Friday, December 27, 2013

Date 110 - Not Everyone Can Travel By Bubble!

Date: Friday, December 20, 2013
Type: Out On The Town
Cost: $$
Planned By: Both

OK.. I'm sure you all can tell by now that Adam and I love the theater. We met in a drama class when we were 11. Going to the theater is a recurring date night on my blog, but this is an extra special one. We have been waiting to see this musical for many years and it finally came to Cleveland. So.. we had the pleasure of going to Cleveland Playhouse Square's State Theater to see....
WICKED!

We tried to incorporate Galinda's form of transportation in to our date so here goes!
We started off the night by turning in our keys to our apartment at Reserve Square (a little bittersweet.. we enjoyed living downtown but love our house to bits!). Then we headed over to Pickwick and Frolic to try out some of their bubbly at their Champagne Bar downstairs. The drinks were good and the atmosphere of that place is awesome! We were hoping the bubbles in our glass would transport us to the theater, but we weren't in Oz so that didn't happen. 
Then we walked over to the State Theater (which was decorated for Christmas) and found our seats. We were high up and in the back, but we could still see pretty well because we managed to get seats in the middle of the theater. The performance was amazing!! I already knew many of the songs, but I never spoiled the story for myself and I loved it! I think the two leads did a wonderful job, and after hearing the songs sung by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth all this time, there really wasn't that much of a difference! It was funny, powerful, happy, sad, and every other emotion you can get while going to the theater. Adam and I would definitely see it again, and would recommend it to everyone! If you aren't a normal theater-goer you would still enjoy this musical.
After the play we walked over to Public Square to see all the Christmas lights, then drove back home!
Overall, a wicked good time. :)

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Date 109 - 'Tis the Season!

Date: Saturday, December 7, 2013
Type: Out and At Home
Cost: $
Planned By: Dani

For our first winter type date of the season we finished decorating our house for the holidays, went to see a movie, and made something together.

First, we went and saw Disney's Frozen. It was a adorable! I loved the story and the happy ending (not a spoiler, all Disney movies are happy). It was different than other classic Disney Princess movies and I enjoyed that aspect. I loved the characters especially the reindeer, Sven, and the snowman, Olaf. I recommend this cute Disney movie to everyone... even if you don't have a little one to take with you to a matinee on a Saturday when the entire theater is full of children and parents. ;)
Next, we went home and decorated our house. We have some new things this year since we have so much more space including; a 7.5 foot tree, more candy dishes than we will ever need (but all have candy in them for now), lots of decor for our brand new mantel, mistletoe, and some other small figurines and signs. I think it looks beautiful!
Last, we drank double chocolate mint hot cocoa and made a "gingerbread" house. We didn't get one of the pre-made houses that you just stick together. We bought graham crackers, candy and frosting and designed our own winter wonderland mansion. It was a lot of fun, and even though it collapsed (twice) it turned out pretty cute. I also had a great time eating the candy throughout! I think I may be addicted to candy, but that's OK during the holiday season!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Date 108 - Be Thankful!

Date: Thanksgiving
Type: Family
Cost: $
Planned By: The Government & Pilgrims

Every year Adam and I celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. Check out what we did last year and two years ago

We went to the Neubauer Family Thanksgiving dinner in Conneaut on the 23rd. We had lots of good food, and it was really nice catching up with Adam's family. We also got to watch all the kids run around, play pool and climb poles like monkeys! 
Then on Thanksgiving Day we went back to Conneaut. We spent some time in the morning with Adam's mom. Then we went over to my parents house to watch the end of the parade, see the dog show and play some games. We had dinner with my family at my grandma's house. We had lots of yummy food, and again got to catch up with a bunch of family members. 
On Saturday we had Adam's parents over for a simple Thanksgiving dinner at our house. They also helped us put up curtains and fix a few things around our house. I made boneless turkey, stuffing, broccoli cheese casserole and rolls for dinner. Debbie brought a tasty gingerbread fluff dessert. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures. :(

Overall, it was a very quick Thanksgiving. Because we just bought the house and had to work it wasn't extended through black Friday or the whole weekend this year, which was sad. We enjoyed the time we had with our families though! :)

Monday, November 25, 2013

Date 107 - There's No Place Like Home!

Date: November 20, 2013 - November 23, 2013
Type: Big Change
Cost: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ x many more
Planned By: Both

ADAM AND I ARE HOMEOWNERS!!
I have been waiting to write this post for a long time. In fact we actually first looked at houses two years ago. Back then I was kind of serious about it, but Adam was just humoring me. He really didn't want to buy a house at that point. So then we moved downtown in April 2012. In October/November of 2012 we started looking again. This time we raised our budget and looked at a nice condo and a short sale fixer upper. In the long run neither of those worked out because we didn't know what would happen with my job's grant the following September. After I got a new job offer at the end of summer, and we learned we'd both be working in the suburbs, Adam decided it was probably time to buy a house. All three times we worked with the same realtor, Susan Smith, and she was amazing! I would recommend her to every person in the Cleveland area looking to buy a house. (really let me know if you want her information)

This time was very stressful. We wanted to pick a house and be in it before Thanksgiving. We saw between 10-15 houses in person in the area we wanted to move to. We put in an offer on 3 different houses. None of our offers were accepted, despite them being near what each house was worth and it being a slow time for buyers. Then one day our realtor called and said we needed to see another house that just went on the market. We met her there 30 minutes later, quickly looked through the whole house, and realized that this was the best one that we had seen in our price range! It has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage, a huge finished basement and a deck (all our must haves). We put in an offer that night.

The following Saturday we were at OU with all of our friends celebrating homecoming 2013! We got a call from Susan that the seller gave a great counter offer and we ACCEPTED! So we celebrated in one of our favorite places with some of our favorite people that we were finally going to buy a house!

Then we had the inspection which didn't go perfectly, but after many negotiations the seller paid for most of the fixes. We were set to close on November 19th, but there were hold ups with the seller and title company so we signed the papers on the 20th.
We were both at work when we got the official call on 11/21/2013. So we had to e-mail our excitement to each other. We got our keys right after work.
Susan met us at our house to give us our keys after work. She gave us our first plant and a gift card! It was really sweet of her. Before she left she took a couple photos for us.
After Susan left we made a toast to our new house with champagne and our wedding glasses, and had our first dinner in our new house.
 
To remember moving in to our first house we did a short super fun First Home Photo Shoot the night we got the keys (including some photos above)! They aren't that great because it is quite difficult to take indoor photos at night with a tripod, but it was fun. :)
On Saturday the 23rd we moved Obi in to the house in the morning. He was a little nervous and stressed at the beginning, but also excited and curious. After a couple days he got used to it. He got a mini photo shoot, too!
Then my mom, Rob, Adam, two movers and myself moved out all of our furniture from our apartment. It went surprisingly well. We got everything loaded on the truck in two hours (which is short if any of you know how terrible it is to move out or in to Reserve Square). Rob and Adam moved everything in to the house very quickly, and we were done way ahead of schedule! We got really lucky because the snow started falling soon after they were done.
We are so happy that this process is over because are ready to live in a our house as a happy little family!