Our House...and pictures

1 Meadow Way is up for sale. We have decided to take the plunge and move...but this time, not quite so far. We're just moving into Austin. We love this house, love this neighborhood...really, this has been our dream house for the 15 months that we've lived here so far. Adam and I have often joked that we'd like to pick up our house and plop it down in North Austin somewhere. It would just cost a lot more there! But this will be a great move for us, as a family, because it will enable us to be closer to Adam's work. It will also make us closer to church, and hopefully, closer to Samuel's school (application in process!). Because of the location we're looking at, we'll downsize considerably...but we really don't need all of the space that we have. And I am not the kind of person who takes any kind of pleasure in cleaning house.

It's mind-boggling to think about all that has been done in the past several days. Carpets have been cleaned. Windows washed. Paint touched up. Landscaping perfected. Closets organized. Every single room has been meticulously cleaned and professionally staged. Numerous trips have been made to the attic, Goodwill, and the recycling center. And I've driven myself crazy trying to figure out how people keep their homes neat and tidy with small children running around. Or maybe I should say I'm driving my children crazy...

Here are some of my favorite views of our house right now:

This is my favorite spot in the yard - my garden! I look out on it from the kitchen, and I love being here. It just feels like "my spot." Currently we have growing: (culinary) parsley, basil, carrots, rosemary, romaine lettuce, arugula, peas, peaches and oregano, and (medicinal) comfrey, yellow dock, lemon balm, roman chamomile, and feverfew. And some weeds too. :) I am not a green thumb, by any stretch of the imagination (really - all of the above plants pretty much have grown themselves), but I do place a high value on quality, organic foods. I love the idea of growing our own fruits and vegetables. My ultimate dream would be to grow enough for all of our produce needs one day.

The kitchen nook - looks much more clean than the way I had it before the staging. Now it's both functional and attractive (minus the cords - I'm supposed to figure out a way to get rid of those).

Living Room - not a whole lot of change here, just cleared out some pictures and simplified the decorations.

The front walkway - we've added some color and some mulch to our front beds, which makes such a huge difference! I never thought of our house as having much "curb appeal" before, but I think it looks really pretty now!

This is just one corner of the master bedroom, since I couldn't figure out a way to fit the whole room in my camera lens. But it's another room I'm really pleased with...it just looks simple, but warm and inviting too...just makes me want to curl up and go to sleep.