Friday, June 15, 2012

Happy Life

And as usual, it's been months since I've updated. I'll blame it on all the great stuff going on right now :p And the stressful things.

We've been in our house for about 5 months now! It's amazing, honestly. I love the colors we've put on the walls, I love that the grass is growing back all lovely, and most of all, I love that we have not gone broke! WIN! :) It really has been a great time, making this house ours, decorating, buying furniture... Most days when I come home from work, I can't believe it's my house. MINE. It feels so incredibly grown up to be paying a mortgage, and even though it's been fun, it's also been a learning experience. Thank goodness Matt knows how to mow a lawn, fix toilets, and calm me down when  cracks appear (apparently because the drywall seams weren't taped, nothing structural). I would be lost without his help. And he would be lost without my decorating sense ;)


So far we've painted the lower half of the dining room brown, a nice big accent wall bright red in the living room, and used a nice sky blue to paint both the ceiling in our bedroom and an accent wall in the guest room/nursery. We are going to IKEA tomorrow to pick up a nice (well, nicer than what we have) tv stand so we can condense all the shelves we have in the living room, which will in turn allow us to re-organize the office. Let's see, what else have we done.. Oh, we fixed the main line into the house that was leaking, which ended up being not as big a thing as I thought (thank goodness). We also replaced some windows, re-seeded the grass (looks so good!!), and re-mulched all the flower beds in the front.


Hmm...bad things that may have happened? Well, we had a huge storm about a month ago that broke one  of our trees in half, but thanks to luck, it didn't damage anything. Just looks wonky. We've had to fix the toilet in our bedroom a couple times, but it was a cheap fix... The cat has managed to pretty much destroy the lower half of the door going into the garage. Ah yes, the cat. Well, we tried to allow her to stay in the house overnight and while we were gone, but she, as usual, decided to be destructive, so in the garage she goes! She has a nice little set up out there with food, toys, blankets, but I still feel a bit bad that we have to do that. Funny enough, she seems to LOVE having a huge space to roam around; she runs in there on her own when we open the door. Helps alleviate my guilt.

I suppose that's enough about the house, but really, it's just amazing being a homeowner. Even the annoying HOA emails we get occasionally, while really, really annoying, can't change how I feel about it.

Work is still going great. I got promoted to LSII (Library Specialist II) in March, with a bit of a raise. I love my job. :) I got accepted to the UNT Library School last year, but wasn't able to go due to budgetary issues...and so this year I've applied for a scholarship through the library. I'm actually extraordinarily stressed out about it right now, because if I don't get it, I just can't go, and god knows when I'll be able to apply again...so..yes. Very worried about it. Hopefully will hear soon. If I don't get the scholarship, I'm going to begin a certification program that will lead to a raise..soo that's something. Overall though, I really have no complaints when it comes to my job. Matt is doing great at his; got promoted about 9 months ago to Assistant Art Director, and he has his own office now! It's kinda hot ;)

Speaking of Matt, we've been married about 14 months now. We survived what was at times a very stressful and busy first year, and are enjoying our time together. I couldn't ask for a better husband. He takes care of me and the house without complaint, and is just.. my best friend. I'm sure it seems like I'm being vague, but I don't think I can put into words how much his support and love means to me. We're a perfect pair :)

Oh, and we went to CA this year! My dad is working part time in Irvine, CA, which is outside of LA, and he was nice enough to let us spend a few days there with him. We LOVED it. LA is kind of a filthy city, but we went up to Griffith Observatory and got a really lovely view of the entire metroplex, and the Hollywood sign! We went to Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Beverly Hills, several absolutely gorgeous beaches (I want to go back, especially to Laguna Beach, lovely town), and San Diego! I loved the Zoo, it was incredible. I'm so glad we were able to take a big trip this year :)

Oh yes, and babies. I want one. Now. :p

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Another late update




I keep meaning to update this darn thing, but I usually remember when I'm at work; not the best place for blogging.

So, what's happened since August? House buying!!

