Loving and Losing

For all those wondering how the house shopping is going, let me give you a brief little update.  I found the perfect house and then it slipped away.  Then I found a great house and that one slipped away too.  The first house was literally the very first house we walked into the very first time we went out looking.  It was so cute and had lots of character.

It was a wonderful, little red brick house, totally remodeled and very close to where we live now.  Of course, with it being the very first house we walked in, I wasn't ready to put in any offer and we continued looking at the other 5 houses on our list for that day.  Well, before our lender approval was even finalized a week later, this beauty was off the market.  I was pretty devastated but did take comfort in the fact that we couldn't have put in an offer anyway since we didn't have our approval papers ready yet.

Recently we found another totally remodeled house very close to our ideal area.  It was a foreclosure and had been on the market forever.  Well, I thought about it for 2 days and when I went to review it online to consider submitting an offer, I learned it too was off the market.

Then there was the remodeled foreclosure in an even better location priced 40k over our budget that we went to look at thinking we could low ball.  Once we got there we were told there were already 6 offers on the table and a bidding war was underway - it was so discouraging I could barely get through the walk-through.

Yesterday we went back to one we had mixed feelings about.  We loved the yard but it was a bit of a drive into work and the inside needed some upgrading to suit our tastes.  Since we had first looked at it, it had gone into short sale and the price had dropped, so we thought it was worth a second look.

We left to look at 2 more after this one, still with some mixed feelings, when suddenly we found a great one that we really got excited about.

We both agreed we loved it and wanted to put in an offer immediately (if you know anything about me, I never make decisions this quickly, so you know it had to be reeeeeaaaaallllyyy speacial).  The thing is that it's a short sale, meaning it's selling for less than the owner owes on it.  So any offers must be approved by the seller's bank.  This can take anywhere from 3 days to 3 months.  Sometimes the bank will want to sit around and see what offers they get before they decide and then turn around and up the price.  Other times the bank is desperate to recoup at least some of the money before they foreclose on the seller, so they accept any offer.  We put the offer in today and will continue to hunt after we return from vacation the week after next.  For the time being, we'll try to put this place on the back burner, since we don't want to get too attached to the house when we have no idea if or when we would get it.  We'll keep everyone posted as we get status updates and continue the search.

Hair Day

For a long time I resisted coloring my hair. I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of maintaining it and I was worried about straying from my natural color. Well as the gray started creeping in without any regard to my hesitations I decided I wanted to take the plunge. I started with just a metaphorical dip of my toes in the pool to test the temperature – I got highlights. As I sat under the dryer I worried they would be too light and obvious but once it was all over I actually liked it. The next time I stuck with the highlights and went a bit lighter and most recently I colored it all a base color close to my natural color and really went for it with the highlights. It’s gotten mixed reviews. Some think it’s too light others like it as is and still others feel I could push it even more. The best thing about it all, however, is how fun it’s been to change my look even if it has been somewhat subtle. I’ve been gathering confidence along the way and now I’m ready for something more dramatic.  At least as I type this I'm ready, once I'm in the salon it may be a different story...

I’ve narrowed it down to a few different looks.  I just don't know if I'll go lighter, darker or try a whole new shade.  I guess it'll be a surprise - maybe even to me.

Maybe a different darker or lighter shade all together?

How about a darker crown with ligher ends instead?

Drastic and daring or safe and subtle?

We'll see how it all goes I suppose...

Realtor Shopping

When the plan was to move back to Austin and get a house there, I knew just what would happen. I would go to my very good friend Genesis and she would find us the perfect house and get us the best deal and explain everything 47,000 times if I needed to hear it 47,000 times because she's my good friend first and my realtor second. I knew there would be no second guessing her, she's completely knowledgeable and would have our best interests at heart. However, with the change in plans and our sticking around here for a while instead, I lost that and I'm really mourning the loss now.

To be quite frank, I tend to group realtors in the same category as car salesmen. As I see it, both want to make a sale at the highest personal profit, maybe even to the detriment of the customer. So in losing my Genesis, I lost a lot. However, based on a recommendation, we've found another lady who will be showing us our very first set of houses this week. I'm excited and nervous but at least the process will now be in motion. I'll also get to pretend we're on "House Hunters" or "My First Place" in my head as we walk through the houses, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Spring Break

Sis had knee surgery again last week and timed it so she would recover during spring break. Spring break is also when South By Southwest hits Austin and now that I don’t live there anymore, this is one of my favorite times to go there. The energy is high and there’s lots of people coming out and getting to experience first hand what a great place it really is. Mom and Dad were out to help with her recovery too, which was really rather minimal after the first few days. We spent time talking, shopping and relaxing. I even also managed to squeeze in 3 workouts at her top of the line gym (thanks to Mom's early wake up calls and excellent workout partnering skills) so I was pleased as punch. Of course coming back was not so nice. The return flight is always the hardest part. We take off and I'm looking out the window, watching as we leave this lush, green rolling hill country and two hours later, we land in the dusty, dry desert. Not exactly a terrific trade off but certainly we had a great time as usual and our appreciation for “home” grew just a bit more with each tasty bite of Tex-Mex.


...and that one naughty but nice, deliciously decadent cupcake.

Boot Camp

As some of you may know, I did a month long boot camp fitness program these last few weeks. It involved a lot of running and interval-style cross training. I did it three times a week for an hour at 5:30 in the morning. The first day was totally brutal and I wanted to die (right after I caught my breath that is). I’m under the impression that running should be reserved for life or death situations only so needless to say I was questioning the whole thing when the first words out of her mouth were “Let’s start with a short lap.” I struggled through that lap and most all other things we did that day. The first week I could hardly move my arms, bending or extending them was painful since they were so sore and I'd cough and wheeze for hours after class. Eventually, however, my endurance and strength started to improve and I didn’t totally dread it anymore. In fact, I did the unthinkable and signed up for another month that began today.

I'm happy to report that while it was certainly hard, I noticed a huge difference between this session's first day and last session's first day. I'm feeling pretty good about this whole thing now and would recommend this type of fitness class to anyone considering it.

Here I Am

So, no, I didn't drop off the face of the earth.  I was just computer-less for far too long.  My faithful old computer died after a little over 5 years of service.  It took some time for us to decide whether to try to fix it or get a new one.  I'm not into fixing old electronics, these things run their course and should just be replaced in my book.  However, I was tempted to try that route just because it burns me that we've worked so many (many many many many) hours to save and save for a down payment and I didn't want to dip into that for a new computer.  In the end we did get a new imac, though, and she sure is pretty.

To be honest, I've not had much time to play with her, although Keck sure has and assures me she runs like a dream.

I'm just thankful to be back online, since we still can't write or read blogs at work, I've been having serious withdrawal issues.  Also, we didn't lose anything in the transition either since Keck had just backed everything up a few days before the old imac went on to a better place, where I imagine all desktops are as lovely as this:

And so to my imacs I say "Goodbye, old friend!  Hello, my new workhorse!" Here's a fun 3 generation photo of our little imac family:

Moonlight Drawings

While at Zoolights I started "drawing" with the moon on a whim.  It's a technique I once saw a fellow photo student use.  There was a big, bright lovely full moon hanging low in the night sky and so I used its light through a long exposure to create lines and pictures.  While the shutter is open for the long exposure, I move the camera around like a writing instrument.  I have no idea what will materialize but since it's digital I don't have to wait very long to find out.

I got some interesting photos but the masterpiece of the series is definitely Constellation Little 'dillo.

Do you see it too?  :)