Saturday, June 28, 2008

Every Home Should Have One

Today I spent the day hanging out with my father-in-law. We ended up in Marshalls/Home Goods and boy do they have a ton of strange home decorating items.

The best thing in the whole store - knights. Not just one knight but there were THREE and in different finishes to match your décor. 2 large ones in silver and gold. They were $99.99 each. But if that's too rich for your blood $69.99 will buy you the gold one in front.

Friday, June 27, 2008

One word - Interesting...

This gem of a home was spotted during our first visit with Dario, our friend and real estate agent. Dario took us around the neighborhood near his office so we could "practice" looking at homes.

We weren't looking as this house but the one right next door to it. The house we looked at even had a little sign that said, "The PINK house next door is being redeveloped and is empty." So ladies and gentleman - no worries. The pink gem was all white with numerous pink accents all over the place. There was even a small carriage with a horse (fake) on the lawn.

Definitely interesting. At least the brightly painted house was much more normal - anyone could redo that paint job - no carriage removal necessary.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Hunt Begins

Last weekend Nick and I officially started the house hunt. We met with Dario, long time friend and realtor - what a great friend!

Dario pulled out all the professional stuff where he learned a lot about us (we realized some things), we learned some more about the home buying process (like NJ always has to be the excption) and even got some homework!

On the way there and during our ride around in Metuchen NJ (where Dario's office is) we saw this Willy Wonka-ish house. It's pretty but in a over-the-top kinda way.

We're figuring out what's important to us and home likes and dislikes. Folks, this may take awhile. Wish us luck.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Blackout

Good morning. We experienced a rather sucky (can there be a good one?) blackout all through the night. It started with some crazy thunder and lightning, lots of flickering electronics and then ZAP we were in the dark. I slept through the night and just before 6am some power came back.

Our utility company first reported 50,000 without power but by 11pm it tripled to 150,000.

Right after we lost power last night I smelled something burning/smoking. It took us awhile to find it but we found it - one of Nick's extra computers that we use as a media center got fried. We think it's just the power source/box thing. Turns out my laptop won't turn on at all and we've got a couple outlets that don't work at all.

We were able to start charging my almost dead cell phone, plug the fridge into a working outlet, iron my work pants and get me off to the ferry on time. Not too shabby. We'll see if the power situation gets better throughout the day.

Off to work now.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Busy Busy Weekend

What a whirlwind weekend. It all began a bit early on Friday when I didn't have to go to work. I sorta had to work because it was a seminar for work but it was actually good and I didn't have to go to the office. I got home a little earlier too.

Once I got home I had to pack for the weekend. Hubby went fishing Friday and I was meeting him at my father-in-law's. Had to stop at Target in East Brunswick for stuff and ended up bumping into my good friend, Miichell and her daughter. So we hung out a bit a Target while shopping.

Saturday was sister-in-law, Mandy's Birthday Bonanza. Woke up early to make some food for the party. Then on the way I had to drop my car off at my dad's cause it failed inspection and needs some repairs. Partied at the bonanza and Sunday we were off to my uncle's graduation party.

Still recovering from the party filled weekend. Above is a picture of Nick and our cousin Catherine playing piano together.