonderful weekend in our soon to be new hometown! 

Junebug's newest friend

My mom and Ralph adopted a Weimaraner dog from the shelter a few weeks ago.  He is two and a half and still a very active dog.  In fact, the reason he had been at the shelter for so long is because of his energy level- many people really couldn't handle him.  My mom and Ralph are both retired and both very active (Ralph runs 6-8 miles a day and mom is an outdoor enthusiast/gym rat in her own right), so Orion was the perfect dog for them.  They've loved having him so far, and it was a great time having Junie, Orion, and Bella (my brother's dog) all around to play together.  Junebug has never slept so well in her life as she did last weekend.  She was just so frickin exhausted!!!  Lovely for us :) 

Orion on the L and Junie on the R

Junebug in the car feeling the breeze

One cute pup!

Fall Colors!

We had a great weekend up north.  We hiked the ski hills with my mom, Ralph, their new dog and Junebug, took lots of long walks, raked Gram's huge yard (raking is my favorite outdoor "chore"), ate great meals, and enjoyed time with the fam.  Today was a LONG car ride home (over 7 hours- normally 6), but worth it for such a great weekend.  B is out tonight at the Wilco concert with some of his friends- he's going to be a tired boy in the morning :) 

Here are some pics we took while we were up there- enjoy!!

I have zero photoshop skillz, so these are (obviously) untouched, but still give you a sense of how gorgeous it was!  I hope you all had a great fall weekend as well!!

Working for the weekend!

Tunnel of Trees in Harbor Springs

Today is day three of three at the hospital, and I'm so glad that in 10 hours I'll be done for the week! Tomorrow after B gets home from work, we're hopping in the car for our annual fall weekend up north. The leaves are at their peak right now, and it's not supposed to rain at all, so it should be beautiful up there! Bestie, S, is riding along with us to see her parents for the weekend as well. Even though we won't arrive until after midnight tomorrow, it's so worth it to wake up Friday morning knowing we have the whole day.

Some of our weekend plans include:
*Meeting mom and Ralph's new dog, Orion (they got him from the shelter last week after walking dogs at the shelter for 2 months. They totally fell in love with him!)
*Hiking the ski hills at Nubs Nob with the dogs- great exercise for us and the dogs (hopefully some good photo ops too)!
*Eating Boston Cream Pie for dessert on Friday night while celebrating my birthday. (Doesn't this look delish? I can't wait to try it!)
*Golf (for B and my brother at  Crooked Tree.  Simply fabulous fall colors on this course.)
*Either shopping downtown or heading into Bay Harbor for the Harvest Festival
*Lunch at at least one of my favorite restaurants (Gurney's, Flatiron Deli, or Roast and Toast)
*Running with S on Sat morning to burn off the cake from the night before
*Champagne toast to celebrate B's marathon victory (hey, he placed 18,000 and something out of 33,000 runners- that's definitely not last place, so it's a huge victory!)
*Etc,etc,etc........

The high the weekend is only 52 (and that's the day we leave!).  BRRRRRR!  It's going to be chilly!  I'll just have to pack warm clothes, heavy socks, and a cute scarf to keep me warm!  I'm not going to let it bother me on bit though!  We'll just have to exercise a bunch to stay warm and snuggle with the pups when we're indoors! 

Tell me about your weekend plans- pumpkin patch, apple picking, decorating the house for Halloween, baking, shopping for layers or new boots???  Keeping up in blogland will be tough after Thursday afternoon, so lay it out for me now! 

He did it!!

Brrrrrr........marathon morning got off to a chilly start here in Chi town. It was only 38 when Blair left the house. I think the high only got to around 47!! Yikes! Luckily, though, he prefers cold weather to warm, and he was really happy about the race conditions. I saw him at mile 8 where I waited with friends, again at mile 16 where I ran with him for about 3 minutes to fish the advil out of my bag, and gave him a huge hug at the end of the race. I waited at mile 20 for him for about a 1/2 hour, but totally missed him. I was bummed because I knew that was going to be the hardest stretch of the race. However, he did great anyway! He knew he could finish in 4:40, but his ultimate goal was 4:30. He ended up at 4:29:45. 15 seconds ahead of his goal time. He did say that he really picked it up for about the last two miles because he knew he was within reach of his goal. Can you imagine trying to run faster 24 miles in? Uggg. But he totally did it! He said yesterday was one of his top 5 days ever- isn't that awesome??? I did clarify to make sure our wedding day was on that list (it is!). After we got home (2ish) he showered, and we made our way over to a local pub for burgers and beers with friends. It was nice to celebrate with other people! He was sore last night, but he's in much worse condition this a.m. I'm glad he has the massage apt for this evening. I hope it will really help him get fully stretched and relaxed. The advil he popped all day yesterday (and I'm sure today) should help his sore knees! Any post-race advice is welcome!! I am SO proud of B. Truly, all his hard work, dedication, and desires were thrown out there for the world to see yesterday, and he nailed it! It's just awesome to see someone you love do well at something they have worked so hard for. Is this what all the mom's out there feel like when their little ones accomplish new skills or their older ones hit the winning home run? Seriously, it's the best!! I'll try to post pics when I can! I hope you all had equally exciting weekends and that you can find something that happened that makes you so thankful to be alive! It's going to be a crazy week here but I won two giveaways that I'm going to give a shout out for and I have some fun news to announce as well!

