B-I-N-G-Ohhhh Yeah!

This past summer, we found Bingo. Well, actually, we feel that Bingo found us.
Yes, of course I (we) have all played Bingo in the past and enjoyed it on a random basis - but only this past summer did I truely find and LOVE bingo.

I probably blogged about it this past summer, but one day after enjoying some races at Cantebary - Rian, Dirty Steve, Andy and I decided that we were still itching to drop some money and went over Mystic Lake. Thought we would give Bingo a shot. And ever since then, the four of us have had Bingo Fever!

Although we hadn't met for official Bingo play in a few months, last Monday night the four of us met at the 5-8 Club in Maplewood for some bingo action. It is $1/game and there are 12 games. Let's just say that the Bingo Gods were smiling down upon us on December the 7th because out of the 12 games played - our table won 4 of them!
Steve won twice (lucky bastard!), I won once (a whopping $36!) and Andy finally popped his Bingo winning cherry with a $41 win!
Here is Andy with his big cash winnings....

And Steve with his lucky Bingo move...you must actually see it to truely appreciate it....

Poor Rian was the only non winner at our table. Next time, Rian, next time!
We throughly enjoyed ourselves and can't wait to go back again on Monday. Also - the food is excellent and not too expensive. They are known for their burgers - juicy lucys especially. Both Rian and I were happy with our dinner selections.
Then, we saw someone order a bloody mary and damn did it look good. I think the whole beef stick in the drink was the kicker. So, Andy, Rian and I had to give it a shot. Rian and I are HUGE bloody mary fans - always looking for a good bar bloody since they are hard to find and can often be hit or miss from each visit. Rian's homemade mix is still the best!

In any case - our Bingo adventure was a success and we can't wait to go back and win some more!

here is the whole bingo gang - which we have even made a group page on facebook for our bingo club....very exclusive....

Done and Done

You know how you always make those lists of things you want to do before you die or things you want to do before the end of the year....? You know - those things that you rarely ever actually do but like to think about doing them?

Well I feel like this year or at least a lot in the past couple months I've done a few things that I always said I wanted to do.
Earlier in the year - I started volunteering and became a Big Sister. It was an amazing experience, very eye-opening about struggles of single parent homes and kids growing up without much of anything. I feel like Nina and I bonded a lot - and I really felt like she was proud to be my "little" and that she really trusted me. Unfortunately, that relationship came to a startling hault. A few months back (I believe it was September?) I got a phone call from Nina in which she told me that her Mother had passed away. It was surreal enough for me - it was hard to believe how Nina was dealing with it. Especially because her Dad is in jail and has not been with Nina's mother in many years - so 13 year old Nina lost her only parental figure. I was overwhelmed with the fact that Nina trusted me so much that she called me only a few hours after her Mom died to tell me. It was pretty brutal going to the wake and having Nina hug me and cry. I can't imagine all she was goign through. And then, to make matters worse (at least for me) Nina ended up moving to Texas to live with her sister. I know that was the best thing for her but the last time I saw her was her Mother's wake - she moved like 3 days later. I asked her to keep in touch and call me and let me know how things were going - but I haven't heard anything from her since. All I can hope is that she is doing well in Texas and starting a new life and most importantly that she is happy. I do miss her though.

On to more happy things that have happened.

Of course getting engaged was one of the biggest things to ever happen to me this year (lifetime). Coming from a girl who ever since she was little never thought she would get married - never thought anyone would ever feel that strongly about her that they would want to spend the rest of their life with her. All overwhelming that I've gotten to that point in my life and things are coming together. I'm lucky. (watch for the lucky theme!)

Another pretty amazing thing that happened to me this year was the fact that I got to shake President Obama's hand!!! Now I know that sounds lame to most people but it was incredible. My Mom and I went to the Target Center when he was here this fall to talk about Health Care. By no means did we get there super early or anything but we ended up about 15 feet from the left of his podium. AMAZING! His speech was amazing and I took some incredible pictures. But the really amazing part was after he spoke - he came around and shook hands of people in the front. Of course, using my past experiences of working my way through a crowd to shake a hand, get an autograph or take a picture - I grabbed my Mom's hand and shoved us toward the front. Lucky for us - it worked. Both my Mom and I were able to shake Obama's hand! (They were pretty dry and rough for those of you wondering. He is definitely selflessly putting his mosturizing needs aside in order to help this country!) In any case - we were amazed by this and even more so - check out this picture......again - this is NOT the first time I have had to work my camera and hold out my hand to be shaken all at the same time. I actually snapped a picture of Obama and I touching hands. Its blurry but you can make out my hand in his hand - I could feel the power!

Next - one thing I always said I wanted to do but never did but now finally did - was start a book club! I always thought it sounded fun and wondered if anyone else would want to join. After some positive feedback from people - I decided it was worth it. We have 8 official book club members and continue to meet on the last Monday of every month. We have had three meetings so far. Last night was our November book. We read - Big Fish - and then watched the movie. It was a fun change of pace and fun to discuss the differences we saw in each medium. So far things are going well with book club and I'm really happy I mustered up enough people who wanted to do it with me. Always a good thing to get together with girl friends, eat some food, drink some wine and be together.

My last achievment but not final achievment is the fact that on Thanksgiving morning, I ran a 5K! Now, if anyone knows me - they know I am NOT a runner. Never have been, probably never will be and certainly never claim to be. BUT - KC (my work buddy kelly chad) and I have been working out after work for the past month. We have a gym at our work and are finally taking full advantage of it. We have been motivating each other to go - it helps to have that other person who is depending on you to go with them. We have been helping each other and it has really worked. So not really training for a 5K or a anything - the day before we heard about this thanksgiving 5K and just decided to do it. Now - mind you - we are used to running in doors at room temp - and running at 8:30am on thanksgiving was a rude awakening. It was definitely more difficult than I thought with breathing. Definitely walked and ran - but ran for probably 2/3s of it. We finished at 43 minutes and some seconds - and honestly I was okay with that. I was just so proud of us for doing it. Waking up early - on a day I didn't have to - to RUN?!? I MUST be crazy! lol But it was a wonderful guilt free Thanksgiving!

Here are Kelly and I after the race. They asked people to write signs on their back for what they are thankful for - and Kelly made us awesome signs that said - Giving Thanks for her with an arrow pointing to the other. Super cute!

And of course we ROCKED the sweatbands!

I'm happy to say that I have accomplished those things this year and hope to continue to do more and more. Nice to put check marks next to those things on "my list."

Oops.....

So I usually use the excuse when I haven't blogged in a while that I had nothing to blog about because my life is not very exciting. And while I still believe that my life really isn't that exciting - I have probably had a couple of the most exciting months of my life. I've felt bad not blogging but my pictures are never on the computer that I blog on so I might just have to add those another day. If I even have pictures to add. We will see.

