That's my fiance.

Reason #4862 why I love Aaron:

He's currently racing around his parent's office having a nerf war with all the kids.

And he's so happy.

He's going to be a good dad.

Love

I am so ridiculously in love with Aaron.

It just keeps getting better as we progress in this journey.

2 months and 2 weeks as we'll officially be married. I can't wait.

Love is awesome!

Holy Cow

We did it.

I made it home on Thursday night.

We closed on the house Friday morning. It's honestly and truly ALL OURS. AIEEEEEE!

The closing was a bit of a fiasco. There was some disagreement about the estimated taxes and the seller did not want to budge. Well, neither did we. Contractually, he was bound to pay the taxes. Sorry dude. That got worked out but then the bank wire from our loan company wasn't funded yet, so we couldn't have the keys.

We left around 11:45am and went to get some lunch, thinking it would be done before we got back. Well, then I remembered I had a doctor's appointment at noon. Rushed over there, and Aaron headed to the new house to wait for the guy coming to change out the water meter.

Of course, the guy showed up at 12:05pm and Aaron was there at 12:15. How come those guys only come at the beginning of their time block when you're not home? If you are, of course, they show up 5 minutes before the end of the time frame. Whatever. They are coming back tomorrow.

We officially got the keys to the house at 1pm.

Our friends all came over around 6pm to have a glass of champagne and tour the new house. We have great friends.

Aaron and I then celebrated with a delicious dinner of Taco Bell, because we both were just too exhausted to cook or go somewhere to eat.

I decided yesterday that we needed to paint Aaron's office before we move in. It was a nasty sherbert yellow color. Today - it's a beautiful deep olive which goes perfectly with the mustard yellow in the dining room. I can't wait to paint the upstairs rooms too.

I'll post pictures soon.

Home ownership is awesome.

Hiccups

We're closing on the house at 9am tomorrow.

Of course, all flights from Roanoke were cancelled after 10am today due to fog.

There's a number of other airports within a few hours of Roanoke, so another gal and I drove 3 hours to Charlotte, NC.

I'm booked on a flight direct to Indy at 8:10pm, arriving at 10pm.

So far, it's not delayed or cancelled. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

It's really freaking real.

We got the final loan information today, with the actual dollar amount we need to bring to closing.

Aaron will pick up a cashier's check tomorrow. I'm heading home a couple hours earlier than normal, because I want options if there's weather or flight drama. I must be home tomorrow night - no exceptions.

Friday morning at 9am I will be signing my name 38,765 times.

Our dream is coming true. We will own a home!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure if I want to scream, cry, dance or sing. I'm all crazy inside.

This is awesome.

Dress Crisis Averted...Sortof

Katie from Unique Vintage called me on Friday morning as promised.

According to the rep from the designer, the dresses will be in their New York warehouse on February 15. They will ship the dress directly to me from the warehouse, so it should arrive the third week of February.

BARELY enough time to get it altered if it needs it. Hopefully if it doesn't fit it will be too big, not too small (hmmm... weight loss motivation maybe?).

Rachael is going to make me a backup dress anyway, just in case. I figure if we do, the wedding dress will make it here on time and will fit. Isn't that the way karma works?

We found a pattern today that I really like, so when it arrives we'll go shopping for some fabric. I figure we'll do something slightly different, like a pale purple with silver or something. That way, if the dress arrives on time, I can wear Rachael's dress the night before.

I am so so so thankful to have a good friend like Rachael to save my wedding!

Oh, and the RSVPs are slowly but surely trickling in. So far, only one declined. Aieeee! Our little wedding is getting BIG!

The First Wedding Hiccup

It's looking like I don't have a wedding dress.

Yesterday I called Unique Vintage, the awesome online store that I ordered my wedding dress through. I wanted to find out when the dress was expected, and give them the new address to ship it to. When I placed the order in October, I explained this was for my wedding in March, and they assured me that it would arrive within 8-12 weeks. This is Week 9.

I knew it wasn't good news when the first girl placed me on hold and a different girl picked up. She said "I sent you an email that we wouldn't have the dress until February, and you said that was too late, so we refunded your money."

Um, no. That wasn't me. I definitely didn't get an email, and I definitely didn't get a refund.

She sent an email to the manufacturer and said she would call me back this morning. If I get the dress at all, it will likely be 1 month before the wedding.

