High Tide or Low Tide

16 weeks

2012-02-08T17:18:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to realize that people are soooo nice to you when you're pregnant! Not that I was mistreated before, but pretty much everyone I know is all, "How are you feeling? Can I get you a snack? You look great! Don't lift that, I'll do it. How are you feeling??" You all really know how to make a girl feel loved!! I could get used to this. Haha.

Gender: Some friends said girl this weekend. They said James would be a good girl dad - they're totally right!

Size of baby: An avocado.

Sleep: Pretty uncomfortable, and I have to pee at least 3 times during the night.

Movement: Hopefully soon!

Feeling: I can tell that the belly is growing because my abs are sore (it's not painful at all, just noticeable... and pretty cool). Overall I'm feeling fab. Out of breath when walking and I get tired quickly.

What I miss: Maybe champagne. But not too much.

What I'm looking forward to: Decorating baby's room! We bought a new dresser for ourselves last weekend and put the old one in the nursery (I don't see a need to buy a nice one since children don't tend to treat anything gently). Now that there's furniture in that room, I feel the itch to add more! First steps will be window treatments, a crib and bookshelf.

Best moment this week: Seeing our friends at the annual oyster party at a local winery. It's crazy how tired I can get but it was so much fun.

Worst moment this week: Looks like we're going to have to pay taxes this year. Lame! I did a quick Turbo Tax run-through... I'm hoping hoping hoping that huge number is an error!

Milestones: Baby can start to hear my voice, which he'll recognize when he's in the outside world! ♥ ♥ ♥ Hair, lashes and eyebrows are forming, as well as taste buds.

This was a first - my (slightly intoxicated) friends bending down and talking to my belly: "Hi baby! Are you a boy or a girl?!" Love you girls!

Cravings: Nothing in particular.

Food aversions: Not craving meat in the slightest... but it doesn't gross me out quite as much!

It's a...

2012-02-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

We have 26 days until our anatomy scan, a.k.a. the appointment where, among other important things, we can find out if baby K is a he or a she! I've never been sure if I wanted to find out in advance... and I'm still not. As of today, we are leaning toward not finding out. Hubby initially wanted to, but is leaving the decision up to me ultimately. He's even agreed to keeping it a surprise and would be happy to do so.

Image source

If we DON'T find out, we'll get that special moment when baby's born and I just think it will be so much more exciting! We'll get to tell people once he or she is here and it sounds fun to share that news with a newborn already in your arms. We have the rest of our lives to know the sex of our child... but only these few months to wonder. I even think it's a positive in terms of baby clothes because I'm a big fan of gender neutral everything. I really dislike gender stereotypes and the fact that they're pushed on people before they're even born.

If we DO find out, I think the biggest positive is that we can call the baby by name and imagine what he or she will grow up to be like. Some people say it helps them bond with the baby having that piece of info. We can narrow down names and not have to have one (or two or three) names for each gender ready (because it's really hard!).

I've been thinking about this for months and it's tough! I totally see both sides. And in the end, whatever we decide to do won't make a difference. It will be special and exciting and all that stuff no matter what. As of today, I'm leaning toward not finding out but that can absolutely change!

15 weeks

2012-02-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling so much better, pretty much every day now! Very little nausea :)

Gender: Seriously no idea.

Size of baby: A navel orange

Sleep: Not as bad as it has been, but definitely uncomfortable.

Movement: Really looking forward to feeling him or her move around!

Feeling: Pretty good! Not a ton of energy, but if I don't feel like barfing I'd say it's a good day.

What I miss: Nothing!

What I'm looking forward to: Friend time at a winery party on Saturday (this year will certainly be different from last!).

Best moment this week: Getting my appetite back woo hoo!! For the first time literally in months I made a meal plan, grocery list and plan to actually make healthy, well rounded meals. Gotta keep it up!

Worst moment this week: I've been super tired walking... hubs and I walked for almost 2 hours on Sunday and I was kind of sore and felt like it had been all day by the end!

Milestones: I don't want to seem crazy, but I think I might have had Braxton Hicks contractions a few times in the evenings. I've been reading about what it feels like, and I'm not sure if that's what it is or just crampiness. Or maybe just an upset stomach, I really don't know! Apparently most people get them in their 3rd trimester, but some as early as the 2nd month. So it's possible!

Baby's joints and limbs can all move now, and apparently he's moving a lot and maybe even hiccuping! But I can't feel anything yet...

Cravings: Nothing specific but I'm happy that the list of items that sound yummy is growing.

Food aversions: Still not feeling chicken and most meat. I'm going to give ground turkey burgers a try and hope that it works out.

A letter to my little peanut on the day I found out that you exist

2012-01-31T15:44:00.000-08:00

Written November 15, 2011

Dear little peanut,

This morning, your daddy and I found out that we are going to be lucky enough to be your parents. Honestly, it still doesn't seem real. I've dreamed about this day for so long - we have been talking about it and you since long before we were married.

It's so very hard to imagine what our lives with you will be like, but at the same time it's easy. To tell you the truth, I don't feel pregnant. I feel like normal me - I wonder when I'll really start to feel you grow. When will it sink in that we've created a human who will talk and laugh and play?

The moment I saw that pregnancy test tell me that you're coming into my life, I started crying. I thought about the profound change you'll bring to our family and continued to dream about that change for the rest of the day.

You are so lucky, little one! You have a whole bunch of grandparents, aunts and uncles who will be so excited to meet you in 9 months. They'll shower you with love and I hope you know that any of them (Especially mom and dad) would do anything in this world to make you happy. I feel like a few of them (Specifically your Grammas and your Aunt Rose) might be anticipating your existence even more than daddy and me (Okay not possible... but close)! They've been talking about you for years - just wait until you meet them!

I have so many hopes and dreams for you. I hope that you will grow up with confidence and know that you can be anything you want to be. I want you to do your best at anything you do. I wish for you to be a kind person who has empathy for other people. No matter what, we'll always be proud of you!

You've already made the biggest difference in my life. I love you little one, and I can't wait to meet you. I can't wait to snuggle you, and kiss you, and protect you.

I love you forever,

Mommy

The day we found out

2012-01-28T12:36:00.000-08:00

On November 15, 2011 I got up at 7 a.m. and took a pregnancy test. James knew that I'd be testing that day, and he was still home but didn't know I was doing it at that moment.

You're supposed to wait 2 minutes to read the test results. I probably waited 20 seconds pacing around the bedroom, then looked at the test and was shocked to see a super clear POSITIVE result!!

I took another one the next day, and another two days after that ;)

Right as I realized it, James walked into the room and I said "It's positive. Oh my God. Oh my God. It's positive." (Or something like that). I was in disbelief - I had only seen negative results before and made him check it to make sure I was reading it correctly!

I teared up and started crying, we hugged, and I think we were both extremely shocked and didn't know what to do. We just hugged, smiled and talked about the next steps (when the first doctor appointment would be) for the next 30 minutes until he had to go to work.

Other than that, it was kind of a normal day. I went to do my weekly volunteering at Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, did laundry and made dinner. Throughout the day I felt a little crampy and maybe more warm than usual but overall felt like regular old me.

Surreal is probably the best way to describe it. It's so hard to imagine at first. Yes we'd been trying for a few months but I had no clue what it would actually feel like to know that we succeeded at creating a little human. It's amazing!!

14 weeks

2012-01-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

I'm all caught up on the weekly updates now! Sorry for the overload, these will now be once a week occurrences. I'm presently 14 weeks.

The other day I noticed that my belly button is growing!! Super weird! It's like... wider and bigger... because it's being stretched in every direction.

I'm really starting to love pregnancy. Yes it's hard at times but it's so amazing and there's something new every day! It seems like every night I say to J "Look how pregnant I look now! I'm bigger!" Then the next night it's "Look how pregnant I look today!"

I think I'm getting stretch marks already though. Before I had it a tiny bit on my hips/sides from growing, and I think they're getting worse! I know I'm prone to get them already because I've had them on my boobs always (well since I got boobs way back when ;)

Gender: Still can't decide if I want to know! J wants to.

Size of baby: The size of a lemon (last week was a peach, which I think is way bigger than a lemon)

Sleep: So uncomfortable!! My back and shoulders are killing me. The Snoogle helps some nights, but not always.

Movement: Nope but it could be in a few weeks. That will be so exciting!

Feeling: So much better! The nausea creeps around at times, but I can at least get hungry without feeling horrible. Round ligament pain sometimes, tired sometimes. But hooray 2nd tri!

What I miss: Liking food. There's still not a ton that actually sounds good to me.

What I'm looking forward to: Our anatomy scan on March 2. We haven't had an ultrasound since baby was just a tiny bean.

Best moment this week: Hearing our little pumpkin kick at my appointment. Amazing! I also spent an afternoon with my friend who's also pregnant. We had lunch and went shopping for maternity clothes and had mucho fun.

Worst moment this week: Bad sleep most nights. Besides being uncomfortable and having back pain, I have to pee so much.

Milestones: This pregnancy has now been announced to the world - i.e. Facebook, of course ;)

The baby can now suck its thumb (OMG!), wiggle its toes, make urine and breath amniotic fluid. The liver, kidneys and spleen are developing. Lanugo (thin, downy hair) is growing all over the body for warmth.

We bought a stroller this week! It feels premature but was such a great deal. I did quite a bit of research to find a stroller to fit our needs - we love to go on long walks around the neighborhood almost every day and want a stroller that's easy to use for walking.

I found that the Baby Jogger City Mini would be perfect. This week Amazon had it on clearance sale for $100 off! I had been intending to look for it used on Craigslist for this price, but we got it brand new. So, hooray!

I had the best time putting it together and taking a test drive around the house ;) hehe. I'm not normally one to choose anything in red, but they only had red and orange on sale. I actually like that it's different from what I'd normally choose.

Cravings: Honeydew melon, cantaloupe and bakery french bread are a few things I'm really liking.

Food aversions: Meat still. Yuck!!

13 weeks

2012-01-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

(Originally written on January 19, 2012)

Hey 2nd trimester!! I'm sooo thankful to be here!

Gender: ??

Size of baby: A peach! Holy big!!

Sleep: The Snoogle is here and it works! Yes, it's comically large and it took a few nights to get used to. But since I got it, sleep is so much more comfortable and consistent. Still not normal, but better. I tried a night without it and slept like crap again.

Movement: None

Feeling: So hungry all the time. And tired. And barfy.

I'd also like to say that my mood has been pretty lovely this pregnancy, especially to my husband. There has been some grumpiness of course (just like normal), but I think I'm pleasant for the most part! I've cried just a few times for silly reasons :\

What I miss: Not planning my day around when I might feel yucky or insanely hungry.

