October 1

October 1 and I have an interesting relationship. It seams that I do a lot of heavy traveling and/or have life changing experiences that begin on this date.

October 1, 2006 12:05am (or something really close)
My one way flight from Portland, OR landed at Boston Logan just after midnight. The flight attendant came over the intercom and announced our arrival, ending with "Welcome to Boston" and "Welcome Home!" I had to fight back the tears that were starting to well up in my eyes. With this one single cross country flight, I had left my life behind in Oregon to start a new on in Massachusetts. Happy anniversary to me!

October 1, 2010
Jake and I boarded a plan bound for Rochester, NY. We were on our way to a friend's fabulous wedding weekend.

October 1, 2012
After a crazy and slightly hectic experience, I made my flight and was headed off to London for a week with my BFF J.

October 3, 2013 
OK, so it's not October 1. But had things gone smoothly (apparently they never do), we would have closed on our house and been homeowners on 9/30-10/1. Instead, we will be signing the thick stack of papers this afternoon (I hope). Keep you fingers crossed for us. We are totally ready to be done with the home buying/building process and ready to move on to enjoying our home.

Our crazy home buying/building timeline

Ready? Set. Go!

• April 29, 2013 - I got a RedFin account and started browsing for homes nonchalantly. (Jake has had one for years because he likes real estate porn.)
• May through June - We saw about a dozen homes. The search started to become discouraging, so we took a step back. 
• July 9 - A new listing popped up on RedFin, without reading the full listing, we scheduled a showing for the following morning. In my defense, the listing had photos of a similarly finished home. I mistook these to mean that the house was finished.
• July 10 - First showing of our house to be. At the time frame was up, siding on, windows in, roof on, but no doors. 

Photo taken a couple of weeks after being under contract.

• July 12 - We put in an offer (and our list of customizations).
• July 13 - Seller countered.
• July 14 - We countered.
• July 15 - Seller countered.
• July 17 - Meet with builder and discuss list of customizations. We countered. And redesign of the kitchen begins.
• July 18 - Seller countered, we accept. Crazy paperwork and monies are exchanged.
• July 24-28 - FIASCO with our check (not our fault), while it all got cleared up in the end, it did make for a very stressful couple of days.
• July 31 - Kitchen redesign finalized. At this point, I thought designing a kitchen in a matter of days was the most stressful thing ever. I had so much more to learn...
• August 2 - Finalize kitchen cabinet colors while 3,000 miles away! I freaked out and until I found a retailer that carried my cabinets in PDX. They were really nice and helpful and was able to show me color swatches so that I could stop second guessing myself. (Thank you Ferguson!) In the end, I went with my gut and it was the right choice.
• August 5 - Finalized bathroom vanity colors. So much easier to do when you are in the same state as your cabinet guy!
• August 18 - Visited 2 granite wharehouses with samples of my cabinets in tow. Tip: ALWAYS bring samples and your camera. You won't remember what it looks like after you leave!

Cabinets and granite.

• August 27 - Finalized tile choices for kitchen backsplash, bathroom floors, master bath shower, and mudroom. (We gots a mudroom!!! This was a complete surprise to us.)
• August 29 - Met with The Paint Whisperer for paint color consultation. (It was the best $50 I have ever spent. I was a little wary of the colors, but I'm glad I trusted him.) 
• August 29 - Finalized the countertops.
• August 31 - Bought some wood (chair rail) and some stain to decide on our floor stain.

Instagram

• September 12 - The search for kitchen hardware begins.
• September 13 - Finally decided on the range and dishwasher and gave the OK for the builder to purchase them. Lordy, I went over budget on those items.
• September 17 - Had to switch floor stains because the floor installer and painter informed me that Varathane was not a good brand. Luckily, the replacement they recommended was the other color I had chosen to test out. Too bad that it was so long ago that I didn't remember so I freaked out and ran to Home Depot to run a second test. At the end of the day, our floors look AMAZING!!
• September 25 - Finalize cabinet hardware. Apparently our builder never got the email that I sent to him weeks before, so we are settling. It doesn't look bad, but it's not my favorite.
• September 27 - Freaked the eff out because our lender had the wrong date for closing. We were able to file for an extension, but the scheduling is a little tight. 
• September 27 - Frantic text messaging between the builder and I regarding the missing microwave and how he needed the dimensions so that the tiler could do the backsplash. UGH! So I left work early, bought the microwave I had been eyeing and dropped it off at the house. 
• September 27 - Met with our broker for a walk through, but there was so much going on with the house that it really wasn't ideal.

