Update: The Congratulations Edition!

Congratulations to Meredith and David -they're having a girl! I was so sure it was a boy... Only 20 more weeks until we get to meet her!

The Congratulations Edition!

With all the packing/moving/packing/trips to Home Depot/packing we've been doing lately, I've neglected to share so much good news recently! Here goes:

Congratulations to Michelle and Richard Barnett! They are expecting a baby in November, and the law school crowd is so excited! Baby Barnett and Baby Dinkins (Meredith's baby) will be only a few months apart in age.

Contratulations to Kate Sallwasser and Michael Cordell. Kate is my dearest childhood friend, and she is getting married! I don't have the details yet, but I think the wedding will be next year, in April or May. Rumor has it that her little brother Charlie (who probably goes by Charles now) is getting married at around the same time. I'll be sending very good thoughts to their mother, Susan, as she plans two weddings!

Congratulations to Jessica Harris Telligman! Jess has hung out her shingle in Winston-Salem and is working for herself. She is joining the ranks of the solo law practitioners, and I know she is going to be a huge success!

Quote of the Day

By Christopher Morley - "There is only one success, to be able to spend your life in your own way, and not to give others absurd maddening claims upon it."

We are NOT boring!

Toby and I can still officially hang. We had a blast night night at the Stage, and could not believe that we hadn't been there in 10 months! A few things I learned:

1. Toby gets sweetly sentimental about the honky-tonking event we had a few days before our wedding. He's right, it was an awesome evening! I remember at the time thinking how Toby and his family were truly "in their element" - having a great time, laughing, being silly (mostly Toby), when they were so "out of their element" - in an American honky-tonk!

2. If you are the only woman in a six person country/rock band, you are one awesome chick.

3. If you are a musician who refuses to wear shoes while you perform but instead puts down a bathmat to stand on, you are not cool.

4. Old ratty army-brown undershirt + bedazzled rhinestones = suitable attire for a lead singer.

5. Don't forget your credit card when you leave. Oops.

Packing, Packing and More Packing

Toby and I have been packing for our move. Packing and packing and packing. One might wonder - How much stuff can one couple own, especially when half of that couple has only been in this country for four years? A shocking amount.

By now we're pretty bored with the packing process, and we still haven't resolved certain differences in our individual theories of packing. Not only are we bored, I'm afraid we're quickly becoming boring!

We're determined to stop the progression into being boring, so we're going out tonight (unless the weather continues to predict tornados) to paint the town red. We haven't been to the Stage in almost a year, and since we will be too far for a cab ride home when we move to Franklin, we're going to make the most of it tonight.

Next Saturday night we're going to Carnton for a ghost tour. I really hope we don't see any ghosts. Toby hopes we see lots of ghosts, and he recently "reminded" me that I agreed to go on the ghost tour after our wedding. I think what I really said was that I refused to go on the ghost tour before the wedding, because if we saw any ghosts at Carnton, we were going to have to find a new location. I was not sharing our wedding with ghosts.

So wish me luck next Saturday - I think I'm going to need a pre-ghost tour glass of wine.

Welcome Home Garrod!

Garrod arrived home from Africa over the weekend, and we are so happy for his safe return. He had been away since the beginning of January, working with Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). He was based in South Africa, working with refugees from Zimbabwe.

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/zimbabwe

Toby's mum must be so relieved and happy to have her husband back home with her! I'm hoping that once Garrod is rested, he'll write a guest post about his trip that I can post here. Keep your eyes open!

Goodbye to the condo

We closed on the sale of our condo today! It is great news, and we are so amazed that we were able to sell it so quickly.

Of course, as probably to be expected, I've been having mixed feelings this week. I mean, this is MY house. (Yours too, Toby, but mostly mine. ) I bought it when I was 25, very single, and needed a yard for Sadie. It had carpet worthy of a cheap hotel or cruise ship, navy wallpaper and dark gray paint everywhere. Oh, and a cow skull of some kind in the yard. I had so much help painting from mom and good friends. I screened in a deck, learned how to tear up old carpeting all by myself, and basically grew into a real adult in that house. Its also where I nervously got ready for all my dates with Toby, and where we planned our wedding.

Now that we've signed the papers and I have had a nice talk with the house about why we're leaving and how much she (yes, the house is female) is going to like the new owner, I'm going to try to focus on the things that I will NOT miss about the house.

For example - crazy neighbor behind us who cut down all 30 of his old, gorgeous trees; assorted other neighbors; needing a key to get my mail; lack of garage or outside storage; sharing a wall with a neighbor (even if she is really nice); white Sadie hairs on black tile floors; stairs that need vacuuming; being president of the HOA; and beige cabinets with black and white tile floors.

I think I'll feel much better when we close on the new house and move in at the end of April.