We are currently under contract for our first house! We close on January 20th, and I'm freaking out. We both are. We started saving up when we got married, thanks to some good chunks of change as wedding presents, and have been diligently saving a good 15% - 20% of our paychecks ever since. It was hard at times (less clothes buying & going out, no trip at all) but it was been worth it. Around early November we decided that we had saved enough (we went with an FHA loan, which means only 3.5% of the home price down + closing costs) and I started researching online. We got pre-approved for a mortgage, and began the fun process of actually going IN the houses. We spent AGES driving around College Station & Bryan before this point, picking out neighborhoods and areas that we really liked. The top picks for us were Castlegate in CS, Copperfield in Bryan, and a nice area around a big park in CS. The realtor (Sherry Perry, she's great!) started us in Castlegate looking at some great choices, and the house we picked ended up being the second one we looked at. At first, it didn't overwhelm us, but the price on it was great, and it had room for improvement/building equity. The more we thought about it, the more we liked it, and we decided to place an offer, which after some negotiation, was accepted! The sellers were very reasonable, and ended up agreeing to pay our closing costs, which was a huge burden lifted off of our backs.

It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with just over 1500 square feet on a cul-de-sac. It has a great long driveway with lots of trees on the (nearly quarter-acre!!) lot and a big covered porch in the back. We are SO excited. I can't even describe the level of nervousness and freaking-out that is going on. We started packing this week since we were both of from work, and have about 50% or so of the house packed. My to-do list is huge, but we are plodding through it. At this point, I just want to MOVE. I want it NOW! hehe!

I'm also, honestly, terrified of having a mortgage that is twice what we are paying for rent. I know we can handle it, but it makes me wonder how we will afford daycare when we have a baby, or how we buy a new car or go on a trip. I'm sure it will calm down, and it will be easier than I think, but honestly, I wanted to have a baby next year, and I don't know how we are going to afford one. But...these are good problems to have. I just...want to get them figured out? Daycare is what, 500$ a month or so? Plus extra health insurance and diapers/etc? Eeks. I wish we could afford for me to stay home with our kids, but that just isn't an option, and as Matt has pointed out, I would go crazy with nowhere to go all day. I'm not built to stay home. I'm jealous of those who are. I hope I do as good a job as those moms I know who are staying home, or as good as my mom did.

I'll admit it, I've got the baby-crack bad. Good thing I have a sensible husband that will make me buy a baby-friendly car (btw, yuck. I want a sports car. not baby-friendly. haha!!) and have furniture in the house before we go down that road. :p


Ok, in less baby-centric news, the new (not so new job now) job is still going very well. I enjoy my colleagues and the work I'm doing. It keeps me very busy, which tends to keep me less depressed. Always a good thing! It looks like there might be some changes in my department in the next few months, and I'm very interested to see what happens. Matt is doing great in his new position as Assistant Art Director, and is getting the manager thing down.

My sisters are up here at A&M now, which has been really awesome. It was strange at first, because I haven't been in the same city as them in about 6 years, but we are getting used to it, and it's nice to have family up here. They both had really rough semesters school-wise. They are perfectionists like me, and worked their butts off at their schoolwork. I'm really proud of them, but I hope next semester they can relax more. Mom is doing much better, in my opinion. Even though she isn't super fond of her current work situation, I'm really proud of her for getting out there back into the workforce. I haven't seen much of Dad lately, but he should be coming down to help us move.

Oh, right, and the holidays! This year Matt & I stayed at the Marriott in Sugar Land, which was SO MUCH FUN because I remember sneaking into that hotel to use the bathroom in high school, and it just gave me the biggest kick to be a paying guest there now! It was horrible weather the whole time, but we walked around Town Center anyways, and enjoyed seeing how HUGE the area has gotten. Xmas at my Mom's was good this year, everyone is really happy for us and we had a really nice time.

Next time, I'll try to put up some better pics of the house...here's a teaser one for now ...

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Work is slow today

I remember in middle school/high school when updating my xanga/blog was OMGSOIMPORTANT. I suppose it took the place of a diary, of which I still have a few locked away somewhere in a memento box. I've noticed that as I've gotten older, and have things that are actually important, I write less. Maybe because I have less time?

