New York, New York...

I had a late flight Friday night, it was on time and ready to go, unfortunately the flight attendants were not. They were on a different flight that had been delayed, and we had to wait for them…The flight was quick, but not necessarily painless. I don’t know if it was because I had a cold or what, but the descent into LGA killed my ears. They are still plugged today. LGA wasn’t that impressive, kind of dirty and unkempt. I had to stand in a taxi line for quite awhile – outside. Meanwhile, there are these random men asking if you want a taxi ride. I opted for the long line, with the airport approved drivers. My taxi driver, not surprisingly, drove like a crazy man, and honked his horn before we even got of the airport area. Of course I couldn’t understand him very well, and he wasn’t exactly sure how to get to my hotel. Obviously I was of little help. Eventually we got there, and I don’t think I have ever had worse motion sickness in my life. I took some NyQuil and called it a night.

Today I figured I was waste my time checking out the city around me. I would a couple blocks north and found Times Square! So many big billboards and lots of lights. SO many people too. I have never seen so many people in my life. I walked down Broadway and saw where Lion King, Rent, and some other plays were. Of course I stopped at one of the many Starbucks. By my hotel was Bryant Park. There was a skating rink, with a looong line. I enjoyed the live music, and all the little booths with a variety of nick nacks for sale surrounding it. Later I went a block east to 5th Avenue. Here I found lots of shops – most too expensive for me. There were lines to walk by the windows of Sax and Lord and Taylor. I took a quick left before turning around, and found Rockefeller Center! Now there were even more people! I threw a penny into this huge area with millions of penny’s. It was some children’s charity project called Common Sense. On my walk back I noticed the Empire State Building. Didn’t seem as big as I would imagine it to be, but then again I did not go to the top. On my way back to the hotel, I grabbed a hot dog from one of the many vendors on each corner.

I attempted to hail a cab – ha! Some cabbie who originally turned my request to be driven to the Bronx (he said he was waiting for someone to take to the airport), eventually felt sorry for me and gave me a ride. Another crazy driver, but I got there I guess. The people at the store are very friendly, but in hyperspeed. They talk SOO fast. I can’t even get a word in.

Turns out everything that could go wrong with an inventory - did. I was on the phone with my senior all night long as I kept finding more and more issues. They forgot to count 3 different areas - one being a high dollar area. They kept asking me to overlook everything I found wrong, but I held my ground. Needless to say, we finally came up with a way to become comfortable that everything had been counted. And at 3:30 in the morning (12 hours later) I got back to my hotel, having had no dinner : ( I finally was able to relax a little and fell asleep for an hour. Woke up, caught a cab, and happened to get the airport for an earlier flight. The rest of my day was spent sleeping on the couch. Tomorrow will be a fun-filled day of documenting everything that wrong - yes!

I would still like to take a trip (non-work related) to NYC and really enjoy all there is!!

UGLY CHRISMTAS SWEATER PARTY

Blaine and I hosted our First House Party! We thought it turned out great. There were over 20 people, and only 3 did not have an ugly sweater on. I made Pomegranate Vodka Lemonades, which at least I thought were tasty : ) And we had lots of snacks, which thankfully were pretty much gone by the end of the night. Some people played board games, some played drinking games, some played pool or darts! It was great getting a lot of my cousins all together, as well as meeting some of Blaine's work friends, and seeing some college friends I haven't in awhile! Thanks to those who made a long drive - it wouldn't have been as fun w/o you!

The Family

A very serious game of Apples to Apples...

Sisterly Love!

Hockey anyone - GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

Holiday Party...

Its always fun having an opportunity to get a little dressed up! We had a great time at my office holiday party, getting to see people I started with that I never get to see, and of course the open bar was a plus. It was located at The Depot downtown. Just for a little history, the building use to be the old train stop. Now it is a skating rink, which they can also turn into a huge party hall. Pretty sweet!


We are getting all prepped for our ugly Christmas sweater party!!! It looks like there is going to be a really good turn out. I just hope the roads are good for those who have to travel. We went to Sam's Club to get snacks and drinks. We also bought 40 ft of real garland for $7!! Our balcony now looks like it came straight out of the forest : )


I will be gone in SD all next week. Blaine and I STILL don't know what we'll be getting off for Christmas week...but we will be taking a trip to NY over New Years (its work related - so free flights and hotel!!). Its all coming sooooo fast - yikes. But I can't wait to get home for the holidays!


Laters all!

O Christmas Tree!

Our First Chrismas Tree

Well there is not much too, but its ours! And it looks better in person : ) I guess you will have to come visit to get the full effect! (Only two more weeks until Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!!!!)

