1. Wasn’t the Glee Madonna episode pure genius? I absolutely loved it. My favorite quote of the week was “When I pulled my hamstring I went to a misogynist.” Gotta love a ditzy cheerleader. I’m a huge Madonna fan– the old stuff, the new stuff, I love it all. I used to listen to “Borderline” in my room as a child. I’d listen to “Material Girl” in the car with my older cousin and babysitters. I’d skate to “Like a Prayer” at the skating rink. And I’d dance to “Hung Up” when I’d go out with my friends.

So pairing Madonna and Glee is absolutely perfect and the entire episode found great ways to pay tribute to the Material Girl.

If you don’t watch Glee and you just want to see the incredible rendition of “Like a Prayer,” click here: {Thanks to Ryan Seacrest for posting it on his blog when my DVR failed me after Idol ran over}

Watch the Final Scene from Glee’s Madonna Episode {or watch the entire episode}

2. Crystal Bowersox is so talented. She continues to prove to me that she is the one to win American Idol. Who’s your favorite to win?

3. I cut 3 inches of my hair off. Or I didn’t do it, my hairstylist did. It probably doesn’t look much different to anyone else, and that’s fine with me. But I am already missing those three inches of hair!

4. We’ve gotten a lot of traffic coming through our house. We’ve had at least one showing every day so far and I hope that continues. The whole process is a little exhausting, but fortunately, I’m home all day so I can grab Hudson and the dogs and we can go kill some time in the car while the house is being shown.

5. I’m on a mission to find a solid green or solid orange dress to wear to Hudson’s first birthday party. I’ll post the details of his party later, but I want my outfit to coordinate with the decorations. Some Twitter pals helped me out a little yesterday. I’m excited about getting an orange dress because I never ever wear orange any other time of the year. Between the Clemson, Auburn, and Tennessee conflicts, I’m just better off not wearing orange. But this time I’ll have an occasion and it will be fun to wear orange for the first time in a very long time. Any suggestions for orange dresses?

My friend, Anne Says So, showed me these two from Anthropologie. The orange one isn’t solid. But I love it anyway.

Then Nina sent me some adorable patterns where I could very inexpensively have a dress or tunic dress made in the exact fabric and pattern I want. I like this idea a lot and I have a fantastic tailor in town.

So if any of you see any affordable and adorable green or orange dresses around let me know!

6. I’m off to Atlanta for the weekend! Can’t wait to catch up when I get back!

My blog got another makeover.

I’m really happy with this new look and plan to make it the one that stays with me for a long time. The very talented Penny Lane Designs did the header for me. She designed my old blog when I used blogspot and I knew she’d do a great job again. I just had no idea I’d love it this much! She is unbelievably talented and so many of my favorite blogs were designed by Penny Lane Designs. Plus she’s  a new mommy just like me, so we always have lots to chat about.

I wanted the home page to feel like you were stepping into my world. So welcome to my world!

And once again, the talented Mojito Maven helped me get everything installed and got all of the colors changed to match my new header. Thank you, friend!

I need to give a great big shout out to my husband. Our house went on the market last week while I was in Dallas. Before I left, I made sure to put things in their place and get all of the laundry taken care of. But other than that, Todd was responsible for getting everything ready. He took “getting the house ready to sell” to a whole new level and I’m so proud of him!

I wasn’t shocked, but sometimes men have a tendency to leave things lying around or not care if something is put away or not. But when Hudson and I got home last night, I noticed that Todd had cleared out closets to make room for Hudson’s toys. So we can put Hudson’s toys away in the closet right before we show the house. He planted flowers in the planters outside our front door. Seriously. I don’t even do that. I have a black thumb. But Todd did it!

He and his parents turned our previously nasty back yard into an adorable little outdoor haven. The backyard project was something we’ve wanted to do since we moved in and now that we’re about to (hopefully) move it is getting done.

I can’t blame him for waiting to do something to the backyard. After we looked at houses in the neighborhood of our choice, we have both gotten really excited. Todd’s motivating factor is the golf course. My motivating factor is a larger living room. But whatever the motivation, we’ve found it and we’re on a mission to sell this house.

We don’t have any official news to report on our house at this point. We had a few lookers last week and there will be an open house this weekend. Frankly, I’m thrilled that we’ve had any traffic at all with just seven days on the market.

We did a lot of de-cluttering and we’ll probably do some more before we move. Between the two of us, we have a lot of books that we’re not ready to get rid of. When we got married and moved into this house we reached a compromise. I had about 10 years of Martha Stewart Weddings and InStyle Weddings magazines. Todd had about 15 years of Sports Illustrated magazines. I didn’t really want the Sports Illustrated magazines taking up the little amount of storage space that I had and he didn’t want my wedding magazines doing that either. We both went through our magazines, tore out the things we wanted, and recycled the magazines. I put all of the tear outs in a wedding inspiration binder.

Todd and I put some things in storage that we know we’ll want later, but we just needed our house to look a little bit more empty. Dumb bells on the floor and my big exercise ball weren’t exactly a home-buyer’s ideal master bedroom accessories.

It’s so hard to keep your house looking absolutely immaculate all the time. Because, honestly? We live here. Hudson and I are here all day, every day. We’re going to make messes. So I’m going to try my hardest to make sure that if someone calls and wants to show our house, we’re ready. It should only take me 10 minutes to get the house ready and get all of us out the door.

We’re in “operation: get the house sold” mode and we’ll do what it takes to make it happen.

If my husband can plant flowers in our planters outside, I can keep the house clean at all times.

What challenges have you faced to get what you really want? What sacrifices have you made to keep your partner happy?

Honestly, I don’t miss those magazines at all. They were always a pain to move and they weighed 128 pounds! (I don’t know that for sure, but it’s just a guess.)

My girl crush, Carrie Underwood, won entertainer of the year for the second year in a row at the ACM awards last night. I know I’ve written about Carrie a couple of times, but I think she is so gifted and so beautiful. She’s also humble and grateful. And she always remembers to thank the most important people in her life that got her where she is today and never forgets to thank God. Todd and I are going to see her in concert in May right before we leave for our anniversary trip. I’m not sure which one of us is more excited.

I like country music a lot, but I wouldn’t call myself a “fan” of many groups. I’m more into the songs and if an artist or group has a lot of great songs then I’ll become a real fan. I am a huge fan of Carrie’s.

Carrie had a few wardrobe changes last night, and she hit a high note with all of them!

in Basil Soda

this glittering mini-dress was a little short– I was actually nervous for her a few times, but she looked amazing in it.

in a dreamy gown to perform “Temporary Home”- I love this colors in this gown

in Rafael Cennamo- so adorable!

Did you watch the ACM awards? Who was your favorite performer last night? Who was best-dressed? Do you love Carrie as much as I do?