We are very excited about our upcoming ski trip to Killington this weekend!! We're not a big fan of my sister's loser boyfriend who seems to be back in her life and coming with us, but no way around that I guess. Here's a photo taken from Killington this week -- look at all that snow! Now I just have to get rid of this cold my hubby was kind enough to pass on. I'm going to royally pissed if I am still sick and can't ski!!!!
For some reason, the fact that I was hungry woke me up last night. After an hour of tossing and turning, I finally got up and had a small bowl of cereal. When I came into the office, I told my friend about this odd behavior and the woman in the office next to him said "oh, oh, the only time I ever ate like that was when I was pregnant. Have any news to share with us?" To which my friend joked that I might start to cry. He's not joking - I had a pregnancy scare a few months back and just the thought of being pregnant made tears stream down my face. It was freakish... so, we had a good chuckle about not being ready for kids.
I sit down to start my day and the first thing I see is an email from my boss (she just remarried and moved her two teenage boys in with her new husband, she's been having trouble keeping up with our workload as she unpacks, tries to sell her house, and keeps an eye on her boys) -- This is how she started her email: Your plan not to mix kids and career will simplify your life to a great extent! My teenagers have been high-maintenance this evening…
Wow. Bad baby-vibe in the air!!! No babies, no babies!!!!
I've been enjoying getting opinions/verdicts friends & family regarding which house they like best. Since the photos we have up don't give a full picture of the pros/cons of each place, we aren't putting too much weight on what people say. Those that like Parrish haven't seen the little bedrooms, closets we need to deal with upstairs, and those that like Bamboo haven't seen what the neighborhood or the basement looks like. So far, the vote is Bamboo 1 - Parrish 2.
The hunt continues! Actually, without knowing exactly how much we can afford (until we get our bonuses) and not much new on the market in our current price range, we are taking a bit of a break from house-hunting. If we can afford a little more, we have the possibility to look at nice neighborhoods in Center City that we otherwise didn't think we could even look at... we're keeping our eyes open, but taking it easy. It felt a little funny getting up yesterday morning and not going house hunting, as we have done on recent Saturday mornings when we've stayed in town.
I LOVE Clinique products!!! I bought this last weekend and think its fabulous. I was originally looking for a light foundation -- I don't need much, just something to even out occasional blotchiness on my cheeks -- and bought this based on the saleswoman's recommendation. I hate heavy foundation and anything that looks too obviously like you painted your face, so I have a real tough time finding anything and end up not using any foundation/powder. This stuff has just a hint of color and it does exactly what I need. It evens out the little bit of redness/blotchiness I have on my cheeks (ah, winter weather) and doesn't look like I am wearing anything. Just thought I'd share.
Adam is sick, again. I wish, just once, he would take a day off (especially when he has a fever) to recover. What a stubborn guy! I think he truely believes that the trading floor won't be able to function without him. Its a miracle I can get him to take vacations! It's odd that he gets sick more often than I do, when we both received flu shots. Maybe its because he works with a bunch of people that have little kids. Lots of germs being brought into the office I guess. So, this pretty much kills our weekend plans. I just hope he doesn't get me sick. We're going skiing next weeked with my dad & sister for a long weekend in Vermont - I will not be happy if I am fighting a cold then!!!
Looks like we a taking a bit of a hiatus from our townhouse hunt. There isn't anything on the market currently in our price range. Since we don't know what our bonus is yet, we don't know what kind of upside potential we have. We are already 25K above our initial range. There are lots of nice townhouses in the $450K range, but that's a bit high - I don't know if we want to see places we can't afford.....
This weekend, we bought a grill pan. Patti made the most delicious grilled asparagus last time we were over and it didn't taste nearly as good when we tried to replicate the recipe at home. An added perk to a grill pan is that it may decrease the frequency that Adam complains that food would taste better if we could grill. Can't wait to try it out tonight!
Update - we had the most amazing steaks last night, no grilled veggies yet, but the first meal with the new pan was delicious!
Kids are so much cuter when they aren't yours... and if you only spend a few hours with them. How cute are these two? These are my nephews that are both about 15 months old (and were born only 8 days apart).
This is how Papa & Adam spent the majority of Julian's birthday. Hmmm.... looks like we will be getting a fusse(sp?)-table for our basement as soon as we have a house! I couldn't put up a photo of Anton & Eric without putting up some photos of their big brother/sister. There sure will be a lot of kiddies running around by the time Nicole & I add to the bunch.
Bamboo House: We are much more nit-picky the second time around....
Here are some photos from the Bamboo House - outside looks kind of boring (it actually almost kept us from seeing it, because we thought it was so blah). The street isn't great, but it's not as unsafe as Adam had thought. Second photo is the kitchen - we don't like the color of the cabinets, and Ad doesn't like the color of the granite counter top. He's also not a big fan of the kitchen table being in the kitchen, (as opposed to most other townhouseseplaces that have more of an open layout with the kitchen table in the open family room). The next two photos were taken standing by the front door. There is a small sitting area, with a fireplace -- You can look straight into the kitchen and the backdoor.
The backyard isn't much too look at - we would like to put down some nice tile and grow some ivy to cover the unattractive stucco walls. The next photo is the guest bathroom on the 2nd floor. Not bad, not great. The Master closet is huge - big fan! The master bathroom is nice (photo with Ad in it). Nice tub, seperate shower, two sinks.
What's weird about this house is that it seems as if the developer just ran out of steam and didn't finish the job in the basement. The walls are studded, but there is no sheetrock down there. Also, there's no washer/dryer, which is unusual. If we bought this house, I think the basement is the first thing we would do. Put down some nice tile, get some sheetrock up... make it a useable room -- I told Ad we would call it "the Man room".
There was another couple in the house when we got there, with a set of parents in tow, so this house may not be on the market for much longer.
Parrish House (Adam's favorite):
Most of these photos I swiped from the realtor webpage, so I hope you can see them OK. The house is a two-story and is much cuter from the outside, on a much nicer block. No question about that. The second photo is the view from the front entrance - gorgeous. The next photo was taken standing in the doorway to the kitchen and looking back. The kitchen is gorgeous - We love the first floor of this house!!! Through the door in the kitchen is the backyard, the washer, dryer, and a half bath.
The three bedrooms and (one!) full bath are on the second floor. My biggest problem with this house used to be the closet space issue, but now my biggest problem is the small master bedroom, which is so small, there isn't really a good space to put our bed and two endtables (the only nice furniture we have).
Ideally, we would take the first floor of this house, and combine it with the nice, spacious bedroom/bathroom/closet layout of some of the newer places. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work like that. Such a bummer!
Now What?: It looks like we are in a holding pattern. We are in no rush to buy, and don't feel like we have found "our" place yet. Hopefully, we will walk into a place and both "know" that it should be our new home. I didn't believe people when they made the same kind of comment about wedding dress shopping and it was true, so we'll just have to wait and see. We both believe that more houses will come on the market in Spring (March-timeframe). So we are just going to be patient (not exactly one of my strengths).