A New Day

I love the fall. I love the warm cozy smells - caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin. I love watching huge snowflakes fall, even if they melt the second they hit the ground. I love the excitement of the approaching holdays - thinking of the perfect gift to give, looking forward to spending some quality time with family, and of course all the delicous treats : ) I love all the holiday parties I have coming up - even if I need to find an ugly Christmas sweater AND a black-tie event dress. I love staying in on cold nights and playing games and drinking lattes. Mostly I love it all!

So here's to enjoying the rest of November and December in a new home, with new and old friends and family, with no studying, no busy season, and lots of fun times!

I may be a little early on my holiday sentiment, but believe or not Thanksgiving is next week!

Studying....

Sorry for leaving the blog unattended for so long. I am sure everyone is tired of being scared everytime the check the site for a new entry....

One more week until my last exam (well hopefully last). I have put off studying far too much this time around. As a result I am in now in cram mode for my exam. Today has been successful so far. Woke up at 7am and basically studied straight to 2. I quickly ran to the grocery store for some milk and other essentials than picked a coffee to get me through the second half of my day. (Thank you Stace for the thoughtful gift a Caribou gift card!)

Blaine is hunting in ND with his brother this weekend. Hopefully they have some luck.

So here's a quick recap of the last week or so: We went to GF for a Sioux hockey game. I thinkg I enjoyed watching it more this time than ever. Even though they lost, it was just so great to get a chance to go back for at least one game. I miss Sioux hockey. We also hit up my favorite local bar - always a good time. We got new furniture for our bedroom and the living room. But we decided to return the coffee table and end table - they were just too bulky. But I love our bedroom set! It actually feels like we have a grown up room now : ) I can't wait to be done with this stuyding junk so I can have fun decorating our place... We went to the comedy club again, but the headliner wasn't as funny this time around. I guess thats about it! (There is also a dresser with a mirror - hard to get a 360 pic ; )

Brief as it may be, its better than nothing. Back to studying.

PS Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!! I hope your half-marathon goes well for you guys!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM THE WILLIAMS!!!

Our First Home

Blaine and I are officially moved into our first home!!!


Last Friday we closed successfully, and began the big move. We had 8 people helping (well 7, sorry Susan playing pool all night doesn't count as helping ; ). Actually by the time we finished closing, our families had already brought most of our things out from the basement to the driveway. It was SO nice having so much help. Saturday ALL day we painted, and wow did we accomplish a lot. The entire upstairs including ceilings (except the master, which apparently needed a new corner, don't ask me). Sunday we were all exhausted, and I was sad to see everyone go so quickly.

The week flew by. I now know what it feels like to not have enough time in the week. Between working, trying to get some studying in, and unpacking/cleaning/finishing the master, today I am completely wiped. AND there is still so much to do! But I love it! I look forward to coming HOME everyday.

Tonight Blaine and his buddy are having guys night (played pool for a good 3 hours, and are now carving pumpkins - how cute). I feel a cold coming on, which I thought I had kicked earlier this week. So I'm staying in, studying, and getting ready for a fun night out tomorrow - Swill-o-ween!

Here are some pics to appease everyone's curiosity!

(The kitchen - in progress)

(The Master - note the beautiful corner Blaine did, and all the dust in the air as a result)

(Second bedroom - now much cleaner, and someday to be an office)

(The living room, one room we actually have some nice furniture for)

(The dining room - the accent wall was a day-of decision, and I LOVE it!)

(Deja-kins! Can't leave my baby out : ) She loves the new leather couch, and still an awesome cuddler...She hasn't adjusted to having her own room, so we are working on weeing her of me)



Have a great weekend everyone!

Closing and Moving and Painting!!!

This afternoon Blaine and I close on our very own first home!!! I couldn't be more excited. And our families will be here to celebrate and help us make the big leap! It will be lots of work, but I know it will be well worth it. Last night we had our final walkthrough of the house. It was unbelievably clean!!! I just got even more excited, knowing it will be OURS. I love it. It was a long, stressfull at times process, but in the end I think it work out for the best!

The Gay 90's

My afternoon of volunteering on Friday was a learning experience. There were probably about 50 kids, and about 30 of us volunteers. We got there before the kids arrived, so we helped clean and organize the facility. I was at the Boys and Girls Club, which I learned is a place for 6 to 18 year old to go Monday through Friday. The kids can come and go as they please, which is something the Club has been criticized for. Once the kids arrived, we were able to help them with their homework, read with them, or play games. We played tag, and then a very long game of kickball. Although we only were with them for a few hours, I was exhausted. Of course the kids still had plenty of energy. Most of the kids seemed to be good kids, but a couple of were not the nicest. There were also a couple of little girls that were very clingy to the volunteers. You just have to wonder what kind of home they come from.

