What's Up?

Here is what's been up with us lately in picture form. Just random happenings that aren't enough for their own post. 

Mom came up for a quick visit and I dragged her to work with me for three hours so we went out for gigantic margaritas afterwards.

Three dollar backpack for Crosby from the Habitat Restore! Perhaps my best thrift store find to date. And actually, Alison gets the credit for the find. 

This happens a few times a week. Accidentally matching. 

Derrick heroically saved my computer. My hard drive died....it clicked an chirped for days and froze up my computer every hour or so. Derrick saved all of my files and installed a new hard drive and now it's working like a dream!

This is really in need of a whole post on it's own but it's likely Raleighwood will not be happening this year due some very un-fair rules. So, Derrick and I have been passing on the love of pickleball to our Raleighwood teammates! We've been playing PB 2 or 3 times a week these days!

And, my current step count. Crushing it.

 

Spring Wreath

Our wreath hanger has been hanging on our door empty since our Christmas wreath came down. 

I've had an image in my head for a while of what I wanted to replace it. Something like this:

Or this:



Every time I found one though it was like $50 and I couldn't pull the trigger.

Nikki's mom made me a wreath form that I absolutely love and when I saw a flower sale at Michael's I decided it was time to make my wreath dreams come true.

Then they sat on my dining room table for a week taunting me to take the time to make it. Finally, I just whipped it out in about 30 minutes of American Idol. Here it is!

So often the image in my head doesn't line up with what actually happens but this time I nailed it. It's just want I wanted! Springy and a little wild.

Lazy Day Off

I updated my last post for those of you that read it. I didn't feel like it really put out there what I wanted to portray. After a day off and a clear mind I decided to update it.

That's right! I took today off!! And it has been glorious! I've still sent a few emails because I have 8 contracts going on right now and I'm not about to drop those balls I've been juggling for weeks now. But, I made a very strong effort this week to not make any appointments for today and to not check my phone every single time it dings. I feel so refreshed! Let me walk you through my day off.

I got up and emptied my inbox just because I knew I would have it in the back of my mind if I didn't. Then, Alison and I met up for shopping!

Best purchase of the day? A $3 hiking backpack for Crosby at the Habitat Restore.

Lunch was at Nana taco in Durham because Nana Taco is delicious and they have amazing queso.

Then Alison introduced me to the most amazing place! How have I lived in the triangle for 10 years and never been to Duke Gardens?? This place is beautiful!

Swans. This garden has swans! This is the closest I could get to them making a heart with their necks.

And now. I'm laying in the hammock blogging and enjoying the amazing weather. This day was about as perfect as it could be!

Creating My Ideal Week

Updated.

I'm working on improving my work life balance. I've been struggling there a bit and I'm hoping to get better about prioritizing and blocking my time so I can be more efficient with my work time and also more proactive about scheduling time off.

Funny story. My BIC gave me a calendar and told me to pick 5 colors and assign them to 5 specific things. This is how I organized mine:

Red: Me time (should be highest priority)
Green: Friends and Family time (should be 2nd highest priority)
Yellow: Lead generation
Orange: Face to face with clients
Blue: Transaction management

This is a rough draft to get my mind working.

While doing this...I fell off the swing and lost my red "me time" pencil...,.


Yeah...things are looking up :)

The green is out for St. Paddys!

Just when I thought everything was dead in our yard!

The spring weather has been amazing. I've had the doors open all day and Crosby has been sunning herself and soaking it up. I got 4,000 steps mowing the lawn and noticed a lot of new buds popping up. Like this guy! He's sat un-watered and neglected for months. I was just too lazy to throw it away but look! It's sprouting again!! Amazing.

Our Dr. Seuss tree looks gorgeous right now! And those rose bushes are creeping up on it.

The mailbox plants even made it through the winter. The weird red guys are starting to show new blooms and the lambs ear look super happy and healthy.

Fresh mowed and gorgeous weather.

