Closing Time

Awful song, awesome day!

On Thursday we FINALLY closed on the house! It was an insanely busy few days, but I'm excited to finally share some of the details of our new place! Next post will really break it down...

We made our way over for a walk through as we were waiting for the bank to get us the exactly enormous check number for closing. I embarassingly made our realtor take a picture :) - but he was all about it and even wanted to use his sign haha

 

 From here you can see the neighborhood...and our awesome realtor Oliver:

 Just a different view!:

 Mike looking vommy before we start signing papers:

 We didn't finish signing until 3pm, we were STARVING and hit Charcoal Pit (!) for a picnic lunch:

 Full disclosure: it was a picnic because we couldn't figure out the lock on our new front door hahaha:

 Obvs I was in charge of the champagne:

 Cath and my Aunt Sheila and Uncle Ken came over to celebrate, and we immediately attacked offensive wallpaper:

 

Surveying the land... And holy crap we need someone to mow that lawn:

  

Cath playing Vanna (appropriate end):

Putting it to a Vote

I got a great Groupon back in March for large canvas prints, but I'm being typically indecisive about what and where they should be...

I think I've landed on wedding photos for the master bedroom... so now I have to pick!  I've narrowed it down to four... but I only bought 2...

So help a girl out? PS - I can easily change to tones to color/black&white/sepia if that throws you...

 Choice #1

 Choice #2

 Choice #3:

 Choice #4:

Or really should I just get this for the kitchen? (Thanks Bernadette & Ben's Chili Bowl)

Well this was my morning...

My little Matty brother is graduating high school next month! Not sure how that happened

Of course my mom waited until the last minute to decide that yes, she should have a party for like 100 people on graduation weekend, and this requires invitations! Katie, get on it!

Hence, I whipped these up in a couple hours with the help of a scanner, photoshop, 101freefonts.com, and that extra caffeinated tea that allowed me to get into work 2 hours early

Here is the final result!:

He recently decided on UNC Charlotte for school, it's a satellite of University of North Carolina, and it's enormous! Doesn't seem like a satellite at all; evidently it's more like UC schools in California, how they are all kind of their own thing; UNC Charlotte has their own teams and everything - hence the logo on the right of his face.

Plus, rugby is Matt's jam, and he is the captain this year, so I thought using the rugby eagle would be more fun than the school crest (truth times: it is also very hard to find a Shanahan logo bigger than a thumbnail) so I used his college sports logo as well instead of their crest so that it would match up! And he already has big rugby plans there, assuming he doesn't get injured for the 80 millionth thousanth time (yup, thats a legit figure). True story: Matt has getting-to-school-on-time problems, but whenever he is tardy, the attendance person at this point is just like, "Doctor? Ok, go ahead." - he leads a charmed life.

It also really worked out well for me that he's sticking to forest green for his new school - thanks bud!

Now just have to contact my favorite printer for a rush job :) I'm planning on using a 100lb card stock so that these are nice and sturdy, and thinking a 5x8 is a good size to be proudly displayed on fridges everywhere.

Oh, and I had to scan the back of the pic I used...

Gotta love a good senior pic... I hope we "K.I.T." when he's so far away!

LYLAB, Matt, LYLAB.

Only in Philly

As we gear up for the big move, it's easy to become nostalgic... I always do this, and I'm sure a year from now I'll be like driving around for 30 minutes looking for parking? Aw, that was part of the charm of living in Center City, guys!

But one of the many things I do love about the city of Philadelphia, and so many other cities I've been to/feel like home to me is the shorthand among residents that instantly give you a sense of belonging, a common touchstone that makes you feel like you are really Philly, whether you're from here or not.

 Now, Mike, he's really from here, and Northeast Philadelphia is in his blood. And whatever you do don't try to tell him you're from Philly if you were not born and raised within the city limits. It's one of the few perks, I guess, of paying astronomical taxes for some exceptionally sub-par civil services, you can at least claim to really be FROM PHILLY.

