Traveler's Log: The Next Few Days in Paris

I loved The Netherlands!  In fact, if it didn't get so cold there, I would consider moving =)  Delft was probably my favorite destination that we visited ... so picturesque Europe and with hardly any tourists.  I would also like to give a big thanks to Annelies, John, Nadine & Vincent for welcoming us into your home and giving us a taste of true Dutch life.  I just may start putting sprinkles on my toast now!  I also must find a place here in the states that makes a tompous ~ the most delicious Dutch pastry.  But for now, Eric and I will take a stab at making some of the recipes from our Dutch cook book from Annelies (perhaps minus the raw herring).  But yes, the "homeland" was spectacular.

After leaving S'Gravenzande in The Netherlands, we trained to Paris.  Oh Paris.  I was intimidated at first and very much overwhelmed by the city which I found curious since I fell in love with New York the moment I stepped foot in it and Paris is very reminiscent of New York ... just with European style.  But I did grow to love Paris and especially the language.  First off, the weather could not have been more perfect as we explored the city by foot our first day.  Throughout the next few days, Eric and I became pros at the metro system and soaked up Paris ~ we visited all the tourist attractions, picniced in the park next to the Eiffel Tower while eating fabulous french bread sandwiches from a Rue Claire market, ate gelato in the park (a few times), gawked at giant Monet paintings, squinted at the tiny Mona Lisa, sipped espresso at cafes, ordered food in French (butchered French no doubt), watched the final EuroCup soccer game at a pub (apparently the French love the Spanish ~ lucky for us, it made for a great time), visted the gorgeous Palace of Versailles and finally spent a day in Montemarte, which was described to me as "old Paris" and it really was the most charming.  Van Gogh, among other famous artists, lived and dined here and it is the backdrop to a few lovely films, such as Amelie and Midnight in Paris.

Fun tidbits: Eric and I stayed in a studio apartment on the 3rd floor of an old building in the heart of Paris (so much fun and surrounded by locals), but it did come with some quirks (but that's what makes traveling such an adventure, right?)  When we arrived, it was so hot inside so I swung open the big picture windows only to have a view of everyone else's apartment in the courtyard.  Oh right, city living.  Within the half hour, we got a knock on the door and a French woman was standing there looking very frustrated.  For the next 10 minutes, we had a "conversation" mostly made up of hand motions and loud, annunciated words (as if the other person MIGHT understand our language if we slow the words down, haha).  We finally figured out that she was there to clean the apartment (hmmm, good thing we didn't touch anything yet) so we left her in peace and prayed our luggage would still be there when we returned.  Later on in our stay, Eric broke the lock (ahem, just being honest) on the shared toilet room so using it was a real joy now that the entire door wouldn't close completely (you know the feeling ~ "please nobody come around the corner ...")  And lastly, when we attempted to wash our clothes in the washer, a few things went awry and we ended up with sopping wet clothes that took days to dry.  A lovely smell for our future travels.  Awww but so much fun! Waaaay better than a hotel ;)

~ Heidi

Traveler's Log-The first four days

Hallo, Goede Morgen! We just left the Netherlands after spending two days with John and Annelies and their two kids Nadine and Vincent. They took us into Amsterdam where we were able to see some city highlights such as the red light district and the home of Anne Frank. We also got to explore some of the areas where windmills were used a few hundred years ago. Yesterday we took a trip into the city of Delft to visit some churches from the 1500's and walk around the city which was amazing. John bought some raw herring that we ate between bread...well...I ate, Heidi ran. After, John and Annelies took us and the kids on a bike ride around their town. I wish they had paths in Upland like they have here. It would make exercising much more enjoyable. We stopped to get some ice cream and watch the ships pull into and out of the harbor. To top it off what bike ride would be complete without Heidi running into a pole, which we got to see. I know she was meant for me as it is something I have done as well. At this time we are on a train headed for Paris where we plan to see all the usual tourist sites. We will post again soon. Thank you John and Annelies for letting us stay in your home.

Eric

One Week Away ...

... from heading off on our biggest married adventure yet!  We're goin' to Europe baby!  This has been a dream of mine FOREVER and I am so excited to go!  I never did the studying abroad thing when I was in college (a big regret), but getting to experience this trip with my best friend is going to be amazing =)  I know the hubs is excited, too, seeing as though his last trip to Europe (a backpacking extravaganza with some buddies) ended up with him in the hospital and a sudden ticket home.  So, here's to no hospitals and lots of fun!  We saved up for this trip, thanks to an awesome travel rewards card that we took advantage of and a handful of less shopping trips from yours truly (it wasn't easy), but now the trip is around the corner!

