June 10, 2008Deck Update
After many, many hours of laboring in the extreme heat the final decking board was screwed in today. The next step is stairs; once we get them framed out, we can order the railings which will be the last major part of this undertaking (I think!).
Posted by Olivia at 12:31 AM | Comments (2)
May 27, 2008Deck in progress
Posted by Olivia at 8:56 PM | Comments (2)
October 13, 2007Belated or early Arbor Day?
Last weekend Jeff & I picked up another tree from Lowes to plant in our side yard (living room side of the house). It's an October Glory Maple, similar to the one we planted last year.
We're still hoping (I think) to work on the deck before it gets too cold. We're just running out of weekends. October always seems to be so busy.
Speaking of, Jeff is currently in Pennsylvania at the annual Tacober Fest, a big east-coast gathering of Custom Tacos members. I wasn't able to go this year because I, along with Chris H, Karen & Nick, will be flying to Biloxi, MS tomorrow afternoon for a week. Brian will be joining us on Tuesday.
We're going down there to work with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for Katrina survivors. Chris & Karen went back in January and had such a good time they organized another trip and invited anyone who could go, to come along. I'm really looking forward to the week. I think it'll be a great learning experience and it'll be nice knowing I'm really helping out and hopefully making a difference in someone's life.
I may not get a chance to blog any while I'm down there, but I'll be sure to do so when I get back.
Posted by Olivia at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)
July 31, 2007Stars & Stripes
While Jeff was recovering from a nasty bout of food poisoning on July 4th, I got the study prepped and ready to be painted. Three of the 4 walls are a solid blue, but the fourth, and longest, we decided to be bold with and attempt stripes. I was inspired by a pillow I found at Pier 1 a couple years ago and really wanted to try something different.
We ended up using the same tan in our living room as the base paint for the wall, then painted the dark brown and blue stripes on top of it. The end result turned out slightly different than either of us had imagined, but I think we're pretty happy with it.
It took us over a week to finally get all the painting done. After Jeff finished napping on the 4th he helped me finish up the blue and tan walls. The next weekend we marked off the stripes and painted the blue one day, the brown the next. It was definitely a long process. I have some more pictures, I just need to get them uploaded.
Sticking with tradition we traveled north to watch the fireworks at Kings Dominion. This time a fireworks stand had set up shop in the truck stop parking lot so there were kids all over the place throwing down poppers and waving sparklers around. We also saw 2 fender benders in the intersection. Great fun!
Oh, and yes, Jeff (and co.) did get over the food poisoning, but it took almost a week!
Posted by Olivia at 3:15 PM | Comments (2)
January 31, 2007Seeing stripes
Despite my last rant about being a workaholic, I took some time out this weekend to do some work around the house. After an extensive cleaning I decided to tackle painting the upstairs hall bath. I'd purchased the glaze and supplies before Christmas, but had been procrastinating. I knew I wanted to do that bathroom in orange, but after the orange dining room wall in the townhouse, I wanted something a little different. The faux finish display in Lowes was very inviting, and the stripes, or dragging, technique seemed like a pretty good idea.
The result isn't quite as clean and modern as I'd pictured, but it was a fun experience. We both definitely like the color, but aren't sure about the finish. When I pictured the finished room in my head, the shower curtain matched perfectly, but now I'm not so sure. Opinions?
Posted by Olivia at 12:12 AM | Comments (2)
January 18, 2007Work weary
Every day I think, this is going to be the day I blog again. And every day I go to bed realizing I never blogged. Not that I have anything exciting or new to share.
To pick up where I left off the last time, we finally did get the TV. Jeff and Brian got it installed and it's fantastic! I was a little skeptical at first because it's higher up than I was used to, but it's not bad. The room is finally starting to come together. Now, if I could just figure out what kind of curtains to put up.
Christmas was a little different for me this year as it was the first year I didn't get to see my family at all. Jeff & I spent the weekened before Christmas in Bridgewater then came back to Richmond. Even though I wasn't as productive during my holiday break as I could have been I enjoyed my much needed time off.
As our third week back to work comes to a close I find myself thinking more and more about looking for a new job. Maybe I've just having a bad week or maybe I'm just worn out, whatever the case may be, I haven't looked forward to coming to work. If anyone comes across a job opening that looks interesting, let me know.
