// - Signing an Offer & Good News at Work!!

I'm really glad I didn't post last night. I was going to, but it would've been filled with whining and bitching. But today was a much better day!

We've found the house we want and were preparing to put an offer in. Well, our realtor noticed the house has been moved [it's a manufactured and it's kick ass, so spare me the trailer park, because it's soo far from it :P] Anyhoo, so since it's been moved twice, it'd be next to imposable to find someone to finance us. Plus, we'd need to put down $4,500 rather than $2,500. Shit. Then my friend got some bad news, so it was an overall bad evening. I came home and had 2 Lindt Lindor chocolate things and a glass of wine and went to bed.

This morning, I was at work and the owner came in and said "We all need to talk" meaning myself and the other two secretaries. Crap, I'm thinking here come the hour cuts. Nope! He's been wanting to open a vinyl siding warehouse [I work for a Seamless Steel Siding company but we get folks who need vinyl repaired sometimes] Anyways, so he's been talking about this and I've been wanting to ask who gets to run it because it'd be in the same complex, but a different office. So today he is talking about how he wants to hire someone to run it. I was like "Not to be rude at all, but could I maybe do it so I can get more hours?" He thought about it and said, "We'd need someone to call at night" [I do followup calls on prior appointments in the evening] and I said, yeah, I could do that and even take some down with me. Then one of them suggested a split shift so I'd work in both places. Guess who gets to man the new vinyl office. Ooh yeah. I am so excited!!!! This is going to be a lot of fun! I've been making spread sheets for local contractors. Boo Yeah! That made my week right there.

So while I'm elated about the warehouse, I'm still sad about the house. I love this house, I can see myself raising kids in it. So I called and left our realtor a message and he called back later with fantastic news. There is a guy in Nampa [which is 2 hours from here] who specializes in financing manufactured homes!!!! And you need to have at least a certain credit score, I do, and need to put the 5% down on it. I'm like, "We can't afford it." Never fear, *drum roll please* we can do the $7,500 First Time Home buyer Tax Credit!!! Which will leave us with an extra $3,000 for various expenses. And manufactures can be included with this credit!! AHHH!!! YAY!!!! We are going to sign on our offer tomorrow evening!! I am so so excited for this!!!

Sorry no wedding details, but I was about to burst if I didn't blog this, haha.

// - Pictures!!! And a Dress, Veil & Invites!

^^^This are us hehe

Wow, I seriously have no clue where January went. Wow. So much has happened. Let's see here..

I got my dress ordered. Come to find out, dresses are made in China[?!] and it was ordered Jan 20 and it should be in Florida [where the company is] on May 1. And it'll arrive in Boise around May 7. Now, I'm no expert, but I'm getting married May 23, so talk about a time crunch. However, I'm not going to panic and I'm going to elect to get it overnighted from Florida to Boise so I can get it on and altered and all that happy jazz! Sweet! I got my veil too, I love it. It's a David's Bridal veil, but I bought it from a lady who had called off her wedding. It's beautiful!

The following weekend, we went to an Engaged Encounter. It's a requirement to have a Catholic wedding. You spend a weekend at a retreat and you get a notebook and are presented with various situations regarding yourself, values, beliefs, religion, parenting, sex, families and your fiancee. You don't share anything with the group or the leaders. It's just for you and your fiancee. You get from it what you put into it. Needless to say, I knew that my parent's had paid for it so I put more into it. There were some people there who did not want to be there and looked miserable. I wasn't keen on the idea, but I sucked it up and made the most of it. It was neat because probably 99.5% of the things we had talked about at one time or another. But it was nice to [wow, I can't believe I'm admitting this] get away from the Internet and for the most part, my cell phone. We lived through it and are still planing our wedding. I was telling people that if we broke up, I was blaming the Encounter. I was shocked at the amount of people living together already. For it being a Catholic event, I figured more people wouldn't be living together. Brett & I don't live together yet. Dr. Laura would be happy, ha ha. I'm actually planning on getting the address of the team leaders & the priest and inviting them to the wedding. They were really neat people.

We found our house. I love love love it. It reminds me of the house I grew up in and it reminds Brett of his Grandparents' house. We are going to put an offer on it. I'd set up to do that on Friday, but after thinking about it, I emailed him and asked if he could fax it to me and we'd sign it and submit it that way. I sure hope. I can honestly, truly see myself in this house forever. It just feels homey. I'm so excited. Keep your fingers crossed :)

I started addressing our invitation tonight. I'm excited to get them printed up and sign, sealed and delivered. I also ordered address labels from Vista Print which is a really neat site. And super cheap. I'm excited to see them. Not excited to see the postage bill however. Brett said he'd pay for it. I said, "Well, there goes the savings for a down payment on the house." HAHA!!

Well, I'm going to attempt to put photos on this.. We'll see. Diana, I'm tryin', I promise! And I promise I'll update this more this month!! OK, I think I got the uploading done. Although I've got a feeling there is an easier way to do it. Oh well, it's done!


Our bubble favors. They are so cool!


Our invitations. Yay for Martha Stewart!


One of our bubble wands.


A close-up of our tags on the bubbles.


My beautiful veil!