New Beginnings

Hello! Long time no talk. Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. I just didn't feel like I had much to share. We had been looking at houses for quite a while, without any luck. We looked at so many. Fell in love with a few and then had bids refused or outbid.

But I finally have good news!! As of July 13, 2016 we are finally first-time homeowners!

It only took 4/5 years to finally happen. Our real estate agent, Karen, has been with us for 4 years. She is the agent we were working with when we almost bought the Pearl in 2012, which we ended up walking away from after a few instances of bad luck.

Right after we finished signing all the papers. We had to get a picture with our real estate agent.

We ran into another rough patch of house hunting this Spring after being outbid on a fantastic property. And to make our search even more difficult the market exploded and suddenly everyone was looking for a house. Our agent, Karen, said it was the busiest Spring her agency had seen since the 80's.

We tried to go to an open house - Cancelled - because the house went under contract after only 7 days. So I asked Karen about another property - under contract. Ugh. She suggested another one. We agreed to go look at it even though it was a raised ranch which is a style/layout we don't really like. I then found two others we would consider. She set up showings for the same day, however it only ended up being 2 showings because again the third house just went under contract. OMG.

Well we were right we hated the raised ranch. We didn't like the layout and it needed so much work. However, the other house was this cute little front-back split. I had shown it to my husband few times online but he had some reservations. He had agreed to look because it had some potential and we were running out of options. We walked in and fell in love.

I took this photo a few days after closing. The listing photo is no where near as flattering.

This property was foreclosure. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. We were surprised to find that the bank had actually put some work into it after they had taken listing photos.  I asked Andrew what his reservations were and he said the bank had fixed them all. They had installed a new stove and hood vent. And the biggest change, they refinished all the wood floors with a dark stain.

OMG did I fall in love with these floors. And that fireplace. It is over 7 feet wide!!! This has to be my favorite room. Those gorgeous hardwoods are all through the living room, dining room, the stairs going up and down, the upstairs hallway and all three bedrooms.

We knew we had to move quickly so we discussed it that night and made an offer the next day. Even with our quick moving we received a reply that we needed to submit our highest and best because there was another offer. We put out our best offer and found out on Friday, May 13th that it was accepted! I guess Friday the 13th isn't always unlucky. LOL

We were supposed to close on June 30th but we had a small delay which pushed us to July 8th. The closing day came. Andrew and I both took half days from work. I did the final walk through with my agent. However, the Seller couldn't follow directions and messed up one piece of paperwork. So we had to delay closing again. So it was pushed to July 13th, which in some ways is nice because it meant we closed exactly 2 months after our offer was accepted. It sucked though because it pushes our move in date back.

We have a plumber and an electrician doing some work prior to us moving in. All of which I'm hoping will be completed early this week. Thankfully, our landlord doesn't mind us sticking around for a little bit. He is actually the husband of our real estate attorney. So he has been kept in the loop during our whole purchase process.

We have a lot a plans for renovations to make this property feel more like us. So please follow along with our story.

Daffodils & a Giant Bunny - Easter 2014

So I decided to buy Rhia a new halter and lead line the other day. Her red one is still in pretty good shape but the new one is in my favorite color. I guess you would call it teal. It is kind of a blue green. I didn't put it on her the day I bought it because I wanted to take some photos of her in it and didn't have my camera that day. So I saved it for a nice day. That nice day ended up being the day before Easter. I "dressed" her up and brought her over to the nice green grass.

While taking photos of her I noticed some daffodils nearby. However, Rhia wouldn't cooperate and stand in front of the flowers. I decided the easier option was to pick a couple and put them in her halter.

On Easter Sunday I thought it would be nice if Andrew and I took a few pictures of us down in the park near our apartment. This was the first time I have ever used a timer on a camera and a tripod.

Andrew was great at posing for test shots so I could get the camera focused before I set the timer.

Things went relatively well except for the one shot where one leg of the tripod decided it wasn't locked and started slipping.

I've decided I need to buy a new tripod. One that truly locks in place and is a bit taller. I had to squat down every time I set it up. I also need to work on my settings. The ones I took of Rhia look great but the ones of us are a bit fuzzy. I think I had the depth set to short. Definitely a learning process. Happy Spring - Bring on the warmer weather!

Oh The Places You Will Go!

So I have a few other posts that I should have posted before this one but I really wanted to get this one up. On Friday my mom and I loaded up my car with half of my niece's stuff and drove 3 hours to her new college to help her move into her dorm.

Jessie, my niece, and my Sister, Vicki, had gone up the night before so they would be there for the start of move in. This is Jessie first year of college. She has been very excited and a little nervous about going but I think she'll have a blast. She has 3 roommates. It looks like she will get along really well with them. Two of them are a bit more introverted compared to Jessie. But that just means she'll be good for them. She already talked them into going to the icebreaker event the first night, when they originally were just going to head back to the dorm. I brought my new camera. I bought a used Canon EOS Rebel T2i back in July after falling in love with my co-workers T1i that he let me borrow to take pictures of my niece's High School Graduation. Love It!