I'm trying not to panic until I know for sure that this is a problem, but I can't help it. I looked for MONTHS to try and find a dress that I loved and that would fit the theme we're going for. I wanted a dress that says "bride" without being a typical bridal gown. This one was IT. I knew it the minute I saw it.

Thankfully, my good friend Rachael has offered to make me a dress if I can't find something else that works for me. With only 3 months to go until the wedding, I may have to take her up on the offer. There may not be time to get another dress ordered.

Lame. Of all things to fall apart, this is a major one.

One Week and One Day

8 days from now we'll be signing our lives away to the mortgage company. I feel like this is just a crazy damned time to be buying a house, but it got us a good deal and a low interest rate, so I have to just be thankful.

It's hard for me to make any kind of serious commitment. I just don't like it. Heck, I even have trouble sometimes deciding what to eat for dinner! Should I go with the new entree that sounds interesting and delicious, or stick with my tried-and-true favorite that I know will satisfy me? (In case you're wondering, I almost always go the safe route and get the same thing)

I've been trying very hard not to let myself panic over all this. I love this house. I know we will be happy there. I think it's a good investment. We aren't being crazy and buying more than we can afford - in fact, we're being very prudent. I know that we're financially capable of making the payments and still having money left over for those crazy things that seem to crop up at the last minute.

To be honest, I could have had $100k in the bank before we started this process and I'd still be crazy. It's never enough.

Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and take a chance. I don't know why, in my wise old age, I'm getting so conservative. I used to risk everything - all the time, for a little glimpse of fun or happiness. I guess maybe that's growing up. It kinda sucks.

So I'm hanging on... a little bit not dealing with the house, but a little bit of secretly planning how we'll decorate for Christmas next year, where my dishes and pots and silverware will go in the kitchen, what color tile I'll want in the bathrooms, where the heck all my clothes will go since our closet is the size of a small suitcase.

This is exciting, and terrifying, and awesome.

Things are moving along

Things with the house and the wedding are moving along.

We've been crazy busy this week rounding up all the documents that were needed to complete our home loan process, but it looks like there's only 2 documents remaining and both should be complete tomorrow.

We're also getting the home inspection tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, I have a training call from 11-3pm so I won't be there. Probably better anyway, I tend to get a bit stressed with all that stuff. I'm not 100% sure when the appraisal happens, but our loan rep is pleased with everything, so it must be okay.

We've started getting response cards back for the wedding. YAY! So far everyone has responded yes, but that's only 6 people haha. Hopefully not everyone can come or I may be scrambling to find a bigger reception hall! I already know that not everyone can make it, and a lot of the people we invited are little kids who don't really take up much space or food.

I should ask the owner of the Irish Pub if I have to pay for open bar for the kids. That could save us some dough! *grin*

We also decided to go for the photographer... and we actually found one that we both liked. Unfortunately, the guy seems to be a little slow with email, which is really the only way I communicate. Especially being 3 hours ahead here on the East Coast. When I'm ready to talk to people, they are usually still in bed!

My low-key wedding is somehow got complicated. Boo.

The invitations are in the mail.

Well, most of them anyway.

I ran out of stamps for the RSVP envelopes, so the majority went out but we still have a couple that are waiting to be sent. I didn't have time to run to the post office this weekend, so they are probably going to get boring ol' liberty bell stamps, instead of the cutie heart ones that everyone else got. Sorry guys.

I can't wait for everyone to see them. I think they are SOOOOO cool.

Happy Turkey-Day

Yesterday was an overwhelming success.

The only slight snafu was that the turkey took longer to cook than I expected. I blame that entirely on our wacky oven. That's one thing I WILL NOT miss about this house. Okay, there's a lot of other stuff too, but that's probably the most annoying.

Regardless of the delayed dinner, the turkey was amazing. I've never had a brined turkey before, but wow. It's unbelievable! So juicy! It's SO easy to brine a turkey too, I don't know why more people don't do it!

We probably had enough food to feed twice the number of folks that were here. I was a little saddened actually - knowing how many people have been needing food assistance lately. We donated to the Indianapolis Interfaith Hunger Initiative when we went to church on Wednesday night, so I feel like we shared our blessings. Plus, the way Aaron is already tearing through the leftovers, it's not going to waste!

The final menu was:
blue cheese ball
deviled eggs
red beet eggs
turkey
ham
stuffing
green bean casserole
acorn squash
potato filling
baked beans
cornbread muffins
pumpkin pie
cherry pie
ditty pie
banana pudding
pumpkin cheesecake

Man, everything was AWESOME!

