Closing and Opening

Last night at 4pm we became homeowners!

Our key!!!!

It was a whirlwind of the last few weeks and we have been working so hard to get all the last minute arrangements and paperwork taken care of. I have never felt so overwhelmed by paperwork in my life. In the end though it was totally worth it because we got a house!!!!!

I am going to just give you a rundown of all the stuff we needed for closing and some of the highlights (or lowlights if you want to be a negative Nancy) of our process.

First we had the appraisal issue. The house did not appraise originally for our agreed purchase price so we had to send in a rebuttal to the AMC who then came up only 2K after two weeks of waiting to hear from them. So the seller’s agreed to pay for a second appraisal as I had mentioned the second went through. This whole process delayed our closing by almost two weeks. This really threw a wrench into our whole plan.

When you close at the end of the month you do not have to pay as much in taxes. It is hard to explain but we ended up asking for the lender to give us a refund on this month’s taxes so we could close on May 3^rd instead of the end of the month. They did and it was not a big deal but we did totally get the shaft on getting a “free” month of mortgage payments like many realtors tell you you will get your first month. FAIL. But at this point we do not care because we just wanted to close.

After we got all the paperwork lined up we headed to the title company and signed a million papers. Seriously, my hand cramped up at one point. I suggest you also try to schedule your closings early in the morning. What happens is now with all the changes to the industry the banks require all money is transferred before you get keys. It is totally not like house hunters when you get the keys at the closing table anymore. LAME. And if you close at the end of the day you will not even get the keys until the next day because they don't have the time to process everything! We had prepared ourselves for yet another home buying dream bubble burst while signing away our lives.

Lucky for us our RELATOR is awesome and she was able to procure a key for us last night anyway. She rocks my face off.  So after lots of waiting we finally headed over to our new home!!!! We closed the door on renting and buying a home we are opening another into the world (the very scary and overwhelming world) of home ownership.

On our way to the house we went home and picked up our puppy and then headed over with a car full of cleaning supplies and paint stuff. NO time to waste in this project. We move in in two weeks and we need to paint the whole house!!!!!

So here are the fun pictures from our first night in our new home. We drank champagne and ate pizza in sweats as we threw the ball for our dog in the backyard. It was a perfect night really.

Bubbles from our REALTOR waiting for us when we got home!

Harry is one happy dog in his new home!

Our first meal in our new home. It was glorious!

Harry playing ball in his new backyard. I know it is a blur, but I totally love this picture!

Look! We are awesome!

Source

 Our friend and talented photographer Amelia took some pictures of us on our anniversary. She blogged them on her photography blog yesterday and I thought I would share them with you all!

I know we are dorks, but I loved the idea of going back to where we got married and having pictures done a year later. It was so much fun! I am glad we have these. I hope we can do a photo of our family every year on our anniversary!

One year old wedding cake is gross...

Just an FYI in case you did not know!

Gross year old cake topper...

Seriously, the taste is still in my mouth.

I made a back up just in case!

 On the other hand petite fours at TRIO are amazing.

Mr. A and I celebrated one year of marriage yesterday and I have to say we did it right.

We started off the night with a drink at the hotel we got married in, the Stephen F Austin Intercontinental. Then Mr. A in all of his awesomeness surprised me with dinner at TRIO in the Four Seasons Hotel. We sat right by the windows overlooking Town Lake and drank a fabulous bottle of wine. It was a truly amazing dinner finished off with locally grown peach cobbler and petite fours. WOW, is all I can say.

Go there, now.

 Then we walked about 10 blocks back to the SFA hotel where Mr. A had be get a drink while he got the car out of valet. It was so nice out and we reminisced about taking out pictures out on Congress Ave.

Little did I know what he had planned. As we headed for the door he pressed the top floor button in the elevator! He got us the "Governor's Suite" with 180 degree views of the city, living room dining room, library and huge bedroom! Too much!

The surprises kept coming, he had the wine from our wedding waiting for us and our wedding album! So thoughtful!

After some screaming like a huge dork we sat town and looked at our album together remembering ever part of that wonderful day! It was perfect and so sweet. We laid in bed until 12 the next morning and ate breakfast looking out over the city we fell in love in.

 I am so lucky to have married the best man in the whole world. I cat wait to see what year 2 has in store for us! Thank you you Mr. A for being the best friend and husband I could ask for.

2 Posts, One Day. 21 Day Challenge Begins

As of today I have 21 days to get my butt in shape for our anniversary trip to Italy. I can’t wait for the trip and I know I am going to eat my face off whilst there so to counteract this I am going to challenge myself to do some sort of workout every single day until then.  My first anniversary is this weekend and officially since my wedding day I have only gained 10 lbs, but the muscle and definition I worked so hard for is all gone. Time to take things up a notch around here.

Here is my plan:

60 minutes of exercise every day. This can be lifting weights, yoga, swimming, walking the pup, walking my office hallways, taking a jog at lunch (even though it is 1,000 here) or anything else I can think of to get my butt in gear. 

Three healthy meals a day and one light dessert. This is where I will be challenged, but I know I can do it. All of my meals will be good healthy vitamin rich meals. I will report to this blog every day to tell you what I have had that day. Kind of like a weight watchers notebook type thing.

You might be asking yourself why I am being so crazy. Clearly if you are asking this you are not really my friend.

I am working hard to fit into my cute honeymoon bathing suits and dresses. I want to feel beautiful in all the outfits I got for my honeymoon. I don’t want to ever think about how bad a meal is for me when I am in Italy; I want to eat with no regrets or hesitation. Plus, Italian women are gorgeous, and I want to be able to keep up.

