.... and this post is brought to you by THIS!!!


This is our new house! We closed on it today! & I'm in love! It's a 4 bedroom, 3 bath with an office & a three car garage. It's in impeccable condition & it was a regular sale - not a shortsale or foreclosure. We considered both the latter but wanted a house that had good feelings & memories - it's less than two years old but it's been filled with love & laughter & children & faith. The previous owners moved because they had to take a better job & were happy to hand it over & left us a lovely note. No anger or bitterness or thwarted hopes; of which there are an abundance in this market.

We're so excited. Jer will be taking the 4th bedroom to be his man cave & I get the office to be converted into a library. The house has lots of windows so lots of sunshine & the house has 12 foot ceilings - it makes it very airy & open. I forgot to mention where it is. It's in Winter Haven - poor Jer will have to drive an hour (he said he didn't mind for this house) but I'll just have to drive 15 minutes!

We have no furniture in yet, so I won't put up a lot of pics of empty rooms that all look alike, but my other favourite pic is of Jer in the kirtchen. Jer's 5'9" or 5'10" but the ceilings dwarf him in this pic.

 


 

And I am happy

So, today we traded in my piece-o'-crap Daewoo. I love that car, she was my first, but she had to go! The air conditioning died about a year ago & fixing it would've cost more than the value of the car (at the state she was in, we were told that top dollar was $900 private party, $600 trade in). So, we went to a Toyota dealership in Brandon.

Now, Jer's fam is obsessed with Honda's, but I came from a Toyota family. The lovely mame_maebdh  taught me how to drive on her Prius & I loved the Corolla we rented back in December. To be fair, I test drove a Civic  & then a Corolla right after. & to me, there was no question in the handling of the car. The Civic was a smoother, more powerful ride, but I felt completely out of control in it. The Toyota handled like I was a part of her.

So, if you're ever thinking of getting a Toyota while in the Brandon area, here's my $0.02. DO NOT got to Courtesy Toyota. Tis a misnomer!!! Our sales rep was this Philipino lady who was incredibly rude, and I kept trying to give her, and her limited English, the benefit of the doubt, but it was unbearable. When we started talking numbers, she brought in a Sales Manager who was also rude, dismissed our offer out of hand, and treated us like an inconvenience.

So, after lunch we drove all the way to Wesley Chapel. Had a delightful sales rep, named Robert. Then we started talking numbers. They were willing to give me $1,000 for my Daewoo!!!! plus a few other perks. Jer beat them down to a number I never believed we could get & then went to sign the papers. Then we found out that Robert had messed up on teling us the warranty & said it was a 7 yr, 100K mile drivetrain, while it was just 5-yr, 60K mile. Things came to a screeching halt then, because I don't like surprises. 20 minutes later we had a 2-yr maintainance package trown in to seal the deal & poor Robert was getting a taking to from the store manager.

But the bottom-line is, I'm now the proud owner of a brand new 2009 Toyota Corolla S!! She is so purtyful! I'm in love! We'll pick her up tomorrow fully buffed, washed & gassed up!! This is the first new car I'm owning & I'm ridiculously happy! which probably explans my inability t sleep at 4 am :)

David Henline, our amazing photographer, honored us by putting our wedding pics on his website as one of his portfolios.

So, you can see my wedding pics here!! Turn up the volume & hit slideshow :)

.... a husband! A real live one!! He smells nice & is cuddly & lets me monopolize the Wii and watches Golden Girls with me despite despising the show (and even bought me the DVD gift set of all the seasons!!), and put up with the Bridezilla I turned into an... the list goes on. It's a very nice Christmas present, I must say... I rather like it. And marriage is something I'd definately recommend to everyone. HEre's the only semi-decent pic of us taken by our friends & fam - the professional shots come back in a couple of months... & no, I won't LJ-cut it ;)




The wedding was small, immensley stressful & not something I plan on repeating - not even in India... We're only going to have a reception there. The wedding & the surrounding days were full of small miracles... Mom & Dad's flight from Chicago to here on the 23rd was cancelled due to weather & we were told they couldn't come to FL until the 25th night, but by the Grace of God we were able to fine inexpensive tix to get them to us on the 24th morn & I had my parents for Christmas. The dress that was made to my measurements, but that I hadn't tried on until 3 days before the wedding fir perfectly. Publix cancelled our cake the day before our wedding, but we were able to fix it (though we missed our rehearsal dinner to do so) & they threw in an extra tier for free to make up for it. This is what it looked like. I got the Indian cake toppers online.



I was given some lovely gifts & I had family & friends there that I didn't dare hope to have...  And best of all, I have Jer. It's been a good Christmas...

If any of you would like an invitation to my wedding in India, could you please send me an address & a mundane/IRL name(s) to swapricot at gmail dot com

Thank you!!

Hugs!

http://cs02.ewedding.com/v30/welcome.php/jeremyswapna/


:)

I'm getting married in 25 days! Yes! It's true! & No! I'm not pregnant! Jer & I threw a lot of ideas around factoring in the fact that my rents live in India & most of his fam is settled in Canada - plus the fact that we both hate the 2 hr drive we hafta do to see each other - plus a number of other of reasons & we decided on the 27th of December.

Yes, I know it's crazy - but this is going to be a tiny, tiny wedding, & the big one's gonna be in India in May - you all get invitations to the latter - if you want an invite, send me your mailing address.

Well, while this one started off being small, it's kinda snowballed - we have a caterer & a cake & a pastor & a church & a hall for the reception & a dress for me & saris for my bridesmaids - still have to rent the guys' tuxes & we're talking to a florist on Saturday... is there anything I'm forgetting??

the downside of this is that I have to quit my beloved job working for the best boss evar! I've interviewed at a lab in Lake Alfred (one of UF's extension facilities) & have a job, pending funding - which the prof finds out about in a couple of weeks. So if all works out, Jer & I will be living in Lakeland or Plant city.

So, this is why I've been MIA from LJ.

Huggles to you all!

more animals

Post 10 things that are going right in your life right now. I don't care how small. You're happy with your cup of coffee. You saw a flock of geese flying over. ANYTHING. Things that make you happy. Things that make you smile. No pressure.

1. Jeremy - a wonderful, considerate, loving person who has seen all my psychoses & issues & idiocies & STILL wants to spend the rest of his life with me!

2. A job I adore with supportive, fun co-workers

3. I'm re-reading Harry Potter! nuff said! (AND I bought books 1-6 on ebay for a grand total of $16.99 in near-new condition!)

4. An ex who's actually paying back some of the money he owes me & a steadily shrinking credit card balance that MAY *crosses fingers* be paid off this month, for the first time in 2 years!!

5. An awesome friend (who gets her own point cos of how awesome she is) who drags me out to movies & plays & food even when I'm anti-social & grumpy - yup, Daisy, it's you!

6. My facebook app games & other pc games that I'm totally, pathetically hooked on, that help me unwind!

7. Lazy week-end breakfasts with hazelnut  coffee, the man I love and the sun streaming in through the windows

8. A freezer full of yummy food my mom cooked me during her whirlwind trip to FL with dad - proof that my rents love me

9. The ability & resources to buy/make people I love, gifts that make their faces light up

10. The love, comfort, joy, reassurance, hope & promises provided daily by my Heavenly Father! 

I'm tagging all of you to do this! You'll feel so much better about your life by the end of it!