Three days and three nights

I have now lived and slept in my very own house for three days and three nights. The first night was a little scary...and I felt vulnerable. Two entrances for someone to creep in? Will the six locks and one latch keep them out? It is not the area that we live in that worries me, just my false sense of security after living in a small apartment for so long. The house feels so big, so vulnerable.

I have been waking up very early for my standards thanks to the large windows without dressings and daylight saving. On Saturday morning while our friends and my husband were still asleep I crept out to the grocery store..."my grocery store" I thought. This is "my" neighborhood now. I own now, this is mine. I came back and could hear people moving around upstairs and my heart moved. I smiled big right before I began to tear up with delight. It is wonderful to own a home, to hear people moving around upstairs, and to learn the creaks and bends in your floors. It is humanizing to lock a front door, to walk down the stairs, and to your car in the morning. It is rewarding to clean, paint, and decorate and care for a house that is yours.

I already was in love with DC, but I am even more so now. I look differently at the new buildings taking shape, assess the changes that are occuring with new light, and want to live each season to its fullest. Thomas Jefferson wrote to his daughter Martha in 1804, that "Congress has scarcely any thing to employ them, and complain that the place [Washington, DC] is remarkably dull. Two hundred and two years later, I wholeheartedly disagree.

I hope to show you that DC is anything but dull, and is instead an inspiring and entertaining place to live, shop, eat, and explore.

The First Chill

It is not quite Fall here yet, the leaves are just starting to change. A great big wind gust brought in chilly weather last night, and it was still around when I walked to my car this morning.

In three weeks we close on our first house. We are almost on the other side of this whirlwind experience. And, we are hopefully close to the end of our sleepless nights, or maybe they are just beginning? I can't say I don't love dreaming up where we will place our furniture (the little that we do have), what colors we will paint the walls, and what pictures I will put above the three (YES, THREE!) mantels we will soon have. Tim rolls his eyes as I sit on the couch flipping through Potterybarn, Crate and Barrel, and Restoration Hardware magazines and tearing out the pages I admire. After renting for close to 4 years, I am so excited to finally OWN!!!

My mind has been racing for close to a week and a half now, so it is hard for me to focus and write. I will be sure to post pictures when the house is finally ours.