1. First time you got kissed: How was it?
I was 13 and in the 8th grade. I kissed my "boyfriend" Curtis in my best friends garage. I remember it being sort of nasty.
2. First time you drove a car: What kind of car?
When I was 13 years old my brother (who was 17) let me drive my moms Oldsmobile, Cutlass Supreme around the neighborhood.
3. First time you scrapbooked: When you looked at your page do you love it?
I was about 15 when I made my first scrapbook. I cut out pictures and articles from soap opera digest related to days of our lives (Especially Bo and Lars). My first scrapbook album made with my own (real) pictures was made in late 2000. I ordered one of those QVC scrapbook kits and just loved my heart shaped pictures and used a ton of stickers. At the time I loved it.....now is a different story.
4. First time you went on a date: Where did you go and with who?
This is terrible to say, but I don't really remember. When I was in middle school I has a couple of "boyfriends" but we basically just hung out in the neighborhood or at my friends house - not really dates per say. So I don't really remember my first official date.....sort of sad isn't it.
5. First time you fell in love: How did you know?
This is an easy one. I fell for the first time in between my junior and senior year of high school and dated the boy through my first semester of college. I knew it was love when we broke up for a couple of weeks and all I could do was think about him. We got back together and spent the next year almost inseparable. He was my first.
6. First time you cooked for someone: Was it yummy?
LOL....I am still waiting for this day. Lucky for me, my DH is a cook!!!
7. First time you got on a plane: Where did you go? Were you scared?
I was 8 years old on my first plane trip. I had a window seat and told the man sitting next to me that I had "waited all my life" to fly in a plane. I was so excited and not scared at all. I didn't know until we got to our destination that the reason for the trip was because my grandmother had passed away. So I went from being utterly excited about my first flight to very sad about my grandmother in a matter of minutes.
8. First time you shaved your legs: Did you cut yourself?
I was 12 and my older cousin showed me how to shave. I didn't cut myself too bad.
9. First time you put one make up: Looking back how did you do? Did you look good or like a clown?
I wore make for the first time on my first day of 8th grade. I did TERRIBLE, so bad that other kids made fun of me. I washed my face and didn't wear makeup again until 10th grade - after I got some application lessons from a friend.
10. First time you moved out of your home: Was it an apartment, house, etc?
I was not quite 18 when I moved from home to my college dorm. I lived there for 1 year and then moved to an apartment I shared with 2 other girls for the remaining 3 years of college.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Monday, January 23, 2006
A pure scrapping weekend in the middle of Chaos.
This weekend was supposed to be the start of our packing madness as our physical move will happen two weeks from tomorrow. However with all of this house stuff over the past 3-4 weeks I have gotten very far behind on a scrapping commitment I made long before we decided to move. Back in November of last year I accepted an assigment to make all of the layouts (~50) and cards (~75) for the ScrapGenie display at the Stitches show (the UK version of CHA), then a few weeks later I accepted another assignment to make a 15 page travel for a special edition book. Knowing that I had plenty of time I totally procrastinated my way through November and most of December. I had 10+ days off between Christmas and new year where all I would be doing was scrapping. Yah Right! Well right before Christmas DH and I decided it was time to move to a bigger house....and all heck broke loose as we have ventured through this journey. The great news is that we found a perfect house and will be in there in just a few weeks. The bad news is that I got seriously behind in my commitments.
So this weekend instead of packing I decided to dedicate the entire weekend to scrapping. With only a few hours of exception I did just this. DH was totally supportive and tried to keep me motivated. What's even better is that I made some serious progress on my projects. The travel album was completed and mailed a little over a week ago and I am now ~80% finished with the stitches samples. I made all my GinX, Chloe's Closet, Center City, Scrapworks, Chatterbox, and BasicGrey samples completed! Now all I have left is 7gypsies (3 layouts, 5 cards), Prima (1 layout, 5 cards), MoBe (2 layouts, 5 cards), and Savvy Stamps (5 cards).....with any luck I will have this all finished and mailed by next weekend.
This week the nights must be split between scrapping and packing. I have already found that I "need" a few things I packed up during my de-clutter phase. A few things I actually had to go dig out of the garage because there was no substitue.
So wish me luck to meet my goal of getting this finished quickly so I can focus on the important task of getting ready to move.
