SOLD

Remember my pity party last week...what a difference a week makes. We put an offer on a house Monday night and they ACCEPTED it!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! The house has lots of charm, fantastic yard, right by the greenway/river and in our favorite neighborhood. We feel so blessed that we might be able to own this home...we will really celebrate after the appraisal and inspection come back.
I'm looking forward to starting this home-ownership journey with my husband. There will no doubt be some crazy stories as we tackle a few renovations in the next few months. Please note that I'm not handy, have no decorating sense and maybe even style...I can make a mean "to do" list though! Feel free to offer any suggestions or ideas!
Here's to praying everything goes well with the house.

Fatty Alert

This past weekend, we finally tried a new wine bar & bistro (Cru) with some friends. The food and wine were fabulous and a new favorite.

We all ordered a few items to share and made sure to get a variety. Mike gave into peer pressure and ordered chicken & waffles. I thought it would be disgusting...but I was def wrong. I tried a bite of his and it was actually pretty good. I couldn't handle more than one bite though. He probably just took a few years off of his life, but he said it was worth it.

He's back

My parents were nice enough to keep O'Malley for the past 10 weeks. We missed him terribly but knew he was better off living with them while we traveled.
This past weekend we went to Clemmons to pick him up...and thankfully he still remembered us :)
He is back to his old self...laying around and snoring while I work all day long! He has such a tough life.

PS- thanks for the texts and emails yesterday while I had a pity party for myself. I'm feeling much better about the house today and we got a lead last night for another one. YAY!

Disappointment #1

Mike and I have been house hunting for a while now and haven't had much luck (the selection in Knoxville is much different than Charlotte and we are probably too picky). We feel in love with a house right around the corner from our Charlotte friends, but it needed more renovations than I was willing to endure.

At the end of last week, we FEEL IN LOVE with a house that just went on the market. We actually knew the Realtor and he was kind enough to give us the first showing.
The house won us over- great neighborhood, old house with lots of charm, JUST completely renovated and we could close quickly.
We toured the house yesterday and then made an offer on the spot. There were 5 other showings yesterday but we still felt hopeful. We got a call last night that there was a full price offer-BOO. Going above the list price was out of our "comfort zone" seeing that we have 2 other mortgages. Thankfully we have wonderful renters right now but you never know what the future holds.

I am being "Debbie Downer" right now and plan to mope around all day. I know this happens all the time but I have never experienced the ups and downs of house hunting...guess I will get used to it!
I will put on my big girls pants tomorrow (maybe) and continue the house hunt.

Knoxville friends-If you know of any houses going on the market, let me know!

Breckenridge

Well, vacation is over the the real world is setting in...boo! We headed out to Breckenridge for a little winter vacation and all of us were blown away with the beauty of Colorado. (the last time I was in CO was the summer of 99 at Young Life camp)
We tried to take full advantage of the great weather and all Breckenridge had to offer. We skied, went snowmobiling, shopped, ate some great food, tried a lot of local beers and even found time to get massages. AMAZING!




We had one heck of a trip and are so thankful for the opportunity.

Yummy cookies

I have a bad sweet tooth and I blame it entirely on my dad. If you know my dad, he is always eating candy/cookies, buying them in bulk to store in the garage or mailing us sweets. Needless to say, my family has no shame eating desserts.

So it makes sense when I find a new sweet recipe, I have to try it immediately.
These cookies were a huge hit at a few parties we attended and we left with an empty plate.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 stick butter, softened/room-temp
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg (or flaxseed-egg)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips or peanut butter chips
  

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda.
3. In a medium bowl, mix sugars and butter till creamy. Add egg and vanilla and mix till combined.
4. Mix wet into the dry.
   
5. Gently fold chocolate chips into the dough, without over mixing.
6. Refrigerate dough for at least 20 minutes before using a small sorbet scoop to scoop out dough into small mounds. Roll each mound into a ball and spread evenly on a baking sheet.
7. Bake balls for 10-14 minutes, depending on how set you want your centers. (I baked mine about 11-12 minutes b/c I wanted them to be undercooked in the middle)

I like this recipe b/c it doesn't make a ton of cookies...maybe 15-20 cookies. ENJOY!

here is the original recipe.

Name

I found this picture the other day and it made me laugh. If you look really closely at the "A" koozie, you will be able to see my old initials.
Ever since college, I label everything with my name. I think after the guys (who will remain nameless) borrowed a few of my kitchen things and forgot to return them, I stamped my name on everything...excluding clothes.
It is actually funny to go through all my kitchen stuff and see Gibbs or Staton on everything. Yes, it is probably tacky but I don't care. Just one of my many OCD tendencies. You should feel guilty if you are reading this and you have something that says "Gibbs or Staton".