June Yoga Challenge

YOGA INSPIRATION- MY NIECE KELLI

I started going to HOT yoga just before I found out I was pregnant with Paloma.

I bought a Groupon at Sacred Sweat (in East Atlanta) on a whim, not knowing what to expect. I was hooked on the sweaty workout after day 1.

I kept with it, going once or twice a week until I was 7 months pregnant, at which point I tapered off.

Paloma is almost 9 months (what what?!) and although I had started going to a few classes here and there again, I knew that I needed more. You see, I am a worker-outer. I have been since I was in high school

When I saw that Highland Yoga was opening a studio just a few blocks from my house, I was excited! The convenience factor for working out is HUGE!

One June 3nd I bought the intro package. One month unlimited classes for $25. What a steal!

To make it even better, I challenged myself to make it $1 per class, which means I had to do a class almost every day.

Well, here I am at the end of the month and I am feeling like a million bucks! I LOVE the classes so much. I must sweat a gallon every class.

The owner Elsie and her husband John have some strict standards for their teachers, and over the last month I have probably practiced with almost all of them. They are all wonderful!

I am addicted and will be continuing my practice!
We are heading to the beach in Mexico next week, so the yoga was a great way to get bathing suit ready body! Am I exactly where I want to be after three babies?  Of course not, but I feel good both physically and mentally and that is enough. 

 I highly recommend giving HOT Vinyasa Flow classes a try if you are looking to get stronger. If you are in Atlanta then Highland Yoga is the place to do it!

The House That Got Away + A Couple More (#househuntingatlanta)

How cool is this house?!? I was minding my own business making dinner last week when my agent texted me that this had just come on the market.

I went through the listing pictures and texted back "I want it." She made a 930am appointment to view it the next morning and I called our loan guy just to make sure everything was ready for us to make an offer. Yes, that is how sure I was.

SPOILER ALERT: There were multiple offers and they didn't go with ours.

But look at that cutout brick. Ughhhhhhhhh!!

Was it PERFECT? No. It was A LOT of work. A LOT! I didn't care. I liked the bones and the location.

The price was good too....not as good after we bid $15k OVER the asking price of course (and we still didn't get it) but good for this area and such a cool house.

Yep, it's a sellers market out there. And it's hard to believe, but we may not be the only people looking to buy a mid century modern house in Atlanta. Ha! I totally blame Mad Men! UGH! This could take a while.

Another thing is (as we are finding out) there are many investors out there ready to snatch up cool houses with cold hard cash. If this one is done up with all the best finishes they will be able to sell it for a nice little profit. (This is what is happening with the house we offered on back in January)

The floors would need changed out here obviously, but that isn't s huge deal.

Paint. A lot of painting.

Then the walls between the kitchen, dining and living rooms would need to come down.

The master bathroom is a great space. Combining the two little areas with sink and bath would make it BIG. Especially with the vaulted ceilings...but at this point you really just have to use your imagination.

Can you see it? Also, I would TOTALLY keep this green bathtub (and the matching toilet)! I don't want/need a tub in the master, so I would switch them to the kids bathroom though. Working in these vintage pieces would make the remodel so cool.

Here is the master, nothing spectacular, but those windows do it for me! Plus the vaulted ceiling makes it feel a lot bigger.

The kitchen is a time warp.

Those cabinets seem sooooooo country. I'm sure they original to the house, but it boggles my mind why they chose those cabinets with the architecture of the house.

Also the appliances are from 1959. Not surprisingly none of them function, so, remodeling the kitchen would be the top priority before moving in. (Im totally talking like we are moving into this house. I know it's already under contract, but just let me go on imagining ok?)

Holy storage!! The basement is humongous and almost doubles the square footage of the house.

One of my favorite parts is the little courtyard with the brick surround.

And off there in the distance is our the big back yard/forest. Soooooooo dissapointing. Ernesto did not care that we didn't get it because he thought it was too much work. This is funny, considering all the houses we are looking at need work. Good thing I have the final say on our offers. Ha!

We looked at a couple more this week, but both were missing some space.

This one was sweet and basically in HomeGoods backyard in Buckhead's (technically a Brookhaven address in Dekalb county) Pine Hills neighborhood.

It needed some work and in that neighborhood you could pour money in and not even be close to the asking price of other homes there. However, only two bedrooms upstairs and one down. (with the laundry) Plus living room was small too.  

