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!

10 Years Ago...

I was just thinking on my way home tonight that ten years ago I didn't even know what the World Trade Centers were. I remember getting ready for school (freshman year of high school) and my parents having the news on and asking, "Where is this?" thinking that this was another country. When they told me New York City I was kind of taken back because I was probably old enough to know what the World Trade Centers were yet I was clueless. Fast forward to now and I think of how much America has changed and sort of moved on from 9/11. I know I don't think about it often... Last night Adam and I were visiting some friends and we watched the documentary "9/11". I honestly thought I would have nightmares later because of some of the horrific realities of the film. It was also hard because it is from the firefighters point-of-view. I could not imagine Adam running into a 100+ story building knowing he probably won't come out alive. All of those service men and women were so brave! I don't know if I could be that brave. I admit, I can be almost cowardly at times. I just pray that something like that never happens again and my husband and family never have to endure that.
On a lighter happier note, Friday was Adam's birthday! Since I wasn't allowed to get him a Birthday present I decided to pamper him for the day! I started by making him a "gourmet" breakfast of ham and cheese frittata, chocolate chip pancakes, and chicken sausage. Then he got to play some video games and we went to the gym. Then we went to lunch at a bar in North West Portland and had pizza and beer for lunch followed by a trip to Powell's Book Store for some reading and people watching. After that we headed over to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) to watch a film at the OMNIMAX Dome IMAX theater. We saw "Tornado Alley" which was really cool! Then we ended the evening at Soho Asian Fusion for some sushi and sake. One of the highlights of the day is that I drove him everywhere! I really like for Adam to drive so it was a treat for him to get chauffeured around town. He also got to come home and play more video games. I think he had a good day :o)
So far this we has already started with my first day of work at The Container Store (Hooray!) and celebratory dinner at Pambiche, a delicious Cuban restaurant. Adam is working and reportedly got to watched a fly over on the roof of his station. Tomorrow he's off but I work 9-5 and the rest of the week is looking a lot like Christina working while Adam's home. He's working his regular days but he'll be home alone because I have training this week! Then Friday hopefully closing on our house!!! Celebrating the busiest week of this year!!!

Joys!

When I was still attending a Methodist church we had this thing during the service called, "Joys and Concerns" which was a time for the congregation to raise the hand and share something good that has happened that needs praise (Joy) or something that needs prayer (Concern). Lately, I've been having a lot of joys so I wanted to quickly share them because I know I get awfully full of complaints!
First, this last Saturday my little sister celebrated her 11th birthday! This is so surreal for me because unlike my older sisters, I was there the day she was born and watched this little baby grow into an 11 year old! I think about this every birthday because I'm so fascinated by the miracle of life. This must be what it's like to be a parent watching your baby grow up... Scary! I wish the best for her in her 11th year of life and I hope she can also survive her first year of Middle School!
Second, the joy of being BUSY! I've been helping Adam's aunt, Tia Patty with her son the past few weeks. He had about a month of no full time camps to go to and he's still needs a little bit of supervision and chauffeuring to tutoring and football. All I have to say is Portland was not built for traffic so driving across town to football practice is like a part time job! However, another joy has come from this which is that I'm really getting to know how to get around town! For the longest time I only knew the most direct route from getting from our apartment to Tia Patty's house but now I'm finally figuring out which streets go through and which don't!
Third, making new friends and connecting with old! This month has been the most social month I've had since I moved here. I met a new girl at our House Church who is also a CA transplant and we've managed to meet up about once a week. She's a pretty cool chick. I also received an e-mail from a girl who lived in Tucson, AZ who was family friends with my Aunt Jan's family who lives in Tuscon. She's new to Portland so we're going to meet up at some point! Lastly, my good friend from high school moved up here to live with her Aunt and Uncle and we got to meet up for dinner and gelato which was fun!
Adam told me a couple weeks ago when I was having a really bad day that I needed to create a list of short term goals for myself. Just about all my joys were in some way my goals. Even better news is that he worked a ton of shifts last week and he ended up getting an overtime shift today and works his normal shift tomorrow. We were worried that I would be sitting at home depressed with nothing to do but I'm actually needing to stop blogging to get ready to go do my drug test for The Container Store and head up to Tia Patty's to check on Leo (Adam's cousin).
Once last thing, I spoke with Adam's Abuela (grandma) on the phone the other day and she was congratulating me on the job and she said, "See! Your patience has paid off!" Yes Abuela, my patience, prayers, and pleas to God have paid off/been answered! I love her tid bits of wisdom! All for now, have an outstanding week everyone!

Finally!!!