My Friday night was just spent relaxing. I was pretty tired from the whole week, so it was nice to just lay back and watch a movie. Reign on Me with Adam Sandler and Don Chidle is really good, really sad, but really good.

Saturday I got up with the intentions of getting a lot done. It started out well. Deja and I went for a nice run. Its been a long while, so I was impressed that I made it about 2.5 miles without stopping. It felt good.

I was planning on running some errands and then getting some solid studying in, but then my mother-in-law called. She was in town with her friend, and invited me to lunch and shopping at Ikea. Sounded like a good idea to me! After all that shopping, we decided to have an afternoon drink - martinis! Then they invited me to go to dinner with them, and then go downtown to the Gay 90's. Something new! I was excited. So I drove back home fed the dog, let her out, all that, and of course felt completely guilty for leaving her right away again.

The Gay 90's was awesome! There was a drag show, and those ladies were unbelievable! Some of them wore such skimpy outfits for their skits, it made you wonder "where is it?" Haha! Fun Fun!!

Today I slept in, and I am very sore from my run yesterday. I am hoping to get some studying in today, as this weekend has not been productive at all. I hope I can study and watch the Vikings! Blaine comes back today! Yay! After he hears what I did last night, he may not want me hanging out with his mom again!

Happy Sunday!

Lets Go M.A.D!

Today the company I work for is having its annual volunteer day! They had about 6 different events you could choose from, and I chose Boys and Girls Club. So this afternoon I will be doing some cleaning, and then hopefully get to play with some little kiddies! After that we have a social! But I just realized I might not be able to make it to the social. Blaine has drill this weekend at Camp Ripley, and they left this morning! He has never had a drill that made him take the day off work, crazy MN guards. So that means there will be no one to let Deja out and feed her. I can't neglect her like that. And if I drive all the way home, chances are slim that I will want to drive back in, just to be late. I hate going to things by myself too, especially since I'm new and don't know everyone yet. Blaine's drills always fall on a bad weekend.

So the people we rent from are gone this weekend too....house to myself! Hopefully that means I will get a lot of studying done.

Blaine and I are extremely excited to be moving in ONE WEEK!!!!! It will be SOOO nice to have a place of our own for once. Renting has not been the worst, but its not the best situation either. Two married couples in one house (good thing its big!) However, it is not OUR house, so you kinda always feel like you are stepping on people's toes. Especially because the people we live with are tad anal. And by tad, I mean extremely. And they love to leave us little notes, which just really gets on my nerves. Its more the husband than the wife too. Anyway, they want to keep our deposit and get the carpets cleaned. First of all, the carpet is dark green, with not a stain on it. Second of all, we only have lived there 3 months. Thirdly, we aren't even living there the whole month, while we already paid for the whole months rent. Blaine asked if we could just clean it ourselves, because his mom is bringing a carpet cleaner for our new house anyway. They had to think about it. geeez. I guess I'm not surprised though. Hey we did have to live with mice for awhile...cut us a little break. Oh one more week....Seven days!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!

Hidden Lane

Alright, well I kept my mouth shut as long as I could. Blaine and I found another house! We actually found it a few weeks ago. After a little negotiating, we felt we got a fair price and we're ready to finish the process completely this time. Last week was the inspection and the appraisal. Both went well! The appraisal came in yesterday, and was high enough to get us a loan for the amount in the purchase agreement! The inspection only noted that a lot of items in the house are orignal - water softner, furnace, those type of things. So we got the seller to pay for a one year home warranty. Good deal!

We close next Friday, only a week and one day away!!!! We were SO excited that a couple of weeks ago we went to Sherwin-Williams and picked paint colors for every room, haha! We can't to have family come help us move and paint, oh and also scrape the popcorn ceilings! The ceilings have glitter in them, apparently the cool thing to do back in the day. Painting over popcorn is a lot of work, so we figured we may as well just scrape it. Also a lot of work, but it looks more clean and modern. Hopefully that goes well!

Now we just need furniture, and lots of it....

PS - the comedy club was great! And Deja does not hate us : )

Comedy on a Tuesday?

Today was a busy one. We are trying to finish all the work on this benefit plan by tomorrow. Our biggest problem is the client contact. They claim they don't get emails, and when we call their secretary always says (after we say who is calling) that they are out. Annoying. I feel pretty exhausted.

I know I will be even more exhausted come tomorrow. Blaine called me at about 5, and asked if I wanted to go to a comedy club with M&R tonight at 7. Thanks for the notice! Of course I want to though. Poor Deja is going to hate us. I got it arranged for the girl we live with to feed her and let her out. I hope she plays with her too. Sometimes when we are not around they just keep her in the basement. Sad, but I can't expect them to care for her.

