Greek Yogurt

So what's the big deal about it? I tried some thought it was okay but maybe I am eating it incorrectly? Any suggestions of good brands or different ways to eat it?

I (heart) shopping!

Jay and I just returned from a short visit to Virginia Beach where the majority of the time Stacie and I drag Jesse and Jay shopping. It's usually kicking and screaming. Usually I just shop online at JCrew, Forever21 and NY & Co.

So.....we made a trip around the mall and here is what we found:

1. Forever21 (in store): tank tops! I found several other tops that I liked but Jay did not.... hence the $2.50 rainbow of shirts. Good stuff.

2. American Eagle: nothing for me! (surprisingly!) Jay has needed new jeans forever but he is very picky about style and fit. We found two pair on sale, I almost had a coronary. He bought them without much of a fight either!

3. Coach: nothing big altough when we were leaving the store Jay asked me if I wanted anything else...... not sure what happened there and why I missed it. I just got some cleaner for my handbag.

4. Williams Sonoma: the best smelling grapefruit cleaner anywhere! I was only going to get one small overpriced $9 bottle but Jay started looking at ounces and cost benefit analysis and we got two big bottles for $30. Geez.

5. Charlotte Russe: I normally don't buy a ton here but I got this cute little pink top with flowers on it. Perfect for spring if it ever gets here!

And then today we went out again!

6. Best Buy: 3 movies on sale, all Jay's idea.

7. Lowes': vent deflectors and a level (basically my V-Day gift for Jay, nevermind he picked it out himself

8. HomeGoods: Yay, stuff for the house! I got some baking items, finally got a angel food cake pan! Also got a cute little palm throw to go on our bed.

Now if I could only blog about the things I wanted to buy and didn't!! :)

Great weekend, now on to the Amazing Race and then Extreme Home-Makeover! Off tomorrow, think I'll head to Bed, Bath & Beyond.

:) Happy shopping everyone! Where does everyone else like to shop?

Coulda, woulda, shoulda

Ah, the list of things that I would like to continually get more consistent with!

1. Running
2. Taking my vitamins
3. BLOGGING

These three things are always in the back of my mind as things I would like to make habits! But somehow with work and life, they always get pushed back in priorities. Well Jay recently made 2 of the above things a lot easier!

1. Mid-January we purchased a treadmill! On facebook I got lots of pokes about hanging clothes on it but it has been quite useful, especially with all the snow the eastern coast has been getting! I love this treadmill, it has a hook up for my iPod so I can hook it into it's speakers and rock out while I run. Not to mention, Jay bought me a DVD player to be hooked up to our extra TV in the basement, I have no excuse not to run!

2. Jay is a very practical man. We never go out to eat on Valentine's Day because he thinks they jack up the prices, which of course they do. If I go the day after, I usually get to pick wherever I want to go in that compromise. So I was not surprised at his Valentine's gift he gave me last night. An old lady daily vitamin storage thingy, what is the word for this thing? It's a plastic container that holds all your daily vitamins for both AM and PM thus making it far to easy not to take daily! What a man! The outer package said it was approved by the arthritis foundation. I'm set.

3. With these other two goals so attainable now, I'm not sure how much of an excuse I will have not to blog. The trick being, what to write about. I have plenty (okay, copious amounts) of drama at work but if I wrote it here, it would get me fired it's so juicy! :) So we'll see what I can get to entertain the masses in it's absence.

Alas, that is all I have time for tonight. Going to see our friends the Gibsons, new little baby girl. Good night for now!

Anniversary

No, not our marriage anniversary. It's our 2 year mark together! We began dating July 15, 2007. :) Crazy that we have made it this far and how much things have changed! :)

Quick update on the house. God provided for us yet again. Once we found out yesterday that we had the house, we realized we only have 30 days to get our financing in order. So naturally we went online to our financial institution and tried to apply online.

