I've been up to some things

I can't believe January is over. Time flies faster and faster, I think. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately with so many obligations and projects going on (and this is my personal life I'm talking about; I won't even get into the business of my day job). But I've accomplished 3 major things this month that I'm glad are over. The next two months will still prove to be pretty busy but it's all fun and exciting I suppose. So here's what's new.

1- Spent most of this month studying for my personal training certification, which work paid for and wanted me to have mostly for PR purposes. Although I have tons of other fitness certs and a degree in that field, they're mostly fitness instruction ones and I guess reporters and other people who ever want us to comment on things ask if I'm a "certified trainer" so that is mainly the reason I got it. Whatever! It took most of my evenings after work and weekends to study since I was on a fast track to get it. I took my test yesterday and passed with flying colors. I feel SO relieved and glad to have a little more free time each week that's not devoted to studying.

2- In the midst of that, I also took my fourth pilates instructor training out of the five I need to sit for my national certification exam. That was one long grueling weekend last weekend (9 hours Sat and Sun--ugh). I enjoy it and like to learn new things, but man, not having that weekend break is tough. Glad that is out of the way. I have on more weekend training like that to do. Trying to decide if I'll go to the one offered in March or wait til later in the year or next year. I don't feel ready to sit for my test until maybe next year anyway (plus I don't have all my practical hours of instruction, personal practice and class observation/taking done), so I might not rush to get it this year especially with everything else that is going on (more on that coming).



3- We also met with, hired and got custom kitchen cabinets made, which were just installed Friday (yes, during my final day of studying for Saturday's certification). I am THRILLED with the results. We went as green as possible and went with a local carpenter. He used untreated FSC-certified wood, kept all our "boxes" and hinges from our existing cabinets and just refaced them with new doors (and water based paint/sealers), built a new section of cabinets on a wall where there were previously none, added a crown to them, installed our new microwave (above the stove), and finished them all off with toe kick trim (previously our cabinets had these disgustingly yellowed/discolored rubber things). Take a look at the before pic (not much to see in this one photo I guess, but you get the gist--basic cheap particle board cabinets that don't match the style of our bungalow) of our kitchen from the initial photos I took when we moved in. Nothing bad, just not the greatest. Now look at these bad boys--upgrade! Our next step within the next few weeks or months is to get new countertops and sink. Don't now what I want yet but I am hoping to find something made of recycled materials.

Which leads me to what is next. So we went into our favorite furniture store yesterday and the owners who we're pretty good friends with had some BIG news and were hoping we'd stop in. Turns out Missy's cousin owns a mid-century gem in the neighborhood where we used to live in our apartment before moving to our current house. This house is actually just a few blocks from the other mid-century one we scoped out last year or so and were seriously considering buying b/c we loved the house and the location. This is a coveted area that is nice, safe, pretty centrally located AND expensive to buy into. Her cousin is selling her house on short sale--she cannot make the payments on it and short sale is sort of this option to do instead of foreclosure and she said we should check it out asap. We went today and it needs tons of work--BUT it is completely livable unlike the previous one that had a tree through its roof. We are entertaining the idea of offering low and swooping it up and slowly fixing it up as we can afford to. More updates to come on that for sure, but here's an exterior photo. So many things would have to fall into place for that to happen: selling our house, getting a loan, finding out how much it might cost to fix some of the major things in the house, her lending approving her short sale and the amount we'd be willing to pay, and not getting outbid by someone else, so we will see.



Did I mention I'm also trying to plan a wedding, train for 15K, and organize myself (and buy a ton of expensive shit) for my Grand Canyon hiking adventure at the end of March? This Feb. I will also do another weekend training certification in PiYo (a Pilates-yoga fusion type class). Somehow I have to also train for my hiking trip (5 straight days of hiking and camping and I have never done either) and find all the random crap I need, whether borrowing it or buying some. Needless to say, these next two months are going to be NUTS!

New Year Update

I am so bad at this. I am so jealous of other people who can journal or blog on a regular basis, yet I don't make much of an effort myself. UGH!

Anyway, another year gone. Now what?