I'm starving, I hope they get their butts down here soon!!!

Here's to lots of laughs (I hope)!!!

NIGHT

I PASSED AUDIT!!!!!!!!!!


3 down 1 to go....

Bad Hair Day

Today is Friday, but I can tell it is just going to be "one of those days". It's only 8:30 AM, and all signs are pointing to a crappy day. It started at about 3 this morning. I nice loud thunderstorm. Don't get me wrong, I love thunderstorms. I just don't like when they wake me up in the middle of the night, and then keep me up. So when I actually got out of bed at 6am, it was still storming. Perfect. In Minneapolis, one rain drop pretty much stops traffic. So I had that to look forward to. I can't complain about the bus ride. For some reason, it was quite empty on the bus, and the ride was pretty quick. Just the walk to the bus and from the bus to my office was not fun. I happened to be wearing pants that have become slightly too big for me (I chose them simply because they did not need ironing). So the cuffs got nice and wet. So here I am walking, trying to keep my umbrella over my head, and my pants up above my waist. Of course my hair can not handle any moisture, so it is all over the place. What a mess. Now sitting at work, my senior has decided to go to another client for a couple of hours before coming into the office. Super, since he left early yesterday because he felt sick, and the day before, and the day before that. So not only am I pretty much doing the entire audit myself (I really am, and I know this because I have the engagement on my computer and he has not logged into yet even), but I also am left alone with no clue of what I am doing. Well, I guess have fun reviewing that. Last complaint, I think I am catching whatever he has. My throat hurts, icky. Even the Caribou latte I bought to cheer me up isn't doing the trick.

Now that I have depressed everyone, let me tell you about last night. This is good though. Blaine and I bought a plasma on Saturday! 42"! So we had our friend, the expert in electronics (works at Best Buy Corporate designing media rooms for rich people!), help us pick it up. It did not fit in Blaine's car on Wednesday when he tried to pick it up. So I bought a Papa Murphy's pizza and some Blue Moon to thank him for his help. And he got it set up just in time to watch Grey's Anatomy!!! It was awesome. Since we are renting the basement of a house, we put the tv in our room. Whoa, I hope I don't get use to having that big of a tv in my bedroom. Then we would have to buy another one for the living room when we eventually get a house! Anyway, its great. And we got 2 years interest free financing, so we only have to pay $50/month for it. NICE!

Well I hope the rest of the day brightens up a bit. I am going to try to work now!

Have a good one!

FAR

Well I finally did it. I scheduled my (hopefully) last exam for the CPA - FAR. Saturday, November 17th at 12pm. Eeks. It is definitely enough time to prepare for it, but I just need to get going and stop procrastinating. I have gone through about 2 1/2 of the 9 sections, so I have a little start. No more weekends of relaxation. I am going to go to the office on Saturdays so that I focus and get a lot done. I'm so excited! (Meanwhile I still have not gotten my score from the last part I took Sept.24). So if I don't post as much, you know why....

Turns out I kinda like benefit plans. Everyone else seems to cringe at the thought of auditing a benefit plan, but I don't find them that bad. I think maybe it is because its pretty easy, and I can actually do a lot of the work on my own without bothering my senior every 5 minutes. The only bad part is we can't find last year's paperwork. Since neither of us have done a benefit plan, we have to research how to test everything.

I think tonight is an ice cream night. It is just calling my name...mmmm...

Well back to the studying!

(PS - the cavemen from the Geico commercials have their own show on ABC - weird)

Unassigned

My time at BS was dropped for today, because there really wasn't anything for me to do. And I'm guess there still won't be much for me to do when I go back tomorrow. But I am not upset about that. I get to be in the office, and actually get some studying done! I love when work pays me to study! And for once, no one has picked up my time, yet...

Of course, whenever I'm in the office I ended up going out for lunch. I ran into someone I started with, who is also unassigned, and he suggested lunch. Why not? So the Chinese was a little much, and I'm uncomfortable full. I'm sure in a half hour I will be hungry again. Crazy Chinese food.

Yesterday Blaine and I carpooled! It was nice sharing the long commute with someone. But he does like to be at work earlier than I do, and he stays later than I do. So that was one downside. I don't think we will tomorrow, because I have a feeling I will get done early, and then I'd be stuck with nothing to do. (And no Internet, BS has all websites blocked) hmmm...

I'm already starting to think about the weekend. Its been awhile since we've gone out downtown/uptown, so I'm thinking that'd be fun.