Yard was great with woods and a creek (that the boys would have a blast exploring) along the side/back and BONUS bomb shelter! Underground maze and huge area to wait out the bombings. Very creepy actually.

Then yesterday we went to see this house in Briarcliff Woods.

We knew it wasn't ideal, because no basement. But! We decided it could be a great investment and why not make some money while waiting for our perfect house to come up? If this house had had a basement, we would have offered on the spot because it had a lot going for it.

Beamed vaulted ceilings in all of the rooms. Living room AND family room (gotta love mid century ranches!) a garage and .6 of an acre! That's a big yard!! Again with LOTS of work. Walls needed to come down, new kitchen, a roof etc.

I like the bones, and the low profile is cool too, but it needs bigger windows.  I think adding a peaked carport in front of the garage would make a huge difference to the curb appeal.  Dont' you think?Something like this.

Anyhoo.  We thought about it for 24 hours, which was just long enough for it to go under contact. Boy oh boy this housing market is nuts!

The hunt goes on! Stay tuned!

The Boys' School Photos 2016

We received the boys' school pictures in an email last week and I was so happy with what I saw.

The above picture of Marcelo makes me laugh.  So cute, but totally a forced smile. This is what I get when I tell them "look here, say cheese."

But this...THIS!

After a couple warm up photos, Beri Irving was able to capture the most natural, playful smiles of my babies.

Of course this is how I see them everyday (at least for a little bit!) but it's hard to capture.

SEVERAL of these pictures are going to be blown up BIG and framed.  Instant beautiful art!

The beautiful backdrop of the farm didn't hurt .

We were able to get in a few pictures too and I LOVE how they turned out.

Wow!  A picture where we are all looking at the camera!

Of course, I like the pictures where we are not looking too.  They are more REAL!

If you are in Atlanta, I highly recommend Beri for your next photoshoot.

Married FIFTEEN Years!?!?!?!

Now THAT just sounds weird.  Fifteen yeeeeears!?

 I wonder how that is possible?  Then I remember how old I am! HA!  We look like BABIES here.

All that we have done, everywhere we have been...remember the video I made for our 10 year anniversary?

I LOOOOOVE THAT VIDEO.  (good job self!)
I was pregnant with Mateo when I made that. Now look at us...

My perfectly imperfect family!  So much can happen in 5 years.  Life is a road with ups and downs and highs and lows. We have had some lows of course, but we are on such a high right now.  I am so happy to be sharing my life with this man and our three kiddos.

It was actually Ernesto's idea to write the "15 years later" and have Carolyn take a picture.
 "I new you would like this idea," he said.  Darn tootin'

After we took this picture, we left the boys at our neighbors (thanks Carolyn and Mark!) and finally tried Beetlecat in Inman Park.

 We sat outside and enjoyed... these chandeliers! They are HUGE! 

 Seriously, besides the beautiful decor, the seafood was. De.Lish.  Starting a meal with raw oysters s always a good thing! 

It was a long overdue date. We engaged in adult conversation and such.
With one tag-along. One beautiful sleeping tag-along.

She gave us about 45 minutes "alone."  She musthave smelled the tostones and ceviche. 

I'll never be upset to have this smile with me.  

Besides one child is a BREEZE especially at this age. Especially this girl.

Although I didn't get to a video this year, a recap of the last five years must be done! What a different video it will be.  A lot less traveling, but a lot more LOVE.  Like...3 TIMES as much LOVE.

And although my dream of a 15 year anniversary trip to Morocco didn't happen (20 year for sure!) we are taking a family trip to Mexico next month (not planned yet surprise surprise!) and hopefully staying 2-3 weeks.

So that will count...for something! 

More MCM House Hunting in Atlanta

Before I start overloading you with house pictures, I have to inform you that we are NOT moving to Rome Ga. LOL...As if.....

BUT! Remember this awesome house I showed you?

We actually did take a little day trip up there to see this AWESOME mid-century modern home estate, and although I totally fell in LOVE with the property (Ernesto loved it too!) it is just not in the right location.

It was impressive to say the least. Could I see myself living in this awesome room of windows with views of green foothills? Hell. Yes.

If it was in an Atlanta suburb, we would consider it. (and I don't want to live in the suburbs) BUT! A whole different city? And a small one to boot? No can do. This did make me consider it though.....