Of course probably anyone that even reads this blog knows why its been an exciting couple months. Starting with Friday, October 2nd, 2009. It really was like any other random Friday. I worked a half day - and then with no other plans on the agenda, I decided to spend the afternoon on the couch catching up with my DVR. I was enjoying many episodes of Oprah saved up from the week. It was nearing 4:30 and I knew Rian would be getting home from work soon. I remember exactly that I was watching an episode of Oprah about young girls and rape in Africa. (weird i know that I remember that) Anyways - Rian finally got home from work - heard him come in the back door and he said hello. Again, thought nothing of it. I continued to watch Oprah. He then comes right over to me sitting on the couch - he hands me a brown paper bag and says nothing. I open the bag and pull out a bottle of (very expensive and very delicious) champagne that I always wanted for a "special occasion". I remember holding the bottle in my left hand and taking a second for me to really understand what this all meant. Once it clicked - I remember my heart starting to beat very rapidly and I turned my head to Rian and said, "Seriously?" Before I had the chance to say anything else - he dropped to one knee in front of me, told me he loved me and asked me to marry him. All the while I'm thinking - should Oprah really be here at this moment?? haha Didn't think of it too long because of course (knowing me) I just lost it and starting to bawl my eyes out. That is no surprise to anyone that has met me! I seriously started hugging him and was wailing on his shoulder. It was perfect. All the time that I'm thinking about getting engaged and all the times I thought it was going to happen. It would have been no fun if I really saw that it was coming. Not that I wouldn't have loved every minute of it - its just that this was so wonderful because I really was completely caught off guard - I was so surprised and that was what I was hoping for all along. Rian was also very thoughtful in the fact that he knew I was concerned about us getting engaged and then my sister being far away in Chester - and I wouldn't be able to tell her over the phone so I would have to drop everything and drive down there. Fortunately, timing was perfect that my sister and Bryan and Owen were coming up for the weekend - going to be at my parents literally 30 minutes after we got engaged. My parents would obviously be there as well, so we could tell everyone all at once.

So - we got to my parents, with the champagne and the green champagne glasses that my mom bought me for that very purpose. I had to wear my sweater so I could pull it way down over my left hand. Of course everyone was late and I was dying waiting.
When everyone finally got there - I ran to the other room to grab the champagne. I made sure everyone would look at me and then I pulled the champagne out from behind my back and said - "Is anyone thirsty?"
Of course my sister knew right away because she saw the bottle of champagne and knew exactly what kind and how expensive it is. lol She jumped up right away and said - "Really?" So then I pulled my hand out and showed off my bling!
It was perfect being able to tell my whole family all at once. Rian knew that was really important to me and timed everything perfectly.

Thus what has been keeping me busy the past couple months and my lack of blogging. It has been a blast though. For someone who never in their whole life thought they would ever get married (or would find someone that would WANT to marry them) - this has all been pretty amazing. It has been a blast telling people - I have been very concerned with telling my important peeps in person (or over the phone if need be) - it has been more fun that way to see people's reactions. I was VERY worried about peeps finding out on facebook, but I kept a close eye and warned many people not to let the FB beans spill or they would pay (for my wedding).
All in all - October was probably one of the best months of my life with many more time to come. November has been a little more stressful with planning but we are doing amazingly well with setting plans. And also not wasting anytime considering we set our wedding date for Saturday, May 22nd, 2010. For those of you counting (ME!) that is only 178 days away, less than 6 months. Many people would freak out about that - but I'm quite excited that I'm not having to wait an entire year to get the show on the road. We are happy to get married as soon as possible and get all of the fun things going. Plus - that means I get to go on a honeymoon in six months! I don't think I could wait a year for that. lol At this point we are thinking Sandals Jamaica - anyone ever been? Have any suggestions or recommendations?
We are also set for the location of the ceremony and reception. It will all be held in the Gilbert Building at 413 on Wacouta.
It is a gorgeous, old school, vintage space in lowertown in downtown St. Paul. It is a new space, which I love. I also love that it is very unique and different from most of the weddings I've been too. You know me - gotta be different!

Anways - that is a short (or long) summary of the last couple months. I will be better with updates - as now I have a life full of changing and new things.

Happy Gobble Gobble!

Reunited and it feels so good....

PEACE. LOVE. MRAZ.

SIMPLE PLEASURES

Yesterday, I was at the grocery store picking up a few things - mainly fruit since I've been lacking with having zero groceries in the house. It was great to get a watermelon (which I cut up the whole thing and filled up every little container we have in the house with its juicy goodness), cherries (mainly for Rian) and some bananas.

Anyways - as I was in the produce section, all of a sudden I heard some added music on top of the already overhead playing music. I looked around and finally heard what song was playing.
I finally found the source and realized that it was coming from the area of veggies. As I looked closer - I realized the mist (that sprays maybe every 20 minutes - ok i have no idea how often but maybe something like that) begins to spray the veggies to the tune of Singin' In The Rain.
I couldn't believe how awesome that was and how happy that made me. I'm weird - I know. But how cool was that? Adding theme music during a grocery store trip?

Spendid.

Tweety Funny

I don't know why I'm laughing so hard at this - maybe because I'm in such a good mood that it is Friday.....

To quote #johncmayer on twitter...

"This guy on the treadmill at the gym gave me a dirty look today. All I did was ask if he minded scooting up so I could run behind him."

double lol

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Neighborhood Watch

Two nights ago - after some house work and some fun time (Rian and I actually both had our laptops out and were playing Gin against each other on Yahoo! Games) - we decided it was time to get Clifford out of the house and time to get us some ice cream. lol
We walked just a couple feet before we saw a couple of our neighbors outside chatting and playing with their dogs. Being that we live where we live - they came over to us to meet Clifford and meet Rian and I as well. We had already met a few neighbors (them coming over to us to introduce themselves) but were happy to meet a few more.
We all chatted about the block and the people. They pointed out who lived where and also pointed out all of the houses that have dogs as well. They ended up pointed to probably 3/4 of the houses on our block. Needless to say, Rian and I were pleased that our street was such a dog friendly street.
The more we chatted, the more Rian and I were realizing that we moved into a "Pleasantville-esk" neighborhood. Very ironic since I always make fun of Elizabeth for living in a Pleasantville/Stepford type area.
The houses on our block certainly aren't perfect or the newest models out there - but we are learning that we do live on a block where the values from back in the day still exsist. As one of our neighbors so candidly put it - "Tomorrow is National Night Out - we aren't really doing anything for it because every night here is National Night Out." lol
They obviously don't need a specified night of the year to mix with their neighbors - it is a daily occurance.
As Rian and I broke away from the pack and went on our way to Creamy Cone for a Monday night treat - we talked about how lucky we to have bought a house where we did. To have the qualities in a neighborhood and neighbors that you always want. We are living next to friendly, helpful and caring people. One of the nice things is that we know (have heard) that the neighborhood/neighbors aren't the kind that are watching your every move or judging you for missing your weekly lawn mow - but they are the kind that will bring out a dog treat to coerse your dog to safety when they get out - or the kind that you can borrow some tools from and they offer to help you fix whatever needs fixing and hopefully the kind that we can invite over for some backyard beers and enjoy a wonderful summer night.
Without us even trying or making the first move - we have met probably 10 or so neighbors in less than two weeks - simply them coming to us to welcome us and let us know if we need anything they are here to help.
Either way - we will get to know our neighbors more - and feel really blessed to have already started off on a great foot with our new block.
This house just keeps getting better and better.

JINX

For a while there, I was a bit apprehensive about doing anymore blogging about the house situation. Everytime I got excited about something and started to blog about it - another phone call came, another e-mail was sent and we were back in the pits of worrying and frustration. So I gave it a rest for a while and decided not to jinx things anymore by blogging and then back tracking my blog words. No more.

Until Now.

The curse has been broken. WE CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE! Miracles do happen, people.

Last Friday, July 24th - at 1:00pm - Rian and I signed our lives away for the next 30 years. Like I proudly stated on facebook, I have never been so happy to be in so much debt! Of course, anyone who remotely knows me or Rian and has talked to us in the last 4 months knows about everything we went through for this house. We just hope it's worth it!

The most hysterical (not really) part of this whole deal is that the closing went off without a hitch. It was completely unsymptimatic of everything we went through prior to signing. We sat down - signed some papers for maybe 20 minutes and then sat around and BS'ed with my Uncle Denny (who is a VP of the title company we went through) and our realtors. We could believe that that was it. That was all we had to do and the keys were just handed over to us. Of course, that wasn't all we had to do - we had done A LOT to get to that point, but it was frighteningly easy.
Holding the (our) keys in our hands - one of the most surreal experiences. We got to the house and I remember looking around and realizing that it was just Rian and I there. No realtor - no inspector - no other people that needed to be there while we were there. This time - it was just us.

