For Sale

Yesterday I posted this picture on Instagram:

I have since posted a photo home tour and the flyer for the sale of our home on Facebook.  I have been flooded with texts, comments, and messages asking why we are selling and where we are going, so I thought I thought I would just take care of answering those questions here.

First, I would like to clarify that in no way are we selling because we HAVE TO.  We are not under financial strain.  In fact, our financial position is the best it's been since we moved into the home we built from the ground up.  Given the recent market history and the fact that a lot of people have had to short sale or foreclose their home, that's where people's minds automatically go.  Fortunately for us, that is not the case.

It just so happens that the market in our area right now is really good.  And since we have been in our home for just over 3.5 years with a low interest rate, we are in a position to increase our financial position even more by selling our home.  After all, equity is just money on paper...

This was by no means an easy decision, as we have been discussing it for quite a while now.  WE love, LOVE, love this house.  We watched this house go from a piece of paper, to a foundation, to our first home together.  We chose the color of the walls and cupboards, the size of the tile, selected the slab of granite for our counter tops.  JB proposed to me in this house.  We had our rehearsal dinner in this house.  My bridesmaids and I got ready on our wedding day in this house.  We learned how to live together here and make decisions for our future together here, which has led us to where we are now.  We have discussed our goals, plans, dreams, etc.  And in the end, taking all factors into consideration, this is a great opportunity for us prepare for whatever opportunities may come our way (professional, recreational, or otherwise).

There are some that may think that we are moving backwards in the social progression of marriage -> home -> babies -> retirement, but that is subjective, and JB and I don't feel that way.  We feel like we have the opportunity to reset and rediscover our passions and future plans.  Some people think that this amazing home we have now is never going to come around again.  But maybe something better will?

The other question I have been getting a lot is "Where are you going?".  We currently don't have any plans to leave the area as we are both still employed here, our families are here, and we love the community we live in.  Based on our research, we should be able to rent something suitable in the same area for $500-$800 less per month.  You read that right.  How do you deny that fact?  Lower rent, lower utilities, and debt free?

Sign. Me.Up.

Now we just need someone to buy the house....

Happy 60th Birthday Daddy!!

Yes, I still call him Daddy. And yes, today he turns 60! We had a partay for him on Saturday night. Friends and family were in abundance for a NASCAR-themed event.

Photo-collages at parties are the best! I never realized how much I looked like my dad until I go older and someone pointed it out with a picture from my college graduation party. Looking at these old pics of him, I see it even more. That top right pic, the glamour shot? My favorite picture of my father that has ever been taken. He's so blue steel in that picture. I tell so many people about that picture and I am so glad it's still around in all its glory.

Me and the birthday boy!

Some of the spread

His cake

Drinking out of the water bottle?  What's next, college?

Opening gifts

Thanking Monkey for his gift

Just some random people that don't know each other...J/K - siblings!!

Happy Birthday Song!

The Many... 

Faces Of...

Monkey!!

Don't mind my chins...

Dad and his daughters

Dad and Seesters...missing Lauren this time

Another one with his sissies.

Happy birthday dad!  I can't believe you are the big 6-0!!  Here's to many, many more birthdays ahead!  I love you!!

Bremas, New Years, and 11 Days Off

You may or may not have noticed I took a little break from blogging over the holidays. What's new, right? Always taking breaks, this one. I had 11 glorious days off work in which I planned to do all kinds of things around the house in addition to the annual Christmas tour, but I'm sure you're surprised to hear absolutely nothing got done.

I take that back...

I drank a whole lot of vodka and ate a whole lot of crappy food. Not one of my prouder weeks in the past year, but hey, can't do anything about it now but try to work it all off.

As usual I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy living in the moment, and the few I did take are from the trusty old iphone. We started out the Christmas tour with dinner at my aunt's house on Christmas Eve. After dinner and socializing with the family, we gather everyone into one room for The Christmas Story. My uncle used to read this every year, but has since passed the torch. This year, my cousin Drew read it with some help from his youngest daughter.

