Birthday-pa-looza and House Hunting

My birthday-pa-looza was wonderful! On my actual birthday, Thursday, Rob took the day off of work and let me sleep in, then brought me blueberry pancakes, oj, coffee and turkey bacon princess style: in bed. He climbed in with me and we had breakfast together, and then he drove me to the spa where I got a hot stone massage, a pedicure and foot reflexology... he stayed home and cleaned! We went out to dinner with my dad and his girlfriend (pizza!) and then the two of us dove into a little cheesecake with two forks.

Friday G. made me dinner (it's amazing to have a friend whose idea of "whipping something up" is broiled lamb chops) and her and Stu! and I sat around and drank (too much?) wine while Rob and G.'s husband played video games.

Saturday we went out with Rob's friends (Stu! and G. came, too) and had all sorts of fun (the kind where you wake up with a headache and mystery bruises the next morning), and I danced.

Sunday we went to Jen's after house hunting all day and ate shepard's pie and I caught the beginning of Darby O'Gill and the Little People... just enough to see yummy, dreamy young Sean Connery.

We're super torn about two different places we've seen. One is set up more like a house, and one is a loft. The house-y one has outdoor space, which means that when I'm (God willing) nine months pregnant, I won't have to walk three dogs in the blistering heat or the freezing cold and if I (God willing) have a baby, I won't have to pack her up every time the dogs need to pee. That's my big thing. The loft has no outdoor space, but it's WAY hipper and more urban, and they have all sorts of energy efficient appliances (brand new!) and other "green features" like recycled countertops and recovered maple flooring. It's airy and open, and features a KILLER basement for throwing parties. The more house-like one has a great basement, but the parking situation there is MURDER. We had to drive all over looking for a parking spot, and I can't imagine trying to have my friends with cars come over and finding an easy time near my building. I really love both of them for vastly different reasons, and Rob really only likes the lofts. It's a tough call.