Trying my best not to be that guy.

#120

Five Facebook Updates It Took All My Effort Not To Publish

1. Husband carried me across the threshold of new house.
2. We have more pairs of skis (6 now?) than chairs in our new house.
3. First cooking dinner in new house!
4. I can put my clothes in every closet if I want, it’s MY house!
5. Furniture shopping for new house.

This house furnishing thing is IMPOSSIBLE. There are 600,000 choices for each and every corner of our new space. How on earth are you supposed to choose? I’m already giving up. I see one thing I like and realize that if I buy it I might find something ELSE that I like BETTER the very next day.  Or something cheaper.

Crap, let’s be really honest. I can’t even decide on a PAINT color. Because then you’re REALLY committed. I don’t want to bore you with this new house thing every day, chances are most of you have already been through all this nonsense and will tell me to just pick something and like it and put my big girl panties on.  But still.

We haven’t got much. We’re going to go to Austin and get all our things, but those things are little and simple and easy to plan around and make work. A couple end tables and some bathroom crap, really. There’s so much more we need.

My first big project is a dining room table. I’ve never had a real dining rooom table of my very own before. And this thing is going to get USED. I have a Crock Pot in storage that will be used and cleaned and used again. So I need a table. To feed all my guests on. I’m going for one of those tall pub tables that seats two per side. 8. That’s 6 guests. Awesome. But how do you pick one when you know you’re going to flip your kitchen but have NO IDEA what the end product will look like? I can’t be comparing granite to my pub table! Argh!

I’m also having a small problem with the insane amount of stuff I’m seeing on the UT Co-Op website and wanting to fill my house with. How much Burnt Orange is too much?

There are things that I like a lot and there are things that I love. Then there are things that I love and don’t mention and there are things I rave about. I wouldn’t say that I’m ashamed of anything that I like, crap – I admitted to wearing press on fingernails. Two Buck Chuck makes the love list and the rave list both.

But my Two Buck Chuck love affair is hard here in Utah, at BB’s house. You see, BB is a wine snob. A smart one – I totally agree with all his tastes and predilections. But I’m also a housewife on a budget. Living in California we purchased Two Buck Chuck by the caseload. It’s perfectly fine to sit by the pool with some chardonnay ON ICE – we don’t have to Keep It Classy all the time.

So lets just keep this hypothetical. If I could get my hands on some Two Buck Chuck in Utah (no idea how I’d do that)  I would drink it unabashedly, say, to celebrate homeownership. And BB would gag, and moan, and be comepletely disgusted. I would savor the watered-down deliciousness of those second hand grapes with glee. He would roll his eyes.

I would try to explain to BB that it must be good if I’m considering name my firstborn Charles Shaw. He is just not having it. Now we live here. He’s going to be bringing his own drinks when he comes over to MY house for dinner, that’s all I can say about that. If I can find some Two Buck Chuck in Utah, of course…

I need a plan. We need to put some Two Buck Chuck in a 50$ bottle and fool him. I’m going to get him, internet.

How many of you have bought a house? The be all end all exciting bit was too quick! I was all ready to go get my hair done and put on a dress and hire someone to take pictures. But it wasn’t prom. We did get drinks and MK even got a cookie, but the whole deal was maybe 15 minutes. And done. House.

We did the walkthrough, and I have to tell you, I am super in love with this house. Not just because it is about 11 minutes from the closest of THREE SKI RESORTS, but it’s adorable. It’s warm and cozy and clean and pretty. Yay!

Then we go sign papers. Maybe ten. That was all it took. I have a  copy, I can prove it. The crazy state of Utah is letting us have some land here. I’m not sure what they are thinking.

We went back to the B’s house all anti-climatically, and they were ready to help. Champagne toast! Then it felt like a party. I could tell they were as excited as we were when I asked SB “Guess what we bought today!?!?”, and she screamed “A HOUSE!!!”. Too cute.

TB and I took off to Home Depot pretty much immediately. There are some things we need to do, and I can’t wait to start. MK is convinced it’s the beginning of the end, but I can’t tell if it’s because of the paint colors I picked out or just how much fun we could have if we made all our remodel dreams come true. We totally used to look at other people with Home Depot trips all weekend and laugh. No we’re those guys. I always promised myself I’d embrace each new chapter when the time came. I’m a little afraid MK is going to run back to the beach to lay around. We’ll see…

Las Vegas is always overload to me. There’s so much to see and so much always going on, day and night. Halloween is even crazier! There were some of the most creative costumes you’ve ever seen! Of course, since there were so many people, I can’t even begin to name them all for you. I remember one of my favorite costumes was a couple, a perfecct Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife. I can’t remotely do the experience justice. Everyone everywhere was dressed up and partying.