So this weekend instead of packing I decided to dedicate the entire weekend to scrapping. With only a few hours of exception I did just this. DH was totally supportive and tried to keep me motivated. What's even better is that I made some serious progress on my projects. The travel album was completed and mailed a little over a week ago and I am now ~80% finished with the stitches samples. I made all my GinX, Chloe's Closet, Center City, Scrapworks, Chatterbox, and BasicGrey samples completed! Now all I have left is 7gypsies (3 layouts, 5 cards), Prima (1 layout, 5 cards), MoBe (2 layouts, 5 cards), and Savvy Stamps (5 cards).....with any luck I will have this all finished and mailed by next weekend.
This week the nights must be split between scrapping and packing. I have already found that I "need" a few things I packed up during my de-clutter phase. A few things I actually had to go dig out of the garage because there was no substitue.
So wish me luck to meet my goal of getting this finished quickly so I can focus on the important task of getting ready to move.
Monday, January 16, 2006
All systems are go!
After almost 60 views of our house we finally got an offer on Saturday morning that we promptly accepted. It wasn't quite as high as we hoped but for the piece of mind knowing we would not loose out on our future house it was well worth accepting below listing price. We are now 2 days into a 4 day contingency period.....Unless something dramatic happens in the next 2 days we will be replacing our "sale pending" sign with a "sold" sign after work on Wed.
All this good news does come at a price. The lady buying our house made her offer contingent on a January 31st close of escrow and a Feb 7th occupancy date. When I saw this condition my heart immediately sunk....I knew right away that I would have to bail on Wendy and skip CHA. I was so looking forward to going to the big show this year and sharing the experience with one of my best friends. So as happy I am about getting the house I am still really bummed about Vegas.
I am really glad that my daily life revolves around scheduling and deadlines or the logistics of this move would be enough to kill me. The people in our future house will not be out until midnight on Feb 6th and the person moving into our current house wants to be in on the afternoon of the 7th. So that gives Jim and I only the morning of the 7th to get moved. Since this is a weekday with such a tight schedule we will be hiring movers to help us. Good thing for us is that we don't have too much stuff (besides my scrap stuff and Jims books) so one truck load will be more than sufficient and should be quite doable in a couple of hours.
The one thing I really wanted to get done before moving in was replacing the carpet in all 4 bedrooms. Since the move timing is not going to allow us to do this, we decided to just stage our furniture and stuff in the living room, dining room, and sun room for a couple days until we can get the carpets replaced. Given that we don't already have any furniture for these rooms anyway it shouldn't be a big deal.
Between the list of upgrades to modernize the look of the house and furnishing many rooms that we don't have anything for we are going to have our hands full for probably the next two years. At this point both Jim and I are very excited about the new house and the potential to make all the upgrades to exactly our taste.
So please keep those good vibes coming until Wed when everything should become official!!!!!
All this good news does come at a price. The lady buying our house made her offer contingent on a January 31st close of escrow and a Feb 7th occupancy date. When I saw this condition my heart immediately sunk....I knew right away that I would have to bail on Wendy and skip CHA. I was so looking forward to going to the big show this year and sharing the experience with one of my best friends. So as happy I am about getting the house I am still really bummed about Vegas.
I am really glad that my daily life revolves around scheduling and deadlines or the logistics of this move would be enough to kill me. The people in our future house will not be out until midnight on Feb 6th and the person moving into our current house wants to be in on the afternoon of the 7th. So that gives Jim and I only the morning of the 7th to get moved. Since this is a weekday with such a tight schedule we will be hiring movers to help us. Good thing for us is that we don't have too much stuff (besides my scrap stuff and Jims books) so one truck load will be more than sufficient and should be quite doable in a couple of hours.
The one thing I really wanted to get done before moving in was replacing the carpet in all 4 bedrooms. Since the move timing is not going to allow us to do this, we decided to just stage our furniture and stuff in the living room, dining room, and sun room for a couple days until we can get the carpets replaced. Given that we don't already have any furniture for these rooms anyway it shouldn't be a big deal.
Between the list of upgrades to modernize the look of the house and furnishing many rooms that we don't have anything for we are going to have our hands full for probably the next two years. At this point both Jim and I are very excited about the new house and the potential to make all the upgrades to exactly our taste.
So please keep those good vibes coming until Wed when everything should become official!!!!!
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Frustrations of a home seller....
LOL, I know I am just whining but sometimes it just feels good to complain.
