Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday, and as usual, she is working...but I hope she takes a few minutes to enjoy herself. It really is too bad that her birthday falls during tax season. It's always hard for her to relax from January to April. In honor of her birthday, I just wanted to share some of the things I love about her.

My mom is probably the busiest and most driven person I have ever met. Some days it really annoys me, especially when I see her stressed. I just want her to RELAX!! But most of the time, I am impressed and very proud of her. I have always sworn by the fact that Mom isn't happy unless she has 10 things going on. She wears many, many hats. How many people do you know that can juggle 4 different jobs- freelance writer/tax preparer/Taxpayer Advocacy Panel member/Chamber of Commerce employee- how does she find time to do all these jobs simultaneously?!

Mom and I have a very close relationship that has grown over the years. I know I can call her anytime and she's available to give advice (even if it's not what I want to hear) or just to listen. She is the first person I want to call when I have news, no matter how big or small. I value her opinion greatly. That's not to say we haven't had our differences...we can fight like the best of them! There have been days where I'm ready to rip her head off, and I am positive she would say the same about me. We may not talk for a couple days...or even weeks, but things always go back to normal. We always start talking again as if nothing happened. Mom, I hope you know that no matter what, no matter how many times we fight and say things we don't mean, you are one of my best friends and I love you dearly. I love that she has turned into a friend and not just a mom.

I am grateful for the fact that she pushes all her kids to be better people. She has always believed in me, no matter what...and she helps me out in whatever ways she can. I can count on her to proofread anything...and as a result, have it sound 10 times better than it started. She has a true gift with words. I wish I was as clever! And I can recall many late nights with her, whether it was making a prom dress for me, or helping me scrapbook. She sees the fun side of things, and is always up for a good time. She can talk to anyone, and often lights up the room with her stories. Mom is definitely hard to ignore!

She has pushed me to explore the world, both with hosting exchange students as well as giving me the opportunity to study and travel abroad. I attribute my love of travel to her. Like me, Mom is always up for a trip...be it a short drive or an overseas adventure. We have traveled all over the world together, from mountains to oceans to big cities, Paris to Dublin to Santiago. And I have truly enjoyed every place we've been together- mostly because she loves exploring and adventure. She is game to try anything, and I am happy I take after her in that respect! I'm looking to traveling abroad with her again sometime.

So here's to you on your birthday, Mom! I love you!

Some pictures that highlight Mom's adventurous spirit:

Roses!

I have the sweetest boyfriend! After asking me the night before if he had to get me flowers for Valentine's Day (to which my answer was, of course, no...especially when we are trying to save up for a home!), guess what showed up at our door? A vase full of beautiful roses. I am normally not that into Valentine's Day, but any day you get flowers delivered to you is an OK day by me! Though, they almost didn't make it inside- I don't like to open my door to strangers when I'm alone in the apartment. Good thing the delivery driver had my phone number! :) Thank you so much, Will! I love the flowers, and I love you, too!






On a completely different note, I had some fun the other night decorating snickerdoodles with leftover frosting from the cookie cake I made for the Super Bowl party a couple weekends ago. I don't see cake (or cookie) decorating in my future, but I thought I'd post a pic of them here to demonstrate my ever-improving baking abilities. Maybe next time I will try to bake something more impressive- like a souffle! But probably not, seeing as I don't really like the texture.

As you can probably tell from some of the phrases on the cookies- I am not the best at picking words or phrases to use. 'Hello!', 'Yo', and 'Don't eat me' aren't really that common. But it's the best I could think of at the time!

House Hunting

Last Sunday Will and I took advantage of the gorgeous weather and went house hunting! Well, really condo hunting. We checked out several condos right downtown. They. Were. Awesome. After looking at a couple highrises, we are pretty excited to live in one. They have such great ammenities (like 24 fitness centers, "party rooms", 24 hour concierge, and swimming/grilling decks) and most of the places we looked at have amazing views. Highrises are a new concept in Nashville, so these places are brand new developments, and the developers are eager to get their units sold! This means some great deals are out there. We are leaning more toward condos at the moment, mainly because we think it would be fun to live right downtown while we are young and have no "extras" to worry about. And in 5 years or so, we can move on to a house and (hopefully) use our condo as a rental property. We are getting very, very excited to move, and looking at places has made it all that much more real! We are starting to see the urgency of moving on the places we like, too. 2 of the units we really liked are already under contract. I'll be sure to keep you posted- hopefully we'll be moving sooooooon!

Hello! Not much to blog about lately, but some good news!

After several months of taking quick, cold showers due to the small amount of hot water we had, we finally replaced the heating elements and low and behold- we have hot water! Glorious, wonderful hot water. I no longer have to decide whether to wash my hair or shave my legs...I can do both in the same shower!

I know I complain about this apartment a lot. It's really not that bad of a place (minus the leaking when it rains hard), but being able to take a nice long, hot shower makes it sooo much better. In all honesty, I'm pretty proud of the work we've done to get the place into the shape it is. It's not perfect, but definitely presentable. Maybe someday soon we'll put doors on the bathroom!