Thought I’d pop in to say hi.
HI!
And maybe give an update on some things going on in my world lately.
I am still looking for a job. Now that Linden is almost 7 months old (can you freaking believe that?), I’m not as set on part-time work. While it’s going to be hard and a big change, I think I’m ready to take the plunge back into big girl career world. If anything, because I miss that side of myself. I miss the feeling of completing work tasks, of meeting goals, of talking in a non-baby voice (ha ha!). I want to feel like I’m contributing something to the greater good again (besides raising a wonderful human being, of course). I’ve had a few interviews — and a few rejections. Which I took just fine, because right now my attitude is sort of…great, more pool time for us this summer! I had a phone interview for a serious big girl job on Monday at C’ville’s biggest tourist attraction and I feel like I totally bombed it. Without going into details about how I got the interview, let’s just say I’ve already met the person I interviewed with…so it wasn’t SO horrible, but I’m not terribly hopeful. They had 250 applicants.
Meanwhile I do flowers.
Thank god for my mama giving me this work! I can bring Linden, she makes me lunch, gives me a beer when I’m stressed that L won’t nap, pays what I made at my last job (hourly)…and I enjoy the catharsis of putting together arrangements. It’s currently a win, if you ask me!
We bought a pass to Shenandoah National Park and on Sundays we hike and then after go to Blue Mountain Brewery for beer and food. It’s a really great place to take kids and their pizza is THE BOMB, but it kills me that I can’t eat it. Yes, I’m still off the dairy. While it sucks serious balls to have such a restricted diet, I have to say, I feel pretty good. It’s really forced me to eat less processed foods.
Linden and I are definitely in our daily groove. Most days involve a walk (or a run – we’ve been running on the Monticello trail, seen below. It’s almost 2 miles uphill, which I cannot do in its entirety at this juncture in time, so we run the boardwalks and walk the gravel…then run all the way back down). Then we’ll run errands (Trader Joe’s, usually) or meet up with friends. All of this squeezed in between naps, which still stand at 3-4 per day. More on this in her upcoming 6 month update, but Linden is at the best age right now. Motherhood is, well, just so much easier. This sounds horrible, but I don’t really look back wistfully on those early months. I’m glad they’re over. Maybe I will feel differently later, but right now? I’m loving that she’s getting more independent and more communicative. Also: smiley. Very, very smiley.
Hmmm, what else?
We’re on the hunt for a new house. I’m starting to feel a little stressed about this, seeing as our lease ends at the end of June. The rental market here is pathetic. Every time a nice place at a fair price comes up, the masses pounce. This town, man. It thinks very highly of its real estate. The house we’re living in, this little 800 sf hovel with no hot water (well, very little hot water….the tank is the size of a gallon bucket) and no AC, is on the market for a laughable price. Oh, there was drama around this…
They decided to tell us in February that they were putting it on the market. They asked us to start showing the place with four months left on our lease…with a measly $100 off the rent. Keep in mind, we have a very young baby and a dog so needless to say, four months of keeping the house show-worthy clean and schlepping everyone out around nap schedules was NOT what we signed up for. After a gazillion emails to both the owners and their real estate agent, we negotiated an acceptable compromise.
I could write more about this (and wanted to, especially for all the trolls that like to call me entitled anytime I write about real estate!). but let’s just leave it at this: I have never been SO ready to move out of a house in my entire life.
We don’t really know what the future brings for us in Charlottesville. I am completely dialed in to the real estate market here, but know that buying a house right now is not the right choice, for many reasons. I do miss having a space to call my own, to decorate, improve and invest in. I miss having a garden and I miss having space to entertain. But the freedom of renting is also nice, too. We want to make sure our next place is the right place.
I do like living here. We’ve had a few arguments over place, and where makes the most sense for us to live, but Kevin has finally come to understand (accept?) that Charlottesville is the best place for our family. We have our beloved Grammy, horses, wine, great schools, new friends, better restaurants and grocery stores, more job opportunities, like-minded liberal people, beautiful countryside. You definitely get what you pay for.
Wow, so I really just wrote all this during Linden’s morning nap! It always feels so insurmountable to pump, eat breakfast, check email and Facebook, clean up AND write a blog post while she naps, but looky here, I did it! 
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