This little phenomenon plays out probably at least once a week, if not more, in my life, but I wanted to tell a story of something that encapsulates it so well for me, about someone sooo Philly, that only this city would claim him. And that someone is Jerry Blavat aka "The Geator with The Heator"

Not familiar? A little background:
Years ago, while working at QVC, I was in charge of the "guest calendar" - basically I had to let our graphics department know when there were guests scheduled to be on air so that they could be featured throughout the day.  We're talking the big leagues; Joan Rivers (no seriously, I love her), Tova & Ernest Borgnine (ditto), Jessica Simpson (eh), Heidi Klum (too blinded by goddess-ness to get an accurate read, but seemed nice), Paula Deen (mouth like a sailor, so natch, love), Marie Osmond (she.makes.dolls.), and too many others to mention. So I'm going about my business, finding my peeps, and I get an irate email from my boss' boss, because I left a major celebrity off of the calendar and it wasn't the first time I had missed them. I freak out and immediately call her, promising to go up to graphics and enter the info myself, and oh my god how could this happen, etc., etc., and I said,
"Who did I miss?"
she said, "Jerry Blavat!"
and I said, "Who??"
"Jerry Blavat! The famous DJ! Are you too young? You should have googled him!"

Oh, I googled him alright. And this is what I came upon:

Um. Ok?

Upon further inspection (read: Wikipedia) I found out that he was a famous LOCAL DJ who debuted the original Bandstand (ohhh impressive) broadcast to Philadelphia and surrounding markets (oh.).

Now, QVC is a national company, right? I'm supposed to be promoting celebrities who would appeal to the masses, but my boss and everyone else weighing in was from Philadelphia, they had in fact grown up in awe of the geator's heat (or whatever) and man could he sell out an AC casino! So he was on.the.list., and no amount of arguing from me could change that.

We got the man (the myth, the legend) himself involved in a particularly embarrassing scene when he was in to do his show (note: he was there to sell those big sets of 60s music that you always see on infomercials and are totally tempted to buy bc they do have a lot of great songs... and like 300 you've never heard).

Before I know it, this blessed Kangol cap (see photo) is IN my cubicle! Explaining to me how he knew "Frank" and "Dean" and still talks to Dick Clark.

Me? I almost peed my pants. Then I apologized.

And he was never left off of the guest schedule again, leaving QVC viewers everywhere (outside of Philly) to find out about his magic here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Blavat

Oh wait, a Mafia Connections section?
Cool.

Awesome tote from weheartphilly.com

Moving On... (see what I did there? "moving"?!)

Ok, focusing on my breathing, everything essentially is just being pushed back 2 weeks from the original dates.

We now have a firm (please please please) closing date, which is Thursday the 12th and the new moving date.  Shout out to our landlord Tara for giving us first dibs on the apartment before she lets new renters know when it's available!

So, in the interim, I will try not to lose my mind, and concentrate on what I can, like throwing a super fun yet low-key Bachelorette Party! There is a 0% chance the bride will read this before the partay, so I thought I'd post some of my ideas and inspirations, especially since it will help me get organized (sorely needed).

This particular btb is a girl after my own heart, she wants fun with her girlfriends, minimal public humiliation, and no skeeze (ok maybe just a couple inappropriate straws... you only bachelorette once!)

We are starting off the evening drinking and eating at my place, a buffet cocktail situation.  Lord knows I love a good hosting duty, so I want to throw my last (cramped but convenient) city party to the very best of my abilities!

I am dying to share some of the stuff I designed in photoshop, but it's a little specific (just in case she stumbles across here - though super doubtful) so I'll save that for later!

My first favorite thing I'm working on are these:

From this Etsy seller - I'm sure mine won't be as cute as hers, but I was inspired to DIY some green, purple, and white (and rhinestone, ha!) ones of my own as a little party favor.