Speaking of time, I have slowed down my book-reading significantly since starting to work full time. All I want to do when I come home is veg on the couch with the hubs..and then I get annoyed that I'm not finishing books as fast as I used to :p

So, being married...is really no different than before, except now we have a joint checking and savings account, which is really no different than before either. I have noticed that we take things much more seriously, in regards to saving, buying a home, having a baby, etc.

So far, we are about 1/3 of the way to our savings goal, which is about 9k. We figure with an FHA mortgage, plus closing costs, this is about all we should need if we buy a house in the 150-175k range (the only good thing about living in B/CS is very nice houses are very affordable). We think we will have enough next summer to start talking to a realtor, which is very exciting :). I can't wait to have my own backyard and my own house with no other people's houses touching it! :D The thought of having to pay for anything that breaks, however, is a bit terrifying. I think that we've thought it through, though, and hopefully anything that comes up we should be able to take care of.

As for a baby, well, we decided (and I don't really mind putting stuff like this on a blog since NO ONE reads it :p) that next summer, after we buy a house, we can start trying :D Hooray! I've already started saving up my vacation/sick time so when the time comes, I don't have to worry about being without my paycheck for a month or two, and we are hopefully planning it so that I will have the summer to recuperate/get used to baby before work gets completely crazy again in the fall. However, some health problems I have been having might cause all this planning to go down the tubes, so we'll see how it goes.

Finally, my job. Is awesome.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Wedding & Honeymoon

I can't seem to remember to update this thing regularly. Lack of time lately, I suppose. Just for posterity's sake, I'll update the world on what's been going on...

We got married! I can't believe I haven't written about it yet. We left for Vegas on April 18th, and got married at the Excalibur wedding chapel on April 19th at noon-ish. It was great! It was relatively stress-free and easy. Matt really enjoyed his first plane ride, and kept his forehead glued to the window looking at everything :). I planned everything as much as I could from home, so things went pretty smoothly. The hotel room was great, it was a huge suite with a gigantic marble bathroom and hot tub (which we LOVED using after a long day of walking) and a nice view of the Hooter's hotel (ok, that was the only bad part, but at night, the sunset was amazing, and the mountains were beautiful to look at!). We stayed at the MGM Grand, and really enjoyed it. It was an absolutely huge hotel, with dozens of restaurants and shops, and a huge, smoky casino area that of course you had to walk through to get anywhere. We didn't do much gambling, but I did play some slots, and we played a hand of blackjack. The slot machines were much more complicated than was necessary - why can't i just put a quarter in and pull the lever?? What's with all the buttons? Heh. Matt was disappointed that we couldn't find him a "real" poker game to sit in, but he had a great time anyways.

As for the actual ceremony...it was both super short and took forever at the same time :p. We actually got there too early, so we sat outside the chapel to have a soda before we went in, and I'm sure we looked amusing in our wedding gear. We were able to go in ahead of time and take some pictures, but my camera didn't cooperate well, and the pics didn't turn out as well as I'd like. The pastor dude was kind of funny, like a game show announcer. The whole time he was performing the ceremony, I kept trying not to giggle. Funny enough, everyone who watched the ceremony on the internet thought he was amaaaaa-zing. I suppose if you weren't there he came off a little less um, pompous? Hehe. Anyways, it was over before I knew it, and there! Poof! Married! We had to take some pro pics after, which turned out AWFUL (!!!!), but then we were free to enjoy our honeymoon! It felt very surreal to be married. I think I just kep looking at him and giggling, and calling him my husband. It still feels unreal sometimes, even two months later.

Anyways, we tried to do WAY too much in the time we had, so every night we were exhausted, but we really did enjoy ourselves. We both loved how the Paris casino looked, and had a good time going up their replica Eiffel Tower. Matt had the biggest and best burger of his life at Hash House a Go-Go, and we had the strongest and most expensive drinks of our life at the MGM Casino. The NYNY Casino was great to hang out in and had less expensive grub, and the Bellagio had some beautiful gardens right in the middle, and of course an awesome fountain show! We brought home all sorts of souvenirs, and about 400 pics on my camera (heh). Oh! We also decided that Vegas is not a kid-friendly place, no matter what the tourism department says lol. There were cars that drove by plastered with pictures of strippers, and panhandlers that would hand out pamphlets of um, questionable places to visit. And Fremont St reminded me of Bourbon St, all sorts of strippers dancing on tables, beer carts everywhere, and just general trashiness. That was probably my least favorite area that we went to, by FAR.