It was SO good!

I definitely cried, though not nearly as much as I expected to.  It was so much funnier than I expected it to be that my tears were replaced with out and out laughing!  The picture below set off the funniest part of the whole episode- I mean Nard Dog with a walker?  Dwight kicking the bridesmaid?  Hysterical!

I just loved it SO much.  We'll keep this one on the DVR for lazy Friday nights when we need a good laugh.  I've seen on a few of your blogs that you also loved it!!  Were you all just actively cringing during the rehearsal dinner when they were trying to cover up the pregnancy from Meemaw?  I just felt for them!!  SO awkward!

                                                                                                                                                           

In other news, B runs the marathon on Sunday!  I can't wait to cheer for him.  I'll be at miles 8, 16, 21, and then end (though I will be after the finish line).  Hopefully his training will pay off and he'll be incredibly proud of himself at the end.  It's all I'm praying for!  I'll post on Monday with all the details.  We've got a brunch date tomorrow morning, the expo after that, and the Michigan game tomorrow night.  All three should be low-key enough that he'll be able to stay off his feet for most of the day and allow him to get completely rested before the big day! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!!  Hopefully it'll be nice where you live and you can enjoy the fruits of the fall!  If you have apple cider or a cider doughnut, savor a bite for me!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm SO excited for tonight!!  Anyone there with me?  I know I'm going to cry and laugh my way through the whole episode (a full HOUR!!).  How precious is it that you can see her baby bump underneath her dress?  Perhaps not the most kosher thing in real life, but I'm loving that they're going to have a baby together!!  I just adore Jim and Pam!!

My favorite Olay products

Oil of Olay...............the pink lotion that smells good. Is that what you are envisioning? It certainly was that way for a long time. Slowly it advanced over the years and now is downright good. In my family, Gram uses Olay, Mom uses Olay, who am I to break the trend? My three favorite Olay products are listed below, and I adore them all!


The Definity Penetrating Foam Cleanser is the only product I've tried from the Definity line, and I am loving it. It has teeny-tiny microexfoliation beads within a mousse like cleanser. I love the foam, I love that the exfoliation isn't too harsh, and I really like the smell. I usually buy whatever face wash is on sale (as my skin is not sensitive or dry and it's only on my face for about 30 seconds in the shower), but I'll be a repeat customer for this one!



The Regenerating Serum from the Regenerist Line is my favorite of all the products. I have definitely noticed a difference in my skin's texture since using this regularly. It's smoother, softer, and I'm hoping it will keep the wrinkles at bay! In the summer when it's really hot and I'm sweaty, I'll use it as a serum/moisturizer. The gel like formula doesn't sweat off or feel too heavy. In the winter, I'll add a lightweight moisturizer over top for the daytime. I tend to only use this in the mornings, not twice a day. I picked up the jumbo size bottle at Costco, and it lasts forever!!


The Micro-sculpting cream has gotten rave reviews in a lot of magazines, and I'm here to tell you, believe them! It's a wonderful nighttime cream, and, again, I've really noticed a difference in fine lines since using it. It's definitely cheaper than a lot of the other high-end names out there and it works just as well. Plus, there are always coupons for $5 off in the Sunday paper. At $20/pop you simply must try it out for yourself and see if it works for you! I seriously love this stuff!

I just ran out of eye cream and need to pick up a new one. I've read good things about the eye cream from the Definity line, so will probably try that next unless one of you out there has another great one for me. The only other thing I'd like to add to my skin care regimen is a Vitamin C containing product. Does anyone have one to recommend? I've heard good things about Skin Medica- does anyone use this brand?

It's a must read!!

