It’s house inspection day!! 
I’m nervous. Mal can’t take off work, so I’m going solo this morning. Hopefully, everything makes sense and I know the right questions to ask. Our realtor will be there too, so I’m sure she’ll help get me through it. She knows everything!
Breakfast
For breakfast this morning, I made a “tasting plate” with a bunch of different foods, including red grapes and coconut cashews.
A fresh sliced peach.
And a toasted Zucchini Muffin with Teddie Peanut Butter spread on top.
I love meals like this– just little bites of everything. It keeps it interesting! 
I also drank an iced coffee with soy milk with breakfast.
Last night, I spent the majority of the evening going through the stuff from my mom’s house, which included a zillion photo albums. (The ones in the picture below are just those from my mom’s house. I already had about 10 of my favorites at my apartment!)
I’ve always loved taking photos, so I was that gal snapping pictures at every special (and not-so-special) occasion. I have a ton of photos from high school and college. I never took photos of my food, but I think I have blogger in my blood!
All of my photo albums take up a ton of space (and stress-out my husband), but I just can’t part with them. I’ll likely start scanning my favorite photos to save space, but this will take some time. I guess I’ll just have to make room for them until then.
Book Update
Exciting stuff on the book front! 
I finished and submitted my second round of edits to my editor yesterday morning. The second round was so much easier than the first. They only took me about a week to complete.
Now that the edits are done, my book goes into manuscript production. I’m not really sure what this means, but it sounds exciting! I also got to see the first draft of my book cover!!! It’s awesome– very Carrots ‘N’ Cake! 
The book is scheduled to debut next April or May!
Question of the Day
What material thing(s) in your life can’t you part with?
P.S. I’m giving away Peanut Butter Puffins on Trading Up Downtown!
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That is super exciting about your book!
My mom never really kept photos of us IN an album so they are just strewn throughout boxes, etc – it is super stressful!
Those coconut cashews look awesome!
I don’t think I would be able to part with my books, my photos albums and my computer hard-drive (since it has tons of photos on it).
Good luck with the inspection!
Good luck on the house inspection!
Also, congrats on the book!
I’ve always been camera-happy as well. I have tons of albums from middle and high school!! Good luck with the house inspection!!
I have a red velveteen sweater from childhood that is never, ever leaving my possession.
congrats on the book! that is so exciting! as is the house inspection!! good luck!!
That breakfast looks delicious! I love “snack meals” like that – a little bit of everything. I just finished off a bowl of PB Puffins so I better go enter to win that give away! One thing I can’t part with – my stuffed animal. I am 21 and still sleeping with this ridiculous little dog that I got on my first Christmas. I know I’ll have to part with him when I get married, so we are savoring our last days together. :]
I still have cards that were given to us on our wedding day 7 years ago.
Great news about the book!!!
I’m keeping my fingers crossed on the house inspection! Good luck!
I find it so hard to part with photos, too. They’re among the most important things I own.
What’s the title of your book?
That’s a great idea for a breakfast. It’s like your own personal buffet. I can not part with all my books from when I was a kid. You know babysitters club, american girl, goosebumps. I just loved them so much. I’d love for my kids to read them one day just like I read my mom’s old books.
Congrats on your book!
I would love to have more printed photos of me and my boyfriend ,but most of them are just a digital version.
Coconut cashews sound really great!
i’m usually on the west coast when i read your blog but today i woke “early” for my flight – and your first post is already up – good luck with the inspection today!
I can’t wait to buy your book
Congrats on finishing your second edits.
I have a lot of photos too, but it’s hard to get rid of those! I can’t imagine it!
There is a company called ScanCafe that you can send your favorite photos to and they will scan them and fix them if they need fixing, putting them all online and on CDs for you! My MIL is doing that with all of PB and his sister’s photos from when they were little as a Christmas present and the quality is amazing. Plus once you select the photos you want they do all the work for you.
Good luck at the house inspection!
Book update=so so so exciting. I think that book most definitely will have to be pre-ordered! Also, I never would have thought of doing a tasting plate for breakfast…silly me. That’s a great idea.
Best wishes for a smooth inspection! I am sure everything will go great. I get to do that this Friday myself.
I would have a hard time parting with my boxes full of memories/pictures and the big box of pictures that my grandma has saved over the years including pics of her grandparents and other relatives.
I have a really hard time parting with clothes that hold memories. Weird, I know. But, I just can’t part with the shirt I wore on my first date with my fiancee or the dresses I wore to my school dances! I guess that makes me a memory hoarder…
Laura
So exciting about your book, congrats!!!
Also, good luck with the house inspection this time around =)
oh man! are those coconut cashews from yumnuts?! if so, i’m super jealous. i love those babies!