Overall, I'm really thrilled we got married the way we did. At times in the month immediately following the wedding, I would have pangs of jealousy that my newly-engaged friens would have such a bigger bash than I, but now that things have calmed down, I've realized that had we tried to do a "real" wedding, we would still be in the planning phase, with no idea when we would actually be wedded! We managed to get married without any debt, and our out of pocket expenses were probably around 1500$. My dad helped out with the hotel, food, and air miles, and I think his portion ran about 1000$ or so. So, really, not a bad deal for a wedding & honeymoon!

Oh, and we had a party! It was held at J&V's house, and we invited about 30 people, of which maybe 20-25 showed up? We had Fuddrucker's cater, which was delicious, and put out some snacks, had some beers, and a really great cupcake tower and mini cake made by VeLisa! It was nice to see Matt's family again, although I was disappointed that only my immediate family could come, and that many of my friends were unable to make it. It felt a little lopsided. My dad made a sweet toast that I can't really remember, and then we put Matt's dad on the spot for a toast, which was nice as well. Got some great presents, and a big chunk of cash that went straight to the house fund, and that was it! Wedding, honeymoon, and ceremony complete!

This was much longer than I expected, so I'll post another one with the rest of our lives' updates later...

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Update

I didn't realize it had been this long since I've updated. All sorts of stuff going on! I found an great job working at Evans Library! Full-time! With benefits and everything! Yay! I'm hoping that it won't be the same experience I had with the last full time position I took. I think though, that being a library position, the people will be much more like me. Hopefully. I just dislike drama and negativity, which is all that the courthouse was. I start on March 21st, and they are being very welcoming, and very understanding about my upcoming wedding/need to take off. I'm very excited, and it'll be great to finally have something to do in the afternoons other than clean.

In wedding news, we had a lot LOT of back and forth and rescheduling and changing before settling on our current plans. We decided to have the wedding ceremony in Las Vegas (which my family isn't thrilled about) and have a reception/party two weekends after we come back, with burgers, drinks, cupcakes, etc. I think it'll be fun :) I'm very excited to be getting married, but also nervous. I get anxious easily, and the thought of being someone's wife is intimidating. I'm sure it'll be fine, as we have a great relationship and tend to work things out quickly. I guess coming from two generations of divorce I feel wary, but I know I am not my parents (or grandparents, or aunt) and that I can make good decisions regarding our relationship. I just wish I could tame the anxiety. It has skyrocketed since we got engaged, and I'm just hoping that after the wedding it'll chill the hell out.

The funny thing is, the closer we get to the wedding, the more "baby pangs" I'm getting. It's very unsettling, to be honest. I've never really wanted kids. I don't know if I'm cut out to be a mother, and I'm not sure if this is a world I want to bring a child into. But lately, damn do I want a baby. I don't know why!! Every time I see baby pictures on facebook, or watch baby shows on television, I start thinking about us having one, and how we would raise him/her and etc. I've even looked up parenting tips, and the pros/cons of cloth diapers! What the hell is wrong with me?! ::deep breath::

I think this is a normal, biological reaction in response to the upcoming wedding. I think that for my body marriage = stability, and Matt = stable provider/father. I really do realize that I can't have kids right now. No, it would not be horrible if it happened in the next couple of years, and I'm sure we would be thrilled and would make it work. But...I have things to do. I want to drink snobby beers and stay up late playing video games. I want to be able to go where I want without a diaper bag weighing me down, and I want to travel! I think that I want to wait at least 4 years. Logically, 4 years from now we should have bought a house, we should have more income, and I should (WILL) have travelled to Europe by then. I also will only be 27/28 which is still young enough to not have much worry about conceiving. I hope.

