Hunting Season...

We've looked at a few houses, probably less than 10 so far. We have made one offer, lost one offer and haven't found "the one" quite yet. It seems that there is something to put into the "con" column with each place, which is to be expected. But here is the low down.

We've seriously looked at two houses. House #1 we will call Leona, House #2 we will call Barton.

Leona was quite a fixer upper, but we really liked it, and we also liked the price. We went after work one night with our real-estate agent and at first glance, it looked like we might have found a keeper. The next morning I went with my Dad to check out all the details that I would over look. Boy, was there so much more that I noticed in the light of day with an experienced person at my side. The plumbing was not up to code, the ENTIRE back yard was cement, no grass, a huge 30 year old in ground pool in the middle of the yard, gross bathroom and needed all new windows. This house pretty much looked like it was half assed by the last owner, nothing was finished and what was finished was just half-assed. There were a LOT of random things going on in there that just didn't make sense. After spending about two hours walking around the house and yard with dad, we decided to pass. Too much to do and not enough time to do it. PASS.

Barton defintely need A LOT less work. Just some small details to work out, cosmetic things and minor updates (like insulation around the bay window, finishing the deck, putting up some drywall in the dining room, etc) but it was all stuff that we could do ourselves. It just needed some TLC and appliances, we can do that. Again, we looked at it with the real-estate agent at night and went to check it out again the next morning with my dad. Dad ok'd the house, but we all had slight concerns about the neighborhood. It wasn't ideal (to say the least) but it wasn't horrible either. I think we just got over excited about finding something in our price range that didn't need to be updated to such a degree, so we put a bid on it. We offered about $10,000 less than the asking price, because it was definitely over priced for the neighborhood. That was Saturday afternoon. On Monday we find out that the selling agent had another offer that came in over the weekend. Cool, no big deal. By Wednesday we find out that there are 4 additional offers on the house and the bank is asking that everyone bring their Highest and Best offer and they will go from there. Well, after thinking about it, Justin and I just weren't as intersted in the house anymore and still thought it was pretty overpriced, so we went up about $2500 in our price and called it a day. We found out Friday evening that we didn't get the house, and I think it was more a sigh of relief that we didn't end up with a house in a neighborhood that we weren't 100% on. So in the end, it was a good thing.

We are now interested in a condo that we found. The neighborhood is perfect, close to the expressway for me (I work in Downtown Detroit, and we are looking in the Livonia/Plymouth/Canton area), its got a neighborhood/suburban feel but is also close to shopping, our families, etc. The condo is on the higher end of our price range, which sucks, especially with association fees, but it only needs some new carpet, paint and a good scrub down. It's a little smaller then what we initially wanted, but we could deal with that. We don't plan on having kids for a good 5 years or so, so we could upgrade when needed and still get our moneys worth out of it and get our investment back (hopefully). It's even big enough to raise the first kid in if we needed to. So right now we are just waiting to hear about what offers/info the sellers agent has for this condo. I would really like to put an offer in on it soon, so hopefully we'll get some good news tomorrow.

That's all I really have right now. If I have some updates tomorrow I will definitely post them.

Here's hoping!

Giving Thanks, Giving All My Money to Black Friday!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving All!

This weekend is always a busy one for my family, much more so than Christmas. We have Thanksgiving at our house, so Thursday morning is usually spent cleaning and setting up the table for the arrival of my Grandma and other random family members that show up from year to year. On Friday my sister and I get up early to go shopping. This has been a tradition that my mom, aunt and grandma started a LONG time ago and my sister and I started our own tradition about four years ago. We shop on our own, but meet mom, my aunt and grandma for lunch to catch a second wind. Saturday is our extended family Christmas party, this has been a tradition long before I was alive, we have about 40 people that gather the Saturday after Thanksgiving and this year was our turn to host. Sunday is defintely the day of rest, but by the time Sunday comes I have no energy to do anything anyway.

This year Thanksgiving was pretty laid back, just grandma and Justin joined us for dinner, so it was relatively small. Justin and I traveled over to his grandparent's house after dinner to have dessert with his parents, grandparents and aunts family. It was a nice day. Lots of food, lots of laughter and lots of shopping preparation.

