July 2005 Archives

We went to our real estate agent's place to sign all the paper work to go under contract on the house we like, but out of nowhere a new bidder showed up with an apparent willingness to pay whatever for that house. So now we're back on the market. We're looking at three more places tomorrow morning, with the hopes that we'll put an offer in on one of them.

We're a little bummed we didn't get the house we wanted, but in a way, we're glad because all these other houses are quite a bit cheaper and already have landscaping in place. Stay tuned, I guess. It's not over until it's over.

After being on pins and needles for the last 20 hours or so, and after finding out that we were competing with another buyer, we just now found out that we got the house! That means that after we go sign the paperwork this afternoon, we'll take some better pictures to replace the lousy one on the blog right now.

We're both a little nervous about the whole thing, but we're mostly just really excited!

Well, we've found what we think could be the home for us. We've put the offer in during the afternoon. It's a bit more than I was thinking we'd spend, but it's in a killer neighborhood, has great views, and could be a wonderful home for us for however long we choose to live there. Now it's after three in the morning, and I can't sleep. I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself here, but it's hard not to think of how the house would be or what kinds of things would we need to do first once we move in...

Tonight we got a group of people together to go to Comedy Works to see Josh Blue, a local comedian. If you get a chance to see this guy, do it! He's hilarious.

I'd gotten the free tickets to Comedy Works a while back, but we've had trouble using them. It was great to be able to get people out on a Thursday night for a little school-night fun.

I picked up a ring a couple days before our trip to Europe. I've known for a while that I wanted to pop the question during this vacation, but I still had no clear plan for how to do it. Every time I told somebody that I was going to propose, they always asked the same question, "How're you gonna do it?"

No answer came to me, so I put the engagement ring in the coin pocket of my travel wallet and we left for Europe...

As many of you know, Scott and I met on a plane nearly two years ago. When I got off that plane I said to my friend picking me up, "that was my future husband."

Today, I got off our flight home from Europe with my "future husband" and a gorgeous ring to prove it.

Read on for the whole story (from my perspective)...

We spent a few wonderful days in Paris. This was supposed to be our time to relax, just the two of us, before heading home and back to work, but of course, this is Paris... lots to see and lots to do! We walked everywhere, did some shopping on the Champs Elysee and the Galleries Lafayette, ate at little bistros, sat in the grass under the Eiffel tower, watched beach volleyball being played in front of the Hotel de Ville, checked out Notre Dame and even paid Mona Lisa a visit in the Louvre.

We had fun looking at the street below and taking photos with the zoom lens. A fun little photo project.

Well, the loft is under contract after a couple months on the market. I have to say that this has triggered some mixed emotions for me. I have really loved that place and had great times there. I've lived there since 1999. Still, it's time for us to move into a house with more space, and we're looking forward to picking out our new home together.

It's nice that it's happened while we've been traveling. That way we haven't been on pins and needles while countering back and forth. Plus, when we get back, we can get right down to the task of looking for a new place! We'll probably do that the weekend after we return home.

My aunt and uncle had a big celebration at their new house near the Loire River on the west coast of France. Six of my mom's eight brothers and sisters were there with a bunch of my cousins. This trip has been a great opportunity for Scott to see the European side of me... but today especially was a nice peak into what it's like to be a part of the family. Lots of food and wine; rambunctious kids running around with water guns (adults too, come to think of it); shaving cream fights; and even some song and dance. My uncle, Gilles, was thrilled to learn that Scott was a 'gourmand' like him and ended up teaching him a few things about French wine and cheese. Mmmm-mmm.

We stayed at our family's house by the beach -- where I spent my summers as a kid. Got to spend some quality time with my grandmother, Mannick, chill out on the beach, take walks around town. It meant a lot to be able to share all this with Scott.

I finally got to meet Charlotte's cousin Marieke. Again, I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to having at least met the most important people in her life. Now all we have to do is get Karen, Katie, and Alexis to visit us in Colorado!

We stayed with Marieke last night in her fourth floor walkup next to the Albert Cuypmarkt in Amsterdam. She even cooked us a gourmet dinner! We talked well into the night about how Charlotte and I had met and about our relationship. We also got to hear about Marieke's boyfriend Fabio, who we didn't get the chance to meet.

It was soooo nice to see Sally and Alexandria again. It's hard sometimes to have such wonderful friends living so far away... but the beauty about these close friendships is that you just start up where you left off. It feels like very little time has passed since you last saw each other even if it's been years.

Thanks so much to Sally and her mum for having us at their place and to Alexandria for also being such a wonderful host.

Here's an early highlight to the trip! We were making our way to Buckingham Palace to watch a flyover of old WWII bombers. The flyover was scheduled as part of the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of V.E. Day. We kind of got swept along with the crowd and before we knew it, we were 20 feet from the Palace gates with an excellent view of the Royal Family.

Tonight we're leaving for London. It's the first destination on our whirlwind trip through Europe, meeting Charlotte's friends and family along the way.

We plan to meet up with her friends Sally and Alexandria in London. Then it's on to Holland where we'll visit with her cousin Marieke in Amsterdam. We'll also be meeting up with Charlotte's dad and sister who will have flown in from New England. Next, it's off to Batz Sur Mer on the coast of France to meet virtually the entire French side of her family. Last, we finish our trip with four days in Paris -- just the two of us.

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