Here's the agenda:

1) The Netherlands. I am half Dutch and looking forward to seeing "the homeland" as my brother calls it.  We're staying with some wonderful family friends who live near Rotterdam and have been so kind to let us stay in their home and even show us around =)

2) Paris.  This was not on the original schedule, but I begged Eric to take me.  It's supposed to be romantic, right?  I am looking forward to picnicing in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

3) Italy.  This is our main attraction.  Eric did not make it to this leg of his previous journey (because of said hospital visit) and I can't imagine a better place to enjoy art as I so do ... we'll be hopping around from Venice to Florence to The Cinque Terre and ending with Rome.

No Germany, Austria, Switzerland or Spain ... but you can't see it all in 3 weeks.  That will be the next trip ...

So this week will be filled with cleaning, laundry, shopping, packing and dropping the babies off at my parent's house (my mom and dad will be blessed by the Lord indeed).  My biggest fear?  Trying to pack for 3 weeks in one small suitcase.  This should be interesting ...

Cheers!

~ Heidi

Santa Barbara Day Trip

Yesterday we spent the day in sunny Santa Barbara for our good friend Danielle's birthday.  It was the perfect weather for visiting the chalk art festival at the mission and wine tasting on the urban wine trail on State Street.  We finished the day with dinner & dessert at Opal Restaurant.

Cheers to a beautiful day & great friends =)

~ Heidi

Growing Up: The Dog Years

We've had Riley for about 9 months now ... feels like a lot longer!  He turned one year in February (or so we think) and he is just as much puppy as the day we got him!  He usually minds his manners, but gets excited in groups of people and embarrasses us with his "ungentlemanly behaviors."  He still loves to chase Steve, but a squirt bottle has really helped to squelch that habit ... have I mentioned how much Riley HATES water??? 

He is enjoying his new yard, though we discovered just how much of a digger he really is.  He is also discovering a new habit of sitting by the door to be let out & then sitting by the door to be let in and then repeating this pattern several more times.  A real joy.  But his favorite thing is lying in the sun; indoors or out.

And yes, he still fetches things around the house & occasionally chews up an object or two.  The most recent victims were two large buttons of unknown origin and a felt mouse that used to be enjoyed by Steve.  Now, just a carcass.  Poor mouse & poor Steve.

He is a bundle of playfulness & cuddles and though he may drive us nuts sometimes, we love him to death.  Pets just have that effect on us, don't they?

Go give your pet a big hug!

~ Heidi

The New Digs

Eric and I have officially moved to the suburbs!  Our first week in the new house was a bit rough as we laid awake in bed listening to the sounds of silence (where was that soothing freeway noise?) and wondering what we would do on a Saturday night in Upland (we were told about the "local watering hole" down the street in Old Town ... oh boy), but we made it through and are really enjoying our homeowning, suburban lifestyle as of late.  We're still working on the house and that will probably forever be a work in progress, but it has come a long way since closing escrow a month ago.  After many long nights and a handful of weekends sanding, cleaning, taping, painting, and eating delivery pizza ... our house finally looks like home.  I became a regular at Home Depot and I'm pretty sure the paint guy tried to hide after spotting me for the 15th time asking for yet another sample, but it was well worth it.

So without further ado, here are some pictures of the process & final product (for now).  Enjoy!

~ Heidi

The 5 stages of Home Buying

So this is my first post on this blog. I’ve always wanted to post on a blog but every time I sit down to discuss something I find important I realize that I have very little to say. So instead, I am choosing to discuss a very frustrating topic that I am sure many can relate to. I call it…The 5 Stages of Buying a Home. For those who have not gone through this process, read carefully. For those of you who know what I am about to talk about, I’m sure you will get a laugh or at least nod in agreement. Here we go…

The 5 stages of buying a home are very similar to the 5 stages of loss only with a different order: Denial, Depression, Anger, Bargaining, and Acceptance.

Denial:
About a month ago, Heidi and I embarked on the home buying journey. The big push came when our landlord gave us the option of a 12% rent increase if we signed a new lease or a 30% rent increase without a lease. WHAT!?!?!? (You won’t find rent control in Pasadena and I will spare you the actual numbers of what it would cost us to stay) At first, I didn’t want to believe it. I poured over my lease agreement and discovered the unscrupulous, yet creative, structure they had created to suck people in and screw them over at the end. I thought to myself, do I negotiate? Do I call an attorney? Do I burn the building down? I put on my accounting cap and began to find areas in our life where we could cut. It was Heidi that eventually drew the line and said “Let’s buy a house!” “What the..How the..Huh.. Us?”...I exclaimed with great confusion. “No.” I finally ended with. How could we possibly buy a home? We are young and must rent. After much discussion and number crunching we agreed to begin looking.

