Scott: "Are you drinking a martini?"
Gina: "Of course."
Scott: (with head shaking as he walks out of the room) "I know better..."

It might only be 12:01 pm but it's my birthday. I'm sitting in our makeshift office/studio, surrounded by a frightening mound of boxes and random stuff pulled out of the closets, all labeled and bound for the dome... but when? When will we have some semblance of order back in our lives? I thought I would share an update on the progress of our closing.

Step one was the appraisal. After some serious searching, we finally located someone willing to appraise a dome - with no other domes around to comp it against, this wasn't as easy as you might expect. The appraisal went well and we got our first green light.

Second hurdle was insurance. With some repairs needed, our current insurance agent so nicely offered to cover us in a year after we've fixed a list of items "to code" - whatever that means. Being NY though, we found someone willing to look past the "codes" and give us a policy. Did you know that since Greta is a German Shepard - one of the most trainable, obedient, protective, and loyal breeds of dog you can get, we have to pay extra? But I guess it's a minor compromise for the "code" thing, and so we've received our second green light.

Last but not least, as soon as our Mortgage Lender puts together all of the docs, we'll receive our final green light to set a closing date. We anticipate closing day to be some time within the next week or so - as long as we can get in touch with our realestate agent - a nice mom from LA who every time we call for info is at a Yankee game or something... comforting that at least she's not anticipating any problems receiving her commission from our purchase.

So for the past few weeks, aside from packing and filling out paperwork, we've been meticulously planning a garden. We've received seeds from friends overseas and family down south - thank you Aunt Marie, Maw & Giovanna - as well as a shopping list (that we're working on) from Francie, Scott's inspiration Master Gardner of Tuscany, of other plants we must have in the garden. We're excited to get started and hopefully we'll have a beautiful and tasty garden to share with you soon!


For now, we'd like to share some lovely Crocus Vernus, aka the "Pickwick," a Dutch Hybrid (in case you thought Scott wasn't here) and Siberian Squill (Scott's still here) that have blanketed our lawn at the apartment. We'll miss this place, but not the frat boys across the street.

And since it is my birthday of course, I'd like to share a martini, but also the beautiful windchimes that Scott gave me for my birthday (as if buying me a house for my birthday wasn't enough) with you. Enjoy!