Happy St. Patrick's day ya'll! Hope you're un-pinchable today!

Third Annual Marcey Madness Bracket Challenge!

You should all sign up for my bracket challenge! It's the third annual which is crazy to me that I'm already over three years into this crazy business!

This year had a lot of highs with the highest high being my 30 under 30 award.

So, this years prizes are two $30 gift cards! Get it? 30 under 30? The first and second place winner will each win a $30 gift card of their choice! Here is how you sign up:

Click this link: Join the Challenge!

Password: Sellmyhouse

Create a bracket before the games start tomorrow!

Ok, GO! Invite your friends! And good luck!

He4She

Sorry for the lack of posts. 12 hour work days...killer.

This weekend Derrick and I traveled with our high school team to our first tournament in Charlotte. The weather was amazing, the competition was fierce, and we survived! Three goals of the weekend met. I'm not going to lie, Derrick and I were a little nervous about being accountable for 17 high schoolers but, as always, our guys proved we had nothing to worry about. They woke up easily, were at the fields on time, and kept great spirit through the whole weekend.

We ended up playing three very competitive teams on Saturday. We weren't able to pull off a win but we got better with every game. The weather was unbelievable, the games were tough, and dinner was well deserved.

It's hard to find some place that will take 20 people with no wait but we managed to find a delicious little hole in the wall.

Captains Daniel and Ramsey. Just missing Alex.

This Daniel ordered a large pizza....for just him!

Sunday we were all exhausted from a long Saturday and we had daylight savings times to contend with, but they came out strong and had their first tournament win on Sunday morning. Derrick and I were so proud and I had so many goosebumps.

We had some awesome parents tag along and one sent me this picture of their olive garden stop on the way home.

This is such a great group of guys. Derrick and I feel like we got really lucky with this group. We're excited to watch them grow and improve through the rest of the season.

Happenings

I feel like I don't have much to blog about simply because I have had zero time to do anything blog worthy.  Last weekend was the busiest weekend to date I've had with work and I've been working ~12 hour days for the past week or so. Derrick is begging me to take a day off so I'm planning on taking some time of tomorrow but even on my day off tomorrow I'm taking pictures for a new listing, showing 2 houses and meeting with some new sellers. That's a slow day for me at the moment. That's how crazy things have been.

It's all good though and I cannot complain about being busy! I'm just learning how to manage it all and figuring out if I can keep this up or if I'm going to have to make some changes.

We've also had Kiwi for the past two weeks. I feel bad because my work schedule has meant longer days for the dogs but they are hanging in there and Derrick and I are exercising them when we can.

In other news our hot water heater busted 3 weeks ago and we're still not fully resolved of that issue though we did opt into a new tankless version that seems to be working like a charm. Derrick and I played in a short beach ultimate tournament over the weekend and I got talked into captaining a women's league team which plays on Sunday nights...you know, with all of my free time! And our high school team is traveling to Charlotte this weekend for our first tournament. We're excited to see how they do and I'm excited for some forced downtime even if I will be negotiating offers over skype. 

Weekend Hiking

Sorry for the radio silence! I've been working 12 hour days for the past few days and I'm tired!

The weather has been amazing recently and on Saturday Derrick and I enjoyed a rare free Saturday hiking with some newly rekindled friends Dan and Lauren. Dan used to work with Derrick at SMT but we hadn't seen them in so long. We're working on changing that and re-connecting.

We went hiking at the Johnston Mill Nature Preserve in Chapel Hill. We'd never been there and it's a hidden gem with miles of walking trails and lots of pretty view and water! We're pet sitting Kiwi for the next three weeks and Dan and Lauren have a dog, Nymeria, so it was dog city!

This is the best group shot we could get and this field was the perfect spot for some off leash play time.

Assessing her kingdom.

We did not think Crosby was going to walk across this log but she jumped right up without a second thought.

We had high school practice yesterday and it was 70 degrees and magical! I'm hoping it's here to stay!