The Low Down

Is anyone as disappointed as I am that its only Thursday!? Seriously, yesterday I was picking out my clothes and I thought to myself, "I am so happy tomorrow is Friday".  Then on the way to work I realized it was only Wednesday.  BOO!! Oh well tomorrow is Friday and we have a three day weekend AND J is probably going to be able to share in the three days off! I'm pretty excited about that!!

So here is the low down on the house.

It is a short sale but the bank has already approved the price.  We are the only contract they have in hand.  The listing agent told our realtor that she won't be accepting any other contracts and that she will be submitting our offer to the bank.  That all sounds like great news to me.  At this point I am still reserved.  Why, you may ask?  Because the seller still has not signed off on the contract. 

I'm a tad annoyed -- the seller obviously is ready to be done with the home and he only has to sign it as a formality since we are offering what the bank is asking and we didn't add or remove any terms/conditions. Now, before you tisk me, understand that he has had the contract since Sunday or Monday morning. I know it has only been a few days so I should just keep my cool. I'm not freaking out I am just ready to move on and move forward.  We are SO close. But, alas, we wait on the seller. I am hoping that he has just been working a lot and when he isn't working, he is sleeping.  That is what I am going with -- it makes me feel better.  I know I shouldn't be all wound up about it seeing as technically he has only had the contract in his hands for three whole days. I just don't understand why he wouldn't want to sign it and just be finished with the property?? I mean, is it purely apathy?! I shouldn't be critical, I'm just ready to know so I can either celebrate that we don't have to look at other houses at this point or pout because we didn't get another lol

In other, much more exciting news, my sister and he groom-to-be are closing on their house this afternoon! I am so happy for them! (and a tad bit jealous but our time will come...) I am going over there on Saturday to help paint some of the bedrooms and the master bathroom. I am very very happy for them! =)

Oh and!!! I just received news that my cousin's wife's water broke this morning! I know a little overshare but whatevs!! They will be welcoming their little one into the world today!! YAY!

My cousin and his wife on their wedding day -- August 2009

And it is official -- I am totally growing my hair out because of this picture!!  PS: Try some biotin.  I started it because of Jess over at Polka Dots, Pearls and Pink...Oh My! and my hair has seriously grown an inch in about five weeks! YAY! =)

5/21/2011

6/28/2011

Happy Friday Eve!

Wedding Wednesday

Meet Nicole from Life's a Beach

Make sure you check out their engagement story here! It is SO sweet!!

She was married to her husband September 4, 2010.

The bride conspired with two of the groom's friends who were deployed to Afghanistan.  The groom didn't know that his friends were able to take leave to fly to The States for the wedding and was so happy to have his close friends there for his special day. They surprised him by showing up at the rehearsal -- you can read all about Nicole's surprise here

During the rehearsal, the groom had to teach his daughter how to be a flowergirl -- how sweet is that?!

 

The ceremony was at 11am.  Anyone who has been married knows, as a bride, you take a WHILE to get ready.  The bride was up and exhausted at 6am -- she says she was so thankful for a cherry coke and her iPhone to keep her awake and entertained!
 

The bride wore 3 garters; a keep, a toss, and one that a bridesmaid crafted for the entire bridal party so that they would match.

 

 

 

How darling is the flower girl basket?!

 

The bride and groom had a traditional unity candle.  They wanted the groom's daughter to be included in the unity so the bride, groom and groom's daughter had their own family unity candle.

 

 

During the ceremony when asked for the rings, the Best Man and Matron of Honor handed over some ring pops! The preacher held them up and said, "Do I really have to pray over these?"

The bride and groom had a small tribute to the grandparents that are no longer with them by placing pictures of them at the alter and flowers in their memory.

 

 

 

The entire wedding party wore cowboy boots -- I love this detail!

 

 

 

 

The groom loves his Mac so his grooms cake was commissioned to look like an Apple Laptop.

 

Not only did the bride have a father/daughter dance; the groom also had a father/daughter dance with his little girl.

 

 

Congratulations Nicole and PC!! I hope you have enjoyed your first 10 months of wedded bliss! Thank you for sharing your special day with us =)

{Recipe} Inside-Out Chicken Pot Pie

So still no word on the house.  =/  No news is good news right?! =) That's what I am going with...it is really hard NOT to pester our realtor. I KNOW she will tell us when she hears anything but that doesn't help me sit idley by haha.

I tried a new recipe the other week and made it again last night.  It is yummy and really simple so I thought I would take this opportunity to share it with y'all!

Inside-Out Chicken Pot Pie

Please excuse my camera picture -- I was too hungry to dig out the camera haha

{Ingredients}

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast; cut up

1 can Campbell's Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

1 pkg (16 oz) frozen vegetable combination

1 Can of biscuits

{Directions}

Bake biscuits according to directions on can

Cook chicken in nonstick skillet until browned, stirring often

Add soup and vegetables. Cover and simmer until done.

Serve on biscuits.