What I'm looking forward to: Our next prenatal appointment on Monday! Can't wait to see/hear our little peach.

Best moment this week: I went to a baby shower last weekend that was lots of fun. Also spent an afternoon with my mom, which is always a good time :)

Worst moment this week: Nothing too bad. I guess throwing up! But honestly, I think feeling like you need to barf all afternoon is worse than actually doing it. Sorry, TMI!

Milestones: Baby is forming teeth and vocal cords as well as approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body. Intestines are in the process of moving from the umbilical cord to baby's tummy.

When I read my weekly email from thebump.com to J I totally teared up. A peach is so big and teeth are so grown up! Our little peanut means so much to us!!

Another milestone was throwing up for the first time (outside of when I had the stomach flu).

Cravings: Nothing... I hate food! :(

Food aversions: Everything, especially chicken.

12 weeks

2012-01-27T12:46:00.000-08:00

(Originally written on January 12, 2012)

Second trimester is right around the corner! ~~And with the exception of one crappy nauseous-all-day day, it feels like my symptoms are letting up. As long as I keep enough food in my belly I feel pretty good.~~ Okay I take all that back. The last two days of the week sucked! I felt so crappy and nauseous.

Gender: No clue. Well I've leaned toward boy all along, but only slightly.

Size of baby: The size of a plum

Sleep: Uncomfortable! And it's making my back, hips and shoulders hurt during the day. I tried laying on my belly and it felt like all my organs were being smushed. So it's side only, for many more months. I have ordered my Snoogle though (FYI the cheapest I found it was at drugstore.com).

Movement: No

Feeling: So lucky to be able to be a momma!! I've said to J so many times, "Can you believe that we succeeded in creating a person?!" It's just so darn fantastic! Oh here's a new feeling - pretty sure I've had a few instances of round ligament pain even though I've read that's not until 2nd tri.

What I miss: Loving food... and beer sounds kind of yummy.

What I'm looking forward to: Having a cute bump and filling out cute maternity clothes. I bought 1 shirt at Target and a pair of jeans at Kohls. Oh so much better than real jeans! I also bought some baby clothes while I was out :) They were all on clearance.

"Wishes do come true"

"I have a play date!" Not completely gender neutral, but come on! I have a play date!! So adorable.

Thanksgiving pants. Turkey on the butt and the feet say "Gobble!"

Trio of ducky onesies

Best moment this week: Playing Trivial Pursuit with my family. Pregnancy-related... sharing this with my hubby, and seeing him talk to my belly every day :) (No deep conversations, just "hi baby!" when he gets home from work)

Worst moment this week: Nearly puking.

Milestones: Buying my first maternity clothes.

As you move into the second trimester, baby shifts into the growth and maturation stage. After weeks in the critical development stage, almost all of baby's systems are fully formed. (from thebump.com)

Cravings: Nothin.

Food aversions: Chicken. OMG, poor hubby. I asked for a BBQ beef sandwich from Beach Hut Deli and he came home with BBQ chicken. So gross! I was nice, but could pretty much only eat the bread.

11 weeks

2012-01-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

(Originally written on January 5, 2012)

This week I bought Palmer's Cocoa Butter lotion for stretch marks to put on my belly/hips. I know the facts show that it probably won't help, but I figure it can't hurt!

Gender: No idea

Size of baby: Lime

Sleep: I've been having weird dreams and waking up frequently. It's hard to get and stay comfortable.

Movement: Nope

Feeling: I was thisclose to throwing up one morning. Absolutely must eat first thing... and right before bed... and about every 2 hours. I'm sooo hungry all the time! I thought for a minute that my aversion to most foods was fading when I had a Chicago Fire craving (that was of course fed), but it's still sticking around. Also, it's not consistent, but I've had a few days when I was completely exhausted by 3 p.m. and needed a nap!

What I miss: Cooking delicious dinners (pretty much haven't cooked in a month).

What I'm looking forward to: 2nd tri and telling the world!

Best moment this week: New Years Eve was lots of fun - we went to our friends' annual party. Talking about the pregnancy with everyone made it feel a lot more real. I was super tired but happily made it until midnight (though, we were home by 12:30 :)

Worst moment this week: Bad sleep - waking up throughout the night. Must order my Snoogle (pregnancy body pillow) ASAP!

Milestones: My jeans are getting really uncomfortable when I'm sitting down. I put all my extra tight ones up high in the closet since I won't be needing them for quite some time.

Baby's fingers and toes are no longer webbed, and hair follicles, tooth buds and nail beds are forming.

Cravings: Mangoes! I've been having one every day.

Food aversions: Chicken, beef, beans.

10 weeks

2012-01-27T12:11:00.000-08:00

(Originally written on December 29, 2011)

Gender: Don't know and don't know if I want to know!

Size of baby: I believe that's a prune. Though it looks like a brain!

Sleep: Good :)

Movement: Nope

Feeling: Nauseous most days in the afternoon. I bought ginger candy at Whole Foods Market (the only place I could find it) and that helps. It's not nearly as bad as last week after the flu though. I definitely feel a bigger belly... and I'm very thankful that I'm not working right now. I'm so much happier and being able to take it easy when I need to is fabulous! I'm a lucky gal.

What I miss: Nothing!

What I'm looking forward to: New Years Eve and buying baby gear! I've been looking into cloth diapers, strollers, cribs, etc. I'm actually surprised I haven't bought anything yet.

Best moment this week: Christmas. Look what James got!!

Worst moment this week: Morning (aka afternoon) sickness.

Milestones: With bones and cartilage starting to form and vital organs beginning to function, baby is making major progress. Body length will almost double in the next three weeks, and arm joints are now working. (Soon, legs will too.)

Cravings: Chocolate... just because there's too much Christmas candy around.

Food aversions: Beans, chicken, beef.

9 weeks

2012-01-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

(Originally written on December 22, 2011)

On Monday I got a stomach bug that had me throwing up every hour for almost 12 hours. Oh it was horrible! At first I thought it was morning sickness but quickly realized it was not and got a little worried. I called the Kaiser advice line and they said baby is fine as long as I could stay hydrated. She gave me tips like staying on the BRAT diet, and the next day I was feeling much better. Still very nauseous though.

Boom! Belly! Really I think it was the loose shirt that made it look so big, because it didn't look like that the following week :)

Gender: I had a dream that we had a girl and named her Annalise. In the dream I kept wondering why we chose that name - it's fine but nothing we've considered!

Size of baby: An olive

Sleep: Good!

Movement: None of course

Feeling: Weak and nauseous in recovery from my stomach flu. I've forgotten to mention the past few weeks that my boobs are growing and sore! Also, I've noticed sore abs - they feel like I've been doing sit-ups but they're just stretching. Very weird!

What I miss: Having lots of energy.

What I'm looking forward to: Our next prenatal appointment in a month. A friend told me how much you can see baby move at that point so that will be exciting!

Best moment this week: Going to my sis' house in SF.

Worst moment this week: Being sick on Monday. A particular family member's reaction to the news was also pretty crappy: "You are, huh?" Basically didn't care and didn't mention it again. I don't know, perhaps I'm being self-centered.

Milestones: I threw up for the first time in the pregnancy. Would love for it to be the last <----(I did again the day after I wrote that). The embryo is now officially a fetus.

Cravings: None

Food aversions: Everything still! Especially protein - meat and beans sound so gross.

8 weeks

2012-01-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

(Originally written on December 14, 2011)

Week 7-8 felt pretty good! The cramps have subsided, woo hoo! The morning sickness stayed away for the most part - thanks to making myself eat a good breakfast (not just saltine crackers) as soon as I wake up.

In bump news, there's a little pooch on my lower abdomen that can no longer be sucked in like a few weeks ago! It's most noticeable to me without clothes on so you may not be able to tell in this picture. Even hubby says it looks the same in real life but I see a little bit of a difference!

Gender: Don't know

Size of baby: The size of a raspberry

Sleep: Pretty good. Still side sleeping and I'm getting used to it. Hubby's snoring is a major disturbance though!

Movement: Nope

Feeling: Well... I feel pregnant! Growing belly, exhausted from things like Christmas shopping, constantly hungry. Yep, definitely feel pregnant :) P.S. I love it!!

What I miss: Champagne and food tasting good.

What I'm looking forward to: Cooking daily again and eating good foods.

Best moment this week: It was a quiet week. Seeing a tiny bump emerge is fun (though it's really bloat at this point).

Worst moment this week: Being constantly hungry but hating all food. I need to eat because I feel nauseous if I don't, but finding something I can stomach is quite the feat.

Milestones: I don't wear a belt with my jeans anymore. Baby is growing about a millimeter every day and moving its arms, legs, fingers and toes!

Cravings: ~~Pizza, especially with pepperoni.~~ That's what I thought until I had some... not that great :( I am liking fruity/sweet stuff - gummy candy, smoothies, popcicles.

Food aversions: Most food, especially meat. Poor hubby, I haven't cooked in so long! I just can't :(

7 weeks

2012-01-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

(Originally written on December 7, 2011)

We had our first prenatal appointment this week! Details forthcoming in a separate post.

Gender: I still think boy.

Size of baby: A blueberry

Sleep: Still side sleeping to avoid cramps... still less comfy than sleeping on my belly.

Movement: Nope

Feeling: I don't feel too fatigued until I try to exercise. Our walks this week have made me way more tired than they should :( Still pretty bad cramps - usually morning & night. However, excited that our bean is on schedule!

I've heard that morning sickness starts right on schedule at 6 weeks, and that was true for me! It's not too bad, just a frequent queasy feeling.

What I miss: Eating good food and liking it.

What I'm looking forward to: 2nd trimester, getting a belly, classes on birth, breastfeeding, infant care, etc. (How is this real??!!)

Best moment this week: Our tacky holiday sweater party. And hearing our baby's heartbeat!!! And seeing that I'm progressing normally.

Worst moment this week: Nerves that our peanut isn't healthy, but the first appointment was very reassuring. Also had another 3 a.m. cramps episode. I told my midwife about it and she confirmed that it's normal. She also asked if I get bad menstrual cramps (which I do) and she thinks that they're related. So look forward to that, ladies!

Milestones: Baby's arms and legs are emerging and forming joints, while the brain is generating 100 new cells every minute.

Cravings: Not much, though I had a Lean Pocket that hit the spot.

Food aversions: Everything! Especially meat & that onion in the fridge smells nasty.

6 weeks

2012-01-27T10:40:00.000-08:00

(Originally written on November 30, 2011)

Gender: Unknown

Baby size: The size of a sweet pea. Too adorable!