Posted by Olivia at 1:45 PM | Comments (0)
December 3, 2006Feeling festive in the fall
What happened to October? Did anyone see November? I swear, Fall goes by faster and faster each year.
Chip & Annemarie started our Fall schedule off off by getting married on the 14th. The newlyweds headed off to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Unfortunately it was the day after the earthquake struck. Hopefully they didn't have to spend too much time stuck in any airports.
The following weekend we headed back north, to Pennsylvnia, for the third annual Tacober Fest. We hadn't really made it to any shows this summer, so we got to visit with all the truck guys, meet some new people, and eat a lot of food. Jeff and a few others test drove (offroad, I might add) a new FJ Cruiser.
The Sos' hosted their second annual Halloween Party on the 28th. Everyone came dressed and ready to party, even Jeff. He and Brian teamed up to be Mac & PC, from the Apple commercials. I think they pulled it off rather well. My southern belle costume won second place in the costume contest. Kelly & Jon shared the exciting news that they're expecting a baby in the spring. Congrats!!
View pics >>
Jeff finally decided to purchase the tv he's been eyeing for a while, so in preparation for its arrival the weekend after Thanksgiving, we decided to paint the living room. We knew we wanted to try it on our own, instead of hiring painters, so Jeff checked around to find decent pricing on scaffolding. Rental Workz had the best price and would deliver, so they dropped everything off on the 17th.
Brian came over the next morning to help move the current tv upstairs. We're so glad he was able to stick around and help out more because we hadn't really thought about the logistics of putting together 15 feet of scaffolding by ourselves. We started off a little shaky, not really sure what the best method was, but we got the hang of it. I was the only brave one to dared to get on top and paint, but it really wasn't bad. By the end of the day I felt so comfortable the guys could wheel me around and I didn't even have to hang on.
Even though the 3 of us were able to knock out all the painting, we left the scaffolding up in order to install a light or ceiling fan. Sunday morning Jeff and I made the rounds to find a suitable..something. We ended up with a really cool black and silver fan from Home Depot. We installed the fan with no problem, but had to take apart pieces of the top level of scaffolding to unbox ourselves from around the fan. We were feeling so empowered we decided to take a stab at tearing the whole thing down by ourselves. With the aid of the second floor balcony, we had no troubles.
View pics >>
All the pieces went back out to the garage where we reassembled the first section so Jeff could replace the garage lights with florescents. After he figured out how the light assembly went together, we knocked those out pretty quick.
View pics >>
We've accomplished quite a bit around the house the past few weeks; still lots more to do though.
Oh...and the tv still hasn't arrived.
Posted by Olivia at 9:43 PM | Comments (0)
September 27, 2006Attack of the weeds!
Wow, almost 2 months since I've even started to blog. I think that's my personal best! (or worst).
Here's the highlights:
Work:
Lost 4 people from our division; 2 are manager level positions with one above the other, so the interim director has 3 jobs to do now
3 of the people that left went to the same agency (hmm...)
Purchasing was cut in half with the losses meaning there are fewer people to process orders
Orders have not slowed down
Been working overtime every week just to keep up
Submitted application to upgrade my position to the next level (with pay increase)
Found out last week it was approved; yay!
Family:
My parents came to visit over Labor Day; it was a short visit, but it was really good to see them
My mom made potato salad & pie mmmmmm
Jeff's parents, Jennifer & Chris came over too and we cooked out
My parents brought me 7 boxes of my old toys and things
Bruce wants to move so if anyone knows of any jobs around here in the photography field please let me know :)
Jennifer quit her job, but not before securing a new one with a pay increase
Friends:
Chris's company decided to downsize, but he landed on his feet with a new job right away (congrats to you both!)
Maggie & Quentin had a baby girl the day we left for Hawaii; she's so cute!
Brian is making waves in the Lego community with his Brickworkz mosaics; playing with Legos rules! Err, rulez!
