gezelligheid!

a month ago my mom went to atlanta to see my sister, and of course they went to ikea because no one can go to a city with an ikea and not go to the ikea. while they were there they saw the picture above, and they both loved it. but it really is HUGE (55" wide and 39" tall), and neither of them had a place to hang it. so when my mom came home, she described it to me and i immediately said, "i have the perfect place!" when i went to atlanta myself, i checked it out (side note: i spent a grand total of 15 minutes in ikea that day...that is a record) and loved it! but i had flown to atlanta, and it was definitely not carry-on luggage worthy. so a week later my other sister went to atlanta and of course they went to - where else? - ikea. so michelle schlepped it all the way back to chapel hill in her car along with two kids and a massive planting pot for my mom, and tonight the picture finally made it to my apartment. once i'd hung it up, i stepped back and looked at it...and it was like my apartment was finally complete. it just feels RIGHT. i've lived in this apartment for almost two years, and today is the first time that i feel like it all fits together. everyone is invited to come and see it!

my parents and sister michelle and her family and i all went to dinner tonight at macaroni grill. it's somewhat of a tradition now that we go every year for my birthday because we love the food and it's already loud there so no one cares if the kids are loud. dinner was great except that my dad always makes these TERRIBLE jokes that no one understands, and tonight was no exception. but after dinner everyone came to my apartment (hence the picture above), and it was SO fun to have my family here! my mom and dad shared the chair-and-a-half, my sister and brother-in-law and two of their kids shared the couch, and i had a chair to myself while my littlest nephew just ran around the apartment and up and down the hall for about two hours (my poor residents!). we had the basketball game on so the guys watched that while we girls talked. everyone was comfy and cozy, so much so that my dad slept the entire two hours that they were here. in dutch we would say that it was "gezellig," which means cozy...except cozier than cozy. when i woke up this morning i thought it was going to be a less-than-stellar day, but it turned out really well and i will be going to bed happy. yay for that!