From TheBump.com

Sleep: I'm normally a stomach sleeper, but that seems to be making my cramps worse so I've been sleeping on my sides. Which is much less comfortable. Between that and hubby's snoring, it's been a bit more difficult to fall asleep. Once I fall asleep, I'm great!

Movement: No

Feeling: Lazy! Major food aversion has arrived - nothing sounds appetizing. I was eating so great, but now meat/protein sounds so yucky to me.

What I miss: Not much :) (Except enjoying food)

What I'm looking forward to: Our first prenatal appointment on Monday! And our tacky sweater party on Friday.

Best moment this week: Sharing the news with our families on Thanksgiving - and Thanksgiving day/weekend in general.

Worst moment this week: Saturday night/Sunday morning. I was woken up at 3 a.m. with some of the worst cramps ever, hot, sweaty and nauseous. So painful! It's happened once since then but not as bad. My cramps seem to be getting a bit worse - everything I'm reading says it's normal and due to a growing uterus.

Milestones: "Growing like crazy, baby is starting to sprout eyes, ears, nose, cheeks and chin. Those little hands and feet - still webbed like paddles - might wiggle by week's end, the heart is beating (almost twice as fast as yours!), and blood is starting to circulate." -from thebump.com

Cravings: Fresh squeezed lemonade - easy thanks to our lemon tree.

Food Aversions: Almost everything but saltines.

5 weeks

2012-01-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

(Originally written on November 23, 2011)

Gender: Unknown

Baby size: The size of an apple seed.

From TheBump.com

Sleep: Good... once I can actually fall asleep. I'm having weird pregnancy dreams too.

Movement: Nope

Feeling: Overall, fantastic! But sometimes sleepy and crampy, plus I've been congested for a few weeks. I really do feel great though.

What I miss: Nothing :)

What I'm looking forward to: Thanksgiving! All of our siblings will know after that.

Best moment this week: Telling our parents, putting up our Christmas tree, volunteering with my mom, and enjoying a Zumba class at the gym. In that order.

Worst moment this week: Nothing really. Can't complain!

Milestones: We told our parents about the pregnancy this week - they were and are thrilled :) The Bump tells me that baby is starting to form major organs (heart, stomach, liver, kidney) and systems (digestive, circulatory, nervous).

Cravings: Nothing - in fact my sweet tooth is nonexistent these days.

4 weeks

2012-01-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

Here's my first belly picture!!! It was taken on November 15, 2011 - the day we found out! I'll tell you more about that day a little later.

That's just my normal plump self

Gender: I have a "boy" feeling right now. Not sure if we're going to find out.

Baby size: The size of a poppyseed - how cute :)

Image from thebump.com

Sleep: Some nights it's been normal/fine, some are sucky. Before I knew I was pregnant, I felt like hubby's snoring was getting louder but maybe that wasn't the reason...

Movement: Obviously not yet.

Feeling: Thrilled! Honored. Happy. Scared. Intimidated. Excited. Humbled. Physically: Not much different, though a tiny bit crampy and I had a few hot flash-type episodes.

What I miss: Is it bad to say wine already?

What I'm looking forward to: Oh so much! Getting a baby belly, telling our families, going to our first doctor appointment, telling our friends, the fact that one of my close friends is due just a few weeks before me and our babies will be BFFs, buying maternity clothes...

Best moment this week: Finding out that we're expecting a little poppyseed!

Worst moment this week: Being afraid of anything bad happening to baby.

Milestones: I got through this first day without telling anyone - and I had so many opportunities during the day. Pretty impressed with that!

Cravings: Nothing really

Back from blogging hiatus (with big news)!

2012-01-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

Hello blogworld! It's been 2 months since my last post :( My laptop has been out of commission that whole time. Crazypants. Hubby has an ipod from work that I've been using to check the essentials, but blogging on that thing is a major PITA.

But honestly, I haven't had much to blog about anyway for the past few months. There's just one big thing that's been keeping me busy that I was waiting to share. I've been growing a human!!

Yep, we're expecting a baby around July 26. That puts me at 14 weeks today and we are soooo excited!! I have so many posts to catch you up on in the coming days. Weekly belly pics galore!

DIY corkboard

2011-11-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

Now hanging in my kitchen: This adorable wine cork board!

I won't go through the tutorial since Newlyweds Next Door already provided a great one (<-- click that to see it) that I followed (Thanks K!).

Just wanted to share my creation. I love it for this wall.

I didn't have to buy anything but the glue sticks for the hot glue gun. The frame is from our wedding reception (I painted it gold for that - which I blogged about here):

The corks were mostly collected by me over several years... my mom also gave me about a dozen to complete the board.

House tour: Hall bathroom

2011-11-19T19:39:00.000-08:00

This is probably the room that's closest to being done, which is exciting. Reminder of "before" bathroom:

Since moving in, we've:

Replaced the nasty old cracked toilet seat that actually pinched your bootie (this alone transformed the room)
Added a shower curtain and rod
Replaced the fug laminate countertop with marble, which included a new sink and faucet too

Please excuse the awkward angle taken standing on the tub; it's a very small room!

We're almost done! All that we are planning to do in the near future is add cabinet hardware and replace the light fixture.

House tour: Kitchen

2011-10-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

Our kitchen has improved 100% in aesthetics and functionality in the past few months! As a reminder, here's the kitchen before we moved in:

And here she is today:

The changes I told you about a few months ago are coming along! So far, here's what we've done in the kitchen since moving in:

Added the fridge
Added the island
Installed an under cabinet wine rack and magnetic knife rack
Replaced the old blue horizontal blinds with bamboo roman shades
Installed hooks for storage by the door
Had granite countertop installed
Replaced the sink and faucet
Painted the walls

Here's what we plan to do next:

Add a backsplash
Replace the linoleum floor with tile
Replace the lighting fixtures

House tour: Dining room

2011-10-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

I owe this little blog some updates. I apologize - everything comes along so slowly and I wanted to have amazing "after" pictures to share... but that clearly won't be for a while! So my goal in the near future is to give you an "in progress" house tour. Starting with the dining room. First, here's a reminder of the dining room when we bought the house:

And here it is today:

What we've done so far:

Painted the walls
Added the bamboo roman shade to the window
Bought a new dining set

Upcoming plans for this room:

Add art on the walls
Buy a buffet/sideboard for under the window
Stain the supports under the granite bar to match the cabinets
Add curtains for both the window and the sliding glass door
Replace the carpet with tile flooring
I want to do something to make the back of the kitchen cabinets less of an eyesore - I just don't know what!

Meal Plan Monday 10/17

2011-10-17T12:17:00.000-07:00

FYI I rarely stick to these, but it helps give me ideas at least :)

Monday: Thai chicken satay & mango avocado salad

Tuesday: Caprese quinoa

Wednesday: Honey mustard grilled chicken & spicy green beans

Thursday: Turkey burgers

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: Chicken spaghetti (never made this last week)

Sunday: Pepperoncini beef sandwiches

Meal Plan Monday 10/10

2011-10-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

Monday: Chipotle-esque burrito bowls with cilantro lime rice, Cuban black beans and salsa chicken

Tuesday: Beer cheese soup

Wednesday: Pasta with meatballs left over from our housewarming party

Thursday: Pulled pork left over from our housewarming party

Friday: Chicken spaghetti

Saturday: Chili

Sunday: Out with friends

Family photo wall

2011-10-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

I've wanted a collage/family photo wall for years and I'm so happy that I now have one! Check out this fabulousness:

Little husband as a baby, circa 1979/80
The only frame left to fill...
My family at Volcano National Park in Hawaii, 2008
Wedding photo, 2010
James and one of his nieces
James and his other niece
My dad (the youngest), aunts and uncle, circa 1957
Baby husband and his mom, circa 1981
Another of our favorite wedding photos, 2010
Baby me, circa 1988

To find the arrangement I wanted, I laid out all the frames on the floor before beginning anything. It took a few days of changing things around (Actually the idea started out being a mix of black and white photography/art and B/W family photos. Then it evolved into a combo of B/W and color family photos only).

I got this little tip from Young House Love - cut out newspaper in the sizes of the frames and tape them to the wall to help gauge where things should be positioned.

That helped to avoid putting too many holes in the wall, deciding a frame was in the wrong place, and having to make another hole. There was at least one or two of those, but instances were severely limited thanks to this handy dandy idea! Many of them I actually nailed right through the newspaper that was still on the wall, then just tore it away.

Here's what the wall looked like at first. You can see that most of the frames were empty and some were mismatched.

I thought about painting all the frames one color, but it turned out that I didn't mind the variation. I just wanted them to be a little more unified, so it was decided that they'd all be black, metallic or very dark brown.

This only required me to paint three of the lighter wood tone ones black. I just spray painted out back, over a box so I didn't get the grass. Easy peasy :)

I had the remaining photos printed by Walgreens and Shutterfly. I still have one more small one to get enlarged so it can go in frame 2. Here's how the wall looks today...

It's in the hallway between all the bedrooms and bathrooms. Here's the view from the living room...

I love how this turned out! I spent very little money on it because I'd been collecting the frames for a while - most were gifts and some were repurposed. The biggest expense was getting the larger images printed (The most expensive was image 9, around $12. Number 4 was included in our wedding photography package).

Housewarming party menu

2011-10-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

Our housewarming party was a success! Unfortch, I was too busy hosting and having fun to take any photos, but it was great. We had over 20 guests check out our casa, including my family, hubby's family, our friends and a neighbor! Here's what I served.

Pulled pork (in a crock pot) with buns. I made almost 8 lbs. and 2 or 3 lbs. were left over at the end of the night. I don't mind though - it freezes great and is still delish next time I want some :)
Meatballs (in a crock pot). I used this recipe but with 3 lbs. of frozen meatballs.
Cheese and meat tray with pepperoni, salami, chipotle jack, gouda and smoked cheeses.
Veggie tray with olives, broccoli, carrots, cucumber and hummus.
Spinach dip in a sourdough bread bowl.
Tortellini salad (the bag mix from Costco).
Mini cheesecakes - adorable with cherries on top! I made waaaay too many though.
Death by chocolate cookies - my mom provided these!
Magic cookie bars
Soda, water bottles, red wine, beer and champagne punch.

I'm so glad that we held this celebration because I just love planning and hosting parties! Next one will be either Thanksgiving or our second annual tacky holiday sweater party!!

Meal Plan Monday 9/26

2011-09-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

I finally have time to plan meals around our Farm Fresh To You delivery, which is nice. I'm sad to say that some items have gone to waste in past weeks when I just didn't have time to cook a new meal, but I have plans for each item we received on Friday.

