We bought in the wrong country...

http://matadorlife.com/what-can-150k-buy-in-real-estate-around-the-world/

Bali anyone? Perhaps South Africa? Crap...we could have spent a lot less on a palace elsewhere!

P.S. All set to close tomorrow morning on our house. Thus starts many hours of cleaning, moving, and painting, oh my!

Our First Home (hopefully)

So people have been asking me about the house that we are closing on next week, and I figured I would share some pics and details. First let me start off by saying that our luck with buying a home has not been very good and we're still a little nervous about getting too excited until we have the keys in our hands. Anyway, the house is a raised ranch, built in 1992 and sits on .65 acres in Uncasville (though it's basically in Montville, all the schools are right up the road from us). It has 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, and two living rooms (one up one down). It's in a neighborhood, which we didn't want at first, but for resale purposes, it's a good thing. Jimmy and I went and picked out some new living and dining room furniture at Bob's and plan on picking out paint soon. So here are some pics that I stole from the seller's realtor's website (not sure if I'm allowed to). Enjoy! Oh and don't worry, we plan on re-painting the walls so they aren't canary yellow (bleck).

Pics from NYC

Fun Times in NYC

On Monday, Jimmy and I ventured our way into NYC for two nights of the Allman Bros. Band. We took the train in from New Haven (note  to self, they have a commuter rail that is so much cheaper than Amtrak...grrr) and arrived in a sunny, and surprisingly warm NY. Our first day was spent at the Museum of Modern Art (one of my favs) where we perused through some odd design pieces, classics like Picasso, Mattisse, and Rousseau, and my personal favorite, Rene Magritte :) Their gift store is incredible! We found a Magritte book for $15 and a Van Gogh poster that we plan on framing and putting in the living room. Having our fill of art for the day we went to Grand Central for the one and only Oyster Bar. If you like seafood, YOU MUST GO HERE!! We had 1/2 dozen oysters, grilled sardines (the big kind, from Europe...yum), and soup. Ahhh...thinking about it makes my mouth salivate. We made our way to the newly renovated Beacon Theater and watched a fantastic show! The next day we headed wayyyy downtown to the chocolate shop that we found 3 years ago when we first started dating. I had been looking forward to this for a very long time. We get to the back of the furniture store...and...it's no longer there!! Apparently they left 4 MONTHS AGO!! AGH!! Luckily the store clerk pointed us to another chocolate place. Max Brenner's (bald man) Chocolate Bar. Holy chocolate heaven. It's huge and there are pipes everywhere with chocolate in them and an enormous menu. Jimmy and I both got hazelnut crepes, oozing with chocolate. I took about 5 bites of mine and couldn't finish. We left very full and wandered around downtown. We don't normally venture around here (anything lower than 19th is foreign to us) but we found some interesting stores...including a CB2. It is apparently a Crate and Barrel 2 (we're registered at normal C&B). This place is much funkier but still fun to look at. We tried going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame annex, but alas they were closed on Tuesdays. Tuesday night we ate at a sit down, upscalish chinese restaurant and got our BACKSTAGE passes to that night's show. *side note* When Jimmy picked up my engagement ring he felt the need to drink a beer so he went to a restaurant next to the jewelers. He met a guy there whose cousin married the drummer of the ABB. Dude got Jimmy's info and worked his magic...thus our backstage passes). We got to sit in chairs off to the side of the stage and watched the whole show from there. At one point, Jimmy taps my shoulder and asks if that is Sheryl Crow sitting behind me. Well shit, it was! She made a guest appearance during the second set. Let me tell you folks, I can only dream of looking like she does in my mid-forties. Jimmy got everyone from the band (except Gregg Allman) to sign his poster. We had a fantastic time and our now swiftly approaching our closing date for the house. It's supposed to be next Friday but some repairs still need to be done. We're crossing our fingers that everything goes smoothly because we gave our notice on the apartment. So...we maybe homeless if the deal falls through...eep!

Engagement Pics!!

Hey everyone, some of our engagement pics are posted on our photographers' blog. Click on the link under my blog list to view them!

They are fantastic!!!

Weekend Craziness

So Jimmy and I have pretty much been laying low here in engagement bliss. Things with the house are moving along, the sellers are getting estimates for repairs and hopefully will replace the roof and deal with the electrical problems. Closing is scheduled for the 27th...so cross your fingers!

This past weekend we went to upstate NY to get some wedding planning out of the way. Jimmy, my parents, and I went up to Silver Bay on Saturday to taste the food and decide on what we wanted. Jimmy had never been there before and I was pleased to see that he found the venue as beautiful as I do. The food was fantastic (to my surprise...I went to summer camp here...wasn't expecting the food to be great). We're having a buffet of balsamic marinated steak with mushrooms and peppers, grilled chicken in a garlic sauce, and stuffed sole. I was originally against a buffet but people can have all three dishes if they want to and I don't have to ask what everyone wants beforehand. My cousin Tanya, Auntie Di Di, and Tanya's husband Heath came up for the night. Victoria, Tanya, my aunt, and mom met Katie down at David's Bridal and we picked out dresses for everyone. I let the girls pick whichever style they wanted, and my mom even found a candidate for herself! It was really easy, and drama free :) Victoria brought over a huge book with invitation examples, so Jimmy and I picked out invitations, cake serving stuff, and our champagne flutes. It took us no time at all :) Saturday night was spent eating fantastic home cooked food, wine, and watching old home movies and making fun of how I talked when I was a kid (i.e. chawwwlie instead of charlie). Jimmy and I headed to Saratoga on Sunday and met with our photographers. They were fantastic and took soooo many more pictures than I thought they would! We walked all over Congress park, walked up and down Broadway, and got some awesome shots in the alleys. Our last shot was a dip in front of our favorite restaurant, Maestro's, where we went and had an awesome lunch immediately after. We had such a great, stress-free time and all I kept saying was how much I missed living in Saratoga. 10 1/2 more years til retirement folks.

I'll post engagement pics as soon as I get them!!