Chugging Right Along... I think.

So it's been a while.

It's been a hard couple of months for me, so I just didn't have the time or energy to update you all on my crazy life. Chances are that you're my friend on Facebook anyway and have heard my rants and raves on my daily status updates :)

My Mary Kay Grand Opening went well, I reached my goal, with a little stretching. I had four makeovers in total over 2 weeks, completing 17 new faces which gave a "Perfect Start"! Very exciting, but I'm not going to lie, very exhausting. After the first makeover I started to resent Mary Kay a little because I was realizing that the wedding was just around the corner and I was ditching my wedding stuff to work on my Mary Kay stuff, so it took a lot for me to get my crap together for the other 3 makeovers, but I did it and had a good time. I'm having a hard time seeing it in my future on a regular basis, but who knows, maybe after the wedding is over and life slows down a little bit, I'll be more ready to put sometime into it. We shall see...

So, the house hunt is officially over... and by that I mean, we gave up for the time being. We've put in 5 bids since November and only one was accepted and it ended up turning into a load of crap (you all know the story, I've explained it a couple times) and Justin and I were just tired of the stress and disappointment. We were also running out of time and I didn't want to buy a house just because the timing was right. If I'm going to spend thousands of dollars on a house, it's going to be worth it and I'm not sure we would have been 100% happy in anything that we saw while hunting. So for the next year or so we will be living in an apartment saving money are repairing some credit with the hopes that in a year we will be eligible for a little bit more money and will have more time and energy to devote to a house hunt. I do have to give my real estate agent real props! She fought for us and was amazing!! FYI: Her name is Wendy Harlow and works for Keller Williams in Plymouth, let me know if you want some more info, I would love to recommend her to anyone looking for a home.

We have an appointment with an apartment complex in Northville tomorrow night, so hopefully it will be a good place for a good price and we can move in sometime soon.

On the wedding front: I've gotten quite a bit done recently. The invitations are about 3/4 done, coasters are almost done and lots of little stuff have been checked off my list recently. I'm super excited to have all that stuff off my shoulders. This wedding is going to be AMAZING but I cannot wait for it to be over. Not in a bad way, I'm just ready to devote my brain to something else for a while, maybe... Grad School :)

Nice transition don't you think?

I am planning on going to Grad School in the fall, well, I would like to start Grad School in the fall. I'm not sure how I'm going to pay for it at this point, but it's definitely something I want to accomplish. Eastern has a Educational Psychology program that is fully online, which is AWESOME because then I can work full-time and take classes at the same time, no internship or classes required. Completely awesome! It's something I have a great interest in and would open quite a few doors, including teaching at a community college or working in a school. If anything it will give me something productive to concentrate on and make me feel like I have an escape hatch built into my professional life right now, which is much needed. I can't keep on the path I am on, it's not good for me.

That's what I've got for now. I had some political opinions and venting that I wanted to get out, but I think I'll save that for a different post... I don't want to overload you in one night ;)

Nighty Night!
Em.

Conflicted.

That's really the only word I can use to describe myself right now... oh, and overwhelmed, stressed and tired.

We've had condo drama lately and it's really wearing me out. The condo that we were buying appraised for less than what our offer was (as you might remember from my previous post) so it suddenly turned into a short sale situation because the seller owed more on the house then the appraisal price. Great, just what we were trying to avoid. So, they said it would be a quick 3 day process... that was over 3 weeks ago and we're still waiting. Well, just in case, Justin and I have been looking at other houses/condos while we're waiting to hear back from the seller's mortgage company. We found one we loved, we put in an offer (while we still have our offer in on Condo #1) and were told to bring our highest and best offer by this morning. Unfortunately, our highest and best is just $100 over the purchse price and I have NO idea how many offers came in between yesterday afternoon and this morning or if they were cash, over the purchase price, better credit, etc. Condo #2 was the first place I was actually excited about. It has no downfall, it has everything we want, and somethings that we never would of thought to want. So now we're waiting to hear on that one...

But wait, that's not all...