Sunday (Last night - I'm including it because it was super yummy): Goat cheese & arugula over penne

Monday: Homemade pizza

Tuesday: Turkey burgers & rosemary zucchini sticks

Wednesday: Tilapia & Moroccan carrots

Thursday: Out with friends at Chicago Fire

Friday: Not sure yet

Saturday: Family BBQ

Sunday: Housewarming party!

In the past month...

2011-09-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

1. James' sister and nieces came to visit from Washington. We had a lot of family visiting time with them and others from our area - very fun!

2. We had new counters installed in our kitchen and both bathrooms! I really, really need to get around to doing an updated house tour.

3. We went to two Giants games - one with my family and one with my coworkers.

4. I finally completed our wedding album and ordered it from Shutterfly, just in time for our anniversary! I'm a little disappointed in the quality, but not sure that I care enough to do anything about it.

5. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary in Santa Cruz. It was lovely - the best part was our sailing trip on the Chardonnay II. We saw a whale and dolphins, drank wine (chardonnay, naturally) and met another couple that was also celebrating their anniversary and also got married at Lighthouse Point - just a year earlier than us! I told the captain my name and he said I was the first passenger named Chardonnay that he'd had :)

Free anniversary cake from Hoffman's Bakery

The view from our private balcony at the Babbling Brook Inn

6. I've been busy planning our housewarming party, which is October 2. Should be a good time!

7. Finally, BIG NEWS: I quit my job!! This was a huge decision and something I had never done... I quit without having another job lined up (Other than the time I quit my high school job to move away to college, of course). I had not been unemployed for a single day since the age of 18. I'm lucky to have a husband with a job, so I was able to do this. It was the best decision for me. I didn't like the work, I didn't like the way I was treated, so what's the point? It's a strange position for me to be in - one that I'm not used to. But I know that it was the best decision for me.

I'm going to try to get a house tour put together in the near future, and pick up blogging in general. Trouble is that lately I do NOT feel like sitting in front of a computer, and have no motivation to blog about life... I hope I get inspired soon!

Anniversary plans

2011-08-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

We're coming up on one year of marriage - wow! A lot has happened and on one hand it flew by, but on the other hand 9/18/10 seems like so long ago. We've been planning a weekend back in Santa Cruz for a few months and we're so excited to go back and celebrate one year of wedded bliss ♥

Our weekend getaway plans include...

Staying at the Babbling Brook Inn, where we have a room with a fireplace, private deck and hot tub (We've never been to this inn before. It's pricey but this is the perfect excuse!)

A picnic at Lighthouse Point, the beautiful location where we said our vows last year.

Heading to Hoffman's Bakery - the bakery that provided our wedding cake - for our free anniversary cake. Oh heck yes we're cashing in on that!

A lunch or dinner at Kianti's, which catered our rehearsal dinner.

Sailing on the Chardonnay charter sailboat - we planned to do this on our honeymoon last year but they cancelled it last minute. I'm super excited to step foot on my namesake boat, haha.

Dinner at Michael's on Main, the restaurant that hosted our reception (Hopefully we can eat on the back deck where our party was held).

Hmmm most of these seem to revolve around eating :P Our vacations are often go-go-go, see everything and walk many miles. For this trip we're going to try and take it easy and relax! Can't wait!

P.S. If you want to see lots and lots of photos from our wedding weekend, check out the "Our Wedding" tab at the top of the page.

Kitchen design inspiration

2011-08-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

Our kitchen has a lot of changes coming to it!

Original kitchen before we moved in

Phase 1 has already begun - we added a fabulous island (this one if you're interested)!

Yep, we ordered it online, sight unseen. Nothing we could find in any store was the right size, colors or price. It came in boxes and we took an evening to assemble it. It's made our kitchen so much more functional!! Not to mention pretty.

Next we will be installing a new granite countertop (currently blue laminate - stylish, no?) and sink/faucet - we hate the current ones, especially the sink! It's so not functional because the side with the garbage disposal is teeny tiny. So inconvenient for rinsing dishes.

We've also replaced those blue blinds with bamboo roman shades (Purchased from Lowes, where they'll custom cut the width for you for free).

Once the counter is replaced, we'll be painting and getting new light fixtures as Phase 2.

And sometime after that, Phase 3 will entail a new tile floor (through to the dining room too, which currently has carpet) and a backsplash.

Here's a big picture look at the overall design of the room. It was really helpful to me in seeing how it will all come together and making sure that the materials complement each other! (Click the image to see it larger)

Cabinet color (I can see someday painting the cabinets white, but that's not a priority any time soon)
Faucet we're planning to order (Well actually we're not completely decided but we like this one and this one)
Window treatments we added
Our range - all appliances are white
The island we added
The granite counter we've selected - "Persa Antique"
The tile on the floor will be similar to this color and "hopscotch" pattern
Paint color will be something like this green - the specific shade hasn't been narrowed down yet

Meal Plan Monday 8/1

2011-08-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

August already?! Housewarming party planning time!

Monday: Out (Groupon that's about to expire!)

Tuesday: Thai style BBQ chicken (We just had this last night but I made a double batch) with summer squash bake

Wednesday: Turkey burgers

Thursday: Chicken salad (Been craving this...)

Friday: Chicken spaghetti (Apparently I'm all about chicken this week)

Saturday: Out (BBQ at our friends' house - I'm planning to bring broccoli salad)

Sunday: Sausage potato burritos OR spicy garlic lime chicken with spicy green beans... it's a lot of chicken but it sounds good and I'm loving those green beans! I think when you crave veggies you have to take advantage.

Spicy green beans

2011-08-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

Our Farm Fresh To You delivery included a pound of green beans last Friday. I've never liked fresh green beans. I love the canned ones and their soft texture, but fresh ones are always too crunchy!

But I had to use them (see the trying new things benefit going on here?). And thankfully, the box even came with a few recipe recommendations for the produce we got that week.

One of them was this recipe for spicy green beans, and we loved it! I decided to way over-cook them to attempt to get that soft mushy goodness you get out of the can. It worked, and now I love fresh green beans :)

Ingredients

1 lb. green beans
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice vinegar
2 t. sugar
1/4 to 1/2 t. hot pepper flakes (I put almost 1/2 t. and they were pretty much perfect. I like spicy)
1/4 t. white pepper (I have never used or seen white pepper... I used black pepper)
1 T. vegetable oil
2 T. minced garlic
2 T. freshly minced ginger (I skipped this)
I also added a dash of sesame oil and a bit of salt for more flavor

Directions

Rinse and drain green beans, and cut off the ends. Cut the beans into 2-3 inch, bite-sized segments.
In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, hot pepper flakes and ~~white~~ pepper.
Set a large frying pan over high heat. Add beans and 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook, stirring once, until beans are as cooked as you want them (I added 1/2 cup water or more. The original directions recommended 3-4 minutes, but I probably did 6-7. For me, this is the key to liking fresh green beans).
Uncover and cook until most of the water has evaporated.
Add vegetable oil, garlic and ginger to the pan. Stir until green beans and garlic are lightly browned - 1 to 2 minutes.
Stir soy mixture and add to pan. Bring to a boil and stir until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce thickens and coats the beans - 2 to 3 minutes.

Can be served hot or cool. I kept them covered and warm until the rest of our dinner was ready. Served 2 generous portions.

We had this with Thai style BBQ chicken and it was delish and pretty darn healthy too!

Empty house tour - bedrooms & bathrooms

2011-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

I already showed you the outdoor areas and common areas - the last part of the house you haven't seen is the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Bedroom #1: Master (not much to see when empty - all the bedrooms look the same!)

Master bathroom

Hall bathroom

Bedroom #2: Office

Bedroom #3: Guest room

Bedroom #4: Extra (future nursery :)

Going organic?

2011-07-29T07:27:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been reading about organic produce and its health benefits... well I guess really the health dangers of eating inorganic. I've thought about buying organic produce in the past, but I have ended up at the conclusion "Well, if I'm eating fruits and veggies at all I'm doing well. Inorganic produce is better than no produce, right?"

The problem is that organic is so much more expensive! But this is especially a concern to me as we think about getting pregnant in the future. I don't want to be exposing my children to poison that can do them harm, especially as their little lives are just forming!

Have you ever heard of the dirty dozen and clean fifteen? This is a list of the 12 fruits and veggies that are most likely to contain pesticides (which is poison), and the 15 that are most safe to eat inorganic. I've printed out this list and am going to stick it on our fridge. My plan is to refer to it as I make my grocery list each week.

Dirty Dozen (buy these organic):

Apples
Celery
Strawberries
Peaches
Spinach
Nectarines
Grapes
Sweet Bell Peppers
Potatoes
Blueberries
Lettuce
Kale/Collard Greens

Clean Fifteen (lowest in pesticides):

Onions
Corn
Pineapples
Avocado
Asparagus
Sweet Peas
Mangoes
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Kiwi
Cabbage
Watermelon
Sweet Potatoes
Grapefruit
Mushrooms

It's my new goal to buy the worst offenders organic instead. I know it's going to be more costly, but it's for our health and the health of our family! It's easier and cheaper than going all organic - which I'm not sure is necessary.

By the way, our Farm Fresh To You delivery was on our doorstep before we left for work this morning. I have to say, it wasn't much food for $25... looks yummy though! But it's organic so I have to get used to this idea.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

2011-07-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

A while ago I came across the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and have been thinking of participating ever since. Here's how it works: You sign up to receive fresh produce from a local farm 1-4 times a month. Some services are for pick up in your area, and some deliver to your home or office.

The contents of your produce box vary each week, depending on what's currently in season. You're helping the environment by decreasing pollution caused when fruits are shipped from other places like South America. You're getting the freshest food possible because it came from a farm just miles away. It's even organic, which I've found is a big health benefit and pesticides aren't being put into the earth either. Having all those fresh fruits and veggies makes you eat healthier because it's there so you have to eat it. You get to try new foods because it's not up to you what items you receive.

I've seriously been contemplating joining a CSA for a good two years, and earlier this year I jumped on the opportunity to buy a Groupon for Farm Fresh To You, a local CSA that delivers right to your door.

The small box that I've selected is $25 per delivery. I'm planning to order it for every other week, which means we'll be spending $12.50 per week on organic, seasonal produce. Do yo know how easy it is to spend $12 in Safeway's produce department?! Our first box is coming tomorrow, and here's what we're getting (each Friday they post what's coming next week):

2 red plums
2 ears of white corn
1.5 lbs. of summer squash
1 lb. of grapes
1 lb. of green beans
1 bunch of basil
1 bunch of lettuce
1 cucumber

I also found Full Belly Farm while researching this, which offers produce for pick up and might be a bit more affordable. If all goes well with this FFTY experience, I'll probably look into that CSA. But this week's order is free with my Groupon :)

Empty house tour - common areas

2011-07-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a look at the kitchen, dining room and living room before we moved in (I already showed you the outdoor areas).

