Well... We're Homeowners!

It's been a few weeks, and if you don't follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, here's the big news:

We closed on our house! As of June 26th (one day after the originally anticipated date), we signed many many pieces of paper and received two shiny sets of house keys to our very own home. The last few weeks have been spent settling in and getting to the point where the house is livable. We still have lots to do, but we've gotten a lot done and it's really starting to feel like home.

Jesse, me and our realtor, Jody at our house closing.

Proud homeowners!

We also decided on a whim to adopt a dog. His name is Clyde. He's a Border Collie / Hound / Pointer mix. He's a total goofball and has already become Jesse's best friend. He's a wonderful addition to our little family. He's won over one of our two cats, but I have hopes the second one will come along in time. She's just an old grump.

Anyhow, back to the house - I must admit, buying a home was WAY less stressful than people have told me. I think we got really lucky for a few reasons: those of you who know me in real life know that I have a bit of OCD when it comes to researching, planning and preparing (it's my job, I can't help it). That being said, it all paid off because we were prepared for the few minimal road bumps that came our way. We were also lucky because along the path of researching, we found an AMAZING realtor. He's absolutely phenomenal and I would recommend him in a heartbeat to anyone looking to buy in-town in Atlanta, specifically East Atlanta. He had the most amazing "crew" of people to utilize for all of the steps in home buying (loans, inspections, etc.). If anyone needs a realtor, I strongly suggest checking him out. Shoot me an email if you want his details.

I need to take some more better photos of the house and the progress, but here's some eye candy for you for the time being...

Adding the stylized house numbers.

Living room, mostly set up.

Relaxing in the back yard after a long day of settling in.

As always, thanks for reading!
Courtney

Hey Look, It's June! A recap of the last few months.

Well, looks like my sabbatical from blogging went into full effect... for a little longer than anticipated. Whoopsie!

As usual, when I take a long break, lot so of things happen in my real life, so I needed some time to get those things in order before I started writing again.

Let's see, where shall I start? I'm thinking a quick summary of things that have happened would be a good starting point.

I got hired full time at the ad agency I'd been freelancing for since September. This was HUGE for me. While I've loved every company I've worked for during my career for different reasons, this company is everything I've dreamed of. An amazing workspace, inspiring co-workers and projects that make me strive to always learn more and more, it truly is perfect for me. I have never been so happy and felt so accomplished at the same time. It's the most supportive experience I've ever had. Getting hired full time also took a lot of strain off of me mentally since I was always having to be prepared that things could change at a moments notice. Not that life ever guarantees things to be stable, but being freelance when I've never been comfortable as a freelancer was very taxing on me. That being said, it leads me to the second point of my summary...

Once I was hired on full time and had a stable salary, Jesse and I decided to take the plunge and start looking into buying a house. As of two weeks ago, we are under contract on an adorable mid-century atomic ranch in East Atlanta. Obviously, we're aware that anything can still happen since we're still under contract, but things are moving along swimmingly and our fingers are crossed that everything works out. Our closing date is slated for June 25th. We're absolutely elated that this opportunity came about at such a perfect time.

Those are the two biggest things that have happened recently aside from a trip we took to Palm Springs, California at the end of March to see my sister-in-law get married. That was an absolutely fantastic trip, which was filled with SO MUCH AMAZING ARCHITECTURE. Jesse and I fell in love the moment we drove into the city limits. I'll be doing a blog post sometime soon recapping that whole adventure. Such an amazing town with so many lovely people.

That pretty much summarizes everything for the moment. I'm excited to be back blogging, especially now since we're buying a house, there will be lots of home blogging to come.

Happy June, everyone! I think it's going to be a great summer, filled with new experiences, baseball games and lots of friends and family!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-chaaaanges....

Things have been quiet here in the blog land of Musings and Nonsense. 2012 has brought about a lot of interesting situations and experiences - and it's only mid-February!

Lots of good, lots of flux and lots of unknowns, but overall, everything is good and there is lots more to come. I'm just not quite ready to share these things with the world.

That being said, there are also going to be some changes for my sweet sweet blog.

I've been evaluating and have found lots of things that are working well, but also lots of things that can be greatly improved. Blogging is a hobby for me and it's always a work-in-progress.

In the next two or so months, things will be very quiet around here. I'm re-designing, re-working and will be moving to a new hosting platform. As much love and history as I have for and with Blogger, I'm ready to make the switch to Wordpress. The time has come for bigger and better things, and those things, unfortunately, can't be achieved on Blogger.

So I bid you adieu for the time being. I'll still be tweeting, pinning, photographing and updating, so feel free to follow along on the many other social media outlets that I utilize.

See y'all on the flip-side.

Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram

Time to relax, regroup and redesign.

SOPA & PIPA: Please Tell Congress Not to Censor the Web

As much as I wanted and tried to darken Musings and Nonsense in support of SOPA and PIPA, I could not figure out how to make it work for the Blogger platform. (On that note, I am going to be switching from Blogger, my home for quite some time, to Wordpress in the next few months.)

Instead, I'll still support it (I did darken my personal portfolio website, www.courtneyallisonbrown.com), just by providing you access to sign the petition against SOPA and PIPA as well as by sharing the clever Google Homepage for today.

So, in short but sweet terms, please tell congress not to censor the web.

Click here to sign the petition.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Resolutions for 2012

I typically don't make resolutions. The concept of making a laundry list of things that, most of the time, I won't actually accomplish (ie. I have a tendency to go a bit overboard with delusions of grandeur) is counter-productive to me.

That being said, I do have a list of goals I'd like to accomplish or at least make a good deal of headway with. I'm not going to pressure myself in saying any are final resolutions that MUST be accomplished, but instead, call my resolution list more of a personal improvement project.

• Take time for myself. I have the most trouble with this, which is why it's first on my list. I have to really focus in order to not let time completely slip by without taking a moment for myself on occasion.
• When taking time for myself, make it quality time. Instead of just taking a moment or doing something for myself, I want to make it count - I want to enjoy it and make it worthwhile.
• Learn more, read more, & write more. First order of business, which will help with the next item on my list, is to re-learn French. (Also on this note, anyone have any book suggestions?)
• Travel. I need to actively set out to travel more. We started out the new year travelling for a short weekend to Jekyll Island, GA and I'm hoping to make a trip to the mountains sometime soon. We also have our first international trip planned in June to visit Lille & Paris, France.
• Slow down and enjoy life.
• Take more photos.
• Simplify. 
• Redesign Musings and Nonsense.
• Learn to play a new musical instrument.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and rang in the new year with enjoyment. Here is a little Instagram photo-recap of our New Year's beach trip.