It is Finished- Australian Honeymoon Pictures!

Remember when I said that I would include pictures from our honeymoon in Australia? Crazy, but it took forever to sort through all the photos. We took over 800 and I culled it down to 330. It's still a lot, but I labeled a lot of them with comments. Enjoy!

Australia Honeymoon

It doesn't seem like it's been 6 months since we were there!

Gluttons for Punishment

So we're thinking of making an offer on another Alameda house. This one is another fixer upper. We went to an open house last weekend and we met the owner. Strange computer programmer type. Most of the houses we have seen have been staged and recently painted. This seller didn't even clean the house. There was dog hair everywhere and his tightie whities were hanging in the back to dry. I mean, at least take them down! There was a hole the size of a fist in the closet door in the bedroom. The flyer was not updated because it still said that offers were due on June 12th when we saw the house on June 24th, so I guess that they haven't received any yet. You would think that the agent would at least print new flyers- and the photos don't even do it justice. There are good things like the built-in shelves in the living room, but there are no photos of it. So why are we even interested in this place?

It's got a lot of potential and lots of walk-in closet space. These are probably some of the biggest closets that we have seen in any house. It's listed as a 2 bedroom 1 bath, but it also has a basement that used to have a finished bathroom (he started renovating it and never finished) and kitchen. We think that we could also put a guest bedroom, playroom/family room, and maybe a little desk/work area in the basement. We probably would make these changes a little further down the rode and just focus on the upstairs. There is also a cute little sunroom in the back. The way we figure it, we know this place is gross now, but we don't care if we're just going to replace everything and gut it anyway. We're still planning on giving an offer below the asking price, so cross your fingers! All we are waiting for is for a contractor to do a once over and give us an estimate of the costs for renovations.

No Thanks!

So we almost made an offer on a house in Alameda on Friday. We wrote the offer, had the deposit check, and got the preapproval letter. Then our realtor called me and told me that the seller didn't want to entertain our offer because it was too low. The house was a fixer upper and we wanted to make sure that we could afford the mortgage and the renovations. We thought that since the house had been on the market for over a month which is a little long in the Bay Area, they might be willing to accept a lower offer. It was a little disappointing that they didn't even want to counter. So, we're back to square one.

However, the good thing is that we are ready to go for the next offer we need to make. It was a good exercise for us to go through to make sure that we know what has to happen and what the paperwork looks like.

I always think that things happen for a reason. So it's probably a good thing that this didn't go through because there were so many renovations. We also had a contractor give us an estimate on the costs for renovating and the costs don't seem as much as we had thought. We have been watching a lot of HGTV which also gives you this false sense of how long it takes and how much effort it takes because they seem to be able to make these amazing changes in a few days and since the episode only takes half an hour, it doesn't seem to take long at all!

Durham Days

On Thursday, we headed out to Nashville to the zoo and got to spend a few hours with Hannah and Timothy there until we had to get to the airport around 4PM. We have a few pictures which I'll get around to posting eventually. It was a hot day in the sun that day, so I think that the kids were more interested in the lemonade than the animals at the zoo. All in all, it was a good trip though after your 100th round of Musical Chairs or listening to Hannah whining, it does make you think about how much energy it takes to take care of a toddler. Babies are nice because all they require is food, diaper changes, and sleep. When they can start running and talking, it gets a lot more energy. Guess we better get started before we're too old to chase them around. Or I can do what Laura does and have their aunt chase them around!

In Durham, we got to have a nice leisurely day on Friday. We woke up without kids telling us to wake up and walked their dog Dora the Explorer. However, we did discover that Dora had chewed up our shoes because she got tired of waiting for us to wake up as well. After walking Dora, we borrowed Jeannette and Jon's bikes and went for a 5 mile ride to the Durham Bulls ballpark. I always thought it was called Bull Durham because of the movie. Oh well. We biked along a path called the American Tobacco Trail. Now if that isn't ironic, I don't know what is. We're biking on a path paved from dollars spent from tobacco sales. I wonder how many of those cigarette smoking people who helped pay for this trail actually use it. When we got back, we did a little shopping and then got ready for the Chief's roast that Jeannette had invited us to.

