Podunk Road

London: Day 3

2010-10-11T19:58:00.008-04:00

We discovered Harrods and their AMAZING bakery on day 3 and we went back every morning after that to get breakfast. My favorite pastry was the bacon and cheese baguette. If you go to London, definitely check out the bakery here - you will not regret it.

After walking around the food hall at Harrods, we took a short walk through Knightsbridge and headed into Hyde Park. Since we'd had a few busy days, we decided we wanted to have more of a low key, relaxing day. We explored the park a bit - walked around the pond and watched the people in the paddle boats. It reminded me a little of Central Park. We walked across the street to Kensington Garden and found a nice bench in the shade and read for a while.

pond in hyde park

I was excited to see Kensington Palace until we got there, that is. Many places in London are under construction right now in an effort to have everything looking amazing in time for the 2012 Olympics. Kensington Palace is the worst of it. The whole thing was blocked off by fencing and what little we could see was just a huge bunch of dirt. I managed to get an okay looking photo of the side - and a few great shots of the gorgeous gardens and the Orangery.

garden

kensington palace

We were pretty hungry at this point and M could not resist when we came across The Honest Sausage. Bring on the bacon roll (gross!).

I'm not sure if I mentioned this yet, but literally everything in London has bacon on it. But, it's not real bacon...it's Canadian bacon. I'm not a fan. But, I felt like I had to at least try it out. For those of you who think this sounds amazing, here's a closeup for you :)

Also in Hyde Park, we got our first taste of squirrel/human interaction. We ran into a couple who were feeding them and got this photo. But, there will be a better squirrel photo in a future post.

London: Days 1 and 2

2010-09-30T18:09:00.016-04:00

M & I traveled to Europe earlier this month for the very first time.

We spent five nights at the Le Meridien Piccadilly in London. We were able to get the Starwood employee discount for a classic room for $89 USD per night, which is a completely amazing price.

The hotel itself was nice and the staff seemed nice enough. They let us check in early at 10:00 am, which was wonderful since we'd been up all night and just wanted to take a quick nap and shower. The room was small, but had enough space for the two of us. I forgot to take a photo of it, of course.

The concierge wasn't entirely helpful. He gave a us a great map that we used our entire stay. But, gave us wrong information twice. The first time was no big deal and easy to square away. The second time had me fuming mad.

While the location of this hotel is technically perfect because it is close to everything. It also was the worst part of the hotel for us. Huge crowds gather in Piccadilly Circus each night and many stay all night...it was loud at times but not unbearable. What was unbearable was the recycling center next door. At all hours of the night there were trucks unloading glass and we got to listen to it shatter for hours on end. We didn't sleep very well at all. The hotel was sold out, otherwise, we would have asked to be moved. If I were to travel to London again, I'd probably try to stay in the West End. We used the restroom a few times at the Strand Palace Hotel, which seemed really nice.

We took the tube from Heathrow to Piccadilly Circus, which was super easy. We traveled by tube a lot during our stay as it was super easy. But, because the months leading up to the trip were insanely busy for me I didn't do a ton of planning beforehand. So, when we were finally in London we were like - so, now what? After taking a two hour nap on our first day, we decided to do a hop-on hop-off bus to get us acquainted with the city and figure out what we wanted to see and do.

After the tour with a little help from our Top 10 tour book, we made a list of what we wanted to do for the rest of the trip. We're both big fans of architecture and were excited to get some great photos while in London. We also just wanted to walk around and explore the different areas.

Our second day, we started out with a cruise on the River Thames. It was included with the price of our bus ticket from the previous day. It was such a nice day to be out on the river and we got some really great views of the city and the Tower Bridge. To the left is a shot of the bridge as we were cruising under it.
After the cruise, we were let out near the Tower of London. There happened to be NO LINE at all at 2:30 pm on a Friday, so we decided to check it out.

I had no idea when looking at it from the outside just how large of a space there was in there. There was a small line to see the Crown Jewels, but it went quickly. To be honest, I was more impressed with the architecture of the buildings that I was the jewels. But, it was neat to see them. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the Tower.

After a few hours at the Tower, we decided to walk over to St. Paul's Cathedral. We made it inside just before mass ended. It was absolutely beautiful inside, but we weren't allowed to take photos. M wasn't very happy about this. Here is one of the outside for you, though. Right after we walked outside they closed the entrance since mass was over. We definitely lucked out. I would have been bummed if we didn't get to see inside.

After St. Paul's, we went across the street and had dinner at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. M had the Jamaican burger (mango and ginger sauce, salad, mayonnaise & relish) and I made my own with cheddar cheese and pineapple. They were both delicious and I highly recommend visiting GBK if you're in London. It is a chain and there are a few locations around the city.

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel and crashed early since we were exhausted from our busy day. But, we saw some really cool buildings and theaters along the way and scoped out some restaurants for upcoming meals.

Baking Gals

2010-09-29T21:25:00.005-04:00

I signed up to be a Team Leader at Baking Gals and will be baking cookies to send over to a great group of soldiers in Afghanistan. Want to help too? Head over to www.bakinggals.com and sign up to be on my team, Treats for Troops. I'm able to have up to 20 members on my team. As of today, there are 9 people on my team. I'd love to have a full group by mailing time.

You'll have to register on the site first (and wait for confirmation of your registration), since the information on the site is confidential. But, once you are registered, you'll be able to sign in, join my team, then you'll be given the information about the solider we're baking for on 10/3. Baked goods will need to be mailed between 10/4 - 10/13. You can bake as little or as much as you want, there are no specific requirements.

About Baking Gals:
Baking GALS (GALS stands for Give A Little Support) is a group of volunteer bakers from around the country who bake and ship homemade goodies to our heroic military men and women who are currently deployed in a war zone. Our goal is to show our support and send a little bit of home to remind them that we appreciate all that they do for our freedom.

