Lightning strikes

The fantasy house, courtesy of Google Maps.

If only you could see inside the windows (while hoisted up on Brian's leg)...

Shortly after I posted the last blog about Jasmine's house, Brian demanded the phone in a half-sleep state...to call her...again. When he shot out of bed, I knew she must have answered. She answered! The apartment is ours! Begin mentally arranging furniture and picking out paint samples!

They had a short conversation in which Brian played the role of "Desperate Man Playing It Cool," a part that requires intricate calculations to determine the exact twinge of urgency required to persuade the other actor, "Flighty Home-Owner Who's Hiding an Important Piece of Information." At the end, she asked him to call her back at 8 p.m. that night.

Why would he have to call her back if he already had her on the phone?, you might ask. It's a great question, and one that we asked ourselves for the next 7 HOURS. However, she had told Brian that we sounded like we'd be great tenants and asked us to not give up on her, so what did we do? We continued arranging furniture in our slightly confused, arguably pathetic, entirely hopeful minds.

We ate dinner at Uncle Julio's (holler Texas!) and hoped that it would turn into a celebratory fiesta when 8 o'clock rolled around. Brian went outside to call her, and once he was gone for more than 35 seconds (the measured amount of time to reach Jasmine's voicemail), I was certain that they were negotiating rent prices and move-in dates. Another round, anyone???

Instead, during that deceptively long conversation, Jasmine was explaining how she had just rented the house to her neighbor, whose house had been struck by lightning 2 days before and now needed 6-9 months of repairs. KNIFE TO MY HEART (for me, not the neighbor).

Obviously the situation is perfect for the neighbor, who can watch the repairs unfold from down the street, but COME ON we deserved that house!!!! To make matters worse, if she had just let us see the place a week earlier when we first contacted her, then we would've had a contract signed by the time lightning struck and Neighbor That I Hate would have found a new temporary home somewhere else.

Alas, it's not meant to be. But we still:

1) Immediately went home and ate ice cream in bed, in silence.

2) Moped for 2 days like little children.

3) Called her back 3 days later and offered her $500 to not go through with the contract.

Hey, no harm in trying right??

***YOU WANT THIS APT ** DON'T PASS THIS UP!***

I sort of want to kill Craigslist. Mostly just the posters that use all caps, superfluous wingding symbols, and mandates that I MUST NOT LET THIS ONE GO!

We got to Chicago a week ago and have been couch surfing at night while spending every day, all day, looking for an apartment. It's not that there are no apartments out there; it's that there are no apartments out there that have our magic concoction of amenities. We're being super picky about what we want, but it's because we're looking for our first home together! It's not unreasonable. The things we want aren't even unreasonable (free laundry, parking, back deck), but we'll need a Christmas miracle to find them all at our price point. A price point which, by the way, is completely made up since we're both unemployed and have no real idea of what we can afford...that's a fun game to play.

Every day we spend approximately 7-10 hours either looking for a place on the computer (#@#% YOU WOULD BE CRAZY TO NOT RENT THIS *****), driving around neighborhoods looking for signs, making calls, or going to showings. We've seen so many places now that we have to remember them by the landlords that showed us around. We've met "that pathetic guy," the old Irish guy, Black Beverley, "that disheveled sort of creepy guy who claims to have a spot in the garage but doesn't," Rick the Texan, the Greek couple, the dudes that couldn't speak English, "that kid," "that guy Ogie/Augie with the bluetooth," the foreign couple, and my favorite, George Clooney (who didn't at all look like GC but represented that genre of hot older guys in suits...I liked his place, naturally).

The people I talk to on the phone are just as interesting. Actually no, they're jerks. I had one guy who managed a total dump "challenge me to find a nicer place in this area at that price"....a challenge that I would gladly accept, seeing as how his apartment complex was one inspection away from becoming Section 8 housing. After telling another douche our price range, he said "Oh, well all of my things are really high end. I don't know how you're going to find a 3 BR in that price range....I mean, not in my foxhole." Well no problem, I don't want anything to do with your foxhole anyway. Another guy informed us that we were too old to live in Lakeview (a popular neighborhood that Brian has lived in for years) and that we wanted to live in Roscoe Village (conveniently, where his apt was located! What do you know?).

