Hello Home!

The day(s) finally came! Our first house, my first house. Well, we own a small percentage of it, but we get to live in it, put holes in the wall, anything we want! I have a driveway!!! Whoo Hoo!! Through this whole experience, I didn't really sleep, I got a cold once, and managed to fight off 2 others. All in a span of say 21 days. But worth the time and stress to have something we can call HOME!

We got the keys on 11/8, and moved on 11/20. I met my FH 2 years ago that Saturday, and 6 months from 11/21 we will be married. MARRIED!!! No more calling him FH!!
Anyway, I digress. I have to go back to unpacking the several boxes that moved here, purge some more stuff from these boxes, and get my life back in order. Somewhere I have to find the birthday card I purchased for my friends birthday (which is today and it still has to get mailed) AND my mother's birthday which is on Friday. Wish me luck!

Milestones...

I've been thinking about this word a lot. It's a word that can only be defined by you. Here's a few milestones I've lived to tell about:

1. turning 16...back then anyone  could get a driver's license at that age. Now, I think it's 18?
2. graduating High School. Needless to say, I would never want to go back in time to relive that!!
3. 12 more quarters of college, equals a bazillion more tests before I graduate...and then poof, I graduated college
4. TURNING 21 - I thought that day would never ever come!!
5. Getting your first job out of college - for me it was in SF - the best place to be in your 20's!
6. "How old will I be in the year 2000?"
7. Then came the hard ones to achieve....

A. Get Married

B. Buy a House

These are the questions my accountant would ask me every year...."did you get married yet? buy a house? nothing's changed...ok, I don't need an appointment to see you. Just drop your papers off". HA, now I need to call and make an appointment!!

Well, Milestone Monday is almost here - my FH and I will be home owners on Monday. I've saved 8 years of bonuses, squirrel'd away money here and there, and managed to find my Best Friend/Future Husband AND my dream home. We laugh that we should "Get Married and Buy a House, but not in that order..."

So, we all count our own milestones in our own ways, I'm just happy to put another marker in my memory on Monday. Hello house! (and goodbye savings account!).

Pumpkin Carving

My 7 year old nephews pumpkin of choice. We did most of the carving!

It's that time of year that I look forward to. Ever since my nephews could even have any concept of Halloween, we've been carving pumpkins together. I guess I've been going on 5 years now. There's something about the ritual. My four year old nephew woke up last Sunday morning and the first thing he said to his mom: "Today is the day Auntie comes over to carve pumpkins!". How cute is that?

My 4 Year old nephews pumpkin of choice!

3 years ago, I had a carve your pumpkin party - prizes, tealights, winners. It was a tradition I was looking forward to having every year thereafter. And then life got in the way. My boyfriend, now fiance (aka FH) moved from NYC to be with me. And now, we are buying a house and moving in a few weeks. All good things. But that doesn't stop me from carving up some pumpkins this year with our without a party!

Here's what I accomplished last night - what you can't see is his "blingy" eye patch - I bought the black rhinestones at Pier One - super cool and different!

I added the "ARGH"!

I've never been a big Halloween person, but I love carving up some pumpkins! I'm hoping next year to have the long awaited pumpkin carving party...prizes and all. I seriously start thinking about it 6 months before hand. I like to see everyone's creativity!! So, everyone get ready for bringing out the best design next year. Enjoy the Holiday!!

My Fall Day...

Today consists of nothing much but running around. I'm currently trapped by love ...My 2 year old part Maine Coon cat is a luv bug and purr machine. She is happily laying in my lap purring away.

Today I..

1. Kissed my Sweetie Goodbye - he is going to his HS reunion
2. Donated a bunch of stuff
3. Looked for a Vanity at Lowe's (one that doesn't cost $700 for just the wood, and no sink!), and bought more packing supplies
4. Donated Canned Food and bought some more food..
5. Unloaded the dishwasher
6. Threw out the recycling
7. Got my hair cut and colored
8. Researched our honeymoon - Cinque Terre (please email me ideas if you have been here!!)

Still yet to do today..

1. Purge unnecessary paperwork
2. Pick up my sister at the airport
3. Recycle the unnecessary paperwork
4. eat dinner
5. Squeeze in a movie (Letters to Juliet...Better to watch while FH is gone)
6. Work

Whew - and it's only 4:00!!