Clarisonic Mia

2010-09-29T20:56:00.006-04:00

A few months back, the girls over at thenest.com introduced me to Clarisonic. Everyone was talking about how amazing it was (whatever it was) and how their faces have never felt so clean. I read Clarisonic reviews on every website I could find and 99% of them were insanely positive - which never happens. So, I decided I'd try out the Mia model, which is the least expensive one at $150. I found a 15% off coupon for sephora and free shipping on purchases over $50. SCORE!

After using it every single day for about 4 months, I am in love with it. It really is awesome - my skin has NEVER felt this soft and clean. The tiny little pimply things I had all over my forehead are completely gone and I have not had one single pimple anywhere else on my face since I started using it. I even brought it with me on our recent trip to Europe.

I was really hesitant to spend the $125, but I'm so glad I did because it's really worth every single penny. Also, one of the best parts is that you can use it with any cleanser.

Epiphanie Bags - CONTEST

2010-03-17T13:55:00.003-04:00

A friend from TheNest.com told me about Epiphanie camera bags and I think I just fell in love with Ginger. Ginger is a super cute brown bag with aqua interior, a removable body strap, plenty of room for camera and lenses and a few pockets too. See above photos...

You can purchase Ginger and her friends here: http://www.epiphaniebags.com/. While you're at it, can you get me one too? Just had to get a new water heater and put new tires on my car and cannot afford this beauty right now.

Epiphanie is also holding a great contest right now on their blog now through March 31. You can find the contest here: http://www.haveanepiphanie.com/home/2010/2/28/epiphanie-give-away.html

Book Love: 2009

2010-03-02T20:30:00.002-05:00

I've posted before about my love for books (mostly chick lit) and my sidebar is getting a little crowded. So, I figured I'd just create a post with the books I read in 2009 here. There are a few more from the beginning of the year that I didn't keep track of and cannot think of to save my life. If you'd like to see my ratings/reviews of these, check out my Good Reads.
But, in a nutshell, the only one I didn't completely enjoy was Vanishing Acts.

Baby Proof - Emily Giffin
Babyville - Jane Green
Chasing Harry Winston - Lauren Weisberger
Confessions of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
Dedication - Emma McLaughlin
Dune Road - Jane Green
Little Earthquakes - Jennifer Weiner
Love the One Your With - Emily Giffin
My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
Queen of Babble - Meg Cabot
Queen of Babble Gets Hitched - Meg Cabot
Queen of Babble in the Big City - Meg Cabot
Shopaholic & Baby - Sophie Kinsella
Shopaholic & Sister - Sophie Kinsella
Shopaholic Takes Manhattan - Sophie Kinsella
Shopaholic Ties the Knot - Sophie Kinsella
Swapping Lives - Jane Green
The Beach House - Jane Green
The Nanny Diaries - Emma McLaughlin
The Pact - Jodi Picoult
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Twenties Girl - Sophie Kinsella
Undomestic Goddess - Sophie Kinsella
Vanishing Acts - Jodi Picoult
Watermelon - Marian Keyes

Where has this been all my life?

2010-02-19T11:57:00.007-05:00

I feel like my entire life I have been in pursuit of the perfect makeup. I'm sure there are millions of girls out there who would say the same thing. I go through phases where I feel like it's acceptable to spend $30 for good quality makeup, since in my world, makeup lasts a long time. But, then there are times where I just go to Target and buy my favorite Maybelline and Cover Girl standbys and even think twice about spending $8 a pop on those.

The one thing I have constantly struggled with is mascara. I have allergies and my eyes water quite a bit, so I always go for the waterproof stuff, which limits the selection. But, my biggest problems with mascara are the huge clumps and the fact that no matter how much eye makeup remover I use, I always seem to have black under my eyes in the morning. I even wipe the brush on a tissue to remove the excess goop before applying to my lashes. So, it boggles my mind.

Enter mascara perfection. My friend Laura over on thenest.com introduced me to Blinc Kiss Me mascara. It is not super clumpy, which I love. It somehow creates these little tubes over my lashes and once they dry they stay put until you use warm water and a little bit of pressure to remove the tubes. Best part is no black in the morning!

If you are someone who needs a ton of volume, this mascara probably isn't for you. But, it does lengthen like crazy. I'm a fan for life.

Best.Berries.Ever

2010-02-18T11:01:00.008-05:00

I bring my lunch to work every single day, it helps me with my never-ending quest to stick to my Weight Watchers points. Typically, it's a turkey sandwich (grilled on the forman), claussen pickle, baked lays or pretzels, a diet iced tea and some fruit. Berries and grapes are my favorite fruit to bring to work since they don't have to be eaten all at once and I can pick on them as I feel the need.

We go grocery shopping on Sundays in order to have fresh deli meat all week. But, that doesn't always work well with the berries. Many times they go bad before I have a chance to eat them or we have to go back to the store mid-week to get more. Sometimes, the berries in the produce section at the grocery store already have mold on them and I go home empty handed. This makes me sad.

Then, I discovered Sam's Club. Okay, I already knew it existed, so I didn't really discover it all of a sudden. But, I just never really went in there because let's face it - when you live in a house with only one other person, it would be insane to obtain a third wholesale club membership.

Well, call me crazy, because I forked over the $40 and now am the proud owner of a Sam's membership card. It's probably a good thing because the Costco and BJ's cards were looking a little lonely in my wallet. M & I walked around and realized they do have many things we use on a weekly basis...and they have laminate flooring! Nice looking, sturdy, cheap laminate flooring, which we happen to need for our basement (more on that later).

Anyway, as we're walking through the produce section, we stumble upon a massive display of raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. Not just any berries, the largest berries I have ever seen in the largest containers I have ever seen...for the same price as I normally pay at the grocery store for the tiny little container. I figured I'd go for it and see if I could at least get half way through the container before they went bad. The blueberries looked awesome, so I went with those.

