Exyle

Housewarming/Engagement Party

Back at the end of May - I apologize that it has taken over a month to write this post - we had a Housewarming/Engagment Party.  We really hadn’t had anyone over to the new house to celebrate us buying it nor had be done any celebration for our engagement, so we decided to just have a dual-function party.  Our great friends Nichole, Navid & Nina, as well as my brother Matt, put together the hole party, while we simply provided the location.  They did a fantastic job and we are so thankful to them.  There was food and games and lots of laughs!! Navid put together a little “How Well Do You Know Him/Her?” game.  He had Ashley answer a questionare about me, and vice versa, and then everyone else - guys vs girls - if we had answered the questions correctly.  That was a pretty fun game.  Though the guys won, Ashley had answered more questions correct than I had.  I guess I have a lot more I need to “remember”.  The rest of the evening, though, would have gone a little differently if the Orlando Magic and Detriot Red Wings hadn’t been playing playoff games.  Once the games started, everyone’s attention was focus on there.  You can’t really complain - both teams won!!

Definitely want to thank everyone who attended and for the gifts.  And a special thanks to Nichole, Navid, Nina and Matt for putting everything together.  You guys a blessing and Ashley and I really appreciated it.  Below are some pictures from the party:

New House Update

Well, we’ve lived in the house now for a little over a week, and things are coming along.  I’d say about 90% of the boxes have been unpacked and things put away.  The house is slowly starting to feel like home.  This past weekend, we were able to paint the kitchen and the master bathroom.  Ashley ended up not liking the original paint color picked out for the kitchen, so we decided to make a change about an hour or two into the project.  The master bathroom was a pain in the ass to paint.  Though, it was expected, I wasn’t planning on spending the entire day in there.  I’m just glad its done…almost.  (We still have to do some touching up)  With the painting done, we’ll be able to install the mirror, lighting fixture, towel bars, etc.

As a result of getting the dining room painted, I was able to put the blinds back up.  Ashley cleaned them, and while she was doing that, I was putting up the curtain rod for the back sliding glass door in the living room.  With the rod up and the new curtains on it, we actually have a little privacy now.

The guest bathroom is done as well.  We ended up painting it a deep red called “Vineyard.”  It came out really nice.  The mirrior, light fixture, and towel bars were all installed.  I still need to install the toliet paper bar.  I have not quite decided on the best way to put it were we want to put it.

My office is slowly coming along.  All the furniture is in it’s place and most of the books and files have been put away.  There have been two issues, though, that have been slowing up the process.  One is that my computer was destroyed by a Trojan and as a result, I’ve had to reformat the hard drive.  Anyone who has done this knows that it is a huge hassle and it takes a while to reinstall all the programs and get the machine back into working order again.  The other issue is merging and making room for Ashley’s stuff.  The office is a good size, but I had it pretty well filled with just my stuff.  Adding her’s to the mix has been a little more difficult - organizationally - than I had anticipated.

Next on the task list this weekend will be “re”-painting the kitchen (we’ve decided to go with a darker green because we’ve changed the color we were going with for the cabinets) and painting the accent wall in the living room.  So between now and then, we’ll be prepping for that and trying to decide on a paint color for the accent wall.

Moving Day 2009

I am officially and completely moved into the new home.  It came and it went.  I want to think the following people for helping with the move this past weekend.

• Ashley, I love you baby
• Matt
• Ed
• Chris
• Annie
• Scott
• Navid
• Nina
• Nicole
• Emily
• Will
• Nadi

We traveled over 116 miles, and moved 3 people back and forth across town.  The U-Haul was picked up at 8am and dropped off at 4pm.  Not bad for a day’s worth of work.

Now I just have to finish all the unpacking…

New House Update

Well, you were probably wondering why I haven’t posted in a while…Hell Week at the New House was in full effect.  My mother and my girlfriend’s parents were nice enough to come and visit for a few days last week to help us get the new house “move-in” ready.  Let me tell you, this house will be GREAT once we are done with it, but until last week, I didn’t realize just how much work it was going to take.

We worked 12 hour days for 4 days straight, then the parents continued to work for the next few days while the girlfriend and I worked at our “paying” jobs, then the parents left and we finished off the rest of the week strong!  And we STILL don’t have everything done!!

This is what we were able to get done:

1. Took wallpaper down in Hall Bathroom, Master Bathroom (13 foot vaulted ceilings), and the Kitchen
2. Patched a number of holes and cracks
3. Textured the Hall Bathroom, Master Bathroom, Kitchen and the patches
4. Primed and painted Guest Bedroom, Office, Hallway, Master Bedroom, Hall Bathroom, Kitchen, and part of the Living Room
5. Cleaned Refrigerator, Oven, Dishwasher, and Windows
6. Had new carpets put in for the Master and Guest Bedrooms
7. Had new sinks and faucets installed in the Bathrooms
8. Had a new faucet installed in the Kitchen and in the Garage
9. Put new grout in floor tile, replaced drain and re-caulked Master Shower
10. Removed tree stump in back yard
11. Primed kitchen cabinets and cabinet doors
12. Changed doorknob and deadbolt on door to the Garage

And things we have yet to finish:

1. Finish painting the Living Room
2. Paint the Dining Room
3. Finish installing new light fixtures and put mirrors backup in Bathrooms
4. Put the closet shelves back up
5. Prime and Paint the Master Bathroom
6. etc.

Yes, welcome to the never ending money pit known as Home Ownership!!!  This is something that will take a little getting used to.

Many thanks to my mom and my girlfriend’s parents for the time, help and knowledge they brought.  We definitely couldn’t have accomplished as much as we had without them.  I also want to thank those friends who also took the time to help when they could.  It was very appreciated.

The New House

For those of you that haven’t heard yet, I am now officially a new home owner.  Yep, finally going to start making some equity and have also created the ultimate money pit.  Bring on the yard work, the painting, the sanding, etc.  It’s definitely going to take a dent out of my weekend for the next couple months.

For someone who really enjoys having “me time” this is really going to be an adjustment.  It’s all still surreal.  I don’t think it will truly sink in until I’m all moved in to the place.  But there’s still plenty of work to do before that happens.  So far two weekends of work down, and 3 more to go.

In the end, though, it’ll be a good decision, a good investment, and time well spent.  Despite the 20-45 minute commute to work (depending on traffic), I’m not going to have to worry about wall neighbors, noise complaints (unless it’s an awesome party), or moving every year or so.  Best of all - I will be living with the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.  Let the perks begin!!