Friday morning my sister and I got up at 3am to get ready to head out into the craziness that is known as Black Friday. We started at JCPennys which opened at 4am, we ran in grabbed a gift for mom that we knew we wanted and then jumped in line before booking it out of there in time to get in line across the street at Target. We pulled into the parking lot to see a group of people standing in front of the store and got out to find that a line was wrapped around to the back of the building. We ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes, and for someone who didn't bring a coat (because I didn't expect to be standing outside... I thought we would take longer at JCPennys) I have to say it was absolutely freezing. Not as bad as it could have been, but freezing none the less. When we got through the doors Laura (my sister) and I started running to the middle of the store where they had the LCD TVs that I wanted. There were no carts left, so I ended up dragging a 40 inch LCD Flatscreen throughout Target while trying to dodge all kinds of crazies. After a pretty short line, a wait for Laura to get through line (we ended up getting sperated because she had more to shop for and I wasn't about to drag that dang TV around the store to shop), a failed attempt to get the TV to fit into my sisters car, a call to Mom to have her come outside and help me carry the TV to my aunts car and another stint in the freezing cold waiting for mom, I got my TV!!!! Justin and I are forgoing Christmas presents this year so we are splitting the cost of this TV so we have a nice one to put in our house (whenever we get one). From there Laura and I did a lot more shopping that resulted in quite a few presents, a wedding band for me and complete exhaustion!

Saturday was the family party, and OH the drama that is involved with family parties. Honestly, I don't want to get into it because It's just too much to explain and will probably annoy me further.

So today I spent my time watching the Monk Marathon on USA and gluing the cork onto the back of my coasters. This was about all I had energy for today after the past 4 days, so at least I feel semi-accomplished.

I'll update in a little while about the house hunting. We've made some progress :)

Understanding Team Jacob

So, unless you've been living under a rock for the past month, you are well aware that "New Moon" came out this weekend in theaters. I first have to admit that I am a big fan of the series, both books and the movies. In the past I have not been much of a reader, but once I graduated college I started reading for pleasure, and the Twilight series was a major part of that transformation in my life. I have read three out of four of the books about 4 times each. The other book was my least favorite, so I have read it 1.5 times (only reading my favorite parts the second time). I am not sure what it is about the series that draws me in and keeps me reading, but there is something that does. The writing is nothing special, but the characters in the book are slightly underdeveloped and there are definitely some holes in the story line, but I cannot help but become fully obsorbed in these stories.

Twilight (book): I really enjoyed the book, it's what got me sucked into the series as a whole and have found "new things" each time I've read it.






Twilight the Movie: eh, it was alright. It was too dark and the characters love story got the shaft. A LOT of the things were taken out of the movie for time/editing and I was quite disappointed, that didn't stop me from pre-ordering the 3 disc edition from Amazon three months ahead of time.

New Moon (book): I found this book extremely boring and long in the middle, but the end has some of my favorite parts and some great story twists and turns. I am extremely thankful that I kept with it even with the desire to quit half way through.




New Moon the Movie: I was plesantly surprised. It was much better than the first movie. Most of the story from the book was part of the film, the soundtrack was ok (not as good as Twilights) but everything from the acting, characters, lines, cinematography, etc were SO MUCH BETTER!! I completely enjoyed this movie and plan on seeing it again. It also made me understand a character that I hated in the book, Jacob Black was played brilliantly by young actor, Taylor Laughtner (or however you spell it) and it made me believe his side of the story and feel for him, which is something the book NEVER did!

So the moral of the story?
Did I enjoy the book series? yes.
Do I think the writing was sub-par? absolutely.
Would I vote for Stephanie Meyer to win the Pultzer? Not a chance.
Do I watch/read/obsess over everything Twilight related? yep.

I have been sucked in, and I'm not afraid to admit it ;)

On a quick side note, we have put an offer in a house and are waiting to hear back from the bank to see if it was accepted. Hopefully we will hear soon.

More to come soon,
Em.

The Hunt for a House Begins...

