Potato Soup and The Office Marathon

Happy New Year bloggers :)

So I had planned to make a trip to the Outlet Mall in Howell this afternoon, but after a crappy nights sleep, an inch of snow on the ground and pure feeling crappiness I decided to stay home. I am getting some Mary Kay stuff done, watching season 4 of The Office and eating some of mom's famous "After Christmas Potato Soup". Sounds like a pretty decent afternoon if you ask me.

I've been sick for about a week or so, hasn't been terrible, just enough to be annoying and make me sleepy all the time. I have found that I tend to get upper respiratory problems when my allergies or a cold kick in this time of year. This is the worst it's been so I decided last night to pick up a fancy new humidifier for my night stand. I gotta say, it works pretty well. I only woke up once in the middle of the night fighting to breath instead of three, haha. So we're making progress.

We got some bad news on the condo yesterday. Well, good news and bad news actually.
Good News: The condo appraised for less than what our original price was, which means that the seller can either lower the price to the appraisal amount OR we have the option to put up the money or walk away.
Bad News: Our seller owes more on the condo then what the appraisal price is, so she couldn't put the condo at the lower price. Well, I am not about to pay $8,000 more then what a home is worth, just not going to happen.

We decided to walk away, then I got a call from our Real Estate agent (who is great btw, if you're looking for an agent let me know and I will give you her info) and she said the seller's current mortgage company will take 3 days to decide if they are willing to take the lower price or let us walk away. So we are in limbo until sometime next week. Talk about anxiety.

We've already formed our registries around this house, so we would have to redo everything which isn't a huge deal, just inconvenient. Oh well... we shall see.

I am now off to finish some Mary Kay stuff, got some paper work and calls to make. Then it's off to get ready for a lazy NYE with Justin. I will probably blog later (or tomorrow) about my "List for 2010" :)

Be Safe, Have Fun and Happy 2010!

Condo, Christmas, Craziness... Oh My!

So, I have about a half an hour left in my day, so I figured I would use it to update you fine people :)

On the housing front:

Our offer was accepted on the condo!! We are in the middle of getting our appraisal back and waiting for closing. We ended up offering $2000 less then the asking price, asking for the fridge (all other appliances were already included, we wanted the matching fridge, lol) and closing costs. They are going to do all 3, as well as fix some things we found during the inspection!! Once its ours, I will post some before and after pictures. I cannot wait to paint and make a home out of it!

Holidays:
Christmas was great, pretty low key, but great. We have 4 celebrations that we attend so it was jam packed with food, family and presents. Christmas Eve we always go to 10pm service, sit in the balcony to watch the signing of "Silent Night" by candle light. It's my favorite part of Christmas Eve :)

Christmas day is pretty crazy. This was my last year waking up at my parent's house for Christmas (more on how I feel about that later), usually my sister and I wake up first and then get the parents up, but... as we've aged it ended up being more about my parents waking up first and Laura and I following after. We have Christmas, just the 4 of us (or 7 of us, including the cats). Later Justin comes over for his little Christmas with us/breakfast. In the afternoon we go to my grandmas to have Christmas with her and my mom's brothers. It used to be a huge family affair, but after marriages/divorces it's become more about the five of us (my immediate family), my grandma and whatever uncle decides to show up. For the passed couple of years we have a second Christmas at my grandma's, the day after. This is my favorite one, it's "Aunt Judy" Christmas. My Aunt Judy, cousins, my family and grandma get together to have a smaller, more casual day. This year was pizza and cake, lol. Then Jusin and I jet off to have Christmas with his family. It's crazy, but I guess that's the nature of the beast.

New Years Eve is really not a big deal in my family, never has been. Usually Justin and I go out with his family/boating friends to a bar, but this year we are doing our own thing. We're stopping by Applebees for dinner to visit our friend, Brandon, then going back home to watch some movies. We usually end up wanting to leave the bar around 11:30 anyway, so this year we'll stay home, save money and celebrate just the two of us :)

I am more looking forward to the time off work then the actual holiday. I'm also going to hit up the Outlet Mall in Howell on NYE, so that is exciting. Hopefully it isn't crazy busy, because I'm not big on crowds... especially while shopping. NY Day, we will be finishing up our registry at JCPenny and meeting with Justin's grandparents for lunch.

That's really been the main focus for my life lately. I've got my Mary Kay grand opening coming up soon, and have to start getting my behind in gear! Next week is going to crazy. My birthday is next Thursday, then I have my Grand Opening that weekend, nothing like jamming it all in at once :)

I'll come back with some more details and be a little less vague tomorrow. I'm not being a very good blogger... I just come in to give a monthly update, which I'm sure is no fun for anyone!

Until tomorrow, be safe and stay warm!

Pink Cadillac

So a couple things have happened since my last update.
First, we put an offer on a condo, and then found out that the bank was already working with another offer (which we were told otherwise) so we promptly lost that one.
Tonight, we went out and looked at another condo and fell in love with it. It's perfect for us and is private owned, so no bank to deal with. It's got 4 bedrooms (His and Hers offices - YES!) and brand spanking new kitchen and all appliances are included. The neighborhood isn't 100% what we were looking for, but it will be ok for us for the next 5 - 6 years before we start thinking about having little kiddos.

In other news, I am working towards becoming a Mary Kay consultant. I had that party in November, and after taking some time to think about it, going to a MK training session to meet some of the ladies and get some great advise from my unit leader and coach, I have decided to take the plunge. I have always wanted to start my own business and this is the perfect way for me to do that! I get to structure everything myself and really have the opportunity to put in effort and actually get something out of it. I don't plan on making a career out of this, it would be great if it happened, but I won't hold my breath. I would be happy if I could just bring in some additional income so Justin and I can save up for a house. My absolute top goal that I see as being a possibility would be to have this supplement my income enough that I could get another part-time job and dedicate more time to MK. We shall see. So, if you need a MK consultant or want to do a FREE makeover let me know!! My grand opening will start January 9th, so I will good to go after that.

I guess that's all I have for now. I honestly could think of more to say, but I am extremely tired. This week has kicked my butt and I started a new early schedule on top of it. So, I'm off to bed and will update more after the weekend. I've got 2 makeovers I going to as well as some babysitting time, so it should be fun!

Happy weekend!

Pocketfolds, Ribbon, Monograms, OH MY!

So I have found the style that I want to with my invitation bellybands, but the construction process is going to be interesting. I bought a custom embosser with a monogram on it, and I LOVE IT. I just am having a hard time trying to figure out how to put together the bellyband and monogram so that it looks nice and not like an at-home craft project. This will be my mission this weekend! I wonder if mailing labels will work, over card stock? hm.... I will have to try that.

These are the two pictures I have of the front of the invitations so far. The top of the monogram says "Justin & Emily" the bottom says "May 8, 2010" and there is a "P" in the middle.

Right now it is being held together with some scotch tape and the bellyband is a little too loose. I am in desperate need of some masking tape and some better paper to make the monogram look more finished.

That's all I have for tonight. I plan on working the kinks out this weekend so when my sister (MOH) comes home for Christmas she can help me put them together. :: insert evil laugh here ::