With a couple more errands to run - we decided it was time to celebrate. And what do Rian and I eat when we celebrate? Of course that is what we eat - whenever we can! Since it had been a long day and we didn't want to stray too far from Rian's (former) residence, we decided to check out the sushi restaurant at the Mall of America called Tiger Sushi. Neither of us had been there before and were a little unsure since it was in the mall, but we gave it a fair shot. And it is a good thing we did because DE-LISH!
Started our meal with edemame, of course - then we got a couple big rolls - a crunchy roll and a rainbow roll. After our long hard day and a day full of celebration - we were still hungry and decided for one more - the scorpion roll. The scorpion roll was dressed to the nine of course and looked delicious. But, I always think of my sister when I get a roll like that - I think of how if Elizabeth was within 20 feet of something that looked and smelled like that, something that people actually ate, that she would barf. All over.

Just like she did at the library when we were little.

Our dinner was topped off with a beautiful dessert of fruit - very complimentary - since i decided to tell our server that we were celebrating because we bought a new house. Always good to tell anyone about those things because you never know what you may get out of the deal. I figure I can use the, "we are celebrating because we bought our first home" for a while - see how much more we get out of it. I mean, you only buy your first home once! And I'm definitely not afraid to let people know!

What an experience this all has been. One that could not have been predicted and one that could not have happened where we made it through alive if it weren't for the countless supporters behind Rian and I. I can't tell you how many calls, e-mails and texts I sent people crying or complaining about this house. If it wasn't for you people - mainly my sister who knows it is ALWAYS her job just to tell me that everything will work out - I couldn't have gotten through this. Also my parents for their support in every sense of the word.
And of course there is Rian - who has ALSO learned that it is his sole job to always calm my fears and worries - without him I wouldn't have stayed (semi) sane through the process and be able to focus on our future together and that all of the crap we went through would all be worth it.
I'm contiuing to believe in the mantra - Everything Happens For A Reason.
It helps me through things and gives me hope when I need it the most.

I look forward to having more and more of you over to see the house. The more people I see in my house, laughing, talking and such - the more I see the home that I know it will be - filled with love and happiness and the people in the world who mean the most to us. We are very blessed.

It is finally time to make this house a home.

The show must go on....

For those of you who even slightly know me - you know I am a Broadway nerd and concert geek. Not hard to fight it - and I don't want to fight it. We all have our "things" and we should be proud of it. I definitely am.
I've been lucky to seen many shows and get a different experience than most. From my time interning and then working at the Hennepin Theatre District - my passion has only grown. Since I left the theatres, it has been hard to feel like that part of my life is gone (in so many ways) but I'm happy to report that part of that is coming back to my life in a very unique form. I was invited and asked to be a part of a new group that the non-profit part of the theatres, the Hennepin Theatre Trust, is creating for young professionals, ages 21-39. There is a HUGE need for involvement and education in that age group - one that has been ignored for a while. There definitely are YP groups that have recently been formed, some successful and some not. But this really is the group that needs to be engaged and focused on. Yes, it is fantastic for people to have the appreciations for theater and the arts - but from a monetary aspect, it is important to keep those people interested and excited because they are the future donors; they are the people that will keep organizations alive with their financial support. If you only focus on the current donors and money that is coming in today - pretty soon those donors will have all died off and you are left with people who put their money elsewhere and then what? It is crucial to involve and educate people our age in order for the survival of the arts and arts organizations. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who were never introduced to the arts when they were younger and therefore don't know about or care about its well being as they grow older.
Okay - enough of my preaching. Last night was the first meeting of the board members of this new group called, "The Scene". And for those of you counting (at least I know I am counting! lol) I was the person that came up with the name of the group. Back in March when I attended the show Rent with some former co-workers - they told me about this new group they were in the beginning stages of forming. I was so excited about it that the next day I started brain-storming names and ideas. I quickly e-mailed them to my co-worker and the next thing I know, I find out they picked MY idea for the name of the group. I was pretty excited and honored to have been a part of that. And then when I was asked to be on the board - I was even more ecstatic. Bascially the board is consisting of young professionals who have some connection to the theaters/theater arts/downtown mpls. People who are passionate about getting others involved and excited about what we already know is an amazing asset to our community. Minneapolis is actually the #3 city in the country when it comes to theater. How about that?!?
In any case - I guess I'm sending this out into the blogsphere - Have any of you ever been involved in a "young professions" group? What did you think of it? What did you like? Dislike? What worked and what didn't?
We are really trying to learn from other groups and hope to not make the same mistakes they have made. We are also trying to distinguish ourselves in a different way from other YP groups. Many people believe that what YP groups are becoming just a meat market and way to get hooked up - just parties and cocktails. While we definitely know that the social/cocktail aspect of the group is an important one to get people involved, we are also looking to reach out as a philanthropic group - not only helping ourselves by being involved but looking out into the community and support Hennepin Theatre Trust as a non-profit and helping it succeed. There are so many ideas out there and we are at the very beginning of putting these ideas down and finding out what works. But we are looking to others for ideas as well in what they would find attractive about a group like this. We are still in between if there will be a small fee to be a part of the group or if the first year is free and then we will start charging. We are already thinking about the benefits of being a member including discounted tickets, pre/post show parties, discounted merch, partnerships with restaurants and hotels and the list goes on. Another part of this group is helping to maintain the Hennepin Ave Arts District. The president of the trust has worked long and hard to get Hennepin Ave to what it is today - and if you think it is still pretty sketch - you should have been there 10 years ago and seen how far it has come. We are hoping to maintain the viality of downtown mpls and the theater district as an important part of the city.
While I could ramble on and on about things - I will stop and hope you would take a minute to write me back and let me know any thoughts or ideas you have about this group. Any interest or none - what would draw you in or push you away. What would you pay annually to be a part of this group? What excites you about the theatres and the shows?
Anything you would like to share is important and will really help the growth of this group. I cannot tell you how excited I am to be a part of this and how pumped I am to get this group off the ground. Looking forward to hearing what you (and everyone else) think!

Moonwalking to heaven....