This is what you see when you walk in the front door:

The living room has a wood stove.

I like that we have an entry area separate from the living room, with tile rather than carpet, double doors and tall windows.

The dining room is connected to the living room, behind those lovely wooden bars.

Those upper cabinets blocking the kitchen view are kind of inconvenient, but they're staying because they make up a good portion of our kitchen storage.

Last for today is the kitchen. That door leads to the garage.

Just one more post until I can show you the changes we've made already, and plan to make!

Empty house tour - outdoor areas

2011-07-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

I want to share with you our house before we moved in! I'm going to do a few posts showing "before" photos. First, here's our street:

That pile of brush on the right was made by James the first day we got our keys. The vegetation was a bit wild!

There's a courtyard area outside the front door. I like it because it feels very protected/secluded.

This is the view from the front door, looking out.

On to the back yard

We have a covered patio outside the back door.

Our back yard has a lemon tree, blackberry bush (which I know I'll be constantly trimming so that it doesn't take over) and the neighbor has a cherry tree that hangs over the fence too.

This photo is the only record I have of the crazy bushes and trees that had overtaken the whole east side of the house. Hubby cleared it all out.

Can't wait to show you the rest of our home sweet home!

My attempt at being neighborly

2011-07-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

After more than two weeks in our new house and having met only one neighbor, I decided it was time to take matters into our own hands and introduce ourselves. I whipped up some chocolate chip cookies and caramel bars, packaged them in cellophane and wrote out some nice cards.

Who wouldn't like us after receiving this?

The other night after work James and I walked to our five most immediate neighbors' houses to deliver the treats... knocked on the door... and to our dismay four of the five didn't answer! One we could see walk right by the door and ignore us.

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that they thought we were salespeople or weren't presentable or something. Whatev, neighbors!

The one woman who did answer was very nice and talked to us a bit about the neighborhood, which she and several others have lived in for 30 years. Better yet, the next day we found two thank you notes in our mail box! So we're off to a good start... I hope??

San Francisco and Napa

2011-07-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

This weekend Mom and I drove to San Francisco to meet my sister and her roomie Lisa (visiting for the summer from Ireland!) for some Napa wine tasting!

Check out the girls' street in the Castro - amazing view but can you say steep?! Oy.

In Napa, we checked out (I think) four wineries.

Hagafen Cellars

Whitehall Lane

V. Sattui

We had a little picnic lunch at V. Sattui

Not pictured: Sutter Home (Yeah the $5 wine. Haha, tasting is free there!)

After relaxing at the girls' apartment, we drove to Twin Peaks once it was dark to check out the beautiful city view!

Oh those blankies were so necessary!

Sunday we went on a little hike that starts just down the block from their house. So pretty.

Thanks Rose and Lisa for the awesome weekend!

Meal Plan Monday 7/11

2011-07-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

I can get back into this now that moving is over!

Monday: Pasta bolognese ( <--- This recipe from Brie was so good last time! I'm going to add even more veggies this time and leave out the pepperoni. I actually should post my recipe soon since I've changed it so much)

Tuesday: Out, or whatever hubby wants (it's his birthday!)

Wednesday: Turkey burgers

Thursday: Veggie lasagna with spinach and mushrooms

Friday: Chicken spaghetti

Saturday: Pepperoncini beef sandwiches

Sunday: Creamy Italian crockpot chicken

Our humble abode

2011-07-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

Blogfriends, meet our house! I hope you like it as much as we do.

The stats:

4 bedrooms
2 bathrooms
1,465 square feet
Built in 1964

Things I love about our new home...

FOUR bedrooms
Big kitchen with room to add an island
Big dining room
New carpet and paint
Clean
Priced at our ideal budget
Located just two blocks from the river

Did I mention four bedrooms? We needed three, but this gives us room to grow into for many, many years! There is plenty of work to be done on the house, but the great thing is that none of it is urgent. The current condition of the house is completely liveable so we weren't forced to tackle any major projects before we moved in.

The landscaping needs plenty of help, and we'd like to replace many of the outdated floors and countertops, among lots of other little things (which I'll tell you all about soon enough)!

The appraiser provided us with this floorplan sketch, cool right?! The blue lines are my additions, and I can't tell you how much dorky fun I had doing that.

House tours aplenty are coming your way :)

Goal #1: Buy a home = Done!!

2011-06-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry I kept it from you blogworld, but I just didn't want to jinx it like last time! We closed on our first home today!! (If you want to know what goal I'm talking about, check out the "My 100 Goals" tab at the top of the page)

I've been keeping this little journal for the past two months, so if you're interested in how our home buying process went down, read on!

Monday, April 25

We viewed four houses after work and this one was the clear winner over the others. I loved it. Hubby was hesitant because he grew up only three miles away - he didn't know if he was willing to move back to that area. I tried not to pressure him because I totally get that!

Wednesday, April 27

We went back with our agent for a second look, and submitted an offer! J decided he loves it just as much as I do. We didn't know when we'd hear back because it's a foreclosure.

Thursday, April 28
We heard back from the bank via their selling agent. Before they accepted our offer, they wanted to know exactly what repairs we'd be asking them to make and how much they'd cost.

We had requested that they allow 1.5% of the sale price to be used for any repairs the home needed. This is required for a VA loan - the seller has to pay for any problems with the house.

The bank wanted us to get an inspection before they'd accept our offer, outlining what they'd have to pay for. Luckily, my dad is a contractor and electrician, so we didn't have to pay a couple hundred dollars to an inspector when the house might not even be ours! So, so lucky!!

Saturday, April 30
My parents joined me at the house to check it out (James had to work unfortunately). Dad was able to point out several items that the bank had to fix (electrical wires missing, leaky toilet, fan installed wrong, etc.), then a few more that we'll have to take care of once it's ours. I was happy that he thought it was a good purchase though!

Our realtor reported these findings and cost estimates to the selling agent, who already told us that there had been no other offers on the house. We hoped to hear back within a few days.

Tuesday, May 3, 8:00 a.m.
We had no response, but the price of the house was dropped by $5,000 - $100 under our offer! This had me worried. Did this mean they planned to reject our offer because of VA requirements??

Tuesday, May 3, 4:00 p.m.
Received notification that multiple offers had been made. Our agent surmised that they had reduced the price to try to get more interest, and it worked :( This is frustrating because we already made an offer almost a week earlier! We were asked to make our best and final offer, and decided to keep the amount we originally submitted. This is what our agent advised was an appropriate price, and it was now over the asking price.

Friday, May 6
Counter offer received. It's super confusing but my best explanation is: The bank didn't want to pay for the repairs that we gave them estimates for, but agreed to everything else. This wouldn't work because they have to pay for them or we wouldn't get a VA loan. So we upped our price by a couple thousand to cover most of the cost and submitted our counter offer back.

Monday, May 9
Offer accepted!!!

Thursday, May 12
We met our agent at her office to sign the contract. Once all necessary repairs were made to the house, we would have to get an inspection done.

Wednesday, May 18
We approved the contractor bid for them to get started on repairs. During this time a lot of other stuff was going on behind the scenes that we weren't involved in. Our mortgage broker was working on securing financing, and our realtor was working out contract details.

Monday, May 23
We received the appraisal report - it came back exactly at the price we agreed on. One thing that they noted was that the exterior paint was peeling on the trim. Since the house was built before lead paint was banned, it could fall and contaminate the soil, so the bank/seller was required to scrape it off and re-paint.

Saturday, June 4
Home inspection with my dad. We found some small things that we'll have to address like outlets not working, the chimney needs some little part, etc. And we discovered rat poop - ewww!

Also found things that the seller has to fix. They didn't replace the broken toilet like they said they did (annoying!), and the stove didn't work for some reason - the gas nor the clock.

Saturday, June 11
Exterior painting was done, and they fixed a small hole in our kitchen ceiling that they had previously refused to repair. Stove was fixed but they refused to replace the toilet.

Thursday, June 23
J and I signed final documents for the loan! It took place at our old house with our mortgage broker, realtor and a notary. After that, we went to our new home for our final walkthrough. We found a hole in the ceiling that was never there before (WTF) and demanded that they fixed it... which they did the next day :)

After the walkthrough we went to the Sears Outlet and bought a refrigerator!

Wednesday, June 29
We got our key!! It's officially ours! I took lots of pictures to share soon. Tomorrow I'm working until noon and then will get to work moving some boxes and taking care of stuff around the house. Both James and I took Friday off for a long, hard, exciting, rewarding weekend!

Can't wait to blog more about our home!!

Meal Plan Monday 6/20

2011-06-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

Monday: Homemade pizza (we never ended up having this last week. Well, I made the dough and had a little for lunch, but never for dinner)

Tuesday: Fish tacos (baked tilapia) with mango avocado salsa

Wednesday: I have a whole chicken in the freezer that I'll cook in the crockpot. And macaroni salad sounds really good right now so I'll make this one with it :)

Thursday: Chicken enchiladas verde with the leftover chicken from Wednesday, with black bean and corn salad

Friday: Not sure... leftovers or out

Saturday: Out - we're going to a wedding

Sunday: Pasta puttanesca or veggie lasagna. I can't decide this far ahead right now!

My quarter century birthday

2011-06-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday was my big 2-5! I have a feeling I'm ~~always~~ still going to feel young for a long time, because I'm the youngest in my group of friends - not to mention that hubs is 7 years older than me. This week was tons of fun celebrating my quarter century of life.

Tuesday

My thoughtful hubby surprised me with these roses after work, because he knew I'd be busy the next two days.

Wednesday

We went to dinner at J's coworker's house. Thank you Kim for the delicious meal!

Thursday

My coworker and friend gave me with this wine glass gift - how perfect right?! Thanks Sabrina!!

"Hooray for Chardonnay!"

For lunch I went to Zen Sushi with my coworkers. Yum!

Kohaku Roll

Then after work several friends joined me for happy hour at Cafeteria. I think we had a good dozen people there and it was a lot of fun. We even somehow convinced J to go to Faces with us for a bit. That's one for the record books!

My older sister brought balloons and my younger sister gave me a beautiful framed collage of all my favorite wedding photos :)

Saturday
I did some shopping in the morning. Among several other things, I got this dress. It was originally $70, on sale for half off, plus I had a $10 off coupon. $25! I'll probably wear it to a wedding next weekend.

We had dinner at Chicago Fire (my fave) with my parents and sister, then headed to Raley Field for a River Cats game. My mom brought this beautiful bouquet of flowers from her yard when we met at our house beforehand.

