Delayed A Bit

I still can't believe I haven't posted anything in a while. With work and the construction going on, I end up going to bed only to wake up feeling like I haven't slept. But don't worry...there is a light at the end of this tunnel. I am about a week away from closing on my very 1st (and more than likely ONLY) home! It has been over a year process. This marathon has now turned into a sprint.

The house looks amazing with all sorts of fun touches my contractor did for me. My future brother in law built me this AMAZING "butcher block" style island counter top, I have a screen door for my laundry room, and in about a week I can call it all....MINE (well...until April 27, then what is mine will turn into ours). But I am so excited!

Here is a little sneak peak of what I have:

Here is a shot of the front of the house!!

The screen door....it will be a wild color...promise!

I'm going to try and make a big update tonight or tomorrow just to kind of walk you guys through the process and give you an inside look to the house before all my clutter comes in :) 

How Long Have I Been Gone?!?!

Wow! Didn't realize how long it had been since I posted last. The last thing I posted was that we were breaking ground. Wow....and to think now it is about a month away from closing. I will update the site later this afternoon with some pictures. All and all it has been a tough process with hard choices. So far, I am surviving.

We Have Progress!

It has finally happened! We have broken ground on building!! 

The permit is going up!

The first dig!

We have a hole!

Part of the foundation was delivered....the pretty bricks came later

Pouring the concrete!

We are super excited to finally get started!

Hoping for more progress soon!

Thanks for checking in!

Tow truck in the back...yea, the cement truck got stuck!

Will It Ever Happen??

I'm starting to think this house building isn't going to happen!

I got my approval at the end of March, just a day after I submitted the paperwork and appraisal. I've been given the go ahead. I have the plans, the builder and almost all of the permits....wait, ALMOST all of the permits??

I'm waiting on one permit to build. I found out that the reason we haven't broken ground was because the house plans I have do not meet NC Building Codes. Are you freaking kidding me!!! So I have had to get permission from the designer of the plans to make the slight (and I mean SLIGHT) modifications to the house.

After waiting what seemed forever, I finally got the permission needed, and I forward it to my builder. And I am still waiting.  I kind of feel like I should have just bought a house and dealt with that rather than building one. Everyone said it would be fun...it hasn't been fun at all. It gets to the point I start to get excited and then squashed.

Excited moment #1 - went to Lowe's for a sidewalk sale. It was amazing. So many faucets and shower things. Bought about $400 worth of faucets and what not for the house (bought all I needed). I went home and checked the retail on all the items I got and it came out to a total of $1200....holy crap what a steal! Low moment....I picked up two faucets that I LOVED and went to buy them, they rang up as under investigation and I couldn't buy them. Come to find out, the items they were selling came from a recovery warehouse...basically the two faucets I was in love with, someone stole them and tried to return them for a profit. Awesome.

I'm just ready to have this over with and have a freaking house. I have been waiting with this process for over a year now. 

Yummy Dumplings

I make it a point to have dinner with my friends AT LEAST once a month (more times are welcomed also). For our usually dining spots we choose Buffalo Wild Wings. It is usually something everyone can agree on and it is easy enough to meet up at. Well, my friend Suzie and I tried a new experience a few weeks ago. And it was amazing!

We went to David's Dumpling and Noodle Bar by NC State's campus (corner of  Oberlin and Hillsborough St). He has been open for a while, but we just found him recently. We took a look at the menu online and decided that is a place where we could seriously grub on! So we met up after work and had dinner. It is a quaint restaurant, but the food is amazing! We decided to eat just dumplings and I am so glad we did!

Of course, he does have all sorts of noodle dishes, Chinese dishes, Thai dishes. Tons of stuff. We ordered the Spicy fried Won tons....

Yes, they are as good as they look!! We also ordered Pork and Shrimp Open Top Dumplings...

These were really really good also! And then we ordered Half Fried/Half Steamed Dumplings...

And these were just as good as the others!

If you are near State's campus...right by the Bell Tower....stop by and eat at David's because the place is AMAZING! I hope to go back real soon!

P.S. we also had Popsicles from LocoPops right next door. Mine was Mexican Chocolate and Suzie got Raspberry Mojito!

Getting Closer....

Just wanted to say that I am getting closer to the house building! Got an email today that the appraisal was accepted (appraised for a GREAT amount) and a request for funding is going in tomorrow.  Starting to get a little excited...won't be too excited until we break ground!

Hunger Games

I'm not a big reader at all. It use to be the one thing I hated in school. I never read the assignments, just skimmed. As I got older and got to pick the books I wanted to read, it became a little more enjoyable. With this being said, I started reading The Hunger Games trilogy. I didn't find these books until the released the trailer for the movie. I knew that before I saw the movie, I wanted to read the book to know what the heck it was about.

I finished the first book in a few days (between work and overtime and all these other factors) but I couldn't put it down. I was such a great read. Everything about it was nothing I had read before. I ended up buying the second book and read that in two days. I couldn't put that one down either! I told myself I was going to wait a while before buying the third. I didn't have to wait too long, I just borrowed the third from my Aunt. The whole series was great! The third book gives you closure. But all in all, it was a great series! Now, on to my Friday night...

I have never gone to the movies on an opening night. I don't like big crowds. Sometimes I would wait until the movie came to DVD and rent it. It's cheaper to rent it then to spend $20 on 2 tickets. After playing wiffle ball at my pal Suzie's house this past Sunday, we decided to do a double date to the movies. She would bring her husband and I would bring E. They seemed on board even though they had no idea what the movie was even about.  So we bought our tickets online (thankful that we did that because a lot of the showings had sold out) and waited until Friday. We met up at Dickie's BBQ (I had some amazing Spicy Cheddar Sausage...holy moly) and of course went to Target to stock up on some movie treats.

