Before and After

My parents helped me buy my first home recently. It was an insane process, but we eventually got there. I'm paying my parents back with my tax return :)

The house is not my ideal house because frankly I was just lucky enough to get one. However, it has grown on me and I see a lot of potential!

The painter came so quickly that I never had a chance to take a before picture. This pic is at night, but you can kind of see what color it was before.

I picked out a picture online of what I wanted it painted, and my mom picked the color out for the painter. Unfortunately, she messed up. I have some inner turmoil going on because I'm paying her back for the painter, but she screwed up and the house is bright green! So, down the road, i'm going to have to spend money again because she messed up. Not really fair, but I feel like I can't complain since they've done so much for me to get the house. So anyways, I'm dealing with this color:

Just so you don't think I'm crazy, this is what I had picked:

You see, it's a more subtle green... not so mint ice cream. But, what can ya do? On another note, I LOVE the black. The front double doors espeically:

So onto the inside... It was a government owned house that apparently the previous owners had trashed. Nasty people. They had let their dogs pee all over the inside so the carpets AND floorboards had to be ripped out. Luckily for us, they had done all this before we even knew about the house. So the house came with all new carpets and all new paint inside. They also put in a brand new dishwasher and stove too. The oven is the only original appliance, and it is straight from 1970, when the house was built!

The house has a double sided fireplace that was very dirty. I decided I'd paint it. Here's the before of one side:

And this is after (w/ blinds too):

The other side wasn't AS bad, but I still wasn't really a fan:

and after:

I think they look so much better. This is the back yard....

Be the Match

Yesterday I joined Be the Match. This is a web site that you join to be a possible bone marrow donor. I had no idea that any site existed! One of the main reasons I researched it was because we happen to know someone with Leukemia. She is in her early 30's now, but has been living with the disease for years. All she needs is a bone marrow transplant, but unfortunately, no one in her family or friends is a match.
 
This is not an unusual story. In fact, 70% of all patients in need of a donor do not have a match in their family. Therefore, they have to rely on a stranger to pop up that is not only a match, but also willing to take the time to be a donor.
 
I highly recommend this. You must be able to take time off work if needed, but it's not more than a few days. The procedure is very simple. They take it from your lower back, and you recover at home. According to the web site, the pain is mild. To me though, whatever the pain is would be worth it to save another person's life. What's a few days of pain compared to someone who's looking at death?
 
The unfortunate part is that just because you are willing to be a donor, does not mean you will be a match for anyone. However, you stay on the site as a possible match until you are 60 years old. Doctors search the site constantly for their patients, so it could happen at any time. I recommend at least checking the site out and seeing if it is something you'd be interested in. Pass the information on. You never know, you could be one of the few matches out there for someone who has no one else to save them.

Champagne Toast

I am so excited for this weekend! I've never been so excited to do work. haha But Friday my parents and I are going to spend all day putting the finishing touches on the house. We want to paint the fireplaces, rake up the leaves in the back, take down some extra boards on the patio cover, mow the back lawn, and clean the oven. We also have to put the fridge in and probably a few other things I'm forgetting. There are still a lot of things I would change about the house if I was moving in, but it'll be fine for the renters.

The main reason I'm excited is to finally have some good friends and family over on Saturday. My mom and I went shopping last night for the booze and food. We got 4 huge bottles of champagne, 4 bottles of sparkling cider (for the kids, and Amy hehe), a shrimp platter, a huge package of all different kinds of fancy hors d'oeuvres, creme puffs, weenies, chips and salsa, chocolate truffles, and I think that's it... Either way it's going to be yummy food, champagne and/or mimosas, and a good time!
We had the house painted at the beginning of this week. The picture we had found was this light green color with white trim and black shutters. It looked really nice. However, on this house I feel the green is waaaaay too bright. Like, woah. But, whatever, it'll be rented out and we can just re-paint the green part when we move into it in a few years. I do LOVE the black though. The house has double doors and they are painted black now and just look so pretty :) I wish we were changing the entry tile, but that can wait. Anyways, I'm excited for Saturday!

A Wedding and a Beach House

This weekend was so much fun! Friday started off with Danielle and James' wedding in Livermore. Got a hotel room at the Marriott where everyone was staying and it was so, so, so nice! Her wedding was beautiful, as expected, and a really good time.

This was the ceremony location.

Look how gorgeous Danielle looked!

The very Danielle cake

It was a nice early ending wedding. We were all back at the hotel by 10, which was really nice. Especially since I left from the hotel the next morning to head to Aptos to the beach house that Joe and Melissa invited me to.

As I pulled into the gated community, this was the view-

You take this road all the way down and make a right.

And this, folks, would be the amazing beach house I got to stay at thanks to my lovely friends, Joe and Melissa. We all went down to the beach that was RIGHT there and hung out for a while. Then we came back to the house and they made an awesome dinner of tri-tip sandwiches and delicious mashed potatoes. Here a few more pictures...

Me and Melissa at the beach

The view from the roof

watching the sunset...

And that was my amazing weekend.

First post!

I'm very used to livejournal, so you will have to bear with me while I get used to this thing. I hope to update the blog with any creative things that I do. However, I do not know how often that will happen because I have the tiniest creative bone in my body. I'm not too bad at the cooking once I get an idea. Anyways, I also plan on updating this like I do with livejournal and post the new events in my life, and what I did over the weekends. Hopefully it's interesting enough for any of you reading, and hopefully I can find some more friends and/or family members that have one of these things.

Till I have something interesting to post... chao!