First a quick update. According to our Real Estate Agent our open house went well. Between the two days we had ~37 people view the house, and 2 people have come back for a 2nd look. In addition to that we have had another 15 or so people who came through last week and the first part of this week. So we have had a lot of activity but no offer yet. Our agent told us there were at least 2-3 people who were serious and that she is hoping for an offer by the end of the week. Jim and I don't want to get our hopes up too high, we are not the kind of people that have that kind of luck. So if you are sending us good home seller vibes, keep them coming.
Now back to my bitching.
I am so sick of preparing the house for show every morning. Ironically it takes me longer to get the house ready in the morning than it does to get myself ready. We have kind of got the routine down: Make the bed, fold and put the PJs away, close the closet doors, open the blinds, wet wipe the bathroom countertops, fold the blankets, and hide the non-decorative pillows that we use when watching tv, put the computer away (because the internet cord stretches across the room), and finally wipe down the kitchen counters and table. uuuuggghhh, I am so glad I am not a neat freak or perfectionist in real life. Making the house look unlived in is so time consuming.
We have this funky little closet that is under the stairs. It has a 4' door and is very hard to get in and out of. Jim and I have been hiding some of our ugly pillows and blankets in their during the day but will pull them out each night to get comfy and watch tv. Well Monday night as I was pulling our stuff out I stood up to early and banged my head on the thermostat. Out of frustration I then gave that darn thing a swat with my hand.....and yes of course I broke the darn thing. It starts buzzing really loud and didn't stop. So last night we had to have repair people come out and replace the darn thing and spent another $400 that I was not counting on. Lesson learned!!!!
I have also noticed that we are eating out more so that we don't mess up the kitchen, and I don't want to scrap unless I have at least 2 hours because it's too much to take out all the stuff for just a few minutes of scrapping and then spend all that time cleaning up. I really need to figure out how to get some scrapping done because I have a huge assignment due at the end of the month.
On top of all of this work is just crazy right now. The bad part about slowing down the last 2-3 weeks of the year is the download of stuff there is to do after we get back from the New Year. I have been asked (more like told) that my group will be expanding and I will have additional responsibilities and people to manage (not something I am really looking forward to with everything else that is going on).
OK, enough complaining and bitching for now. I promise my next post will be positive and upbeat!!!!!
First a quick update. According to our Real Estate Agent our open house went well. Between the two days we had ~37 people view the house, and 2 people have come back for a 2nd look. In addition to that we have had another 15 or so people who came through last week and the first part of this week. So we have had a lot of activity but no offer yet. Our agent told us there were at least 2-3 people who were serious and that she is hoping for an offer by the end of the week. Jim and I don't want to get our hopes up too high, we are not the kind of people that have that kind of luck. So if you are sending us good home seller vibes, keep them coming.
Now back to my bitching.
I am so sick of preparing the house for show every morning. Ironically it takes me longer to get the house ready in the morning than it does to get myself ready. We have kind of got the routine down: Make the bed, fold and put the PJs away, close the closet doors, open the blinds, wet wipe the bathroom countertops, fold the blankets, and hide the non-decorative pillows that we use when watching tv, put the computer away (because the internet cord stretches across the room), and finally wipe down the kitchen counters and table. uuuuggghhh, I am so glad I am not a neat freak or perfectionist in real life. Making the house look unlived in is so time consuming.
We have this funky little closet that is under the stairs. It has a 4' door and is very hard to get in and out of. Jim and I have been hiding some of our ugly pillows and blankets in their during the day but will pull them out each night to get comfy and watch tv. Well Monday night as I was pulling our stuff out I stood up to early and banged my head on the thermostat. Out of frustration I then gave that darn thing a swat with my hand.....and yes of course I broke the darn thing. It starts buzzing really loud and didn't stop. So last night we had to have repair people come out and replace the darn thing and spent another $400 that I was not counting on. Lesson learned!!!!
I have also noticed that we are eating out more so that we don't mess up the kitchen, and I don't want to scrap unless I have at least 2 hours because it's too much to take out all the stuff for just a few minutes of scrapping and then spend all that time cleaning up. I really need to figure out how to get some scrapping done because I have a huge assignment due at the end of the month.
On top of all of this work is just crazy right now. The bad part about slowing down the last 2-3 weeks of the year is the download of stuff there is to do after we get back from the New Year. I have been asked (more like told) that my group will be expanding and I will have additional responsibilities and people to manage (not something I am really looking forward to with everything else that is going on).
OK, enough complaining and bitching for now. I promise my next post will be positive and upbeat!!!!!
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Recent Events!!!