I have a terrible time parting with cards that I receive! I have whittled it down over the years to a box that gets stored with pics and other memorabilia, but I still love digging them out to remember those that are gone or people that live far away
I love greeting cards… Giving them and getting them! I can never throw away a card someone gives me. I have a box full of cards I have received over the years. I get it from my parents… When they were “dating” they would give each other cards all the time and then when they got married they had all the cards framed in a collage. A little sentimental and corny, but we are kinda like that.
Good luck with the inspection today! I hope everything goes smoothly!
I’m the same way with photos and photo albums, I love them and refuse to get rid of them!
Great news about your book, can’t wait to see how it looks like
Good luck with your home inspection!
honestly when it comes down to it i could probably give up just about anything, but i have every photo that i’ve ever had…ever!…still with me!
good luck with the inspection!
Definitely pictures. I think those are always so special. Good luck on the inspection. My fingers are crossed for you!
I love photo albums! I have tons and will not give them up. We have a big bookcase unit in our living room and a couple of the shelves are devoted to albums.
How exciting about the book!
im the same way about photos. most of mine are digital and just stuck in some random folder on one of 3 computers that ive been using. needless to say it stresses me out! i keep telling myself im going to organize and print books of my favorite places/events, but that never happens. ONE DAY….
You know you often read the organizational tip to “take a picture of a sentimental item” that way you can get rid of it and still remember it? Haha–that solution won’t work for your problem–you have too many pictures!!
We have a ton of pictures in my house too that would be very upsetting to lose. The same goes for digital–my dad just starting a massive back up program for all of us–he gave his daughters (me and my sisters) external hard drives to put our photos on and he isorganizing a gift for my mothers birthday coming up next month! Pictures are so special!
My senior prom dress. I thought so many times about donating it, but I just can’t. Instead it lives in a box under my bed and I occasionally try to put it on. I don’t think I will ever be able to part with it.
Oh my gosh, I have just as many albums as you do!
I’ve always been obsessed with documenting my life through pics & journals… I guess I have blogger blood, too
Good luck with the house inspection!
good luck with your inspection today! It’s great that you have a realtor that actually cares about what’s best for you. I know people who weren’t that lucky and were swayed into making purchases that they shouldn’t have.
I love pics, but i’m so bad about organizing them!
letters…love letters, letters passed in class in 6th grade, letters from my grandma….i just can’t part with them!
Good luck with the inspections today! Don’t worry about not knowing what to ask, your realtor is there to help you! Just don’t be afraid to ask questions.
That is so exciting about your book!
I like tasting plates for breakfast too — it makes meals much more interesting!
Wow, I don’t really know. I do have a box of memories at home and I would be devastated if my mom gave that away. It includes cards from birthdays, communion, confirmation, graduations, etc. Pictures from high school, arts and crafts from kindergarten and different things from my childhood. There is one doll in particular, her name is Linea and she came with a book about Monet. My grandfather gave that to me just before he passed away. I don’t keep it with me anymore but its packed away in my memory box. If my mom gave that away it would be the absolute worst. I love that doll and book.
Your tasting plate looks so delicious! I should try that on days I want to feel richer than I really am.
something abut the actual, physical photo carries so much importance to me. Sure, it’s cook to see the image digitally, but holding the photo in your hand or an albom is what really takes me back
The book updates are so exciting!
Thanks for keeping us posted!
I wouldn’t be able to live without my laptop, I have to say. I’ve moved around so much in the past few years that I don’t have a ton of nostalgia-type possessions (most of them are at my parents’ in North Carolina), but my laptop is where I have all my more recent pictures. And, it was expensive, ha!
My books. I was that pre-teen and teenager that, once I was in to a book series, had to collect them all. Now that I’m an adult, I cannot bear to part with them, and there are literally hundreds of these books! Maybe my future daughter will be a reader, too!
I love tasting plates but never think to have them for breakfast! Yummy!
I can’t part with anything. I am a hoarder.
What a fantastic update on the book! I can’t wait to get a copy when it comes out.
I can’t part with all of my baking materials and cake decorating tools. Or my kitchen aid mixer, haha. I sound so silly.
Very exciting news about the book! I published a book of short fiction on a (very) small imprint, and I will be the first to tell you that seeing your book in print is the most satisfying feeling in the world. (That might be an exaggeration, but it’s still pretty cool!)
Can’t wait to read your book next year.
My mom just sent me some coconut cashews – I betcha they’re the same ones – yummm!
I love “tasting plates”, they make eating more of an activity.
Good luck on the inspection!
I couldn’t part with my laptop probably because it has all my recipes and photos on it!
Oh my gosh that is so many photo albums! I’m sure my mom has just as many tucked away somewhere! Pictures add up reallly fast. Good luck with the house inspection! I have a good feeling about this one.
I have a bazillion photo albums too. Once we had to evacuate for a fire and I thought my husband was going to kill me when I made him put them all in suitcases and drag them out of the house.
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