June 25, 2009 - One of the saddest days in music history. An incredible loss for music in all forms and for the world. Now I know at this point there are a lot of conflicting views of Michael Jackson, which there always has been and always will be, but at this point in time I choose to ignore any of the negative feedback or ideas people have and focus on Michael Jackson the performer, musician and artist.
No one can deny the incredible influence that he had on music and performance in all forms. He practically invented music videos and what it meant to be able to perform a song in a new medium. As a dancer, he was out of this world. In his own respect, he (re)invented dancing and what it meant to move your body to the beat.
His live performances were like no other. He used his everything - his body, heart, mind and soul in his performance and NO ONE can deny him of that.
He has and always will leave his mark on the music community. I don't think there is one artist in the last 10, 20, 30 or even 40 years that hasn't been influenced by his career and innovation in music - and if not that, at least there are no artists out there that do not have the utmost respect for Michael Jackson as an artist and performer and what he did in his career and for music in general.
One of the saddest parts about this loss is that Michael was gearing up for 50 sold out shows in London. He was ready for his comeback/second coming/whatever way you would want to look at it. He was ready to come alive again as a performer and to do what really makes him happy - more than anything in this world. He was ready to put the past behind him, be a part of the world and human race and connect with people.
Yes, there are so many tragic stories and "stories" in and about his life. I don't think there is one person in the world that can relate to what he went through because it was like nothing that any one in this world has ever been through. He was one of the, if not the MOST known person in the world. MJ was known in every country across the globe; is music transcended language, religion, sexual orientation, race and more.
What he has seen in his life and what he has gone through is something that I don't think anyone could ever begin to imagine. He had a unique journey in life and it is a tragedy that he was taken at such a time in his life where he was about to start new and fresh. It seems as though the last 5 or 6 years his mind and world was very clouded - and now before he was tragically taken away the sun was just beginning to peak its head out and MJ was ready to live again.
To me, that is the saddest part of this situation.
Life was just about to begin again for him and he was taken away.
At this point, I choose to remember the amazing mark he made on history and music as we know it. Michael Jackson is a universal artist who has made an impact on more people than can be imagined. How many people know not just one or two but 7 or 8 MJ songs? People never seem to think they are "too cool" for Michael. His songs will ALWAYS live on because they are CLASSIC and TIMELESS.
I know I have been influenced by his music and he has made his mark on me. Just listening to his music on my ipod this morning as I walked to work - I just started to cry because of how much I love his music and how much it means to me in my life. Very few artists can make you dance the way you want to dance every time you hear one of their upbeat songs. Maybe this is more for me because of my attachment to the "popular music" which is fine because music just does something for me. It effects me in a way that I can't even describe. And the music that MJ has created will always be important to me. And the dancing.....OH the dancing. Like no other - there never will be another.
Many can (and will) have their opinions - but while those of us who are mourning his loss, hoping that others will keep their negative thoughts to themselves.
Now, we must celebrate his life. Celebrate his music and his influcence on our lives, our childhood through adulthood - his music that has been the soundtrack to our lives.
Listen to his music - sing, dance and remember why music is so great, so powerful and so influential in our lives.
You are a legend, an innovator and a pioneer of pop music.
You will be missed, Michael - but your music will never EVER be forgotten.

Who is sick of me blogging about house drama???

I AM!!!!!

Seriously - I would gladly welcome any other drama (besides really icky things) into my life right now if it got rid of the house drama. At this point, I think I'm just blogging for myself to get it out of my system and be able to vent about how frustrated and emotionally drained I am from this whole process.

I guess my biggest frustration at this point are the people that we've been dealing with - some of our own even. Our realtors have been awesome - no problems there. But we've DEFINITELY had problems with our mortage guy - aka Bill the complete MORON!
From the beginning I have not been impressed by him. Yes, I know at this point in time it is a bit more difficult and different in the mortgage industry - yet at ths same time - you probably dont' have as many people come to get loans, so shouldn't you be more prepared?! Either way - you have a job to do and you should be doing it.
My first impression of him was correct and I should have stayed with that and found someone else. I can name so many different things that I haven't liked about this experience with him and how he has made things 100% more difficult for Rian and I.
Let's start with this fun fact. From the beginning, I was the one that called Bill, emailed him and basically set everything up. When we finally met him - this is what happened. We were in his office and he was going through all of our paper work and explaining things while we signed. At this meeting - he looked at me maybe 10% of the time and looked at Rian the other 90%. Not cool. And yes, this kind of stuff still happens all the time. I'm sure you ladies have experienced this one way or another in your life. Ridiculous.
After that things got worse because he started to only call Rian or only email him. I mean, how hard is it to CC someone on an email. Eventually I finally had to email him and say - I would really appreciate it if you would include me on all e-mails and not leave me out. Of course he appologized but I'm sure he is still clueless.
Past that sexist issue - he is just a DUMBASS! I am confident in saying that he doesn't know what he is doing half the time and probably needs help dressing in the morning. Maybe his wife leaves him directions on the bed every morning....Right leg...Left leg....
There have been a number of instances where we came to him with certain ideas ie: down payment assistance and he says that he can do it only to come back a couple days later saying that his company isn't approved to do that. DAYS LATER.
Excuse me Mr. Z but isn't the mortgage and banking and loans industry VERY time sensitive? Because yes - yes it is. He has ruined a lot of hopes we thought would help pull us through - given us the false hopes only for us to come crashing down.
And speaking of being time sensitive.......I won't get into too many details but things with our bank changing and having to get re-approved have been a mess and right now what it comes down to is that we have until July 10th to get the final approval from the bank (including underwriting and appraisal) or the sellers will walk. So, it is do or die at this point. And I'm a bit upset to find this information out only today - but that is a whole other story. From the past week/s, we have been on top of this information and getting Bill whatever he needs in order to do these things quickly. Again, TIME SENSITIVE INDUSTRY. Last wednesday, we dropped off a check for the appraisal and here is Tuesday and we hadn't heard anything yet. So I sent an email to Bill - only for him to respond back saying that he needs this and this and this from Rian and I. SO FRUSTRATING! We have 13 business days to get all of this done and approved and it takes me sending him an email about HIS job for him to get back to us saying he needs more from us. LIVID! What would have happened if I didn't email him? How long would it have taken him to get back to us and how much time would have been wasted in the process considering that we are on a very tight schedule. Scares me to think about.
So this little man has done it to himself - now I will be emailing him every day until all of this is done and finished. If I don't hear from him in an hour or two, I will be calling him. And calling him all day until I talk to him. Apparently he needs to be reminded and babysat to get a job done. We are too far in for anything else to go wrong and I will nto allow it. If I have to take matters into my own hands I will. Not Bill or the sellers or anyone else is going to wreck this for me.
This just needs to be over. For my piece of mind - I need to be done with this one way or the other. Its just too much. Like I've said - I have never been on such a rollercoaster of ups and downs. The highest highs and the lowest lows.
Yes, I understand that it is "just a house" but in looking this much and doing so much work and through everything it is more than that. It is also the beginning of me and Rian's life together that has been again and again put off and delayed because of outsiders. Our life has been jerked around enough already and we are ready to get on with things - have our house and have our family all together and start our life.
I think we deserve that much...

I think I'm ready for my close up...

Coincidentally, the title of my blog is a line from a Ms. Britney Spears' song which I put on my facebook and everyone thought I was talking about House Hunters.
NO.
I was talking about Britney. lol

But while I'm on the subject of House Hunters.....we had our casting interview on Tuesday night. And, I feel like it went pretty well!
Our realtors Michael and Lisa Lynch came by and we were able to chat with them about everything going on. Soon, the camera guy/interview guy got to the house and we were off and running. Funnily enough (I always use the word funnily but I'm still not sure if that is a real word or not, but I'm using it anyways and waiting for Webster to get his/her act together) the camera guy is someone I sort of knew from my days at TPT. Never worked WITH him but definitely knew the name and face. Having that in common was a good ice breaker which made me feel a lot more comfortable.
First, Cully (the PA-Production Assistant) interview Mike on his own. We didnt' hear the interview but we can imagine he asked him things about Rian and I and what our process has been like from his prospective.
Only taking a few minutes, Mike and Lisa were shortly on their way - hopefully to work on our house to get us in ASAP! lol
Next, Cully had Rian and I sort of take him on a tour of the house. Basically just wanting us to do a mock House Hunters going through and saying what we like and dislike about a house. It was funny to be followed around by a camera but after a while I didn't even realize it was there - must be a natural.
After the tour, we set up in the porch. Rian and I stood next to each other while he asked us questions. He asked me the set of questions first and then Rian answered all the same ones after I was done. I piped in on a few of Rian's - doing the playful, entertaining thing. Making sure they know that we are fun and funny and entertaining for all of the HGTV viewers. It was fun to hear Rian answer the same questions after I answered them. Fun to hear what he had to say - similarities and differences. Also fun to hear him answer the questions about how this house is a symbol of us starting our life together. He even got asked a question like, "Why did you choose to buy a house when you are first living together instead of starting off more slowly and just rent?"
I guess I never thought about it like that but since we are sooner than later getting engaged and married - it has just always felt like the natural next step.
After our interview and after my sweating from nerves and adrenaline - It felt great to be done with all of that. Its one thing to actually film and do everything for the actual show, but when it is just for an interview - it is not as fun.
So now we wait. We wait to hear back from the folks at High Noon Entertainment in Colorado - yay or nah - like us or hate us.
Either way, this has been a cool experience. I know some people might think it is dumb or pointless but what is life without taking advantage of unique opportunities that present themselves; to step out of our comfort zone and do something different for a change. I am flattered that we've gotten this far in the process and will continue to keep my fingers crossed until we hear back. Should be in about a week or so.
Either way - how fun. We've had a good time and even learned a little bit.
What more can you ask for?

