Rockin' the Suburbs

We've only been livin' the vida suburbia a short while, but we like it already. Here are just a few reasons why:

- You can take your shopping cart ALL the way out to your car without being accused of stealing it.

- A short trip to Target doesn't require an entire Saturday afternoon.

- The children on their bikes like our dog. They even stop to say hi and pet her (!!) as apposed to hugging the wall as we pass as if she was a grizzly bear and they were wearing tenderloin necklaces.

- The city flower pots do not double as trash cans.

- We can sleep with the windows open and not be woken up by a single ambulance or firetruck all night.

- A passing bus does not rock the house to where we feel like we are in an earthquake.

- After the sun goes down, the crickets come out to sing.

- Relaxing on the front porch with a cup of coffee and the paper on the weekends= priceless.

- We can eat outside and still be at home!

- No one vacuums above our bedroom at midnight

- Our new house is off an alley, but I have yet to see anyone relieve themselves in it.

- So many swing sets; so little time.

- The feel of grass between your toes.

- The sales tax is less than 10.5%.

- At the end of the day, sometimes you just need your mom or dad. I've got that covered.

As seen on TV...

I have a not-so-secret, secret to share. We have our condo on the market. It's not really a secret because, well, it's not a secret. But it feels like it is because I haven't talked about it before now. But Marin really turned on the charm recently, and it may have us one step closer to "the land of grass".

Allow me to explain.

Our realtor's associate is friends with the producer of the WGN morning news. Through that grapevine we heard that WGN was doing a segment on real estate in the current market, and how it is a great time to buy. They wanted to highlight 5 or 6 places in good areas that are a good value. Our realtor submitted our property, and it was chosen.

So last week WGN came to our condo to film the segment. Jason and I were abnormally excited, not only because it is a great opportunity for exposure, but because we are fans of Ana Beleval, the news reporter who came. (Jason likes her because she is smokin' hot, I like her because she's spunky and fun.)

When they arrived, I was nursing Marin (what else would I be doing). So I quickly finished that up and went to greet the crew. Instead of greeting them in a way that is appropriate and gracious- the way my parents raised me to speak (i.e. "Welcome to our home. Thank you for coming.") the excitement of hearing Ana's voice at my front door as Jason let her in and I put my shirt back on got the best of me, and as I approached her I literally said, "I know I just heard Ana Beleval in my house!!!" Who am I? It was one of those moments where I wanted grab the words as they were coming out of my mouth and stuff them back in. If I am so dumbly star struck by my local news reporter, I better hope that I never run into Jennifer Aniston on the street. Who knows what I'd say to her. Luckily I had the sense not to tell Ana that she was even prettier and skinnier in person. That's the ultimate backhanded compliment, and I was thinking that, too.

However, at the time of my non filtered babble I was holding Marin in my arms, and her overall darlingness (new word) won Ana Beleval over enough to dismiss my diarrhea of the mouth. Marin was smiling back at Ana from ear to ear and couldn't take her eyes off of her. This prompted all of us to launch into a conversation about feeding schedules and sleep patterns; comparing our mental notebooks on parenting a newborn baby. Ana commented on what a great baby Marin was and touched her little hand as we talked. Over the course of our conversation I was able to compose myself and we were sure to thank them for coming and make certain that they had everything they needed to make themselves at home.

We left fifteen minutes later, to let them film the segment. I was too busy recovering from my awkward introduction to think to ask Ana for a picture with Marin (which would have been perfect for this blog post, not to mention her baby book!) but I think Marin may have left her mark after all. They decided to film the entire interview at our condo, so we are told that there should be a lot of coverage of our place, which will hopefully result in a sale. Either way, it was Marin's first brush with a celebrity and she was way more composed than her mother.

It is set to air tomorrow (WGN, Chicago channel 9) at 7:40am, 8:40 am and maybe 11am and possibly tonight at 9pm. Tune in if you'd like, or set your DVR just for kicks. I'll see if I can post a video here after it airs.

It seems that everything we do now is for Marin. In this case, we'd like her to have a yard where she can run with her dog as she grows older. We call it, "the land of grass". Poor girl does not know such a thing exists, but she may have just had a hand in getting us there.