Packing our lives away!

We are currently packing, packing and more packing! Or should I say, Marc is doing a lot of packing... :) It has been so nice to come home from work to another section of the apartment packed away in boxes. It is much different having his help this time compared to last time when I did most of the packing on my own before we moved in together.

Just one little corner of boxes, this box pile has
tripled in size since I took the picture this weekend!

Our official move-in date is this Friday!!!! December 7th! We are so excited it is literally hard to sleep at night. The house is finally empty from most of the sellers' enormous amounts of belongings.

It is amazing how much stuff people accumulate over the years...I think we have learned we need to do annual purging of our excess stuff that has not been used and either donate it or toss it so we don't end up like "Hoarders."

I hope to remember to take pictures of the house before we put our furniture in so we can see some before and afters and show our progress as we make it our home.

This is going to be a very busy week of packing, moving, painting, unpacking and relentlessly thanking those who are dedicating their weekend to helping us move. Thanks in advance to all of you!!!

How I finally chose my wedding dress

Let me tell you how absolutely amazingly fun wedding dress shopping was!

Spending great quality time with my best girlfriends, sisters, mom and future mother-in-law while trying on some of the most beautiful (and most hideous...) dresses I've ever seen while everyone oooh's and ahhh's, how could I not have a blast? Seeing as I've been fantasizing about shopping for wedding dresses since I could walk, and maybe even earlier, it was a dream come true!

I ended up trying on dresses during 4 separate occasions, spread out over 2 months. The first time consisted of going to 2 local dress shops with my mom, mother in law, sister (maid of honor), sister in law (bridesmaid), and best friend (bridesmaid).

I learned that I could identify very quickly exactly what I did NOT like! I would put one on, walk out and show everyone, stand on the pedistal for about 2 seconds and say, "Next!" And off I went to try on the next one. This came in very handy because during the first appointment I was able to try on probably 10 dresses in the first hour. I thought that was very good considering all the work to get into those things!

My amazing sister/maid of honor did a fabulous job at taking pictures throughout the day, I have SO many on my phone (which is on lock down for the next year so Marc can't catch any glimpses of THE dress)! Here are a few:



"Pulling dresses" with my mama



Mom, Kelly and Paula waiting patiently for me to reveal the first dress!



Browsing with Vallie - "candid" shot :)

After that day of searching those two stores, I thought I had my heart set on the ONE.

I went to David's Bridal with my future Mother in Law, we had a fun time, but still didn't find anything to top the ONE from before.

I had heard about this store in San Francisco, The Glamour Closet, that carries all sample dresses for discounted prices and since I only get to shop for my wedding dress once in my life, I knew I had to at least go there for fun. So this past Sunday, I planned to go there with my sister and 2 of my bridesmaids. However, before I went there, since I knew if I found one, I would have to buy it on the spot since they're all samples, I wanted to go back and try on the ONE on Saturday. If you're not confused, good job! :) So Saturday, my mom and Val and I went to try on the ONE from the first time and we loved it just as much! I just felt so happy and fun in it. So I told the consultant's I'd be back, I was just going to have some fun at the Glamour Closet but would be back to buy that ONE in a few days.

Boy was I wrong about that one!!

***Side note about The Glamour Closet: One day about 2 years ago, my mom, sister and I were in SF and wandering down the street north of the Financial District in the Italian neighborhood looking for a place to grab some lunch,and we pass a wedding dress shop. We all three stop abruptly to gaze longingly at the beautiful dresses in the window and I announce, "I'm coming HERE when I shop for wedding dresses." We gaze some more, and continue our hunt for food.

So off we go to wait in line before the store opens in SF. We pull up to the shop and my sister reminds me that THIS is the place I said I was going to come back to someday when I got engaged. Isn't it so amazing how things just come full circle sometimes? Bless her and her superior memory! ;) Anyways, we were about 10th in line, so we were told it'd be an hour and a half before I would get to head into a dressing room. So we leisurely browsed and chose the allotted 8 dresses I would try on that day. The 8 we chose were of such a wide variety because it was going to be my last ditch effort to try on something "crazy" or different and see if I would change my mind and stray from the first ONE. At about the 3rd dress in, I was totally thrown off my guard when I fell in love with another dress and could do nothing but stand and stare in awe of how beautiful it was. Now this one was THE ONE. The ONE AND ONLY. As I turned to walk back into the dressing room to try on #4, I turned to my sister and said, "I think I'm changing my mind..." and her jaw hit the floor! I love my sister and her so suiting reactions to every fun and emotional moment! She had seen me run and dance and laugh in the first dress and was as sure as I was that my mind was made up from that moment.