Just another day...

Hangin' out in Wrigleyville.


That's just how we roll.

This past weekend, Rian and I were lucky enough to make it to Chicago for the Twins/Cubs game on Saturday! We had been planning on going since they announced the dates - but then with all of the house stuff, we thought it wasn't a good idea. Especially since we SHOULD have already been in our house right now - but I won't get going on another rant!
Last Sunday, Rian and I were talking about the weekend and how once we DO get in our house, we will have no time or money for a while that isn't going into the house - plus, this is such a rare occurance of the Twins playing the Cubs AT Wrigley on a weekend - but what it really came down to was "You only live once." This was something that was important to us and in the scheme of things, we could afford so we decided to go for it. In the words of Brother Martel - "You never see a U-Haul following a hurse!"

So come Monday morning, we were on the hunt for tickets and a hotel. I felt Rian up to those tasks and he didn't let me down like always. He is a master on craigslist. He actually found 4 tickets for $50 each. He was able to buy all 4 and then we turned around and sold the other two tickets for $100 each - I know, bad but hey we are as broke as anyone else! So basically we didn't pay for our tickets. Then, Rian got us a fabulous room at the Crown Plaza for under $200. Beautiful hotel.
So we were off and running. And after the week we had last week - we deserved the vacation away from ANYTHING house related.
Friday night we stayed in Milwaukee with our very good friend, Renee. Her and her husband Larry are in the middle of a move to Kansas City - so it was great to be able to catch up with her during this time. The three of us chatted and then we sent Rian to bed so Renee and I could girl talk and finish the bottle/s of wine.
Saturday morning came all too quickly and we were up at 6:00am to get a jump start on our day. We arrived at our hotel in Chicago around 9:15am and were able to park our car and leave our luggage. Unfortunately, it was raining and instead of wandering around for the train - we took the easy way out and hopped in the taxis that were lined up at our hotel. And we were off to Wrigleyville!
Loved my first few glances of the stadium. Very exciting.
Our next stop - The Cubbybear! We were joined by a TON of Twins fans already enjoying the morning and some adult beverages. We were lucky enough to snag probably the last table in the joint and grabbed a beer and bloody mary to start off our baseball day!
By 11:00am the Cubbybear had definitely been taken over by Twins fans! It was great!
The TVs were tuned to ESPN (of course) and they began playing shots from the game the day before. The screams were loud when Joe hit his homerun but even more loud when Milton Bradley made some DUMB mistakes - like throwing the caught ball into the stands for the fans when that was only the 2nd out of the inning. HA
Anyways - soon enough a couple of our friends met up with us for a beer before the game. And then game time was upon us and we headed on in.
And boy was I excited! One of those giddy moments where you are just so happy. It reminded me a lot like Yankee stadium (the old one) and how it was built and set up. Pretty soon we were in our seats and the game began! AMAZING! We loved every minute of it! A pretty amazing feeling to be at Wrigleyfield of all ballparks and watching your home team play! Thanks to Mauer and Kubel, the Twins pulled it out and won 2-0. I was sad though that Cuddyer was injured and didn't get to see him play.
After the game - we ran down close to the field to take some pictures. I was quite surprised that no one was yelling at us to get outta there - they were very accomidating to the fans getting a closer look. Rian and I of course took our obligitory shot of us with the field to our back to add to our collection!
After the game, we met up with our friends again to visit the drinking establishments in Wrigleyville. Made it to the great bars like Harry Carey's and took in all that wrigley had to offer. Later we decided to check out the Ribfest that was going on. Very cool street fesitval with all sorts of tents and music and people.
As the night was approaching - we all realized that we were old and could not stick it out too late and check out the Chicago nightlife. Especially since Rian and I had woken up at 6am (after getting maybe 4 hours of sleep) and starting to consume adult beverages at the early hour of 10:00am - once we were nearing 10pm we realized it was time for bed. lol Oh well - a fabulous day in the city of Chicago. A city which grows on me more and more everytime I am there.
All in all, we had a great trip and we are go glad we did it. Rian and I decided a couple years ago that every summer we want to visit a different ball park together. Last summer we were lucky enough to visit Miller Park in Milwaukee as well as Yankee Stadium to see the Twins play they last stint at the park before it was demolished. Very good times. So this year, we can cross Wrigleyfield off of our list. And if we are able - we might make it to Kansas City in August for the Twins weekend series!!

As we were sitting at The Cubbybear - Rian and I talked about how lucky we are that we both love baseball as much as we do and we are glad that we have that interest and passion in common. I think its pretty cool to have a lot of common interests as your mate. Makes life that much more enjoyable when you get to do those things you love with the person you love.

More pictures to follow.........

House Hunting...

6 months ago - if someone had told me how incredibly stressful house hunting/buying would be - I would never have believed them.
What is so stressful? Looking at lots of houses and choosing which one you want to live in - sign a few papers and BAM you are cooking your first meal and sitting around your new dining room table.

NOT SO MUCH.

Since April 22nd - the day we put an offer on our house - it has been nothing but non-stop stress, emotion and a rollercoaster of UPS and DOWNS.
It seems like just when we started to relax and really let ourselves get excited - something else happens and brings us down.
I never knew I could go through so many emotions of excited, sad, nervous, frustrated, angry, happy and the list goes on....
First there was the problems we had right when we put the offer in.

Then a couple weeks later we found out that our closing was delayed to an unknown date.

And yesterday was one of the worst days of them all. I won't bore you with details but let's just say it was not good and everything was almost lost. Having to deal with that at work all day yesterday was not good. It's not good to cry at your desk when everyone is always walking by.

One of the most frustrating parts of all of this is most of the turmoil we've dealt with is all because of the sellers. This house is an estate - so we believe it is the three children of the older couple who lived in the house and have died. Through everything - they have not once made things worth our while - or helped us out because of the delays and the problems that they have caused. Maybe its just me, but in these troubled real estate times, the last thing a seller should do is be difficult and not willing to comprimise. From the very beginning they were barely willing to negotiate. Our realtor practically had to threaten their realtor for them to make a counter offer since they were just rejecting everything we sent their way and not even coming back with a counter.
And through all the frustration - the emails - the phone calls - the tears and everything else - they have done nothing to sweeten the deal for us or at least try to make up for everything we have endured. Just not right or fair. But - since when it life fair, right?
In any case - this has been one of the most difficult processes I have ever been through - a lot harder than most people who buy a house (our realtor has told us). But we also know that we are getting a ridiculous deal on a house that we are very much in love with. I have just been trying to focus on the end result when the papers are all signed and the keys are in our hands. Then it will be all worth it....

Until then - we will keep signing the attachments and addendums, waiting for all of the sellers paper work to be finished and to finally have a set closing date. And then of course waiting for that day to come. Its looking now more like the end of July then June. Once again - everything keeps getting pushed back. UGH.

