Photos of our house (La Casa de Lee)

As promised and admittedly I almost didn't make it - here are photos of our new house. They are hosted on of all places Facebook so for those of you who don't use Facebook, the link I am providing SHOULD WORK FOR YOU. . .

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025690&id=1388300016&l=68d30cf1c5

If it doesn't, then let me know and I will send Facebook a nasty note... no seriously, I will make sure you get the photos.

I had an awesome lunch with Shawn and Krista the other day, man I miss working with them. They invited me to have breakfast with them, but house chores have called me this fine day.

My relatives from San Diego are in town this weekend and week as well so I am sure I will not be resting waiting for laundry too much longer!

Enjoy the photos.

Much to do about nothing?

This entry is dedicated to all of those who are still reading/following along. Funny story about this actually, over this past weekend I was thinking to myself how it had been a while since my last entry and I thought "I wonder if Mrs. Roberts thinks I have fallen off the face of the Earth". The very next day I was chatting with Joe and he said "My Mom says - you need to blog more often"... I found that a little spooky, maybe Mrs. Roberts and I have some weird unheard of psychic connection, OR it could be that I really am that behind in posts.

A quick glance at my calendar shows that today is in fact June 1. This means that Chris and I have been living in our new place for about 1.5 months. I know we haven't posted pictures yet, shame on us. My excuse right now is that we have boxes of items still about our house. The office is a classic of example of "need more shelves" because there are boxes of things on the floor and no where to put these things. I have a sad pile of items I need to take to Macy's and exchange, one day I will do so, one day...

Chris has done more painting, he finished up the master bathroom and he has also painted our formal dining area a lovely shade of blue (think eventual French-style with blue walls and light buttery yellow ceiling). This past weekend we worked on placing more cedar mulch bark all over the place along with some river rocks. We need to purchase more bark is what we found out! We have planted some other fun things such as 4 pepper plants, the dogwood tree that Brad and Janie gave us, a Japanese maple ($35 from Costco what a STEAL), a pink hydrangea bush, two types of rosemary - don't remember right now... two blueberry bushes...OH and the most exciting of all is we found some thornless marionberry plants. I personally cannot wait for those to bear fruit! And the pepper plants I am hoping will like our yard and we will soon have purple peppers along with some mini bells.

I am going to make it my goal to post pictures, probably to my Facebook page, but then I will also share the URL to the pictures so that anyone can see them through Facebook even if you don't have an account. You read it here - pictures within a week or less. Let's hope that I can keep this promise to not only you, but for myself as well.

I welcome you to my FIRST post from our new house!

It is approximately 832pm PDT, Saturday April 18, 2009. We've been up since 640am. I should still be unpacking items and cleaning stuff and sorting and putting things up and and and and and ... . . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

We are loving our new house. Loving it. I know nothing is perfect, but right now it feels perfect. Other than I am physically and mentally exhausted and wishing that my credit cards could also get a break. As I type this, Chris is instant messaging me from the office. I really don't think we'll turn into the type that will do this often unless he is downstairs and I am up, but seriously now. . . :)

We got up early, had breakfast, packed more, the movers came and in about 2 hours had us packed up and unpacked. The movers left, we went back to the Seattle house to get more stuff, and then came back to unpack some more. Went to McClendon's Hardware and Target, and now more unpacking.

Ok I wish I had a way more exciting entry or even a picture to send, but right now besides this entry, I am focused on unpacking. And tomorrow I can guarantee it will be more of the same. Good night one and all!

We got the keys!

IT IS OFFICIAL - we closed on our house today and got the keys. We have already purchased some key items such as chairs, a table, wastebaskets for the bathrooms, house-hold cleaning products, brooms, light bulbs, etc. Chris is currently looking at blinds online and maybe we'll be getting those in a week or so. Our first official non-related house guest (i.e. not the seller, our real estate agent, the inspector, or others involved with the house buying process) was Joe - he brought us our very first gift -a ladder. It is very cool and should come in extremely handy. Joe got the grand tour and he and Chris talked about wiring and other stuff. I was busily setting up the bathrooms with soap, products, wastebaskets, etc. There is a LOT to do and it is just starting.

