really, really good.

Sometimes, life is just really, really good.

Like today.

I spent most of the day taking a somewhat-impromptu roadtrip to the ATL (that's Atlanta for those of you unfortunate enough to be NOT from Georgia) with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Jessica. (You may remember her from her wedding in April, which officially made her my sister). We had some business to do dealing with a relative's house that needs to be sold and/or extensively remodeled and sold. Jess and I are the go-to home design consulting team (hey, that sounds good, we should get business cards!) for the family, so we went along to offer our expert advice. There were also rumors/bribes that a trip to IKEA could be arranged as a part of the day. You had me at IKEA.

We had mucho fun being home design consultants and tossing around words like "footprint" and "building permit" like we were HGTV regulars or something. I also took the opportunity to engage in a little foreshadowing of my future and clipped a particularly beautiful hydrangea to bring home to enjoy (and maybe try to root). This one is a beautiful shade of pink so deep it is truly magenta...it's spectacular. I hope that it recovers from spending 8 hours shut in the hot car...oops. 

After our design consultation ended, Mom treated us to fish tacos at a really yummy place in Atlantic Station. And also chocolate cake. Don't forget the chocolate cake. After that it was on to H&M, where we proceeded to spend the next 29928 hours. This was a Really Good Shopping Trip for several reasons. First of all, I had excellent co-shoppers. People who will give you honest feedback are invaluable and I need to shop with them more often. For example, I tried on these shorts and really couldn't decide if they looked right. They FIT (and they were in a size I deem acceptable, which is good), and they were a COLOR that I wanted...but I just couldn't decide if the style looked right. I appreciated Jessica's honest feedback (they didn't look right), because otherwise I probably would have bought them and then never worn them, unsure whether they actually look right or not. I did, however, get a very super cute dress. I was going to take a picture and show you, but I will probably be wearing it at some picture-heavy events in the near future (weddings, for one), and you will get to see it plenty then. So just trust me: it's cute, it looks great with my tan, and when I had it on, Matt asked if I'd lost weight recently. I haven't, thanks, but obviously I'll be wearing this dress until it falls to pieces. Also, random people in a restaurant tonight complimented it and asked where I purchased it. SCORE! Not to mention: Mom paid for the dress! I'm not sure there are any more ways for this dress to score.

With my OWN monies, I purchased a new purse (trying to keep my purse-weight under 40 pounds, for shoulder health) and some bracelets. 

Then it was on to IKEA, where I will spare you the play-by-play. I got some fun finds, and Mom purchased a few finds I couldn't afford and called it my anniversary present. Umm...can we please go shopping together every day?? It was such a fun blessing. 

Then tonight after coming home to my Mattie, we had THREE (count 'em up!) separate episodes of: I LOVE LIVING HERE.

Episode 1: We met our new neighbors that bought the house next door to us. We met them because I was out back, checking the garden, when SIX IDENTICAL PUPPIES bounded over to visit me. Hot on their heels were the owners, my new neighbors, apologizing and calling back the dogs. I was quick to inform them that adorable, palm-sized puppies are ALWAYS welcome in my yard. They were seven-week-old Welsh Corgis (a very unintentional and unplanned breeding of their two adult Corgis). So we spent the next while playing with puppies and getting to know our neighbors, who were very nice and personable, and also have many pets. Sadly, they are selling the puppies. :( :( :( but they have plenty of other cute pets to keep me entertained...and maybe those frisky adult Corgis will do their thing again and I can see some MORE PUPPIES! I'm going to play some Marvin Gaye music really loudly to see if I can speed things along.

Episode 2: We ate dinner at our "neighborhood" (okay, 2 miles away) Mexican restaurant. We eat there every day frequently...look, there just aren't a lot of options in this town, and we don't always feel like driving to Athens. And it's really good food. And anyway, I don't have to defend my eating choices. So we were eating on the porch, and we ended up talking for a long time with the other family (parents, 2 teenage kids) seated on the porch. It turned out we know a lot of people in common (through high school soccer and churches) and we had a lot of fun chatting. This was particularly fun because Matt and I aren't usually real "chat up strangers" kinda people. I guess we were in the mood after just meeting our neighbors or something.

As we were leaving, I was already thinking I love living in this town. But then (Episode 3) our waitress/restaurant owner's wife/only girl that works there and memorizes our orders started talking with us at the door and we ended up staying for another 15 minutes and getting to know her. That was really good, because since she serves us approximately 1/7th of our meals, it's good to get to know her. We got the inside scoop on all the other Mexican places and their owners, so it's safe to say we'll be sticking with her restaurant. 

When we finally left and made it to the car, I just had the biggest grin on my face. I'm sorry if it's lame, but I LOVE living in this town and eating dinner with strangers-who-become-friends and getting to know the girl that serves you every week (and then having her ask us to start coming on different nights, since she can't work our "usual" nights all the time any more). I love that we have neighbors that are animal lovers (and complimented my flowers/garden) and that we can spend our evenings chatting while we watch puppies wrestle in the yard. I love spending girl time with my family, and coming to realize more and more that I got so much more than just Matt when I married him. 

Sometimes life is just really, really good. I need to remember that.