Sunday, March 25, 2012

Spring Break

Spring Break can still be for adults, right?!  I'm going with..... YES!  After staring at brick samples, floor plans, and blue prints I was definitely ready for a mini-vacation.  One of my dearest friends lives in Washington DC so I went for a visit!  We always have a blast together and this trip was no different.  We were the typical tourist taking pictures of EVERYTHING......because I might at some point forget every detail of this trip, right?! ;)  I swear we walked every inch of the DC metro area and saw everything and anything there was to see.  

Chinatown - DC Style
Cherry Blossoms
We also enjoyed some of DC's best bites, I think we practically ate our weight in food!  One of my favorite eateries we visited, was actually in the form of a food truck - thehulagirltruck.  Their teriyaki chicken is awesome, the best I've had in a long time.  I also tried the spam musubi, which is a traditional Hawaiian dish with spam and I must admit I was pleasantly surprised!  If you are ever in the DC metro you must check out thehulagirltruck for a delicious bite.

Two of my favorite people
Now its back to work and more decisions (and mind changes!) for the house.  I will keep you all posted with pictures along the way, but it's still a pile of dirt for the moment!




As always I welcome your thoughts and comments!



Saturday, March 17, 2012

Buiding a new home!


It’s official, we’re building our very own home from the ground up!

Here is the condensed story on how we got here.

My husband, Jeff, and I love to design and build new things. A few years ago, we had this grand idea of buying and fixing up an old home. I love old houses and the character they usually offer vs. new ‘cookie-cutter’ homes you see all over today. We found a ‘sound’ home that was anything but beautiful due to it being severely outdated, yet we had a grand vision and took the plunge, buying a home that would need to be redone from the ground up. Fast forward two years to May of 2011, and we had completed the renovation of the entire home, from the kitchen and living areas, to the bedrooms etc. Encompassing everything from new flooring and lighting, to new windows, heat and AC, to an entirely new and updated kitchen. 

Now, fast forward 3 weeks to Memorial Day 2011. I was offered an opportunity with my employer for a transfer to DFW along with a promotion. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse! Though we’d only been finished with the house for a couple of weeks, we put it on the market, and 2 weeks later we had sold the house and moved to Texas. This left us no time to find a new home here in DFW, so we ended up in an apartment with one goal in mind: get out of an apartment and into our dream home.

As of today, we’ve spent almost a year studying and researching neighborhoods, communities, homes, school districts, etc. We came to realize that to get what we wanted out of a home, and not have to spend 2 years renovating it, we would have to build a new home from the ground up. As much as we loved spending 2 years making our previous home into our dream home, we don’t ever want to do that much work again!

We’ve found a great builder, the perfect little corner lot ,in the perfect little new neighborhood, in a great part of town. We signed a contract with the builder last week. It doesn’t get much more exciting than that does it? Wait, yes it does. We got to pick out all our options yesterday like lighting, brick color, and other various add-on features. We also got the drawings from the architect yesterday giving us our first visualization  of the new home. On top of that, we expect to break ground in the coming weeks.

What has been, until recently, only a vision and a dream, has quickly become a reality, and Jeff and I could not be more excited!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

13th Annual Empty Bowls

Empty Bowls Dallas 2012 was so much fun!  I was a first timer at this event, seeing as how I am new to Dallas and all!  So for those of you wondering what exactly this event is....let me explain.  Empty Bowls is an annual fundraising campaign benefiting the North Texas Food Bank.  Part of the fun of the event is that you get to sample various yummy soups from local eateries along with breads and desserts!  What more could you ask for, right?!  Oh but there is more..... You also get to pick out your very own artisan handmade bowl.  Be sure to come prepared to fight off the crowds to find your perfect gem of a bowl, by the way everyone was acting you would have thought they were giving out diamonds! 

If making decisions isn't your best quality you can see how this might be a dubious task!  So after seeing all of those beautifully handmade pieces displayed before me, I too was on the hunt to find the "perfect one."  That I did, my heart was set on a very unique wooden bowl with a small turquoise in-lay.  I absolutely feel in love the smooth finish of the wood and the turquoise in-lay that made it a one of a kind for sure! 

After sampling many yummy soups, it was time to pack up and head back to the office.  I did leave feeling better not only for my find, but knowing that the price of my ticket into the fundraiser the NTFB will be able to feed 120 hungry children in my community.