Tonight is GREY'S ANATOMY!!!! SO excited. I watched the spin-off last night, and thought it was ok. I'll probably watch it again. But it definitely is no Grey's Anatomy. Oh and I wanted to watch Top Chef, as they are getting close to the finale. However, for some reason I was uncontrollably, extremely tired last night. It hit 9:15, and my eyes were like "sorry, can't stay open". So I fell asleep, woke up to Brian being cut-off, which was what I called, no big surprise, then fell back asleep. (longest run-on sentence ever).

Well I better get back to studying (use this free-time wisely!).

Have a good one!

Buses and Bonuses

So as I mentioned in my previous post, I was looking forward to riding the bus today. ERRRR.

I got to the bus stop a little earlier than I needed to, but a bus was still there, so I got on. Bad idea. I don't know why he was still there, b/c his bus was full! And he still had 3 more stops. So that meant instead of a nice, relaxing bus ride, I had to stand and grab hold of pole with both hands for a half hour. It is really hard to stand that long in heels, and this bus driver liked to drive like a maniac. So that was no fun.

I was glad to be in the office though...I missed the coffee! The stuff out at my clients is junk, compared to our Starbucks. I ran into a girl I started with, and so we had lunch together. That is the other thing about working downtown, I end up going out for lunch a lot more. I always run into people, and of course I want to catch up with them over lunch. Its fun though!

So here's the really good news of the day. I got an email today that my company, out of the blue, has decided to give bonuses for people who pass their CPA exam early on. I was soooo pumped. It only applies to people who started after May, so there are some unhappy folks out there. But this girl is just happy as could be. So I was thinking maybe $500, at most $2,000. Later in the day I got the email with the details. If you pass it in the first year after being hired, you get $5,000! HOLY @#$&*@#*!!!! So now I have SUPER motivation to pass that sucker. (well at least I thought I did, but tonight I haven't even opened the book).

After work, I apparently missed my bus (or really it was early). So I had to wait a half hour to get on the next one, and in the cold. Dangit. So the whole bus experience wasn't all I had remembered it as. Its a love-hate relationship, that's for sure.

Tonight, Blaine is helping M and R put in their new granite counter tops. I can't wait til we live in that area, so I don't always get left out. Someone has to come home and let Deja out ya know!

I would have liked to at least take Deja for a walk tonight, but getting home late, and the day getting dark early, just didn't work out. Hopefully tomorrow!

Mum's the word

I have decided not to jinx Blaine and I. So NO MORE HOUSE INFO. The next time you will hear about a house is when we have one (I mean keys in hand). Which hopefully will be sooner than later. (but we all know I won't be able to keep that promise).

Tomorrow I work on a benefit plan, what that means I will be doing, I have no idea. All I know is that I get to take the bus tomorrow, because I'm downtown. How sad is that. I am excited to get to take the bus. The 20 mile commute the past week is not my favorite, so one day off from that is great. Plus I find the bus ride to be relaxing. I was hoping to be unassigned this one day so I could study, but my time was picked up today. I guess my utilzation rate will be higher, but my exam score won't!

Speaking of exam scores, people are starting to get their test results in. Maybe tomorrow I will get mine...should be coming soon. But if you don't hear anything from me, don't ask (b/c that means I failed and embarassed to tell anyone).

I think its bedtime though. Monday flew by!

PS: All you Caribou lovers: the Pumpkin Latte is in! mmmmm....

NIGHT!

HOUSE HUNGTING......

Here we go again.

Long story short: We were negotiating with the sellers on a date to close, and they were adamant about one day. So we were willing to go with that. However, our realtor felt they were asking for too much, so he said we should just stick with our original date and see if they change their mind. Fine. The next morning I get a forward from our realtor. He had emailed the other realtor and told them we were taking our offer off the table completly. I WAS PISSED! We did not say that was what we wanted to do. He felt bad, I think. We could go back and make another offer, but we decided just to look a few more houses this weekend. So our Saturday night was spent looking at 6 houses. We found one that we like just as much, if not more, as the last one. So we are going to the open house today to look at it again. Its a little bit further out than I wanted to be, but I LOVE the neighborhood and the huge yard. The other house has a better basement, but this one has an extra room, and an extra 400 sq ft. We shall see....

Blaine helped Matt and Rachel paint their house yesterday, while I studied....ick.

I had the best drink on Friday night: it was a vodka strawberry lemonade at Ruby Tuesday. Just delicious, with fresh strawberries in it! Of couse it cost $7, but what can you do.

We had to make a trip to Target to get Blaine a nerf gun! haha. Apparently everyone at work has a nerf gun, and they all shoot each other for fun. ok. So of course I keep finding him shooting the gun at random times! Boys are weird.

ttfn

Hump Day Update

Even though I feel completely exhausted right now, I am still going to attempt to write a decent post. Part of me thinks OMG its only Wednesday, and the other part of me thinks wow tomorrow is Thursday already. Weird, I know it.