Currently, we are just beginning a kitchen remodel. I love my kitchen and I spend a lot of time there. It's pretty small, but I also feel like it's extremely functional. However, the particle board cabinets and laminate countertops (which have been falling apart and glued and reglued since day 1) are not my style and not fitting with the rest of our house, which is so amazingly cute and charming. SO, a kitchen renovation begins.

This is going to be quite simple, really. We're not tearing down walls or moving plumbing. And I'm trying to keep it as green as possible. Over the past couple years, we upgraded our dishwasher and our refrigerator to newer models that are also MUCH MORE energy efficient than the old ones. We've just hired a local-ish carpenter who is going to reface our current cabinets, keeping the exact footprint and build us some new cabinets on one wall where there are none. He's using, upon request, FSC-certified wood that's formaldehyde free, water based paints and sealants, and all of our existing hinges and hardware. So basically, the current cabinets will get a new coat of paint and new doors, and we'll have a new section of cabinets on another wall to match.

From there, we'll EVENTUALLLY replace our laminate countertops, get a new sink and faucet, and do a tiled backsplash. Floors, lighting, everything else will stay as-is. I am very excited for the whole project--and the fact that our kitchen will not be torn up or out of commission AT ALL during the process. Yay!

I've set some goals for the new year, giving up one possession per day for a year being my main goal. Beyond that I also want to run a 15K race, do more strength training, reconnect with friends and make more new friends and get hitched. I'm basically planning a wedding...not sure if Evan is going to actually propose officially or not, so I guess it is hush hush for now or something. Don't care much about diamond rings or rings at all for that matter, but if we get one, it will be used, antique or heirloom or something like that. Another goal I have is to take more photos. I've realized that I have almost no photos from the past 10 years of my life!! So I'm making an effort to take more pictures when we go places, even though for some reason that makes me feel like a weirdo or a tourist I guess. I'm not sure what. Part of not taking photos, I think, is related to me not writing or blogging regularly. I just feel like everything is so ordinary and nothing is really worth talking about. But I guess that is how day to day life is. I have a really poor memory that only seems to be getting worse. Seriously, it is so bad that I think that if I was in my 70s, people would think it was early signs of dementia. I may have written about this before, but I think that taking the time to update my journal/blog every few days, even with the basic "here's what I did today" stuff would really help me retain things better.

Here are a few more random thoughts of the moment.

Wedding date I hope will be 10-10-10. Is that totally nerdy? I guess I don't care because I like it.

I saw a lot of movies over the holidays, some new and some out on DVD: Up In The Air (good, but more sad than comedy I thought), Funny People (not what I expected and a little longer than necessary, but OK), Milk (OK, kind of drawn out, but I'm glad I learned about Harvey Milk, a pretty incredible man in his short life), , Invictus (didn't want to see it and didn't like it much), and Avatar (loved it and it made me want to escape modern life--an urge I often have actually--and feel like a total tool for just leaving the theatre to look at kitchen countertops). Two quotes I keep thinking about from that movie:

1- "All energy is only borrowed; at some point you have to return it." Love this on so many levels.

2- "Thank you for this Brother, as your journey ends. Your soul will return to Eywa, but your body will stay here, so i will take it to nourish the Na'vi people." (or something like that.) When he killed that animal/creature for food and said this, I cried. I only wish that every person who actually does eat meat would think this way or appreciate it on this level.

Also, I did some calculations recently, and if all goes according to plan--interest rates don't increase much and we pay exactly what we are currently paying--I will have my student loans paid off in 3 years, just about in time to have babies in my 30s.

Another goal I have for the year is to take a real vacation since I haven't been anywhere since I was a kid. I hope this will entail an actual week off of work (also something I have not taken since starting my job). I don't have any major ideas about where or when yet, but I need to get out.

Chicago Fun

So, I took my version of a "vacation" (i.e. no more than 3 days away from work and within driving distance) over the 4th of July weekend. We love, love, LOVE Chicago and try to go once a year. Every time, we're obsessed with it and want to move there. Oh well I guess! Anyway, seeing how I have a real memory problem--seriously, I hardly remember what I even did today let alone last weekend--I want to recap what we did for other to enjoy (I like to pretend people read this) but also for my own memories.

