4 Months Later...

I'm happy to announce we've accepted an offer on our house! We close on the 24th of September and then we'll start off on our major road trip cross country. I'm very happy with getting an offer after 4 months on the market... especially with the way the housing market is right now. A shout out to Grandma and all her hard work, and also her side kick for taking care of all our open house signs and sharing all their real estate wisdom and experience with us.

All that's left to do is cross our fingers that the buyers loan goes through the bank and we close as planned.

Earlier when asked about moving if I'd miss this house I said no without hesitation. However, since I've been looking online at homes to buy in our new city, I'm reminded that it took alot of work to make our house look this good.

I do feel a little sad to leave it. However, I'm excited for projects in the next house, since I love decorating. I'm hoping to find a house that just needs a few cosmetic things-- like painting and decorating and gardening, not major projects like finishing our backyard which we did here. Plus, I'm a little tired of my red color scheme. I think there are red accents in almost every room. Moving is a good excuse to change it up at our next place. Anyhoo, I'm sure I have the next house fixed up just in time to move again, and the cycle continues.

Another Wash Weekend

Another great weekend in D.C. Friday night we got dinner and saw Batman. Then Saturday we spent downtown at the Spy Museum. It was amazing to see all the little gadgets on display from the ~50's. Definitely worth the $18 ticket. We got lunch at the California Tortilla, ice cream at Haggen Daz. Then we went down to Georgetown and took a boat ride on the Potomac to see the monuments from the River. We spent the evening shopping on King Street in Alexandria. It was a gorgeous old town. We ate dinner at the Austin Grill-- great chicken enchiladas. And found a bench on the busy dock, where we listened to a one-man-band, complete with his guitar, tambourine, drum, and harmonica. For one lively song we turned around to see the crowd clapping as 2 small kids were dancing up a storm to the music. We ended the day with another treat at Pop's Old Fashioned Ice Cream, mainly because I was doing the dance and felt obligated to make a purchase to use their restroom.

Sunday morning we went to the Francordia ward, in the Mount Vernon Stake (cool stake name). We ran into some old neighbors that moved to Virginia, small world isn't it. We spent the remainder of our day in Alexandria, in the photo above this appears to be an original door, only about 2 feet wide, in the middle of the row houses turned into small shops. Everything was so quaint and patriotic. The flags flying and knowing that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had walked some of the same streets. I especially liked being close to the water, and surprisingly enjoyed the humidity, which wasn't too bad this trip. Thanks so much to Jerry and Rose for watching the kids. While they were missed, I definitely enjoyed the break and the few days to spend with my handsome hubby.

What's in a Name?

On the news last night there was a clip about a new world record. While I can't remember the number, it was the record for the most people gathered together with the same name: Muhammed. It was quite a sight, over a thousand people I think. I've seen other fun human interest stories about gatherings of people with the same name, I think Jim Smith was one of them, with each one saying to the camera, "Hi, I'm Jim Smith," and they really were! So, having a fair amount of time on my hands, I decided to google my name in search of others out there who call this name their own. I must admit it was a fun search. I found a college student in Minnesota with a very funny blog about Dick Cheney-- she's obviously a democrat. A young realtor in Nebraska, and a famous soap opera star, who shares at least 2 of her 3 names with us.

This brings me to an episode of Seinfield. Elaine is dating a guy and is embarrassed because he has the same name as a serial killer. By the end of the show they're trying to come up with names for him to switch to, and neither of them can agree on a name. Its interesting that all of us are "named," we don't get to pick a name for ourselves. At least not usually. There are people like my sister who unconventionally changed her name to that of a heroine in a sci-fi novel she liked, while our family still calls her the name we're used to, she pretty much goes by 4 different names, or a combination of them.

I suppose most women still take their spouses name when they get married, which makes sense in order to distinguish families. I was quite happy to change my last name when I got married, not only does it sound nice, but I can let go of my old association and perception of myself that went with it. Occasionally I'll write out my old name when I doodle, and it feels foreign to me. It's an odd reminder that I'm not the same person I used to be.

While I don't think my name is common enough to break any records, I enjoyed discovering people with my same name. I thought about posting a little comment on a blog, but what would I say? "Just wanted to say hello to someone who has the same as me?" Ummm, I don't think so. While all people are unique, names are common, we might not be the "only one of us" out there. Just do the best you can with the name you have, and try to give the rest of those with the "same name" a good one.