Sadly, I forgot my camera that night. We witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets ever, and of course I always love going to the game on Saturday nights because they have fireworks afterwards! All the little kids around us cheering, screaming and jumping for joy at the fireworks display was hilarious!

Sunday
This wasn't for my birthday, but we went refrigerator shopping and then spontaneously decided to drop by a granite and tile warehouse to get ideas for our future kitchen and bathrooms :) It was sooo much fun and we came away from it with an agreement on colors and styles we like. I told J it was one of my favorite dates we've ever been on - I LOVE home decor/renovation stuff and I can't wait to get started!!

Overall, I really felt the love and was so honored that family and friends were sweet enough to give me a gift, a card, a text message or come spend time with me!

24 was a great year for me.

The best thing that happened was that I married my husband. He's perfect for me!
My parents also moved to this area, which I have loved loved loved.
We hosted our first tacky holiday sweater party, a dream of mine for far too long!
We started house hunting and while we're not quite there, we're in a good place when it comes to our future home.
I had many great times with fabulous friends - most of which I didn't blog about, unfortunately.

As my 25th year begins, I have some great plans for it!

Meal Plan Monday 6/13

2011-06-13T06:11:00.000-07:00

Monday: Sausage potato burritos that we didn't have last night

Tuesday: Homemade pizza (pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, green onions and whatever other veggies I find on Pioneer Woman's dough recipe)

Wednesday: ~~Pasta bolognese~~ Dinner at a friend's house

Thursday: Out with friends (it's my birthday!)

Friday: ~~Homemade pizza again~~ Pasta bolognese

Saturday: Out for my birthday again

Sunday: Maybe out with family for Fathers Day? If not we'll have homemade pizza again.

Meal Plan Monday 6/6

2011-06-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

This is probably a super lame post to a lot of people... but I don't have much to say, okay!

For the past few months I've been meal planning each week and it helps a lot to cut down on wasted food. I basically just buy the ingredients we need (which saves money and random grocery store wandering) and then I don't end up staring at the fridge after work saying "There's nothing to eat even though I went shopping yesterday!" That used to happen far too often.

I've also noticed that since I've done this we eat a lot more fresh food - meat, veggies, etc. - and not much processed crap.

I'm going to start sharing Meal Plan Monday and I'll include links to recipes whenever possible.

Monday: Fish tacos (baked tilapia) with mango avocado salsa

Tuesday: Turkey burgers and baked fries

Wednesday: Veggie lasagna (with spinach and mushrooms)

Thursday: Leftover turkey burgers

Friday: Summer corn salad

Saturday: Out with friends

Sunday: What I call sausage potato burritos - a tortilla wrapped up with potato, Jennie O turkey sausage and BBQ sauce

My brother's wedding

2011-06-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a big couple of weeks for my family... last Friday my brother got married! I wanted to wait until I could share some pictures before posting... can you believe that my camera ran out of memory in the beginning of the ceremony?! So I didn't get to take any photos, but it was a really pretty event. Congrats to my brother and new sister!!

The bride with her father

The newlyweds

May your love always be as strong as it is today

(and I know it will be!) ♥

Images from Photography by David Lee

Graduation weekend

2011-05-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

Congrats to the newest college grad in our family, my little sister Rose! By next year, all four of us siblings (not to mention all of our spouses) will have Bachelor's degrees - not too shabby!

On Friday I worked until 3 p.m. and then rushed home to change for Sac State graduation at Power Balance Pavilion. Rose and her friend met me and hubby at our house, then we drove together. And drank champagne in the parking lot to celebrate. Champagne = classy!

After the ceremony we drove to my parents' house to get our party on! There were almost 30 guests. SUCH a fun party!

My grandparents are going to be in town from Texas all week because my brother's wedding is next weekend.

On Saturday my aunt and cousins from the Bay Area came over and we had a picnic in Old Sacramento. So much fun to get to see my aunt, cousins and three little second cousins ages (my best guess) 3, 5 and 7. I got a little sunburned but had a great time. It was super exhausting being out in the sun for several hours. Wish I had taken some pictures!!

Sunday was my mom's birthday! Happy birthday madre! My sister and brother in law hosted us all for dinner. They made Thai food, and I brought Italian cream cake made with this recipe.

Best husband award

2011-05-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight I came home after a long day, and look what was waiting for me!

James knew I'm having a hard work week (yeah it's only Monday) and this put a smile on my face (and a tear in my eye). Thanks love!!! Made my night ♥

Taken last weekend

What I've been up to. A bullet list.

2011-05-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

Lots of stuff is going on with me lately but none of it feels significant enough to deserve its own post.
We had a Mother's Day dinner at our house - I made chicken parmesan.

My mom & mother in law

On Saturday I went to a bridal shower for a good friend. I'm so happy for her, and looking forward to her wedding in June. It was nice to catch up with the bride and other friends.

Me & the bride with a random stranger, Halloween 2008

After the bridal shower I met J at a housewarming party for one of his coworkers. It was fun.
My sister is graduating from Sacramento State this Friday, and after the ceremony there's a party at my parents' house. We went over on Friday after work and spent a few hours hanging tons of Christmas lights in their backyard. It looks so cool! Hopefully it's warm/dry enough, because they have the perfect outdoor party yard.
I'm making magic cookie bars for the party. I've made them once before and they're fabulous.

Image via

It's rare that I want to go to the movies, but I really want to see Bridesmaids and The Hangover Part II. Rose and I went to see Water for Elephants recently too. I don't think I've been to the theater 3 times in the past 2 years. Seriously.
Things are happening on the house front. Good things. I'm just afraid to jinx it so I'm not announcing anything yet ;)

Image via

I'm over Facebook. They blocked it at work a few months ago and not having access to it has made me not care.
My brother is getting married in 12 days! That will be fun and emotional. I get a 4.5 day weekend for it, so that's exciting too.

I have a bunch of stuff from our wedding that I really need to sell on Craigslist or elsewhere. These signs, our table overlays, candles... it's just taking up space!
I also have lots of clothes and other stuff that I'll likely get rid of when we move, and I'm pondering having a yard sale. I probably don't have enough stuff for one, but it would be nice to make a little bit of money from it. The alternative (and what I usually do) is to donate it.

Our wedding vendors

2011-05-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

This post has been sitting in my drafts for way too long, and it's about time I get this info out there! I'm kind of embarrassed to be posting it almost 8 months after our wedding, but hopefully this is helpful to someone.

Ceremony Venue: Lighthouse Point Lawn Area

This area is booked through the City of Santa Cruz, and is so beautiful! Downsides: Limited parking (although our guests didn't seem to have a problem), a maximum of 50 chairs are allowed, and the fact that it's a public space. When we decided to get married here we knew that there would be dozens of strangers watching, but it was worth it.

Reception Venue & Catering: Michael's on Main

Michael's on Main is a restaurant in Soquel, about 15 minutes from our ceremony location. Our reception was on the back patio, and it was beautiful. The staff were very nice and I received many compliments on the food.

We were supposed to have a coordinator there that night but she wasn't, which was weird. It was included in our price. We had our day of coordinator so maybe she didn't think she had to come? I also told you about how they forgot to put our favors out, and the coordinator was pretty unapologetic and defensive about it.

Guitarist: David Field

We got David to play at our wedding for a reduced rate by posting a gig ad on Craigslist, which I blogged about here. What I could hear was beautiful... most of the time I was thinking about other things but I clearly remember his rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for our first dance.

Officiant: Mark Toback
We hired Mark because he writes his ceremonies specifically for each couple, and we loved that concept. He didn't disappoint, as he wrote and performed a beautiful ceremony that we loved! He took a lot longer getting it to us than he said he would, but it was still well before the wedding so whatev.

Chair/Bench Rentals: M&M Party Rentals

They got the job done and were on time, so we were happy with them.

Day of Coordinator: Allumer Weddings & Events

Cristina was fantastic from the moment we hired her. She is so affordable yet as helpful and professional as anyone could be! She was setting up the lights at our reception venue at 8 a.m. the morning of the wedding, and stayed until at least 11 p.m. after everyone left. She also ordered our flowers for us, and I'm so glad we had her!

Cake: Hoffman's Bakery

Hoffman's delivered the delicious princess torte plain, and our day of coordinator decorated it with fresh flowers. It was yummy! The two times we met with them they seemed disorganized, but the cake made it to the reception as ordered, so I'm not complaining.

Photographer: Weddings by Tammynize
I love our photos! Tammy was so nice on the wedding day and captured everything just how I had hoped. She was helpful and creative, plus she's affordable!

Bridal Gown Alterations: Lana's Studio

These ladies did a great job and were very sweet. The price was reasonable, the bustle was beautiful (although it broke at the reception, I think that was my fault) and the dress fit great.

Hair: Kepare Salon

My stylist did an okay job. I didn't love it but I may not have given her enough direction. They don't accept credit cards and didn't tell me when I made the appointment. I got lucky that I had enough cash on me!

Those are the main vendors we used. Any questions - feel free to contact me! :)

P.S. To see all my posts about our wedding day, see the tab at the top of the page

Getting to know me & my hubby

2011-04-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

I've seen this little survey on several blogs lately and since I can never think of anything to blog about other than house hunting lately, I thought I'd play along too.

How long have you been together?

Almost 5 years! We met on July 8, 2006 and our first date was the next day. We got engaged 3 years later and we've been married for 7 months now.

Our first picture together (August 2006?) - San Francisco before a Giants game

How long did you know each other before you started dating?

Oh about 20 hours...

Who asked who out?

He asked me, after I dropped plenty of ~~subtle~~ hints first.

Did you go to the same school?
We went to Sacramento State together my last two years. We met through a community college summer school class (Art History), coincidentally the semester before he was transferring to Sac State.

Graduation - May 2008

Who is the most sensitive?

I am, but J is sensitive for a man - meaning he notices when people are upset, etc.

Where do you eat out most together?

Sushi Cafe, Giovanni's and Chicago Fire. Sushi and pizza in general!

Where is the furthest you have travelled together?

Victoria, British Columbia. It was so beautiful and such a fun trip!

Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC

Who has the worst temper?

I am much quicker to get annoyed, but he is worse when he's really mad.

Who does the cooking?

I do! J can cook frozen burritos, scrambled eggs and pancakes. The good thing is that he's so far from picky it's not even funny! Everything I cook is delicious to him :) I like my cooking most of the time but there have been some serious fails that I refused to eat... and he happily finished them.

Who is more social?

I am, by far. He's become much more social in the past few years though.

Padres vs. Giants in San Diego - 2007

Who is the neat freak?

Neither! We're both medium-cleanliness.

Who is the most stubborn?

Him.

Who hogs the bed?

