So did I mention that it’s been kind of crazy around here? Our house sold and we’re closing in a few weeks. We’re planning to move into a rental while we build our dream “green” home. Our nanny doesn’t want to drive to our new neighborhood (too far) so I’m interviewing nanny candidates. I have two speaking engagements in the three weeks surrounding the move. My son, who isn’t crawling yet, but getting seriously close, is probably going to figure that out on the day the movers arrive. Oh yeah, movers. I need to call some.

So what’s open in my browser right now? A bit of EVERYTHING.

Nannies4Hire — this is where I found my last nanny and where I hope to find the new one. It’s free for nannies to register and free for parents to search. But you have to pay if you want to contact any of the candidates (or reply to any of their emails). The free-to-search function is useful because you can check out the talent pool and decide if you want to spend the money on a subscription or not. We did, and I have been overwhelmed with the number of people contacting me about the position.

The color gray. When we were looking at whether to buy or build, I fell in love with the interior of this house (pictured below). Loved the gray and white kitchen and the gray walls everywhere. So now I’m trying to figure out how much gray I want in the new house. And then I saw this post on Apartment Therapy and love the idea of a gray bathroom. Would that be too much in the master bath, I wonder? (Ours won’t be nearly as grand as the one pictured below, but how I would love to have a chandelier in there!) I also like the idea of a gray dining room. Hmmm . . .

Inexpensive area rugs. I’m still looking. The house we’re going to rent has hardwoods throughout but I’m thinking that it might be painful for a soon-to-be toddler. We’ll need area rugs in the new house, too, so the trick is finding some large enough for the new house but small enough to fit the rental. Maybe I’ll just get some at IKEA. Suggestions anyone?

Liking the pinwheel idea. Last week, I told you that my son loves anything that spins (wheels, ceiling fans) and so I was trying to come up with a theme for his first birthday party that involved wheels, but not cars. And I wanted an orange and yellow color scheme. So imagine my DELIGHT when I saw this post about a baby shower, orange and yellow, with pinwheels! I am totally stealing a bunch of these ideas. I have a million Etsy shops open in my browser right now. Stay tuned cuz next week, I think I’ll post pics and links — a virtual “inspiration board” if you will — and show you all the direction I’m headed. Maybe there will be some good resources there for you as well. (And maybe you all will have some ideas for me!)