So we officially started the house hunt last week, this is the reason for my MIA status lately.

Apparently when I get a new "project" I obsess over it until my brain turns to mush, so I have literally done nothing but look for houses/condos online, in neighborhoods and exchange e-mails with my realtor for the past two weeks. We've seen a couple good houses, but nothing we would seriously put an offer on. We had one house that we were serious about until we saw it in the daylight, lol. It ended up needed WAY more work then originally thought. I took my dad to see it with me the day after Justin and I checked it out and the two of us spent a good two hours looking at every inch of the house. In the end there was just too much to fix and not enough funding/time for us to do it. It wasn't my dream neighborhood either, I would have been settling for a neighborhood I'm not crazy about, so I guess it's good my dad is meticulous and gave me the truth about the house.

Right now we're going back and forth between getting a house and condo. Here is the low down:
Condos are are much more updated, usually come with appliances, a little cheaper and don't require me to actually take care of outdoor things. The downside of condos: association fees and neighbors that are super close!
Houses in our price range (in our favored neighborhoods) are going to need quite a bit of work (we're talking more then paint and carpet) and we would most likely have to settle for an area that we aren't in love with. This scares me, as does being financially responsible for owning a house and taking care of the outside and any structural things that go wrong. I think (in the words of my mother) "the first couple years of marriage are hard enough, do you really want to be remodling a house at the same time?" um... NO I don't!

Moving on to other things...
BLACK FRIDAY IS FAST APPROACHING!
I have a love-hate relationship with black friday. One year I will love it, the next I will despise it and all the crazies that come along with it. I get anxiety in crowded places and that anxiety usually makes me crabby so me+no sleep+way too many people in one department store = crabby emily.
So I will usually decide the night before if I really want to make the effort to get up and chase down all the crazies for $10 off a DVD collection or a crock pot. The funny thing is, I usually end up shopping more for myself then anyone else, which is NOT the point of going out, but whatever. I checked out this years Target ad and have finally found a plan for completing my DVD collection before the "big move". Target is having AWESOME sales on DVD series, and this will be an excellent present for people to get me so when I move out, I will be able to take all my favorite shows with me. Over the years my mom, sister and I have collected a lot of TV series, but not all of them are mines, so they can't come with me. bummer. So this years Christmas list will be filled with seasons of The Office, Friends and Sex and the City. Love it!

So, I think last time I wrote, I promised some invitation mock-ups... well I'm still working on that. And by "working on that" I mean, I haven't started so leave me alone :P
That will be a Thanksgiving break project... hopefully.

This weekend is the Mary Kay party and New Moon date with Rachel. I'm super excited about it and will post some more info on what it is later. Maybe tomorrow.

So this will be all for now, gotta save something for tomorrow :)

Wish me luck on my house/condo hunt tomorrow, got 3 places to look at after work!

Mini Breakdown

Yep. I had one. It was irrational, but I knew it would happen, and I'm sure it won't be the last one I have on this topic. Justin and I have decided to start looking for apartments soon so we can finally move in together. Now, I cannot wait to live with him and have my own space, but I had a  mini breakdown thinking about not living with my parents and waking up on Christmas morning not in my bed, having to do everything for myself, etc. I have lived in the same house my ENTIRE life, slept in the same bed (for most of my life) and have never lived on my own. Just a mini crisis, and I'm glad I got it out. I know when it comes to "moving day" I will probably have the same breakdown again, hopefully Justin will understand. I just feel overwhelmed with the "real world" idea. Money, life, work, money, bills, money, cleaning, cooking, MONEY! AHHHH!

Ok. I'm better now.

On a different note, I am going to attempt the bottom of the coasters this week. Mom and I bought a roll of cork from JoAnn Fabrics with a coupon (ended up being less than $5) and some E6000 (aparently it's the "mack daddy" of craft glue) so we'll see how it goes. We've got 90 coasters down, not sure how many more to go. I am in the process of deciding between 2 and 4 coaster sets for each person... After the coasters I'll be going into "Invitation mode". I need to get AT LEAST a perfect mock-up so I know what the hell I'm going to do when it comes to crunch time. I have quite a few ideas and am SUPER excited about the custom embosser I bought online a couple weeks ago. I can't wait to post some pictures, so keep your eyes open for some fun updates this week, I know I have been slacking lately. Hopefully I will be back into full swing this week.

