A year later...

As cliche as this sounds, I just want to start off by saying its crazy how a whole year has come and gone. And as I reflect about what I wrote earlier this year and as I think about what I will be saying here soon, it really has come full circle.

At the beginning of this year, I basically vowed to make 5901 our home (temporary or not). Although we didn't follow through with posting on our projects, we did follow through with actually doing the projects. A few major projects we did included removing the carpet, tiling the kitchen floors, and adding shelving in the laundry room. Believe me when I say we invested a lot of blood, sweat, and tears!

Our final project was supposed to be refinishing the hardwood floors, but after much thought and consideration, we got to thinking...we've already invested so much money into this house. Do we want to invest another $1,000? Wouldn't it be wiser to invest our money elsewhere? I know, I know...we should've asked this before we even began any project from the getco (and Chao did), but for so long I was convinced we had no other outlet...when in fact we did.

That possibility never really existed until my sister's boyfriend closed on a house. In a matter of what seemed like weeks, he was able to find a house and close on it without too many strings attached. As I inquired more information from my sister and his realtor, I realized at that point that if he could do it, I could too. Why not? I clinged onto that question for quite some time and no matter what angle I approached it, I did not have a valid answer. The impossibility all of a sudden became possible. And just like that, we decided it was our time to get us into a house to call our own.

We were given all the green lights sometime in September and that is when we began looking. It took us about 8 weeks to find our house, and we probably looked at about 60 houses (10 houses per trip, 6 trips total). Its funny because the house we purchased was actually one of the very first set of houses we saw. It was love at first sight for me. In fact, I drew a big heart on the MLS sheet right after we saw it. There was just something about it that made it feel like home for me. I can't say the same for Chao. He wasn't convinced. He wasn't a fan of the enclosed kitchen, the small paved porch, and the 2 car garage (he wanted 3). And as much as I personally loved the house, I couldn't make Chao feel the same. Since we couldn't agree, we decided to move forward with the search. After looking at about 40 more houses and not being able to agree on any of those either, I finally revealed to Chao and the realtor that my heart was still set on my "Nevada" house. The following day we had a good talk over lunch. I was armed and ready to justify why this was the house for us, but it was unnecessary. He made it simple and sincere by saying "if you like that house, then we should just get it." Those words just made my heart melt. I married a great man.

From that day forward, it was a smooth ride. We went back for two more showings (one with the in-laws since we needed their final approval :P) then threw in a reasonable offer with a large earnest check. We were sure it would convince the seller, but were also prepared to walk away if the deal fell through. I'm glad they took the bait and that we didn't have to walk away. By the end of October, we were all set to go. The only thing stopping us was the lending process, but even that went as smooth as it could've gone. This past Tuesday, the 29th, we closed on the house and moved in immediately. I am beyond happy to be where we are today and feel so blessed! Cheers to a new chapter in our lives!

5901.

This is our house. Its a modest size 1950s rambler with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. This is actually the house that Chao's family first moved into when they moved here from Milwaukee. When his parents moved out, they thought it'd be best to rent it out. They fixed up what they thought needed to be fixed and rented it out, but the renters were irresponsible and eventually had to leave. At that time, Chao and I were still in college, so they asked his brother to move in and help with rent. So he did along with his sisters. When we graduated, we decided to live together and moved into this house. We thought we knew what we were getting ourselves into, but boy did we have it coming! Originally, we thought we'd stay here for a year, get married, then purchase ourselves a home. We did stay here for a year and did get married, but never did we move out or purchase a home. Lets just say, a few curveballs were thrown at us (don't ask) so we probably won't be able to move out until 2012. Which is just fine. By then, the economy will be better and we'd probably be able to finish fixing up the house so we can sell it. *crossing fingers*