Depression:
If you live in any metropolitan region of California you will be able to relate to this next section. California, and more specifically Los Angeles, is a country unto itself. It has higher product prices, higher taxes and most of all higher home prices. The price of a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom home in an area that has any sort of decent school district and isn’t consistently the topic of nightly news is enough to make any man cry. In fact it’s just stupid, and I hate stupid. Then you factor in property taxes, home insurance and since we are putting less than 20% down, mortgage insurance. If you put less than 20% down you must pay a monthly premium that can be up to 1% of your loan amount per year. “What the..How the..HUH..” I once again exclaimed when I learned this. Once we factored these costs in we realized just how our budget had to be in order to be fiscally responsible. After some adjustments I think we ended up with 100 options between 6 cities.

Anger:
Having watched an MLS feed of homes on the market for about a year and being avid HGTV viewers, Heidi and I figured this would be a week or two affair; 5-10 homes max and we should be able to pick one. If you know me at all then you know that I cannot stand shopping, and make no mistake about it, this is shopping and there is no 30 day return policy if you decide you don’t like something. I think it was after the 30th home viewing that I had to just keep my mouth shut on the drive home to keep from going off about the situation. We learned that descriptions like ‘Desirable Neighborhood,’ ‘Cute and Cozy,’ and ‘Perfect starter home’ are code for “This home needs TLC and we’re begging you to take it off our hands.” It seems that pictures never match the home and half the time the neighborhoods are never desirable. I remember one home we looked at was in pristine condition after being renovated top to bottom by some house flippers. After careful inspection we realized, they forgot, or neglected, to put in a dishwasher. Who forgets to install a dishwasher? Another home we saw had an amazing layout after being flipped but some of the kitchen cabinets couldn’t even be opened due to their proximity to light fixtures. The most annoying had to be the homes that were built with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms crammed into 1,100 square feet, roughly the size of my 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. Are you kidding me?



Bargaining:
The bargaining stage was an interesting one. I found myself bargaining not only with the seller of the home but also with Heidi and our agent. I even found myself negotiating with myself. I need a big office…Well how about a slightly smaller office but an extra bedroom. Maybe the rest of the house can be really nice so it’s ok the rooms are small. Do I really need all these features? When it comes to the sellers it’s just a big game. First of all, do you really think I’m going to offer full price when every comparable is drastically lower? Next, every seller wants to see that you are “Pre-approved” which as a banker I can tell you is a big joke because it’s really irrelevant what is on that letter from the bank, read the fine print. They also want to see proof of liquidity and my favorite part was a copy of the check that you plan to deposit into escrow if they accept your offer. WHY DO THEY NEED A COPY OF THE CHECK????? I’m signing a contract acknowledging that I will have to deposit that sum of money and the contract doesn’t even require that it be the same check you show proof of. We actually had a seller require that we be “pre-approved” through their lender even though we had a better offer from a different lender. For the house that we ended up getting into contract on the sellers wanted to have a 17 day contingency where they wouldn’t open escrow unless they found a house to buy and if they didn’t they could cancel the contract. In real estate, they say “Everything is negotiable.” The problem we found is, in reality, people are anything but realistic and it doesn’t matter what the comparables show or what condition the home may be in. All that matters is what the seller believes their home is worth and is willing to take.

Acceptance:
If you’re strong enough to really take in the last sentence from the bargaining section then you will finally reach the Acceptance stage. At this point you have been broken down by the process and your agent has built you back up stronger. You are ready. You are fit. You’re a beast, foaming at the mouth set to attack home buying. (The foam might actually be from the heart attack this whole process gave me) Once we hit this stage we were writing an offer every few days. We would walk into a home, walk out, and write the offer. It’s an REO? Sure lets write an offer. This house has no dishwasher? Yeah why not, lets write an offer. 17 day contingency for seller to buy a house? I can live with that, lets write an offer. We began to see which features we could live without and which were absolutes must have’s. If the home was missing something we left without seeing everything. If it fit our ever shrinking bill, an offer was made. Fortunately this method paid off and our offer was accepted by the owners of a home we really like, in an area we preferred to be in. It seems you just need to accept the rules and play the game.


-Eric