Joe was also very thoughtful and took us out to dinner. We went to the local Outback Steakhouse which is JUST up the way from our new place. It was by far the best meal we have ever had at any Outback, ever. The service was outstanding and the food was cooked very well. Impressive! Coincidentally enough we saw Brad, Janie, and Skylar enjoying a meal at the Outback as well. Who would have thought out of all the nights to be at the same establishment, go figure. I am glad that we left the house as much as I wanted to stay and sit in my little wooden folding chair because honestly if we hadn't left we'd probably still be there trying to seal grout or tile or something.

Instead after dinner we came home and I proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes or so loading up my car with things we had already boxed or bagged up. Mainly wedding gifts that were conveniently enough still in boxes. I figured tomorrow I will be waiting for the Sears delivery person for a while so I should have something to do as we do not have internet at the new house yet. Tonight I did a quick scan of possible unsecured wireless signals - none that my iPhone could pick up.

You read that right - Sears delivery person. Ok can I say HOW MANY CALLS DOES SEARS NEED TO MAKE TO CONFIRM A DELIVERY? OMG - so in the past 48 hours, I have been called by Sears 4 times, 3 of which to make sure I knew that Sears would call me with a delivery window. So yes, 3 calls to remind me that Sears will call - and the 4th call was an automated Sears call giving me a delivery window. Anyway, just wondering if people are really that dense?

Tomorrow we get our fridge and a friend from Husky Band (Don Sabo for those of you who know) is coming over to evaluate a door frame for us. This Saturday - Sears will be back yet again this time with our new washer and dryer. Egads! I am so excited about the W&D...but that in itself is a whole new blog entry for a later time.

My mind is wandering so I should stop this entry before I fall asleep. . .

Housie Housie Housie!

We are moving to Kenmore in April - we bought ourselves a house! Photos to come, but we are in the midst of finding appliances, talking about wiring and paint, packing, and the actual move. Closing is set for March 26.

Yippy!

We love Heather!

I promise to have a way more interesting blog entry (and hopefully within the next few days), but I just have to say...

WE LOVE HEATHER!!!

Thank goodness for Skype and thank goodness for Heather. We just had a 90 minute conversation with her that has helped both of us feel SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better about one of life's major milestones that we are going through right now. Heather was kind enough to talk us through a bunch of stuff and answer our questions - plus we got caught up in what is going on as well so it was definitely a good social conversation. Before she called us from Edinburgh, I was IMing her and feeling like I wanted to scream and cry at the same time - full well knowing that neither action would result in anything positive or productive. As I just checked my handy iPhone it is OMG roughly 4:20am for her -- egads!

I don't mean to be cryptic with this post it is more like I don't want to jinx anything, also I'm super starving and I hope we get to eat soon (hhmm.. can anyone say hamburgers? tee hee!) :).

THANK YOU AGAIN HEATHER!!!

House Buying...perhaps we'll wait.

For those of you who know we have been yearning for a house of our own for some time. Renting can be a bore and our current establishment is nice livable, but we are ready to move on. After the wedding and the party and the thank you cards and getting back to a lower-stress way of life, I was hoping that now would be the time we would buy...and then this past weekend and today happened. Sure the Dow has been below 10,000 points before, but this is definitely different. I am afraid to log into my 401k site to even look at how much less of value I have to my retirement. Chris checks everyday so I am sure that he isn't as shocked, I do not have the discipline to check even once a week. Egads!

We just got word from our landlord that he has agreed to basically let us live at our current place as long as we want to, he has no intention of selling during this volatile economic market. I don't blame the man - there have been a few houses across the street from ours that have been on and off the market more times than the UPS driver misdelivers packages to our house (i.e. A LOT).

I hope that we will be able to save wisely for a downpayment. I know it is always so tempting to buy anything and everything on a whim when you can see the money in your own checking account. I am guilty of it just like anyone else - "Hey I have a few extra bucks, I'll just go to Target and get a few things"...$100 later I have 4 Target sacks full of stuff.

Perhaps in the next couple weekends or so I really will get my rear in gear and go to a packing store to buy moving boxes. With the way the Dawgs are playing right now it isn't even worth watching them on TV with 100% attention as I normally would.

Other updates - we have been like I said trying to just unwind still from everything that has happened. I had a birthday and my Dad made almond fried chicken and sweet and sour pork - very good. Something that I can only eat about once a year because it is so bad for you, but it sure does taste good. Facebook is this new exciting application in my world right now as well - at first I was resistant and now...I have to be a good girl and make sure I don't allow myself to become obsessive about checking it and seeing what my Facebook friends are up to.