They're scrambling for the finish line. Sneak peak of our kitchen.

It's been a crazy couple of months. I can't wait to be done with this part of the process. Of course, once the house is finally ours, we still have a lot of work to do on it, like ordering the last of our appliances, putting in closet rods and window treatments. They say home improvements never end, even with a brand new house.

More things

Still trying to get rid of items. I should just make these first two items FREE, but let's see if I can get anything for them first. 

Bookshelf from my college days. SOLD!

Glass-top end tables from my college days. I inherited these from a roommate and never got rid of them!
SOLD!

Practically brand new dishes Jake purchased before we moved in together.
Click on photo for listing.

Looking to expand your DVD collection?

Finally put our very random DVD collection on Craigslist. Let us know if you see anything you like (we will gladly give them away, too).

Random movies, some still shrink wrapped!
Scrubs Seasons 1 and 2
Lost Seasons 3 and 4
Heroes Season 1
Grey's Anatomy Season 1
The 4400 Season 1 and 2
InuYasha Seasons 1 and 2
Naruto Uncut
Family Guy Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story
DragonBallZ

We are so backwards

Normal people have to buy more furniture when upgrading from an apartment to a home, we have to get rid of our furniture. (Yes, we bought a house! More on this later). Our new house is about 500 square feet bigger than our current digs. But we don't need 2 sofas or 3 dining sets! 

The funniest part of all this is that the most recent couch and dining table and chairs are only about a year old. 

I was able to sell my old dining set almost immediately after posting it on Craigslist. I should have sold it years since it did nothing but collect dust in our bedroom. Yes, I put a dinette set in the master bedroom. Hey, it's a huge room! Plus it was a great place to put junk. 

My dinette from Target.

If you know of folks that need furniture, send them my way, please!

Jake's old college table and chairs. SOLD!

Jake's childhood bookcase. We've been using it to display our DVDs for the last 4 years.
It's solid, but we have SO MANY bookcases. SOLD!

We don't need two sofas... SOLD!

Or the matching recliner. SOLD!

I still have some items from my college days that I need to photograph and post, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm spent. Until then, I do have a great freebie! Brand new, never been worn. Linea Paolo pumps. Size 7.5. 4" stacked heel. Padded foot bed (ball and heel). Leather (I'm pretty sure), brown with a hint of red/burgundy. Yours for the taking. 

Sad face. I love these shoes. I bought these YEARS ago, but I bought them too big. Far too big.

2 years ago

2 years ago, we threw a pretty epic party. 2 years later, we are still as crazy as ever. Happy anniversary to us!

Btdubs, Kim Kardashian, our party was better than yours. *neener-neener*

Boston Wedding Films

(Click on the image and you will be redirected to our wedding video. The password is BWF.)


*Previously blogged about here

A day in pictures: 5.15.2013

Union Square Donuts in Somerville, MA - Go there, it's totally worth the hype.

• Maple. Bacon. Donut.

Gather Here in Somerville, MA - fabric shopping for a custom quilt I'm making for a little girl. It's been a blast working with the mom on the design and picking out fabrics.

Lunch at Flour Bakery + Cafe in Cambridge, MA

• Roasted chicken, mashed avocado, and jicama sandwich (not pictured)
• Chocolate chip macaroon (not pictured)

I couldn't resist from immediately cuttin into the fabrics as soon as I got home.

How sweet is this print (Kokka, double gauze in Red Ribbon Kitty)? You should feel it, it SUPER soft.

Celebrations - Ended the night by celebrating with friends and delicious port wine they had brought back with them from their recent trip to Portugal.

Just like the last time I drank with these peeps, I went to the gym hungover the next day.