So there you have it, I have put this out there for the world to see. Now to take action:

Day 1

Workout – Sand Volleyball with friends at Zilker Park

Breakfast – Yoplait 100 calorie pack of yogurt and ½ a serving of granola with wheat germ

Lunch – Baby carrots, small granny smith apple, 100 calorie pack of Greek yogurt with honey and 2 wheels of baby belle low fat cheese

Dinner – Unknown quite yet, but the plan is a veggie burger with thin bun and veggies. Maybe some pirate’s booty and some strawberries to end the night. Ohh with fat free whipped cream and neutella! This is all fairly healthy dammit, I get my neutella!

The Wedding of Mr. and Mrs. S

Kate's wedding was truly a family affair. Her friends and family are all so close and it was so special to be a part of her big day. Kate is a great planner and the day seemed to go off without a hitch. There was food and drinks around every corner (which let's face it is very important to me) and she always had this cool and calm aura around her. Just the perfect bride! So here is a recap of the night in pictures.

We started off at the salon getting ready. Kate's SIL got her this cute little wrap dress with "Mr. S" on it. I totally am going to get one for myself.

The Bride getting ready in her fabulous wrap dress/towel that her SIL gave her. Hair all done!

Bridesmaids getting their hair did. Her friend Amy has the mos amazing red hair I have ever seen

Then we headed to Kate's parents home and got ready. She and her mom had a cute little buffet of snacks and drinks set up for all of us. Her parent's home is so cute and loved. It really felt so cool to get ready there.

Really cute champagne set up at her parents house.

Kate bought all of us custom champagne flutes! So cute.

Kate got ready at her parent's home. In her childhood bedroom. It was really touching. Totally made me cry.

Could she be any more beautiful!? Just perfect.

After pictures at her house Kate was ready to cool off on the bus. Little did we know the air on the bus was not working very well. Here she is still looking fabulous and very cool. I love this picture.

Mr. A and I enjoyed my favorite beer at the reception. I have missed lager for all of these years. He seemed to love it too!

Kate had really pretty centerpieces. They matched her bouquet and her whole theme was black and white. I thought it went so well in the ballroom.

The night was filled with fun, laughter, dancing and great food! We had so much fun with her friends and family. I only hope that we are lucky enough to have a family like this one day where all the cousins know each other and the families truly love each other. It was something I have never been around. It was so cool.

Kate had lots of great details at the wedding, including a "Love" statue in ice during the cocktail hour, a really fun photo booth and a late night desert room filled with every sweet you could ever want! LOVE.

Mr. A and I had a blast. Got a little drunk and danced our butts off! So much fun

Kate and Matt truly deserve all the happiness in the world. I am so blessed to have been a part of this crazy family affair. I think it was a great way to end the weddings I will be in. It was so great to share this with them and I look forward to sharing lots more with both of them in the years to come!

Philly In A Day

As promised, I wanted to give you a full update of our recent trip to Philadelphia. My true home away from home. I wanted to show Mr. A everything the city had to offer. We had one day to cover a lot of ground. So, here is the breakdown.

We started the day off at Independence Hall. It was bright, sorry for the face.

Me inside the buislding where the Declaration and The Constitution were created and signed! Every time I still get dorky goosebumps!

We then walked around Society Hill, where Mr. A decided "I could totally live here", music to my ears.

To seal the deal on the living in Philly idea, I took him to Reading Terminal Market. We had DiNic's and lots of ice cream. It was amazing. Can't you tell?

We then went to visit Sarah in her office in City Hall. We got a personal tour from the lady herself!

City Hall Council Chambers. So cool.

We then met up with Matt and Kate for thier reahursal and dinner. SOOOO Yummy. They had a great spread for us, again Mr. A said, "Yeah, I could totally move here, I smiled! 

The whole group of boys did shots to end the night!

The bride and the bridesmaids looking great!

The next day was the wedding. More pictures of the best wedding to ever hit Philly coming up next!

Just the two of us...We can make it if we try!

In the last few weeks with this job change I have had a lot of other changes happen in my life as a result. For example I can no longer cook meals and work out in the same night. If I do attempt this I need to plan way ahead and it usually involves a crock pot meal of some sort. I also don’t work in downtown Austin anymore, which is great for my commute to work but horrible for my lunch time errand running habits. I used to grocery shop, go to the dry cleaners, tailors, get my dog groomed all in central Austin on my lunch break. Now I have to adjust how all of this is done. Most of it now has to wait until late night or weekends. Weekends are for drinking and sleeping not work!

I have to say I totally under estimated how much a job change was going to affect my life! It’s a great thing but it’s also a pain in the ass. Adjusting to how my new coworkers do things, what my job is going to be and what expectations they have for me is exhausting. Actually trying to figure out what my voice is has been really challenging for me. Then in addition getting back in shape after surgery while trying to fight off the first year of marriage 15lbs I have heard about has been a pain in the butt. Then you know the whole first year of marriage in general adds to it!

In the end what it comes down to is teamwork. My new husband and I are having to adjust to me actually being tired from work, and me not being able to take care of all the meals 5 days a week (except of course on Fridays, Pei Wei is the best). He is going to have to start taking over some of the responsibilities around the house. Not that he is irresponsible at all, he does a lot already. I am asking him to make dinner once a week, and idea I got from Kelly. We are encouraging each other to go to the gym and eat right. We both are trying new things around the house to make things flow better; he is taking initiative more and more. Teamwork is what makes a marriage work in the end I guess. These changes in my life will one day be in the past and we will be that much closer to even more great stuff.