My bro and Monkey, loving the story

After The Christmas Story, everyone plays a white elephant gift game, but JB and I take off and head to my dad's house for their annual Christmas Eve party that my stepmom hosts for her side of the family. It was a smaller group this year than last, but my stepsister from LA was up visiting with her family, so we had most of the stepsisters together.

Just missing Stephers

My dad found this little gem, which is a book full of different pages with different topics that you fill in the blanks on such as favorite color and actor and your best friends at the time. I'm pretty sure this was actually my stepsister's book first and I found it when I was 9 1/2 and erased all of her answers and added my own. This was the last page of the book and what a grand finale it was...

Say what?  I posted this on Instagram and got some great comments.

We took our mandatory birthday shots for me (not Jesus) at midnight, had a little more family time, and then went to bed. We headed home the next morning after we opened our stockings (stalkings??) and had JB's parents and brother over to our house for dinner. We hung out in our PJ's all day and played with his mom's iPad mini since mine hadn't arrived yet and looked up all the cool stuff we want to do in Greece and all the food we are going to eat...

See, still in our jammies, no showers.  Hot.

My favorite in-laws!

He's available ladies, he and the tree parted ways that night

Love her so much!

Hubs and I haven't gotten each other gifts since our first Christmas together due to the buying of the house and getting married and going to Europe and all that jazz, so even though they were little things, I was excited to have a couple of gifts under the tree this year.

A couple.  As in, literally two whole presents.

My Bremas present was a collaboration from a few different people (JB, in-laws, mom & stepdad). It was scheduled to arrive the day after Christmas and actually came on Christmas Eve while we were at the movies, so I had to wait until the day after Christmas for my iPad to arrive. We stayed put all day to make sure we were around when it arrived.

The next day, I went up to spend the day with my mom who is recovering from major back surgery. She is doing so great! The doctor and all the nurses kept saying how well she was doing and even the physical therapist didn't know why he was there because she was moving around so well. I'm very proud of her and excited for her to have a better quality of life once she is completely healed.

My dad took me, my brother, and JB to the last regular season Niners game on the 30th, which was a pretty big game because they clinched the NFC West!! And wouldn't you know it, I didn't get one single picture of the four of us decked out in Niners gear (probably cuz I'm a Pats fan...). I did get this pic from our lower reserved seats though:

We were in traffic longer than we were at the game, but it was totally worth it.

For New Year's Eve we went to my friend's house downtown. She and her friend live on either side of the same duplex, so they took out the middle fence in the back yard and had a joint gathering. It was fun to dress up, but still go somewhere low-key and be with friends. Lots of beer pong was played. I seriously played the games of my lifetime! I usually suck at beer pong, but that night, I was magical.

Since there's not a single pic of me in the dress...

Me and the Hostess

Before heading out

All bundled up for beer pong!

So, none of the items on my staycation to-do list got done, but I did stay up late, sleep in late, spend time with family and friends, and enjoy every minute of it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful new year! Here's to wonderful things for all of us in 2013!!!

So Much Excitement!!!

As I have mentioned many times before on this blog, I have been blessed with the best in-laws a girl could ever hope for!  They truly are the best for so many reasons, only one of which I am writing about today.

Drumroll please.........

We're going to GREECE!!!!

I am so excited, I can't even stand it.  Not only for this, but for the fact that I get to hear JB say many times a day, "I can't wait to go to Greece." or "I can't wait to do (fill in any activity from brushing teeth to drinking beer to seeing historical monuments) in Greece."  For the next.seven.months.  Joy of joys.

Apparently my mother-in-law has wanted to do a big family trip like this for a long time and has been planning for it (Growing up our family vacations consisted of camping and a trip or two to Disneyland.  My parents did all the cooler stuff without us).  JB knows how much I love a project and told her I would take care of finding something, so over the past month I have been searching and working with my aunt who is a travel agent to find the right trip for us. 

At first we thought we would just pick a place and go, but then I realized how many different islands there are and we wanted to get the most out of our trip there.  Knowing that, I looked into a cruise.  Having been on a few cruises before, I know that you have a very minimal amount of time in each port, so that wasn't the best option for us either.  Finally, I came across a combo package that combines land stays with a 4 day/3 night cruise.  The best of both worlds!!

