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!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
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!
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!
Monday, September 24, 2007
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!
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!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
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
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
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
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!!
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!!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
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....
Thursday, September 13, 2007
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!
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!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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!
Friday, September 07, 2007
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!!!!
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!!!!
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
