house hunting is OVER...

So the last I posted about a house I was in major distress over the lack of ones Gary and I could agree upon, or like at all. Well I have been keeping a secret from all of you followers, so as not to jinx the closing, but the news is out! Gary and I have bought our first home! We are so excited. It is still in the same town our apartment is in, which is good. It will still be very close for both of us to get to work. And best of all... it is all OURS. It has plenty of space for us, unlike our one bedroom apartment. It was a foreclosure and empty for about a year, so there is tons of cleaning and more cleaning to do. We have already planned some DIY projects to include but not limited to: new appliances (b/c the few left in the house were practically rotted), new carpet, paint, light fixtures, etc.

We lucked out and only one room in the house had wallpaper, of course that room is the kitchen, one of the largest but it could be worse. We have already started the removal and it should be done soon! The kitchen is pretty much going to be the start of all of our fixing up, so after the wallpaper is done we will begin spackling, painting the walls/ceiling, trim, cabinets, and finally bring in the new appliances. It will be a masterpiece. That shouldn't take long right? haha. And to my mom's dismay, the walls we not be white... or milk toast. Don't worry mom... we will paint the ceiling white just for you!

Next will be the family room. We are thinking of painting it the same color as the kitchen or at least a similar shade since they kind of run together. This is also the room where we will be bringing in new carpet. The current carpet gives me the heebee geebees. There is also no light fixture in the family room, so we would like to put up a ceiling fan/light. You know Gary, always has to have a fan around!

Those are the two main rooms we are dealing with for now. After we finish those we will continue around the main floor of the house until it is finished. Then to the upstairs to start the process all over! It will be a revolving project for a while, but I will be posting pictures soon and you will be able to watch as the process unfolds!

until next time...

post dated blog: My Birthday

Hello blog followers. Due to an increase in extra curricular activities in my life lately, I have gotten behind on blogging about those activities. So, today I am going to update you on my birthday. As you know, this was my first birthday away from family and friends :( but, seeing as I have the best husband in the world, the festivities were not lacking. We woke up and Gary had my presents laying out on the couch along with a very cute card. I opened them up and found a new sweater and also a new hair dryer. (the previously blogged about hair dryer still works, but it doesn't blow hot air.)We had planned a day in National Harbor, so after opening gifts I hopped in the shower. Unknown to me, while I was in the shower Gary set up a pinata for me. haha. It was kinda funny and childish at first, but it was actually REALLY fun breaking it open. We didn't have a bat or anything to swing with, so I had to use a really large wrench, also very funny.

So we ate some candy (all the best varieties of course), finished getting ready and started off for National Harbor. National Harbor is a touristy/ unique restaurant/ shops kind of place. Very cool! We walked around for a while, saw the sights, had lunch at a place called Ketchup, and walked around some more. We spent the whole day hanging out there. There was even a PEEPS store. I know my dad would love that! There was beautiful landscaping, water fountains, architecture, and art!
We sat on a bench at the river walk and watched the sun set on Potomac River! It was perfect, the best birthday ever! As it got dark we returned to our car to change clothes, we had dinner reservations at a really nice restaurant called Grace's Mandarin!















The town lit up at night and was beautiful! The restaurant had a water fall that flowed through the two levels and a very large Buddha (who I am posing with). I had teppanyaki salmon and Gary had a seafood medley! Delicious!













After dinner we head back home, I had such a wonderful day! Little did I know I had more in store! :) Gary bought a chocolate pie and put candles in it to spell out "24"


Whew... what a day! I will definitely need to do something spectacular for Gary's birthday... good thing I have a while to think it up!!

jeep up keep...

Lately I have been driving with only one headlight. Gary and I had it on our list of things to do, but it was a rather low priority compared to the many others so we haven't been bothering with it. I haven't been having any difficulty seeing at night, so we just kept putting it off. Well, an early morning trip to work last week in the rain brought that task right up to the top!

It was raining pretty hard and it was a lot darker out than usual, but luckily Gary and I left for work at the same time. He was behind me as we headed out, and he must have been able to tell pretty easily that it was hard for me to see. (I was going slow and probably swaying between the lines) Anyway, before I could even whip my phone out, he pulled up right beside me and lit the way. Seriously it would have taken me like 30 minutes to get to work (and would have been late) if he wasn't there to help me along.

So, we decided I really needed that new headlight. We bought a brand new set (both lights) and even got some new windshield wipers! They don't squeak which is pretty awesome! So, for the rest of the rainy fall and hopefully snowy winter, I will be able to see as far as the eye can see!!