BIG NEWS!!!

The perks of (my husband) working at Google are amazing, but when you work your way up the ladder... sometimes the only place to go is to their headquarters. This is the pretty much where we are now.
Although we have put in a request to transfer to Austin, Texas... it looks like we're either staying put in Los Angeles, or move up to headquarters in Mountain View, CA. Oh, woe is me.

We are interested in Austin for several reasons:

#1. Ryan's family lives there. I LOVE being near family, the more the merrier, and since you couldn't pay me to move back near my family in Rome, GA (or any small town with nothing to do)... Austin would be it.

#2. Austin has Google Fiber. We're internet people. Enough said.

#3. We can build a giant humongous house for under $400K in Austin. With a pool. That is crazy-talk here in LA, a 2-bedroom built in 1970 can start around $400K here, that's ludicrous... I'm kinda sorta into the whole 'more bang for your buck' idea.

The truth is, if the option of moving to Austin actually does open up... we would seriously consider it. But the state laws and conservative people that make up Austin aren't exactly my cup of tea... I feel like if I'm not a conservative right-wing anti-Obama Christian with a garage full of guns, then I would be outcasted... and that's not where we want to raise our family. Those aren't my people.

Mountain View... well, meh.
Yes it's in San Fran, which is a really awesome area... but the homes start at $2Mil. Let me repeat that-- home prices START AT TWO MILLION DOLLARS.
LOLOL.
ANYWAY!

So, Ryan & I had a serious talk over the weekend about our options. We have decided that, unless Austin opens up...
 WE MAY POSSIBLY BE BUILDING A HOUSE IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA!!

My life is a dream.
The idea of having a house in LA isn't exactly ideal (unless you have a few million sitting around) so I was hesitant... until recently when one of Ryan's coworkers built a 3-story townhouse in Hawthorne, for under $500K! That's seriously unheard of.
So I began researching, and have found several companies offering this option. The townhouses are built to order, modern, spacious, 3 floors, and have 4 bedrooms.
AND a 2 car garage.
AND a laundry room.
AND it's near the beach.
AND it's not in Inglewood.
(if these seem like no-big-deals, you've never visited LA).
AND of course, they are in the ever-so-awesome city of Los Angeles.

So we're thinking. We're pondering. We're making plans. Can't wait to see where we go!:)

Google Family Day and DELILAH'S BIRTHDAY!

Okay, so I swore I was going to start this blog back up and suddenly 2 weeks went by without a new post. So this is me, getting into the habit of blogging again:)

This weekend was incredible! One of the best weekends we've had, as a family, in quite awhile. Everything went very smoothly, we relaxed, we celebrated, and even though something pretty terrible happened, we had a great attitude about it and didn't let it ruin our weekend... most importantly-- we celebrated Delilah's 3rd birthday!! Ohmygosh my baby girl is THREE!

In fact, it was an extended weekend! On Thursday morning, we woke up for Google's annual 'Family Day'... they are so much fun! This year, Google paid Santa Monica to close their pier so we could party! We took Delilah on almost all the rides, ate lunch and funnel cakes, played games and won prizes... it was just an awesome day!

Me & my Delilah Kate

I love this photo! It was Delilah's first non-kiddy ride... she loved it by the end:)

So after Google Family Day, we went home and prepared for the next day: Delilah's Birthday!!!

Ryan & I spent all night decorating the house, wrapping gifts, blowing balloons... here's the final look:

Cute, huh? Notice the balloons on the door, when Delilah opened the door, they fall out on her!

She woke up and loved everything! I made her birthday pancakes, sang her 'Happy Birthday', opened presents, went for lunch at Olive Garden (her fav!), and then went to a water park. She LOVED it. The day was perfect, I couldn't have planned it better myself.

 "I'm FREE!!"

The 'bad thing' that I mentioned happened this day, we were going to Hurricane Harbor Water Park, but we got a phone call saying that Ryan's passport was stolen (and likely sold on the black market)... so we needed to be by the phone around 5:30 for an important call, and so we visited Stoner Water Park instead. It actually ended up being a blessing, because instead of spending $100, we spent $8, and instead of driving 2 hours, we drove 20 minutes:)

The passport issue is still being handled, but what an unexpected twist of events! I've never dealt with identity theft before, and hopefully this won't escalate into something terrible. The main concern is dealing with this while still traveling often, if Ryan's name gets red-flagged it would be awful... he travels throughout the year, for work and leisure. He already has an awesome trip for Europe planning in August, hopefully this mess gets straightened out by then.

Saturday was a great day because we had some good quality family time, AND BONUS: Ryan & I had some extra-good quality time together to talk about future plans!!! We talked about moving, houses, each other, and a surprise which I'm not ready to reveal... it was just really nice. I love laying together and making plans with that man, I'm beyond blessed that we get to spend our life together. We had a MAJOR SUPER IMPORTANT discussion, and I'm super stoked about it... I'll post about it in the next post, because it deserves a post of its own.

Anyway, lots of hubby-bonding & family-time this weekend, a successful birthday party for the girl, a memorable Google Family Day, and a very laid back Sunday too (we ate at a new Brazilian restaurant, it was SO good, I actually ate MEAT! Then we walked around downtown pushing the stroller).

 I love my sweet family, they are my world.

Big major announcements coming soon:)

  

My New Beginning to this Blog (no, this time it's for real)

I've decided that my life is too awesome to not be documenting it more than I already do. I use various social media outlets to share some moments, but there's entirely too much going on for me to clog up Facebook all day. I need a place to share all these cool events, and moments, and special happenings...

My life is amazing.
I love every single day.
I love my family, my home by the beach, living in Los Angeles, my friends, I love my day-to-day life.
I'm grateful for every single thing I have... and I count my blessings every day.
With that being said, my beautiful life needs to be shared.

 For the longest time, I've contemplated starting my blog and thought "not yet, I need to make my blog pretty" or "not yet, I need interesting things to post." Yet here I am, I've been saying those lines to myself for about 2 years now... and I've traveled the world and raised my daughter in the meantime. So before I procrastinate any longer: I'm just going to do this!:)

I'm not into the big intros, I'm sure you'll get to know me and my family more as we go. I've been blogging since I was a teen, starting with livejournal... but I filtered my audience. This is a public blog and will remain a public blog, so enjoy!
[Side note: I couldn't shut this thing down if I wanted to, have you SEEN my two previous posts?! The number of visits those 2 posts get per day is insane... hi my name is Adrienne, and I know how to make successful Pinterest media.]

Anyway, this is my jumping off point... I hope you like it:)