So here we are at 5901 trying to make the best of the cards we were dealt. Never would I have imagine that our first home would give me so many headaches. My ideal house never included dirty floors, stained walls, leaky toilets, or broken showers. I didn't handle it very well in the beginning. There were many nights I cried my eyes out about how horrible the house was. How we had to move out. How it was a waste of time, money, and effort to even fix anything. I was a mess! Needless to say, every day was a new day and we got through it. Our very first project was the upstairs bathroom. The leaking toilet had been ignored by others for quite some time before we gave it a little attention. Turns out the leak caused the underlayment to warp and tiles to crack. We thought it would be a simple task at hand, but boy were wrong. Replacing the underlayment and tiles turned into an entire renovation. I'm talking about stripping the whole bathroom to the floorboards, removing the 1950s tiles and wallpaper, and laying down new floorboards, underlayment, and tiles on the floor, walls, and shower. With a lot of DIY research, online websites, and tears, we did it. Did I mention this was our first project ever? =)

Since then, the house has undergone a lot of improvement projects, such as painting the kitchen cabinets, painting the livingroom walls, kitchen walls, downstairs basement, laundry room, attaching a deck to our 3 season porch, and so much more. We've also added a whole new vocabulary and a collection of tools since living here. ;) Its been two years now and I'm starting to actually enjoy this process. For so long I fought the idea of having this hand-me-down-house as our home. What was supposed to be a temporary house has turned into much more than that. It's been a rollercoaster ride to say the least, but I can (now) honestly say it has been worth it. We've been the main dwellers of the house for so long now, and we've invested so much into it, so its about time we make it our home.

Out with the old, in with the new...

Goodbye 2010.
This past year has been nothing but wonderful to us. I honestly believe, its what you make of it and boy did we make it a good year. :) We began the year by welcoming Nyab Xai to the family, celebrating our 25th and 27th birthdays as well as our 1 year wedding anniversary, then taking a road trip on California's Pacific Coast Highway. In the summer, we focused on a few house projects like cleaning the porch, building a deck, and pressure washing the house. Then we balanced all of our hard work by squeezing in some time to play in the sun and bbq'ing on our down time. Our year ended with a bang with our road trip to Duluth and Milwaukee, then trip to Vegas where we partied like rockstars. 2010 was a great year to us and we are blessed to have had such wonderful opportunities to do all the things we did and be surrounded by our lovely circle of friends and family.

As with every new year, it brings in new thoughts, lots of ambition, and plenty of goals. I've had a lot of time to reflect on what I'd like to accomplish this year and I'm ready to turn a new page. Time to start with a clean slate and just do it!

Hello, 2011.
I plan to resolve a lot of small things this year that I've pushed aside in the past. I've learned over the years that sometimes the smallest things are what matters most and the bigger things follow.

1) In the last two years since we've lived in our house, I've struggled accepting our house as our home. We'd always talk about how its just our temporary home, how we'd get ourselves a newer, nicer home that we both love instead of a hand-me-down fixer-upper we both hated. Some days I'd fight with myself how fixing anything in the house was pointless, and other days all I wanted to do was fix it to make it more home-y. I've learned recently though that temporary or not, this house is our home. And like everything else, we have to give it our all. As P.Diddy says in his Coming Home song, "so you've been a guest in your own home, it's time to make your house your home" - :P and that is my #1 goal this year. Stay tune for LOTS of house projects, big and small.
2) Writing more letters, thank you cards, and sending out birthday cards because its always so heartwarming for me when I receive something other than junk mail in the mail, from announcements to postcards. I'd love to pay my love forward to all of family and friends.
3) Continue taking pictures, organizing these monthly, and printing them annually. I have this silly fear that one day I'll forget all my life's memories, so I gotta capture it all. Perhaps I'll pickup some scrapbooking or photoshop skills along the way.
4) Keeping healthy by managing my mind, my body, and my soul. For my mind, reading more. For my body: cooking healthier, eating healthier, and shedding some el-bee's. And my soul, yoga or any form of meditation. :)
5) Travel whenever possible. What more can I say?

There are a hundred other little things I'd love to resolve this year, but I'll mention them as I write. Best wishes to everyone's endeavors this year!