I have thoroughly enjoyed the last couple of evenings, because we are finally making a concentrated effort to watch less TV. It is such a big difference and something that we are both really enjoying. In the past, Adam has gotten home before me and the TV would be on from around 5pm until we went to bed. After dinner we would retreat to separate rooms, since we have such different tastes in programming, and then watch a little Tivo together until we were ready to call it a night. 5 hours of TV a day is ridiculous! I really enjoyed not watching any TV for the two weeks I was staying at my fathers (although that was partly because I didn't get home until 11pm on some nights), which put this idea in my head.
These last couple of days, I have gotten home first, and after plugging in our Xmas lights/tree and turning on some Xmas music (or Diane Krall, which is perfect background music), I've started dinner prep. Adam has come home and after we finished prepping dinner we would sit in the living room enjoying a drink and chat about our day. It's a nice way to unwind and much better than sharing in between commercials.
We are still watching TV with dinner and then a little afterwards. Eventually, I'd like to break away from having the TV on while we eat dinner, but I think that habit may be too hard to break -- maybe we can get into a new routine when we move.
Its unlikely that I will be getting home before Adam very often, but I think this is somethign that he wants to keep up as well, which makes me happy.
I was actually so busy enjoying myself over the Thanksgiving holiday that I didn't make time to post anything. On Wednesday night my mom came down from Jersey. We re-decorated my little Xmas tree (it was hurting from being stuffed in closets for so long) and hung up Xmas decorations in the apartment, which actually turned into purging some of the older decorations that my mom had passed down to me. There were quite a few that were really hurting. The three of us cooked mashed sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner (our contribution) and made a tasty dinner feast for ourselves.
On Thursday, we continued to purge. I had mentiend to my mom earlier that I needed her to help us organize what had come to be known as "the scary closet". With wedding presents taking up space and the shuffle we had to do to give our subletter some room in the guest closet, the junk in the closet had spiraled out of control. Adam was a trooper purging things that he had been holding on to, but hadn't looked at in years. It always helps to have a neutral party involved when debating throwing away someone's old stuff. My mom is great at this. She actually got a big kick out of it, because she had always believed Adam's comments about me saving too much stuff, but she had a chance to see the crap that he was holding on to for so long -- kind of funny.
For Thanksgiving, we went to Patti & Dan's. It was nice having my mom there with us. Its an enjoyable event because its really a cocktail party with some turkey... not one of those occasions where everyone is just waiting around until they eat. Here's a link, if you want to see some of our photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heiked/sets/72157594390198247/
On Friday, my mom and I went shopping and bought me the leather coat that is my Xmas present from her. I think she was a little disappointed that it didn't take us long -- I really liked the second coat we tried. I can't mention enough how much I enjoyed my mom visiting!!!
I am happy to say that Adam and I got pre-approved for a mortgage today!!! Adam had some concerns about this, so it is nice to get this behind us. We drove through a couple of neighborhood this weekend and got a good vibe from the Graduate Hospital area, so we are going to start looking there. It's nice to feel like we are moving forward on this - we now know how big of a place we would like, where we would like to live, and what we can afford.
The hunt begins! Hopefully, we don't find something that we fall in love with too quickly, cuz we need our year-end bonuses to cover the downpayment and won't get paid those until February. I'm almost afraid to start looking now!
I believe I am in my third week back at my old firm. So far, I am thrilled with things. My boss, DC, is treating me like a peer and not an underling, which had been one of my concerns, and everyone seems genuinely happy to see me back. I am finally settled in my office and getting down to doing some real work.
I was SO excited to receive my belated birthday present from the Comegys family last week. Unfortunately, he is unphotogenic, and this is the best photo of him I could get. After enjoying a week of promenance on our kitchen table, he is now at home by the windows and his new plant friends, Stanley, Flo, and Myrtle. But, our poor little guy is nameless! Tammy, think up a good name for him (don't know why, but I have decided he's male!).
Adam and I are reving up to become homeowners. More than likely, we will be buying a condo or a townhouse. We probably won't buy anything until after we both get our year end bonuses in February. Saturday was perfect weather to walk around the city so we walked through Olde City and Washington Square before miandering home. We would love to live in the Washington Square area, but it is difficult to gauge if we can afford the neighborhood. We went to two open houses for lofts in Olde City and have determined that loft-living is not for us. We just aren't a big fan of the open ceilings and the gap between the walls and the ceilings - why even have a door if you can hear everything from the other room over the top of the walls? Just seems silly to us - you might as well just live in a studio if you are going to live in a loft.