So Monday I started at a new client, well new to me, sorta. I was at this client the majority of my internship. Its the client everyone in our office knows about, and not in a good way. Its known for its crappy execs, crappy internal controls, crappy accounting, crappy employees. Those are the technical terms we use. It does have a dees cafeteria though, and our team seems fun. Its all girls, with the exception of one guy who won't be out there all the time. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but I like them all so far.

Yesterday day I had to another cycle count at the client I was at last week. So that meant driving to St Paul, then to Eden Prairie. I'm glad we get reimbursed for that travel.

Enough work talk...Last night Blaine and I went to the Wild game with a couple of friends. The Wild got their butts kicked by the Redwings, but it was still really fun. Except for the driving (of course). It was raining yesterday, so naturally all traffic stopped. It took a good hour to get to the game, then we came back to Eden Prairie where our friends live, to drop them off, pick up Deja, and get my car. Then we still had to drive to Brooklyn Park. Needless to say, that is why I am so tired today : )


On a good note: The sellers all of sudden today had a change of mind. They were not going to budge from their counteroffer, but apparently our lack of response the last couple of days paid off. They came down to our offer price! Looks like we may have a house after all! Of course cross your fingers. Its not as exciting this time, thinking there's always that possibility it won't work out. So I'm holding back on the celebration just yet. I will celebrate when we have the keys to the house! (Feel free to check out pics, MLS# 3429895)

I really should be studying, but I'll be lucky if don't fall asleep before Top Chef!

Enjoy your evenings!!

Weekend Recap!

Unfortunately it is already Sunday, which means its almost Monday, which means the weekend is pretty much over...(I think that is the "glass half empty" approach to Sundays).

Friday night was uneventful, but relaxing. We were invited to a friends for a "college-style" house party. It sounded fun, but by the time is was 9pm and time to drive a half-hour to get there, it didn't sound as appealing anymore. You just get tired after sitting around for a few hours, and driving for an hour after driving lots during the week just isn't fun. So we opted for the Red Box DVDs (found in McDonalds $1/night rental) and a couple of drinks. The Perfect Stranger was the movie we watched, Bruce Willis and Halle Berry. It was actually really good for a movie I never really heard anything about.

Saturday I woke up decently early. Deja is a good alarm clock on the weekends! I got some studying in (about a 3 hour lecture). Super boring, and definitely not any light material. This is going to be a brutal exam, or at least all the studying will be brutal. Blaine and I went for a nice run. Well nice and slow for him, killer for me. My bad for asking a cross-country star to go for a "jog". I think it was actually hard for him to go as slow as me, ha! But I did it, and felt good afterwards.

Saturday night was girls night! A bunch of us accounting girls from UND got together for the first time since we've all moved down to the cities. It was great catching up, and swapping work stories. We enjoyed some good food, good drinks, and wound up the night with a movie - Pride. Good movie.

Sunday was suppose to be a study day....whoops. We went to a twins game instead! It was a rough start, but they picked up towards the end (as usually). They almost came back to win in the bottom of the ninth, so close. It was enjoyable though. We even got a helmet sundae!!! I also gave Blaine a tour of my office while we were downtown. Too exciting!

Update on the house situation: We made an offer on a house on Thursday night. Friday we found out another offer was being made. Saturday the seller's countered our offer, with the original asking price, no espresso machine, and a move in date pushed back to middle of Nov. That was definitely not going to work for us, we need a house ASAP. So we countered with middle of October, and stuck with our original asking price. The sellers were suppose to close on their new home in Nov, but I guess were able to move up their closing date. So we are good to go on that aspect, now we're just waiting to hear back on the price....waiting again! We shall see....

Tonight Blaine is grilling a beer-can chicken! mmmm....

Thank God its almost Friday!

Work was frustrating today. Its hard not ever knowing what you're doing. I can't wait until I can do work on my own for longer than ten minutes, not having to ask a million questions. ehhh, its tiring and I'm looking forward to the weekend.

Blaine and I made an offer on another house! Cross your fingers...At this point I have no expectations, as we have been on a roller coaster ride of house hunting.

I got a little studying in tonight so that's a plus. I need to kick it in gear though. This section has the most information, and I just want to learn it and take the test and be DONE. I should be taking advantage of this time I have in the evenings, you know before all the good shows start up again (Grey's Anatomy!!).

Blaine is enjoying his Wii, I got the boot to the other room : ) He worked late again tonight. I am impressed with his hard working self lately! Bringing home the bacon, haha. Hmm....its almost pay day! Yay!