I don't know, we're equal - but I know that I want a California King!

Lake Tahoe - 2007

Who wakes up earlier?

J is such a morning person. He's always up early.

Where was your first date?

Dinner at Outback Steakhouse, and then we went to the movies and watched Pirates of the Caribbean (whichever one came out in 2006). It was such a boring movie... I have a short attention span for movies I don't like!

How long did it take to get serious?

Fast! A few weeks. We were pretty much inseparable immediately.

Music in the Park - 2009

Who eats more?

J does.

Who does the laundry?

I do - I like to do it! He puts it away half the time, and I always make him match up the socks. I never want to do that. But I control the actual washing the laundry.

Who drives when you are together?

Whoever's car we're taking usually drives. Except when we're going downtown - I always drive because he gets stressed out finding parking! Often other times I'll ask him to drive my car because I prefer to be the passenger... but it's about half and half.

Tacky Sweater Party - 2010

Who is the first one to admit when they're wrong?

We're both good about doing that, I think.

Who wears the pants in your relationship?

It's about equal. Some things are important to each of us and we can compromise.

Who eats more sweets?

Most likely me.

♥

I love my hubby and being married to him! I didn't know how much marriage would mean to me before it happened. It's priceless to have someone that I know will always be there for me and loves me no matter what.

Top 10 reasons I'm glad our offer was rejected

2011-04-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

The kitchen needs to be remodeled
Difficult sellers/selling agent
Boring backyard with not enough shade
Power pole, electrical lines and sewer manhole in the backyard
The walls are dirty
Moldy wall in the bedroom
Tiny bathrooms
Lack of closet storage
High price
We'll find something better!

There, I feel better already :)

We're going to start looking into a neighborhood that I used to live in when I was in college. J didn't like the idea before because he grew up very close by, so it felt too close to home. But now he's changing his tune thanks to our dislike of a lot of other areas (too new, too master planned, too trashy, etc. etc.)!

I'm not sure if we're picky about location or not... we don't want to live too far out in the suburbs, but we don't want to live in the ghetto. We want to live in a nice neighborhood but can't afford many of them.We want to minimize commute time (and work in slightly different areas). We want to feel safe and send our future kiddos to good public schools. I know we'll find this place (with a house we love and can afford in it) eventually!

Rejected

2011-04-21T14:29:00.000-07:00

Our offer was rejected :( The selling agent is really unprofessional and crazy, so it's probably best that we don't have to deal with her. She was never going respond to our offer despite our agent's 10+ calls and emails because the sellers are not willing to accept anything under the asking price. What really gets me, is that the listing specifically says "Willing to entertain all offers." Why did they say that then?! We offered 92.5% of asking, it's not like we super low balled it. Ugh, I'm annoyed. I have hope that we'll find something even better...

Offer update

2011-04-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

I just heard from our agent that even though we gave the sellers until tonight at 6 p.m. to respond, they won't be doing so until Wednesday :( Apparently their "schedules aren't meeting up," and my best guess is that they are going to meet in person to put together a counter offer. We expected this. I hope I can sleep the next two nights!

Mango avocado salad

2011-04-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

Chili season is over! Lately I'm loving light and springy tastes like this yummy salad I found at SkinnyTaste.com. This is my version.

Image Source

Ingredients

2 mangoes, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 avocados, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tablespoons chopped red onion

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 lime

Directions

Cut up the mangoes, avocados and red onion. Combine in a large bowl. Squeeze the juice of the lime onto the salad. Toss and serve immediately! I sometimes let it sit in the fridge for half an hour or so, but don't wait too long. It's best fresh and not ice cold.

House hunting 4/17/11

2011-04-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend our Realtor was out of town, but luckily she set us up with a partner of hers so we didn't have to miss out on seeing some new listings.

House #1

Pros

Large rooms.
High ceilings.
Like the kitchen.
Great curb appeal.
Lots of storage.

Cons

Pretty sure the neighborhood is just not for us - it's too new and "master planned."
Seems smaller than it is. It's over 1400 square feet but it doesn't feel that large.
Small dining area.
Yucky carpet.

House #2

Pros

Very big.
It has a bonus room (basically a fourth bedroom, but without a closet) that we could use as a guest room or office.
Good curb appeal.

Cons

Same area as house #1.
Quite a bit more expensive that house #1. Although it's bigger, the first was big enough. If we wanted to live in that area, we'd choose the smaller house and save the money.

House #3

I'm not going to post pictures of this house, because we made an offer!! Potential stalkers could find the listing with photos I post here, and then they'd know our address. So no pics for now... sorry :(

I'm trying not to get too attached or excited, because lots of things could prevent this from being our home. It's an old house (56 years old) and may have problems that the sellers are not willing to pay for.

FYI with a VA loan like we are using, the sellers must fix any safety-related problems. The VA buyers are not allowed to pay for them, and we will not be given a loan if the sellers won't fix them.

The one thing we know will need to be fixed is a wall in one of the bedrooms that is rotted/moldy. It doesn't appear to be too bad though, and it has a new roof so the source of the damage should be fixed now.

We'll see, if we even get to an inspection! First we have to agree on a price. We're not willing to pay full asking price, even though it's a steal for the area. The neighborhood is fantastic... but we have a budget.

Anywho, we found a house we like!! I was fearing that this would never happen... my stomach is in knots. The seller has until 6 p.m. to respond to our offer!

Pros

Great school district.
Adorable neighborhood.
Big, and it feels big.
It has hardwood under the carpet, which we'd like to refinish.
Huge master bedroom.
Good curb appeal.
New double-pane windows, new roof and new garage door.

Cons

Small kitchen, but I have plans for expansion :) It will take quite a bit of work though.
Small bathrooms, for which I have no plans for expansion... this is something we're willing to live with.
Old, and kind of dirty.
The landscaping in the backyard needs help.

House #4

Pros

We like the neighborhood.
Right next to a walking path.
Great layout.
Fab yard.

Cons

We knew this was a no-go as soon as we walked in. All the wood flooring is waaaay warped. Like, crazy warped and there are waves a foot high in most rooms. It appears that there was either a major flood in the house, or they didn't leave room for expansion that naturally occurs with wood. It's freaky!

Of course they didn't post a picture with the online listing, but I found a similar photo here:

We'd never be approved for a VA loan with this situation going on. Too bad, because it's a great house!

___________________________________________

So where are we now? We're currently waiting to hear from the seller - they can either accept our offer, reject it, or counter offer. This is bananas! :P

Thomas Jefferson's Ten Rules for Living a Good Life

2011-04-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

Today on our nightly walk around our neighborhood, I spotted a postcard in the gutter. It was addressed to someone in the area, but at least half a mile away (we weren't sure, but we knew the street was close). It was such a freaky situation because it was dated 2003 - why was it on the street today?!

We (read: I) decided to go on an adventure to find the house it was originally sent to and leave it in their mailbox. I hope it was the right thing to do. I just wondered if they missed it...

So we found the house, which is just blocks from our own, and left it on the porch. But on our way, I read the front of the card which featured "Thomas Jefferson's Ten Rules for Living a Good Life." This woman's father sent her a postcard from Charlottesville, Virginia (home of Jefferson) in 2003. I wonder why and if she ever saw his message before today!

This list features some fabulous pieces of advice, and I had to share them! I think it's so cool that these were written something like 200 years ago (since I totally just Wikipedia-ed him and he died 185 years ago), but these are sooo applicable to my life today!

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
Never spend your money before you have it.
Never buy what you do not want because it's cheap; it'll never be dear to you.
Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.
Never repent of having eaten too little.
Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
Don't let the evils which have never happened cost you pain.
Always take things by their smooth handle.
When angry, count to 10 before you speak; if very angry, count to 100.

These are speaking to me - especially #4, #6 and #10!!

House hunting 4/10/11

2011-04-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

Spoiler alert: None of these houses are our home.

But we're getting closer!

House #1

Good

4 bedrooms

Love the layout

Room to add a kitchen island

Our favorite of the day

Bad

Outdated (But I can totally see the potential with a little bit of love!). It would need new floors, windows and appliances

Farther out in the 'burbs than we wanted

The weirdest thing about this house? It's the same design as the house James grew up in and where his mom still lives! It's basically a mirror image, with a few changes. We got serious deja vu. This doesn't bother me a ton since I always liked the design of that house. But he was freaked out by it a bit!

House #2

Good

Big house

Big yard

...that's it

Bad

Weird layout

Converted garage

Craphole (yeah it's a technical term)

Faces the back of a high school

House #3

Good

Nice, clean, updated interior

Big backyard

Feels big - good layout

Bad

Teeny tiny kitchen

Bad neighborhood

1 car garage

House #4

Good

New carpet, paint

Clean

Love the backyard

Nice curb appeal

Bad

Faces the side of a school

A little small

Small, old kitchen and dining room

House #5

{Sorry, no more pictures available online.}

Good

Feels big

Large living room, family room and dining room

4 bedrooms

Bad

Super weird/random nooks and crannies everywhere

2 stories

1 car garage

It has 2 bedrooms upstairs and 2 bedrooms downstairs - not good for when we have 2 kids

Overall strange

House #6

Good

Seems like a good neighborhood

Bad

Really only has 2 bedrooms. The "possible" 3rd is a family room.

Fugly backyard

Bad layout that makes it feel way smaller than it is

House #7

Good

Big and perfect layout for us

Bad

Reeks of cigarette smoke

The whole backyard is paved over

Needs a whole new kitchen and all new flooring

Too close to the freeway - you can hear it from the front yard

Rat poop!

House hunting 4/3/11

2011-04-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day out looking at houses with our realtor. We've been going to open houses a little as they come up (like this one and this one), but actually making appointments to see our favorite houses was so much better!

We were able to see 5 of our favorite houses. They were all regular sales (as opposed to short sales). We had some additional faves that are short sales, but our realtor recommended against those because they take so long. If we don't find a regular sale that's a good fit we'll check them out, but this was a good start. Just these 5 in 1 day was exhausting anyway.

House 1

(3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms)

Good

It's in a nice neighborhood with good schools. It has a nice backyard with a deck and good amount of grass. We liked the yard a lot. It has good curb appeal - looks cute from the front (Warning: It's very hard to think of better describing words than "nice" and "good." My apologies.)

Bad

Weird layout. We're pretty sure that they added on a new living/dining room and it didn't work so well.

It only has 1.5 bathrooms and we realized that we really need 2 full.

There is a lot of cosmetic work to be done and it's priced too high for what it is.

House 2

(3 bedrooms plus a bonus office, 2 bathrooms)

Good

We loved the layout. The kitchen was huge and open to the living and dining areas.

