Facebook

Oh man, this was a bad idea.  After months of Ben bugging me to start a facebook account, I finally did it.  I was actually getting requests from friends to join, and the real kicker…even my mom was on it.  I stopped fighting it and signed up.

I always thought it seemed a little silly to use a website to keep up with friends.  I always used the excuse that “I don’t need the Internet to keep up with friends” but it turns out…Facebook is SO entertaining!  I have stalked so many people from high school and college and learned way more than I thought I ever needed to know. 

The downside, I’ve spent the last 4 hours doing it…not a good idea.

It really is the most beautiful place on earth.

Or at least the most beautiful place I have ever been to.  If you like that whole resort, ocean, sunshine, crashing waves, and well manicured vegetation thing, Hawaii is the place for you!  We didn’t get to see much of it since this was a very short trip, but what we did see was amazing. 

When we woke up in the morning we looked outside to see the ocean with its black volcanic rock lining the coast and in the distance across the ocean the other side of Maui and 2 other smaller islands (Ben can fill in the names here).  When the sun hit them just right they looked like they had bright red flowers growing all over them.  We saw sea turtles frolicking during our daily stroll along the beach and all kinds of fun coral, baby crabs, and urchins tucked in among the volcanic rock. 

At night, we sat at the infinity pool at the resort where there was nothing obstructing our view to watch the sunset.  We often caught the very beginning or very end but nonetheless the view was spectacular.  The night of the wedding welcome dinner we watched the sunset over the ocean and the moon rise over a large mountain in the background (Haleakala volcano).  It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen…the moon rise!  Here in IL there aren’t any mountains, or hills even, so watching the moon slowly rise up over a volcano was pretty darn cool.

For those that don’t know, we were in Maui for the wedding of 2 of our very good friends.  Their wedding was absolutely  beautiful.  They will comment on the wind but in the end, everyone could see, hear, and share in the moment of their wedding.  I was lucky to see a lot of the day-of activities since I was the official videographer of the day.  Two of my favorite moments were when the bride realized she hadn’t seen herself and went to look in the mirror…her words were something like “Damn, they did a good job, I look alright.”  I may have even seen a little water in her eyes, but I’m not sure ;)  My other favorite part was when the groom saw her for the first time-his words were “holy shit!”  He then continued to admire her for a couple minutes…then they both announced…”That’s all we got.”  If you know them…it was hysterical.

I promised the bride I wouldn’t cry and I did pretty well.  Although, I have to admit when she walked down the aisle, with her parents on each side, and looked at the groom I may have gotten a little teary.  The thing that gets me about them is that they totally understand each other.  They may make fun of the eccentric things the other one does but in the end, they get it and are there for each other.  Plus, the gravity of two of your good friends getting married…in Hawaii…gets to a girl like me…I can’t help it.

We rocked the night out with a very fun Hawaiian DJ and finished the night off chillin in the resort hot tub and pool with our college friends and the bride and groom.  The boys even serenaded us with one of their favorite songs…if you knew the song you would know it’s not as romantic as it sounds.

With my first trip to Hawaii under my belt I know that I can’t wait to go back in November for our honeymoon!

I would post a picture of the bride and groom here but I don’t want to steal their thunder…instead I will post some of my favorite pics from the trip:

It’s Official.

We are homeowners!  The lack of posts lately is a direct correlation to being a homeowner…it’s quite consuming.

All went well with the closing and move.  There was a slight blip with the realtor’s commission at closing but nothing overly time consuming.  I had everyone convinced I was wasted on OJ and vodka because I was so relaxed.  I decided that I had already saved all the money and written the check so all I had to do was sign the papers.  After all the drama over the last year and a half…the waiting, the unknown, the wondering if we could actually afford it and then watching the deal fall through, this was a piece of cake!

Our move was exhausting and a bit frustrating at times but it went well.  We hired Ben’s teenage brother and his friend which was a great help.  Note to future movers though, only hire people who have a vested interest in making sure your stuff doesn’t get damaged.  Also, only get people that have had more than 4 hours of sleep.  The boys had a long night before and weren’t overly motivated at times.  No big deal though, you can’t beat 17 year-old muscle.