Home:
I now have 7 new boxes of stuff to deal with (thanks mom & dad)
We have finally taken control of the weeds in the backyard; hopefully grass will start to grow soon
The sunroom has been painted bright green to kick off the Hawaiian theme we're trying to do in there
We finally found a couple of chairs for the sunroom
New storage shed lets me park in the garage now
We planted a tree in the back yard
Personal:
Tabb had it's 10 year reunion last Saturday; Jeff & I toured the school in the morning but ditched the main event to spend some time with Melissa at her daughter's 2nd birthday party
I finally got my new license plate
My glasses broke one night right after I got home from work so I had to buy some new ones (that sucked)
I went off the deep end and cut my hair really short last week
Posted by Olivia at 9:47 PM | Comments (2)
June 7, 2006All moved in (mostly)
Whew. Has it really been almost 2 weeks since we closed? It's amazing how much more work is involved in moving when you're selling a house, not just moving out. As per the inspection report and subsequent addendum to the contract on the townhouse, we have several things to fix before closing. With the clock ticking we're finally getting around to knocking some of those things out:
Seal skylights - doing tonight
Level & fix ac - scheduled
Repair drywall cracks/caulk - doing tonight
Fix window - done
Termite inspection - need to schedule
Overflow pan for water heater - errrrr...
Of course, all this is on top of the normal cleaning we still have to do. I took a stab at it last night and got a couple of rooms done. I think I'm too anal though; I probably do more than what's required. I walked around last night and put blue stickies everywhere something needed to be touched up. There's a lot of blue stickies. We made a lot more marks on the walls during packing and moving than I realized. Oh well, that's what paint is for.
The new house is going great! I think the move went really well. With so many people we had everything moved in no time. Thanks again to everyone!! Also, thanks to the Chris & the Pollards for all the miniblind installations; we now have a bit more privacy than before. Jeff & Mike installed the garage door opener last weekend; now if we could just park in the garage.... We hung some curtains in the study and installed the track lighting. I've tried to clear boxes room by room, but I just end up moving them around instead. Until we get the townhouse finalized, we have to focus more of our efforts on that.
And of course there's always work. If yesterday was any indication as to the rest of the month, I'm going to come home exhausted everyday. If every aspect of my job could have a crisis, I think it all happened yesterday. Must have been a full moon or something, it was weird.
But anyway, I must be off. Have to meet Jeff to clean the townhouse. Perhaps one day this week I'll get some more pictures posted.
Posted by Olivia at 6:06 PM
May 26, 2006Officially our house!
Closing went well yesterday. We got up at our regularly scheduled time to stop by the Community Group offices to pick up a Disclosure Package* (for 100 freakin' dollars) for our townhouse buyer. Since we had some extra time we also had a greasy (but delicious) BK breakfast.
Once we got started at NVR, signing the papers only took about 45 minutes. We didn't have nearly as many questions this time around, so we were out of there in a jiffy. Instead of going right to the house, we went back to the townhouse and loaded both vehicles up with boxes of fragile items. Jeff stuck around the new house after unloading everything, to wait for the cable guy and to set up a truck for Saturday** while I picked up more stuff from the townhouse and Kroger.
After the cable guy finished and we showed off our house to potential Ryan customers (we think a lot of people are going to want to see the 2-story great room) we contributed to the Jimmy Johnson fund by buying 7 of 17 miniblinds we're eventually going to install. And a deadbolt for our interior garage door. And a water line for the ice maker. And a light for the kitchen island. And...no, I think that was it for that trip.
By then it was about 7:30 and there was still much to be done at the townhouse. After dinner I packed up about 7 or 8 more boxes and then called it a night. I would have uploaded some pictures we took, but we don't have no innerwebs at the townhouse now. I suppose tonight will be more of the same, making sure we get everything ready for our helpers on Saturday.
I sure wish I could take today off. It's hard to go back to work mode for one day. Oh well, at least I have a long weekend.
*Disclosure package: A nicely bound book of Community regulations, exterior inspection report and a general 'welcome to the neighborhood' for new owners. Basically, all the stuff we got we we first moved in.
**We had a truck rental from UHaul for Saturday morning, but they called yesterday and said our pick up location had changed as well as the time (to 2pm). Jeff called Penske who was able to guarantee us a truck we can pick up tonight so we cancelled the UHaul.
Posted by Olivia at 10:28 AM | Comments (2)
May 18, 2006One week to go
With officially 1 week left until closing, Jeff and I finally made a dent in the ever present task of packing. We were trying to hold off until we sold the townhouse to start because it makes such a mess of things. And last weekend was out because we were in DC riding Segways.
