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I hope everyone had a safe new years eve!

A new year brings new beginnings.  I put my camera back in my purse and hope to snap more pictures here and there so they will somehow make their way to this blog!
I’ve concluded that I don’t have much to post about because I lead a relatively boring life!  Not that I mind…there’s enough things to keep me busy from day to day without having to worry about gossip and drama.

But this year we do have a new house…so maybe that will lead to some new adventures!  It’s definitely not leading to a new vacation this year….*shakes empty piggy bank*

Now off to do some more cleaning and organizing – that’s all I seem to do these days!

interest rates are at an all time low, we were casually looking, and things just sort of fell into place – and rather quickly too!

there were several months of arguing and going back and forth about condo vs co-op vs house vs brooklyn vs queens vs staten island.  ideally we both would have loved to find a house in our neighborhood in brooklyn.  but prices for houses in our area turned out to be obscenely expensive and they needed so much work before it would have been livable.  we considered a condo or co-op but the more we thought about it, the more we realized that wasn’t such a great idea.    that left us with our only option…staten island.  it was affordable and the houses were a lot newer than the ones that we saw in the other boroughs.  our list of “must haves” was pretty long:

• built in 2000 or later
• 3 bedrooms
• finished basement
• bathroom in master suite
• half bathroom on the main level
• updated kitchen
• garage connected to the house
• laundry on main or upper level (who wants to haul the laundry all the way to the basement JUST to bring it all the way back upstairs when its done?!)
• formal dining room
• semi or fully detached
• central air
• NO pool

i’m sure there was more to our original list of wants…but i just can’t remember them all right now!  i had contacted a realtor to check out a house that we saw online and it was a dud.  it looked promising from the pictures but of course when we saw it in person it wasn’t what we were expecting – its amazing what a wide angle lens can do! we felt comfortable with the realtor and ended up exchanging contact information so she could help us find some more listings to check out.

fast forward to a few weeks later, the realtor gave us a links to about 10 houses and we chose 4 to look at.  because of my ocd tendencies, i created a survey/checklist for each house we were going to see and stuck it in a large binder that i had started to keep track of everything real estate related.

house after house each one had too much wrong with it for us to even consider them a possibility.  after a day spent looking at 4 houses around staten island we were loosing hope.  towards the end of the day the realtor said that she had one more house that she really thought we should go look at.  it was pretty far into the island and not in the neighborhoods that we were considering so we were hesitant…but we figured might as well go see it so we could help her get a better feel of what we liked/didn’t like so she could find some more listings for us.  i was so tired at this point that after we parked the car, i didn’t even bother taking the binder out and just figured we’d take a quick peek at this last house and call it a day.

i was SO wrong.

even though this house wasn’t exactly what we were looking for, it turned out to be the one.  there was so much else that we (read: I) loved.

a few days later the realtor emailed us with some more links to additional listings to check out, but instead we made an appointment for a second viewing of the house.

that was june 17th.  i brought my dad with us to make sure he approved and things progressed pretty quickly from there.
the following day on june 18th we put in our offer and got accepted!  we signed our binder and we were on the way! here’s how the rest of the timeline went:
6/21 – we hired an inspector to come to check out the house
6/22 – the signed binder was submitted to our attorney
6/25 – the listing was officially removed – the sellers only had the house on the market for 39 days.  pretty lucky on their part!
we were away for almost two weeks in mexico so everything was on a short hiatus
7/10 – we met with our attorney for the first time to review and sign the contract and submit our good faith deposit
7/17 – the contract went over to our mortgage broker
7/18 – the mortgage broker sent us a list of documents to gather and we submitted them by the end of the day
7/20 – we stopped by the mortgage broker to submit our application and drop off a check for some fees
8/1 – we were notified that since the house we were buying is part of a community with an HOA, we needed them to fill out paperwork with their financial information.
8/4 – the HOA informed us that in order for them to fill out any information, we’d have to drop off a check for $100 to them…i know right?! so there goes another check…
8/10 – the HOA finally returned the survey to our mortgage broker
8/16 – our loan application was finally submitted to underwriting!
8/27 – we received our commitment letter from the bank
9/11 – there was a little hiccup with my student loans and my credit reports…an error on the bank’s side, it was fixed after going back and forth with them for over two weeks!
9/12 – mailed a check to pay for the bank’s surveyor
9/13 – mailed another check to the mortgage broker (see a trend here??  lots of checks…still no house!)
9/21 – signed our rate lock at 3.5%!
9/27 – finally CLEARED TO CLOSE!
10/16 – CLOSING! because of everyone’s conflicting schedules, we weren’t all able to get together until almost 3 weeks after we got the go ahead from the broker.

and there you have it…our happily ever after!  or the first part of it…

its been two months since we’ve closed and besides being exhausted and broke, we are still not anywhere close to being done working on the house.  fixing little things here and there…buying furniture…spackle, sand and painting!   its never ending!
i can see this this is consuming my life for the foreseeable future!

till next time!

