16 hours....

In 16 hours Matt and I leave for London. I'm SO excited. Can't wait. Last year when we took our Europe trip we said it'd be 'the big one'....well, we decided to do ONE more 'big one' to get the travel fever out of our systems:) right. I seriously doubt it will ever get out of our systems, if anything one day it will be, "honey, we can only afford a trip to the city (memphis) for the weekend"---and ya know, if that's how it is, then I'll be planning out my Memphis itinerary like a champ! I've always loved traveling. I used to find excuses to get to travel, and 'school' was the main one. I went to school in Innsbruck, Austria, and Hawaii...it was always easier to convince my dad to help me from the financial side if I was 'getting an education.'

I guess everyone has their favorites and splurges in life, and traveling is one of mine for shizzle (oh, stop). I don't really care much for spending money on clothes and cars, or whatever really, but I have no problem saving for trips. I love it.  There's just something about immersing yourself in a new place; eating the food, taking in the sights, hearing the way they talk, etc. I just love the feeling. The anticipation of a trip is almost (almost) as fun as the trip itself...well, not really, but it is definitely a big part of it. Tonight, I feel giddy.. Like embarrassing giddy. I'm sure I talked too much and too fast tonight.. We land in London at 6:55 their time, 1:55 our time. We'll be completely jet lagged, but we plan on taking off for touring once we arrive. From London, we'll see Leeds, Paris, Versailles, Chamonix, and Nice. I will update once I'm back home, but I had to spill this out somewhere, and facebook is just too limited yet public for communication.

Wish us luck on the jet lag...oh and especially on the France portion. Neither of us know any French or have ever been there, so this will be interesting. "Yes, I'll take a Char Donnie and Fillett MIGnon; oh goodness. So, we can at least get the French words we use in Amercia correct. I'm sure people could really butcher foie gras. ha. That reminds me of a quick story. Matt and I were eating in Oxford at the Bottletree, and he was ordering. He asked for a Cafe A Lot. I was like, "what in the world is he talking about?" Yeah. Cafe Au Lait.
Made my day.
I'll give him this, though. He is not a coffee drinker, so I'm sure he'd never ordered one or seen it written in his life. Still, it was awesome.

P.S. Larry is well. He was fine the next day. Silly boy. Just needed some rest. He's about to have lots of quality time with the grandparents. Wally is doing well, too, and wanted me to mention her since Larry got a full blog post last time. She makes me laugh every day. Sweet/crazy cat.

Sick Puppy

Poor little Larry has not been his normal self today. We noticed on the way back to Memphis this morning he was sitting in the very back of Matt's car when usually we're having to tell him to get back and to quit drooling on us. He didn't even notice when I was unpacking some groceries today which is really strange. Usually, he's running into the kitchen hoping for a treat. We also noticed that his back legs were wobbly. He couldn't jump up onto the bed (which we usually discourage, but today, we were hoping to see him leap up there). So, we took him to the vet who said he couldn't find anything wrong with him. He prescribed him some pain pills for the legs, thinking that he might have pulled a muscle or something, but he said everything else looked fine. I hope he's right, but the poor little guy just isn't his usual self. He just seems so lethargic and sedated...this was prior to the pain meds, because I'm guessing those are contributing to him being sleepy right now:)

Anyway, he's sitting up on the couch between Matt and me right now...again, strange, since he usually prefers "his" chair. I'm sure he will be fine, but just wanted to send some good thoughts out to our oldest child!

Undeserved and Deserved, what?

“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,” 2 Timothy 1:9

I was feeling this today. Grace is awesome. God is awesome-er.

Peace.

"In a Couple of Years..."

So. Matt claims I jinxed our house progress because of this line on my blog. He said I should probably change it to, "In a year and 5 months they have built a home sweet home."

That would have our house ready next month:)

Quick Updates:
We had our final meeting with the cabinet guy; since we didn't sign papers to order them (that'll be next week), I'll wait to show the color we went with since there is a possibility it could change...but I will say it's in the white family (who knew there were so many variations of white?!)

All HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and alarm is done in the addition.

Very next step: Insulation in addition. Then, flooring. We're waiting on our 3rd quote for flooring. We're hoping if we keep getting quotes, the quote will go down. So far, this isn't working.

So, that's the quick update! I will post some pictures of the addition soon. Our mudroom flooring and brick work on the back entry way area is finished, so that was a big step and fun to see!

Have a great weekend!

Dreams do come true

Okay, so the title sounds like I should be saying, "I won the lottery!!!"...but, not quite.

I really love music, and when I find a group I like, it's all I can think about. Lately, it has been Mumford & Sons. I'm sure anyone who has followed this blog can tell. Before that, it was The Killers. Sadly, to my old self, I'm sorta over them, now, but they still creep back into my CD player from time to time, and I still enjoy listening to all their songs, and watching their Royal Albert Hall concert DVD.

So, I'd say my favorite artists are (in no particular order):
The Beatles (okay, they're first, but the rest are in no particular order)
Coldplay
Wilco
Mumford & Sons
The Killers

I also like MGMT, The Strokes, Florence + the Machine, Nirvana, and Radiohead. Some more, too, but I can't think of more right now....

Well, today I was looking on facebook and saw that MGMT was coming to Memphis in May. So, I decided to check the line up. To my surprise, I see that Wilco, Mumford & Sons, MGMT, and Avett Brothers (another fun group) are coming. What?!?! This is crazy. Usually Music Fest is full of people I don't feel like risking mud fest possibilities on, but I could not believe it! I immediately had to get the 3 day pass. I mean, this means I get to see 2 of my top 5! Overwhelming, really.

I think I'm most excited about M&S, but Wilco is always great live, and I'm looking forward to seeing how MGMT is live, too. I'm excited because MGMT is Friday, Mumford Saturday, and Wilco on Sunday. Such a fun weekend ahead!
In the spirit of this fun musical line up, I thought I'd post a song from each, and a link to the line up.

http://www.thebealestreetmusicfestival.com/bealestreetmusicfestivallineup.htm

MGMT

WILCO

Mumford & Sons

I am REALLY excited.