Another Update to the Void
The Disney trip in January was amazing - 15 days in WDW, and a Bahamian cruise on the Disney Dream! Keith re-proposed to me on the bow of the Dream, after releasing me from any obligation from the first one - how...cute? I guess he just wanted to make suresies that I am in this thing, all the way.
We chose a date for the wedding (Super Pi Day, 3/14/15), and booked the venue for the wedding - Highlands Park Estate in Ben Lomond. It's beautiful! 2 rooms upstairs to get ready in, 2 large rooms downstairs, a wet bar, and a huge grassy area and gazebo for an outdoor ceremony. We have a 10 hour window - 5 hours to setup and cleanup, and a 5 hour event window. Now to decide what time to actually get married! Keith is pulling for 9:26am (the next 3 digits in Pi), and I say no fucking way I'm getting ready that damn early.
We knew that the rent was going to go up sometime before June, but we didn't know how much it would be - Damian, Kirsten and baby Maya moved out in December, with the new people Murphy and Alexandra moving in soon after from Brooklyn. They're...not our type of people; they piled crap in the backyard, blocked the garage door with some massive desk thing under a tarp, and generally are way more annoying than cool. We didn't know how great we had it with Damian & Kirsten!
So, when Adam said the rent was going to go up to $1650 (for a 180 square foot studio loft, up from $1000 when I moved in), we knew we wanted to get the fuck out of Dodge. Our utilities ran over $200 per month because the lot wasn't rated for two residences, so we hit the highest tier of energy and water every month. So, all the money I had saved up for the wedding was now earmarked for a down payment for a house. I started cruising the parks that we could afford with the girls, and Bella spotted a For Sale sign in Harbor Village for a 2 bedroom place. We put in an offer below asking price, but there were 4 other offers in, so we didn't get it. Good thing, because the next day, on a whim, I drove all the way to the back of the park and Bella saw a For Sale sign all the way at the end, so we took a look at it. It was only a 1 bedroom, but was almost half the price of the first place we saw, so I called the broker, met him at the house later that day to see the inside of the house, and I told him we'd like to put in an offer for it! The owner is a retired preacher & police officer, and also a heavy smoker, so the house stank of cigarettes badly, but hopefully we can take care of that. That was on a Thursday - Keith met me at the house with Alex Ching (the agent, and also the mortgage holder) on Friday, and we signed the offer. All went well, and we had the counter-offer (with the termite tenting being paid by the seller) accepted on Monday, May 4th - we close on May 27th!
We spent the next few weeks feverishly packing and organizing everything, scheduling moving truck, carpet cleaning, painting and termite tenting. It was really stressful, but the first night sleeping in our very own home made it all worth while. The location is awesome - we have a clear view to the salt marshes and bay, with a constant breeze to keep it cool, even on 90+ degree days. The house is bigger than we're coming from, probably smaller than most other people are used to, but perfect for us! Home Depot is our new best friend...
Kara and family came to help us with the move, and Tori & the Casales helped us paint the closet.
So, now we're back to saving for the wedding - well, mostly saving for the honeymoon we want. Keith wants to go to Hong Kong, while I would love to go to the Disneylands there in HK & Tokyo. While we're on that side of the world, why not pop down to Malaysia or Thailand for some beach time? It'll cost more than the wedding, but that's where our passion lies! Well, my passion - Keith is just appreciative that my passion is so enjoyable for him.
The family is really loving the new place, with the pool...we've got lots of guests now!
We chose a date for the wedding (Super Pi Day, 3/14/15), and booked the venue for the wedding - Highlands Park Estate in Ben Lomond. It's beautiful! 2 rooms upstairs to get ready in, 2 large rooms downstairs, a wet bar, and a huge grassy area and gazebo for an outdoor ceremony. We have a 10 hour window - 5 hours to setup and cleanup, and a 5 hour event window. Now to decide what time to actually get married! Keith is pulling for 9:26am (the next 3 digits in Pi), and I say no fucking way I'm getting ready that damn early.
We knew that the rent was going to go up sometime before June, but we didn't know how much it would be - Damian, Kirsten and baby Maya moved out in December, with the new people Murphy and Alexandra moving in soon after from Brooklyn. They're...not our type of people; they piled crap in the backyard, blocked the garage door with some massive desk thing under a tarp, and generally are way more annoying than cool. We didn't know how great we had it with Damian & Kirsten!
So, when Adam said the rent was going to go up to $1650 (for a 180 square foot studio loft, up from $1000 when I moved in), we knew we wanted to get the fuck out of Dodge. Our utilities ran over $200 per month because the lot wasn't rated for two residences, so we hit the highest tier of energy and water every month. So, all the money I had saved up for the wedding was now earmarked for a down payment for a house. I started cruising the parks that we could afford with the girls, and Bella spotted a For Sale sign in Harbor Village for a 2 bedroom place. We put in an offer below asking price, but there were 4 other offers in, so we didn't get it. Good thing, because the next day, on a whim, I drove all the way to the back of the park and Bella saw a For Sale sign all the way at the end, so we took a look at it. It was only a 1 bedroom, but was almost half the price of the first place we saw, so I called the broker, met him at the house later that day to see the inside of the house, and I told him we'd like to put in an offer for it! The owner is a retired preacher & police officer, and also a heavy smoker, so the house stank of cigarettes badly, but hopefully we can take care of that. That was on a Thursday - Keith met me at the house with Alex Ching (the agent, and also the mortgage holder) on Friday, and we signed the offer. All went well, and we had the counter-offer (with the termite tenting being paid by the seller) accepted on Monday, May 4th - we close on May 27th!
We spent the next few weeks feverishly packing and organizing everything, scheduling moving truck, carpet cleaning, painting and termite tenting. It was really stressful, but the first night sleeping in our very own home made it all worth while. The location is awesome - we have a clear view to the salt marshes and bay, with a constant breeze to keep it cool, even on 90+ degree days. The house is bigger than we're coming from, probably smaller than most other people are used to, but perfect for us! Home Depot is our new best friend...
Kara and family came to help us with the move, and Tori & the Casales helped us paint the closet.
So, now we're back to saving for the wedding - well, mostly saving for the honeymoon we want. Keith wants to go to Hong Kong, while I would love to go to the Disneylands there in HK & Tokyo. While we're on that side of the world, why not pop down to Malaysia or Thailand for some beach time? It'll cost more than the wedding, but that's where our passion lies! Well, my passion - Keith is just appreciative that my passion is so enjoyable for him.
The family is really loving the new place, with the pool...we've got lots of guests now!