::sidenote::
The Segways were awesome!! I was a little apprehensive at first, espcially after watching the first few people step on, but it was so easy! It's all about weight shifting. If you want to go forward, put weight on your toes. Want to go back, lean more on your heels. The 6 of us picked up on it pretty quick, but one of the other people in our group had some difficulties. He kept trying to push it like a scooter.
::end sidenote::
Our unexpected inspection yesterday actually works out better for us in the long run. We would have spent a few hours this week fixing up the house, but now we can concentrate on packing. We'll have plenty of time after we move out to do the minor repairs needed.
Work is still unrelenting. I've been able to squeeze in some overtime, which will be nice when it shows up in the paycheck. Speaking of, I guess I better get back to it.
Posted by Olivia at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
May 4, 2006It's that time of year again..
I feel like all I do any more is work, work, and more work. And my pre-approved overtime hours haven't even begun yet! That of course, is the good news; I have been approved for some overtime between now and the beginning of July. End of the year is always nuts and I have a feeling this year is going to be pretty bad.
I've also been approved to work overtime hours for our Purchasing department helping out with some of the backlogged orders. I'm going to get to learn the program used by the state for all the procurement, which will be a nice addition to my resume.
So, as you can tell, I will be working some long days in the next few weeks. It'll be nice to have the extra money with the new house payments coming up. Oh, and that little trip to Hawaii!
The house is looking awesome! We had an issue with the recessed lights in the kitchen, but before we even met with the building supervisor this morning, he'd already had the electricians' come in and fix it! By this afternoon the drywall had been patched and we're good to go. The light fixtures, switches and outlets have been installed. Supposedly carpet is scheduled for Saturday!
Since we have elected not to move our closing date up, the house will probably be ready and waiting for a few days. I guess that just gives us a chance to make sure all the little problems have been fixed.
We met with SunTrust today to work out options in case the townhouse doesn't sell before we have to close. It seems we do have some outs, just in case. I hope we don't have to use them, we'll see.
Posted by Olivia at 12:16 AM | Comments (1)
April 10, 2006Crunch Time
Well, I have some good news and some bad news:
Good news: Our new house is rapidly moving along. Last Wednesday the insulation was put in. The framing inspection failed the first time so we didn't think drywall would go in until today, but the guys worked on Saturday and got it all done. We think they ran out though cause there's a few pieces missing in the garage. The siding is done and the shutters are hung. Our final walk through is May 25 and closing is scheduled for May 30.
Bad news: All of the above. While it's great they're ahead of schedule (original projected completion date was July), that means we have less time left to sell the townhouse. We've been kept up to date on the schedule, and we knew it was going to be the end of May, beginning of June, but we weren't counting on having such a hard time selling the townhouse. Since closing on a house can typically take 30 days from the day the contract is written up, that leaves us very little wiggle room, even if we find a buyer in the next couple weeks.
So what's next? We have to lower our asking price. This is not something we wanted to have to do, but we're out of time. The open house yesterday was a bust; only had one person actually stop by and look. The only comforting fact in all this is that it's not just us. Our neighbors are having a hard time selling right now too. The whole thing is very stressful and makes me think twice about buying and selling a house again!
Posted by Olivia at 9:55 AM | Comments (1)
March 22, 2006Spring has...sprung?
Well, so much for the beginning of Spring. The spike in temperature last week was just a tease as the snow fell pretty steadily for a while last night. I was hoping for a snow day as a birthday present, but no such luck.
Work on the house is progressing nicely. Jeff and I watched them put in the window on the landing of the stairs Monday evening. And that must mean they finally put the stairs in. We have both monkeyed up to the second floor, but it'll be nice not to have to do that again. I'm not sure what the next step is, maybe we'll find out tonight.
Selling of the townhouse has become somewhat a pain in the butt. I've had to run home 4 or 5 times in the last couple weeks, in the middle of the day, to do a quick clean up and get Gizmo. And that's not including 2 showings this weekend. I just don't understand why we're not getting more offers. What have we done wrong? I think we're going to have an open house this Sunday, so I'm hoping that will bring in someone with more potential.
Not much else to report, just another year older. I think Bon Jovi's song, Just Older will be my theme song this year.
Posted by Olivia at 5:59 PM | Comments (2)
March 10, 2006A whole lotta framing going on
Since Jeff has been doing such a good job with the updates on the house progress, I haven't had much else to add. But I suppose I could add in my 2 cents.
