What is going on here?

It's snowing - AGAIN!

My car is no longer speaking to me.

Peek-A-Boo

Nashville appears to be playing peek-a-boo with Sunshine.

Saturday was GORGEOUS. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the temperature was in the mid-60's, and the convertible top was down. All was well in the world.

Fast forward to Monday. The sun has made no appearance all day, the sky is gray, the temperature is in the low 40's, and the convertible top is firmly back in the up position. All is not well in the world.

So it is technically still Winter, and the Northeast is frigid and covered in snow. I don't care. I want my Sunshine back.

Winter Time Blues

Leaving Miami might not have been my brightest move ever.

Yes it is wonderful being close to my family. It is great being able to see my best friends and the kids on a random Tuesday. I even recognize - despite the current state of unsettledness - how great it is to be able to afford a house and shoes.

However, I am not a fan of winter. It's not the cold. (I have an enormous amount of coats, gloves and scarves - especially considering I have spent all but 12 months of my life living below the Mason-Dixon.) It's the lack of sunshine and daylight. Nashville is at the Eastern edge of Central time. This means that it starts getting dark here around 4:45 in the afternoon. Therefore, unless I leave work in the middle of the afternoon, by the time I get home, it feels like bed time - even though the clock may only say 6:30. This leads to an entire week going by with my accomplishing NOTHING outside of work. Throw in back to back weekends of crazy call, and I am down for the count.

Okay, enough whining. I will figure this out. Perhaps I can start getting up at 4:30 and get things accomplished then - the sun comes up by 5 here so it is at least light. Or perhaps I will just keep thinking of solutions.

Home Sweet Home

Yesterday was punch list day for my new house. For those of you, like me, who have no idea what that means, allow me to explain. During a punch list, one walks through one's soon to be purchased home with a roll of blue painter's tape. One then marks every imperfection that one sees regardless of how small, and the builder then fixes it. Basically, an OCD girls dream. Although at one point I was fairly certain they were going to take my tape away due to overuse - it actually went pretty well. There are only two "real" issues with the house both of which seem like easy fixes - if one is a plumber and an electrician.

All of that being said, it means that move in day is rapidly approaching. This weekend as a matter of fact. Although the spector of closing on Friday still has me somewhat petrified, I am starting to get really excited about moving into this house. Let's just hope the excitement wins out over the commitment issues. Hopefully pictures soon to follow.

Thank You Mother Nature

Started this week, like many weeks, determined to get back into a health work out pattern. Mother Nature must know how desperate things are getting because she threw me a bone - temperature in Nashville on this end of July day - perfect 82 degrees.

Warp Speed Ahead

When I decided to embark on building a house, everyone kept warning me about what a drawn out process building can be. They encouraged me not to be upset with delays, and that I could take it to the bank that I would miss my closing deadline. These predictions were always told with a horror story from someone's own personal experience.

Therefore, in my head, I was moving into this new house of mine next year. Imagine my surprise and immediate heart palpitations when my builder informed me the other day that we are about one month ahead of schedule! They painted my entire house this week - inside and out!! We started talking about the trim guy!!!

I thought it was common knowledge that I have commitment issues - you can't move things up like this on me. I thought the building process was stressful - the actual idea of committing to a morgage - now that's real stress.

Construction Crazy

Allow me to go on record as saying that I love my General Contractor. He is fabulously attentive and responsive. He has a certain attention to detail that can only truly be appreciated by a fellow member of the OCD club (and we all know my dues are well paid up there). My "allowances" are top notch which has done wonders for keeping me on budget, and he has been receptive and encouraging to any suggestions or changes that I have brought up. He believes in "building homes not houses", and really wants my personality to be reflected in our finished product.

All of that being said, please remind me to never build again. Building, even with a wonderful contractor, budget and good weather is STRESSFUL, and don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. I have found myself obsessing over ridiculous details that I would never have noticed in a home that I was thinking about purchasing. However, when building, these details become things for which I lose sleep (a high cost for someone who spent 10 years as a surgical resident).

Have you ever walked into a tile store and looked around? It's not as simple as knowing your color scheme which I naively thought. One has to decide natural stone vs ceramic or porcelain. Shape and size factor in to the overall look. What pattern or style should the tile be laid? Are you kidding me????? Quick - can you tell me what color the grout is in your bathroom? I can't, but I have now spent entire hours of my life (which I can not get back) discussing "different, but complementary" grout colors on the floor vs the shower tile.

I am still having nightmares about chrome, brushed nickel vs oil rubbed bronze finishes - three concepts that until recently did not have meaning in my vocabulary. Entire websites are devoted to which is best and if they can be mixed. Please explain to me why one really needs an entire room of faucet fixtures from which to choose? My neck still hurts from the hours spent looking up for the "perfect" light fixtures.

Please don't remind me of the entire afternoon of my life spent at the cabinet makers. Did you know that you have to actually go to a granite yard to pick your slab? Even within the same color, the slabs differ so you have to pick which pattern most appeals to you. The same goes for marble, and I now know more about the care of quartz than any girl ought to know.

All of that being said, I am assured the "tough" decisions are almost finished. I only have to pick the stain for the wood floors and the wall colors. However, I am now being told I have to meet the electrician for a walk through regarding switches and outlets. I also have to meet the sound guy - seriously I have a sound guy??

Hopefully this house is going to turn out beautifully because I am fairly certain that I am going to end up to traumatized to ever want to move again.