Happy New Year!

I have to say this has been one of the greatest Christmas and New Year's I've had in a while! Going home to California was absolutely wonderful! We arrived and the weather was beautiful! We were welcomed by some good old LA traffic and three hours behind schedule! We met my sister Carrie and brother-in-law David in Rancho Cucamonga for dinner and gift exchange and then returned home to Thousand Oaks for a much needed night of sleep! We attended cousin Jessica's wedding on Wednesday which was very lovely. On Thursday we had a chance to relax and little and have lunch with Aunt Jan. I also made a surprise visit to my old office to visit my old co-workers. It was so good to see them! Friday was another day of relaxing and running errands. We ended the day at sister-in-law Ariel's house for dinner and play time with our nephews! Saturday we celebrated Christmas Eve with the Garris' and Uncle Nick made very tasty enchiladas! Aunt Mary and Cory were also in attendance. We also had a Skype session with Carrie, April, and cousin Cathy who were in Washington D.C. Then we headed over to Abuela and Abuelo's house for Albarran Christmas Eve. It was quite a party! We had ham, turkey, and lamb! As well as several kinds of tamales! Yum! We also sang Christmas carols and did the big gift exchange. All the new members of the family also got to hang their new ornaments on the tree. I was included on that! Christmas morning we got up and made brunch and opened Christmas gifts back at the Nunez's. Adam and I went to go meet my dad for lunch in Burbank. It was really great to see me Dad! I was a little sad I didn't get to see the rest of the Walker gang but I made my phone calls and everyone seemed to be enjoying Christmas. Monday was our last day in town and as also is a sad day. It is bittersweet coming home. But now we're here and back in our routine!
I've been thinking about New Years resolutions and I never like to commit to things because you never know what the year will bring and what may change. But I know for sure that most of my resolutions are old. Such as, exercise more and eat better. My new one for this year to be diligent about sending birthday cards! I really failed at this last year and I want to do better this year because I feel so guilty! My other resolution is to get organized! This could be counted as old since I've been working on it since we moved into our house but this year is the year it will happen! As for both Adam and I, our resolution will be to diligently attend church and House Church. As well as try to get more involved. We love our church but still feel a little disconnected because there are so many people. We put a lot of this to the side last year because life was so crazy so I think we're going to bring this to the top of our priority list. As it should be!
Good news also, Adam bought be a new camera for Christmas so as soon as I take some pictures, I will post them!

Merry Christmas!!!

I have failed at mailing Christmas cards this year so I've decided to do the next best thing, Internet greeting! Adam and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest New Year! Amidst the chaos of Christmas shopping and planning for travel, it is easy to forget the reason for the season. We hope everyone is able enjoy time their friends and families this Holiday season. We are excited to come home to California to spend Christmas with our family! We have also enjoyed starting Christmas traditions with our friends here in Oregon. The above picture is our first time cutting down a Christmas tree together.

Christmas Time is Here!

I have to admit that this is the first time in many years that I have felt in the "Christmas Spirit"! I think the winter-like weather can be credited for it. It's been quite cold and we've had some very frosty mornings. It's not so bad so far... I am looking forward to our trip home to sunny California. Hopefully it will be nice and warm. I'll take 60 degrees as warm! It's funny how I've acclimated to the weather here. Suddenly 60 degrees is warm! I shouldn't say warm, it's more like relief from freezing!
Adam and I have been celebrating by cutting down our own tree and putting up Christmas lights on our house. Pretty fun stuff! As I mentioned before, we will be going home to California for Christmas. We are very excited to see our families. Adam was fortunate to get Christmas day off so we're even more excited about not having to rush home on Christmas Eve.
As for my new job, it's going well! I'm learning a ton of new things! Sometimes I feel like I'm in way over my head! I definitely have the medical background but I do not have the accounting background. I need to do some homework and get up to speed because I need to learn this stuff to do well at my job. Everyone has been helpful and they're always offering support which is a great thing to be surrounded by!
Adam and I have finally gone back to church. Between moving and working on the house and our work schedules we put church on the back burner. We're so happy to be back. We are loving our new church and God is speaking to us through every message! We also got back to House Church which was really nice!
All in all, this is shaping up to be a great end to 2011!