I got a job!!! Finally, all the months of searching and applying for jobs has paid off!!! I applied and had two interviews with The Container Store and they called me the other day and would like to continue on with me. I have to pass the background check and all that first but it's looking good! I'm still nervous because I haven't signed anything yet. After I go in and fill out all the paperwork and stuff I'll feel a lot more relief.
I was not looking forward to going back into retail but I learned a lot about the company and they're extremely reputable and put their employees first. They treat employees very good which I'm excited about this because I've always worked in retail stores where they pay badly and you get in trouble when you don't sell anything when it's completely out of your control. The Container Store is very career oriented and they give their employees a lot of training. I'm excited about the training because I'll get to learn some new stuff and feel like I have a real job. The employee turnover in the store is also very low which is proof to me that they take care of their employees and I should be happy there.
Other then that Adam and I are a few weeks from closing on our house! I can't wait!!! We've met some more neighbors who have convinced us that the carpet in the house HAS TO GO!!! We obviously knew it was dirty so we were going to save money and have it cleaned. But now we know that the previous tenants had animals pooping on the carpet, dirty diapers laying on the carpet, and worst of all edible underwear mashed into the carpet by a small child! Adam and I are going to bite the bullet and get rid of it! Since we decided that the carpet has to go this means that we have to replace the hardwood before the carpet goes in for everything to match up correctly. We're looking into a nice laminate hardwood. We also have to paint before all the flooring goes in. Not to mention window treatments and a washer and dryer. Needless to say, it's a good thing I finally got a job!!! I'm so excited even though it will be a lot of work, I'm ready to move into my house!
Adam and I also started going to a new church... Sort of. We found a church closer to our new house called Solid Rock. We showed up on our first Sunday on time but we didn't know that there were so many people who go to the church so we ended up leaving because there weren't any open seats. No hard feelings though! We decided to start smaller because we really need to meet people are create genuine friendships so we have been going to a House Church through Solid Rock. A house church is like a Community Group or Bible Study. We do a little discussion about the scripture and lesson from the previous Sunday and then break into small groups and pray and then take Communion. The House Church we chose is really close to our new house and has a good mixture of people close to our age and walk of life. They're pretty tight knit from what they've told us so we were really encouraged to join a group that seems to run together outside of House Church. We have yet to actually attend a service at Solid Rock but we're very encouraged by the sense of community thus far! Thank you God!

The Thrill of Victory!!!

Adam and I got to go home to California for a little vacation last week and we went on a camping trip to Lake San Antonio. This is an annual camping trip that a group from Alicia's (Adam's mom) church goes on every summer and this is my second time going. Everyone in Adam's family was able to make it at one time or another, it was really great spending time with them. It was really great getting to spend time with our nephews because now every time we see them they have changed a lot. A few of the people that come have boats so a lot of the kids do a lot of wake boarding, tubing, and "wake skating", among other water sports. We decided to go on a special young adult ride so Adam, Brandon (my bro-in-law), and I could do some wake boarding. A friend of ours, Jon, was driving us on his boat and he asked me if I had ever tried wake boarding, I told him I've tried many times and cannot get up to save my life. I'm hopeless! Jon asked for 5 tries to get me up so I said fine, but I doubt it will happen! I let Adam and Brandon go first since they're pretty skilled at the sport. We got a nice show of them jumping, catching air, and even a nice back flip from Adam! Then it was my turn... Now, I'm not afraid of eating it because I've been there and done that many times. But I was still nervous about trying and failing again! I jump in yell to hit it and BAM! I popped up!!!!!! So amazing!!! Of course, I didn't really know what to do once I got up so amidst shock and excitement, I let go! After a few tries I finally stayed up and decided that staying outside the wake was easiest. I was so ecstatic that I was laughing and screaming because I finally conquered my long term goal of getting up on a wake board! My legs were starting to get wobbly so I decided to call it a day. I was so soar the day after but it was so worth it! I just wish my family could have been there to see because they're the ones who have put in all the effort to my previous attempts! I also have to admit though, that I think there were a couple of factors that helped me get up. First, the boat is smaller and faster then the boat I'm used to trying on. Second, the rope was connected to a canopy at the top of the boat rather then in the back of the boat. My cousin pointed this out to me. No matter what, I'm glad I was able to hold on! This isn't the greatest pic, I'm still trying to figure out how to save the images from the photographers Facebook.
Other news on the Nunez Front, we had our home inspection after getting back from CA and we passed! Now we have a large stack of paper working to go through for our financing. I'm sure our loan coordinator will be getting to know us well by the end of that!

Welcome to Home Ownership!

Adam and I have officially entered escrow on a home! The search was a little long but we knew what we wanted when we found it! I have to say that home buying in a state and town where you don't have much family or influence on where exactly to live is very hard! I feel that if you're living near family you choose a home near them. We were really working with a clean slate here! The whole Portland Metro area was at our feet. The first question to answer was, "West side vs. East side". We have received strong advice from many friends giving good advice on which side to live on. We spent a long time driving around every area and decided that the West side was best for us. We particularly liked Southwest Portland because we could enjoy suburban life and still be close enough to the City for entertainment. The first thing that sold us on our house is that it is in SW Portland and borders the suburbs of Tigard and Beaverton. It's perfect! We'll be close to everything! The only other question we had to answer was "Old house vs. New House". Originally, my answer to this was, "NEW! NEW! NEW!". I think most of my life I've wanted to live in a new home. But after seeing some of the great architecture of the homes built between the 1920's and 1940's I had a change of heart! However, we still chose a newer home. The neighborhood is close and a little unconventional but I think we'll be happy there!
The negotiations went well and we got a great price! The main reason we got such a great deal was because the home was in foreclosure and the bank is more interested in unloading the property versus a home owner who has sentimental value in the home. We had a little excitement with getting the paperwork done and starting our 10-day inspection period. We're going on a mini vacation and won't return till day 10! Luckily, the contract from the bank actually states that we have 12 days. The other piece is that the bank will most likely not repair anything unless it's something that will severely cause the property from not selling such as a broken sewer line. Anyway, I've been holding down the fort because Adam has been at work for two days. I had to work out with our realtor when to get our inspection done which resulted in shortening our trip to CA. I'm sure it will be well worth it! Below is a link to the listing for our home, you can check out all the details and pictures!
http://www.redfin.com/OR/Tigard/8955-SW-Nordic-Dr-97223/home/26671522