I plowed through the next few dresses and went back to try on THE ONE. Veil and all, I was sold. The consultant asked me: "So, is this your dress?" and I turned around and looked at my best girls and said, "YES!" and both my sister and I burst into tears! We are such girls!!! HAHAHA! Even a random mother of a bride who was shopping there asked to take our picture while we were hugging, it was such a magical, beautiful moment. I thought it was something that only happened in movies and on "reality" TV, but I was so wrong. To all our amazement, I had changed my mind and chosen a dress that was COMPLETELY different from the other one and so much more beautiful!

Surrounded by beauties!

I literally walked out of the store with a wedding dress!

I forgot to mention, this dress was *before tax* under my budget!! Woo hoo!! and thank you to my lovely Mom and Pop for buying it for me <3 The only catch, is it's a sample size 12, so my "personal seamstress" is going to see if she can work her magic on it so I can avoid taking it to another seamstress! She's super talented so I'm sure there will be no problem, I have faith in her!

After I said YES, we marched off to celebrate over some champagne and lunch right up the street. Did I mention this is the same place my mom, sister and I went to lunch that day we first discovered the Glamour Closet? Well it is! Again, the universe meant to put us there...

delicious Sofia Coppola champagne that has held a near and dear place in my heart

Since my mom wasn't at this appointment, I rushed home and tried it on for my mom and dad who loved it!!


That sums up probably my longest post ever, but it was such a blast I wanted to capture every detail!

No hints about the dress for another 297 days! Don't want Marc to get any clues except one: it's white!! :)

We are HOMEOWNERS!

Marc and I are officially the owners of a wonderful 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1,700 square foot wonderful home!

After riding the Short Sale roller coaster for nearly 4 months, we survived the ups and downs and rounded the last bend this morning. Our Escrow Officer confirmed everything and the process is finally over.

I can't believe it has actually happened!

Now all we have to do is make sure the sellers (now our renters...well free renters) pack up all their stuff and move out by the agreed upon date of December 1st. Good thing Marc and Mr. Seller are buddies and Marc calls him frequently to check in and make sure everything is still on track.

The next step that Marc and I are planning to take is those 2 scary words.... JOINT CHECKING. It's the logical thing to do since we now own a home together and will be paying for everything together, why bother writing checks to each other each month to pay the other one back for the bills they paid...? But the details remain: When should we combine finances? How should we do it? Whose bank do we go with? Who should pay the bills? Should we still have separate checking accounts or credit cards for our own "private" purchases?

I'm totally open to suggestions on how to manage being first-time homeowners and gradually combining the other aspects of our lives in the months leading up to our wedding.

Such an exciting day! Another post to come about wedding updates - 298 days to go! :)

Why everyone should have 6 calendars

It is extremely frustrating to plan for something to happen at a certain date or time and do all the preparations to make that happen, only to have that date be changed again. I know this is life and I need to learn to deal with changing schedules and be flexible and understanding when obstacles arise. However, that does not make it any less frustrating!

It doesn't help that I am someone who lives religiously by her calendar! Let me illustrate for you my obsession with calendars: 

• I have 2 calendars posted on the wall at work: one for personal, one for work
• I use my work Outlook calendar for work and personal events
• My iPhone calendar also houses most work and all personal events and reminders
• We have a white board calendar on the fridge at home that tracks the current month's work schedules, personal events, birthdays, holidays and the nightly dinner menu.
• We have another dry erase *Pinterest* calendar on the wall at home in a picture frame that shows the next month's happenings. (I posted about this calendar here and my plans to make it. I did, in fact, get around to making it. It turned out great!)

So there you have it, 6 calendars to help organize my life (and Marc's life)! I wish that everyone used this many calendars and stuck to them! 

In case you were wondering, this venting session is directed to the sellers of our house who have asked us if they can live in the house for 2 more weeks because they aren't sure if their next place of residence is going to be ready by December 1st. Never mind the fact that they knew they'd need to move out on that date back in AUGUST. Never mind the fact that they have not started packing. Never mind the fact that they are borderline hoarders and it will take a small army to move everything out of that house. I think they could highly benefit from some more calendars to help them keep track of what day they need to vacate our house so we can move in and get settled before Christmas and live happily ever after!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh, I actually feel much better now ;)

Almost Homeowners!