We would be more apt to just pick a place and move on if it weren't for the house we've now deemed The Unicorn. Last Friday, we were out looking for apartments and we stumbled upon a cute little bungalow in a neighborhood we were interested in. Figuring the house was split into multiple units, we called for pricing. The owner, Jasmine, answered her phone and was very nice - she described the 3 bedroom house, central heat/air, garage spot, backyard, no other tenants, IN OUR PRICE RANGE. I mean, stretching the range a little, but considering this place should be approximately $1,000-2,000 higher, we'd make it work. She said she'd have to call me back to schedule a time to see it because she was busy that weekend. I hung up, in shock, and we immediately decided we must have that house. We've only been looking at houses split up into apartments, so the thought of actually having our own place never even seemed remotely possible. We decided something must be wrong with the interior, so we looked in the windows to find...beautiful hardwood floors, built-in bookshelves, and a fireplace. Just what the doctor ordered!

Since last Friday, we have stalked this house and this woman to an entirely unacceptable degree. The more crapholes we see, the more we reiterate that we must have Jasmine's house. I managed to leave one follow-up voicemail on her phone before her mailbox filled up. We've driven by three times to see if the sign is still up, and one of those times Brian boosted me up to see in the back windows. Of course, the kitchen is updated and perfect and there's a yellow sunroom off the back. OF COURSE THERE IS. We've just sat outside the house trying to decide what to do next. We've figured out her last name and found her Facebook page (this served no purpose except to prove that she's alive). We've come up with so many reasons that she hasn't called us back (death in the family, other renters, she's flighty, etc.), none which actually make us feel better or assuage our desire to continue stalking her. We have to convince each other not to call more than once a day and then we switch phones so that we don't keep calling from the same number. We are acting full-force crazy, and we can. not. stop.

At this point, we've decided that there's really no harm in continuing to call her once a day, because:

1) She's probably getting a ton of calls and can't decipher one number from the next.

2) If she does recognize our number, we've probably already scared her off.

3) She's obviously not going to check her voicemail or call us back anyway.

4) The first person to get her on the phone is going to get to rent that apartment. Straight up.

So, this will go on for a few more days and at some point next week, we'll have to just let it go. But we might try to text her before then...

blog switch-a-roo

This is so long overdue that nobody's probably reading anymore, but LIFE HAS BEEN BUSY OKAY! All posts from mid-June through August will be on our honeymoon blog, www.honeymooononthehighway.blogspot.com. It's slightly more conducive to "adult" readers and is chronicling our six-week honeymoon. So if you haven't already, go check it out!

Returning to The Extra Ordinary in August!

where do I even begin?

I've been sort of dreading this post because I don't know how to put into words how fantastic last weekend was! Jackie gave a really nice summary on her blog, so let me see what I can add. In true preferred list fashion, here are some of my favorite moments of the weekend:

• Spending time with the early birds on Thursday! The turnout at Kung Fu was way bigger than we thought it'd be, and it was so exciting to have Memphis/Colorado/Chicago/Austin/etc. all convene together in one place. And, let's be honest, I got to get drunk and get it out of my system for the weekend :)
• Friday's luncheon on the lake - Megan's mom, Amanda, and her mom did an amazing job with the food and setup, and I couldn't have chosen a more perfect way to bring all my girls together! The weather was perfect (eh, okay, maybe a hair warm but dry!), and this was the last quiet moment of the day, so definitely something to be grateful for.
• Rehearsal dinner toasts - it seemed like every single person in our wedding party spoke (+ a few others), which was so wonderful to hear! I had been a crying machine earlier that day and was glad I could keep it together during this part of the night :) Also, the slideshow that Amy made was just amazing - so well put together, great music, a lot of surprise shots (and some great photo exclusions as well). Thank you so much, A!!! I'll be sure to contact you the next time I need another thousand-hour favor.
• Hanging out at Side Bar afterwards - it was nice to narrow the crowd a little and get some better one-on-one time with people. Oh, and to ride home with Team U was pretty much the best way to end my singledom!!
• My view in the morning - Looking out the window at Town Lake, seeing partly cloudy skies, and having some time to myself was a perfect start to the day. Getting out of the house and into the hotel was an awesome idea in general, because I was able to have some peace and quiet Friday night post-bar, as well as in the morning (minus one knock from my then-fiance who crashed on the other side of the suite at the last minute to escape sharing a room with dirty drunk rowdy all-of-the-above three boys).
• The Blackhorn bus - I know it's probably a tiny bit tacky to cart your wedding party around in a blacked out bus with longhorn steers on the front and a stripper pole inside but hey, I do what I want! This was definitely one of the biggest highlights of the day, because everyone was super relaxed, it was fun to take some really creative pictures around town, and it's just amazing to look around and see your combined best friends all in one place.Totally breathtaking.
• On that note, having so many meaningful moments with friends in one weekend was incredible. I can think of every single person that I talked to and remember something sweet, funny, or just downright dumb that we talked about. I loved them all.
• Walking into the venue - after 11 months of trying to define my vision for the wedding, coordinating vendors, stretching and contracting the budget, and giving everyone countless directions, that moment could've been pretty horrific. If the details hadn't come together, or someone hadn't shown, or my ideas hadn't been executed as envisioned...ugh, I just can't even imagine. But instead, it was perfect. Insert tears here!!!!
• The ceremony - I was shocked at how "present" I felt during our ceremony. I really listened to the pastor, really listened to the reading (great job Amy!), reaaaaaaally held back tears, and even laughed. I wasn't nervous in the slightest bit, which I was pretty shocked about and still don't really understand, but I guess when you know it's right, there's nothing to be nervous about :)
• The pastor - We both really loved having "Pastor Rick" back in our lives after he led my dad's service 2 years ago. It's great when you can reunite with someone for a positive reason! We enjoyed our premarital counseling period with him, and he said some very encouraging things to us that made our ceremony feel even more special (even though just the two of us knew).
• Our ride home - We had this cool little hybrid golf-cart-on-steroids pick us up and take us to the hotel, but our driver looped in-and-around downtown before dropping us off. So we sat on the back of the cart facing traffic, beer cans hanging off the back (thanks, driver), riding past all the drunkies downtown...it was definitely...something.

I didn't leave out the reception because it wasn't a blast, it was just all sort of a consistent blast, rather than having little snippets that stood out. I also focused pretty intently on soaking in the ceremony, and after that, I just let loose and kind of bopped along for the rest of the night. After all, the most important part was over. It also felt like it was about 30 minutes long too, due to the overwhelming factor and my overexpenditure on the dance floor :)

There are so many other details I could comment on, like how much we loved our photographers and Beth, Wedding Coordinator Extraordinaire, but you probably don't want to read all that. To see more instead, check out our photographer's blog with photos from the wedding!

Some of Brian's friends stayed in town for a few days, so we got to continue socializing through about Tuesday, at which point I basically died and then was revived to watch TV (see unemployment post). All in all, I don't even know how to summarize the wedding weekend except to say that it was an incredible experience. I mean, it's SO WEIRD to have all the important people in your (and your spouse's) life in one place, intermingling with each other. There was so much laughter, beauty, happy tears, hugs, excitement, and a very rewarding fullfilment of a year's worth of work. And the best part is that we're now MARRIED!!!!!!!

Day 1 of Unemployment

A wedding post is going to follow, but it's a little daunting to try to succintly comment on so much awesomeness, so in the meantime, I just wanted to post a little guy about being my lack of paycheck (and thus presence of total freedom).

Today wasn't my actual first day of being unemployed, but it was the first day that I really FELT unemployed. The two are totally different situations. As I have trouble ever sitting still and such, I hope you are totally amazed at my ability to have watched 5 hours of Netflix TV in one day - and counting (the night is young, peeps). I slept until 11, then started a PBS series on National Parks so Brian and I will know what the F we're looking at on our trip, and then we topped that off with 3 episodes of LOST.