I'm going Downtown!!!

Exciting news... I got a new job!!! I've been keeping this opportunity on the down low because I didn't want to risk jeopardizing my other jobs. I am the new Accounting Assistant for Oregon Anesthesiology Group. My new office is located in Downtown Portland in the Pearl District. This is a great place to work, there are tons of great restaurants and shops nearby so Adam could come visit me for lunch and do some shopping too! The other great thing is I can take public transportation to get there! I won't have to drive our enormous SUV to work every day. Other benefits are a real salary, consistent schedule, and I get to work in an office again! I won't really get much Doctor or Patient contact because it's not that type of medical office but I will get a chance to grow my skills. The only drawback (which is also a benefit) is that it is a full time position. Although this is great for financial reasons, this also means less time at home with Adam. I've become accustomed to leisure mornings of watching tv and drinking coffee with him and now we'll have to save that till the weekends. I'm pretty excited still to have a "grown-up" job. I've been humming "Downtown" by Petula Clark all weekend.
I also have to share my my birthday weekend recap! On Thursday evening Adam and I went to pick up Aunt Jan from the airport. I think I referred to her in my last post as a "surprise". We got to the airport and Aunt Jan came out of the terminal without her bag. She claimed she had to check her bag because of a birthday gift that wouldn't pass security. We got down to the baggage claim and we were waiting for her bag when a girl approached us from behind and I began to think this weird girl was rudely going to barge in between us! Then the weird girl started to say something and I realized, that's my sister!!! Surprise!!! I was so excited to have both my Aunt and my sister here in Portland! Although, I was waiting for my other sister April to pop out of an elevator somewhere! Unfortunately, no April :o( But I could tell it was going to be a great weekend! We started with dinner at Salvador Mollys. Then home for a tour of our house. We got up on Friday morning and headed over to Multnomah Village for a lovely breakfast at Marco's Cafe. Then we headed to Multnomah Falls. Afterward, we went to do a little shopping at The Container Store. Then we went out for my birthday dinner at a Lebanese restaurant called Nicholas. Dinner was delicious and everyone enjoyed themselves! Saturday we kicked into high gear and started working on the kitchen. Aunt Jan is the shelf lining expert so she started that task. She also finished scrubbing my cabinets! Carrie helped clear the clutter and put things away. She also scrubbed my wainscoting in my dining room. We also washed some light fixtures. Then we stopped for a little girls lunch and shopping trip. Adam elected to stay home to continue working on his project. We ate at the Old Market Pub which is down the street from our house. Then we headed over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and bought a rug for the dining room and some other kitchen necessities. We came home and finished some more chores and then headed over to have dinner with Tia Patty and Daniel at Jade, a Thai restaurant in Sellwood. We came home and watched "The Wizard of Oz". Sunday morning we finished organizing the laundry room and my linen closet and then headed out for our last lunch together. We headed Downtown so Aunt Jan and Carrie could see where my new office will be. We had lunch at the Deschutes Brewery. Then it was time to head to the airport. It was hard to let them go but I was so glad they got to come in the first place. That concludes my birthday weekend. Now I get to look forward to the rest of November and in a month and a half we'll be home in LA for Christmas!

Oh right, my blog...