In just a few short days, Marc and I will be homeowners! We are scheduled to sign the papers at the title company today or tomorrow and will close escrow on November 6th or 7th.

I want to recap the timeline and process of buying our first home so we can remember this exciting time of our lives.

The house is 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, almost 1,700 square feet and a perfect sized yard for a dog to run around and play. It was a short sale but the process went a lot quicker than most short sales are moving right now. We submitted the offer in late August and found out that there were 4 other offers. It was the third offer we had put on a house (the first house had a total of 22 offers, the second had 15 offers!) and we knew from only a short 15-minute showing, that it was the place we would make our home. The home we would come home to after our wedding, the home we would bring our future children home from the hospital to, the home where we would host Christmas for our families, the home where we would really begin our life together. In order to better the chances of our offer being chosen, Marc and I wrote a letter to the sellers. Yes, we wrote a sappy letter on stationary and included it with the offer. And guess what?!

The next day, August 30, 2012, our realtor called and shared the news we were waiting for: the sellers chose our offer!!! As a counter-offer, we agreed to allow the sellers to live in the home until December 1st at no cost. We worked out that it wouldn't be more than a couple weeks after we closed escrow and we really felt for the sellers - they're an older couple in their 60s-70s who appear to have some health issues. Marc and I decided we didn't want to lose the home over just a few weeks and we hope that if we (or our parents/grandparents) were in the same position, someone would show us/them some compassion as well, so we agreed.

The next step was to wait for the bank to approve the short sale which was estimated to be in about 30 days. And on October 5th, after signing what felt like hundreds of documents and emailing back and forth with our realtor, our broker and the listing agent, we received the approval from the bank!

The appraisal was ordered and it came back above our offer, which was great news! Next, we hired an inspector to come out and take a look at the property and make sure everything was in good shape. The inspection was a little awkward because Marc and I both wanted our dads to be there since they're very handy and hadn't seen the house yet, Marc's mom came along as well. In addition, the sellers were present which was weird because they followed us everywhere and we didn't really feel comfortable enough to poke around. At least we got to spend some quality time in the home and solidify the decision we made to buy the house.

We have lifted all the contingencies and are now just waiting for the papers to be ready to sign (and for mine and Marc's schedules to cooperate so we can go sign them...).

Here is a sneak peak of the front of the house - just from the listing:

{from the listing on Trulia.com}

I can't believe how quickly it feels like this process is going. We are beyond excited to move out of our TINY one bedroom apartment into our first home and make it our own. We already have so many plans for painting and decorating other changes we want to make to it. This is a time of our lives that we will never forget!

Fate

It must be fate. Today is my very best friend's birthday. We have known each other for EXACTLY 25 years. We were destined for best friendhood the day her mom pulled my mom's hair in 7th grade Spanish class (what was that, 43 years ago??). Can it get any more "meant-to-be" than that? I think not.

Now, birthdays are great, I'll be the first one to tell you that, but that is not, on it's own, the reason why I'm writing about fate. Today, I looked on my "Big Day" countdown app and noticed that it is exactly 333 days until the day I say, "I DO" to my other best friend.

333!!

If you didn't get the hint by now, my favorite number is 3, and three 3's is just the best!! It must be fate.

Happy Birthday to my Vallie!



So much has happened!

I know it has been MONTHS since I've posted, let me just say that it has been a crazy crazy few months and other things have taken priority over this bloggy.

Let me try to fill you in brifely, and maybe down the road I'll do a post about each exciting event.

• I got engaged!!! He proposed on a cruise in the Caribbean and I was 100% surprised. It was amazing. And the ring, is amazing and exactly what I had hoped for!

• My brother got married to my wonderful new sister-in-law in Chicago. It was the most magical wedding and week of celebrating.

• We bought a house! Well *almost* bought a house. It's a short sale and we are opening escrow today/tomorrow. It is so much more than we dreamed our first house would be and we are so thrilled to move in and make it our own!
• I got a new job! I love it, I love the company, I love my new co-workers, I love the opportunities I have ahead of me with this company.
• We set our wedding date and chose a venue! September 14, 2013 is now scheduled to be one of the most memorable days of our lives! <3 Here's a little sneak preview:

• My wonderful friend gave birth to her sweet baby girl this past weekend. She is absolutely adorable in photos, I can't even imagine how much I'm going to fall in love with her when I meet her in person!

Now I have some very exciting things to discuss and document on this blog, so I hope I will be posting a little more often :)