2 Year Anniversary

Last year, for our anniversary, we stayed at The Raphael Hotel. It was where we spent our wedding night and we thought it'd be fun to go back there to celebrate. It was very romantic...rose petals, champagne, private jacuzzi tub. We watched fireworks from the hotel window. All in all it was a very nice night.

This year, since we had just bought a house, we decided it was okay to scale it down a bit. So Saturday, I planned a surprise date. Since we weren't able to leave town and go to the lake or anything, I decided to bring the lake to us. We went to the lake at Shawnee Mission Park during the day. We rented a pedal boat and went out on the water. James had never been on a pedal boat and I hadn't since I was a kid so we both had fun. After a while, our legs got sore, so we went back to shore and traded the pedal boat out for a couple kayaks. We had a blast on the kayaks. The only other time we'd kayaked was on our honeymoon in St. Lucia. After we had thoroughly fried our thighs (must have missed that spot with the sunscreen) we left the water and found a shady spot to lay down a blanket for a picnic. The picnic was nice despite getting attached by a posse of 40 geese. James managed to run them off though. After lunch, we lay in the shade and talked while enjoying a bottle of white wine.

Later that afternoon, we went to Town Center/One Nineteen and did some shopping. We went and looked around at Z Gallerie and Crate & Barrel. It's funny how much more fun it is to look at house decor than clothes.

After our mini shopping trip, we went to Brookside to a restaurant called Julian. James and I both love the show "Top Chef" and on the most recent Masters season was a contestant named Celina Tio who was from...Kansas City. Julian is her restaurant and we both wanted to check it out. I think we were both happy with dinner (and the wine, of course) and I got particularly excited when we had Celina herself deliver our appetizer. I made a huge dork of myself by telling her how much I love her.

We concluded our night at home with yet another bottle of wine (third one that day). Then we headed to bed early so we could be well-rested for our housewarming/anniversary/4th of July party the next day.

Sunday, we spent the day getting ready for our party. Around 4:00 people started to come over. We had washers, bags, and hillbilly golf set up in the backyard. We drank good drinks and ate good food and shot many shots. All in all, I would say it was a very successful party and our couches provided a nice sleeping spot for those who had a little too much to drink.

On Monday, James and I went to lunch and then lounged around most the day "recovering". That evening we went to dinner and a movie followed by fireworks at the Great Mall. We snuggled up in the back of the Escape, opened the tailgate, and watched them from the parking lot.

Another great 4th of July and anniversary!

Moving is EXHAUSTING!

Wow, what a week! I honestly don't know if I've ever been so mentally and physically exhausted in my life. And the thought of tomorrow being Monday and me having to go to work makes me want to cry.

Here's a rundown of our moving week:

Monday - James and I both left work early to go close on our house. After an hour of signing paper after paper, it became official. We were homeowners!

Tuesday - Despite getting an early start on packing (over a month ago), James and I still had quite a bit of last minute boxes to pack. Between writing sub plans and packing, I had a very busy night!

Wednesday - After he got off work, James came and met me at school. Our realtor had dropped off our key earlier that afternoon. So as soon as I finished my sub plans, we headed down 151st to our home for the first time. We had both packed our cars the night before so we could drop off a load. We were both giddy with excitement as we walked into OUR house! We looked around and were pleased to see that it was just as fantastic as we had remembered. After looking around and taking it all in, we knew we'd better get to work. But we needed food first. So I went and picked up a pizza and we ate our first meal together on the floor of the livingroom of our home. We ended up having to go back to the old place to sleep that night since our new bed wouldn't be delivered until the next day.

Thursday - Let the moving begin! We had our cable guy coming Thursday as well as the Nebraska Furniture Mart delivery guys. So James spent the day going back and forth between the old place and the new place bringing loads of stuff. Our friend Jared came and helped out, which was nice. Meanwhile, I stayed at the new place putting stuff away. The worst part of the day came when the NFM guys came to deliver the fridge and it didn't fit because of the molding on our wall. We were incredibly frustrated but luckily the delivery guys were really cool about it. They said we could keep the refrigerator (for up to 30 days) until we were able to go pick out a new one. Thursday evening, Jen and Rory came over to look at the house. Rory cooked us dinner. Yum!

Friday - I had told my students that I had a "surprise" for them. The surprise was that I was going to bring my dog in to school for them to meet. I already talked to my sub and told her I'd be coming in at 1:00 that day. So after laying shelf paper all morning, I took a quick shower and then went up to the school. It was nice to have a break, but I also felt like I really needed to be back at the house getting stuff done. After I got back from school, James and I went to NFM and picked out our new fridge. It's scheduled to be delivered by next Thursday. Once we got home from NFM, Lisa and Jenna both came over to look at the house. They helped me face my nemesis (shelf paper). Shortly after they left, my dad and my sister Nicole showed up. I was so excited to see them since I hadn't seen any of my family since Christmas. So I decided since it was after 9:00, I was allowed to have a break and relax for a while. So I opened a large bottle of wine and then accidentally drank it all.

Saturday - I woke up early with a killer headache. Stupid wine! Saturday was the day to move all our furniture. Jen's mom and dad met us at the old house with their trailer. Between Jen's parents, Jen, me, James, Dad, Nicole, Lisa, and Jenni we were able to get everything moved in two trips. Impressive, huh? We took a short break a little after noon to eat some pizza, then we were back to work shuffling boxes around and organizing the kitchen. By the end of the day, pretty much every box on the main level had been unpacked and/or moved to it's proper location. We also got a lot done in the basement! That evening, one of our neighbors came over with her husband and two kids. They introduced themselves and welcomed us to the neighborhood with a plate of (DELICIOUS!) cookies. It was so sweet! Later that night, Braden and Diane were in town, so they came over to look at the house then we all went to Austin's for dinner and drinks.

