All moved in....

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are all moved in! We are currently getting our new house set up just the way we want it and will be ready for visitors mid to late November.... so make your reservations at the Ridge Ritz... first come, first served. We're really excited to be able to host our family members and friends in a spacious and comfortable setting as opposed to the cramped quarters we were previously in. We're also so excited for our family and friends to see our new home... which we're really, really, really proud of.

I've had a lot of fun reading all our appliance manuals and doing our laundry in OUR washer and dryer! We have a Bosch washer and dryer, which are very energy efficient... it costs less than $15 per year to operate. Works for me! The cycles take a little bit longer than a regular top loading washer and dryer, but it's not that noticeable. It's so nice to be able to do laundry whenever we feel like it instead of letting it pile up to do on the weekend.

I've also been putting rooms together with the help of Crate & Barrel and Restoration Hardware (love that place!). People we know have been so sweet and have sent us gift cards as housewarming gifts. I definitely prefer that since that way I can pick it out and don't have to fake a smile and then figure out how to get rid of something that isn't my taste without hurting the gifter's feelings. I don't think it's impersonal at all... because if someone visited, I would point out what their gift purchased. I can still point to everything in my kitchen that was a wedding or engagement gift and tell you exactly who it came from and what event it was given at. It will take a few months to have everything in place but it will be done. I'm not one to stretch out a house project over years and years. Both of us have simple (and I'd like to think classic!) tastes that are clean and minimalist.

Our community is really nice, and people are gradually closing and moving in. We've met a few of our new neighbors and everyone has been really nice. The building only has 70 units total, so it's nice and small. We're hoping that there is a community meet and greet of some sort once closings are finished so that we can meet our neighbors... and if there isn't, I'll probably just jump in and plan one on my own. Of all the neighbors we have met, we are the youngest homeowners. We figured this would be the case anyway!

As a closing note... Comcast has not yet set our Internet connection up... so posts will be sporadic until then. Hopefully it will occur in 2 weeks or les... but we'll see!

Walk Through and Closing

It's so hard to believe that tomorrow we're going to be homeowners for the first time! We've worked really hard towards this goal, and it's going to be wonderful to enjoy our new home.

The walk through went well - it took a little over two hours to go over every single nook and cranny. As was expected, there were a few things that needed to be fixed, and hopefully most of them will be done before we move in on Wednesday!

So.... without further ado, here are the walk through photos!

I am about to head out to pick up a friend of mine and we're headed to the North Georgia Premium Outlets.... I'm going to be checking out the selection of furniture to see if there are any potential pieces up for adoption by Ethan and I. It's more of a window shopping trip than anything... but who knows what I'll find?!

My apologies for not having further updates on our Greece trip... our attentions are focused elsewhere right now... so look for those updates in a few weeks or so after we've settled in and set up our internet connection.

Is that your brownie? <- click on this link to see one of the funniest ads I've seen in awhile. Thanks for the good laugh, dad!

So the good news is that our walk through and closing have not been moved or rescheduled. We were starting to wonder if it would be because nobody is living in the building. We will be the first to move in, and construction on the lower floors (we are on the third) will continue while we're living there. It'll be interesting, that's for sure! From what we can understand, the parking deck will not be ready to park in for a few weeks. Fortunately we will still have parking close-in until the deck is completed and ready for our use. The inconviences are worth it though... it's our house. No more wasted rent payments!

This weekend I am headed to the Mark's all day Saturday. Ethan has his first midterm for his accounting class on Saturday and then he'll hang out with me at the house for a while. The campus that his accounting class is held at is very close to their house, so it's pretty convienent! Sunday, I am meeting up with one of the "kids" (she is now 20!) that I used to work with as a nanny. She and I are driving up to the North Georgia Premium Outlets. I found out that there is a Restoration Hardware Furniture Outlet and I'm dying to see what they have! They also have a Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma outlet... so hopefully they'll have some things that we have on our list for the house at extremely reduced prices.

I can't believe it is September 20th already... it seems like just yesterday that summer was beginning! The last four months have really flown by.

Expect an update this weekend with photos from our walk-through!