We ended up going to the 10:35pm showing of the movie since we figured there would be less teenagers there. Well, we were wrong. They had us lined outside the numbered theater waiting to get in and all you saw were these preteen girls with their hair braided and face painted with the guys they liked from the movie. All I could hope for was now squealing once we got in there. On a side note...reading the book makes me wonder if these kids actually understood the whole meaning of the book.

I'm not going to give anything away...no spoiler here...but the movie was great. I was wondering how they were going to show some of the gore...but it was well played. I enjoyed the book way more, but usually the books are always better than the movies. So now I can say that I have been to a sold out movie on opening night. :)  

Hiccups

This is looking across the street to the land...1.5 acres :)

On my lot looking towards my parents house

Me and my land...there is church back there :)

I haven't posted in a while and I am so sorry. It has been busy with work (working overtime) and busy with house approval stuff.

So in my previous post, I told you guys that I was approved to buy a house. Well, in small print, I was also approved to build, if I wanted to. I wanted to. I wasn't able to find THE house, so I was approached to build. I have been busting butt to get all of the things in line to meet the deadline to get a contract in.

I met the contract deadline and I am now waiting for final approval on if I can build or not. Always a waiting game. So here is a little preview of where I might be :)  More to come once I know what in the world is going on!

Approved!

I am so excited!! I got my approval from USDA Rural Development....and I got approved for a home loan! I'm going to be a home owner!!! I am so excited! I'm about to jump out of my skin. I have been keeping an eye out for all of the great homes and I am so ready to go look at them.

I love looking at blogs and seeing what other people do. One of my favorite blogs is www.younghouselove.com . It is just awesome to see their fun stuff.  So, yay!!! Can't wait....I'll keep you updated on the house!

People Let Me Tell You 'Bout My Best Friend(s)...

Everyone has a best friend. No matter what, there is that one person you can always call and talk to. I'm lucky, I have two. Let me introduce you to my two best friends:

                                                                            Nick

And Suzie

I met these two while at JCC (local community college). We all had art history together. I became friends with Suzie first. We were introduced by a mutual classmate (i had another class with that person). The three of us would hang out and talk before and after class. This mutual classmate had a big crush on this surfer type youngin in art history and we were all introduced to Nick. The first time we all hung out was at Cracker Barrell when were suppose to be in class (that will be an ongoing theme for all of us the next couple of years). We all got along great and it was fun being around them.

We took day trips places and spent weekends at the beach and Spring Breaks. We would always cook out and hang out and nothing was ever dull (by the way, we ditched that mutual classmate...not enough time for that story). We were starting to round out the end of our days at JCC...Suzie left first to go to NCSU, then I left to work full time and then Nick left to go to ECU. No matter how far we went or who was where, we always made time to get some dinner and catch up.

Me and Suz at Morehead

Me and Nick at the beach (early friendship)

Suz, Nick and Me at the Jack Johnson concert!

Me and Suz at Ft. Macon

Nick at Ft. Macon



Suz and Nick at South of The Border



Nick, Me and Suz at the beach!

 

These 2 folks are the greatest friends ever.
Suzie got married a few years ago to Dave. Dave puts up with us. She works at NCSU and has 3 petchildren...Harvey the dog, Winston the cat and Barney the frog. We share common interest in TV shows and Ikea! I know that if I ever need to talk to her, I can text or call, no matter how later it is.

Nick just got married to his girlfriend Rachel and has enlisted in the United States Coast Guard and he leaves on February 14 of this year. I'm going to miss him a lot. He is like a little brother to me. I've seen him go through break ups and new girl friends; funny times and pissed off times. We are going to have a cook out for him  as a going away type deal...one last cook out!!

Now you have met my best friends :)

5 Years Down....A Lifetime to Go!

Today is a good day. Today E and I celebrate our 5 year dating anniversary. Wow! 5 years! We have gone through some times together. We have had high moments and we have had low moments. The best time was when he asked me to marry him. I can't wait to marry him!

Top left..At my cousins wedding; Top right...date to see Carolina Mudcats
Bottom left....taken at his parents house;  bottom right..Christmas 2010

Top left..at my old apartment; top right...E all dressed up
Bottom left...1st picture of us as a couple; bottom right...being goofy

Top Left...being sweet; Top right....going to a wedding
bottom left...at E's softball game; bottom right..@ a ballgame

Top left...me and E in the car; top right.. in Mexico!
Bottom left...Christmas 2011; bottom right...Mexico



Top left...in Arizona; top right...at my birthday
bottom left...my birthday; bottom right...Arizona



A New Year....A New Me

It's already 2012! Wow...I can't believe it! I spent my New Years Eve eating Chinese (like I always do) and watched the ball drop with the dogs. I was house sitting, so no big plans. Everyone makes resolutions for the new year, and of course I do also. My big resolution....be a better me. I'm trying to change the things I'm not crazy about. No, not so much loose all this weight, but be a healthier me.

I realized after watching a gazillion episodes of Say Yes to the Dress that I will be doing that soon; dress shopping. I saw one episode were this woman went to try on dresses and she couldn't get one on to show, and she wasn't a large woman at all. And then I looked at myself before taking a shower one night and thought, oh gosh...what if that happens to me. I know exactly what would happen. I would shut down, cry and just want to get out of the dress store as fast as I could. I don't want that. I want to be happy and healthy and enjoy this adventure, not be fearful of it.

I've started keeping a food journal and write down everything I eat. Wow! I've also started keeping a work out calendar. I need to be active for at least 30 minutes every night. I took a walk today with E and Bear. It was great. It was a crisp afternoon and we walked at a brisk pace. It was great and I hope to keep this up!