House update

Yesterday I was having a bit of buyers remorse because I felt like we didn't look at enough houses to feel confident in our decision on this one. Part of that was from my friend, because she kept sending me links to cute houses (just in case it didn't work out).

In the late morning we got a counter offer from the sellers, and we decided to stand our ground and not offer any more money. Like Aaron's Dad said, why bid against ourselves? We knew we were the only offer on the table.

So yesterday afternoon our agent took us out to look at two houses we found on the web that looked like potentials. Both of them were duds.

The first one was pretty nice inside, but the remodeling wasn't finished, the bedrooms were TINY and the basement wasn't finished, nor could it be. The ductwork and pipes hung too low in the ceiling. In addition, the neighborhood was okay, but not great. It's currently being gentrified.

The second house was in an awesome neighborhood, and was a pretty neat old house (built in 1915), but it needed sooooo much work. Everything practically was original. If we had a ton of time and disposable cash, it would have been a fun project and will be an amazing house when it's all updated. But we don't have the time (or the cash haha). We need something move-in ready.

I was starting to get a little dejected, thinking maybe we should have just met the sellers in the middle since their house really was the best we'd seen... but at 7:45PM our realtor called. THEY ACCEPTED OUR FINAL OFFER!!!!!!!!

Hyperventilating aside, I am sooooo happy. Now onto the crazy stuff!

Like, Woah.

Aaron and I had been discussing getting a professional photographer for a few hours on the day of our wedding. Our chapel package includes pictures of the ceremony and around the chapel grounds, but originally we just planned to ask our friends and family to take pictures at the reception. However, after looking at all of Daniel and Lexi's AMAZING wedding photos, I kinda wanted something a little more... well, I guess professional.

We looked into it and found a guy who was in our budget who we liked.

But then today we decided to put in an offer on a house.

Guess we won't be booking that photographer after all!

We should know tomorrow whether our offer is accepted. We offered REALLY low, so we expect them to counter. If this all works out, we'll know by the end of the week.

Fingers crossed and breathing deeply.

Thanksgiving

I am so excited. I head back to Indianapolis tomorrow, and I don't have to travel next week. I can't wait to host our first ever Thanksgiving dinner.

I have never cooked a turkey before. My mom says it's easy. I really really hope so.

This weekend we'll have to go buy the turkey and all the other stuff we need for our dishes - onion, celery, baking cups, butter, champagne. I ordered the pies through our church. Our oven is a little funny which is no good at all for baking. Save myself the heart/headache and do a little good works too (the proceeds benefit charity).

Maybe by next year... we'll have our own house to host Thanksigiving!

3 months, 3 weeks

I booked our flights to Las Vegas today. The cheapest flight is also the only direct flight from Indianapolis to Vegas offered by any airline (thank you Northwest!). I was tired of watching and waiting and hoping the prices would drop before buying them. I just wanted to be one task closer to TOTALLY ready for the wedding. The tickets were a little less than I had budgeted for, so what the heck. At least I know I won't be paying MORE than we budgeted.

We're arriving on Friday March 13 around 8am, and leaving Monday March 16 at 1pm. We're leaving two days earlier than we originally planned, but I think that will be better in the long run. Saves us $500 on hotel, and who knows how much on entertainment, gambling, etc!

And the money could be very useful... as Aaron and I are desperately trying to figure out how we can buy this house that we love. We can afford the house, we just don't have a down payment yet. And we really really really really love this house. Sigh. Maybe we'll win the lottery and have enough for the down!

Careerbuilder

I received an email from Careerbuilder a few days ago listing job "matches" for my resume and related searches. I'm really not sure why, but a whole lot of nursing jobs come up, even though I have no nursing experience, nor am I interested in nursing. Strange.

But I digress.

In the email was a job listing for a Senior Application Developer at Conseco (large insurance company). I think I am going to apply. It's pretty close to our house, and it sounds like exactly the type of work I am interested in doing.

Can't hurt, right?

I love my job, and I LOVE my company, but seriously, this traveling sucks. I just want to have a normal life. I want to take my doggies on walks, and cook dinner every night, sleep in my own bed, and not have to buy 2 of everything so I can always have one with me.

4 months, 1 week and counting

I've got a little ticker that tells me how long until the wedding. I got excited as 6 months turned to 5, then 4. It's starting to stress me out though!

Really, the only things left to do are:
1) send invitations
2) book our flights & dog sitting
3) pay everyone
4) go out there
5) get married!