Yike this blog is is serious need of an update. I was all set to write a great entry about our Christmas trip to El Paso, all the cool presents I got (and additional ones I got for myself), and the nastiness of flying these days....until Jim and I decided to buy a new house.
Yup, for those who don't know already Jim and I decided while we were in El Paso that now was a really good time to sell our townhouse and get into something bigger. Something we have been thinking about for a few years and just never did anything about. So when we started the conversation for the umteenth time I just assumed it would end like all the ones before "I guess it's best just to stay put for now". But this time was different, this time we were both saying it's time to make the move.
The day after we got back from El Paso we went to a town about 30 miles north of San Jose thinking we could get more for our money. However after the drive out there we knew there was no way we could do that commute everyday for work. Plus you really can't get that much more for your money to make the commute even close to worth it. So we almost closed the door on the move once again....but decided to take a ride around our existing area first.
We live in a very nice area of San Jose (actually Campbell for those who know the area) and really wanted to stay in the area just get a bigger place that was not attached to the neighbors and where we had enough yard to enjoy the outdoors. So on Thursday 12/29 we took a dirve around our desired area and saw a few houses for sale. Only one of those houses was in our price range and from the flyer it looked cool. On Friday we made an appointment to see the house - it was exactly what we were looking for. On Saturday (new years eve) we meet with the loan officer who got us pre-qualed for a loan. On Sunday (new years day) we made an offer on the house contingent on selling our house in 30 days that the sellers accepted. On monday we listed our house for sale, and come home yesterday to a sign at our driveway and a lock box on the door.
It has been a whirlwind and it's just getting started. We really weren't ready to list our house but went ahead and did it so we didn't loose out on the house we saw. They are going to do an open house on Sat. and Sun. so there is still more that has to be done for that....mainly de-cluttering my house (hahaha, this is just a big joke to me because if I had a place to put the clutter I probably wouldn't be moving in the first place).
It's sort of funny how this just all of a sudden has over taken my life. Everything is taking a back seat to the house and I can't get focused on anything else. I do have a bunch of work related stuff that needs attention and a big scrapbook assigment that is way behind my original schedule. Yikes I just need a few more hours in each day!!!!
The next key event for us is getting a buyer for our house. We now have 28 days to find a buyer on our house or we will probably loose the new house we want. So keep your fingers crossed for me that we get a buyer soon....I am hoping for this weekend after the open house.
Yup, for those who don't know already Jim and I decided while we were in El Paso that now was a really good time to sell our townhouse and get into something bigger. Something we have been thinking about for a few years and just never did anything about. So when we started the conversation for the umteenth time I just assumed it would end like all the ones before "I guess it's best just to stay put for now". But this time was different, this time we were both saying it's time to make the move.
The day after we got back from El Paso we went to a town about 30 miles north of San Jose thinking we could get more for our money. However after the drive out there we knew there was no way we could do that commute everyday for work. Plus you really can't get that much more for your money to make the commute even close to worth it. So we almost closed the door on the move once again....but decided to take a ride around our existing area first.
We live in a very nice area of San Jose (actually Campbell for those who know the area) and really wanted to stay in the area just get a bigger place that was not attached to the neighbors and where we had enough yard to enjoy the outdoors. So on Thursday 12/29 we took a dirve around our desired area and saw a few houses for sale. Only one of those houses was in our price range and from the flyer it looked cool. On Friday we made an appointment to see the house - it was exactly what we were looking for. On Saturday (new years eve) we meet with the loan officer who got us pre-qualed for a loan. On Sunday (new years day) we made an offer on the house contingent on selling our house in 30 days that the sellers accepted. On monday we listed our house for sale, and come home yesterday to a sign at our driveway and a lock box on the door.
It has been a whirlwind and it's just getting started. We really weren't ready to list our house but went ahead and did it so we didn't loose out on the house we saw. They are going to do an open house on Sat. and Sun. so there is still more that has to be done for that....mainly de-cluttering my house (hahaha, this is just a big joke to me because if I had a place to put the clutter I probably wouldn't be moving in the first place).
It's sort of funny how this just all of a sudden has over taken my life. Everything is taking a back seat to the house and I can't get focused on anything else. I do have a bunch of work related stuff that needs attention and a big scrapbook assigment that is way behind my original schedule. Yikes I just need a few more hours in each day!!!!
The next key event for us is getting a buyer for our house. We now have 28 days to find a buyer on our house or we will probably loose the new house we want. So keep your fingers crossed for me that we get a buyer soon....I am hoping for this weekend after the open house.
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