I'm also gonna get baking, and these are the perfect toppers:

Although, can I really go wrong with these???:

Bahahahaha - thanks Bachelorette Party Superstore for providing me with some extremely NSFW entertainment, while also taking years off my prude life with some of your wares. 

While striving keeping it classy(ish) and cute, I also picked up some of these bad boys (girls?) at Michaels:

Dearest Martha, I am sorry for including your exquisite products on the same page as a plastic mostly nekkid man. Your truest fan, Katie

So while I can't share more now, I'll continue to dream up ways to combine (marry, if you will) the classy and and the trashy, keeping it light and fun and just a wee bit scandy.

Genuis idea just came to me... Pretty linen napkins tied up with a ribbon containing a flower...and a ding-a-ling straw. Watch out ladies I might have found my calling!

God: "hahahahahahahaha"

So you know there's that saying, "make plans and God laughs"? Yeah, it's true.

Closing has been pushed back yet again, it could possibly happen Friday, but it's a maybe at this point. The bank has things tied up or something - not going to lie, Mike is pretty much handling that mess, it's jibberish to me.

At least our awesome landlord has no problem with us taking some extra time the first week of June in the apartment, so we might choose to push back the move date to give us time for painting and a little new flooring downstairs. Update: By might I mean definitely. New move date is June 7th folks! A Tuesday, because Monday wasn't random enough...

This is incredibly frustrating! I have had it up to *here* with bureaucracy this week! In suspended license news (whole 'nother story) the "unpaid" ticket that got my license unknowingly suspended was in fact paid in 2009. Sooo, thanks for that Del Dot / Penn Dot, thanks.

There is a distinct possibility I shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning.

Update: When asking DelDOT if they could mail something to PennDOT, they said "What's PennDOT?"
REALLY?!?! I'm nervous to live among them

Window Shopping...

I thought this post could be a change of pace, as there is no actual home to improve upon yet.

However, we are still budgeting for it, so all of my shopping these days has been window browser shopping.  Ugh there is some cuuuuute stuff out there! And on the city to burbsie front, I think I'm actually in more trouble once we move... you'd think that being in the city would lead to more shopping, and it does, sometimes, but I feel like it's more expensive shopping.

I love supporting local businesses, and feel less guilty (well, until the statement comes) about spending more there, but not gonna lie I'm excited to hve easyaccess to places like Homegoods, Target, and even *gasp* malls in Wilmington.

No more will I have to pony up $8 for cheese to make dinner because the closest shop is a gourmet little bodega situation (there is a time and place for 'spensive cheese, I just don't like to be forced into it). And ev.ery.thi.ng. is TAX FREE, hallelujah - no more Nordstrom shipments to Mike's work, I'm sure the department secretary will appreciate. AND no more schlepping to the depths of South Philly when I miss the UPS delivery, which of course, is made during the work day... why, UPS, why?

So obviously, I love to shop on the internets. And here are some of my faves these days just begging to be delivered to my new porch! I hope I have nice neighbors...

Let's hit Land's End Canvas first - they have some really great stuff, and I feel like it's one of my shopping secrets; such great classic pieces at very reasonable prices.

I would essentially just want to live the life of whoever is wearing this outfit. Buuut I don't know if I can pull off the shorts ;)

 

Then, Lilly Pulitzer. Ahhh Lilly, I want to spend many a brunch/tea/shower in you. 

More realistically, Ann Taylor Loft has some awesome dresses right now, like this one:

and I snagged this on sale already (shh, I have a ruffle problem)

Then there is always great stuff at Nordstrom - these are just sitting in my shopping bag

Then there's my old standby trio of Gap, Old Navy, & Banana Republic - here are some faves

From Banana (that neon pink stripe might be my very favorite):

Good old Gap:

ohh and some boat shoes from Piperlime

and Old Navy of course, though their quality miiight not last past this summer:

That's what I clicked around on this week - hopefully I can save my pennies for a few of these things and not spend it all at Home Depot!