Where Have You Been Lately?

Life has been extra very busy the last couple of months. Too busy to blog busy and that's never a good thing.  I figured I owed all my loyal readers and explanation as to why I've been MIA. That's the least I could do. Hopefully you haven't been too worried. I have plenty of recipes to share and catch you up on, but that's for another post. Let me tell you what's been going on the wild wild world of Christina. Are you ready? Buckle up and hold on.

Let's start with the most exciting news first. That only seems fair, right? Well, about two months or so ago the captain and I became homeowners. Yes, you heard me right - homeowners! We looked and looked and looked for month and put in offer after offer only to get rejected one house after another. It was a very stressful and after the third or fourth house, we started to get a little depressed. Okay, maybe it was just me, but we were both rather sad. The captain and I knew that when the time is right it would happen, but it seemed like it never would. One one of our last offers was accepted only to be turned back to us asking for more money. The Sacramento market is on fire and all the houses are going for at least 10% over asking price - there was no way we could give them more money. Nevertheless, that one came and went too. After a couple more offers and a sketchy seller later, we finally changed real estate agents and fell in love with the first house we saw with our new agent. The house needed some work (something I was kinda against before), but there was something special about this house. Maybe it was the big hydrangeas in the front yard. I love love love hydrangeas! It had beautiful brickwork, hardwood floors and it had four rooms instead of three! With the way houses were flying off the market like hot cakes, we thought about it for an hour or two and then put an offer in. The next day, the owners came back accepting our offer! We couldn't believe it - at least I couldn't. With everything we went through with our last agent (I won't even go into details there, just trust me, it wasn't good), it seemed like a dream. After a little negotiation (the roof was old and needed to be replaced), the owners accepted all our suggestions and even helped us cover some of the closing costs! Can you believe it? It was just meant to be. As cheesy as that sounds, it really was. 20 days after we completed all our inspections and signed all the papers (I've never signed my name so much!), the house was ours and the keys were in our hands. We were homeowners!

homeowners!

During the time in which we were buying our first home, I also started my MBA program. I made the crazy decision a year ago that going back to school to get my Masters degree would be a good idea. Maybe I should have thought it through a little bit more. Working full time and going to school is a little crazy and very exhausting, but I know I can do it. This summer, I decided it would be a good idea to start taking classes and get a head jump and a semester ahead of the game. Why not, right? Well, maybe that wasn't the best idea. Between buying a home, class and my sister's wedding (yes, my sister got married this summer too!), I was beyond busy and rather stressed. Too stressed.  I don't think the captain was happy with me. Poor guy puts up a lot with my being a big worry wart, but I couldn't have made it through my first MBA class or my sister's wedding without him. Seriously. No joke. He's really the best boyfriend a girl could ask for. Always there to calm me down. Always there to make me laugh. And most of all, always there to support me in all I do. I know getting through the next 2-3 years of my MBA program won't be easy, but knowing that I have him here by my side makes me that much stronger. Yes, I'm sappy. Sorry. Needless to say, I made it through my first class and am now in the fall semester and taking two more classes. Working full time and going to school is definitely not easy, but I know it will be worth it. Here is what my normal schedule looks like:

Wake up at 5am
Study from 5-6am
Get ready for work and be at the office by 7am
Work until 4:30pm
Head to class and get home around 8pm
Grab a bite to eat and study until 9:30pm
Shower, go to bed and repeat

My hectic schedule doesn't leave me much time to cook, let alone blog, but I promise to try to get in a couple recipes a month. That's the least I can do. You should see my phone  - it's FULL of recipes. Overflowing to be exact. Plus, when the captain and I moved into our house, he came to find out that I own a lot of cookbooks. Apparently too many. So, the captain provided me with a challenge - no more cookbooks until I cook three things from each cookbook. It seemed a bit daunting, but I accepted. It's definitely going to take me longer to get through it than I though, but it's been kinda fun. Don't tell him I said that. The hard part has been avoiding all the new cookbooks out. I have to practically run past the cookbook section at Costco. I'm the crazy lady you see running with my cart. You know you've seen me.

my typical morning before work - a text book and a cup of coffee

With getting our home and starting school, we've also been working on our home. If we didn't' have enough to do already. The house needs a little bit of work and the first thing we did is get a new roof. Who knew they were so expensive! Before our new roof, our house actually had three layers of roof! Yes, three layers! The men who tore it off, did so in just a couple of hours - so fast! For the next week after that our roofers baked in the 100 degree weather (poor guys!) and banged, nailed and stapled our new roof on. It looks great and will keep us dry and safe for the next 30 years. Not that we will be in the house for that long, but you never know.  After the roof went on, we decided it was time to knock down a wall in the living room. It must have been the thing back in 1960's to have a wall that went 3/4 the way across the room. We figured it needed to come out to open the room, so with some help from my Dad, the captain and I went at it with a sledgehammer. The wall took a good day or so worth of work, but it came down. All the way down. It was a little scary with the electrical wire and all those long old nails sticking out, but we knocked that baby down! Then came the nasty stained old carped and the hundreds of staples in the floor under the carpet. My hands hurt so bad from pulling out all those staples. So many! We've taken a break for awhile due to my sister's wedding and traveling for work, but we will be back at it soon. The captain is working on painting our office and getting it ready so I have a better place to study than the kitchen table. I kinda do hog the whole table and don't let the captain watch TV when I need to read. I don't think he likes that so much.

I forgot to tell you that we also ripped out all these old nasty cabinets from the garage!

before and after of the wall!

here is the captain caulking our closet before we painted the whole room. I swear the closet took longer to paint than the whole room.

the roofers are here!

my little sister got married!

we had to add a little DMB to our room. it's a necessity. You don't even want to know how many Dave posters we have.

So between weddings, work, school and working on our house, I've been busier than busy. At least it's all good news though, right? Right! As I said, I promise to not leave you hanging for months again without an update or a great new recipe. Promise! 

Ps. You'll be glad to know I just survived one of hardest midterms I've taken in awhile and got a 94%. Maybe I am made out for this MBA thing after all!