When LOST began in 2004, I was still in college and thus had no time for such things. For whatever reason, I missed my small window of opportunity to begin watching the series while I was out of school. Then, once I'd started back with classes and the show's popularity was really heating up, I knew I again had no time for such things. Because once I start, IIIIIIIIIIIIIII can't stop!

Fast forward 4 years.

So Brian and I are looking through Netflix's live-streaming options for a movie on Tuesday night. I'm generally disappointed by the options but have consented to watch the Life of David Gale. Then. LOST appears. And I realize that the one thing standing between me and this TV show that my friends have been obsessed over for years....is now gone. GONE. Thus, it's ON!!!!!!

We're already on Episode 11 of the first season and I don't know how on earth we're going to finish this before we leave for our GART (Great American Road Trip) in 3 weeks but we've gotta make it happen, because no way am I going to watch this crap on a tiny handheld DVD player (that we don't even own) while I'm in the middle of the woods. I'm tense enough in my perfectly suburban house with an alarm. I most absolutely would decide that we were going to be eaten/flayed/tortured/killed if we were watching this from the inside of a tent!!!!

So okay, with that, back to the tube...

wedding week wooooooooo

At the risk of jinxing myself, can we talk about how awesome this weather forecast looks? Especially when the 10-day forecast was initially showing rain rain rain and some more rain on the side. But this looks more like true Austin weather, which is exactly what we want for our out-of-towners...especially the ones that have never been here before!

That's all.

weeeeeeeee

Well, since my short absence has upset my blog so much that it felt the need to leave a comment on my last post, I guess I better get back to it! Although you're tired of hearing it: it's been an insane couple of weeks. 

I finished my last couple of papers/projects and, despite an expensive printing crisis that led to shedding tears in public right before my major presentation, everything else went just fine. My grades were good, and I graduated! It was kind of an absurd graduation considering it was nearly 3 hours long and I was 10th out of 800+ (majority were undergrads that came out of nowhere - I thought St. Edward's was small??). 

Obligatory diploma picture

I realized a difference between undergrads and grads too...at our graduation from Rhodes, we were 1) SO EXCITED about being done and 2) emotional about the end of school and leaving our friends. But this time, it was all sweet relief. I'd guess 75% of us all have full-time jobs, families, and fully developed lives that will continue on just the same way they have been going for the last 2-4 years of dedication to the graduate programs, except NOW we all get to actually fully envelop ourselves in those lives. It's an awesome, awesome thing!

So in the past week, we also put the house on the market, which meant that after graduation I got to come home and do a deep-clean for 5 hours! Yay! But now that the house is being shown, at least that part is complete. 

The next day, we got treated to the cutest shower ever by our Austin friends! I don't think any of us have yet accepted that that was our first real adult party. WE. ARE. STILL. KIDS. But anyway, it was a lovely afternoon, we felt so blessed by our friends, and we overstayed our welcome at 403 B, which proves that the party was successful :)

Small snapshot that doesn't do the scene justice!

Basically everyone I talk to these days asks what kind of wedding stuff we're taking care of, now that we're in the final countdown. Here's how every day shapes up:

10:00 a.m. I wake up and start emailing vendors, friends, etc. about wedding stuff.

12:00 p.m. We start running errands.

8:00 p.m. Stores close. 

9:00 p.m. Forage for food.

10:30 p.m. Return home, pour a fat glass of wine, and go back to emailing vendors, friends, etc. while watching TV.

2:00 a.m. Sleep.

In terms of what we're actually doing on the errands / in those emails, I don't know how accurately it compares to other people's weddings because our venue is just an open space that doesn't really do anything for us. So we're bringing in all lighting, rentals, vendors, etc. Which means that Brian and I have been to Hobby Lobby and Michael's 3 times this week. (I've offered to reattach his testacles when this is all done). 

On that note, it's 2:00 a.m. Please consult my schedule until further notice.