Update on Deja: Her new thing is to take kleenex, cotton swabs, Qtips, etc. out of the garbage in the bathroom and apparently eat them. Yesterday at 2am she did it right in front of me, the nerve! So now we have to remember to keep the door shut. Plus I noticed in cleaning up her doo-doo tonight, she's not exactly digesting it if you know what I mean. Can't be good for her, hmmm... The "Calm Down" we bought her to help lower her anxiety, does not seem to have any effect on her constant licking of the air/carpet/bed. I don't know about our crazy little dog. Maybe Blaine is right, maybe she needs a friend (shhhh don't tell him).

Here's to almost Friday!

Today was an interesting day. I had an inventory at Sam's Club, and I had to be there at 3am!!! So I was up before 2am today! The inventory wasn't too bad; I think I could have showed up a good 3 hours later and been able to finish at the same time, because they didn't have the reports we needed ready for us until after 7am. I was so tired when I got home at noon, and SO hungry. So I ate, and than crashed until 4pm. That felt good, but I made myself get up so I would be able to sleep tonight.

Tonight we are looking at two houses in Eden Prairie. One that we wanted to look at in Plymouth sold, go figure. I'm actually surprised these two haven't sold yet. An update on "the other" house as I will refer to it (still a little bitter), they rejected our offer for the appraisal value. The seller also sent us a crazy email, basically saying it was all our faults, and that he had proof the house is the listed square footage. Unfortunately he is not able to provide us with that "proof". Today it is back on the mls, and listed at their original asking price, CRAZY. I hope no one buys it for that price. I guess I don't know how they can if it won't appraise for that value. I guess he just thinks the VA doesn't know how to do appraisals. He should check the tax records, because is says right on there what the house is worth, a lot less than what he is asking for. Moving on, I don't want to think about how much time we wasted with this house, so we just have to put it behind us. Hopefully we can find something we like SOON.

Blaine is really working now, no more training. He is realizing the joys of work though, as lots of stuff was piled on him at the end of the day all at once yesterday. Hopefully, its not always like that for him. I am at a client in St.Paul this week, and the people there are unbelievably nice AND helpful. Its amazing. I wish I were always on this client. Well except for the drive. The traffic has been ridiculous this week, and I won't miss that when I roll off and head to another client next week.

We don't have plans for the weekend yet. I think we will try to go a twin's game, who knows! I should probably get on the studying too...ehhh...

Hope everyone is having a good week!

This week has gone by SO fast. It was great having a four day week. My time on a client got dropped at work, so I thought I was going to have lots of time to study for my last section of the CPA exam (FAR), but of course it was picked up within a few hours. The client that I got assigned to is actually going through their year end audit....which means long hours...

Blaine thought he would be done with training this week and on the phone, but once again they added more training! (I think thats 8 weeks of training now!) Next week though he should be on the phones! This weekend Blaine has his first drill in MN. Its been a few months since his last drill...hopefully he likes his new unit!

I haven't decided what I'm doing this weekend yet. I was thinking of going to Fargo, see Stace! I haven't seen her knew place yet, so I need to get there sometime soon!

As far as the house goes, we are still waiting. We got the appraisal report in, and we submitted an amendment lowering the purchase price to the value of the house. Now we just have to wait to see if the sellers accept our amendment....hope to hear soon, either way.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

Well we didn't exactly keep up with the blogging as planned...

Recap of the last couple of months:

We got married! Everything turned out wonderful, and we couldn't have asked for more. The rain during the vows only made it that much more special! The day flew by, and I only wish I had more time to talk with everyone. It was an unforgettable day though, and definitely the happiest!

We went on a honeymoon! We took a cruise to the Western Carribbean (Cozumel, Costa Maya, Grand Caymans, and Belize). It was great getting away for a week. We did lots of new things, kissed and swam with sting rays, snorkeled, got ripped off by the locals, got nice tans, etc!

We moved to the cities! Technically we moved before our honeymoon, but right after we got back, we already missed ND so much that we went home for another week! Actually, it was for the 4th of July, and it was great to spend time with Blaine's family and enjoy the river for once this summer. The jet ski rides were great, except maybe when Susan got whipped off when Blaine was driving, and just couldn't get back on...we thought he was going to have to drag her into shore! I even got my mom and Stace to go for a ride! I don't think I made it too scary!

We are living with one of my co-workers. Her and her husband had recently bought a new place, and were still trying to sell their old place. So we are renting out their basement, which has plently of room for us, Deja, and all our gifts and things!

We began house hunting! Well pretty much from the moment we moved we started looked at finding a place of our own. Unfortunately we seem to have this horribly bad luck. One place we made an offer on, was not willing to negotiate, and two other places sold just a days before we went to make an offer on them (really odd considering only 1 in 4 houses will sell this year in Minneapolis).

