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Everyone we know who has gone through the process of purchasing a home has told us the same thing. You will have a freak out moment. It could be the night before your closing, or the day you put in an offer, or even the day you sign your mortgage commitment. Whatever the day – it will happen. Makes sense, it is a huge commitment to undertake.
My moment? Happened last night. Approximately 15 days away from closing. The evening was spent scanning over a bunch of documents our mortgage specialist needed and packing a few boxes. After all that fun (sarcasm people), I settled in front of my computer to waste some time on myspace and facebook. Yup, I’m a sucker for social networking (I’m myspace friends with two of my ex-boyfriends – that’s crazy. It’s amazing the stuff you can find on there!).
Anyway, my husband was in bed watching TV and I crawled in next to him still in the clothes I wore all day long. Suddenly all these thoughts rushed to my head and I barraged him with a bunch of questions and thoughts that have been deep in my mind.
This morning I had a dream that you left me and I felt relief that I could move closer to my parents. Are we doing the right thing by staying in this town? My parents can’t drop by for dinner during the week and we can’t do the same at their place. This is potentially 30 years we will live here. Our families will only visit on the weekend – is that ok?
Stressed – I’m stressed! We bought a house, we are leaving the first residence we shared together, I am starting a new position with bigger responsibilities. Too much change in a short time! Did I mention how much packing we need to do? You know I loathe packing…don’t mind unpacking. And the painting we have to do at the house?
Am I a horrible person? That friendship that went horribly wrong – I did ok right? I am always the one to feel guilty or apologize first and I didn’t this time, that’s ok right? That “friend” was pretty inconsiderate to me though during times which should have been happy. And this person can stop being so passive aggressive on myspace bulletins already. I really need to quit myspace huh?
Babies? In two years? Please? I’m going to be three zero soon and I think we should really think about this.
So yes, I freaked with a capital F. Hopefully I got it out of my system!
My mom always loves to tell the story of how my parents met. They were teenagers and both working as janitors after hours at a business. Mom saw Dad the first day and said to her girlfriend, “I’m going to marry him”. She was right.
Thirty years ago today, my parents were married. They married in a small church and their reception took place in my grandparent’s backyard. Their wedding cake was a sheet cake. The keg was flowing. The day was perfectly them – my mom wore her hair down and in the photos from that day they looked incredibly happy.
Seven months later they had a daughter. Five months after that they bought their first house – moving in with just a mattress, crib, and a cooler for food. Three years later they added to their family with a baby boy.
Over the past thirty years they’ve reached ups and downs. Fortunately the ups outweighed the downs. They made the most of everything and raised two wonderful grown children. They grew up together and still enjoy each other’s company after all these years. Thirty years from now I hope someone can say the same about me.
Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!
On Friday a bunch of drama happened with the house. It was a bit stressful and it seemed we were facing a setback with our mortgage in terms of rates and down payment. Husband and I were frustrated and feeling a bit defeated. We went to happy hour at the bar we love and then came home to watch some TV. The Travel Channel had a bunch of Disney shows on and when it got too late I TiVo’d what I thought was Disney Splurge. After running errands and getting things sorted out this morning, we plopped down to watch the episode only to see that it was not Disney Splurge, but a show devoted to rich folk who decide to live on a cruise ship.
That’s right, I said live, not vacation, on a cruise ship.
We got hooked on it and watched the entire episode. The ship is called The World and 
it definately lives up to the name. People must have a minimum of $5 million dollars to live on board. Each ”apartment” has it’s own deck overlooking the water. The cool thing about living on a cruise ship is that you can stock your fridge with exotic foods. You spring water can be from England, cheese from Portugal, and soda from Germany. The tenants all vote on the stops and they often coincide with famous foreign events (they stopped in Cannes for the film festival). While the ship can hold thousands, at most there are maybe 300 people onboard so it’s very empty.
On deck 5 you can buy a $450,000 diamond necklace for someone special in your life. Or if you’d like, there’s first run showings of the latest movies. What cruise ship lacks a casino? Not The World! It also boasts the first full sized tennis court on ship as well as a putting green with real grass! Hitting golf balls off ships was banned in 1991; however you can on the World! They have special golfballs that turn into fishfood in a couple of hours.
So if you have some spare millions available, you too could own a piece of The World.