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i do love summer….but hate the humidity that comes with it…

next week at this time the boy and i will be sipping on fruity umbrella drinks and lying by the pool

The week started off with a Monday night dinner at the Oxenburg’s – Amanda and I both missed a bridal shower that we were invited to last month so we decided to get together with the bride to be and have a home cooked meal…Amanda prepped the lasagna the night before so all she had to do was pop it in the oven and wait for everyone to arrive! She’s become quite domestic since she’s gotten married!  ;)

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I had a buy one get one free code for Moe’s…home of the Coke Freestyle machine!  So on Friday before our long weekend I went out to lunch with some coworkers.  Chicken burrito for me…tacos for them.  I think I like this place better than Chipotle!

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Since Friday was an early day for me I had time to do a set of my own gels at home.  I knew a manicure wouldn’t last me through the long weekend and I didn’t want to bring a bottle of polish with me for touchups so gels were the way to go.  Glitter included!

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We spent Saturday and Sunday in Cape Cod on a family trip.  After heading out to dinner at which I didn’t take ANY pictures because I forgot my camera at the hotel…the adults hung out and did adult things and got ready for bed while the kids hung out for a little while doing…uhh..kid things?  The boys had to be up at 3AM to prep for their fishing trip so it was a relatively early night for all.

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My pj’s for the weekend:

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The boy packed lucky boxers in hopes that it would lead to a good fishing trip!  And it worked!  Everyone went home with coolers packed with fish!  I *puffy heart* seabass

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Since we wanted to get back home as quickly as possible on Sunday, we decided to skip a real lunch and just stop by the 7eleven in town to pick up some snacks for the road.  Corn dog and a cheese stick for me and a sandwich for the boy.  And one can’t go to 7eleven and not get a slurpee, right?!  We even had our own slurpee bartender mixing it up for us!

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When we got home we came back to find Milo with this on his back and tufts of fur all over the floor.  This was the first time he’s been left alone without humans or another cat around over night so we think stress might have caused it…

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Slightly panicked, we called the vet the next morning and made an appointment…he said it was an allergy…to what, no one knows.  A shot, a bottle of pills and $120 later we were all back home.  How one feeds a cat pills is beyond my comprehension…but I guess we’ll find out tonight.  Side note: the turkey gained over a pound since his last visit in Jan!  Thats 20.6 lbs of cat hiding between the boy’s legs!

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We must have brought home at least 30 fish from this weekend’s trip!  I decided to try to cook one up for dinner last night Chinese style…it came out pretty good for a first time try!  I probably could have stopped cooking it a few minutes earlier…it was a little overdone and the oil that I put over it could have been a little hotter.  At least we have plenty more for me to practice on!

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Nothing too exciting going on over here…hence the lack of pictures and posts!

We tried to go biking on what was supposed to be a nice Saturday….loaded the bikes up and drove all the way to the bay…and it started to monsoon.  FAIL!

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The following week we headed back to said bay and it turned out to be a gorgeous day!   Did three runs for a total of 19 miles.  Hopefully we’ll sign up for a good bike tour this year…Hoping to be able to do at least 50 miles…we’ll see how my legs and butt fare…

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Seriously how did May come and go so quickly?!  Quickie snapshot of our Cinco de Mayo dinner at Casa Pepe.  Dinner was much better this time around than the first time we had dinner there a few years ago.  Maybe it was the pomegranate margarita that influenced me!  Actually…the boy’s paella was much better than my pork chop…we ended up switching less than half way through

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I finally found a Coke Freestyle machine!  :)  If you don’t know, I have a somewhat unhealthy addiction to cherry coke.  Yes, I’m one of those weird people that love cherry flavor…and no, I don’t think it tastes like cough medicine…  The only problem I have with the coke that comes out of it is that my cherry coke seems to be bright red!  I’ve also tried the raspberry coke (yuck), vanilla coke yuck) and cherry vanilla coke (YUCK!!).  I still haven’t figured out what the difference between diet coke and coke zero is….so i just stick to diet cherry coke   TIP: let the soda run for a little while before you put your cup under it!  Otherwise it will taste like what the person before you got! Especially if you are getting one of the Dasani water selections!

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Got my nails done with Gelish….I’m not really a fan…but its boat loads cheaper than Calgel so I give it a whirl every now and then.   My nail girl talked me into getting a little glitter on my ring finger…it made me feel extra girly

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This little asshole was trying to make me even LATER than I already was for work!  It kept squaking and honking at my car and making motions that it was going to peck at it!  I tried to go around him/her and it just ran in front of my car again!  Seriously?!  As I think back though…it was probably a mamma goose trying to clear the road for the babies to cross.

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The boy and I went out to HideChan ramen one night after work.  It was okayyy….my selection was actually better than his for once!