To keep us entertained until then......get this.....

Last Friday, I saw an ad on Yelp that the HGTV show House Hunters was looking for people in the Twin Cities to film an episode of their show.

Sent an email asking if we were qualified and I got a quick response from the lovely Heather saying that we were absolutely qualified. She sent me the application and I quickly filled it out and sent it back to her along with pictures of our house, Rian and I and of course Clifford.

I went to get my hair done that afternoon and as I check my phone after my appointment - I check my messages and hear Heather from HGTV leaving me a message about chatting with me further. So I get in my car and just start driving around aimlessly while she basically asks me questions about myself, Rian, our relationship, our house and so on and so forth. She seemed to really like me/us and of course gushed about how cute Clifford is. She then calls Rian and asks him the same questions. She also got a hold of our realtor to ask him questions about us and how things have gone.
She was a delight to talk to and told me she would get back to us soon either way.
So yesterday, in the midst of me freaking out and thinking that we are going to loose this house - I get an e-mail and phone call from Heather telling me that she would like us to do a casting interview with a camera and everything - to make a tape to send to the higher up folks at HGTV. So come Tuesday at 6pm - a local PA (production assistant) who coincidentally used to work at TPT will be coming to my parents house to make our tape! They will be interviewing Rian, myself and Mike our realtor - together and seperate. We have our list of instructions....what to wear, to repeat the questions in our answer, be happy, have fun! I think we got those covered!

And honestly, I figure - if we have gotten to this point - I don't see why we wouldn't go all the way to the show. We have personality coming out of our....hmmm I don't think you can say that on TV.

If you've seen the show - you know that not everyone on it is actually very interesting, funny or attractive. lol So things are looking good for us! :-)

After we film our tape on Tuesday, we should hear back in about a week or so. And if the big guns at HGTV like our tape - WE'RE IN!
We do get a cash prize if we get on the show - but either way, what a cool experience and what a fun memory we get to take away from our first home together.
Plus, Rian and I figure that once we get on TV someone is bound to give us our own reality TV show....and if not us, then Clifford. Everybody loves Clifford.

Sounds like the new name of Clifford's show!

STAY TUNED......

BINGO.....

Is awesome. I don't care what anyone says.

Two weekends ago, myself, Rian and our friends (well, technically I guess you could call them Rian's friends but I hang out with them a lot too so I'm claiming them as "our" friends) Andy and Steve went to the race track to get in some sun, ponies and gambling. We were having such a fun time that we decided after the races we should check out some bingo at the casino near by. Some might call that dangerous - I just call it a damn good idea.

So, when we get to the nino - we grab some food - which for casino fast food wasn't too bad - I got the shrimp pad thai - pretty decent. We checked out the Bingo stuff and decided to get in on the 7:30pm warm up before the 8-10:15pm full game. We looked at all of the packages and decided to go for the electronic game board with a few of the bonus games. All in all, I think it was around $40/person for over 3 hours of Bingo. I know to some that might seem like a lot. But if you were at the slots or tables - how quickly would you go through $40?

We also splurged with the electronic boards - which was definitely the way to go for a little extra because some of the games actually gave you 30 boards to play. We were unsure of the e-boards at first because we all really like to dobber. They showed us some of the fancy things on the board - like how you can choose from a number of different dobber symbols or colors.

And it is basically fool proof because it starts blinking - YELL BINGO NOW - when you have a bingo, so you can't mess it up.
We came to quite enjoy the e-boards, mostly because usually in Bingo you are concentrating the whole time on making sure you don't miss a bingo and cannot really socialize with your friends. (Hopefully you are going to bingo with friends and aren't alone.) It was that much easier to talk and laugh and enjoy the time instead of getting a neck cramp from looking down for 3 hours.

In the Bingo hall - you can all sit at this nice round tables - very easy to chat. They also have TVs around - we were able to watch the Twins game. They even have a cafe in there so you can buy food or treats whilst you dob. The boys (aka: dirty steve) made me buy waffles fries for the table with some of my winnings.
Long story short - we ended up playing bingo for about 6 hours. lol We started with the warm-ups and regular bingo game at 7:30pm - after that they had cosmic bingo - and we couldn't say no to that - then they had a second session of cosmic bingo - "since we are here we might as well...."

Of course with the cosmic came the black light - music and an overly excited/annoying MC.

I don't think we left the casino until 1:30 in the morning! HA
All in all - the only winner out of the four of us (3 guys and 1 girl) I came out the big winner with a whopping $50! Rian won once as well but there were 32 other winners and so Rian only won $10 - better than nothing though! lol

I highly recommend this fun activity with friends.

Namaste

For all those people out there who thought I was crazy to be happy that I got a job at the Dept of Revenue......
How many people can say that at their job they can do yoga during lunch?
I know many jobs have their perks or seem more enjoyable, but I have found that there are a lot of upsides to working where I work and I'm very grateful.
One of my co-workers very generously donates her time to teach some classes during her/our lunch time. Not only that, but as an employee, I only have to pay $50 for the entire year to have access to our weights room and work out room. The facilities are actually pretty decent too. How many people can go work out on the treadmill or lift weights during lunch???
So this is how my week goes...
Monday: Weights Class taught by Jazmine (who is an actual instructor) Tuesday: Used to be walking but Jazmine invited me to the pilates class she teaches, so I will be going to that now instead.
Wednesday: Weights on my own usually or walk
Thursday: Yoga Class with Jazmine
Friday: I don't take a lunch on Fridays because another perk of my job is working 9 hr days during the week and then every Friday I am off by 11:30am!

But back to Yoga - I can't even tell you how amazing it feels to have a yoga class during the middle of the work day. The mind and body aspect of it is exactly what I need towards the end of a work week. It is a great work out - stretching and balancing and centering. I feel refreshed after and excited that I only have another day of work til the weekend!
At the end of every class, she also takes a couple minutes to meditate and center ourselves - which is also an amazing thing to have in the middle of a crazy work day. As I was listening to music and meditating in the dark at the end of class today - I honestly forgot where I was and was able to focus on the bigger picture of things. Amazing.

I highly suggest some downward dogs and tree poses to you all.


Namaste.

I'm a Yelper - Are you?

Its been a while, but I sort of forgot about the other blog I created! I decided to start another blog that isn't so much about my personal life, but more about what is happening in the here and now. ie: movies, restaurants, music, fashion...

I enjoy talking about and sharing my opinion on things that are "in the now" and thought I would make a blog of it.

http://trendy-mode.blogspot.com/

On a different note - when it comes to different reviews and things....have you guys ever heard of the website called Yelp? www.yelp.com is a unique, fun and helpful website that I've been newly aquainted with. Basically, there are chapters of Yelp all over the country, in most major cities. Yelp is a website designed, not necessarily as social networking, but more as an informative and fun connection among strangers turned friends living in the same city, helping people in their quest to discover all that their surroundings have to offer.
The basis of Yelp is reviews - reviews on everything from restaurants to dentists to shoe repair shops. Most of the reviews are on restaurants, which I find to be extremely helpful, especially if you are like me and want to find new and different dining establishments to spice things up instead of always going back to the same places. Most of the reviews are not only informative and useful, but they can also be pretty witty - very entertaining. With the reviews, there are all sorts of things to do on the website. There are message boards galore - which are constantly being added to and updated. You can become "friends" with fellow Yelpers (as we are called) as well as send compliments or messages to them.