Framing started this past weekend and seems to be moving at a frantic pace. They're now working on the interior of the second floor. Of course, everything will seem to slow down immensely once all the framing is done. But I know there's lot of little things done that we don't necessarily notice.
Jeff & I have stopped by almost everyday, after work, to check out the progress. Unfortunately, workers have still been there. Everyday. Even after it got dark. And yes, we know that because we waited. And waited.
Wednesday the workers started packing up after we arrived, so we decided to wait around because we really wanted to get inside and see all the framing that had been done. Once we had hung around for a while we were kind of invested, plus, with it getting increasingly darker, we had to assume they would be leaving. By 7:15 there was still one truck full of guys there, doing something (??) so we gave it up.
Tonight we were a little smarter. They were already packing up when we arrived so we grabbed some dinner at Quiznos and went back about 7:15. Instead of walking up the road we cut through the backyard, coming around the side of the house only to see a truck and hear voices. Doh!
What could they possibly be doing that late in the day, with no high powered lights? Makes no sense. Maybe we'll just have to go back at midnight.
On the flipside, moving every few years is a really good way to get rid of crap you just don't need anymore. The past two weekends we have been doing nothing but sorting, packing and cleaning up the townhouse. Although we still have a lot of random things in random places (cell phone charger in the towel drawer), we have done so much to make this place appear less cluttered.
I need to learn to let go of things before they sit around, unused, for years and years (insert smart remark from parents ;) ). I have high hopes for less clutter in the new house.
Tuesday I had to run home at 11 to 'remove the cat' to allow interested home-seekers access. Due to a slight miscommunication, I thought I had to be gone an hour, not 30 minutes. But I made good use of my time by running to Porter Paint on Broad to pick up some Ryan-endorsed wall & trim paint. Which we made use of last night in preparation for another home viewing (which was unfortunately cancelled due to another home 'of interest')
I don't mind having to run home every once in a while, but it would be so much easier just to have an open house, find a buyer, and be done with it. Of course, we want that buyer to give us the full asking price and allow us to stay here until we can move into our new place. Optimism people, optimism!
Posted by Olivia at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2006House update
Last Thursday (2/23) we had our pre-construction meeting with the builders from Ryan. They had us verify all the details of the house and gave a basic timeline. By Saturday there were flags up, marking the edges of our house, and from what we've heard there's been some digging since then; the foundation should be poured shortly.
The guys said we'll have another meeting, pre-drywall, in about 45 days. We've been waiting so long it's hard to believe the time has actually come. Oh, and the projected completion date is now late May to early June! That of course, is much better for us than the original mid-July date.
Wednesday we have an appointment at Capital Lighting to pick out all the light fixtures. This is something we didn't get to do with the townhouse, so it should be fun.
I'll continue to add pictures to my gallery, so check it out!
Posted by Olivia at 5:28 PM | Comments (0)
February 3, 2006Shag-a-licious
Last Friday afternoon Jeff and I had a date with the Richmond Decorating Center on Hull Street. It was finally time to pick our carpet & linoleum! The guy we met with (we had to make an appointment) estimated it would take about 2 hours, and he was right. They had a special room set up for Ryan Homes flooring selections, which made it a little less overwhelming.
We talked pricing, types of carpet and padding for a while, then started looking at swatches. Are they swatches or samples?
We wanted to stay in the same color palate we have now and ultimately ended up choosing the same gray carpeting we currently have for the stairs and the entire second floor. Boring, I know, but they didn't have many shades of gray in that lower end category. Definitely didn't want a dark brown, green or blue. And beige just wasn't doing anything for us. This carpet is called a saxony, a cut-pile with fibers of the same length. (If nothing else, I now know a lot more about carpet!)
For the 2 rooms downstairs, we decided not to go with a berber again, but chose the trendy, frieze. Also a cut pile, the tightly twisted fibers are slightly longer, with more of a shag-carpet feel. Like with our berber, we went with a lightly flecked carpet in a beige tone. Since the 2 carpets aren't going to be next to each other, it's ok to have 2 different styles and colors.