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We threw a fund raiser for my manager at work because her husband is going to be going through some hefty medical expenses in the next few months.  10 baskets were raffled off and lucky me won the bath and body works one!  :)  I won’t be needing soaps or lotions for a long time!

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I have been loosing out…technically not accruing vacation days…for the last two months!  So some time off was due!
The boy and I took a day off two weeks ago to do some running and pick up our glasses that were finally ready.

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 It was so peaceful at the park in the morning with almost the entire park to ourselves!  :)  And this little buddy we ran into…

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After our run and a quick shower, we were off to the  city to pick up our glasses…since the boy needed to have his lenses swapped out, we decided to stop into Cha Chang Tang for a quickie breakfast.   May I present to you…the best spam and egg sandwich I have ever had!

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Delish!

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So go figure….my vision has been the same for the last five years…and this year the doctor told me that my vision actually got better!  Above mentioned shiny new glasses…

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I caught some nasty sun glare driving home the other day…which led me to sitting in traffic for about 20 minutes…exciting life I lead, yes I know…

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The boy and I have rediscovered diners!  We had lunch at one of our local diners two weekends in a row!  Nommy! I heart chocolate egg creams!

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Ok…so who else out there does this with their waffles???  EVERYHOLEMUSTBEFILLEDWITHSYRUP

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We both ran the Bronx Zoo 5k!  It was a lot of fun…and my ‘little’ cousin had a blast!  Full post coming soon!
The start line:

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62 days until the boy and I park our asses on the beach for 9 days!  We haven’t been on a Caribbean beach since August 2010!  This is a much needed break from reality!

I plan on drinking lots of pina coladas and fruity drinks while relaxing by the pool!  I’m more of a chlorinated water type of gal…but under persuasion of the boy I’ll occasionally go into the ocean…

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Some might say 9 days is too long…but if you take away travel days (which don’t really count as part of your vacation!) its only 7 days…we live such busy and hectic lives that sometimes we need a long, relaxing vacation like this to bring everything to a screeching halt!
looking forward for some QT with him…

Got a gel manicure this weekend.  The first time trying the Gelish brand colors.  Like most soak off gel brands (excluding Calgel) the color selection pretty much sucks.  The color I chose is called black cherry.  I’m happy enough with it…and saw a few other colors that I’d be able to tolerate.  But the selection is seriously limited!

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Headed to lunch with the boy, E and NinjaCyn…surprised everyone and suggested we go to the diner instead of our usual, Viet!   I got two eggs over easy with Canadian Bacon and waffle fries instead of home fries…and a vanilla egg cream!  The eggs were slightly over cooked – resulting in less runny yolk for my toast to sop up.  I was not expecting the enormous pile of fries that came along with the substitution!  Fries were shared among all!  The boy got a Western omelette and a waffle.  Random? Yes.  Good?  Yes!

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After lunch NinjaCyn and I headed to the city for IMATS!  This is the second year it is in NY…last year was awful…this year was less awful.  But we will definitely be skipping it next year.   Not until they have more vendors there.

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On Sunday we found ourselves waking up early to go running.  Running?   Yes you heard me right.  Why?  Because Ivy, the boy, and I signed up for the Bronx Zoo 5k!  Do we run?  No.  Should suggestions/fitness challenges be made during dinner and (many) drinks?  No.   The good thing is that we were able to round up some running buddies!  We spent the day at Prospect Park where they have a 5k loop around the park.  It was tough.  I didn’t do the entire loop running.  According to my app, 2.6 out of the 3.2 miles  was spent running.  Which sounds about right since I cycled through my couch to 5k app twice.  The boy’s leg cramped really bad so he had to stop less than half way in.  Mikie could have lapped us if he chose to do another round…and Ron stayed behind with us chatting and catching up!

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Lunchtime!  What better way to reward a hard run than with some good food with good company!
There was a decent selection of trucks to choose from.  We hopped on line to get lunch and only had about a 10 minute wait.  By the time everyone else arrived to meet us the lines were outrageous!  There were about 15 trucks in total and I think between ALL of us, almost every truck was tried!

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The boy and I got lunch from the Kimchi Taco Truck.  Taco combo for him, taco bowl for me!  Rice cakes and kimchi rice balls on the side for everyone to share!  Ron and Mikie also got lunch from the same truck…although for the life of me I can’t remember what they got…except for a side of nachos!

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It was pretty warm out so we also got drinks from the Kelvin Slush Truck.  Drinks were good.  Would I wait on line for it for 30+ minutes? No.

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We found a nice seat (read: hogged an entire bench for the latecomers) right in front of the Grand Army Plaza arch.  :)   Stayed until around 5pm – thank goodness I went back to the car to get the boy’s long sleeved shirt to wear…I didn’t want to catch too much sun…and I had already felt my shoulders getting darker!  Too bad the boy and Ron didn’t do the same.  Can we say LOBSTER???  :)

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