WE'RE BUYING A HOUSE!

We still can't believe it. It happened so fast. And, the even faster part is that we're looking at a closing date of December 28th! We're amazed and scared and shocked and scared and numb.... and SCARED!
We saw the house on Monday December 3rd, brought Rosa (my mom) to look at it, as it's 4 or 5 blocks away from where she lives. The next thing Tony and I knew, we we're putting in an offer. We low-balled them at first and then raised it a little, but with the promise of a fast closing, and the very next day - Tuesday, our realtor called to let us know the sellers accepted our 2nd offer! The next night - Wednesday, we met with the broker, and then the day after that, Tony scheduled the inspection for that Friday the 7th.

We're just so freaking excited!! And, it's been difficult not to say anything and try to restrain our excitement. We just wanted to be cautious, in case it fell through for whatever reason. The house is in the Bishop's Corner section of West Hartford. It's a 4 bedroom, 2 bath custom cape. It has two fireplaces, and a finished basement, and it comes with ALL the appliances along with a new kitchen, a completely finished the basement, finished hardwood floors throughout, and freshly painted rooms. The house is literally in move-in condition. The bathrooms are original to the house and the tile work is VERY 1950's. Hot pink and black tile downstairs, and bright Tiffany teal tile upstairs, and much to Anthony's chagrin, the tilework is in pristine and solid condition. Sorry guy! HAHAHHAHAA!!! Seriously, even the paint in the pink and black bathroom is pink. When you turn on the light, the entire bathroom GLOWS! Anthony said it felt like he was back in the womb! HAHAHAHAA!!!! Crazy that one!! The den downstairs is also VERY 1950's - knotty pine wood panelling. That room, we'll definitely be painting. It's going to be Rosa's very own TV room, and right next door is her 'womb' bathroom, and next to that is her bedroom - once she comes to live with us, which most likely won't be for another year or so.

We won't be actually moving in until mid January, because we have the apartment until January 31st. So, we'll have plenty of time to slowly move in the small stuff, and then leave the big stuff for the movers on or around the 14th of January. Poor Anthony hasn't slept since Monday!! He's excited and happy and scared. We both are actually. But, I keep assuring him that it's all do-able. In the end, it will all work out. And, if we have to scarifice a lot of the activities or the eating out that we're accustomed to at least for a year, it'll be worth it, because we'll be saving and we'll be in OUR OWN PLACE. And, by the end of next year, we can start thinking about Rocco and Isabella. HAHAHAHAHHAA!!! Of course, he's also such a boy. He's talking about building a deck or patio out back in the Spring. I told him I would have to sell my body to be able to afford that! HAHAHAHA!! Aside from painting over the wood panelling in the den, there's really nothing else to do. Just move in. And, because it's such a nice entertaining house, we plan to do our share of having get togethers there and entertaining our friends in our kick-ass new house. HAHAHAHA!!!

And, I'm still forcing myself to still remain cautiously optimistic and restrain my excitement, in case we don't get it. But, I think at this point, it's safe to say it's ours. It's our little nest, and we can't wait to begin our life there. It's certainly been a whirlwind 4 days! Never in our wildest dreams did we think we'd be buying a house so soon and closing even sooner!!!! Maybe it was meant to be. Once those keys are in our hands, I'll know for sure.

Our Honeymoon in Montreal

We had a great time in the four days/3 nights we spent in Montreal. It's the cleanest, safest, and most friendly cosmopolitan city I've visited. So much culture and very international. The first night we were there, we had Indian, which was across from an Iranian place, which was next to an Asian place, which was next to an Irish pub! All this was on a street called Rue Saint Catherine, which is well known for it's uh... how do you put this delicately... nudey bars and strip clubs! But, among all that, there are high-end boutiques, pubs and taverns, restaurants of all ethnicities, and French bistros and coffee shops - all on the same street! Obviously, we also had French, and then the last day we were there, we found this Portuguese bistro to have lunch. Talk about a melting pot. Old Montreal was like being in the Montmartre section of Paris or any European city for that matter. Narrow cobbletone streets, sidewalk cafes, and so much history. And the subway (or The Metro, as they refer to it) is the cleanest, safest, and most efficient form of transit in any city I've been to. Of course, Anthony was the mastermind at reading the metro lines. He pointed, and I followed. ;-)One of the nights we were there, we had a pretty big lunch in the "vieux port" or Old Montreal, so we took the Metro to this neighborhood of open air markets. It was raining by the time we got there, but it didn't matter. It's Montreal! We picked up a bottle of wine, a baguette, a block of stinky French cheese, and a couple of "pain chocolate" or chocolate croissants, made our way back to our bed and breakfast, and had a picnic in our room. So cool! By the way, our bed and breakfast - called Le Petit Prince - was the hippest and most modern lodging I've ever stayed ANYWHERE! The architecture and decor is the coolest I've seen, and the breakfasts are made to order, and each morning, we were presented with a feast! The people that run it are young and hip, and whenever we'd return from our city explorations, they'd greet us with "Would you like a coffee, espresso, cappuccino, latte?". What's cooler service than that? So, if you ever find yourselves planning a trip to that awesome city, I highly recommend staying at Le Petit Prince, as it's also smack in the middle of everything in the "centre ville" or downtown Montreal. The link to the b&b is found here: http://www.montrealbandb.com/

The Day that Started it All..

It couldn't have been more perfect.. An outdoor evening wedding on the banks of the Connecticut River surrounded by early Fall foliage, a gloriously setting sun, and all of our friends and family. The ceremony was more meaningful than we expected, and seeing our hardwork come to fruition and seeing 'us' in every detail which we slaved over during the past year was an experience beyond words. Just as important, it made us so extremely happy to see the people we love having a wonderful time, enjoying eachother, the great music, the delicious food, the amazing location... just everything. Believe me when I tell you that October 13 2007 was not only and truly the best time of my life, but it was the perfect beginning to our life together.