The Chief's roast was just a party at someone's house that included video skits roasting all of the chief residents who were graduating like Jeannette. It was fun to meet all these doctors, but I will say that it is quite a different experience. Most of the time, I think that we meet people who are in software or technology. Though we have a few friends who are doctors, they don't really discuss medicinal philosophies or viewpoints like the OB/gyns we met at this party. Though maybe it was the setting- we were at a party for all the OB/gyns. Maybe if we went to a party for doctors with our doctor friends, the conversations would be different.

On Saturday, I got a pedicure with Jeannette and we all got dressed up for the graduation ceremony. Here's a picture of us getting our pedicures
The ceremony seemed more like a wedding than a graduation. There was the catered dinner at the hotel and then DJ and dancing afterwards. We headed to a martini bar afterwards and while were were walking to the bars at UNC Chapel Hill, I noticed something very peculiar. On one side of the street were all the bars and on the other side of the street were all these churches. So it's almost like you could stumble out of the bars and go straight to church the next morning to ask forgiveness for all the sins you had committed the night before. What a novel idea! Another thing that I found interesting was that before the meal started at graduation, they said a prayer. It's not that I find a prayer before a meal that remarkable, but the fact that it was an educational event that began with a prayer. This is a secular university that doesn't have an affiliation with a church that I know of. That never happened to me at Northwestern and I have yet to see that at any other school I have seen- even the Catholic ones. I wonder if it has to do with being in the South.

Yesterday, we flew back into San Jose. While we were waiting for Show Lan to pick us up, I had plugged in my cell phone to charge. Unfortunately, we didn't realize until after we got back to SF that we had left the cell phone at the airport. Luckily, I was able to call the airport and they were able to hold my cell phone for me while we headed back down to San Jose to retrieve it. Note to self- if you charge your cell in a public place, remember to take it with you!

Greetings from Huntsville, AL!

So we began our trip by landing in Nashville, TN. So that was the first time that I have ever been in Tennessee. We will have visited 3 new states (for me) before the week is over. We had a great meal in a converted jail called Monell's. The Southern food was delicious with my favorite (and Hannah's!) being the fried chicken. It was a family style restaurant where the food was all you can eat for about $16/person. Now that was a deal! So far, so good!

Our first day in Alabama, we just got settled and talked and hung out. It was to relax after the long travel day since we had a 4 hour flight and then a 2 hour drive to Madison (just outside of Huntsville.) On Sunday, we went to church and then had lunch at a deli. We got to play with the kids outside in the Nemo wading pool and had BBQ shrimp and veggies on the grill. Our goal was to balance the BBQ dinners with a "healthy dinner."

On Monday, we woke up bright and early since Hannah and Timothy wanted to play. They don't understand why we didn't want to wake up before 8:30AM (read 6:30PST) so that we could play. We went to the local mall so that I could get my haircut and then shop a little. We also went to check out one of my favorite stores that are not in CA- Hobby Lobby for yarn. I am not sure when I am going to start knitting again, but maybe someday I'll get inspired by all the pretty yarn I'm collecting! I should ask Amy for some ideas on quick and easy patterns. Then, we went to a BBQ place for dinner that was quite good. However, the heat is definitely affecting my appetite. I'm eating much less now because I just don't feel that hungry, so I guess that's good considering I could be eating a lot of fatty BBQ! When we got home, we watched Pursuit of Happyness. Now I know that some of you may be thinking, "Didn't you see that like 2 months ago?" Bravo- good memory. I did say that, but we still have it from Netflix and so we brought it so Laura, Alex, and Edwin got to watch it. What can I say- Netflix loves us.

On Tuesday, Hannah had preschool so we got to sleep in. She gets out at 11:30AM. YES!!! Edwin used the leftover BBQ and grilled veggies to make pasta for lunch and then I made a pasta salad and Edwin made BBQ sandwiches for dinner because we were going to picnic while Alex played ultimate frisbee. I'll post the pics when we get them. It was funny because there was another dad there who had a 1-year-old daughter and he left her with us so that he could play. She was really cute too. If you ever want to get mauled by a group of toddlers, they really like cheerios, sliced grapes, and those puffy snacks. These kids were stepping all over us to try and get to these snacks. It's like they never get fed or something. Mob mentality starts young. When we got home, we played a couple of new games. Laura and Alex introduced us to Blokus while we introduced them to Apples to Apples.