Loft updates and more on Greece....

The Atlanta summer heat has finally broken, and we're loving it! (especially Ethan, since Kevlar tends to make summers miserable) This weekend it was in the low 70's, and it's actually enjoyable to be outside. Fall is my favorite season, so I'm very happy that it is fast approaching.

We tried to go and see our loft last night before our walk through on Friday, but the doors were locked. We're glad they finally put locks on all the doors since it protects our home and the appliances inside of it, even though we really wanted to see it again before the walk through. We are currently trying to figure out what colors to paint our walls, and that has proven to be fun. Hopefully it won't take us too long to figure out colors. We have decided on a blue-green for the guest bathroom, and I think we're going to attempt to paint that room by ourselves to see how we do... plus, it's the smallest room to paint in our house. We'll see what happens! I have done my fair share of painting in my lifetime, and Ethan is Mr. Renaissance Man when it comes to doing just about anything.

Our walk through is Friday at 3:00 PM. It was rescheduled from Tuesday because they are redoing the master bathroom. The developer went to inspect it and didn't like the way the tile work was done, so they ripped it out and are redoing it. I can't argue with this... even though it's excruciating at times to have to wait so long before we see it! At least we won't have to wait as long after we see it to close... so it works out. We're both excited and nervous to see it. Keep in mind that we've seen our loft throughout the construction process. It has been a wonderful experience but it's also hard to imagine the completely finished product! As I've mentioned, we close on Monday the 24th at 1 PM, and the movers will be moving us on the 26th. This gives us a couple of days to move our clothes and small/fragile items so the movers can maximize their time with the big stuff. I won't be there when the movers come, but Ethan will be able to handle it just fine. I'm glad this is the last time we will be moving for a while... the to-do list of things can be overwhelming... change of address form, transferring utilities, etc., etc., etc....

On another note, work is going well for both of us. We both really love our jobs and the people that we work with. Ethan's classes this semester are also going really well. He really likes his accounting professor this semester, and he also is enjoying an elective course on dinosaurs and paleontology. Next semester he'll be tackling Microeconomics and Spanish. Let's hope he enjoys (and is WAY more adept at) Microeconomics than his wife. My ECON 1101 class was the single most hated class I ever took in my entire college career and I took it during my last semester as a senior. My parents can testify to how much I was afraid of my professor and how little sense he made in his lectures. I made a B in the class, and I'm still not sure how I managed that.

Here are some more photos from Greece.... this is us on the boat in the tiny bathroom goofing off. What can I say? It had been a very long day. In all seriousness though, if you know Ethan and well, you know how goofy we are and how much fun we have together no matter what.


When we got off of the boat in Irraklio, Crete, we were looking for the rental car company representative who was supposed to meet us. No sign of him anywhere... so after 30 minutes of waiting, we started walking. We found the office, which fortunately had someone there, and were able to get our car. They had no record of our reservation even though I had a printout of an email confirming it directly from the owner. It was here we learned that Greeks never shut up and feel the need to overexplain things...which is painful and drawn out when you have somewhere to be and don't feel like talking. After I finally snapped at the man and told him "Fine! Whatever! Give us the car!", we got the keys and were able to leave. Before anyone thinks that I was rude... I learned this tactic from Irene Tsonatos, a Cretan. That's how she ends conversations when she's tired of talking....very abruptly. This is a photo of the sunrise on the harbor. It was absolutely beautiful.


If you look really, really hard... you can see the Starbucks sign. This is a picture of the same street after the sunrise, in the other direction. It was a really pretty little town. Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to go to Starbucks as we were headed to Knossos and wanted to get there as soon as it opened... before the crowds, and before the heat of the day set in.











Our rental car.... a bright orange Citroen Cabrio. It was a lot of fun to drive around Crete in!

Here we are at Knossos. There's really not so much to say about it.... if you love ancient Greek ruins, than go. We didn't fall into that category so we were there for about an hour and left. There were some frescoes and pottery pieces that were cool to see, but it's not something I'd recommend going way out of your way to see. Fortunately, it was on our way, and it wasn't a total waste of time. There were some cute little kittens living at the ruins, so Ethan had fun playing with them.