We had a small snafu with the rental truck…it died and we had to find jumper cables.  It delayed us maybe 45 minutes but nothing too bad.  We also had some trouble returning the truck due to our return time being 8pm and the office closing at 7pm.  It would have been helpful if someone told us that.  I haven’t seen Ben that mad in a while.  I think his hatred of moving, exhaustion, and the Puerto Rican parade we had just driven through finally took it’s toll.

Our first meal in the new place was takeout Thai on camping chairs and beer.  Tasty.  We got an average of 5 hours of sleep a night and were pretty much exhausted the entire weekend.  We had everything pretty much settled by Sunday morning…just in time for a Father’s Day celebration with Ben’s dad and a new TV.  That’s right, within 24 hours of moving we had a brand spaking new 42″ flat screen TV resting on our fireplace.

So without much trouble, a little exhaustion, and 37 bruises on my part, we are officially homeowners and loving every second of it.

We went a week without AC, a semi-broken toilet (that I fixed!) and some of the nastiest appliances ever made.  I am currently sitting in my brand new office with massive windows and sunshine basking in the wonderful invention that is AC all the while listening to ABT (the greatest appliance company ever!) install our brand new washer, dryer, fridge, dishwasher, and range.  Ahh..it’s great. 

I continue to shove all the price tags out of my mind…

Pictures to come…once we buy some furniture!

Power

The power in my hotel room has flickered on and off a few times now…the TV has lost signal.

This should be a fun night.

Closing

I got a call today from our loan officer letting me know that he had a final number for our closing costs and that he had emailed me all the papers.  Great!  I open up the document and scroll to the bottom line, and instantly begin to shake.  Miraculously, our closing costs had jumped $12,000.  Not $200, not $1200 even, those numbers are expected, but TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS?!?!  Panic ensued.

After scouring all the numbers I realized he had our purchase price wrong…way wrong.

Everything is better now and they are actually a couple hundred dollars less than expected.

MD

More traveling adventures…

Yesterday the alarm went off at 3:30am, so you can imagine my need for caffeine when I landed in Baltimore.  I played with the rental car GPS for a while (they changed the software on me) and found the nearest Starbucks.  I drove there and guess what?  It doesn’t exist.  OK, it happens occasionally with the GPS search function.  I type it in again and drive to the next closest Starbucks.  Guess what?  It doesn’t exist either!  On 4 hours of sleep my patience is even shorter than usual.  I gave up and continued on my hour long drive to my next destination.  On the way, I saw one of those interstate “Food” exit signs with the big shiny green Starbucks logo.  BINGO! 

I continued with my sales calls, latte in hand.  Around 3:30pm I realized I hadn’t eaten much and started my search for some decent food.  No such luck-I ended up at Burger King.  This one had one very distinct attribute missing…it didn’t have a drive through.  Odd right?  I walked inside to order and noticed random handwritten signs all over the menu.  They said things like “no tomatoes” and ”sold out of chicken fries, sorry.”  Darn!  I really had my heart set on chicken in the shape of french fries.  I always wonder why people don’t just order the nuggets…they’re just as convenient and disgustingly good.  I ordered my chicken sandwich, fries and a coke.  I later found out the coke was flat, lovely.  OK, this part is mean:  A younger man with a big potbelly waddled up to the counter in his tank top and cotton shorts and ordered a…drum roll please…a double whopper with double cheese and in case that wasn’t bad enough, extra mayo.  Mmmm, heart attack waiting to happen.  To make it all better I won I free cheeseburger with the Indiana Jones pull-off tab on my flat coke cup.

This morning I also had a small adventure trying to find a Starbucks.  I asked the hotel receptionist where the nearest one was and he directed me down the street.  On my way, I realized I had been there before and was relieved that I wouldn’t have to search again.  What can I say, I have my routines when I travel and I can’t stray from them.  I pull into the parking lot at 8am and notice the parking lot was a little empty.  I park, get out of the car and make my way to the door.  Guess what?  It just so happens that this particular store is among the many Mr. Starbucks is closing.  Nuts!  I get back in the car, frustrated, and decide to head to my destination.  In the same parking lot I noticed a Safeway and guess what?  They have a Starbucks!  I have a particular dislike for non-stand alone Starbucks…I always say they are fake because they don’t actually carry the full product line.  To my credit, they aren’t 100% authentic.  Nonetheless, I got my grande nonfat latte and cranberry scone.