The linoleum didn't take quite as much thought. We only had to choose for the laundry room and the extra upstairs bathroom. We stayed with a standard linoleum for both, that didn't cost extra. I think one day we'll end up tiling the bathroom, so we didn't feel that paying more for a fancier linoleum was worth it.
Next will come our pre-construction meeting, which we expect to happen in the next few weeks (if they're actually going to start on the house in February). Once we do that it's all about the wait. At some point during construction, (after the framing maybe?) we'll get to go pick out our lighting. We have a lighting budget, and can only shop in one place (I forget where), but it'll be a lot of fun! It's a good thing Jeff & I have similar tastes!
Posted by Olivia at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)
July 29, 2005A little bit of this, a little bit of that
So many random things have gone on in the past few weeks that I haven't blogged about. I guess I'll work chronologically:
*Equity Line
In order to pay the downpayment on our new house, we're going to use equity from the townhouse. We went to the bank Monday (07/18) and 'closed' on our Equity line.
*Enduro race
The Martin team ran in their second Enduro race Friday (07/22). The car seemed to be running great and avoided the big accidents. On lap 30 the race was red flagged (for the second time) to move some wrecked cars. At that point John came in with a punctured tire and didn't have time to get back out to finish the race.
Overall the car did well. Still overheating a little, and now it needs some cosmetic repairs to the right front, but it will run again!
*Sara & Eric's Wedding
On July 23, Sara & Eric were married in the Chapel at Virginia Tech. I haven't figured out which denomination the service was, but it was very unique. The wedding party, as well as the bride and groom sat down for a while to listen to the minister.
The reception was held in this little bed & breakfast (The Inn at Hans Meadow) right around the corner from where I used to work in Christiansburg. All those days driving by, I never even knew it was there. The majority of the evening's activites were held outside either in the gardens (bar) or under the white tents (dinner & dancing). The entire setting was beautiful, with simple decorations in pink & green with an emphasis on thie monogram/initials.
We had a great time catching up with Maggie & Quentin, Bridget & Kevan and even Krista & Jon were there! < pics >
*New favorite lunching place: Apple Spice; you know you go too much when the cashiers recognize you!
*Creations site
Maggie & I finally got a chance to meet and go over some ideas for Creations new website Jeff & I will be doing. I think the initial layout/design if decided on, now we have to work on content. I scanned lots of pictures and magazine articles after our meeting, so hopefully we can get this new site up and running soon because the current one is so outdated!
Posted by Olivia at 2:16 PM | Comments (1)
July 7, 2005Spring Wrapup
Now that June is over I finally have some time to breathe. For a little while anyway.
I finally blogged about the Lewis Family reunion we had a few weeks ago. Don't have any pictures though; maybe I can snag some from my dad who finally joined the digital age and bought a digital camera.
The last week of June was pretty stressful. I would come home every day and be totally exhausted. I think I fell asleep on the couch around 8:30 a lot. But this past week has totally made up for it since I have done practically no real work. Almost everyday this week has been spent moving, boxing or tossing out files. I couple of weeks ago I purchased the Desk Apprentice from Staples, so I got that up and running. That probably sounds odd, but having such a large organizer requires some creative arranging. So far I like it a lot, I just wish I had a bigger desk!
As a stress reliever we spent a couple nights in the Sos' attic. I finished tiling Mike's desk and got that grouted. I think grouting was the most fun part; it's like playing with mud. :) Lauren finished up the bar area while the boys worked on various other projects. It's coming along so fast now. Tuesday we starting cleaning up in order to begin flooring. The best part was being able to throw stuff out the window instead of carrying in down the stairs.
Work on the new neighborhood is progressly nicely (but not fast enough for me!). As of last Friday there were 7 houses with at least framing started. I believe the model is supposed to be done sometime this summer. We finally got a 'Home Site' sign, although, it doesn't have a sold sticker on it yet. Hmm... < pics >
Sunday (3rd) we hung out with my coworker Kim, and her family & some friends, for a cookout. It's always fun to spend time with coworkers outside of the office.
The 4th was spent in Bridgewater with the in-laws. We cooked out, played our usual game(s) of Koosh, visited with the grandparents, and made some yummy Oreo ice cream. Jeff had Tuesday off, but I had to go back to work, so we couldn't stay the night. < pics >
Jeff reminded me tonight that 5 years ago today we were moving to Richmond. Broken keys (Uhaul) and bruised fingers (Mrs P) were the only casualties during that move; hopefully we won't have any during the next one. Sometimes it feels like we've been here much longer, but most of the time I can't believe we've been out of college for 5 years. Where did the time go?