In honor of the Summer Solstice, I thought I’d post a list of things I’d like to do this summer. Though, this may be challenging since we are hoping to close on our house in mid July so that means that for the end of June through most of July we will be packing, painting, setting up house, etc. Maybe if I post it out there in the blog world, it just might happen.
- Visit the butterfly sanctuary and take amazing photos
- Tour Gillette Castle and maybe go hiking
- Visit wineries on the wine trail in state
- Frolick in the Rose Garden
- Hike along the Airline Trail
- Tour the Yale Campus
- Yankees game
- Spend a day at the beach with some good girlfriends
- Watch the sunset at our new house
- Have a big BBQ with family and friends at our house (ok, enough about the house!)
- Go to the batting cages
I’m sure this will continue to grow as the summer moves along. What are some things you’d like to accomplish this summer?
When Sex and the City was on the air, I never watched it. For one thing, I never had HBO until Husband and I moved in together and we splurged on the expensive digital cable package. We’ve since dropped it down to the basic since we’re being more financially responsible since purchasing a home. We also found that we were too busy to watch the 500 channels we had available. By the time we did get HBO, the series was almost over so there was no point in watching it then.
However; thanks to the wonderful invention that is Netflix, I spent the winter of…2006 I think? catching up. I loved the story lines and the friendship Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha shared and my love of flirtinis began. To be honest, I never thought myself to be a “Carrie” or a “Charlotte”. I really don’t identify closely with any of the characters as many viewers did. Truthfully I think I have a little of them all in me.
Somehow I’ve been able to stay away from spoilers about the movie prior to seeing it this past weekend. Thank my lucky stars! My Google Reader was exploding with posts about seeing the moive but I just starred them and saved them for later. My plans to see it fell through about 3 times. I saved it to see with a good girlfriend; however, things came up – she got engaged and delved head first into wedding planning. Come to think of it, it’s a bit ironic, no?
After an evening of venting and being on the verge of tears, my wonderful husband offered to take me. Keep in mind that we are a couple who love to keep “movie scores.” We both keep mental tallies on how many “chick flicks” I drag him to and how many blood and guts movies he has me see. The fact that Husband just offered, without blinking, to take me to see SATC was huge and I am grateful he took me. While I would hav eloved to have seen this with my girlfriend, I began to feel cast aside and I’ve been working hard the past few weeks – DAMNIT I DESERVED IT!
So I haven’t decided if I’m going to tell the friend I’ve seen it or not. I’d love to see it again anyway. But as my husband pointed out, “you know what happens when you lie.”* Then again, maybe she won’t mind seeing it with me as she has been pretty flaky.
(But I love her just the same)
(For the record while I love Big, I think what he did in the movie was a total cop out. He’s a “big” man, he could have handled it way different. Didn’t like that. Loved the Steve/Miranda story line – that reunion made me more happpier inside than the Big/Carrie fiasco.)
*a node to what happened between Carrie and Miranda.
This year was the first year that I participated in Relay for Life. For those unfamiliar 
with Relay, it’s a 24 hour event (the idea being that cancer doesn’t sleep) which consists of teams. Each team has fundraisers and sets goals for fund raising for cancer research. During the Relay event, at least one member of each team must be walking on the track at all times (hence the relay part). Teams have their own booths and camping spot – each team sells unique things at their booths with the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society.
The team I joined was also new to Relay for Life. My supervisor’s family created the team in order to honor family members who passed because of the disease or who are current survivors. It was sort of a last minute idea so this year was a learning opportunity. I asked my friend Wendy to join me since I know she’s always up for a challenge. We decided to take the overnight shift since many members of our team have children. We didn’t know until we go to Relay that there were only four of us scheduled for the night shift! That was difficult.
Wendy and I would coach each other during our walk and push us to do more. There were beads provided, when you walk around the track once you put a bead on your string. Four beads equals one mile. We’d walk a couple of miles and head back to our booth to sit and relax, get up and do a couple of miles, etc. Being on the track at 2am was quite nice. The luminaries were lit around the track and there weren’t as many people walking as there are during the day. It was also nice to zip up in the sleeping bag to get a few winks of sleep under the stars!
The downside to the overnight shift is that we missed many of the activities that are out during the day. We missed many things. Wendy and I plan to do it again next year but we will have to be more prepared. I’d love to be there for the whole 24 hours (we made it about 14 hours). One thing on our list for next year is a container for coffee for the night!