Sunday - Nicole and Dad left as soon as they got up. Our two big projects for the day were to get food in the fridge and to paint the dreadful pink room. We managed to accomplish both! Pictures to come...when I'm not so tired.

It's Official

We're now homeowners!!!

Nell Hill's

Nell Hill's

I'm looking forward to spending my $200 gift card to this place sometime soon...compliments of my amazing class/parents!

Garage Sale Madness

Yesterday, James and I got up at 6:35 (yes, on a Saturday), had some breakfast and coffee, and then ventured out for some garage sales. We had a list we compiled from craiglists and basically just made our way around town. We ended up garage saling from 7:30 to 11:30. Pretty impressive, huh? I got a couple sets of Legos for a summer school class that I'm teaching. We also got a set of pots and pans.

But best of all, we found the garage sale of a chef! I was in heaven. The girl was a former owner of Taste, a restaurant in Overland Park. She was moving to Florida and wanted to get rid of everything. She had tons of nice white platters and plates...the types you find in nice restaurants. She was asking for $2/piece. We bought everything (14 pieces) for $20. I'm so excited. They will be perfect for entertaining!

http://www.taste-kc.com/gallery.html

We now have pretty much everything you see in those pictures (and more)...including the super cute paint-palette appetizer platter. Fun!

Housewarming Gift

In the middle of a super stressful week, one of my parent volunteers came into my room carrying this:

It was a housewarming basket full of a myriad of paint supplies (a roller, paint mixers, paint tape, plastic drop cloth), picture hanging hooks, a Better Homes & Gardens Kitchen & Bath magazine, a basil plant, a $25 Home Depot gift card, and some Reese's Pieces (just because she knew I love them). It was SO THOUGHTFUL and seriously made my day. I can't wait to start making our new house "home"!

More new furniture....

Our new house has a finished basement so we've been keeping our eyes open for some used furniture to put down there. Yesterday I was perusing craigslist and found a nice looking 4 piece set (couch, love seat, chair, and ottoman). It was a neutral color and was priced well. We went and looked at it and decided to buy it. So James got ahold of our friend Nate, who has a truck, and the two of them went and picked it up.

Of course, we don't move for another month so it's currently all crammed in our dining room. It actually takes up a ton of space, so I'm thinking it may end up being our regular living room furniture and the black leather couch and loveseat we have now will end up in the basement.

Anyway, it was exciting to make yet another purchase for our new home.

The Latest House News

In my last post about the house, I mentioned that we had our inspection done and that it went well. That following Monday, our realtor sent a list of things we wanted fix to the sellers. On Thursday we heard back from our realtor. She informed us that the sellers had agreed to fix everything we asked them too. Good news! The even better news was that the sellers have found a house and want to close about a month earlier than we previously agreed on. We originally needed a June closing because of our current lease. We didn't want to have to pay rent and mortgage at the same time. The sellers have offered to pay a month of our rent in order to closer earlier.

This is pretty much the best case scenario for us. We get to move in earlier at no extra cost to us. So we're excited...just hoping everything works out. We'll hopefully find out more tomorrow.

Inspection

James and I had our home inspection today. Everything went really well. Just a handful of little things....but nothing big and unexpected. It was nice to get to spend the morning looking around our future new home.

While we were there, the seller's realtor came by. Nice guy....who turned out to be from Hillsboro, KS (tiny town 9 miles west of my even tinier town) of all places. We had a fun time teasing each other about the rivalry between Marion and Hillsboro.

Also, while we were there, we got Ding-Dong DITCHED (thank you, Lisa) by one of the neighbor boys. I couldn't help but laugh.

After our inspection, we met up with Jen and Juliana and had lunch at Firehouse Subs. Then we headed to Nebraska Furniture Mart and spent way too much money. However, we now have delivery scheduled for a new king-sized bed (and mattress), two nightstands, a dresser, 2 bar stools for the kitchen island, and a refrigerator on June 6th.

Can't wait!!!

Our House

Yesterday I was so excited to tell everyone we bought a house that I forgot to disclose any of the details!

It has:

2 stories

4 BR

2.5 BA

2 car garage

Hardwood floors on main level (except in livingroom)

Finished, walkout basement

New stainless steel appliances in the kitchen

Vaulted ceilings

Walk-in closets

HUGE fenced backyard with a deck

It's located at the end of a culdasac in Olathe, around 151st & Black Bob. We can't wait for June 6th to get here. Only 78 days away!!!

Home Sweet Home

Today was a very big day for The Ashers. Today we found our future home. We've been actively looking for about a month. We've seen 19 houses...some of which we liked, some of which we didn't.

Last week, we thought we had found "The One". We made an offer but the seller wouldn't come down from his original asking price. We felt it was priced too high and had to walk away. I was so bummed out at that time. Now I know that house wasn't our home. I thought it could be. But today, when we saw this house...


...we knew. We had 2 more houses to look at after we saw this one and we were both so distracted when we looked at those 2 other houses because both of us had our hearts on this one. So, we sat down with our FABULOUS realtor and made an offer. We only had to sit by the phone for about 2 hours before she called us back with a counter offer. We went back and forth a couple times, as you do, but the end result was us agreeing to their final offer. We still have to complete the rest of the paperwork and do our inspection. But assuming that all goes well, we will close on June 6th! We could not be happier!