They were delicious and they lasted a WHOLE WEEK! I figured it was probably a fluke. So, I bought another batch the following week and again, they lasted the whole week. I am very impressed and will now buy my fruit at Sam's for life, which is why I'm telling you.

Booked: London & Paris!

2010-01-04T20:17:00.004-05:00

One of the things we really wanted to do before the end of 2009 was to book a big vacation for ourselves. Neither of us have ever been to Europe and we decided we really wanted to do that while we were still young and childless. Originally, we were thinking of doing 3 cities, but I have limited vacation time and will need to take time off for surgery at some point this year. So, we decided on London & Paris.

As I previously mentioned, my mom is a Starwood employee, which gives me amazing access to employee rates at super fantastic hotels all over the world. We decided to take our trip in September and were able to book the Westin Paris for $94 USD per night and Le Meridien Piccadilly for $89 USD in London. Both M & I are extremely excited...it's going to be a long 9 months of waiting.

Le Meridien:

Westin Paris:

If you are looking to book international travel, check out http://www.vayama.com.
We were able to get flights for less than other websites (like expedia, orbitz..etc). Vayama does this special fare offer where they don't tell you what airline it is and don't give you specific times. But, they give you a one hour window. For example, they tell you that your flight is from Boston (BOS) to London (LHR) has zero stops and will depart between 7p - 8p and arrive between 6a - 7a the following day. The airline will be one of the OneWorld Alliance airlines (which include both American & British Airways), you just don't know which one until you purchase the flights. Also, they give you one hour to cancel after you book and receive all the flight information if you do not like it. So, there is nothing to lose.

We ended up getting an American airlines flight for $150 less per person than was posted on Vayama with the American Airlines information viewable. That savings will pay for at least one of our train tickets from London to Paris.

If you've been to London or Paris before and you have recommendations for restaurants/sites/activities, please share!

Updated: Living Room & Kitchen

2009-12-18T18:36:00.007-05:00

I'm finally getting around to posting updated photos of our living room and kitchen. Since I last posted photos we have gotten a new dishwasher and finally hung things on the walls. I'll also include a photo with our Christmas Tree. We were a little nervous when we bought the new house...we weren't sure we'd be able to fit our 7' tree. But, it fits pretty well in the corner next to our slider. Let me know what you think.

Autumn Sausage Casserole CrockPot Recipe

2009-10-30T19:00:00.008-04:00

Ingredients:

1 pound sausage (we used chicken sausage)
1 large, or 2 small apples, chopped (no need to peel)
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped carrots
3 cups already cooked long-grain rice
1/2 cup raisins
1 T dried parsley flakes
1 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup chicken broth or water

Directions:

The amount of ingredients fit nicely in a 4 quart crockpot. I'd say this comfortably feeds a family of 4-5 with a bit of leftovers. If you have a large family or teenagers, add more rice and sausage. It's a pretty easy recipe to adapt to your needs.

If you are going to use uncooked pork sausage, I'd recommend browning on the stove top, and draining before adding to the crockpot.

Otherwise, dump all the ingredients into the crock, and stir well.

Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3-4. You're really only heating through, and allowing the vegetables to soften.

This will not stick together like a gloppy casserole; it has the consistency of fried rice. Use bowls to serve rather than plates.

Serves: 4-6

WW Points per serving: 6

Recipe Source: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

This was really good the first night but not so much leftover the next day. The prep took a lot longer than expected too. Overall, it was yummy but we probably won't make it again.

Crockpot Alpine Chicken Casserole Recipe

2009-10-28T20:20:00.005-04:00

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
3/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
4 ounces diced Canadian bacon
2 carrots — thinly sliced, — (up to 3)
1 rib celery — thinly sliced, — (up to 2)
1 small onion — thinly sliced
1/4 cup water
6 Chicken breast halves, boneless skinless
1 can low-fat condensed cheddar cheese soup — (11 oz.)
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 package wide egg noodles — cooked, drained (16 — oz.) Don’t forget to add pts. for noodles.

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix bouillon granules, chopped parsley, and poultry seasoning; set aside. Layer in a slow cooker, in order. Canadian bacon, carrots, celery and onion. Add water. Remove skin, if desired, and excess fat from chicken; rinse and pat dry. Place meat in slow cooker. Sprinkle with half of the reserved seasoning mixture. Top with remaining chicken and sprinkle with remaining seasoning mixture. Stir soup and flour together; spoon over top. DO NOT STIR.

Cover and cook on high for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or on low for 6-8 hours or until chicken is tender and juices from chicken run clean and vegetables are tender. Spread cooked noodles in a shallow 2 or 2 1/2 quart broiler proof serving dish. Arrange chicken on noodles. Stir soup mixture and vegetables until combined. Spoon vegetables and some of the liquid over chicken. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 6. Broil 6 inches from heat source for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serves: 4-6

WW Points per serving: 5 + 4 for most noodles

Recipe Source: http://www.laaloosh.com

My thoughts:
This was pretty good but I think next time, I'd probably use two cans of cheddar soup as there wasn't a ton of cheese flavor. The chicken itself was very yummy and I preferred it without the noodles. But, I think more cheddar soup would make it a lot better. Also, like last time, this cooked a lot faster than the directions suggested. We cooked it on low and after about 5 hours, it was done. It's definitely a weekend dish, unless of course you work half days.

Crockpot Pot Roast Recipe

2009-10-17T09:09:00.007-04:00

Ingredients:

3 1/2 pounds sirloin tip roast, trimmed
1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 potatoes — peeled and quartered
2 Small onions – sliced
1 Stalk celery — cut in 2″ pieces
1 2 oz jar mushrooms – drained or 1/4 cup mushroom gravy
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup water

Directions:

Trim all excess fat from roast; brown and drain if using chuck or another highly marbled cut. Combine 1/4 cup flour, the salt and pepper. Coat meat with the flour mixture. Place all vegetables except mushrooms in Crock-Pot and top with roast (cut roast in half, if necessary, to fit easily). Spread mushrooms evenly over top of roast. Cover and cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours. If desired, turn to High during last hour to soften vegetables and make a gravy. To thicken gravy, make a smooth paste of the 3 tablespoons flour and the water and stir into Crock-Pot. Season to taste before serving.