During the night, any time I was on the track I was noticing a guy who seemed to be walking nonstop. I then saw his string of beads – he needed three strings! As the sun rose above the track and all the tents, he started to yell out what mile he was on – the first time I heard him do that he was on mile 34. By the time we left in the morning he was on mile 40. He ended up doing 60 miles total. A fellow walker asked him what his motivation was. “My mother passed away of cancer.” Enough said.
It’s amazing how many stories we hear. It seems like there are more and more people diagnosed. According to the Relay website, 1 in 3 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. If each team can help just one person, it’s well worth it. It’s really the smallest thing we can do.
This year’s father’s day had me reflecting. My husband and I along with my brother and his girlfriend went to our parent’s house on Saturday to celebrate the day. Mom got lobsters which were awesome. I was mostly in pain because I hadn’t slept much and walked tons due to Relay for Life. I feel bad that I had to lie down and rest and wasn’t my usual self, but I hope my dad understands.
There’s been a few times in this blog that I’ve mentioned how lucky I am in the parent department. Both of my parents are amazing people and I get along with them so well (even more now than growing up). My parents were high school sweethearts and I’ve always been so jealous that they were able to find each other so young and pretty much grow up together.
But anyway, this is about Dad. My stubbornness comes from him. We used to get into these big arguments where in the end, we’d forget where we started. Soon I learned how to control that – I pride myself on how easily I can flip his switch and his face will get red and he goes on and on. It’s actually quite powerful come to think of it (hi dad!). I am a lot like my dad. We both get passionate about politics, the wrongs in the world, etc. We are also very introverted and need time to ourselves which not many people understand. Though he has gotten better and has spent the last few years being a bit more adventurous.
Let me step back a bit. When I was born, my dad was pretty young. To that end, he loved having me do stupid stuff for a laugh. Once he gave me a red onion and told me it was an apple. Of course I took a big bite! To this day I love onions so who knows. Also, when I was in the 1st grade, we learned about the pilgrims coming over the Mayflower. Excitedly I told my dad that the pilgrims drank beer on the boat. My dad asked me “Well, what kind of beer?” Perplexed, I told him I didn’t know. He urged me to ask my teacher Mrs. Little (he also had me ask her if she was related to Rich Little but sadly, she wasn’t). The next day I marched up to Mrs. Little and said, “What kind of beer did the pilgrims drink on the Mayflower?” If memory serves me right she said “Budweiser”. My dad was thrilled.
And oh did I think my dad was the smartest person who walked the earth. He would sing silly songs that I was sure he made up. He’d open the fridge and sing “Yes! We have no bananas. We have no bananas today!” Found out years later that he in fact did not create that song and that the song predated him by about 35 years. Also, often times before bed he would say “it’s bedtime for Bonzo” which was the greatest thing ever. It wasn’t until I said that when staying at my friend Liz’s house (who I met in college – just to give you a sense of how long it was) and she told me it was from a Ronald Reagan movie.
To be fair, my dad never claimed to have come up with these things on his own. I was just a girl who thought her dad was a genius.
As I got older and went through some heartbreak, my dad always had something wise to say. My last heartbreak in particular, I remember sitting outside on our old glider and he said that I shouldn’t rush into things. Take things slow. That’s precisely what I did in my next relationship. Things just felt more natural that way – there’s no rush in things.
About 9 months ago, my dad saw me marry the man that I took things slow with and just let things flow with. He couldn’t be happier. And on his 50th birthday this past winter, I surprised Dad with my (formerly) estranged brother. We’re back to being a family again.
And now I’m still a girl who thinks her dad is a genius.
Most of last week was spent in Cincinnati for a work conference/meetings. This was my first time in Cincinnati (and the first time in Kentucky too since the airport was in Kentucky).
The conference was great, but who wants to read about that? Instead, I’ll talk about touring the city in what little downtime we had.
While waiting at the airport for our flight to Cincinnati, we talked to a woman who went to college there. She said we must go to Graeter’s ice cream because it’s amazing and also have some chili on spaghetti which Cinci is known for. Good to know!