This recipe takes about 20 minutes, so easy and delicious.  And believe it or not, I actually eat my vegetables! =)

Alright -- that's all I have today.  I didn't wake up until 8:15 this morning and I am usually AT WORK by 8...yeah. SO I'm off to get some work done! I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday.

I will let y'all know as SOON as I hear back about the house. Thanks again to everyone for your wonderful thoughts, positive vibes and prayers. Y'all rock!

Another Offer Was Made...

Saturday we went and looked at 6 more homes.  We were 60/40 on them.  Two were an absolute disaster.  Seriously -- one was a dark hole of a man cave.  Definitely not paying that much for your home when it would be better to just demolish the entire thing and start over.

The one I thought would be my favorite, came in second place.  The lot was awfully small and with the way Ruger gets to run amok at our current home in the yard, he needs a little space.

The home that we made an offer on I have been pushing to see it for the past three weeks.  The tenants have been difficult with allowing people to come see the home.  They require that they are present at the time of the potential buyer's walk thru.  It was a little awkward.  My dad went with us which was a lot of fun.  The house had a wonderful layout and large rooms.  There are some specifics that neither J nor I can remember simply because the tenants were there and, although the were nice, that tends to make you want to skedaddle haha

We can't remember how many closets are in the master bathroom...I think there are two, but like I said I can't remember.  We also can't remember where the walls are in the front of the home with the kitchen/front room/living room.  Right now, I remember there is a doorway into the kitchen but I can't remember if there is space between where the doorway is and where the kitchen starts? Weird right?! But I could envision our furniture in the home even with all their stuff in there. 

I can't wait to see what OUR house looks like with no furniture in it.  J keeps talking about how small the two front rooms are and I had to show him that they are the same size as our current master bedroom!!  I think we are going to have a very new perspective on our home once we get out of it and move the furniture into these much bigger rooms.  The house is about 1100 square feet bigger than our current home! It is going to be very strange but in a good way =)

While out and about looking at homes --  near the horrible man-cave of a house, we saw some ZEBRAS! Not even joking! In the middle of FL, this dude owns some exotics! AND they had babies that were just darling!

 

Yes I had to pull over and take pictures -- well so did our realtor -- she was just as excited as I was! =)

We have come to terms with the fact that any house we move into, we are going to re-do most or all of the floors.  The home we made the offer on is no exception.  It is all carpet and a little linoleum.  As long as we are able to stay in our current home, we can work on the new house and not have to live where we work! YAY! That is the plan -- hopefully it all falls into place and works out. 
Yesterday we spent most of the day looking for flooring that we like.  We found some -- I didn't take a picture of the tile =/ OOPS! BUT here is the wood laminate flooring we love (pictured with our couch)

We decided to go with the wood laminate because it will be more durable.  With our Crazy Critter running around like mad, we need something that won't scratch within a day of being on it.  The hardwood scratches REALLY easy -- even the 'hard' stuff =/ This will be good for us too because if anything happens to a piece of it, it won't be SUCH a nightmare to pull up and replace. 

We picked out a tile for the kitchen, bathrooms and foyer.  OH AND the INDOOR laundry room!!! Who's excited?! THIS GIRL! I know that sounds ridiculous to most of you but the 1950's home we live in has an outdoor laundry room.  This idea is so ridiculous to me because seriously -- who in their right mind wants to do laundry in the heat and humidity?!

While driving around, J and I based this little Hispanic restaurant where we bought a box full of desserts.

OH. MY. GOSH! These were so delicious! Seriously, I WILL be going back there.   We also bought a loaf of Cuban break which was divine. I just drooled a little posting that picture haha!

We also looked at some fans and came up with a budget plan for the next couple months to make sure we have the money to make the upgrades that we want.  The countertops are not what we had hoped to have in our new house but that is an upgrade we can do later =) I am also looking for inspiration for a backsplash.

You know, the great thing about not having all the upgrades we were hoping for is that we can make it EXACTLY what we want it to be. I mean, originally we wanted to find a home that was perfect, meeting all our parameters.  The problem has been that our parameters are SO specific. We want what we want. Period.  The problem is that we basically need to build our own house for that.  What we have found is that the layout and size are most important, followed by kitchen cabinets and land. We have those things at this house.  We can do the paint, countertops and flooring -- no problem =)

I am very excited about this house.  Each home has been better than the previous in some way or another. And so far we have been very fortunate to find a home we really love each time we have gone out.

I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend -- I am going to ask everyone to keep thinking happy thoughts, sending up prayers and positive vibes =) Thank you for your love and support!

The Importance of Good People

Thank goodness it is FINALLY Friday! UGH! My days have flown by but I feel like the week has been dragging on and on!  I am very excited about going to look at homes tomorrow too so I'm a little antsy for the weekend.