We started new jobs! I started back with Ernst and Young. It feels good to be working again, and getting a paycheck is also very nice. Blaine found a job doing inside sales. The company is huge, and seems to be great so far. The only thing is that it is in Chanhassen, while we are in Brooklyn Park, so a little bit of a drive for Blaine.

We found a home....So we found a place we love, great neighborhood, trails, parks, cul-de-sac, in our price range, near Blaine's work, etc. Well the day before we were suppose to close we found out that the square footage was listed wrong and the house is not worth as much as we were going to pay, hence we can't get a loan for that amount either. It was very disappointing. We had plans for our families to come help us move over the holiday weekend, things were packed, fridge was empties....Now we are just waiting to see what it will actually be appraised for and whether the seller will still sell to us...the waiting game is no fun.

Other than that, its been a pretty uneventful summer!!!

We think the next time we will be home will be for Thanksgiving.

If you would like to see our professional photos feel free to go to:
www.previewgallery.com/diamondphotography/

I will do my best to keep this site better updated!

Current Status: 10 Days Until Wedding!

Well our wedding is defnitely sneaking up on us. We have kept super busy with all the yard work and program making and painting a person can handle!

Please keep praying for nice weather! Apparently this summer is going to be a wet one, since you know the last 5 were dry!

We can't wait to see everyone though in just over a week!

Bachelorette Party

Coordinator/Organizer/Party Thrower: STACY!

Stacy rented a really nice cabin in MN for all us girls to enjoy a relaxing weekend away from the boys! And that we did!

Night one: Martini Night! We mixed several different kinds of martinis, and played some fun drinking games!

Day two: Some of us were feeling the after-effects of last night more than others! Needless to say, we did a lot of napping while watching Sex in the City episodes. I'm pretty sure that DVD played over 24 hours the entire weekend! We did enjoy a brisk walk in the neighborhood and on the lake!

Night two: Ok, some of us, or all of us, were still not in the mood to start drinking again. What a bunch of girls, huh?! We still know how to have fun. We played more fun games! The best was the "TP Bride". Stace paired up everyone with someone they don't know that much. One person had to be a bridal gown designer, while the other had to be the bridal model! Everyone had 15 minutes to use a much toilet paper as needed and make the most beautiful wedding dress for me! It was a very difficult decision. Of course each designer had to explain their inspiration for their master pieces, which also was cute humorous. And the winners were....Meghan and Crystal! Good job girls!

Thank you Stace for doing all this for me. I had an amazing weekend, and really think we should come back! Thanks to everyone who was able to make it, I hope you had as much fun as me!

Jamestown Wedding Shower

Hosts: Irene Williams and Nicole Williams!

This shower was a great opportunity for me to meet many of Blaine's relatives. It was a Pampered Chef Party, which made it even more fun!



Everyone drew on an apron for me, which turned out super cute. Nicole wrote, "Steph...you're the pick of the vine" and drew pretty grapes. Danelle put "The Perfect Pair" and drew two pears. There were many cute notes, and I had to laugh at Ashlee's which said "Dominos 252-8888"!

With the help of the Pampered Chef host Judy Baker, we all learned how to use some of the many neat cooking tools they offer. I got to help Judy make a delicious taco dip, as well as, roasted asparagus, which turned out to be SO good! We also had many other yummy treats to snack on, so I went home stuffed!

Judy brought door prizes that we drew names for, and everyone ended up giving me what they got! That was way too nice!


Now Blaine and I will have so many good cooking tools to use, so we can learn to make good meals! I can't wait! Thanks everyone for who made my shower so special and fun!

Bismarck Wedding Shower

Hosts: Barb Kautzman, Diana Bopp, and Stacy Smith!

It all started off with a little go around the cirlce, say your name, your relation to me, and tell any good stories about me. (You know a teacher hosted this party!) Aunt Debby was one of the first ones to go, and of course I know which story she was going to tell. Running around naked outside when your 2 shouldn't be held against you when you're 22! From there I had aunts (Trichelle more specifically) making up naked stories about me from last Christmas...all lies! Thanks Trichelle for also asking Blaine's mom if she had any naked stories about me!

After all that commotion...I was told to sit in the middle of the room, and everyone got to draw me! Seeing the results was too much fun, we defnitely have some artists in the family, and some who should probably stick to their day jobs! I believe it was Diana who made me look like Jesus, and Robbie who drew a football player version of me! Stacy's was my favorite! Most creative would have to go to Brooke and Linds, who a Roman version of me (covered with leaves in the right spots!) That took team effort!

Then we all enjoyed some delicious cheesakes made by my wonderful mother, as well as Diana's yummy cake!

Thank you everyone who made it! I had a great time!