View From The Top

Last week, I wasn't able to stop by the house. But, on Friday I received some surprising news with pleasing picture from Mr. Contractor. 

Our roof top deck (RTD) has been built. The railings were not up at the time Mr. C took the picture (they are now). 

This RTD view of Charm City is looking (from left to right) at the Fells Point, Inner Harbor, and Downtown neighborhoods.

Since many of you may not know the ins and outs of this city, here is a neighborhood map of Southern Baltimore. Our house is near Patterson Park.

Photo credit

I'm Wired

Last week (eleven!) I wrote Mr. Contractor another BIG check. 


It may surprise most of you to know that H and I do not have lots of extra zeros in our bank account. This means that when Mr. Contractor requests a "draw" from us, our bank first sends someone over to inspect the work he has completed. Once the work passes inspection we receive the transfer of funds which, allows us to write these BIG checks. This whole process shaves a couple of days off of active construction. 


What I'm getting at is... nothing too crazy happened over there last week.


But, other than the draw request, inspection, transfer of funds, and writing of the check; we did get WIRED. 

The electrical boxes that looked like this last week.

Now look like this.


Now that Mr. C has his mula some really, really exciting stuff is happening at the house this week!


Hint: this is the last time we will be able to see through these walls. Unless of course someone develops xray vision & at this point, I am almost positive I did not marry Superman. 

Another Trip Around The Sun

It's HHH's birthday! (Handsome Husband Hadyn)

Word!

Well folks, he started out pretty cute.

Thank goodness (for me) his good looks have held strong.

In celebration of H's latest trip around the sun, here are some words of wisdom for his next year: 

(Being the elder of the two, I'm allowed to impose my "wisdom") ;-)

Take more leaps of faith!

 Shake that monkey off of your back. (and your skirt)

 Continue to spread laughter.

 Never stop learning.

Take time for yourself.

Keep your head in the game.

Never lose your passion for fashion. 

Enjoy new adventures.

Embrace the moments that change your life.

Always ride off into the sunset.

We love you H! 

Happy birthday!

Love, 

Your two favorite blonds

Congratulations Are In Order

Have I mentioned yet that it took us (me) almost ONE YEAR to find a house that we (I) liked well enough to buy? 


Shall I point out that despite having had quite a few ups and downs during that long search in the end we (I) decided the best idea was to do the most difficult and time consuming thing: buy a shell, knock it down, and build a new house in its place? 


Did I ever tell you our realtor (fondly) refers to me as "Princess"? 


If you need a refresher on that please look back here. Soon, I plan on giving you a more detailed narrative of our house search story featuring our realtor (my favorite person in Charm City-hands down!).


Alas, I will get to the point. What took H and I one year (AND COUNTING) to do has taken my biggest-little brother FIVE WEEKS. 


Christopher bought a house!


In Wyoming!


All by himself!


In FIVE WEEKS! 

As in: got approved for a loan, found a realtor, looked at properties, put an offer in, offer was accepted- all in ONE WEEK; was under contract, passed home inspections, closed on the house, and moved in... In FIVE WEEKS!


Congratulations brother! We are so happy for you, proud of you, and excited to visit you soon! 
(T-minus 10 days!)


Christopher's home sweet home.



Maui can't wait to play in this yard and breathe that fresh mountain air! (Good-bye east coast allergies!)

Little by Little

Something really exciting happened at the house this week...


We had guests! Actual, real, live, people (we knew) walked through the house with us!


My favorite girl cousin (from my Dad's side) and her husband came down to play in Maryland for the weekend. We had the best time and appreciated them making the long trip to see both our Annapolis and our Baltimore homes. (xo)


To document the occasion, I encouraged a FFF photo. (Forced Family Fun)

(Please excuse the blurry photo, you get the idea, we had guests and I was excited.)

During the tour, H and I took in the new developments.


Here are the highlights:


There is now a window near the access point to the RTD. This allows more LIGHT into the house. 

This spot makes me smile. Light + outdoor space = happy us!

(Please excuse blurry photo-we were so excited we couldn't hold still-winkwink)

Our bathrooms now have some new friends. 

Meet Rubba-Dub-Tub-Man 

...and Singing-In-The-Shower-Lady

Did I mention she has wall mounted AND rain shower heads?

Looking up.

She also has a bench; you know, just in case the XL space with dual shower heads isn't relaxing enough and we need to take a load off. 

We will have a place to wash our clothes. 

The novelty! 

We now have a pantry in the kitchen. 
Which, is a huge bonus for a city dwelling, I don't remember seeing ONE while on the (near year long) house search.

And finally, we have electrical outlet receptacles in place.

Little by little progress is being made. 

Last week was numer-o nine-o errr, I mean número nueve, over at our new house. (Trying to brush up on my español so, I can borrow a cup of sugar from the neighbors.) 


Things at the house are coming along just swimmingly. 


As, I mentioned in the previous post, the stairs have been built. 
Here is picture from the second floor.

Going up?! (and out to the RTD)



The HVAC has also been installed. H=heating, V=ventilation, A=air, C=conditioning. I don't know much about HVAC but, I do know that the 'AC' is my favorite part of that acronym. Mostly because I truly despise hot temperatures and humidity (yay for living on the east coast and dreaming of cool mountain breezes). 


H: *

V: *

 AC: *

*I actually have no idea which HVAC part is which/can't get onto the roof to see the all of the equipment. (Yes, our HVAC outdoor parts are located on the roof. So people don't steal them or pieces (copper) from them- you think I'm joking don't you?! Welcome to Baltimore folks.)