We checked into our hotel (the hotel that we were supposed to stay in booked up fast so some of us were
split up among two hotels across the street from eachother.) – mine was the nicer hotel I think. My room was pretty modern and I was on the 28th floor and I was facing west so I got to see beautiful sunsets and breath-taking sunrises. The last few days of our trip some bad storms hit the area and there were tornado watches a few hours north of us. It provided for amazing lightning that I watched for an hour or so from my room.
After settling in a bit we went to register for our conferences to beat the rush the next morning. We found out the names of some restaurants which were open – we settled on Rock Bottom Brewery because the name seemed to be very fitting. The food and ambience was great there. They had these cool drinks that mixed sprite with fruit juice – they were delish.
Rock Bottom is located in Fountain Square which is a nice hangout spot. They had a jazz group playing and people hung out and watched, ate, chatted, etc. When Reds games are on, there’s a huge screen above one of the buildings in the square that televises the games so people will sit out and watch and cheer their hometeam on.
Also in the square is a huge fountain called the Genius of Water. It’s really beautiful – it’s a bronze statue of a woman with her hands outstretched and water coming from her palms. It was a pretty hot afternoon so there were many children running around and splashing in the fountain. Definately a refreshing way to spend a hot day! The fountian looks really pretty when it’s lit up at night.
After dinner we mosied to Graeter’s for some of the famous icecream. Well, I should say most of us did. I stayed back with one other person to take photographs. At 7:00pm on the dot we tried to get in to get icecream with the rest of our group who were already inside. All the doors were locked! Oh no! The rest of our group noticed us and begged the staff to let us in. They reluctantly did. Turns out they are so busy during the week that on Sundays they must close at 7pm so they have time to clean up and do the orders for the week. I’m glad they let us in – the ice cream was really good. We went back there once more that week and I made sure to tip well each time.
Most of the people I traveled with were leaving the day before I was so their last night we decided to walk to Skyline Chili for the famous chili on spaghetti. We told our waitress we wanted whatever people typically get there – we were told it was the 5-way Chili on Spaghetti which is spaghetti, chili, shredded cheddar, beans, and onion. We must also have a Coney dog too – of course! Admittedly, the chili tasted the best on the dog, the spaghetti wasn’t that great. But we all had fun.
One of the best parts of my trip was when my supervisor and 
I got up for a walk at 6am. The city is really clean and safe. It was nice to be out before everyone was up and att’em and before the heat hit. As per usual, I had my camera with me and took some early morning shots. Both the parks in which the Reds and the Bengals play were about 4 blocks away from our hotel so we walked down to see them. The sun was still rising and I saw it coming between a few buildings – so I had to take a photo. It’s easily in the top 10 photos I’ve ever taken. The sun’s rays were coming through – and the colors! So pretty. It has been a long time since I was out and about and fully appreciated a sunrise like that. Another one of the pluses of walking that early is that I felt energized the whole day. Also, I loved saying “when we were walking this morning at 6am” and getting reactions out of people. 
Overall it was a good trip – good people, good meetings, good food. It was nice to be able to explore a bit – what’s the point in travelling somewhere new and not experiencing it? I will have to travel for work one more time this fall and I hope to do the same.
So remember that house I was telling you about last week? I was away on a business trip, flew back home Thursday, my father-in-law picked me up from the airport (he’s a great guy!) and I had dinner with my husband and his parents. We then went and met with our Realtor (keep in mind I still hadn’t been home yet!) and drafted up an offer. It was on the seller’s Realtor’s desk on Friday morning.
I was on pins and needles most of the day. Finally I realized that “a watched pot doesn’t boil” so I took a nap in the afternoon. The phone rang around 2:30pm and I swear I thought it was my alarm clock – I had that panic “Shoot! Where do I have to be? What day is it?!” It was my husband. Our offer and terms were accepted – no questions! WOOT!
It was such a thrill – I really wasn’t in the mood to haggle. I tried not to get my hopes up. I still am being a bit cautious – anything can happen. We have our inspections scheduled for Thursday. Until that is done and our mortgage commitment is in our hot little hands, I’m not doing my dance of joy.
But my husband I still love to talk about “our house”. We even took a couple of friends by there on Saturday afternoon.
And I just realized that I need to start thinking about paint and color schemes!
In the meantime, here’s the photo that was on MLS of the house. Ain’t she cute?
Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King by Dave Matthews Band
You said what?