Today, we met up with Alex during his lunch hour and we took the kids to a kids museum called EarlyWorks. We had so much fun that we all went home and took naps. Not long after, Alex came home and then we went to dinner at Cheeburger, Cheeburger which was a guess-what cheeseburger restaurant. Very filling and tasty, but I was surprised that they wouldn't make any of the burgers medium rare. They would only do medium. They also had quite the milkshake selection. We came home for some more Apples to Apples and laundry. Gotta love that we can just do laundry in the house! Here's a fun pic of bathtime with Hannah and Timothy. As you can see, it's an action shot!

We also got a chance to visit the Memphis zoo before our flight to Raleigh/Durham. Here's a few of us in the play area for kids.

I forgot to mention that we ended up looking at some houses on Friday before we left for our vacation. There was a cute little place on the same street of the house we have been considering putting a bid on. Though we loved the house, the timing was not right. I think if we were home, we would have made a bid on this place because it was in our price range and in move-in condition. The house had just come on the market on Wednesday. When we went to visit the house, we found out there there were 2 more houses on the same street that were going to be sold as well. This bodes well for us in that there seems to be some competition and the house that we were originally interested in has already lowered their price. To our dismay, however, this new house is already sold. It was on the market for less than a week and they received 3 bids and the realtor believes it sold for over asking. Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be. When we return on Sunday, we will try and see the other 2 properties that came on the market this weekend.

Moving Violations

So I was driving down to Salinas to see my client yesterday, when I got pulled over by a cop. So I roll down my window with my license and insurance card ready. Here's the conversation that ensues:

Cop: So I saw you with my radar gun, and you were not speeding.

Me thinking: Really? I've been speeding the whole 2.5 hour drive down from SF!

Cop: I pulled you over because you were following the car in front of you too closely.

I respond: I'm sorry, officer. I do remember being behind that car and the reason that I was that close was that car had just changed lanes in front of me. (This really did happen.)

Cop: Well then, why didn't you slow down?

Me: I thought I did. (I don't normally slam on the breaks on the highway, but I will usually lift my foot off the accelerator.)

Cop: OK, well, I'll let you off with a warning.

So I guess that I should thank that guy for cutting me off because I probably would have gotten a speeding ticket otherwise! Speaking of tickets, we've been hit by SF DPT several times in the last few months for parking violations. Edwin got hit twice in our own driveway for not having a parking sticker. Our logic being- if it is not a public spot, why do we need a public parking sticker? Just another way for SF to take our money. Definitely feeling like we need to move out of the city! I got another one for an overrun parking meter a few weeks ago. The meter maid was still there printing out the ticket when I arrived and I know it was less than 5 minutes when that meter ran out because I had set my alarm on my phone to remind myself to go back. That was the same day I saw a fleet of tow trucks towing like 15 cars away. It made me think that I do not want to drive in SF on a Friday because THEY WILL tow you. This is after I had already been towed in Chicago in Feb. (I swear- we don't normally get tickets!)

So all this talk of moving violations made me think of this old, funny, 80's movie called Moving Violations. Here's the original trailer to jog your memories:

Happy belated Bday, Sujay and Matilde!

This past weekend, we went up to Santa Rosa on Saturday for a Food & Beer Fest. I think that there was more beer than food, but it was still a nice day to be outside. It was all you can eat/drink for $30/person. It was worth it if you drank, but not really worth it if you didn't. I think that they should give discounts to designated drivers. Anyway, the food wasn't bad, so I was happy.
We also had a picnic for Sujay's 34th birthday on Sunday. Matilde had set up 4 different pizzas for us to try from Arizmendi (which I guess owes its success from Cheeseboard- who knew?), Cheeseboard, and 2 from Zachary's. My fave was from Arizmendi- ratatouille. I've heard that there is a new Disney movie by that name.

Our friend Margie also came for a visit from Boston, so we got to hang out with her as well. We haven't seen her several years. She was here for a conference for work in SJ, so we got to hang out with her as well. We'll post pictures eventually... (I know, I'm still working on the honeymoon pictures from Australia! Only about 75 more photos left!)