Serves: 4-6

WW Points per serving: 7

Recipe Source: http://www.laaloosh.com

My thoughts:

This is a great recipe. The house smelled amazing when I got home from work and the dish was very flavorful. However, we cooked in on low for 10 hours and the meat was overdone - and I'm a well-done kind of girl. I'd try this again, but cook for a shorter amount of time.

Crockpot Love

2009-10-15T15:46:00.004-04:00

We had a great time in Washington DC and I will post photos soon. When I came back from DC, I weighed myself and realized that I had made my first Weight Watchers goal. Woot Woot! I then proceeded to eat everything in sight for a week to celebrate. lol

So, I vowed to get back on the wagon. In my preparation for grocery shopping last weekend, I came across a few WW-friendly crock pot recipes. M & I chose two and added the ingredients to our list, then headed out to the store. We spent $125, which is more than we usually do in a week. But, we actually had a cart full of real food and a plan for three nights that week. This was a first and it was sort of exciting in a weird sort of way.

We've used the crockpot before but only on weekends. So, this whole prepping before work and having it cook all day thing is very new for us. But, I looooooooooooooooove it.

I think it's going to be a weekly occurrence in our house from now on. I posted on facebook a few times about it and my friends apparently love their crockpots too. But, everyone seems to only have a few select recipes. So, I decided to try some new ones and post them on here to share with everyone. I'll try to update the blog weekly and review the recipes we've made. But, I'm pretty busy with work and school, so we'll see what happens. If you're reading this and have a good recipe to share, send it on over. Even if you are unsure if it is Weight Watchers friendly...I have access to the recipe builder on their website and will use that to figure out how many points per serving each recipe is.

For now, here is an excellent resource for Crockpot Recipes: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/. Stephanie O'Dea spent all 365 days of 2008 getting intimate with her crockpots. All the recipes on her site are Gluten free as well. Her book just came out on Tuesday and can be found at my favorite book store by clicking here.

Travel Bug

2009-09-05T17:58:00.002-04:00

Our last vacation was in November 2008 and since we bought our house in March, we figured it'd be a long time before we'd have another vacation. But, both M & I have caught the travel bug for sure. I love the travel board on thenest.com. It's so much fun reading about trips people are planning, recommendations on fantastic places they have gone and sharing amazing vacation deals that are out there. But, reading all this great info makes me want to travel like crazy. If only we could win the lottery!

M & I have been talking about going to Washington DC for a long time. One of our friends moved down there a few years back and I haven't been since I was in 8th grade. I didn't really appreciate all it had to offer back then and I've been dying to get back there. So, when a email arrived from Travel Zoo the other day with it's Top 20 deals of the week featuring Jet Blue flights between Boston and Baltimore for only $19 each way, we jumped on it. Turns out that my parents will be there the same weekend (random).

My mom works for Starwood, which has made me a bit of a hotel snob. I really hope she never retires. We were able to book the Fairfax Embassy Row for $89 per night. It's right in Dupont Circle and pretty close to all the major attractions. I'll be sure to post photos when we get back.

M & I are also hoping to take a trip to Europe in the fall of 2010. Right now, we're considering London, Paris & Rome (each city for 3 nights). I checked out the Starwood Hotels and they have great rates in each city...

London: Park Lane or Sheraton Belgravia for $89 US per night
Paris: Westin Paris for $94 US per night
Rome: Westin Excelsior for $89 US per night

Neither of us have ever been to Europe, so this is very exciting for us. We're just starting all the research now but we're hoping to have it booked by the end of this year.

For those of you looking for travel deals, below is a list of great sites to check out. Sign up for their email lists to be notified about great deals.

Travel Zoo
Sherman's Travel
European Destinations
VIP Vacations
Vayama
Cruise Critic

Audiobooks

2009-09-04T15:11:00.002-04:00

I spend a lot of time in the car. My commute to work is 40 minutes each way. I also go to school 2 nights a week and every other Saturday. The commute from work to school can be anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on traffic and then it takes an hour to get home from school. I'm exhausted from just typing all that.

Anyway, I don't have much free time so sitting down and reading a book is out of the question. A former co-worker turned me on to audiobooks last summer and I am in love. I borrow them from the library and listen to them on my ipod in the car. I love listening to someone tell me a story and it really takes my mind off the traffic and the lovely Massachusetts drivers.

On the right hand sidebar of this blog, I started keeping a list of books I've read (er...listened to) so far this summer. The only one that I didn't love is Vanishing Acts. It was a great story and I loved the characters (except for Fitz) but it just went on way too long. There were parts that went into so much unnecessary detail that I got insanely bored.

I just finished Twenties Girl a few days ago and really enjoyed it. It had a bit of a slow start but it was really fun in the end. Sometimes I get a little sad when I finish one I really like and then I have to take a few days off before I start a new one.

I'm about 3 discs (out of 15) into The Pact and I can't wait to find out what happens. It's soooo good so far.

Let me know if there is something you'd read recently that I should check out. Chick Lit is by far my favorite genre.

New Format

2009-09-04T14:55:00.002-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted in forever. We haven't had much time for decorating so I haven't had a lot to write about. Thus, I changed the format of my blog to include all things fun in life instead of just house stuff.

But, I am looking forward to a nice relaxing long weekend with no plans. So who knows...maybe we will actually get some things hung up on the walls and I'll be able to show you some progress. After all, it's been 5 months since we moved in :)

Before & After: Master Bedroom

2009-05-09T20:43:00.012-04:00

I think this is the only room that we have redone that I haven't posted. We still haven't hung any art, but I have a feeling it will be a few more weeks since we have a few jam-packed weekends ahead of us. This is one of my favorite rooms and I am very happy with how it came out.