Visiting places really made us realize that we need to figure out just what our price range is before we do anything else. At the second place we toured, we met a really nice real estate broker who was extremely personable and helpful. We both got a good vibe from him (he wasn't too salesman-y) and think we might use him when we get serious about buying. We need to get pre-approved for a mortgage before we do anything else. Luckily, the fact that Adam works at a bank should be very beneficial, since they offer slightly discounted mortgages to employees.
Adam has spent plenty of hours playing on relator webpages, so we are getting a sense of what is out there. We are starting to narrow down our house criteria.
Here is what we have determined so far:
2 Bedroom/1.5 Bath
At least 1,100 square feet (what we have now, nothing smaller)
30 min or less commute
We aren't willing to spend more on a mortgage than we are currently paying in rent
We really need a place that we can grow into. We plan on having kids in 2 or 3 years and need to buy something that will accomdate our plans. My current thinking is that we would get an au pair for the first year or so, because I would like to continue to work. Maybe after baby #2 I would consider taking time off or working part-time, but I wouldn't want to quit working right away. That would mean that we need a room (and ideally a bathroom) for the au pair. Who knows if we can afford this - I realize I am in la-la-la land right now. That's why getting pre-approved for a mortgage is the next step for us.
We stopped at Borders on our way home yesterday and bought a book for first time home buyers. It has already been extremely helpful and today we started investigating our credit reports. I have a clean bill of health, but we had a lot of trouble accessing Adam's records. I'm sure everything will be fine, but Adam is a little concerned by the uncertainty.
This weekend we decided to lay low and have a quite weekend in the city. Originally, we were going to go to Tampa for to visit Jen & Mark (Dickinson friends), but because of Veterens Day, ticket prices were a bit expensive (especially since we have our Japan trip coming up!).
On Friday night we enjoyed happy hour with Allison before heading home to feast on Bobolis and watch a movie. Saturday, we took in the unseasonably warm weather and walked around Philly to get a feel for some neighborhoods we are interested in (more on this later). Saturday night, I went to an event at a furniture warehouse with a tennis friend and then crashed a Dickinsonian's 30th birthday party at a bar, while Adam enjoyed a lazy evening of peace and quiet. Today, we putzt around the apartment, watched the Eagles finally win a game, and cooked Minestrone together. I really enjoy it when we cook together! Adam has also been getting ready for his upcoming business trip to Pittsburgh. It's nice that I'm not the one that's going to be on the road for a change!
Tomorrow is my first day back at my old job. I'm so happy I don't have to do that Monday morning commute to Manhattan anymore. Catching that 5:52am train was a real killer.
One of the biggest reasons my mom was looking forward to me visiting was so I could help her figure out all of the electronics in the house... while I was there we figured out the control panel for the heat, reviewed how to work her cable box, played with my digital camera, futzed with the fan, and figured out how to connect to her new internet email address..... I was playing second fiddle to Adam, the electronic wizard, but managed to hold my own. Here are some photos of my mom playing up the occasion...
On Sunday, we had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the Comegy family. What a treat! I think my favorite part of the day was taking a walk outside behind their neighborhood. I hope we will get to do that more often.
Ken & LeeAnn - thanks so much for having us. We really enjoyed ourselves!
By the lack of posts recently, you can probably tell that I have been keeping myself pretty busy this week. I have definitely been making the most of my week off between jobs. For some reason, my "To Do" list hasn't gotten any smaller. For every item I cross off, I find I'm adding another two items. Many of the items on my list aren't a high priority, just things that I have been meaning to do for some time. Other things, like getting Apartment Insurance, have been on my list for some time now and are important to finally take care of....
Having a whole week off also gave me the opportunity to spend some time in Jersey with those family members that I don't get to spend as much quality time with as I would like. My sister, my mom, and I, spent Tuesday night having dinner at my grandfather's house. It was cute how excited my Opa was all week about our upcoming visit. Yesterday, I spent the day with my mom helping her figure out the electronics in her new apartment and getting some Xmas shopping done. Today, I pampered myself with a facial - how nice!
I can't believe that tomorrow is Friday already -- there is still plenty I have left to do!!!