That was us at the costume pub crawl Friday.

We went to another Hash House Harriers event, the Las Vegas Red Dress Run. It was great to see 200+ people in red dresses. We had Jello Shots, ran by the chapels (you’d be amazed how many people are in to getting married on Halloween) and through the streets and casinos.

My favorite part was at the end of the night when it was just MK and I walking back from the hash. Kids were cracking up at him – the dress made a lot less sense without the other 200+ people around!

MK and I also shopped, explored places we hadn’t been yet, and watched a bunch of football. It was great to see a ton of San Diego friends, make new Las Vegas friends, and even meet some SL,UT hashers to hang out with in Utah!

Not a huge deal, but an interesting change.

#119

Five Vegas Firsts:
1. NPR the whole 6 hour drive.
2. First night in, no drinking. AT ALL.
3. In bed by 10pm.
4. Up at 7am.
5. Still sober, and somehow still having fun!

The reason that I wrote this post was that I was keeping a secret. And having a hard time with it. To be fair, I wasn’t really even keeping the secret from that many people – I told a ton of family and friends. But they’re the ones that like the boring details. I wanted to try as hard as I could to NOT bore you all with those details. But it’s still a big secret, that I can finally tell you:

MK and I are buying a house! In Utah!

(Park City, don’t worry, the cool part!) We couldn’t really announce whether or not we were moving, or where to, until we knew for sure, and actually buying something sure can slow the decision down!

This is something most people do, so YOU might not think it’s THAT big of a deal. But this is us. The gypsies. If you haven’t been around all that long, read some old blog posts. I NEVER thought we’d really settle down*. I thought we’d be living off other people’s things in other people’s homes FOREVER.

The reason I kept the secret until now is that DUDE – home buying totally sucks. I wouldn’t be in a rush to do it again. And without giving you all the details of my personal business, we should not be having a hard time. We’re all, “We want this one, here’s some money, when can we move in?” But nooo. We have to of course deal with a thousand people that we can’t convince to get on the same page. Ugh. If you’ve been there, you know. And it might not be that shocking to you. But I’m not going to blog about trying to put offers in and wait on inspections and all that. (Yet another thing I’m bored about if you post it on Facebook). We had at one time in Austin been through the process on a dozen different houses and never ended up with one, so I didn’t see much of a point.

As a matter of fact – we don’t have keys in our hand yet. Our lease was up before we could close so we are yet again crashing at the B’s!

Here’s a picture of this time around:

Compared with last years for a laugh:

It may look similar – TB thought it was LESS stuff, until I reminded her we’ve also filled half their garage with our ski gear, and anything that won’t freeze.

Oh and by the way, here’s the gorgeous snow we got on our first day here:

Yay!

*We’re not really settling down. We’re going to live in San Diego every summer and here every winter – at least – that’s the plan!

I have a new little family member! Well, technically. Mom and Dadd got a puppy!

Meet Tucker:

This might get me home soon!

Bet you can guess what’s coming. These aren’t even clues. This is like a map.

#118

Five Cases Of Deja Vu:

1. Last year: Anxious for snow. This year: Expecting snow tomorrow.
2. Last year: Things I couldn’t wait for. This year: Ditto.
3. Last year: Drama getting going. This year: Less drama, but still.
4. Last year: Explaining the move. This year: Wait for it…
5. Last year: Visitors. This year: Everyone get ready!

One thing I am not a super huge fan of on Facebook, almost as much as typos, is you telling me about the weather. “It’s nice out” doesn’t really merit my attention. I could see it if you were in the middle of a crazy hurricane, but then again, get off Facebook and go stand in the doorway or whatever it is you’re supposed to do.

But San Diego is killing me! Every day this past week I’ve had to resist the temptation to post an update letting everyone know that it is the Best Day Ever. It’s been super warm and sunny. MK and I took our cruisers out every day, went and worked out, walked the beach, dined al fresco, and got tons of sun. You wouldn’t even know it was October!

We have been super spoiled with this beach condo. Float parties right outside our door, a giant hot tub, good friends- Dude, a beach wedding(!), my brother moving here(!), and enough beach volleyball to exhaust anyone. (I never told you guys my DADD got out there and played with us!!)

So, San Diego, and everyone I love so much in it, thanks for making this without a doubt one of the best summers I’ve ever had!