After Knossos, we began the drive northwest to the town of Chania...the location of the wedding for Phillip & Irene.

This is on the way.... the coast of Crete is so beautiful, and so different depending on where you are. The water is clear, and it ranges from cobalt to turqouise in color. It really is undescribable... you have to see it yourself. Photos won't even do it justice, not even a postcard!

I'll end this update here.... more later on Greece and the loft when I have more time.

Our walk through has been moved to Tuesday, September 18th. Hopefully it doesn't move again, but if it does, that's okay. It doesn't affect our final closing date of Monday, September 24th.

Our real estate agent has been a godsend in all of this. We have had some problems along the way with the seller and seller's agent. The problems mainly consisted of lack of communication and failure to return calls and emails from us with important questions. All we had to do was share our concerns with Laura, and she immediately went to work for us and got the answers we needed. The latest snafu occured with our lender who extended our locked rate without our permission past the expiration date (and rates had dropped since we locked!) , and Laura jumped in to intervene for us. Thanks to Laura, we were able to get a lower rate on our mortgage and our lender is now being very helpful instead of vague and aloof.

In other news, I'm at the Marks' for the weekend with my lovely twins, Annie & Ella. Their parents are off in Jackson Hole, Wyoming so I am "mom" for the weekend to all four kids. They're wonderful kids and while it can be somewhat exhausting, it is a lot of fun. The Marks' can singlehandedly claim the credit for why Ethan and I aren't planning on kids for a looooong time...we know exactly how much work it is! Thanks, but no thanks!

Loft Photos

So.... we're back from Greece. Here we are at the top of the Acropolis in front of the Parthenon. For those planning a trip to Greece: don't plan to stay in Athens longer than a day. It's not worth it... there's not a lot to do after you see the main sites, and the islands are so much more beautiful that there's really no comparison. I will post photos later of our time in the islands. We're definitely going to go back but we're skipping through Athens and focusing on the islands... Crete, Santorini, Paros, Myos, and Naxos.... I am excited about getting to go back. However, I think our next trip will be to London, Brussels, Paris, and surrounding areas either for summer 2008 or Spring Break 2009. We like to mix it up a little! I'm really hoping that we can somehow coordinate a trip to meet up with my sister and her husband... one can only hope!

I don't know how we would have survived our trip without sunglasses. It is so unbelieveably bright in Greece! The whole country is like this, and you can barely see without sunglasses. The minute you take them off you're practically blinded by white hot light. The top of the Acropolis was even worse... because the entire thing is constructed out of white marble which reflects the sun.

After we left the Acropolis we were tired and extremely dirty. I could feel the dust of Athens ground into my skin and my sweating wasn't helping. I have never wanted a shower more badly then I did then. We headed to our boat, The Festos Palace, early and were able to get on 2.5 hours before it was scheduled to depart. Ethan and I weren't expecting the boat to be quite as big as it was! We were also pleasantly surprised to find a SHOWER in our cabin...which we promptly used! It was tiny, but effective. The overnight boat trip was really interesting. It was cool to be able to go to the deck and see the moonlight reflecting off of the sea and feel the warm wind. We slept for about 6 hours on the boat, which was pretty good. It took me a while to fall asleep because I could feel the vibrations from the boat engines. Once I got used to it, I fell asleep but I immediately woke up when the engines were killed when we arrived at our port.

In other news... we are closing on our loft on September 24th! We are both so excited and ready to move. The movers are coming on September 26th, but we'll move a few things beforehand. I'm determined to have my kitchen completely set up and organized before the movers come. For some reason, that is the one place in my house that has to be ready to go for me to be okay with chaos. I guess it's because the kitchen is the heart of the home... I don't know. But if my kitchen is fully functioning, I'm happy. I can't believe I'm actually going to have space for everything that I have and be able to really exercise my cooking chops. There are so many things that I want to bake and cook but didn't have the counter space in the apartment to make it work. Our walk through is on September 17th so rest assured... there will be photos! We're actually going to try and go there today to see the progress but we don't know if they put locks on the doors yet. We'll find out!