We got to the end and were quoted an interest rate which we found to be acceptable. However, when we went to lock in that rate at the last screen, it jumped by 1% point. In mortgage speak this is gargantuan. It meant $100 more a month in our mortgage. We decided to wait and call the bank in the morning.

We spent the day worrying. We found out why our interest rate jumped. The home we had been in contract with in April caused our credit rating to go slightly down although it was still really good. Because the title had a legal problem, the seller had had to back out of that contract even though we had already started our loan process.

So we were upset that we couldn't get a lower interest rate. Because we are already in contract with our soon to be home, we have to apply for a loan NOW. We checked around but stayed with the same bank.

The cool thing comes in here. We went to finalize our loan application and take the higher interest rate and God had miraculously lowered our rate to almost as low as the original rate. We have no other idea how else this could have happened, given that the bank had just told us today the cause of the spike. It's not like our circumstances in our credit changed. Wow.

Although this process is very stressful, it is so neat to see how God is working out all the details. Stay tuned for more updates on the house buying process!

Surprise!

As little as 48 hours ago, we had no solid leads on any houses. We were both feeling very discouraged about the whole situation.

Back at the end of June, we were preparing to move in temporarily with Jay's parents. Although I love them, I was discouraged at the course our life had taken. Looking back, it felt like Abraham, being told to move with out an end goal. I did not have too much faith in our situation. I made one request from Jay that I had no idea would have any impact on anything...

So our realtor, Matt Whitman, has been working tirelessly on finding us a home. Since March, I would estimate he has shown us between 50 to 70 houses. Seven of these homes, we put contracts on so that was even more work for him.

On Sunday, I began looking for homes on the internet and we sent off about 8 potential homes to look at to Matt. We've never looked at homes with Matt on Sundays so as to give him some time away from us. However, Jay decided to call Matt and see if we could look at any that day since we are going out of town on Thursday.

Matt went to his office and found two homes still available. Only one was available to look at that Sunday evening so we went. I must admit, I went without thinking we would find something we love or even something that was a viable option.

So when I walked in this regular sale home (all the others have been shorts sales and foreclosures) and fell quickly in love. It is perfect, everything we wanted and more (more on that later).

The sellers realtor met us at the house and told us she had an offer but would wait for ours if we wanted to offer. Which we did of course! So we went back to the office on Sunday night to write a contract, knowing we were in competition for the house. Through some very intense and nerve wracking negotiating, we ended up leaving Matt's office near 11pm after walking away from the wants/needs of the seller.

I thought we were walking away from this home.

I was wrong.

Last night we got a message from the seller's realtor saying they wanted to work with our offer. However, they didn't like the pre-approval loan letter we had and it was all our bank could give us without actually applying for a loan which would take longer than the noon Tuesday deadline the seller had given us to supply this.

We found a lender last night at 8pm who would give us an approval and they verbally accepted our offer last night!!!

I was still nervous though because we had no written ratified contract. After waiting all morning, I just received word about 15 minutes ago that the house indeed is ours.

I'm still just shocked that 48 hours ago we hadn't even heard of this house and it is to be our home in just 30 days. We close on August 14.

This is where my request of Jay comes in and it is amazing that God listens to our 'little' requests and, I think, has a great sense of humor. The night before we moved to his parents, I told him I needed an end date, a date we would give up looking for homes and make arrangements to rent again.

Do you know what that date was?

August 15.

Amazing.

More details to come. Pray the rest of the process goes smoothly and without bumps!

Love

One of the many reasons I love my husband is that although he very much enjoys being on time, he never rushes me even when I am running late. Never once has he ever asked me when I will be ready to leave, even when the time to be there has past. :) What a good hubs. :)

Update on Kate

I found a recent update on Kate McRae, the little girl with the brain tumor. Her parents (her mother was a fellow student at my high school) posted another video on You Tube and I thought I would provide the link for their new video here. At the beginning it shows Kate just before her big surgery last week, being just as cute as possible. :) Please pass this on to anyone who would pray for her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czK94X9_ebQ