I suppose there will be little things, like finding lingerie to go with my dress, getting my dress altered, and possibly ordering another dress to run around Vegas in.

Otherwise, I don't know why I am even stressing. I'm really excited to finally become Team Heilbron!

Misfit Thanksgiving

This is our first year in Indianapolis and we're not going home for Thanksgiving. It's too much flying in too short a period, and the airlines are always packed.

So we've got a number of friends coming over to share our Thanksgiving meal. My friend Rachael and her fiance Chris, our other friend Rachel and her son Ozan, and our friend Heather are coming so far. Rachael is bringing some traditional Pennsylvania Dutch dishes (Shoofly Pie and Potato Filling, if you're interested). Heather has offered to bring the turkey (YAY! I've been stressing about making my first turkey).

As I start to plan for the rest of our Thanksgiving meal, I cannot stop thinking about how blessed we are. This year especially, we have been given so much. Giving back to God and to our community has become more important to me than ever.

I was looking for adopt-a-family type things for Thanksgiving and came across the Mozel Sanders Foundation. They cook and provide boxed up Thanksgiving meals to thousands of people in Indianapolis. What a cool concept. I'm sure people would prefer to have a meal in their own home than some gigantic shelter.

Of course, we'll be supporting Wheeler Mission as well, which is a gigantic shelter.

I've always wanted to volunteer on Thanksgiving, but I remember from San Diego Rescue Mission that they have more volunteers than they know what to do with on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I figure they can probably use my cash more than they can use my time. *grin*

Turkey Chili

I made Turkey Chili last night. It turned out much spicier than I expected, but it was good!!! Of course, Aaron thinks it needs more turkey. I disagree. I am trying to conserve by using less meat in our dishes. Saves money AND calories!

Here's the recipe:
Serves 4-5
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes

1/2 tsp vegetable oil (preferably canola)
1 medium onion chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (or 2 cloves minced)
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced into rounds
1/2 pound lean ground turkey
1 heaping tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 medium tomatos, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup canned chicken broth
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup scallions, chopped

Instructions
Use a large pot over medium heat. Coat pot with cooking spray. Add oil and sauté onion about 5 minutes. Add garlic and carrots cook about 1 minute. Add turkey and brown, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.

Add chili powder, paprika, red pepper flakes, cumin, tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, vinegar, beans and green pepper and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer about 30 to 45 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with scallions and shredded cheese if desired.

Aaron and I both had generous helpings (he had two bowls) and I have about a cup leftover for lunch today. Jiffy corn muffins are a PERFECT compliment to this chili.

Best part is that I have half a pound of ground turkey left over for Chimichangas later this week!

Our family

We don't have any human children yet, but we do have a furry family.

Ellie Mae
We got Ellie Mae in Sept 2005, right after hurricane Katrina. She was in a shelter in Louisiana and was shipped to California to make room for all the dogs they found wandering the streets. She was soooo shy when we first met her, she wouldn't even walk. When Aaron put her collar and her leash on her though, she got right up and walked out the door. She was Aaron's gal for a while, but I've spent a lot of time training her and she's totally MY dog now (this picture was taken when she passed her Canine Good Citizen test). We think she's a rottweiler, coon hound, beagle mix. Whatever she is, she has a super high prey drive (she's caught a squirrel and a cardinal since we have been in Indy) and she loves loves loves to go on walks.

Joey
Joey joined our family in Feb 2006. Ellie was very depressed when we would leave her home during the day, we thought she might like a sibling. I really wanted a little lap dog, but we came home with a 50lb pittie instead! We felt so bad for Joey because he was handicapped and had been in the shelter for almost 6 months. I was a little unsure of a pit bull at first, but he is seriously THE BEST DOG ever. He snuggles when you want to snuggle, he'll play fetch as long as you let him (or he falls down from exhaustion, whichever comes first), and he's such a silly guy. He does have issues with other dogs sometimes, but he LOVES his sister. Everyone loves Joey. Even our neighbor who is afraid of dogs loves Joey. I think I'll probably ALWAYS own a bull breed (pittie, bulldog, bull terrier, staffy bull) from now on.

Stanley
Stanley is our cat. We rescued him in March 2007 from the Humane Society. He's 6+ years old, black, and had some minor health problems so he wasn't going anywhere for a while. I fell in love with him right away. He is a big talker and loves to cuddle. He is a cat though, which means he's kind of a pain in the butt. Aaron alternates between loving him to pieces and wanting to stake him out for the raccoons to finish off.