The rest of our summer is quickly booking up. A wedding, an off road trip, a truck show, and a trip to Myrtle Beach are all coming up in the next few weeks. Maybe August and September will allow for some free time.
Posted by Olivia at 11:14 PM | Comments (1)
June 13, 2005Season for change
I think the rising tempuratures (it's supposed to be 95 degrees tomorrow) have caused some of us to go a little off the deep end.
Thursday I took the afternoon off to get my hair cut and highlighted. Well, instead of getting the usual blonde highlights I came out a redhead! I've always loved red hair, but never thought I could pull off having it. Susan (my 'stylist') convinced me I could, so I went for it! So far I really like it and most other people have said the same. I don't have any pictures right now, but I'll post them when I do.
Not to be outdone by my spontaneous decision, Jeff went out on Saturday and bought himself a motorcycle! It seems 4 wheels just wasn't cutting it. After taking the Motorcycle Safety Training course last weekend, I knew it wouldn't be long until he started thinking about buying one.
I guess I don't need to feel guilty about buying that DVD at Target on Saturday now, do I?
In other, less exciting news, Jeff decided to pass his cold bug to me, so now I'm the one with the drippy sinus' and stuffy head. Hopefully I can kick this thing before the Lewis Family Reunion next weekend in North Carolina. We weren't able to go last year, but at least we got to see some people at the wedding.
Our new neighborhood is coming along nicely. The model and 2 other houses having framing up. This is going to be a really long wait.
Posted by Olivia at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
May 9, 2005Color choices
Last Monday we met with Judi again to go over our options. We gave her the list of 'additions' like number of cable outlets, which flooring was going where, etc. We also got to pick out siding, brick, shutter/door, cabinet, hardwood, ceramic tile, countertop colors/types.
Siding: Tan - That's the techincal name, but it's a little lighter than what I consider tan.
Brick: Brick - Yup, nothing fancy, just your average textured brick. Very much like ours now actually. To keep the neighborhood from looking all the same they don't let neighbors have the same brick or siding color. And unfortunately, one of our neighbors has already chosen the lighter brick I really like.
Shutter/Door: Black
Hardwood: Maple - Same color we have now, but supposedly the quality will be better. The slats will also be skinnier.
Cabinets: Maple - Also the same exact ones we have now.
Counter: Black - We stayed with the laminate top, but wanted to go darker than what we currently have.
Ceramic Tile: Beige-ish white - Not sure how to describe this one, but it works well with maple cabinets!
Sometime in the next week or so well make an appointment with Richmond Decorating to pick out carpet & linoleum. I guess those are the only two things left.
On Saturday, when Jeff's parents were in town, we took them to see our dirt and found a nice surprise waiting for us. Curbing! It hasn't made it all the way down our street yet, but they've got it started. And there are markers for the driveways. Pretty neat to have a better idea where our house will be.
Posted by Olivia at 2:02 PM | Comments (1)
April 23, 2005More house details
So I'm a little slow in posting more details about the house (even though I said I would do it serveral days ago). I get so excited about the idea of moving into a new place, and then I remember it's over a year before we can do that. So I have to find something else to keep me occupied until then.
But, I will share some of the features, standard and optional, about our new house. Below is a picture of the outside. In fact, it's going to look just like that. Partial brick front, side-entry garage. We haven't picked siding or shutter color yet, but it's going to be one of the combinations you see in any Ryan neighborhood. :)
We get sodded front and side lawns with a built-in irrigation system as part of the package. Asphalt driveway and landscaping too.
Decks are also an option (if you want to pay extra), but I think we've decided to build it ourselves later; partially because we want to use plumber, partially to do it differently than they would.
Standard features inside (many of which are optional in other Ryan neighborhoods):
Gas fireplace
Hardwood in foyer
Kitchen island
42 in cabinets
$1200 light fixture allowance
3 ea phone/cable/ceiling fan prewires
Upgraded bathroom (larger w/soaking tub)
Plus all the usual stuff like a stove, dishwasher, carpet, etc.