The extra room (it would be considered a fourth bedroom, but it lacks a closet) is ideal for us to use as an office. The rooms all feel large because of the high ceilings and have lots of features we want like double sinks in the master bath, walk-in closet, etc.

Bad

It's pretty trashed. It's a foreclosure, and the walls are filthy and all the carpet would need to be replaced (and it's priced high for us). It's just icky. The house is also located on a busy street and it's super loud in the front yard from the traffic. The backyard is a downside too, as it's mostly paved over and it feels very harsh. We want grass!

House 3

(3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms)

Good

I was so excited to see this house! Aside from being 2 stories (we prefer a 1-story ranch style), it was almost perfect. It was on the market forever and was out of our price range, but they recently dropped the price $30,000.

The carpet was in good shape. The yard was lush and private. It's a modern layout and would work great for us. I could totally see us living and raising a family here! Until...

Bad

I noticed a large amount of mold in one of the bedroom closets. Taking that into consideration, we remembered that the exterior of the house had a good deal of the siding replaced suspiciously - very obvious because it wasn't painted over. The bedroom is on the second floor while this work was on the first, so we are pretty certain that whole side of the house has some pretty serious water/mold damage. This explains why it's been for sale for months and months. Even if we wanted to deal with it, the type of loan we're getting won't even allow it until it's fixed (and it's a foreclosure so they won't fix it). It seems like a money pit.

Some other negatives that we were willing to live with: Linoleum in the kitchens and bathrooms, old lighting fixtures and beat up kitchen cabinets.

House 4

(3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms)

Good

This is actually the same model as house 3, but reversed. So I loved the layout again (although James isn't as sold on 2 level houses). The yard is cute and the house overall is extremely clean.

Bad

Two words: Pink Carpet. Okay actually I have more words than that... almost all the flooring (a combination of pink carpet and linoleum) would be replaced, along with the kitchen counters and appliances.

Another major downfall was that our master bedroom window faces the master bedroom window of the house behind us. We could totally open the windows and have a conversation (yelling... but still). Our windows also overlook each others' yards, and it's just creepy. You can see their window in the yellow room above.

This was my favorite house of the day though, still.

House 5

(3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms)

Good

Great yard - actually it's ideal for us (it looks better in person than in this picture). The bedrooms are good sizes and there's a walk-in closet. Great price too.

Bad

The kitchen, dining room and living room are way too small. I wish they matched the other half of the house because then we'd love it! It's just not a workable space, unfortunately.

Although none of these houses turned out to be our home, today was a success in my mind. We were able to refine our wants and needs and learn more about what we can and can't live with (we can't live with 1.5 bathrooms, but we can live with old appliances and carpet (or replace them easily).

Pre-approved!

2011-03-30T06:14:00.000-07:00

We have officially been pre-approved for a mortgage! Now we can meet with our realtor and start looking at homes for real :) Many thanks to my sister who recommended both our mortgage broker and realtor - so far so good!

Unfortunately, the pre-approval process that should have taken a few days was drawn out to almost two painstaking months! Long story short... James disputed a charge on his credit card over a year ago. Capitol One (who I am not a fan of currently!) left it kind of "pending" on his credit report for the whole past year. So our loan officer couldn't access his credit score.

It took many, many weeks of phone calls, explaining and re-explaining that they needed to fix it... but here we are! We're so ready to get started.

If any newbie home buyers like me are interested in what it took to be pre-approved, here's a list of documents we needed to provide. I know a few months ago I was super curious about what we'd need to do, so here you go...

W-2s from the past two years
Federal tax returns from the past two years
Pay stubs from the past two months
Bank statements from the past two months
Copies of our driver licenses and social security cards
Our marriage license
James' college transcript and diploma (Only because he's been out and working full time for under a year)
James' DD2-14 (Military discharge paperwork - only because we're getting a VA loan)

I think our loan officer is much more thorough than others who may not require all of these things before even finding a house, but I see that as a good thing. Considering the trouble it has been already, I'd hate to fall in love with a house and then loose it due to missing paperwork!

We'll hopefully check out some houses soon, and I'll be sure to share the experience here :)

Girls night out

2011-03-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

My friend Andrea planned a girls night out for our group of friends, so on Friday night we went out to dinner at Kupro's Bistro, drinks at Dive Bar, and dancing at Social and Badlands. We had a blast ~~and one too many Washington apples~~!

I used to have nights out like this allll the time a few years ago, but I hadn't in a long time. Honestly these days I'd rather hang out with my friends at one of our houses. However, once in a while it's great to change it up and do something different.

I am so thankful to have found a great group of friends. I have very few friends from college that I'm still close with, and only one from high school [actually first grade!] that I still actually see regularly.

All of these ladies [and their boyfriends/hubbies] I met since graduating from college and I finally have that group that I can picture our kids growing up together. Okay some of us... and some of our kids will babysit the others' kids in a really, really long time ;) Haha ♥

Dreaming of home ownership - living rooms

2011-03-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

I'm all about comfort and live-ability.

Inspiration images found here.

We'll keep our two current couches for a while because they're in fine shape, but eventually I'd love a sectional like this one. I love couches with a chaise - so comfy!

We have this coffee table

And these matching end tables

So we might get this coordinating media stand,

but we're waiting on that purchase. It's possible that we'll have a fireplace and mount our flat screen above it. We'll see. It often seems too high for me, but in some rooms that's what works best.

As for specifics about the actual room... I can't think of anything that's a must-have besides just enough space! Carpet or wood doesn't matter much to me and a fireplace would be a plus but not necessary at all.

Videos of Dublin & Venice

2011-03-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

This is way overdue, but I finally uploaded some videos that I took in Europe last summer. You'll notice [if you watch it, that is. I hardly ever watch other bloggers' videos, so my feelings won't be hurt if you politely move along] that we can't stop talking for even one minute for a good video! That's always how it is...

This first one is from the first day of my trip when I arrived in Dublin. It's a live Irish band performing at Temple Bar - Irish music is so fun!

Here's one from the same day. We were outside of Dublin Castle and this group of people was singing. I creepily recorded them because they were so good [The images are capturing the buildings so that I wasn't just pointing my camera at them. You really only need to listen to the audio.]

And finally, one from Venice, Italy of the gondolas floating down the canal. Isn't it so beautiful?! I think it's probably the prettiest city I've ever been to. It doesn't even seem real.

If you're interested in reading all the posts about my 2-week European adventure last summer, click here!

Recent recipe wins

2011-03-09T21:33:00.000-08:00

I love to read cooking blogs, meal plan and cook lately, I think it's something that happens to newlyweds. Here are some the recipes I've tried recently that are definite repeats!

Pizza Dough

(from thepioneerwoman.com)

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Next time I'm going to try it with whole wheat flour, and I'll update this post with the results. Update: I tried it with whole wheat flour - it's fine but much better with white! That's how I'm going to make it from now on.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

(from my bloggy friend mrsedwardscooks.blogspot.com)

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Amazing! That's all I have to say! Everyone loves it.

Healthy Baked Potato Soup

(from skinnytaste.com)

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This is almost as good as the recipe I posted a few months ago, but a lot healthier because instead of all potatoes it's half potatoes, half pureed cauliflower.

Cilantro Lime Rice

(from skinnytaste.com)

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I made it with brown rice and it was still sooo good, just like Chipotle.

Fresh Salsa

(from allrecipes.com)

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I've realized that salsa freshly made at home far surpasses any prepared salsa I can buy. I like this base recipe, and add to it lime/lemon juice, sometimes cilantro, and I'd like to try corn too. Fresh tomatoes can be used instead of canned, and I keep it chunky instead of blending it.

Bolognese Stuffed Bell Peppers

(from allrecipes.com)

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Pretty and delicious :)

Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches

(from crockpot365.blogspot.com)

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I added some BBQ sauce on top of the sandwich.

Open houses 3/6/11

2011-03-06T16:19:00.000-08:00

Today we visited three open houses. If I could have convinced hubby, we would have gone to about 30. There were open house signs on every corner!

The first one we knew before going that it wasn't for us, but it's only a block from our house so we wanted to check it out anyway!

Besides being pretty far out of our price range, it only has one bathroom. I thought it would be nicer though. Everything was so outdated and it just seemed like it has seen better days. On the plus side, it did have charming built-ins and a cute living room. Even if we liked it we can't afford it.

The second house was not in our plans, but it was across the street from house #1 so we checked it out without knowing the price or any details.

It turned out to be about twice our budget, and nice for the most part but still only one bathroom (common in this old neighborhood).

It had a super creepy dungeon-esque basement. A great home overall though, with a beautiful living and dining room.

The last house is more modern. It's in a cute neighborhood, although the schools are not very good.

We didn't like this one either... it appears nice at first glance, but everything was put together very cheaply. Like the carpets were coming up on the sides. It had a nice layout but it's not for us.

We're working on getting pre-approved for a loan right now, and I'm getting impatient! I really want to start making appointments because there are some homes that I'd love to see and I think we'd really like.

Dreaming of home ownership - bathrooms

2011-03-02T06:07:00.000-08:00

Our bathroom situation right now is... not the best. For starters, we have only one. In our next house, I'd love to have at least 1.5 bathrooms. James says we need two but I've convinced him to look at houses with 1.5 if they're in ideal neighborhoods.

In addition to having only one bathroom, it's a small one at that. There's room for approximately one body in there, which is why I do my makeup in the hallway, with the mirror I mounted there. A master bath with two sinks would be fantastic.

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I forgot to say in my kitchen post how much I love mosaic tile. I actually imagine it more as a kitchen backsplash

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but I'll put it out there now that I'd love it in a shower as well!

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A nice shower head is a must too. I've replaced the standard shower in almost every rental I've had - although 5'9" isn't that tall, it seems like showers are made for people who are 5'2"... I can't stand having to bend down to wash my hair!

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I admit that this detail is kind of silly, but I like it okay?! We've stayed at several hotels that have this curved shower curtain rod. It feels like you have so much room when you're showering, and I want one :)

My cosmetics storage is a bit of a cluster currently because we have a pedestal sink. It's really cute but the only storage in the bathroom is the small medicine cabinet. Drawers = a dream come true.

I like calm, relaxing paint colors like blue and gray.

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Wine tasting in Placerville

2011-03-01T06:29:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share some photos of a wine tasting day from a few weekends ago - we were celebrating my sister's birthday and hit up some yummy wineries in the mountains!

Our group included myself, mom, sister and three of her friends. Lots of fun! Thanks for driving Mom! And thanks for taking the photos Kelly... I totally stole all of these from Facebook.

There was snow as we got higher up, and it was even snowing when we first arrived. This is a big deal to me because I hardly ever see snow :)