We left on Thursday night from Cinci. It was a long drive--there is always construction on the main highways to and/or from Chicago when we go, which sets you back for at least an hour or more--I'm talking dead stop on the highway, moving at slow crawl for an hour minimum. I don't mind that much, really. I figure this: Enjoy the ride. So we arrived late on Thursday night (around midnight Chicago time). We stayed at my friend Regina's awesome apartment in Logan Square. She wasn't in town, but let us stay anyway--score! We also helped care for her sweet and VERY talkative cat Otto while we were there. We <3 him--he's such a lap cat and he talks to you all the time.




Friday we slept in til about 9. Then we ate breakfast that we made in the apartment and were off to an architecture tour of my all-time favorite house in the world: The Farnsworth House, which is one of the most significant modern homes ever built in the U.S. It's located in Plano, Illinois, about an hour outside Chicago.

It's in the middle of nowhere--literally. Nothing but farms for miles and a few houses here and there--very rural. Let me tell you how much I love this house ever since I first learned about it during my studies in modern architecture and architectural history.
It's by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (one of my favorite architects) and it's the only home he designed and built in the United States. When mastering our architectural design software in college, we had to build computer models of homes of our choices and I picked this one. Love love love it. So I was very excited to finally go and see it in person on the 90-minute tour. It was beautiful and so cool to see it in person and walk around inside. I'm so glad we made the trip to see it. Here are a few photos I took.

After the tour, we stopped for lunch at a random place in a cute little town called Plainfield (I think). Mediocre food--bleh, but a cute area.

We headed back to the apartment and decided to hop the train downtown. We hit up Michigan Avenue because I wanted to go to the Nike store (I still need to find a few more outfits for my DVD shoot next week), but it sucked--nothing good. I did snag an awesome little dress at H&M for just 5 bucks though! Then we went in the Hershey store--totally touristy I know, but we were a little bored--we were in there about 1 minute--just long enough to see the 3 foot long packages of extra long Twizzler. WOW. I had to get out of there. I also had to snap a photo of Mies van der Rohe Way near the modern art museum, of course!

Walked around a little more downtown, bought some groceries at Trader Joe's and the clerk recommended a nearby vegetarian restaurant when we asked. It took us a while to find it, but it was well worth the wait. Karyn's Cooked. It's actually 100% vegan and WOW I have probably never seen so many healthy, appetizing, amazing veggie dishes on a menu. We got a bunch of free samples for a super charismatic waiter and I had one of the best meals ever. I could go back there every day! And I'm definitely going back next time we're in Chicago because it is that good! Dinner was late (finished after 10 p.m.) so we hopped the train back to the apartment. It was SO crowded b/c everyone was downtown for fireworks. WE could barely get into and out of the trains--that's how busy it was.
Watched a movie of Regina's (Eyes Wide Shut--totally weird and freaky!) and went to bed.

Saturday. Slept in late--til almost noon! It was rainy and grey out, which was a bummer b/c we planned to bike to the beach that day. So instead, we went to the Art Institute of Chicago Museum (courtesy of free passes from Regain who got her master's there) to visit their newly opened modern wing. It was pretty cool. They had a good modern architecture exhibit with drawings and models from some famous architects. I bought a small postcard book of Rex Ray's work (love him!) that I hadn't seen before. Afterward, we trained back to the apartment, ate our leftovers from Karyn's. Relaxed a bit for a few hours and finally decided to drive an hour to the nearby outlet mall...what can I say, we had nothing to do and it was rainy. It wasn't bad, actually. I got a super cute dress from BCBG that was like 75% off the retail price. On the way home, we stopped by Oak Park (which is famous for having several Frank Lloyd Wright homes, including his home and studio), then went home.

Sunday was finally a sunny day so we got out our bikes and biked for about 90 minutes. It was a lot of fun--we like to bike in Chicago b/c it's such a bike friendly city and we get to cover more ground than walking, but see more than we can from the train or the car. Showered and drove home.