Hannah
Just kidding... we saw Hannah at the Indiana State Fair. But I have fantasies that we'll have a big ol' piece of farmland someday where I can have goats and maybe some sheep and a cow. No pigs though. They are evil and will eat you alive.

To do for this week

I really need to print the response cards and start addressing invitations.

But first, I must finish my first ever Artist Trading Card DONE! and come up with a halloween costume for the party Thursday night.

Kids?

I had a terrible thought this morning.

We're having our wedding reception at an Irish pub.

What if children aren't allowed inside?

Oh my.

I'm sure it's like every other pub that serves food, and that the kids can be there until a certain time. And this is Las Vegas afterall.

I emailed the owner just to be sure. Hopefully he gets back to me soon.

Next assignment

Looks like my next stop on my "American Cities Tour" will be Roanoke, VA. I should start my project there on Nov 3.

I've never really been to the East Coast. I've been to Buffalo NY, but I've been told that counts as Canada.

I've been working in town for the last 4 months after 3+ years on the road. It's been really nice sleeping in my own bed every night, cooking dinner, making friends in our new city, getting involved with church and animal welfare organizations.

I called Aaron at lunch to tell him the news. I said sadly "I'll be traveling again in 2 weeks". His response "Awesome!".

I think he misses having the house to himself during the week!

Oh man.

I was so excited when I got home from San Diego yesterday. There was a big ol' box sitting on the front doorstep... and I had this momentary flash that it was my wedding dress. I was stoked because it was early AND Aaron was still on a plane, so I could have tried it on and taken pictures without worrying about him seeing it.

Alas, it wasn't the dress.

It was Aaron's stupid RCA Dome seats.

Wedding Invitations

Our wedding invitations were delivered yesterday. They are soooo cool!

I'm a little puzzled that they are cream colored and not white. Weird. I guess I must not have been paying attention when I ordered them.

We don't really have any "colors" but I'm wearing white/silver and Aaron and our guys are wearing white/black.

The reception hall, of course, will probably be overly decorated in green, considering it's an Irish pub and we're getting married 3 days before St. Patty's.

Houses Part Deux

Aaron got pre-approved yesterday for a home loan in the price range we were hoping, so it looks like we'll be buying a house sooner than we thought (and this approval doesn't even include my income as part of the consideration!)

Our lease at the rental house is up April 25, so we'll target early/mid-April for the move.

HOLY COW! We're going to own a house. WOOT!

Houses

Aaron and I went to a couple of open houses today. Realistically, we probably won't be buying until next summer/fall, but we wanted to take a look at some neighborhoods that an acquaintance recommended for us.

The house thing has honestly been a source of strain between us. Usually we are right on with our attitudes and opinions about life... but the house was polar opposites.

Aaron wanted to buy a new house outside of Indianapolis in a town called Westfield. It's basically surrounded by farms. While that is cool, I don't want to live so far from the city, since I will likely be commuting downtown every day. In addition, the new developments are so...sterile. There's no trees, no quaint little shops, no Mom&Pop restaurants.

I preferred the older houses in the established communities, about halfway between where we live now and downtown. Most of the houses are Cape Cod, Victorian or Arts & Crafts style homes. True, you have a smaller lot for the same amount of money, but they are established communities with their own personalities. And the trees... I love the trees! That's 80% of what I love about this town.

I'm not sure what sparked the change of heart in Aaron, but yesterday he agreed that we would focus primarily on the neighborhoods between Michigan on the east, College on the west, 42nd on the south and 71st on the north (Butler-Tarkington, Meridian-Kessler, Broad Ripple, Forest Hills for my info) . The prices are in our range, the neighborhoods are beautiful, the houses are older, very lovely and perfect sized, the trees are gorgeous and there's restaurants, shops, and the Central Canal within walking/biking distance. Perfect for starting a family.

I'm only going to say it once, but I earned it... I was right! Nah nee nah nee poo poo!

Dibs on Baby Names

We're calling dibs on the following baby names

Boys:
Andrew
Austin

Girls:
Madison
Piper

I can't IMAGINE we'll have more than 4 bio kids.

New Beginnings

Aaron and I are engaged to be married on March 14, 2009 in Las Vegas, NV. We've been dating since March of 2005.

Things are progressing. Our invitations were ordered and should arrive this week. My dress is ordered and should arrive in about 2 months.

At this point, we just have to find favors and create DVDs of music/pictures to be shown during the reception.

I'm getting excited, although I'm a little nervous too.