I've been sitting at my laptop (with internet!) for over an hour trying to remember the things I've been needing to look up or do on an actual computer and I just remembered, "Oh yeah, I should update my blog!" My contacts are so dry they may pop out but here goes nothing!
Adam and I are enjoying living in our home! It's still a work in progress but as of tomorrow or Thursday the kitchen floor should be complete and appliances back in place! A functioning kitchen equals a huge sigh of relief! As of now, we had to post a sign on our front door directing trick-or-treaters to the back door because our stove and refrigerator are blocking the front door. Speaking of trick-or-treat, Adam and I got to spend our first Halloween together as a married couple! It didn't go quite as I had imagined but we still had a great evening together! We ended up skipping the pumpkin patch but I whipped up some beef and barley stew in my crock pot, bought half a pumpkin pie, and topped off the meal with Pumpkin Beer. For Adam, of course! We watched some scary shows on tv and that was our evening! We only got two trick-or-treaters which was a little disappointing because we know there are a few more kids in the neighborhood. Oh well, more candy for us!
I can't forget to mention that we got cable!!! Direct tv to be exact (I guess it's not cable, it's satellite). Anyway, it's tv! We've been glued to the tv since! Well, while we're not working... It's seriously mesmerizing. Hopefully the obsession with it will wear off.
Although I can't believe it's already November, I think this month will be pretty eventful. First of all my birthday is coming up! Feeling oddly strange about turning 24. I only say this because even though 24 is still young, I can refer to the junior high years as, "ten years ago". Yikes! At least when you're only 24, ten years seems like a long time. I'm sure that ten year chunk will shorten over time. I'm excited because I'm getting a special visitor on my birthday weekend :o) After the birthday festivities we'll have a week to get ready for some more visitors!!! It's amazing how having a house opens up the opportunity for family to come visit! Then to end November, of course Thanksgiving. Adam may take a trip home to visit his family before Thanksgiving. I might go with him if work allows. A busy month for the Oregon Nunez's!
I promise to post pictures as soon as possible! We broke a camera so all my pictures are on my iPhone. Getting those onto the computer is going to be an adventure! I'm taking advice!

October 17, 2011

I'm well aware that it is not October 17th yet but that's the day we can officially move into our house! The missing laptop charger has been recovered and now I can give the full progress update on the house! As of now, about 98% of the house is painted. That is, all areas that will be receiving new flooring are painted. However, I'm re-painting the master bedroom because the only paint color I was sure of turned out to be borderline hideous!!! I should have stuck with safe colors like beige or creamy colors. The color in my entry way and living room is supposed to be a light grey and it turns out to have a purple tint to it. We're hoping it's just a reflection of the cherry hardwood on the sheen of the paint. If not... I guess we'll wait and see. We painted our guestroom a lovely sand color so I decided to put that on one wall of the master bedroom. The other walls are a shade lighter on the color swatch.
Adam broke ground on installing the new laminate flooring yesterday in the hallway. He's made some stencils, practiced cutting, and pulled up all the carpet in the hallway. And surprise, surprise... Stains! In the sub-floor! The stains in the carpet were obvious but I was hoping we'd get lucky and they would stop in the carpet or pad. At the beginning of this project I started to form a serious anger toward the family who rented the house before we bought it because of how filthy they were. When you're nose to nose with their remnants for days at a time, it gets to you! Not to mention the urine smell! Apparently, I'm the only one who can still smell it. Yes, even through the paint I can still smell urine! Now we have to paint sealer over as many stains in the sub-floor as possible or the smells won't go away. Of course, I'm the only one whose worried about it because I will smell urine till be move out of the house!
I came to a point where I felt bad about being angry at the children for the messes because I reminded myself that it's not technically their fault. It's the parents that I'm angry with!! I also have to mention that we moved all the appliances out of the kitchen in order to put the new floor in and we found a load of crazy objects behind the oven. Lets see: Golf balls, toy vampire teeth, toy snakes, toy airplane, egg shells (and egg ooze down both sides of the oven), a spatula, and a fork. I also found a child's drawing and a mini 3 Musketeers bar on top of the refrigerator. After a nice dinner with one of our new neighbors (the ones who told us about the edible underwear) we learned that some of kids had some health issues and they were basically neglected by their two-timing, World of Warcraft playing, psycho mother. Poor kids :(
Enough about the renters! Our new neighbors have been very welcoming to us! Everyone's happy to have us and see activity going on at the house. They've offered to let us borrow ladders and work lights which have been so helpful! I mentioned before that we were invited to dinner which was pretty cool! The couple is pretty fun to hang out with but unfortunately they're moving. Hopefully some nice people will move in to that house.
So, October 17th is when the carpet will be put in and we can move in! We can't wait! It will be so nice to have the major things done and be able to relax a little! I will post pictures when we're done!