Also to note...if this house WAS in Atlanta, it would be closer to $3 MILLION! (So at $399k it is a bargain - way more space and coolness than we can get in Atlanta for that price!)

 

The kids favorite feature?

The spiral staircase! Oh yeah! Hours of fun, right in the den!

Let's go back to the front door.

This is my view as I walk to let in my cute little visitors. Look at the shaped boxwoods...

The japanese maples in my courtyard!!

The view from the kitchen looks like you are in the mountains. (When really you are just on top of a hill-but still)

A grand brick patio for entertaining....

Hello to my HUGE viburnum (aka:snowball)! UGH!

A HUGE yard and future pool area (just to make it a PERFECT 10!)

I KNOW! The list goes on and on....Doesn't my car look fabulous pulling out of our estate?!

I would really feel like a rich movie star living in this house.

We checked out the little downtown area of Rome. It was cute.

We had lunch and then hung out at the splash pad on the river.

But alas, it is not in the cards for us.

Let's get back to [the much more expensive] housing in Atlanta.

This house was/is awesome and has the BEST location! It came on the market a couple weeks ago, we went to the open house the next day. Ernesto was ready to put an offer in on the spot.

Flipping through the pics, you can see the original owners still had everything original. It had to be Don Draper!

Ernesto said he could just see himself lounging in front of these windows everyday! Yeah, me too!

Then we would head out back to our POOL and big back yard! Ahhhhhhhh just perfect!

Needless to say, that baby went under contract the next day. While at the open house, they were accepting bids on furniture or really anything in the house as the owners had passed away.

This beautiful painting was in the basement laundry room. Ha! Anyway I left a bid for $50 and apparently no one else wanted it....because here she is on my mantel.

She is not going to live there permanently, but I want to just stare at her. There is something about her that I love, not to mention the beautiful yellow. Paired with a GOLD frame too? Yes! I think it will be so pretty against my dark blue bedroom walls.

I LOVE this house too! It's HUGE, in a gorgeous neighborhood (Amberwood) and listed as a short sale, but still $100k more than our budget. (update:they just reduced it by $25k) Who knows, maybe it will be reduced more!

Look at the back of it! LOVE LOVE LOVE! It does seem to be in need of some major landscaping help, which we would be happy to work on. It has FIVE bedrooms !!!

This little house is pretty cool as well, (Brookhaven) I love the flat roof but it's not enough house for the price!

This one, although not MCM, is a cool updated mid century ranch, which we would also consider.

We liked it, but the inside, although spacious and nicely done, was nothing SPECIAL. What actually made us go look at it?

Oh yes! I am kinda loving the idea of us having a pool! This guy LOVED the idea!

Again with the wrong location and $$$, but this house is awesome!

Its got everything we are looking for...except the basement! Loving the light bright rooms, big windows and the beams! Also look at the colored bottles in the window. I like that.

This beauty just popped up in Decatur. Not really in our desired area, and over our max budget, but still fun to drool over look at!

Yeah, I would take it. AND I would negotiate the couch, rug and chairs.

 

Ok, and one last house...in the BURBS. (Dunwoody for you Atlantans) No doubt a very nice area to live,being a more upscale suburb on the North side of Atlanta. Great schools yada yada yada...but...but OTP.

 

Yes that is a thing here: ITP (inside the perimeter) and OTP (outside the perimeter) We are an ITP kind of family. We want to be close to the city and to all the "things" that have made us love Atlanta over the last 16 years. OMG I can't believe it has been that long!

Ernesto wants to go see it (just for fun he says), but honestly I am a little scared...I think I will love it too much. And it is just TOO FAR from everything that we have grown to love in the heart of the city. (not to mention the Spanish school that I would like the kids to attend)

What do you think?

It's cool right? Built the LAST YEAR of "mid-century" (1979) this house leans towards 80's vintage...which I am oddly a fan of...

Oh the windows and light!

Oh those beams!

Needs new flooring and kitchen, but definately great bones.

Oh yeah!! If anyone would drive out to visit, it would be party time!!

NOPE! Not going OTP.

I'm feeling sad to go 7 miles from Grant Park (our desired area near briarcliff and N. Druid Hills) and OTP would feel like a whole different city. We would never get down to the Beltline or Krog Street, Piedmont Park, Ponce City Market. I know things can change but right now I am not ready to give that up.