BEFORE: (with previous owners belongings)

AFTER: (paint colors: SW Latte {lighter}, SW color matched to brown fabric {darker})

We've had our Stanley Translation furniture for about 5 years or so. We've added a few pieces here and there as needed. I found these great lamps at HomeGoods for $50 each. The duvet is from Target (DwellStudio) and the Sheets and Green Euro Shams are from Kohls (apt. 9). The ceiling fan is from Lowes (Hunter). We also replaced the carpet. The door on the left on the same wall as the bathroom is a good-sized walk-in closet, which is surprisingly enough space for both our clothes so far. My mom bought us some great brown sheers for the windows, but I haven't had the opportunity (or extra cash) to get curtain rods. I will update photos as soon as we do some decorating.

Before & After: 3rd Bedroom

2009-05-03T21:06:00.003-04:00

BEFORE:

AFTER: (paint color is SW Meditative)

We moved from a 2-bedroom condo to a 3-bedroom house with plenty of room in the finished basement for 2 offices. So, we have absolutely no furniture in this room. We may take a twin bed that is not currently in use at my parents house and put it in here. We haven't quite figured it out yet. Otherwise, we may move one of our desks up here. When the carpets were replaced, they took the closet door off and we can't seem to get it back on. So, for now, it will hang out on the floor. Each of the bedrooms has one window that is much larger, which I love. My nieces seem to love it too since they can just walk right up to them and see outside. This large window overlooks the backyard and pool, which my niece Julia refers to as "blue tubby". There is Casey again in the doorway. He tends to follow me around like a puppy dog.

Before & After: Guest Room

2009-05-03T20:53:00.005-04:00

BEFORE:
This was the one and only painted room in the whole house. You can't tell by looking at the photo, but it looked like the previous owners decided half-way through that painting just wasn't for them and gave up on a second coat. You can also see the old dark gray carpet in this photo.

AFTER: (paint color is Valspar Notre Dame)

We had purchased this paint when we were still at the condo and never got around to painting. So, we figured we'd use it in the new house. I almost wish it was a little darker. This room gets the most light in our house and it's a really good size for a secondary bedroom. Clearly, we still need to add a nightstand, some curtains and some COLOR. We also need to get a new closet door eventually as the current one is broken.
This is the first glimpse of our new carpet in a nice neutral beige color. I love the carpet...it is so soft and cushy. The bedding is from Target.
As you can see, our cats have decided they really like this room. That is Casey on the cat condo and Jacko in the window. They also love the new carpet and can be found stretched out on it in the sun spots.

Before & After: Master Bath

2009-05-03T20:38:00.007-04:00

BEFORE:

AFTER: (paint color is SW Latte)

The master bath is on the small side with a larger-than-typical stall shower and linen closet. I have claimed it as my own as and Michael now uses the non-renovated full bath. We made pretty much the same renovations in here as we did in the half bath. We used the same tile as well. We also replaced the vanity & mirror (from Home Depot) and light fixtures (from Lowes). Shower curtain is from Marshalls and shower rod is a tension rod from Target. We also used the same towel holders in here as the half bath (Hotel Collection from Home Goods). Bath mat is from Bed Bath & Beyond. Faux Wood blinds from JCPenney. I have some fun art to put above the toilet that I got on clearance from Home Goods.

Before & After: Half Bath

2009-05-03T20:11:00.009-04:00

BEFORE:

AFTER: (paint color is SW Meditative)

In the half bath we ripped out the linoleum, tiled the floor, installed a new vanity and mirror, installed new towel holders, replaced the light fixtures, replaced that lovely silver toilet seat and, of course, painted. This bathroom also has a linen closet and houses our laundry, which is behind the closet doors. The paint color is most accurate in the first photo underneath the window. The vanity is from Lowes, the tile from DalTile, the towel holders from HomeGoods and the faux wood blinds from JCPenney. I'm working on creating some art work for above the toilet.

Kitchen: Before & After

2009-04-24T15:27:00.017-04:00

The kitchen cabinets were a very light and very weathered wood and totally not our style. We didn't have a lot of money in our budget so a total kitchen renovation was completely out of the question. So, we had the cabinets painted with a white semi gloss. We had a few issues with the contractor/painter but in the end, I think we are satisfied. They certainly look 1000 times better than they did before. We painted and replaced the light fixtures as well as replaced the horrible stove, installed a microwave over the stove and bought a new fridge as the previous owner took his with him.

BEFORE:

AFTER: (paint color is SW Blonde)

This last photo is of our Pottery Barn mail organizer/key hooks. It is the one thing we have managed to hang on the wall in the entire house. The skinny door to the right is my beloved pantry. We've never had a pantry before and I am in love with it. You can also see our back hallway to the garage in one of the photos above. It is painted the same color as the kitchen. The dining room is to the right and the half bath is to the left from that hallway. Once we get our dinette set tomorrow, I'll post some more photos. I can't wait to get it!

After I posted this I realized that the old shift and resize didn't work well on the before pics. But, honestly, I'm just too lazy to fix them. Sorry!

Finally bought a dinette set

2009-04-21T16:29:00.004-04:00

I forgot to mention earlier that we finally bought a dinette set. It was on sale at JCPenney and we had a coupon. It is being delivered on Saturday. We got the regular-height "Friendship" set. The photo below is of the counter-height version. For some reason this is the only photo on the website. We also had our new oven installed this afternoon (which turned into a huge headache for my husband). So, you can expect photos of the new and improved kitchen by next week. Very exciting, right?

New Exterior Photos

2009-04-21T10:30:00.005-04:00

I took some exterior shots last night as well. Our house is located at the end of the cul-de-sac.
The lawn and landscaping need some serious help and we need to replace that sorry mailbox. One of these weekends, I'll get around to planting some nice flowers. We currently have a bistro set on the porch, but I'd also like to get some nice rocking chairs as well.

