Without Further Ado

I've been waiting to post this blog until it was official, and I think it's safe to post it now. Stephen bought a house! A big house. A classic, New England house. A house we get to turn into our home.
It's a multi-unit property (2 family) and we'll be renting out the bottom unit while we occupy the top unit. It's about 2300 sq. ft. total, and the units are identical in size and layout, with the exception that the top unit has a massive walk-in closet in the hallway. Each unit has 2 bedrooms, one bath, a living room, separate dining room with built-in china cabinet, massive eat-in kitchen, and enclosed, 3-season front and rear porches. There are original oak hardwood floors in all rooms except the kitchens and bathrooms, a wine cellar in the basement and a huge walk-up attic that is perfect for storage.

So without further ado, I give you "The House:"

The exterior.
Note the addition of the 2-car garage - a rarity in NE, and a benefit come winter time. We've also got two designated on-street parking spaces allotted to our house for the tenants who occupy the second unit.
The Living Room - aren't the floors gorgeous?
They'll be even better when we sand them and make them shine!
The dining room
Our kitchen.
The downstairs unit's kitchen is pink, but I love that this kitchen has a spot ready-made for a dishwasher - a MUST for me (as anyone who has read my blog knows!)

And finally... my FAVORITE part of the house:

The lavender lavatory - circa 1965!
Ok, so it's not really my favorite part of the house - in fact, it's my least favorite part. Apparently lavender was the "it" color in 1965 and you'll notice that the bathroom is floor-to-ceiling lavender - including the bathtubs, sinks and toilets. My favorite part though: the frosted swans etched onto the glass shower doors.

So there you have it. Our house. There's a lot of work that has to go into it - including resanding the floors, tearing down wall paper and painting the walls, installing windows, tackling the kitchen and one day updating the bathroom - but it's going to be awesome.

*AHEM* - So Much to Do, So Much to Say

It's been 10 days since I last blogged and it's not because I have nothing to say - rather, it's because I've been a busy little bee lately. So here's a quick recap of the past 10 days' happenings, with more to come later:

1) It's official: Stephen bought a house! I've been waiting to talk about it until it was *official*, but he signed P&S last week, got his lending secured last Monday and closes May 16th so everything is set. Pictures to come soon.

2) Spring is in the air. The weather is awesome, the birds are chirping and daffodils are growing wild on the side of the road. It's my first *real* spring (Texas doesn't have them - or really seasons for that matter - it's just hot and hotter) and it's beautiful!

3) Stephen and I went to NYC to visit Ann. Pictures and China Town Express horror stories to follow.

So there's the synopsis. To the dear friend who sent me an e-mail saying that "It's kinda hard to browse the internet when people don't update their blogs in a timely manner," I hope this will help your afternoon. And if it doesn't, I promise that the soon-to-come photos of our house and trip to NYC will help you out.

Take Me Out to the Monstah

Stephen and I made our first trip to Fenway on Wednesday to watch the Sox take on the Detroit Tigers - you'll remember this game was one of Stephen's birthday presents.

This ballpark is so amazing! There's not a bad seat in the house as you can see from this photo of our view from the right field grandstand.And while this wasn't baseball like I'm used to in Texas - you know, an awful team but awesome spring weather - it was a great time! We're really looking forward to our return to Fenway soon!

The Green Monstah (Monster) - the pride of Fenway - is behind Stephen's shoulder

Gaming Survey

Do you like playing video games?

Yes?

Well then, read on.

A friend of Stephen's is working on his Master's in video game design at MSU (go Green!) and needs your help. Please follow this link and watch a short trailer for a new video game that's coming out and then click on the survey link below the trailer to take a REALLY brief survey.

This would really help him out and would be super awesome of everyone!

Thanks all!

ROCK...CHALK...JAYHAWK

After a thrilling season, some minor upsets (yeah I'm talking to you Tom Izzo), some office trash talk and a really good finale, I'm thrilled to report that the Kansas Jayhawks defeated Memphis in overtime last night and won yours truly some money in the office pool!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I usually don't bet on sports because I never win, but I did win yesterday. Well, I won second place out of 27... not bad! And boy am I glad to have won. After hanging near the bottom of the brackets through the first and second rounds, my picks finally started to pan out. And thanks to the fact that virtually everyone else in the office had UNC going to the final, and even fewer who picked Kansas in the final actually had them winning, I sprang ahead from 7th or 8th yesterday to taking second place.

So, from one Big 12 alumni to Jayhawk nation, congrats on winning the championship last night!

Crazy Go Nuts

Work has been NUTS this week! Most of my team members were out for training or vacation or illness which pretty much left me in charge of making things happen. And while it was very fast paced, I was inadvertently given the opportunity to show what I'm capable of doing and that I can be relied upon to get the job done right.

My hard work paid off - I received kudos from a couple of my supervisors for getting things done AND everything clicked. I'm now "getting" this technology thing and I'm comfortable pitching reporters about continuous data protection and virtualization. As a result, I managed to secure 5 media and analyst briefings for my client's product launch! YAY for me!!!

Since it's been crazy for everyone around the agency (as the end-of-month usually is since we're busy doing status reports for our client) Racepoint rewarded us with an afternoon of bowling and beer.
It was good times had by all - thanks RPG!

(Future) Greatest of All Time

I have always thought of myself as athletic. I was the fastest runner on my lacrosse team in college -- and probably the meanest defender too - I don't remember how many yellow cards I got for playing too aggressive. But I played well and did my job as a defender.

So it's a little frustrating that I'm not a natural at volleyball. I think 90 percent of it has to do with the fact that I'm not confident when playing and that shows in my performance. Last night was especially hard. I jammed by thumb attempting to set the ball during warm ups and couldn't focus the rest of the evening. I made some good saves and even had some other players from opposing teams tell me that I did good - and give me pointers - but I was not happy with my play.

But rather than get too down on myself I've signed up for a skills class. So one night a week for the next 2 months I will be learning volleyball skills - digging, bumping, setting, serving overhand, and playing defense. It's a beginner's session so I will be with other people at my level; that will definitely help with my confidence. I'm really looking forward to building the confidence and learning the skills I need to help out our team. First session starts tomorrow - I'll keep you updated on my status.

Fingers Crossed

Stephen put an offer on a house this weekend! A nice house... a GREAT house... and we learned yesterday that the owner has verbally agreed to Stephen's offer. It's not anything to get our hopes up, but it's a really good sign.

If all works out, Stephen could own this house by mid-May!

More to come, but keep your fingers crossed that he gets this house!