Even though it was short, I felt like we got a lot in for just a few days! I actually felt like we were gone much longer. However, we were SO tired and slept in and got to work a bit late on Monday, and now I'm feeling like I need a REAL vacation from work--you know, like a whole week, like real people take. Someday!

Thanks for reading!

H-O-T

Met Stephen Jenkins (and Brad and Tony) at the Third Eye Blind concert in Columbus this past Friday. WOW. He shook my hand, signed my ticket, and was utterly dreamy. Mmmmmmmmmmm

We arrived at 3 p.m. and waited in line to get 2nd row, center standing spots for the show. But the pit was CRAZIER than ever and after a few songs, we climbed out. There is always so much more energy in the pit and it's way more fun, but it was so hot that day and people were pushing and shoving more than usual. Are we getting old or something? Either way, it was an awesome show, of course, and seeing the band in person at the end of the show (after a lot more standing and waiting) was totally worth it. I <3 3EB! A few more pics:

My New Favorite Room

Wow, it's been a long time since my last update, but that's to be expected coming from me. My life has been so crazy busy and work is taking up so much of my time that the last thing I want to do is spend MORE time on the computer. Anyway, I wanted to share some photos of the FIRST room we've actually completed in the house. I love this room so much that we are always spending time in here now. The wall color is the same as it was when we moved in, but we frosted the windows on both sides for a little more privacy (without hiding the beautiful windows). While this is mostly complete decor-wise, we have plans to rip down the tiled ceiling, add a couple outlets AND add a light switch so we can permanently hang the light fixture from the ceiling. Seeing as how it takes us years to complete any project, don't expect that any time soon. Any way, enjoy the view!


View from living room into sun room.




Window treatments at front of house (behind sofa) are IKEA shades, left there by previous owners. I plan to crop them and sew them so that they hit just at the window's ledge.


We frosted the windows with a kit from Home Depot for just $20. Bottom 3 panes on both sides of room are frosted and you can't see through them at all! They line up perfectly with the curtains on the front windows so there is an equal amount of privacy from the outside on all 3 sides of the room.


I wanted to put our computer in this room, which is the real reason we frosted the glass--so people can't see it from outside.

Yep, got that sofa I wanted from Urban Outfitters for a steal! Waiting nearly 2 years to buy it meant I got it on sale after Christmas, plus saved an additional 20%. Just $350! Back cushions come off if you wanted to use it as a small guest bed.

This stereo cabinet is vintage, from Mainly Art of course! I love it! Right not it hides lots of files and office stuff so that our office-y room stays clean and clutter-free!

A great knockoff of the real Nelson ball clock for only $40 that my Mom gave me for Christmas--finally found its perfect spot!

This Painted House, Year End Update

I've been meaning to post some pics of our newly painted abode for a while now, but it had been either too cold or too dark/grey outside on many of the days that I wanted to snap some pics. I finally thought to do it this past weekend, though, when I was bored, and they turned out pretty well. Here are a couple reminders of what we started with, which was a pretty greyish-blue color, but in major disrepair (as you can see). I decided to change the color to a snazzy, somewhat nostalgic navy blue, which I think really pops with the white trim and darkly colored brick. We also had to replace several of the cedar shingles that were rotting and in bad condition. Overall, it was money well spent. It put quite a dent into our savings, but we've already made up the difference thanks to both of our year-end bonuses at work and another financial windfall (Evan's dad cleaned out his safety deposit box and found dozens of $50 and $100 savings bonds that Evan's grandpa bought for Evan in the early 80's; they had matured and we cashed them in!) I quite like it. :-)

December was a good month. I was really busy at work (but that is nothing new). I was able to "realize" a dream of mine, of creating my own workout DVD, and we did that at work and now it's for sale in our online store! It was awesome and I'm really proud of how it turned out (you'll find a shared link to it on my facebook page). I got another 10% raise this year, which makes me feel just so fortunate considering the economic landscape and difficulties that so many other families are facing. Evan also got a HEFTY bonus at work, and his job seems stable, although his company is implementing a salary freeze for the next 1-2 years. I can deal with that. We both feel so lucky to even HAVE jobs.

