Ramblings and Such....

I have been pitiful with posts this week but we were in Alexandria/DC from Thursday-Sunday night. This week has been busy, busy, busy.  I am still dealing with my mother's estate and FINALLY have the LAST property transferred to my uncle (woohooo no more mortgage payments!!!). But things are never easy with this darn process and I have A TON of paperwork that has to be sent to a bunch of different entities (thank you WAMU). Tons of fun now that Washington Mutual has now joined with Chase(JP Morgan) and no one can give me a straight answer to what the heck I am suppose to be doing.

Needless to say...I have been...not stressed...but frustrated. 2 years and I am still up to my elbows in closing the estate. But my WONDERFUL husband said this year I am off the hook on doing the taxes and we can have the accountant do it! Woohoo(yeah, I am 99.9% sure we needed professional help with all the deductions and a major tax hits this household was about to have....way out of Turbo Taxes league)!!

So on this sunny Thursday....I will tell you the RANDOM things I found out about myself this last week (some I already knew, but were definitely made clearer this week).

• I like living in a metro area. Found out we really, REALLY like Alexandria!!! And this time in looking at places to live we did the major examination of the area. Examples "Do I have to go through the hood to get to my house", drove by the schools, drove in RUSH HOUR (on purpose too!), went to the neighborhoods at night. Located all supermarkets, Targets, movie theaters and drove to them. Drove different routes to neighborhoods. Looked for firehouses and hospitals (Jake is not a lover of sirens and has now taught Charlotte to howl like a wolf about to be slaughtered).

This picture from google does not do this city justice...but you get window into proximity to DC.

• No McMansions for me. I am not a commuter. I don't need an acre of land and a huge house far out from everything. I hate cleaning and I don't mow grass (really, I can't I'm allergic to it...honest to God! I start itching like crazy) I will take the small house and even smaller lot if it means I am less than a mile from a metro/beltline/Target/movie theater/ grocery store/park etc. Everyone has their priorities, and I know some of you guys could die living in an area where everyone is on top of one another....hey I don't blame ya!
  

Pic from Wikipedia ....look up the definition...hilarious.
• Moment I knew I was in absolute bliss: Going to the indie movie theater which was showing Doubt, Milk, The Reader, The Wrestler, Rachel Getting Married, Revolutionary Road, Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, and a couple more.  SIDE NOTE: Go see Slumdog Millionaire.  Really good movie and Geoff was SHOCKED he REALLY liked it...totally not what he was expecting. It's sad, funny...and the plot .....I can't even conjugate a sentence telling you how much I enjoyed it!

• Two Words: Tot lot.....yeah we don't have kids yet but to live in a neighborhood that has a park where everyone feels safe enough to leave their toys and bike there for others to play with...Geoff and I knew we had found a great place to live!

Not the best picture (from the Alexandria Dept. of Parks and Rec.)

• I really love places that love dogs: "Named as one of the Top 10 Cities (as part of the greater Washington Metropolitan area) in the U.S. for dogs, Alexandria is home to 20 dog parks, 6 specialty pet boutiques, 3 pet bakeries, 2 organic pet food stores, a luxury pet spa, and at least one doggie happy hour." 

• My name is Madeline...and I like options. I like having more than 1 really nice mall (shoot I''ll take 1 mall period...I have to drive to Jacksonville or Charleston for that). Options to fly (3 airports within an hours drive, one miles away..woohoo! ).Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Harris Teeter...I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Which theater to go to tonight? 5 within 4 miles (one of the is a 22 Imax).  Wanna go to DC tonight for dinner?  We can drive on the beltway, or take the metro, or take US 1 ....

Only picture of me the whole trip....this is my "Why do you have MY camera in your hands" smile :)

Stay tuned....My next post will show you some of our housing options (or lack of them...haha)