T-minus 3 months and counting (wedding stuff)

I know that some of you have been wanting a real wedding and reception planning update entry so here I go!

Las Vegas (ceremony/wedding) update - the only things left to even remotely think about are salon appointments, gown and tuxedo pressing, and waiting for the minister and photographer to call me. I can't book the salon until 30-days out and I figured at that time I would call the gown and tuxedo pressing place. According to our event planner, the Venetian appointed minister and photographer will be calling me about 14-days out. We have our room and flights booked. We have our rehearsal appointment set, we have a limo set for our round-trip adventure to Las Vegas City Hall to obtain a marriage license. We have our post-ceremony dinner planned. I even have some fun events already to do - mainly that I am seeing LOVE at The Mirage.

Seattle (reception/party) update - we met with the bakery (see previous post about Bakery Nouveau), I have already talked with the florist. I have a new hair stylist who I absolutely love and she will be doing hair and make-up. We have a hotel room booked and a photographer who is also super. My dress is in my house along with all of the accessories. Chris still needs to get a tuxedo and we have to still finalize everything with Salty's, but will do that after we send out and receive RSVP cards.

So you're probably wondering when we are going to send out the invitations. We have everything in terms of supplies ready to go - so I think we will get them done the weekend of June 7-8. There are minor things that need to be done like getting all of the address labels formatted (should only take an hour at most), stamps, but we are good to go.

Now for those who want all of the details...
Hair/Make-up: for those that know me I am not a super girly-girl and am rather low-maintenance 99% of the time. I figured though that getting married is a once in a lifetime kind of thing so I have been investing a lot of my time and resources into hair and make-up. A co-worker suggested a stylist by the name of Heather Price and so far Heather has been FABULOUS. Heather works out of cutz in Wallingford, and it has been a lot of fun getting to know her - plus her rates aren't tremendously expensive (IMO). I have established monthly appointments with her to make sure my hair is in tip-top shape for August and September. For the reception/party she will be coming to our hotel room and getting me ready on-site. I am WAY excited as she will definitely take care of me so I don't need to stress about looking good.

Food in Las Vegas: we decided to go to the Venetian's B&B Ristorante for the post-ceremony meal and we are having a custom 4-course meal - very fun. We will be having the following:
Antipasti (2) - B&B Salumi with Fiddleheads, Marinated Fresh Anchovies with Radish and Fennel
Primi (1) - Goat Cheese Tortelloni with Dried Orange and Wild Fennel Pollen
Secondi (3) - Grilled Pork Chop with Seckel Pear, Cipollini, and Vin Cotto, Spicy Two Minute Calamari Sicilian Lifeguard Style, Brasato al Barolo with Horseradish Gremolata
Dolci (2) - Sbrisolona with Spicy Caramel Poached Cara Cara Oranges and Creme Fraiche, Cioccolato with Bourbon Caramel and Vanilla Bean Gelato

...We are still planning on having a very informal psuedo-rehearsal dinner the evening of August 14th at the Venetian's Grand Lux Cafe. Again those of you are who going to Vegas with us will receive separate information personally.

Food in Seattle: I have an appointment to finalize everything with Salty's in early August.

Gown: I had my final fitting on May 9th - fits like a glove (seriously) so I guess I'd better pay attention to all of those fun summer alcoholic drinks I like - can anyone say diet sprite and pineapple rum? Mmmm...

Rings: Should be ready by June!

Cake: see previous posting...but perhaps I forgot to mention that we are getting free delivery since Salty's is so close to the bakery. I need to schedule a second tasting with William, but not until June.

Flowers: I had a visit with the Admiral/West Seattle Metropolitan Market floral department back in mid April. Since the reception/party isn't attached to a ceremony on the same day, the floral department said that this is just a regular party - so less complicated in terms of contracts. We will have a variety of centerpieces and I specifically said I didn't want them to match - I think it will be more fun that way.

I don't know if there are any other updates that are needed. The biggest things still "to do" are tuxedo stuff, finalizing stuff with Salty's, invitations...oh and figuring out what kind of a "short" honeymoon we will take the week of August 18th. Probably just to Canada and back.

Next big adventure clock will start after September 6th -- house buying!!!! Stay tuned...