Last night Justin and I talked it out and we decided that we wanted to walk away from condo #1. It seems like, after seeing #2, that we were just settling. It didn't have some major things that we were looking for and has all this mortgage company drama coming along with it. It was really hard for me to walk away from Condo #1 because A) we lost $600 from the inspection and appraisal (our mortgage guy is going to try and get our appraisal money back, but no promises)... B) I had already completed 2 registries based on the colors in the kitchen/home. C)It came with all appliances which is hard to come by. But, in the end the "little" things that we didn't get made this a place that we were settling for. 1. No garage 2. No driveway 3. Only one parking space per condo 4. on the older end of the spectrum, so who knows what will need to be fixed in the near future and 5. the neighborhood wasn't where we wanted to be. I know some of you are probably saying "why in the hell did you put an offer in then?" and here's my answer:

At the time, it was the best condo we had found in our price range and because it was private owned, we could move in rather quickly. Until this "3 day" short sale crap started. Now we're 3 weeks into a short sale with no inkling of what is going to happen and we've found something else that has EVERYTHING we want and more. Even if we don't get Condo #2, it showed us that there ARE other places out there that fits what we need, in our price range. So, it's back to looking (unless we get Condo #2... cross your fingers) and if we dont' find something by March, we're going to start in an apartment and keep our search going until we find the perfect house not just "the best house we can find right now".

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!

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!

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 :)

Engagement Picture Session!!!

Today was E-Pic day in our neck of the woods! It was actually a lot of fun, I was a little nervous at first becuase I had no idea what to expect but our photographer, Joe was amazing! He made us both feel really comfortable and it was actually pretty fun. We went to a bridge I used to go to in high school on Hines Drive, unfortunately the bridge is in A LOT worse shape then it used to be, so we spent about five minutes taking some pictures to satisfy my need for "my bridge" pictures and then headed off to a park. The park was awesome! There were some great colors that turned already, swings, two bridges, paths in the woods and a playground. Joe took a lot of pictures and showed us a few during the shoot and I am SOOOOOOOO excited to see the rest. He said he should have them up on his site by Thursday, so tomorrow is going to be the longest day ever! I cannot wait to post some pictures for you, my three followers later in the week :)

In other news, Justin and I have decided that our next big task is going to be finding a place to live. We have a lead on someone who is planning on buying and then renting out housing in our area, which I think might be our best bet at this point. We got approved for a mortgage, which is enough to get a nice condo in the area or a foreclosed home. We are definitely leaning towards the condo, just because we do not have the time or funds to fix up a foreclosed home. I realize it would be much harder to sell a condo down the line, but we expect to be living in whatever property we buy for 5+ years, so hopefully the market will take a turn and we could end up building equity in the property instead of losing money. Hopefully. So stay tuned for updates on the housing hunt. We are going to wait until after the holidays to start a serious search, but the preliminary stuff will have to start soon.

So, I have taken Tuesday - Friday off from work this week, for a few reasons, one of which I am not going to mention until tomorrow because I have NO idea who reads this and there is something in the works. The other reasons are: engagement pictures which were today, and some serious cleaning and organization that needs to happen in my room (and all the other rooms my things have migrated to). So tomorrow's mission is going to be: CLEAN STAIRS and GET CLOTHING ORGANIZED! This is my bottom line mission, if other things get done, GREAT, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Although, I'm in the middle of watching "Flipping Out" with Jeff Lewis, maybe he'll inspire my organizational side :)

Hopefully I'll have updates later with Engagement Pictures!!!

214 days and counting...

I'm home sick from work today. I usually feel pretty guilty when I can't go into work, which I did this morning, but I got progressively worse as the day went on, so I would say it was a pretty good decision. I work in a call center where I have to answer calls all day long, so if I'm not feeling well it makes my job impossible because the phone never stops ringing. So I figured I would use some of my down time to update my blog (not that anyone reads it, but whatever!)

Justin and I have decided to hold off on the house hunting for a little while. After going through the numbers we wouldn't have been left with enough money to eat/live while still saving for the wedding. So for now, we're still with our parents, which is okay, I've been here for 24 years. A couple more months won't make a difference. We did find a few condos we liked though. I'm still going through the condo-house debate. Any suggestions??

So changing topics - I watched my first episode of Gossip Girl last night. I was intrigued but also found a couple things slightly annoying. Being obsessed with other teenage drama shows, I knew I would at least be interested in it. I was surprised that even though I have never seen an episode before I enjoyed the characters and plots of the show. My beefs: Blair and her BF (I cannot remember his name, just that his initials are CB) are strange. I find him highly annoying because he reminds me of a Luke Perry impersonator. His voice sounds SOOO fake. But to Blair's credit, I think he's funny. I enjoy her personality/priorities, lol. I do, however, find "Gossip Girl" very intriguing... who is she? how does she know all these things??? Crazy!!

Alright, I know I am all over the place today, but I think I need to lay down and get some more sleep. Maybe I'll have another "The Office" marathon, those are fun.

Thanks for reading,
XOXO
Gossip Girl.