I was exposed to this website through my good bud, Andy. He has been involved with Yelp for quite a while. He is part of the "Elite" Yelpers because of how much he participates on the website and so on. One of the best parts of being an Elite are the special events you get invited to. For example: a few weeks back, Andy invited Rian and I to an event at the Summit Brewery. This event was exclusively for Elite Yelpers and their friends. Basically, we went to the Summit Brewery in St. Paul and drank FREE Summit Beer in their "pub" area for 2 hours. They had a shortened version of the tour, but since it was during the week, all of the machines were running and it was very loud so we couldn't hear much. During our time in the pub, Pizza Luce came with all sorts of yummy pizzas - again, for FREE! We drank, ate, conversed and had a great time. This was basically my first exposure to Yelp and I was totally impressed. It was such an eclectic group of people from all walks of life, coming together and just hanging out. I met a few Yelpers and knew this was my kind of people. Some came with friends, some came alone, but everyone was welcoming and friendly and a big happy Yelp family!
Andy also posted a Yelp Pub Crawl in Nordeast Mpls the other weekend. And just with people that were involved with the website on a regular basis - there were probably 12 or 15 people that showed up to join! Again, some came alone and some came with friends. But it didn't matter because everyone was there to just have a good time with friends and enjoy NE Mpls' finest - PBR and other delicious beverages. It was great to be out with a group of "strangers turned friends" and step out of the comfort zone. And let me tell you - it was one of those nights where I laughed until I could not laugh any longer.

People honestly do make friends being a part of this experience. They are open to new things and different people. It is so refreshing in this day and age.
I also had a thought after talking to a fellow Yelper about his experience moving to MN. Everyone talks about MN Nice and the friendliness of the MN folks. But honestly - in my opinion which you can take or leave - Yes, Minnesotans are/can be nice, but for the most part, it doesn't go much further than that. We are there with a smile or wave, but when it comes down to really getting to know other people and getting out of our shells and our own groups to extend to another, MN is very lacking. I just think of different places like school and work and how clicky people are and how hard it can be to break through that. Yes, I know that lots of places and people are clicky, but I think MN is extremely good at that. It's one thing to say Hello and smile - and another thing to spark up a conversation and not be afraid to expand your horizons and give people/strangers a chance. You never know who you can meet and how that person might effect your life. Think about it.

In any case, I encourage you to take a look at Yelp. If anything, it is a great place to find new restaurants and explore your city more. You have no idea what is out there until you actually take a look and give it a chance.

Unfortunate House Update...

So right now, I don't exactly have the greatest update.

In my last post about the house, I said that we would closing on our house on May 28th - which is two weeks from Thursday. And now......wait for it...........there is a delay. :-(

The house we are buying is an estate. And for estates, whoever is the executor of the estate has to go through probate with the courts and fill out the correct paperwork saying that they are authorized to be the head of the estate and make the decisions...and so on and so forth.
And last Thursday, we get a call from our AWESOME realtor (if anyone is looking for a good realtor who will work hard for them and has a ton of knowledge on the subject - let me know and I"ll get you in contact with them!) - saying that this paperwork was never filled out by the seller. Not cool.
Because of this, there is probably a 90% chance that our closing at the end of May will be delayed. Till June - maybe even July. Again - not cool.
It is SO frustrating because this was completely their fault. We had/have no control over this situation and now we are being punished and have to deal with the consequences.
If this road to Maywood hadn't been rocky enough - I knew SOMETHING had to go down.
It is called the Noelle factor.
We actually tried to get a deal from them considering they are the ones that wanted to push up the closing date and we accomidated. And now we are completely put out b/c of this. Rian's friend taht he lives with has already found a roommate to take over - so Rian most likely will end up having to sleep on the couch in the basement at his current house come June until whenever we are able to move in. Once again - not cool.
We could have been really screwed if one of us had a lease that was up and had no place else to go. After our Realtor talked to the sellers, they said they hope we still buy but will not give us any kind of deal because they are "already giving us a huge deal in the price." Either way, I still think they should do SOMETHING for us. But we don't hold the cards, considering we want this house; we know this is our house.
So all we can do now is wait.....

Our House.....

Is a very very very fine house - or so the song says.

But I know for a FACT that one house really IS a very fine house.

And yes that is my sly way of saying that Rian and I bought a house!

After many, many months of searching and figuring things out, we found the house, put an offer on it, did some negotiating and made a deal that was a little lower than what we were already willing to pay! So YAY! :-)
Here she is...isn't she cute as a bug?!?!

It has been a crazy couple weeks here, as anyone would understand that has gone through this process.

We went through the purchase agreement signing and finally making a deal - the loan/mortgage process and the inspection. All is coming along as we inch closer and closer to our closing date - Thursday, May 28th.

We originally set our close date for the end of June but the sellers moved it up to the end of May - which at first freaked us out because it was so soon - but now I'm glad because there is no way I could have made it through another month of just waiting. Rian and I have been trying to down play things just because everything seems too good to be true. We know things come up and its hard to believe this is all happening, so I think we are saving up our true excitement and will finally believe that this is real when we sign the papers and have the actual keys in our hands. hehe Until then - it is still a dream....

A dream that became a little more real to me this past weekend.

Rian and I wanted to show Bryan the house since he hadn't seen it in person yet - so we drove over and as we are pulling up, I notice something different on the sign. As we get closer I realize that there is a SOLD sign hanging on the for sale sign. I don't know what happened, but something in me clicked even more that this was really real and happening. I think seeing it in real life - something physically saying that the house is SOLD and the buyers are US!

Just made it a little more real but a very good real.
Now comes the fun part - waiting. Waiting until three weeks from tomorrow when we sign all the papers and actually close on the house. It's gonna be a long couple weeks, but the anticipation will be exciting.

At this point, I think Rian and I decided that we want to spend that first weekend (29,30,31) painting and getting the house ready for our move. Which is ANOTHER fun but stressful part of things - deciding on coloring for each of the rooms to paint. I need all the help I can get in that department, so if anyone has any ideas - PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Or any good websites or things I can look to.
So hopefully we can get those big things done throughout the weekend/week and maybe even start moving some smaller things beforehand, but we are hoping to have the big move on Saturday, June 6th - which I just realized is one month from today. lol We hope to have some help with that - even though we really don't have a ton of stuff to move. Considering that I JUST moved a month ago and have most of my things still in boxes while living at my parents house - and Rian lives in a fully furnished house where he doesn't really have many big things to take. I think we shoudl be okay with the move. And I know even if we say we don't have that much to move, but it will turn out that we really do have a lot to move - I don't think it will be too bad. The more helpers we have, the easier it will be - so come on down anyone who loves to help their friends move! haha

IF you are wondering - where are all of the pictures - I will put a link here to a lot of pictures I took last week at the inspection. Hopefully it will give you a sense of the house and how cute it is! hehe And again - if you have any design or color suggestions - please speak up!

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/detail.sfly?imageIndex=0&sid=0BZtHLZyxcMWHv&fid=67b660f9b768db54

I would love any and all new house/moving/decorating suggestions - so keep them coming!

Her heart did go on....

Kate Winslet - one of my most favorite actresses ever. From The Holiday to Titanic - she can do it all. She is one of the classiest actresses out there. She is never in any scandals or a trouble maker among Hollywood. She has always been a lady and also an incredible performer.

Finally, this year in The Reader she was recognized for her amazing abilities and received the Academy Award for Best Actress. She had some pretty stiff competition as well.

One of my favorite things about the awards this year was how they did the presentation of announcing the nominees for the Best Actor/Actress awards. If you have no clue what I'm talking about - instead of just regular presenters they had 5 of the past winners of the award come out and talk about the nominee, their performance and their overall character and career. It was very moving.

Now after Kate Winslet won the award for The Reader - I kept forgetting to go see the movie. And months later it is now on DVD and I finally rented it!