The Preppy Apron couldn't put it down, and I couldn't either.  B is currently reading, and we'll see how much he likes it!  It was definitely Dan Brown's writing- very similar to Angels and Deamons and The DaVinci Code, so if you liked those, you love this one as well!!  It's a great book for a rainy fall Saturday morning cuddled up on the couch with a throw and a puppy and a PSL.  You'll end up reading until bedtime (with an interruption for your favorite college football team, of course!). 

Homemade apple sauce

photo found on flickr- forgot to take my own!

I made bbq ribs the other night in our stovetop smoker (AMAZING registry gift!), and I decided that a homemade applesauce would be a perfect accompaniament to the ribs.  Little did I know that we should all be making homemade applesauce all the time.  Ladies, it's so frickin easy, and so much better than the canned variety in the store.  The hardest part is peeling the apples.  I did just read on a website that many people leave some of the skin on because it allows the sauce to have even more flavor and color, so that'll save me time this week when I make this again.

I used Jonathan apples for my sauce, and they were delish.  They are a sweeter apple so it required using much less sugar than some of the recipes on the web called for.  According to www.pickyourown.org/apples, the varieties they recommend for sauce include

Gala

McIntosh

Jonathan

Golden Delicious

Jonagold

Jonalicious

Melrose

Winesap

Fuji

I wouldn't use my beloved Honeycrisp for this purpose as I've used them in other baking projects, and I thought they ended up mushy, watery, and just not good.  I'm going to combine a few different apples this week to see how that changes the flavor.

I peeled 6 smaller sized apples, cut them into wedges and put them into a sauce pan with 1/4 c water, 1/4 c sugar, 1 1/2 tbsps butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves (to taste).  Many recipes I saw called for at least 1/2 c sugar, but this would have made the sauce way too sweet, in my opinion.  I would definitely start out on the lower end of the sugar spectrum and add more if you need it.  One of the reasons to pick the apples above is that they are all sweeter apples and the flavor is brought out even more when reduced. 

Place the heat on medium and reduce the ingredients for 15- 30 minutes or until soft.  I used a potato masher to mash mine, but you could just as easily use a food processor.  You'll want to leave some texture to the sauce, so don't purree it too finely.  If you do leave the skins on, make sure any of the larger pieces of skin are processed or discarded before serving as a huge piece of apple skin isn't the most appealing on a plate.  When I make it again this week, I'll be using a much larger bunch of apples, as our sauce didn't even make it to leftovers!   

If you do make a big batch, there are many, many uses for leftovers:  on top of oatmeal for breakfast, as a sauce for pancakes or waffles, over vanilla ice cream for dessert,  as baby food, for lunch the next day, as a topping for Greek yogurt, as an accompniament to pork tenderloin, as a filling for apple turnovers (yum!) etc.  I'm sure you guys can fill me in on any other ways you think it sounds good! 

Let me know if you make some!  I'd love to know which apples you used and if you liked it or not.  Also for those of you out there who love using the slow cooker, I found a few recipes out there when I was searching.  They sounded good, and if you have a fall party of some sort, this would be a great way to get at least one thing off the stovetop!

Scent of Fall

I adore the Autumn Wreath scented candle from Yankee Candles.  It's absolutely a perfect scent for fall and winter.  Spicy, warm, cozy (can a smell be cozy?).  B even likes it; it's not a super feminine scent.  Ours is almost gone from being burned so much last years, so I need to head out an pick another one up asap!

Since I'll be out candle shopping, does anyone have any other scents or candles to recommend?  I can't do anything that is super florally (they can give me a headache), but I'd love to know what you use around the house!

October!

Photo from www.staffords.com

Oops!  I missed October's beginning yesterday!  I just adore this month.  It's a glorious time of year.
My favorite things about the month are:
1.  My birthday (the 26th!)
2.  Pumpkin and apple flavored anything
3.  Getting out my sweaters and my riding boots
4.  Annual trip to Petoskey to see my family and for B to play golf (such good deals and gorgeous color along the lake)
5.  My new fall haircolor- I went darker (just slightly) and I really like it
6.  Being chilly when it's bedtime and having a cozy bed to snuggle into
7.  The changing of the leaves
8.  Raking!!!!  It's definitely my favorite fall "chore".  The air is crisp, the leaves make great noises, it's great exercise, and it feels so productive.
9.  Seeing people decorate their houses for fall and Halloween.  I love seeing pumpkins out lining walkways, mums in planters, spooky cobwebs in windows.  It doesn't thrill me as much as Christmas lights, but it's a close second!
10.  My birthday (did I mention that already??)!!  Apparently B has my gift already purchased, so I won't be going through a "things I would like to receive post".  It must be good if he got it 2 months early!!

What do you LOVE about October?