More Later :)

DIY Coasters

Alright ladies! Here we go: These are the instructions for the DIY coasters I have been talking so much about. Please remember I got the idea from a Knottie: TheSaltyPeanut I found her and her outstanding bio on the DIY board. (I just went to the bookmark I had for her bio, so I could link it, but it seems to be gone).

What you need:
4x4 (or whatever size you want) White Ceramic Tiles
- I found the tiles at Lowe's (& Home Depot) for $.16 a piece, they come individually or in boxes of 80
Modge Podge
White Ceramic Paint (small bottle)
Small foam brushes
- These can be found at any craft store, I got them 20/$1 at Michaels during a Back to School sale.
Scrapbooking paper
Water Based Acrylic Coat
- I used Minwax Water-Based Polycrylic found in the wood stain aisle of Lowe's/Home Depot.


The Coaster Process:
 Tips:
*Doing them in sets of 20 - 30 at a time works best, it's not overwhelming and works best with timing for the Modge Podge layers.

*The coasters I used had bare edges, so I used the white ceramic paint to cover the sides.
*I leave the coat of Acrylic on for sometimes up to 3 days just to ensure that is as dry and set as possible.
 

1. Cut the scrapbook paper so it is 1/4 inch smaller on all sides then the tile (4 inch tiles will have 3 3/4 inch squares)

 



2. Cover the bare edges of the tile with the white ceramic paint. Depending on your type of paint or your amount of OCD you may need two coats. My first couple of batches I used two, but realized that there aren't noticeable differences between those with one layer and those with two. Stacking the coasters at varying angles will make it easy to pic them up without disturbing the paint on the edges.

 



3. Once you get through all of the tile edges take one of the tiles and put a layer of Modge Podge on the surface of the tile. 
 

4. Take one of the scrapbook paper squares and put it on top of the Modge Podge. To ensure the edges are going to stick to the tile, but a thick layer around the edges of the scrapbook paper by smashing the brush down around the edge. Then smooth an entire layer of Modge Podge on top of the paper. It's ok if it looks white, it will dry clear shortly. Do this to all of the tiles you have, laying them flat on a garbage bag in the order in which you do them. 

5. Once you've put the first layer on all the tiles start with your first one again, and put another Modge Podge layer on. (If you are doing a smaller batch give the tiles about 20 -30 minutes to dry in between layers) You will do this again so you have three Modge Podge layers on each tile. Leave them for about 4 hours to give the Modge Podge time to dry. 




6. Once the Modge Podge is dry (it may be slightly tacky, but it will be almost completely dry) put a thin layer of the Acrlyic coat on each of the tiles and leave them laying flat on the garbage back overnight so the acrlyic will set.

The next step would be to put whatever you want on the bottom so they won't scratch up table tops. I haven't gotten to this process yet, and once I do I'll post some instructions.


 Good Luck! Let me know if you have any questions, I will double check my instructions to make sure I didn't leave anything out :)

Bad Blogger!

I have been a bad blogger for the past couple of weeks. I have meant to come on here and tell my small following about my life, but I just never got to it. So accept my appologies :)

So my first excuse for not writing is that my sister came home for a surprise visit for a couple days. We spent three days shopping, eating and I spent an evening making her Mr. Potato Head Halloween costume (pictures of the costume to come).

Excuse #2 I have been going through a wedding hiadous lately. I just can't seem to get myself into the DIY, wedding mode BUT with the recent arrival of my Enagement pictures that need is starting to come back.

I'm sure everyone that reads my blog has seen my e-pics already, but I'll post a couple anyway. These are some of my favorites.

So this is all for a couple hours, I am off to do another round of my shower favor coasters (I'm taking pics this time). I'll be back in a little while to put up some pictures and instructions for the coasters as well as some pumpkin pictures from yesterday (Halloween).

Happy Sunday!