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.