Now for those of you who know nothing about the movie, it is set in Germany beginning in the 1930s I believe and goes up to probably the late 80s. I can't give too much away but it begins with Kate Winslet's character Hannah having an affair with a teenage boy. During their affair, she always had him bring home books from school and read to her. Further down the line their affair ends- they go their seperate ways - Michael goes to law school and unfortunately, Hannah joins the SS and works at a Nazi concentration camp. I don't want to give too much away but later in life their paths cross again and Michael is torn between his love and care of Hannah with his moral obligations.

This movie took so many unexpected twists and turns for me. So, hopefully if you have any desire to see it you don't know too much about the film and can be surprised all the way through. I also was very intriged with the movie because of the Holocaust/Nazi Germany/Germany in general part of the movie. For anyone that knows me, you know that I have a morbid fascination with the Holocaust and can't get enough of learning about it in all aspects. I'm a weirdo - I know. But for whatever reason, it took a hold of me and I will always be interested in it.

All in all, Ms. Winslet gives an incredible performance (like always) and I'm so glad that her as an all around artist and actress was finally recognized.

I HIGHLY recommend this movie. It was one of the best I've seen in quite a while. Well, not including 17 Again - but it was up there. hehe

After browsing through blockbuster, which I hadn't been in quite a while, I realized that there are so many movies out on DVD that I want/need to see....Milk, Doubt, Henry Poole and so on.

Definitely looking forward to those - but I most definitely recommend The Reader for your next trip to the video store.

PS: They will eternally be my favorite couple together. I think they are soulmates.

This is the last chance....

Tonight I spent a couple hours with 20 some teen/preteen girls painting nails, doing hair and putting on temporary tattoos - and the best part was High School Musical 3!!!
That's right - tonight my "little" and I attended a fun filled evening of girlie stuff.
I've been matched with my "little sister" Nina for about the past month and a half. This was our second outing and we had lots of fun.
Not to mention the fact that I got to watch High School Musical 3 and felt better about it because it was "for the kids." haha I'm a closet HSM fan and secretly wish I was one of them. I wish I got to sing and dance like that all over high school! Those years would have been SO much better. lol
In any case, things have been going well with my match. She is 12 years old, going on 18. It's kinda crazy because she is 12 yet she is taller than me. haha I guess I never had that growth spirt. She also looks about 16, which to me isn't the greatest thing for a young woman. Either way - she is a very nice girl, but definitely in need of a mentor type person, which I guess would be me. She comes from a different kind of home - including having a father who is in prison. She also lives in a pretty bad neighborhood. And to tell you the truth, I am actually nervous being at her house and in her neighborhood at night. I'm pretty sure she isn't comfortable either because she always wants me to walk her to the door and its not far from where the car is parked. She is a tough girl who has been through a lot but she is very sweet. She can be very shy at times, but other times I can tell she wants to open up to me and talk about things more, which I like. I think every kid should have an adult like that who they can talk to about anything - things they don't feel comfortable talking to their parents about.
We are still getting to know each other - so I'm sure the comfort level will ease up and things will be more fluid.
I'm still really happy that I decided to become involved in this program. Not only am I (or at least I hope I) am making a difference in a young person's life - which is the most important part - but selfishly, I'm happy about it because it continues to give me perspective on so many things. There are so many people in need of help right here in our community that most of us don't realize it because we just don't see it. Yet, it is all around us. There are so many disparities and so many differences in communities and ethnicities and economic backgrounds.
Here is an example of this: Tonight at the HSM party - the room was full of white woman as Bigs and 90% of the littles were african american. This is in no way a racist comment - just a reality in our community of unfortunate circumstances. But it is so nice and hopefully to see a room full of committed women who take time out of their busy lives to be a mentor and give back.
I definitely have to hand it to the BBBS organization for all that they do and how committed they are to making this program a success. They plan SO many different events, mostly free of charge, that are fun for bigs and littles alike. It helps to have events and ideas of keeping the mentor/mentee relationship fresh and exciting. The worst thing is the idea of people going through the program and then once the novelty wears off and they actually have to start doing and planning things - they are over it. The events are wonderful! I can't wait for our pizza party next week! Woohoo!

I encourage all of you to do whatever you are able to do to give back. And if any of you are interested in being a part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization...please let me know and I'll hook you up!
Here is their website if you're interested in learning more...
BBBS

PS: I have a massive crush on Zac Efron - guilty as charged.

I'm like the ring leader...I call the shots....

It's gonna be a CIRCUS!!!!!!

Friday night - Britney Spears LIVE at the Target Center!

With Special Guest - The Pussycat Dolls!

It is FINALLY here!!! Not only have I been waiting since December 1st when we bought the tickets, but I've been waiting since the LAST time (and only time) I've seen Britney in concert which was back in 2001! That last show was the only time brit has ever been in concert in MN, besides when she was here as an opener for *NSYNC at the Orpheum. Can you even stand it???? I can't!

Here is a picture that I personally took from when I saw Britney in concert. YES, I was that close. She had a big stage and a walkway to another little stage and we were in the second row of that little stage. It was AMAZING!

As most of you probably know - I LIVE for these pop concerts. It is the greatest time for me; I'm in my own little world and I scream and sing and dance and am completely in my element. As many of you that have been to concerts like that with me, you know. hehe My latest pop adventure was back in October when my sister and I went to see New Kids On the Block! One of the most fun nights I've ever had with my sister. I still remember when they first came out on stage, we are going nuts, and then my sister turns around and points to her eyes and is mouthing to me, "I have tears in my eyes!!!" lol It was great! It was the first time Eliz and I had seen NKOTB in concert and considering that we were NUTTY over them when we were younger, it was long overdue! hehe

ANYWAYS - focus...britney....

So this Friday, my very good friend Theresa and I will be taking on downtown Minneapolis for an amazing night! Since now I'm working 1/2 days on Friday, Theresa was able to get a 1/2 day as well so we will start our night early!

We will be getting together at her house around 2. We will get our hair and makeup did and gear up. Heading down to Mpls around 4...we will stake our place at whatever restaurant/bar we end up at. The earlier the better, because with a concert like BS on a Friday night it is going to be CRAZY!

The show starts at 8:00pm - so we will be in our seats and ready to go. The Pussycat Dolls are opening which I am super pumped about for two reason...

A) They kick ass. They are so entertaining - AMAZING dancers and just put on a great show. Always fun to have a fun opener to get you even more excited for the main act.

2) I'm excited because I am friends with the tour manager of the Pussycat Dolls and he is totally hooking us up with tickets! Wooohooo. Our current tickets are decent, even though we bought them right away when tix went on sale, but they aren't the greatest. I'm not sure where the seats are of the tickets that Bryan will leave us at Will Call on the day of the show - but I'm pretty positive they will be SWEET! He hooked me up with tix the last couple times PCD was in town opening for Christina Aguilera and Black Eyed Peas. I have no doubt that these tickets will be just as good! :-)

After the show, T and I will be hitting up downtown and dancing like only britney can. haha We were thinking about hitting up the 90's - you KNOW they have to have a britney after party going on there!

All in all - I couldn't be more excited to see my Britney once again. One of my very favs - who I've been a cheerleader for from the very beginning. Even through the rough times when everyone said she would never bounce back. I kept the faith and always knew she would be back and better than ever!!! That's why I heart you, Britney!!! I almost bought this t-shirt I saw online once but I haven't been able to find it lately - but on the front, all it said was - Britney Spears Changed My Life

I WANT IT! haha

I've been with Brit since that ugly yellow jumpsuit...lol....and I'll be with her 4 ever.

If only she could meet me - I know we would be great friends....

ps: I'm never giving up hope........