We've been living on one income for yet another year, and putting almost our entire second income on my student loans. We continue to make a lot of progress with that. Assuming we continue at this same level of payoff, my student loans will be eradicated in about 5 years, which is AWESOME! I can't even imagine having two full incomes to live on, although I don't imagine we'd go crazy and start spending all kinds of money. I feel like we have a good balance. We stick to a monthly budget, pay extra on the loans automatically each month, and still manage to enjoy a few fun things here and there: dinner out about once a week, 100% organic foods from the grocery store (yay!), the occasional splurge on a movie or night out equipped with a trip to the bowling alley, and even the ability to add to our furniture collection and fix up the house a bit. This year, we took a couple small, long-weekend trips, too: Evan went to Utah (for work and then an extended stay to hit the slopes) last March or so; we went to Chicago, Atlanta, and I went to New York to see my brother. I rather like taking several short and inexpensive trips each year vs. one long and pricey vacation.

We both took a full week off work for Christmas, which was mainly so I could spend as much time as possible with my brother (in town from New York for 2 weeks). It was nice, but I get bored easily. But still, I'd say the whole week was more positive than negative: no family fights, no drama, nothing major to report. I got to see my family a lot and Evan's family, too. We had a good time.

Christmas was pretty good. We didn't get gifts for each other, but we did buy a few gifts for others, which is a little uncharacteristic of me. I LOVE buying gifts, believe me. I think it's so fun to find something for someone else. But I try not to be frivolous or spend more money than I'm comfortable with, which usually means no gifts. My family isn't big into gift-giving. Really, our parents just buy us kids gifts and that's about it. But this year, I made homemade granola for all my friends, co-workers and family members. I put them in recycled glass jars that I collected from food (pasta sauce, jam, etc.) all year long. We printed and framed photos of us for our parents and grandparents. I bought my mom a book (Eat Pray Love, which I'm also reading now), and Evan and I paid for a family dinner out for 8 of us--wow, was that expensive! My brother, sister and our significant others did a secret santa gift exchange, too.

Presents from my parents were downsized this year, but that's OK b/c I never know what I want anyway. My mom donated to NPR for me (something I've always wanted to do but would never really do at this point in my life), and I got the radio bookmark and the member card that gets you discounts at a bunch of places. She got me a cool sewing book I wanted by Amy Butler, and probably the coolest thing I got were two sets (normal and mini) of silicone baking cup liners. THESE ROCK! I make muffins and frittatas in my muffin pans all the time, but they're a pain in the ass to clean. These liners are AWESOME and make it so much easier.

Last night we rung in the new year with a homemade dinner and my best friends Liza and Ryan. I'm surprised I actually stayed awake that long.

Happy 2009!

Decision Time

It was hard. But Friday, we finally decided to NOT make an offer on the house. Things were already getting out of hand--the budget was higher than we anticipated. We were trying to do crazy things like sell now-low-valued stocks and cut into our savings to get the down payment, and we realized that we'd be financially strapped to carry both houses and even just the new one alone (assuming ours would sell). So while I'm glad we pursued it as far as we could--so that we'll never have to wonder "what if"--I'm a little sad to let the dream of it go. But I also realized that just because we feel a little down about it not working out doesn't mean that it's the wrong decision.

On the bright side, we love our house--really do. And we have some big plans for a few more projects that will really make it ours and make it even better. Plus we can afford it, which is probably most important of all, and still enjoy a pretty nice lifestyle while pursuing our financial goals at the same time.

So we had a good talk about it all on Friday, and today, we saw online that the property is under contract. It is 95% likely that whomever bought it will tear it down. Again looking to the bright side, at least I finally got to sneak a peek inside the house I admired for years before it will be no more.

In other news, we're heading to Atlanta this weekend to visit Evan's sister. I'm actually taking a day off work, too- woot! And tomorrow I'll spend all day long shooting a workout DVD, which means I'm also going to be REALLY sore for a few days. I'm tired and sore just thinking about it, but it's also sort of a dream come true.

Good night and stay warm!