{this & that} well hello there!

Sooooo………hi!

Did you think I disappeared?!  It has officially been 1 month + 2 days since my last post.  THE SHAME!  I don’t really have any good excuses, other than I just got busy and decided that I needed to take a bit of a break!  I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, my faithful readers!

Well what have I been up to?  Well…

• another trip to Vicksburg – this time it was for a whole week…I had every intention of posting but found too many other things to do while there to sit down and write
  

  the famous Illinois Monument on the Vicksburg Battlefield

• general Christmastime chaos! – not a good excuse, since so many of you bloggers were quite prolific around the holiday!
  

  we kept it VERY simple this year...just the tree and a few things on the sideboard

• biggest snowstorm in my life’s history! – we got 20-22″ of snow and it totally shut down DC for a few days…our cars were buried, so we buried in at home for a long winter’s nap of movies, baking, and vegging
  

  yes, that's a car under there!

• Christmas break with the family – I took a bit of a computer hiatus when with the family…and my Google Reader unread feed is proof of that!!!  Santa was far too good to me this year, giving me a new black purse to add to my J.Crew handbag addiction line-up, a few tops and cardis, bracelet, super comfy slippers, some new pressed glass pieces, a piece of family silver from a great aunt, a few design books, and the granddaddy of them all, a computer hand-built by Husband with Punch design software installed to design house layouts, rendered at lightning speed!  He is so good to me. 
  

  Husband BUILT - yes, built - me a computer to run CAD software!!!

• eardrum surgery!!! – I have had a hole in my eardrum for far too long and decided to finally get it fixed…which made for a really boring New Year’s Eve with me spaced out on Vicodin watching HGTV…I really hope it heals properly because it does not feel very good!  (no pics for this one, ha!)

And want to know what’s been taking up most of my mental time?!?!  Making the BIG HUGE MONDO decision to MOVE.  Yep, we’re moving. Husband was offered a job transfer so we’re taking the opportunity to escape the traffic and expense of DC for the slower pace and chance to *renovate!* down South.  Vicksburg, Mississippi, to be exact.

We close on this little cutie the end of this week!

a 1300 sq ft, 1920 cottage, just perfect for our first reno

I’ll be putting my new drafting skills and Husband-built computer to design a new floor plan, and I have image after image and idea after idea saved to incorporate into our first renovation!  It has original heart of pine floors, trim work, 2 mantles, brass and glass doorknobs, etc.  We can’t wait to dive in!  And of course I’ll be sharing it all here. 

So that’s that.  I have TONS of stuff to blog about, but please forgive me if it’s a bit scattered over the next few weeks as we get organized to move, finalize a renter, etc. etc. etc.  The amount of stuff we have to get done makes my head want to explode!

I’m excited to start our Southern adventure!