The BEST part of my day today was discovering this!!

FH to me: "Super Heroes AND JOKES?!"

So far, a very good day!!

PS - Joke of the popsicle...What happens when you go inside with a snowsuit on?

Apples Apples and more Apples!

I went apple picking with my sister and two nephews over the long weekend. It was a beautiful fall day - perfect sunny skies, and the boys were so cute in wanting to pick the right apple!

I think I've had more apple foods this weekend then I do over an entire month, and it was all delicious!!

1. Fresh Pressed Apple Cider - seriously! (I'm throwing in some dark rum tonight!)
2. Carmel Apple - with nuts.
3. Regular freshly picked Jonogold apple - Mmmm, Mmmm
4. Cider Apple Donuts - OMG - warm and delicious
5. and the best of the weekend, homemade apple crisp.

Made by yours truly!

Hot out of the oven

Almost gone!

I am normally not so ambitious, and my brother in law makes a mean apple pie, but I thought I would try it myself - I got the recipe from allrecipes.com..

Here's the link. Enjoy!! (I would take out about 1/4 cup brown sugar, otherwise amazing).

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/apple-crisp-ii/Detail.aspx

I don't think my FH and I are going to eat dinner tonight, but at least we will get our 5 servings of fruits today!

Hello House!

As if planning a wedding weren't enough, FH and I decided to buy a house. THIS HOUSE. Cute right? OK, I'm a little partial to it.

Well, I've learned a few things about buying a house, our first house...together.

1. Buying a house is like on line dating. Looks good in the pictures, but then you actually get there, and the view all around your yard is of a huge parking lot, or Bob's auto store. Kind of like your first blind date - looks good in the pictures...but then you meet and you realize the picture posted of said date is from 1996. (Good thing I met FH through a friend!)

2. Buying a house is like shopping for a wedding gown, just a lot more expensive. Like they say, you try on a lot of dresses, but when you find the one of your dreams, you just know it. When FH and I walked into this house, we just knew it was for us.

3. The house, like the wedding gown, needs a few alterations. And that costs money. What I find funny is, I need to have my wedding gown altered, and I can get an estimate on how much that might cost, but I won't know until they pull it apart and put it back together. Well, that's kind of like the repairs we need to do to the house. We know we can get an estimate from the contractor, but we won't know the true cost until the job is done.

4. What I do know is this, I still love my wedding gown, and I still love this house. Alterations and repairs included!

5. Trust - I've learned to not have to control everything and trust my FH to help me make the decisions, and to make decisions for our future on our own. We have survived with hardly a fight...we should get married!


6. We imagine entertaining in this house (great back yard and kitchen) with friends and family. But the funny thing we can't wait for is to see how our two kitties will be running around with all this space!! We imagine they will get lost in the house and we'll be calling them for days. I'm sure they will be off exploring something somewhere!

As the process goes along, I'm sure I'll learn a lot of new house terms, like joints, and lally's (yeah, look that one up). Kind of like I learned what ruching was for a wedding dress....

***BING!***

BING is a new search engine that I never have used. I suppose I should try it before I post this blog, but where is the fun in that?

What I really want to know is, do you know anyone who is like a human search engine? Someone who can recite semi-useless, but in some instances interesting information.

My boss is exactly like that...the other day we are in a meeting and we were discussing Coastal Art, and various other work related issues and here are the 3 things she comes out with...

1. "Did you know a sandpiper can't swim? That's why they run so fast when the waves are coming at them, but they can float.."
2. while measuring the doorway..."Yea, that's about 36"...regulation doorways for a wheelchair (my boss is not in a wheelchair, she just knows this info.)

At this point I start calling her BING! YUP, at the end of a useless fact, I just say "BING" like a chime or a ring. I told her I needed a 3rd useless fact so I could add it to my Blog...and she came up with...

3. Do you know what bird can fly backwards?

At this point, I was told the answer, but perhaps you should "BING" it...let me know what you find out!

As a matter of fact, I'm going to BING it myself and see what comes up (even though I know the answer).

For your viewing entertainment, I have placed one of the ads that "Made Me Go BING!" And no, I am not getting paid by Bing...