So, back to Jessie's move in day. Mom and I got there just after 11 am and Jessie and 2 of her roommates helped us unload the car. Vicki was at a meeting for all the parents so she wasn't there right when we showed up but joined us a bit later. I got to work trying to hook-up Jessie's new wireless printer with her laptop. Yeah long story short that didn't work out too well, so we had to take a half hour drive to the Walmart and pick up a USB cord. Basically, because so many people are using the schools wireless internet at one time that the wireless printer couldn't find the laptop to connect. But before we headed off to Walmart we decided to grab lunch at the amazing buffet they offer on campus. My favorites were the Wild Mushroom Cream Sauce over pasta and the super gooey brownies. Then Jessie showed us a few of the things and places on campus.

Abbey Hall - Jessie has a friend she met at an campus overnight staying in this dorm.

The best was the school's library and Sugar Shack. For those who don't know a Sugar Shack is where you make Maple Syrup.

Sugar Shack

Library

Jessie really would like to get into that class - she loves her maple syrup. The barn on the other hand is GORGEOUS!! It is made from two old Civil War barns. You enter through the silo. I'm in love with the picture of the view up into the silo.

Library entrance - looking up into the silo.

Study area in library

After we were done walking around a bit we headed back to the dorm to get a few things to drive to the Walmart. We got her USB cord, some light bulbs, and a few other things. Then we headed back and finished getting things setup.

Mom and Vicki loading the mini fridge with water and juice.

Jessie sitting on her bunk.

I also took a few pictures of Jessie in front of her dorm.

Standing in front of her dorm.

We all said our goodbyes and headed on home. Andrew and I are going to miss seeing Jessie on the weekends. I hope she has a fantastic time at school and makes a ton of new friends.

A Tale as Old as Time!

June 12th was our 3 year wedding anniversary. As my anniversary gift, Andrew bought us tickets to Disney's Beauty & The Beast at the Providence Performing Arts Center. Beauty & The Beast is my favorite fairy tale. The show was AMAZING! Everyone did a fantastic job. This was my first time seeing a show at PPAC. The building was gorgeous.

Beauty & The Beast is my favorite fairy tale. The show was AMAZING! Everyone did a fantastic job. This was my first time seeing a show at PPAC. The building was gorgeous. Here is a picture of the theater as if you were standing on the stage. Obviously, I did not take this photo

This was taken by John Woolf - You can find this photo and many other theater photos (no just PPAC) here

PPAC originally opened October 6th, 1928 as the Loew's State Theatre Movie Palace. The building suffered damage during the hurricanes of 1939 and 1954, and narrowly escaped demolition in the 1970's. It became the Providence Performing Arts Center in 1982. These are some of the photos I took of the PPAC lobby.

Chandelier in the PPAC Lobby

Look at that gorgeous ceiling.

They don't allow photography in the theater. So I was only able to get photos of the lobby and just a few in the actual theater before they told me I couldn't.

Faux box seats

The Stage

This is the giant chandelier in the theater. One of the employees came over and told me I couldn't take photos just as I was getting this shot. That is why it is so bad.

Once the play was finished we walked around the area just a little bit. PPAC is very close to Johnson & Wales, which is a college that I almost attended. The old buildings and architecture in New England are just beautiful.

This Lighthouse was on the median dividing the street.

We had such a great time and I can't wait to see another play there.

Our Puppy Brother!

Have you seen the adorable AT&T commercials where the guy is sitting with kids and asking them questions. Things like is it better to be faster or slower, Do you want more or less, etc... To which the kids give some of the cutest replies. One of my favorites is when the little girl says she would buy a Change-o machine and turn her brother into a puppy. Because when she brings him to show & Tell she can say here is my Puppy Brother.

Well Andrew has a puppy brother too, but he has always been a puppy. If you saw this post then you would have met Maxwell and seen his puppy pictures. He is now over 40 lbs and is more like a Doggy brother. He doesn't look much like a puppy anymore.

He's a Big Boy Now!

We went and spent Father's day with Andrew's side of the family. We had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house and played with Maxwell in the back yard a bit. Then headed back to my Mother-in-Law's and took some more pictures. I have borrowed my co-worker's Canon Rebel T1i and have had a ball playing with it. It takes great shots! Now I just need to find one of my own. Enjoy the cute shots of our Puppy Brother.

Frames out by the camera's sunshade!

Why are you still taking photos of me?

Sweet Face!

The regal basset profile.

Basset howl

I have decided that continuous shooting cameras were created for the purpose of taking pictures of running Basset Hounds. They are hilarious - flying ears and tongues.

Tired Bassets want to go inside after running around the yard for an hour or more!

He is so adorable. We just love our Puppy Brother. As long as he isn't trying to chew on us or our shoes. :)