Month: August 2013

Exciting Weekend Things

LaurenLeave a comment

As you may have guessed, something exciting happened this weekend.

WE ARE OFFICIALLY UNDER CONTRACT ON A HOUSE IN DENVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caps lock and every.single.one of those exclamation points was totally necessary.

On Friday morning, we saw a house that we loved and immediately put an offer (and a good one at that!) in on it.  At the end of the day we got word that the seller had decided to wait until Monday to give us an answer.  We were bummed, but at least it wasn’t a no.  Saturday morning, our realtor called saying he had a house we needed to look at ASAP.  We thought we loved the other house, but this second one was perfect.  We loved it even more.  Within two hours of being on the market, we had put in an offer and 5 hours later — our deadline time ON THE DOT — the seller accepted!

Now that we found “the one,” it feels so worth it to have passed up on all the other houses we looked at, including the one we thought we loved on Friday.  This one just feels so right and we could not be more excited.  As soon as we found out, I gave Joey such an excited hug that my sunglasses flew off my head and both lenses fell out (oops!).  But you know, I didn’t even care.  We celebrated with drinks and dinner on the Linger rooftop, which is all of 5 minutes from our new place (!!!!!!).

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Gah, that place is just so cool.

In other non house-related weekend news, we took my dad to Steuben’s for dinner on Friday night.  My mom and sister were in New Orleans until Saturday evening, so we didn’t want him to be lonely on a weekend night.  I ordered a Moscow Mule and fell in love.  My dad ordered the trout amandine minus the almonds because he once ordered the dish and almost chocked on those almonds.  Apparently he was traumatized by the experience.  He went back (with my mom and sister) the next night so I’d say our restaurant pick was a success.

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Before we dashed off to look at our house on Saturday morning, we met my dad at the Louisville Farmers’ Market — he does massage there once a month — to help him set up.  It was HOT but otherwise, a beautiful day at the market.  Plus it was nice to get a good dose of quality time with my dad, who was smart enough to have the floral tent next to us make up a beautiful “Welcome Home” bouquet for my mom.  How thoughtful, right?

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Today has been spent tying up some loose ends — our leasing office allowed us to extend our lease another month while we wait for our closing date, phew! — and spending time with the bride.  We went to a bridal show in Denver and had no idea what to expect, but there were lots of vendors, cupcakes and giveaways.  It was hosted by the Curtis Hotel, which is super eccentric.  We may or may not have ridden the elevator to 10 different floors because each had a different theme and a funny recording that announces which floor you’re arriving at.  I think I liked the 7th Floor, with a “Lots of Laughs” theme, the best.  Oh and I bought this candle at the mall while getting my sunglasses fixed…too soon?

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I think I’ll just end by apologizing for being annoyingly happy and excited for a while.  Hazard of being a first time home owner 😛

A Book Review: The Paris Wife

Lauren2 Comments

The Paris Wife

I’ve had The Paris Wife by Paula McLain on my “Reading List” for nearly two years, but I finally got around to reading it while we were up at the cabin last weekend. So I can finally say, with conviction, that I loved and adored every page, sentence and word of this book. Joey might have me committed if I continue to talk about it. On Monday, I was so engrossed in telling a story about Ernest Hemingway that I didn’t even notice we were running up the torturous hill that usually kills me. Which was a good distraction for me, but it was probably just extra torture for Joey.

Although I knew from the beginning, middle and end that I was in love with this book, I had a really hard time putting it into words, so I decided to give it a few days to sink in. I couldn’t decide if it was the fact that I basically read it cover to cover with very few breaks and was therefore totally engrossed and transported into 1920’s Paris, or if it was Hadley (Hemingway’s first wife and the narrator of the story) and her endearing personality or the way she talked about the relationship between the two of them or if it was Paula McLain and the way she filled in the gaps of this real life story in such a natural and believable way or how she was able to end it all in such a heartbreaking, yet triumphant manner.

In the end, the answer is easy. It’s all of those things, of course. And so many more. I always say if a book is able to make me feel then it has my heart forever and this one made me feel so much. And I think I’ll leave it at that. Before you want to have me committed too.