As I was in line to get my morning latte the girl in front of me ordered a carmel machiatto with…are you ready…with double carmel, extra whip cream, and with whole milk.

My goodness…what is with all the doubles in MD?

And another bit of randomness…the Chicago readers will appreciate this…I also saw gas for $3.99!  The last time we filled up in the city, gas was $4.59 a gallon and we happened to be filling up my mom’s Suburban.  We put $30 in and it barely had a quarter of a tank.

City Hall

Again, today I attempted to get our city parking permit.  The last time I tried they informed that they would not be available for sale until June 1.  That was after I walked all over the city trying to find City Hall.  For some reason, I always have a brain fart when it comes to the address…I’ve been there about 10 times, you think I would remember.

Anyway, work was a little slow this afternoon and my night time date was cancelled so I thought I would get a jump start on my evening activities downtown.  What better time than to tack on the parking pass “to-do” right?  So I get on the bus at 4:30 and realize that I am cutting it a little close, since City Hall closes at 5.  I sat there willing the bus to go faster but Michigan Ave at 4:30pm does not move at blazing speeds.  I jumped off the bus a little early at 4:45 and raced to City Hall (I remembered the address this time). 

It was like a scene out of the movies…As I crossed the cross walk in front of City Hall I glanced at a lady’s watch and saw that it was about 1 minute to 5:00 (I secretly hoped her watch was wrong).  Then as I walked into the building I hear the bells at a nearby church ringing…which could only signal one thing.  I start running to the Transportation Office and as the door comes into view I see a police officer’s arm reach up to lock the door, then, click.  Ugh.  So close.

Instead of pleaing my case and beg that they let me in-which I knew would be a total waste of breathe (this is Chicago PD afterall) I sulked off sweaty and pissed off.  Did I mention that is is 87 and humid in the city today?

To calm myself, I did what I always do.  Stopped at  McDonald’s and got myself a coke- if it’s a really bad day I also get french fries.  I then proceeded down Michigan avenue to return some things and buy some raunchiness for an upcoming bachelorette party.

You know you’re moving when…

You make yourself the most gloriously disgusting lunch of bacon and eggs because that is all you can find to eat.  We’ve started to purge our food supplies and we seriously have nothing to eat.

Mmmm.

Closing Time

It’s official, we have a closing date for our new *potential* condo.  Hopefully on June 13th around 11am I will be able to stop calling it our *potential* new place.  It’s been a confusing road to get to where we are but I think all the realtors, lawyers, loan officer, appraiser, and title company are all on the same page.  They’ve also all finally remembered to include me in this loop which was a nice change.

Now it’s time to schedule the move-out, schedule the move-in, change our mailing address on everything, pack, unpack, change the name on the utilities, cancel utilities, arrange for cable and Internet, make arrangements for the animals, write a helluva bunch of checks, schedule our new appliance delivery (a huge bone of contention between us), and clean the heck out of both places!

It should be a fun and exhausting few weeks.  Did I mention that neither one of us is going to take time off of work, I’ll be out of town next week, and we are going to Hawaii on the 19th?

Vote!

I recently got involved with a group called Girls on the Run in Chicago.  It’s an organization based on teaching little girls confidence and how to feel comfortable with themselves during some of the toughest years…late elementary school and middle school.  They use running as a form as motivation, exercise, team building, and an overall way to improve their minds and bodies. 

I was particularly drawn to the organization because I happened to be one of those little girls that everyone made fun of and really didn’t feel comfortable with myself until high school.  It may just be coincidence, but it was at the same time I joined my high school track team.  Running was finally something I was good at and enjoyed at the same time.  I met people like me and life started to make a little more sense.

I don’t have any direct influence with the little girls but I am helping with the 5K race that culminates their program.  This Saturday I will see 2,000 little girls and their families running for the same cause.  It’s not to see who finishes first, but for everyone to work toward a common goal and to prove to themselves that they can do anything they put their minds to.

There is a special member of the program named Nichyria.  She’s been with GOTR for 2 years now, and is looking forward to running yet another race.  Nichyria has been nominated for a special Youth Achievement ESPY and needs your vote.  Please take a look at her video and VOTE FOR NICHYRIA!  Just last week she was in 5th place but with the support of GOTR she has pulled into first!

If anyone wants to volunteer, let me know!