Here is a nice view of our backyard (again with the sorry lawn) complete with pool and shed. That is our neighbors house in the background. It isn't as close as it seems in the photo. We're hoping to open our pool in the next few weeks.

Dining Room: Before & After

2009-04-21T09:45:00.009-04:00

We finally got another room unpacked and set up enough to actually take photos. Yay!

BEFORE: (with seller's furniture)

AFTER: (paint color is SW Sassy Green)

In this room, we painted, replaced the light fixture to a more modern brushed nickel fixture and let all that light in with some simple white sheers. The dining room has ended up with a mismatch of furniture that doesn't exactly match. Our table and chairs are probably about 6 years old. I would LOVE to get a new set, but that won't be in the budget for a long time. So, in the meantime, I will likely reupholster the chair seats in a fun black & white fabric. We purchased the island cabinet (second photo) a few years back at the Mill Store because we were in desperate need of more kitchen storage at the condo. We wanted to put it in the kitchen in the new house too, but sadly it does not fit. So, it was moved to it's current location in the dining room. It is holding our over sized cookie sheets and pizzas pans that won't fit in our kitchen cabinets as well as our good silverware, place mats and napkins. We might put some of our small kitchen appliances in there too since there is so much extra space in there. Our Kingston tall (not pictured) and low cabinet (first photo) also made it into the dining room as we really don't know where else to put them. The low cabinet is where we store all of our Mikasa drink ware (wine glasses, martini glasses, champagne flutes, ice buckets...etc). The tall cabinet is where we store our large serving pieces. Eventually, we will put some back and white photography up on the walls and hang our "W". I also need to find some clips to keep my curtains open.

If you are wondering, the dining room is just to the right when you walk in through the front door. In the second photo, you can see the back hallway (paint color is SW Blonde) and the doorway is to our half bath with laundry. Just to the right of the bathroom is the door to the garage.

Living Room: Before & After

2009-04-14T09:54:00.005-04:00

We haven't had much time in the last few days to gets things more settled because of Easter and both of us going back to work. So, I think the decorating will be slow moving from now on. But, I wanted to post a before and after photo of our living room, which is the only room that is somewhat complete. Eventually, we'd like to get a new sectional (see older post - its the one from Ashley furniture), but for now we will stick with our old dark green comfy couches from Bob's. We also need to get some art up on the walls as well, but that will come in time.

BEFORE: (with seller's furniture)

AFTER: (Paint Color is SW Armagnac)

We usually gravitate towards green and brown and wanted to try something a little different for our new living room. I did a lot of researching different oranges and I was so worried that it wouldn't look good, but I really like how it turned out. Yay!

Bathroom Renovations

2009-04-02T10:51:00.009-04:00

We decided to renovate two of our bathrooms right away, even though we originally figured we would wait a while to do them. They should be complete by early next week, so I will post some before and after photos then. In the meantime, I thought I'd share our tile and vanity selections.

The tile is a glazed porcelain from DalTile. It is the Passaggio line in Arezzo Gold. We'll use it in both the master bath and the half bath.

The half bath is painted SW Meditative and the master bath is painted SW Latte. See earlier post for swatches.

This is the vanity we purchased for the half bath. It is 31" and cost $289 at Lowes.

This is the vanity for the master bath. It is 37" and cost $289 at Home Depot.

We're home owners!

2009-03-29T07:49:00.004-04:00

We closed on our first house on Thursday morning and have been very busy ever since. We were are so happy to have this be our first home. Once we actually found the house we really wanted and the offer was accepted, everything was pretty simple from there. I think it was because we had a great team of people working on our side. Our realtor, mortgage broker and attorney were all fantastic.

We got to the house on Thursday around 11:00 am. Saying the house was dirty would be the understatement of the year. The walls, cabinets, floors ceilings were all just filthy. We had gotten a few quotes for a painter to paint all the interior walls and the kitchen cabinets a few weeks back but they were way too expensive. One of the contractors came to take a look at the cabinets on Thursday night and ended up dropping his price by $1000. We thought about it and said yes and are thrilled that we did. In just 2 days of work, he has already painted and repaired all the woodwork (trim, doors, window casings) upstairs and has completely painted the master bedroom and 90% of our 2-story hallway. We are absolutely thrilled with the results so far. I'll take some before and after pictures next weekend when everything is painted. It was still a lot of money, which is going to put other projects on hold for now, but I think it was totally worth it.

Not included in the painters quote (to save us money) are the bathrooms and closets. So, we've been focusing on getting everything cleaned in the house and buying everything we need. Today we will finish painting the insides of the closets and start painting the 3 small bathrooms. We may also pull out the ugly vanity in the downstairs bath. We bought a new one, which will be delivered next Saturday.

The house has wood floors on the first floor and old carpeting on the stairs and second floor. We're having the old carpets torn out on Tuesday and the new ones put in on Thursday.

So far, of course, we have been working hard and are completely exhausted. But, it has been worth it. I know we are always going to have projects. But, I cannot wait until the current ones are completed and we can move in and be able to sleep there. It's all so exciting!

Paint Colors

2009-03-17T10:59:00.008-04:00

We're not 100% sure on the orange for the living room, but TruePenny gives you a good idea of what we're looking for. Cobble brown (or similar color) will be used as an accent wall in the Master Bedroom, along with Latte for the other walls. We will most likely also use Latte in the upstairs bathrooms and hallways. Quench Blue will be used in our downstairs half bath. Tupelo Tree is for the dining room and Restrained Gold is for the Kitchen. I really like Meditative but haven't decided where to put it yet.

Busy, busy, busy

2009-03-16T22:19:00.003-04:00

We've been quite busy the last two weeks trying to get everything organized and packing up everything that we will not be using in the next few weeks. So far, we've come up with about 5 huge trash bags full of clothes/shoes/handbags to donate. We've also been scrambling to get quotes on carpets, painting and movers as well as trying to figure out what we need to buy for the house now and what can wait. I think we've decided on a few paint colors, all from Sherwin Williams, which I will post in the near future. Right now, we're trying to come up with the right shade of burnt orange to paint the living room.