We will be visiting Athens, Mykonos, Turkey and Greek Islands, and Santorini.  Our itinerary is as follows:

via

Athens

Spend 3-nights in Athens. Visit the ancient Mediterranean metropolis highly recognized for its unique place in history. Spend your time at leisure or take advantage of the many optional excursions. Perhaps a one-day cruise around nearby islands, or take a tour of the city including the Acropolis and the Panathenaikon Stadium, the place of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Don’t forget to visit the Plaka (old city) to wander the cobblestone streets, peruse in the shops or dine in one of the many traditional Greek Tavernas.

Mykonos
Enjoy three sun-filled days on the island of Mykonos, where the options are endless. Spend a day relaxing on one of its many beaches, stroll the town’s whitewashed streets, sip a drink on the waterfront while enjoying the sunset, take a trip to a nearby island, enjoy the exciting nightlife, savor the authentic Greek cuisine and more. Don’t forget to visit the many chic boutiques or find a table at a taverna on the harbor and enjoy the serenity of Cycladic island life.

4-Day Cruise
What better way to see the Greek Islands in a short period of time. After your stay in Mykonos, you will sail to Kusadasi, where you can take an excursion to the ancient city of Ephesus. From here you will visit Patmos and take an optional excursion to the Monastery and Cave where John the Divine wrote the Book of Revelations.

After Patmos you will sail to Rhodes and spend a full day. Perhaps you will take an optional excursion to the city of Rhodes and the rocky Acropolis of Lindos to visit the Temple of Athens.

From there you will sail to Heraklion, the capital of Crete. Take an optional excursion to the Palace of King Minos at Knossos, the center of the Minoan civilization.

The final port of call for the cruise is Santorini where you will disembark for a 3 night stay.

Santorini
Santorini, the volcano island, is one of the most unforgettable places in the world. Walk the narrow streets of Fira or visit the beautiful village of Oia, perched on the rim of the caldera, offering panoramic views of breathtaking beauty.

We will leave June 3rd with a day of travel and arrive in Athens on the 4th, returning home on the 16th.  If I didn't have a reason to get back on track with my fitness goals, this would do the trick.  I will basically be in a bathing suit for 2 weeks.  This also falls close enough to our anniversary to count it as an anniversary trip.  Double whammy!

I wanted to write about this sooner, but didn't want to jinx anything since we hadn't booked yet.  We paid our deposit today, so it's pretty much official!  I will try not to drive you too insane over the next 7 months with vacation related posts, but I can't promise anything.

 

Obligatory Thanksgiving Recap

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with their families! Or friends...or whoever you spent the holiday with.  The Blooms hosted TWO Thanksgiving meals over a three day span.  So.Many.Dishes.

First up was Thanksgiving on Thursday with the in-laws.  I know I have mentioned before how awesome my in-laws are, but I just can't say it enough.  I got so very lucky marrying into this family. 

Mmmmm, turkey...

JB getting ready to carve

Photo bomb by yours truly

Setting the table in super speed

BIL fell asleep mid-text

FIL - "Take me home, I'm tired."

Sad to say I didn't get a pic of the whole family, or even of my MIL, since she was the one taking all the pics. Dinner was delicious as usual and the Pats got a WIN, so I was a happy girl!

Saturday we had my family over for round 2. My brother usually works on Thanksgiving and my parents are usually camping, so we decided that Saturday would be a better day to get everyone together. I had both sets of my parents, my brother's family, and my grandma there. My niece was being happy and cute as can be as referenced in the blurry lovely iPhone photos below.  My step-mom and dad got her this cute princess tent and she loved it!

Playing in the princess tent

Fitness first with Uncle JB

Peek-a-boo

Sharing with GP

Twice baked mashed taters

Food!

Time for pie

Daddy

Grammy and Monkey

And a couple of videos to top it off:





Hope everyone had a great holiday with whoever you spent it with.  Thankful to have an abundance of family to spend the holiday with.