Another Year Older

I have just marked another birthday, and as my family and I celebrated this weekend, I began to reflect back on how much has happened in the last year. We closed the sale on my condo last year on my birthday. Since then, it has been a whirlwind of moving into temporary quarters, buying a house, and moving again. We cleaned out storage boxes, gave things away, and added new things to our home. We turned our house into a home, planting trees, changing decor, and generally settling in to our new surroundings.

On the job front, my company was acquired over the summer, and I integrated into a team of great professionals. It was a great change for me, and I can't wait to see what else lies ahead for our company. It seems that much of the year was filled with change, but at the same time everything is still the same; I love spending time with my friends and family, and we still live in a beautiful area. Life is good.

Over my birthday weekend, I got to spend time with my parents and with Lennie.  We were blessed with sunny weather (a rarity for Seattle in February). We got to take in the sights, enjoy a few great meals together, and generally enjoy one another's company. It was truly a great weekend with my family, and I can't wait to see what the year ahead brings!

Sold! Closed! Happy Birthday to ME!

Wow, what a ride. For those of you following along with this blog, you may remember that we put our condo up for sale on February 1st. Well, as of today it is sold and closed. Done deal. Finito. On the books; recorded with the county and all that jazz. Happy birthday to me! :-)

Nobody prepared me for what an emotional ride this would be, but I'm very happy to have this leg completed. Lessons learned:

• If you're selling your home, you should definitely have a real estate agent show it. No homeowner should have to endure hearing people's commentary on the small nit-picky points that they don't like about your home.


• It's not personal, it's business -- but sometimes it's still frustrating and hard to take yourself out of the equation.


• If you're going to call the power company to cancel your account, be sure you write the number down correctly... there's a big difference between 1-888... and 1-800... trust me on this one!

There were a few other lessons learned, but for now, I'll leave it at that... and you'll definitely want to trust me on that last point!

Closing today was quite the birthday gift, that's for sure. Over the past three years, great things have happened on my birthday, and I sure hope the trend continues -- here's to another great year!

Just Listed!

Are you in the market for a great 2 bedroom, 1 3/4 bathroom condo in Bellevue Washington? Well, we've got one on the market, and maybe it'll be the right place for you! Check out the listing online, then contact your favorite real estate agent to take a tour. :-)

Catching Up & Transitions

Wow, where has the time gone? The holidays have come and gone, and January is almost over. It has been a very busy time for us -- full of transitions and activity.

My last post focused on my grandmother's 90th birthday. Lennie and I had the opportunity to travel back to Minneapolis to help celebrate her birthday and to reconnect with family. The party was a great success, and we were treated to sunny but cold winter days (a high of 19!?) while touring around the Twin Cities. Photos from the party and our weekend are available here.

Upon returning home, we were thrown into the holiday season, complete with my brother's family in town for two weeks. It was fun to have kids around for the Christmas season, and we filled our after-work time with trips to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens and other area Christmas events. My oldest nephew had a hockey tournament that started immediately after Christmas, so we trekked up to Mountlake Terrace quite a few times to take in some of his games. It was busy, but we really enjoyed having the family in town. View photos from the holidays.

Ch-Ch-Changes
Amidst all of the holiday cheer, Lennie and I also began packing up our condo. For quite some time now, we have felt that condo living is no longer appropriate for our life stage. The opportunity came up to stay elsewhere while we had a our condo updated/repaired, and we jumped on it. (Note to self: don't try to pack up and move during the holidays; both items are stressful enough on their own!) Needless to say, we moved out on January 2nd and have been living out of boxes for the last few weeks (which partially explains why photos haven't been posted and I've been delinquent in posting here). As we've transitioned out of the condo, we donated many items and began "organizing" all of the 'stuff' that we have accumulated. To say that it's been overwhelming would be an understatement!

I tried to get a few "before" photos for our condo, but our contractor was on the ball and got started just before these photos were taken. Either way, you get the idea... I'm happy to say that we're nearing the finish line for the condo update project, and I snapped these photos yesterday. We could not be happier with the work that our contractor did.

So, for our next trick we'll be putting the condo up on the market within the next week or so. If you know of anyone who wants to purchase a great two bedroom, one and 3/4 bathroom condo in Bellevue, let me know. It's a great location, we're just ready to live in a house instead of a condo. :-)

Condo Garden 2009

Summer is in full swing, and our condo garden seems to be blooming nicely. As I mentioned previously, we are growing two types of basil, lettuce, and tomatoes in the garden this year, along with quite a few flower pots. Here's some photos of where we started, taken March 29th of this year:



Progress and added veggies in May 2009:




June 4, 2009:



June 15, 2009:
Time for some salad, I think! :-)



Anyone need some fresh home-grown basil? We seem to hava a lot here... :-)

Happy summer!

Save the Drama for your Mama

This week, I've found myself saying "save the drama for your mama" more than I would like. It's not that I'm having a dramatic week (far from it), it's just that it seems that there are a few parts of my life that seem to be overly dramatic, and I'm kind of tired of the drama and energy that goes into it. So, I say: save the drama for your mama.

In other news, our association has decided that grills with "open flames" are too dangerous and must be removed from all of our units "or else." Thus, we have to get rid of our propane BBQ grill. It kind of makes me angry that I'm being denied the right to go out onto my porch to grill up some salmon and or make a great burger. I guess that's the price that you pay for living in a condo complex...

I'm ready, though, to think about moving to a place where we don't share walls with our neighbors, and where I'm allowed to have a simple barbeque grill. Needless to say: anyone need a BBQ?

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Life has been going at a pretty steady pace here... not much to report really. We're still battling the epic colds that have been going around (a gazillion weeks and counting now), but I suspect that we're on the way to healthier days. The shower project is almost done, and it feels good to make progress on the condo.

I'm so happy that it's Thursday today, as it's been a long week, full of ups and downs, and a little "lather, rinse, repeat." All good stuff.

Improving Home Improvement

Over the past two weeks, we have been somewhat uprooted, as Lennie and I (well, really Lennie mostly) took on the task of redoing both of our bathrooms. At the time that we started the project, it seemed like a good idea to do both at the same time, since my parents were out of town and we could stay at their house while we had no showers. In true optimist style, I thought that we'd have the project done in a few days, just under a week tops. Boy, did I overestimate our skills! :-) Actually, I underestimated the amount of time it would take for things to dry and for us to wedge home improvement into our busy work schedules. Minor miscalculation, to say the least.

So, we were displaced out of our home for over a week and a half (thanks Mom and Dad for putting up with us!), and I was eager to get us back in the condo. On Tuesday evening, we were able to return to our mostly completed house -- despite the dust. As I said before, Lennie did most of the work, and I'm really proud of him. I did, however, learn the finer points of mudding and taping drywall, and I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself! We've still got another coat of mud to put onto the drywall, and we do need to install shower doors, but we're back at home and loving it.

I've been taking photos of the whole process, so I'll be sure to post them when the drywall is complete, the paint is dry, and the shower doors are installed. Until then, I'm grateful to be home in my own bed and enjoying the condo again.