Rain, is that you???

Yesterday morning I had to go to a part time staff meeting at The Container Store and we walked out and it was raining!!! I have mixed feelings because it's supposed to be fall which means white puffy clouds, brisk mornings, and colorful trees... Am I right? However, it was absolutely glorious to go to bed last night with the windows closed and wake up in a dark and cool room. How could I not spend an extra hour snuggling underneath my warm comforter! I'm sure like all weather that this is just a fluke!
I finished my first week of training at The Container Store, hooray! I have never received this much training for any job and I still have more! I admit, my brain was done by the end. I have learned a lot but still have way more to learn. Mostly product awareness at this point. I use the term awareness instead of knowledge because we aren't so concerned with being able to tell the customer everything we know about a certain product. However, when someone needs a paper tray that holds "tabloid" size paper, I do need to know if we even carry that. This is a true situation and the answer is no, we do not carry anything to hold tabloid size paper. In fact, I didn't even know what that was until I came across that customer. I think a few more 6:00AM merchandise processing shifts will help me be more aware of what we have and where it is! I also have to say that I'm very impressed by The Container Stores business, sales, and moral ethics. I've worked a couple retail jobs where they either don't care what you do at all or they mentally/emotionally abuse you for not performing and then don't give you tools to use to improve. The Container Store is almost fool proof! First off, I've been having a mental war over this but people come to our store to buy things. My first retail job was the exact opposite. People didn't want to buy the product but at The Container Store they really buy stuff! Our sales goals are outrageous and we're beating them almost every day! I'm so mind blown over this simple concept. Second, not only does that sort of make my job easier but even if it didn't this company gives you all the tools you need to sell. This ultimately makes the sales process easier but I have to practice at it because we're creating a genuine shopping experience for our customers. We're supposed to connect with people and offer solutions for multiple things not just one thing. We're not really supposed to ask, "How can I help you?" rather "Are we working on the office today?" Just more personable. I have to say, I'm out of practice. But it will become easier.
Adam is plugging along working away! He worked a trade last week which meant neither of us were home much. By Thursday we were both in desperate need for time together! I actually got a surprise on my car after work, can anyone guess?? A taco!!! Haha Ok sounds weird but he knew I would be hungry so he got me a taco from Taco Bell and left it on my wind shield with a note saying, "I love you" on it. As I approached my car I thought I got a ticket or something. Very sweet husband. He also took me to dinner at a Greek restaurant which was pretty good. I think we'll take Mom and Dad Nunez there when they visit in a week! We're excited to see them and we have almost their whole stay planned!
However, they won't be staying with us in our house! We got totally screwed on our closing. Our loan coordinator did a terrible job of communicating with us and didn't seem to know his job very well because all the paperwork was pulled together a approved AFTER the last minute! I guess he was supposed to send our approved paperwork to the escrow company two days before our close date (9/16) so we could sign, they could review, and we would get our keys on Friday. Our paperwork ended up getting approved and e-mailed to escrow on Friday (close date) and then the woman at the escrow company didn't understand how to open up the page to access the documents. She had to receive them by 3:00PM in order for them to be ready to signed on Tuesday. Well, she didn't answer any phone calls or e-mails to receive directions on how to open the docs. Now, we're waiting in the dark till Monday to see how much longer this is going to take. To top it off, our loan coordinator had the audacity to say that he thinks this was all done in a timely manner. Does he realize we had a 90 day escrow??? He's sending us a customer satisfaction survey and needless to say it's going to have a long letter attached about how someone should never say something like that when buyers are going to be closing almost a week late from their close date after a 90 day escrow. Given all the work that needs to be done in the house we ended up pushing our move out date from our apartment to later in October to give us more time. We're disappointed because we should be working on our house right now so we can move in and enjoy our home. We're hoping now that it's in the hands of the escrow company that things will run smoother but we're not holding our breath!
Well, if you're still reading thank you for listening to my rant! Happy Day to you!