Anyways, that's really all for now. It's been a busy few months, and the next 6 weeks are going to be busy/awesome!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Proposal Story!

Well, even though my brain knows I don't have to go to work today, apparently my body doesn't! I figured I'd go ahead and get my proposal written down before it all melts away!

So, I've known this was coming for a while, but it was still a big surprise and wonderful! Matt and I went a couple of months ago to pick out rings, and he knew I had my heart set one a particular one. One weekend a couple weeks ago, he told me he and his brother were going to the shooting range. I had my suspicions that he was buying the ring, but when he came home with a shot up target, I figured well, darn, they really did go shooting! Little did I know that they indeed had gone to the mall, and had stopped by their work to pick up an old target of Jason's to cover their butts! Tricky devils!!

Last week I started to get antsy, because I had a suspicion that it was coming pretty soon. I even dressed up in heels on the Thursday before Xmas, convinced it was going to be that night! Well, it wasn't, but turns out while I was at work that day, Matt was picking up my ring, which wasn't actually supposed to be there until Xmas eve. Luckily it came in early! We headed off to my mom's house for Christmas with them, and he told me he was nervous all weekend whenever he thought about it. My mom actually asked him flat out about his "intentions" with me before we left on Christmas, so I figured a proposal that day was out of the question.

We got back to our home, and exchanged our presents for each other. Matt set up our new Wii, and for the next couple hours we sat there playing video games. Well, I did. I may have monopolized it just a teeny bit. Around 4 or so I went upstairs to take a shower, and remember thinking to myself, "well, I didn't get my proposal, but that was an AWESOME Christmas, and I am so lucky!" Little did I know he was setting things up downstairs! I cleaned up and headed downstairs, Matt poured us some drinks, and I settled back on the couch, assuming we'd just play video games some more. He got up, brought over the Christmas poppers, and suggested we open them! He had never seen the poppers before this Christmas, but they are a tradition in my family and my mom had given us two to pop that night. We had already popped some at my mom's house, but I didn't manage to get the cap to go off in mine, so when he gave me the popper at home, I was really determined to pop the heck out of it! I grabbed the little cardboard strip and yanked as hard as I could. The contents went flying, and Matt started to tell me that something flew out across the room. I got up to look for it, and see the cat sniffing at something in front of the movie shelf. I bent over to pick it up, realized what it was, and screamed (just a little). The tears kicked in immediately, and I turned around to look at Matt.

He came over to me, got down on his knees, and through my blubbering, asked me to marry him. I'm pretty sure I nodded, then cried some more, then asked him if he was sure, and asked him to put it on my finger. I could tell he was so nervous! For the next hour or so we just sat on the couch cuddling and giggling, and maybe crying a bit (on my part!). We called my parents about an hour and a half later, and the rest of the night is kind of a blur. I'm pretty sure we played video games some more. :p

Well, that's it, and it was wonderful and a great surprise, and I can't wait to start planning the rest of my life!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

I always seem to forget to update when I have the most going on. I've been a busy bee lately. I had my latin final last Friday, and it was MUCH harder than the midterm. He picked a passage from a day that almost everyone (including myself) missed class, so I had no clue what I was doing. All I needed was a 48 to pass the class, so I'm not tremendously worried about it. Graduation is Saturday, and my whole family (minus Grandma) is coming down to see me. I hope it goes ok, no divorce drama or anything. I think afterwards we will go to Ozona's for lunch (mostly cause i LURVE Ozona's) and hang out for a little bit before I have a wedding to go to that night. It hasn't really kicked in yet that I'm graduating, but I suppose that's because I don't have my grades yet.

Matt and I decided to move, and spent AGES looking for a cheaper but just as nice place (HA). We were about to give up when I convinced him to go look at the places right behind us, and BINGO! New place! They've updated the older apartments with nice laminate wood floors and new fixtures, etc, and even better, they are over 100$ cheaper a month! This will help us quite a bit with saving for our house :) Hopefully the walls won't be so thin in this new place...

As for getting married....well, I have this feeling that it's coming soon. Like next couple of weeks soon.