Ryan is running a special now to include free stainless steel appliances. Flat top stove, dishwasher, microwave, and side-by-side refrigerator. We thought that was pretty cool. :) We had planned to upgrade to a regular flat top stove and have a microwave prewire, but now we don't have to pay for either.
Unlike when we bought the townhouse, we actually get to go to the Richmond Decorating Center to pick out carpet, hardwood, cabinets, counters, vinyl flooring and such. We'll probably have the same options as far as hardwood and cabinets, and I'm pretty sure we're going to get exactly what we have now. But the carpet and counter colors/types will be a much wider selection. I'm definitely looking forward to that. We also get to choose lighting the same way, but I can't remember which company we go through.
But back to the house, one of the main things we love about this house is the option to have a 2 story family room. We'll lose a fourth bedroom and the option for a third floor, but we don't really need either. This room is going to be cool.
We're also adding a 4ft extension to the great room in addition to the morning room off the kitchen (see floorplans).
The study/dining can be enclosed, but we're going to leave it open. It makes the downstairs very open. We're also going to extend the hardwood down the hall into the kitchen and morning room. The study and family room will have carpet. I'd love to do the whole downstairs in hardwood, but it's just too expensive.
The two smaller bedrooms are a little larger than our guestroom here. Pull down attic stairs are in the first room. Not sure how much space is up there, but I'm sure it'll be enough for empty boxes and such.
The owner's bedroom is probably about the same size as ours now, just more rectangular. We have the option of a cathedral ceiling, which we may do. The bathroom though, is really cool. Oddly enough, this bathroom is one of the reasons we pondered the house for so long. The upgraded bathroom, with the soaking tub, comes standard in this neighborhood, but the shower stall is just a standard size, not the wider ones. We're still afraid we might end up bumping our elbows on the wall, but we'll see. The tub though, is awesome. We're also going to have ceramic tiles, which is going to be different (for us).
I think that's about it for now. We drove to the dirt piles to take some pictures. We can almost figure out where our land is, but it's not very well marked yet. You can see in the diagram (the green lot), we chose the lot right behind the model, which, good or bad (?) is right near the entrance to the neighborhood.
We have about a week still to semi-finalize any structural options (additional rooms, ceilings, etc) we want to include. Things can always be changed later, but the closer to actually starting the house, the more you have to pay. It just baffles me that it's going to be about a year before we get to see any of this.
We have a meeting with NVR to talk mortgages, on Tuesday. I guess we'll need to talk with the bank after that about an Equity line, so we can get our downpayment paid. And then (later), possibly, a realtor, to sell the townhouse. Good thing we have a lot of time!
Gallery for new house images.
Posted by Olivia at 9:48 PM | Comments (2)
April 19, 2005Our $27,000 mistake
After weeks amd weeks of searching, driving all around Richmond, 'visiting' houses in all stages of construction, we finally made a decision. We had been checking out a neighborhood in (near?) Hanover, but were not getting much help from the realtor. We wanted to be able to see some houses with the floorplans we were interested in, but he was not getting us information very quickly. Saturday we drove waaaay south to see 1 of the 2 he'd located for us, but after walking through, decided it just wasn't right. Too many bedrooms and formal rooms, not enough good living space.
Since we were already that far south we decided to visit a Ryan neighborhood with the model house in the floorplan we like. We ended up making an appointment for later in the day with Judy, the sales rep for Ashbury at Stoneleigh, the new neighborhood we were interested in.
The first thing she told us was that in the 2 months since we'd last come in and talked to her, the prices of all the houses had gone up by about $27,000. DOH! That's a major change, but the reason is because they're selling so fast. With such high demand, they'e just going to keep increasing the prices, because people are still going to keep buying.
We talked more about the house, options, prices. We reconfigured the house with all the options we wanted and got the semi-final price of it. We took all that home and pondered until yesterday's meeting.
And then we signed a contract.
We still have to meet with the mortage people, the bank people, and the decorating people, but we have plenty of time for some of that. We won't even be able to move in until July-ish of 2006. That's a lot of waiting, but we know the value is going to continue rising, in the new house, as well as our townhouse.
We both walked out of there last night still kinda of shell shocked. But today I'm really excited!! Yay!!
There's not a picture online that shows the front elevation we've chosen, but here's the Floorplans
Posted by Olivia at 9:28 AM | Comments (3)