I am so very fortunate to have an amazing group of friends.  I know I have talked about this in the past Here and probably in several other posts, and how lucky I am to have such an amazing support system.  I am going to talk about it again. I probably hold on to that so tightly because, honestly, growing up and even in college I only had a handful of friends -- literally like 2 at a time. I don't know why -- I think I am likeable, but that is neither here nor there. =)

I truly value the friendships I have made since stepping out into the world.  Our group isn't huge and I do have a few friends outside this main circle of people.  The people that I chose to have in my life show one another so much love and compassion. They are there for one another at their worst and brattiest.  That is so much more important -- it isn't enough to support someone when they are bright and shiny; they have to support you in the hard and stuggling times.  I know that if I ever needed anything while J was away, I could call any of these friends.  Heck, I have even had some of my girl friends offer to spend the night with me so I am not alone! How sweet is that?! =)

I won't show you old pictures that you have already seen is so many of my other posts.  I am going to share a new reason why my love for my friends is going strong.

Our friends, Shaun and Katie, are getting married on Monday downtown with friends and family.  They aren't doing anything big -- they will travel to the beach to take all their photos.  They decided to do this pretty recently in lieu of a big wedding (they have been engaged about a year and dating for several). We are all thrilled for them but they would miss out on the rights of passage -- bridal shower, bachelor/ette parties. SO while Shaun went out of town for his bachelor party, the girls got together and planned a surprise bachelorette party for last night!  Some of us couldn't make it but we had a lot of fun with the handful of girls that were able to be there.  Katie was very happy and VERY surprised!

We showed up at Katie's house with gifts and bachelorette paraphenalia:

  

We went to Moe's for dinner -- YUM! =)

 

The main event was The Melting Pot for dessert. Can I just tell you that dessert there is RIDICULOUS! YUMMY! I LOVE that place.  Chocolate Fondu is seriously a gift from God!! It is so so good! I could eat fondue EVERY. DAY.

 

 

 

  

It was so much fun being a part of a surprise bachelorette party -- especially since Katie had NO idea! Great job getting it all set up, Christy! =)

Hold on to the good people in your life -- don't let the lame ones bring you down.  Clean out your proverbial friend drawer and make sure it is only filled with quality people.  Seriously in cases like these, it is more important that you have quality over quantity. 

Well I am off to catch up on some stuff a little -- I am trying to stay motivated today, especially since I would much rather be at home with J.

Have you ever been a part of a surprise party?

House Hunting and Making Offers Makes Me Tired

*sigh* It is only Thursday.  I wish it were Friday -- did yesterday feel like Thursday to anyone else? I am looking forward to the weekend.  We have plans to go out on Saturday with our realtor and look at 8 homes. I just found another that I think I want to go see but I have to clear it with J before sending it to my realtor.  It has been really interesting to look at 10-12 photos of a place; get to that particular home and it looks so different.  Pictures really are deceiving -- sometimes for the better – sometimes for the worst.  

We made an offer on a home last weekend – I found out on Monday that the contract went to someone else.  I guess the bright side to all three offers we have made is that we have heard back relatively quickly as to whether or not the seller is going to go with us. 

I do feel discouraged though.  I know the perfect house is out there just waiting for us to find it.  Heck, the perfect house may not have hit the market yet. I have felt like all three were perfect – then again, each home has been better than the last.  We’ll find it. I know we will. I’m just impatient.  I know this is going to be a long process – especially because some of the homes are short sales.  That doesn’t bother me though – I am all for waiting on the house if it is the perfect one I just want to FIND it.  So clearly I am capable of patience but only under my terms and conditions haha! 

It has been really interesting to learn about myself and what I look at first.  Other than location, once I am sent a house to tell my agent if we want to go see it, the FIRST thing I look at is the kitchen.  Yep – it’s true.  The layout is next and finally, the dimensions of the rooms – especially the master.  Here are some of the kitchens of homes I am currently wanting to go see:
 
 
Seriously – I tell J all the time that once we have a much nicer kitchen and DISHWASHER – yeah I am the dishwaher – I will be way more inclined to cook elaborate meals. We just have no space for anything and even less counter top to work on. 

I am excited about going to look at these homes though because they look a lot nicer than some of the other homes we were all set to see but as previously mentioned, looks are deceiving.

I look at the floors just to estimate the cost of upgrades vs the cost of the home.  We are handy people – the home we are currently residing, J re-floored the entire home.  So I am not worried about any additional work, I just don’t want to pay a ton for a home we will want to completely re-do.  I’m a little tired of the whole thing even though I get excited – mostly because I get so attached.  Then I got this crazy idea in my head that if I didn’t talk about it at all with anyone that we might get the house. Yeah…that’s the way it works.  Pretty silly of me, yeah?

It seems in order to keep my sanity and that of my husband’s, I am just going to have to talk about it again. I know I make J crazy sometimes with keeping it all bottled up but I can’t help getting these crazy ridiculous thoughts in my head – like me talking about a particular home was going to help us win the contract! Haha So silly of me! 

Alright – I have to get to work =)

What do you look at first in a home?