House Updates
Well, we are 99.9% done with the demo part of our home remodel. It remains a stressful time because right now we basically have an empty shell of a house. And we’ve done that part 100% by ourselves. EXHAUSTING! Now we are onto the “fun” part which is the rebuilding. It’s been extremely stressful for Josh as he is the one coordinating all the remodeling efforts and trying to make it work with our small budget. I’m taking over the design/decor part, which is fun and less stressful, but still difficult. Why do I have champagne taste on a beer budget?
Lately, I’ve been able to see my friends on more occasions since buying the house and it’s been nice. I’ve gone to happy hour, had a wonderful dinner with the girls on my birthday, gone hiking, done some painting and hit up the Arizona State Fair. Life feels more balanced again. Unfortunately, I know it won’t be this way for long because as soon as these quotes come in, we will be moving pretty quickly on everything. The goal is to be moved in by Spring.
Here are some picture updates on our home sl you can see the progress:
Feel free to come help us out at any time. 
Vacation (& Food) All I Ever Wanted
So here I am. It’s October 5th and I have 8 vacation days left and 2 personal days. WTF?!?! Usually by this time during the year I’m negotiating extra days off from my boss. My clients are telling me they are spending 2 weeks in Thailand. I’m looking at Facebook posts where my friends are going to fantastic places like New Zealand, Iceland and Greece. It makes me feel like I haven’t gone anywhere this year.
Well, I can’t be a HUGE spoiled brat. I’m fortunate that I’ve done some cool stuff. And we DO have a house that we are gutting and completely remodeling. That’s taken up a lot of time I guess. I’ve visited LA, San Diego, the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, NYC and gone camping at Bear Canyon Lake. And in December, I’m going here with some of my favorite people in the world: Elizabeth, Nikki and Josh…
Vail, Colorado!!!!!!!! For some snowbarding, relaxing, eating/drinking and good conversation. I can’t wait.
And now I need to get into some snowboarding/hot tub action shape! I’m on day 5 of my diet/exercise plan and I feel good. I’m making better eating choices and watching my portions. I’m only doing a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day for this first week and then going harder next week. I’m excited about using my Yoga 360 Groupon today ($20 for 20 yoga classes – not too bad!) and not only getting a bit of a workout but doing some relaxing as well.
Nikki and I have been discussing doing something together - motivating each other to work out and be hotter than we currently are. I’m not sure if I’m down for the whole Elizabeth TBT thing, but I’m doing for something silimiar but less Nazi-ish (not that that term hasn’t been overused this week!) I’m currently at 136.5 lbs. My goal is around 10 lbs of weight loss by Vail… but I know that my body builds muscle easily so my REAL goal is fitting back into my size 28 Citizens comfortably. Wish me luck!
Wealthiest 1% of Americans
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/10/03/334156/top-five-wealthiest-one-percent/
Read this and join me in my anger
Pimp Our Yard (please)!
A little over a month ago I received an e-mail from the peeps over at HGTV. They said they had seen our submission on-line and wanted us to fill out an application to be on their new HGTV’d show (as it was coming to AZ). We were SOOOO excited. We watch that channel ALL the time! I thought we were a total sure thing. I mean, look at us. We are an adorable, relatively hip couple that just wanted to get our backyard oasis on. A place where we can watch football, BBQ and have guests over. And a place where we can eventually get married. We filled it out and turned it back in pretty quickly. Then we waited. And waited. I sent an e-mail to follow up last Monday and still haven’t heard back. Oh well… more work we have to do ourselves.
On a happy note… the demo part of our renovation is 99% done. Now the fun (and pricey) part can begin!
What’s Been Keeping Me Busy
OMG this has been one crazy year for me! And by crazy I mean completely stressful, fun, exhausting and exciting. In March, I was in one most amazing weddings ever (thanks Jennifer & Amy!). I also got to witness the most magical thing on earth: the birth of my niece Reya Evangeline in April. And in May, I took a huge step toward my relationship with Josh and we purchased a house together.
We live, eat, breathe and shit this house. Seriously. It has been a pain in the ass since we got it. But we absolutely love the house, the neighborhood and the huge yard that comes with it. We know all our hard work will pay off in the end. Whenever that is…
Here are some things I’ve been doing lately:
tearing out drywall
taking out floors
and hanging out with this precious thing any chance I get.
Pictures from NYC
August 18th – August 21st, I spent some time in New York City to celebrate the birthday of one of my closest friends. I’ve always loved photography and have been stealing some pointers from Josh. Here is my attempt at being a fancy photographer… (Make sure to click on the photos to see a bigger image).