We decided on the sectional from Ashley Furniture, since the Bob's one ended up being too large for the space. But, since Bernie & Phyl's is closer to our house and does price matching, we will probably buy it there. We also decided on the dinette table from Ashley Furniture as well...although instead of the pub height, we've decided to get the regular height. We realized it will be easier with a regular height table to bring the chairs into the dining room when we need extra seating.

Help us decide: Dinette Set & Sectional

2009-03-01T10:05:00.013-05:00

We've been looking around for a dinette set for the eat-in-kitchen and a sectional for the living room. There is just so much out there, its so hard to decide. Here are some photos of the rooms with seller's furniture:

Eat-in Area

Living Area

These are our favorite Dinettes right now, the first two are both pub tables from Bob's Furniture and both cost $599. The third is a pub table from Ashley Furniture and costs $399. The last is a pub table from JCPenney and costs $649. It also comes in a regular height table for $499.

These are our favorite sectionals right now. The first is an espresso color from Ashley furniture and it comes with an ottoman for $1600. The second is from Bob's, we would get it in the same espresso/mocha color as the Ashley one, but it is shown here in Linen. It costs $1199 with a full size sleeper.

Everything is moving along!

2009-03-01T09:43:00.004-05:00

We had our home inspection last Tuesday and everything went well. There were only minor issues - leak in master bath (seller agreed to fix), rotted post on porch and a few tree limbs touching the roof that need to be trimmed. The inspector couldn't get up on the roof because it was covered with ice. But, he was able to get into the attic and mentioned that there were no leaks.

We locked in our mortgage rate on Wednesday. We're doing a no PMI mortgage, which is nice. The house was appraised on Friday and it came in just above the selling price. We also made our second deposit on Friday. I think that was probably the biggest check I've ever written. We are scheduled to close on March 26.

We've been quite busy searching for the perfect appliances at the best price, trying to figure out what colors to paint each room and getting estimates for painting and carpet. It's a little hard without being able to get into the house. But, we want to have a rough idea of how much everything we'd like to do is so we can make decisions on what to do now and what can wait.

Megan Update: Offer Accepted!!!

2009-02-21T22:32:00.004-05:00

After months and months of searching for our first home, we have finally found it. After a day or two of negotiations, our offer on Megan was accepted and we are thrilled! We ending up spending a little more than we wanted to, but in the end, I think we will be extremely happy we did as this could be our forever home. We have a meeting with our realtor tomorrow morning and have scheduled the home inspection for Tuesday morning. Hopefully all goes well!

Update: Megan

2009-02-18T18:41:00.003-05:00

We've been thinking about Megan all weekend and even though we said last week that we were at our max with our first offer, we reconsidered and decided to counter. We just didn't want to lose the house over an extra $50 per month on our mortgage payment. We found out they received another offer this morning. So, I expect that the sellers are reviewing both offers as we "speak" and I'm hoping they make a decision quickly. We are still $5000 lower than they want for the house, but this is our best and final offer. If we lose it, then at least we know we did everything we could to get the house. We'll definitely have to make some sacrifices because we are upping our offer. We'll just have to live with the furniture we have now and deal with an unfurnished room in the basement and perhaps an empty eat-in-kitchen for a while...and why not, we'll already have one empty bedroom. Thankfully, we already have a dining room set. We also may not be able to replace all of the carpet we wanted to all at once. We may have to stick with just the master bedroom, which needs it the most. So, please cross your fingers (and toes if possible) for us and I'll keep you updated.

Update: Big Brown

2009-02-17T16:37:00.003-05:00

Our fantastic new realtor just let us know that she got an update on Big Brown. The bank completed the appraisal yesterday and the seller's realtor should have the report by Thursday. So, hopefully the end is near. Of course, I wouldn't bet money on it.

New Realtor

2009-02-16T21:19:00.004-05:00

After some strange and uncomfortable moments with our realtor in the last few days, we decided that we just could not continue working with her. We spoke to the managing broker and she hooked us up with a new agent, who seems fantastic. We are really excited to work with someone new and look forward to viewing more properties. Our contract with Big Brown is about to expire, so we are hoping she will be able to get a status update before we extend the contract on that house. I'm hoping they will be able to give her an estimated length of time that this will go on. Although it's only been about 2.5 months, it seems like we've been waiting forever!

No deal on Megan

2009-02-13T18:49:00.004-05:00

We got a response on Megan today around 4:00 pm. The sellers countered back and we were about to counter back to them. But, we discussed it and decided that we really cannot go any higher. It would just stretch our budget too much and although we really liked the house and it had great potential, I think it just wasn't meant to be ours. Oh well, time to move on.

Two weeks ago we looked at this cute cape that I mentioned in a past entry that might work for us. It also needed some work and not all the bedrooms were on the same floor, so I dismissed it at the time. But, it has been in my thoughts ever since. I spoke to Michael about it yesterday and we looked at the photos. We decided maybe we should take a second look and consider making an offer since it is more within our comfort zone price wise. Of course, we discovered that it is already under contract. I really do have the worst luck. But, I suppose everything happens for a reason, right?

We still have not heard anything on Big Brown.

Megan Update

2009-02-13T09:50:00.004-05:00

We submitted and offer on Megan last night and gave a deadline of today at 5:00 pm for the seller to respond. We also included a nice personal note to the sellers letting them know how much it would mean to us to purchase their home. I really hope we hear back soon and that it is good news. They will most likely counter, but we really can't go much higher. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

We'll call her Megan (house #2)

2009-02-08T21:06:00.007-05:00

We went out with our realtor again this morning to see a house that was just reduced and now within the higher end of our budget. We'll call her Megan.

Megan is a 2200 square foot 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home with a 2-car garage, finished basement, a farmer's porch and an in-ground pool. It was built in 1999 and according to the tax assessment, the pool was installed in 2006. A pool really isn't something we are looking for. It just seems to come with every house we are interested in...weird. So, this is a pretty good house and just looks like it needs some cosmetic changes.

What we liked about the house:

located on a cul-de-sac
2-car garage with two doors
open kitchen/living room
eat-in kitchen and separate dining room
wood floors on main level
finished basement with two separate rooms
pantry closet
white woodwork and trim
large master with walk-in closet
laundry on main level
good size level lot
farmer's porch
shed in backyard
central air
vinyl siding
gas cooking

Things that need work:

kitchen (and bath) cabinets are ugly light wood with weathered look and need to be painted
every single wall is white and dirty so every last one of them need to be painted (same with moulding & baseboards)
all three bathrooms have linoleum floors, which are not our taste. eventually we would want to tile.
the counter top in the kitchen is a light blue laminate...ugly, but in good condition, we would eventually want to replace with granite.
appliances are mismatched and we would likely need to replace them (definitely need fridge & microwave right away)
outside trim is extremely dirty and needs repainting
there are very large vines growing through the farmers porch that need to be removed.
there are a few discolored spots on the kitchen ceiling, looks like there may have been a leak at some point, so we'll need to look into that.

All in all, Megan is less work than Big Brown. But, the asking price is $20,000 more than Big Brown as well. We're definitely considering putting an offer in on this house, but we need to hear back from our realtor about the rules of putting in an offer on a second house. We don't want to withdraw our offer on Big Brown at this point just in case Megan's seller doesn't accept our best offer (which is probably $15,000 less than the asking price).

The one I was excited about

2009-02-04T19:19:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, we ended up only looking at one house. It was the one I was excited to see. It was due for a price reduction, making it affordable to us, and it looked great in the photos. It had a great layout and more storage space than I have ever seen in my entire life. The kitchen had been redone a few years ago and had cherry cabinets, wood floors, stainless steel appliances & granite counter tops. However, the appliances looked pretty old, the granite wasn't shiny anymore and the cabinets were a little rundown (almost looked like the stain was fading). The master was a good size but the other 3 bedrooms were tiny. There was one tiny half bath downstairs and then a full very out-dated bath at the top of the stairs. The 3/4 bath in the master was so tiny, they couldn't fit the sink/vanity inside. That was out in the "hallway" that connected the closet and bath in the master. It was clear when looking at the floor in the master that there were some pretty hefty structural problems. It looked u shaped and when you walked to the middle of the room, you almost felt like you sunk a few inches. Overall, even with new carpeting and fancier fixtures, they house was just outdated and very overpriced. It's too bad because it was a great neighborhood.

At this point, we are just waiting for new listings to come on the market or for more expensive homes to have price reductions. We are also still waiting for any news on Big Brown.

Update - Big Brown

2009-01-31T15:38:00.004-05:00

We found out that the bank finally assigned someone to the file on Wednesday, which means once the BPO (or market analysis) is done, they will actually look at our offer. This brings us a little further in the process, but because of the sheer volume of these short sales at the bank, we could still be waiting for a long time. But, this is a step in the right direction.

We have been looking at houses in the meantime and we have seen one that is somewhat promising, a really cute cape. But, since we saw it in the middle of a snowstorm, we didn't really get any photos of the backyard and we don't remember it at all. So, we'll have to take another look if we decide we are interested down the road. We're also going to look at a few more houses tomorrow, one of which I'm pretty excited to see. So, I'll keep you posted.

You were right, I was wrong

2009-01-29T22:55:00.004-05:00

I spend a lot of time in the car. I have a 40 minute drive to work and then another hour drive from there to school. I get very bored with the radio and find it super relaxing to listen to audiobooks. I'm a big fan of chick lit and the girls on the Nest Book Club board tried for months to convince me to "read" the Twilight series. I'm not a science fiction person and figured I'd have no interest in books about vampires. For months I "listened" to everyone talk about how great they were and how in love they were with Edward. Not since New Kids on the Block had I seen grown women with posters on their virtual wall. It got to the point where there was nothing being discussed on the board but Twilight. So, I finally decided to add it to my request list at the library. Quite some time passed as I waited for the 40+ people ahead of me to be done with it. I had pretty much forgotten about it when I got the library notification that it was ready, I was intrigued. Here is the part where I admit you were right, I was wrong. Not only did I love it, but it is the best book I've "read" in a long time. I just started New Moon and cannot wait to find out what happens. However, I'm not going to be buying any I heart Edward t-shirts anytime soon. This is where I draw the line.

Big Brown - background info

2009-01-28T19:10:00.006-05:00

On December 10, we put an offer on a house, which we will call "Big Brown". It is a 2300-ish sq foot 3 bed/ 2 bath house with a 2-car garage, giant finished basement and good size yard with in-ground pool. Houses like this normally are not in our budget and we were super excited to find it since it is large enough to be our forever home. We figured there had to be a catch and of course, there was. Big Brown is a short sale, which means our fate is in the hands of a random person at a bank somewhere, possibly not even in New England. Also, the current homeowner is a heavy smoker and the place reeks. I'm talking slap you in the face when you walk through the door reeks. After much deliberation we decided that even though ServPro gave an estimate of $3000-4000 to get rid of the smoke smell, it was worth it for this house. So, the waiting began.

On January 4, we learned that there was a second offer on Big Brown. We figured since we low-balled that the other offer was higher than ours and decided to amend our original offer. We went up $10,000. We also found out that day that they were putting Big Brown on a "pending" status and would no longer be showing the house. The seller's realtor told our realtor that our new offer was very close & similar to the other offer.

On January 14, we found out that the bank had yet to look at either offer because they had not assigned the BPO (market analysis) yet. The seller's realtor said she expected the bank to assign this to a third party by the end of the following week (Jan 23).

This brings us to the present...where we are getting very used to waiting, waiting and more waiting.

For more info on short sales, click here.