Nothing on the Newburgh home repair front. But lots on the getting-married-in-April front. Eddie proposed in November with this beautiful Me&Ro ring. I love it!
I wear it every so often and when I do, I can't stop staring at it.
The wedding will be in Hawaii with only family and a few friends attending. I returned the original green dress I had immediately purchased after the proposal and replaced it with a white beachy dress from Tamara Katz, a boutique in Pa'ia, Maui.
It's not a formal wedding dress, but I think it fits with our low-key approach. The ceremony will only be 10 minutes, on the beach, with everyone standing. Then the reception will be at the vacation rental we've secured for a week, where the out-of-town guests will be staying.
We're compiling our playlist by asking guests to suggest a song on their RSVP postcards (vintage Hawaii travel poster postcards). The RSVPs and invitations were hand-written, which isn't so hard when you're only inviting 20 people.
Some recommendations:
"Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis
Hawaiian Wedding Song (various artists have performed it, including Elvis)
"No Ordinary Love" by Chris Botti
"Blues for Pablo" by Miles Davis
"Olomana" by Ku'u home o kahalu'u
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Braddah Iz
YES. Today at 8am, our lawyer-in-law (wonderful Margaret's coinage) came over and we signed the documents. She pushed the send button on the wire transfer to pay the seller, so the deal is d-o-n-e.We're looking for homeowner's insurance, and we're going to grieve the taxes. Right now, it's over $8,000 a year. Inconceivable.Also, did you know you have to TIP the title person at closing?!?! I think it's only a New York thing, but that's another $100-$200 they surprise you with. Luckily, we didn't pay that because our lawyer did most of the legwork and we didn't have a traditional closing.
We're leaving on vacation on the 14th for about a month, so we can't start work right away. I'll be thinking obsessively of the house while trying to enjoy...Hawaii. It won't be all sun and surf, though, because...
...we got ENGAGED! Our wedding is in Hawaii, next April. We'll be spending a good chunk of our vacation on wedding planning. I immediately got a dress, but my mother's making me return it because she won't allow me to wear green on her big day. That's fine...I'll keep it for the second reception in New York.
I promised myself I would not prematurely celebrate, so I'm waiting until our lawyer confirms that we've finally closed. It's taking so long because there were issues with the contract, then the seller's attorney had to push back the closing date because of back taxes, and now, we're waiting for the title company to pay the back taxes and to get the deed, and to execute affidavits...I have no idea what's going on.
The contract is signed...we're supposed to close in two weeks. I have no idea what happens between signing and closing, so I hope we do. The last thing we need is another deal falling through.
So...for those who know my cat...we made spaghetti and meatballs last night for dinner. Eddie made the meatballs from scratch. I carefully browned them, then we made the sauce from almost-scratch. We combined the sauce and meatballs in a big cast iron pot and let it simmer on the stove, uncovered, while we read on the sofa. Tracer, meanwhile, was roaming around, sniffing the ground for dropped food. After reading a few chapters, it was eerily quiet, which gave me a start. I listened for Tracer, but couldn't place him. Then we heard a clang, short and punctuated. I ran to the kitchen, but the cat was already gone. Nothing looked amiss. The trashcan wasn't overturned. There were no dishes in the sink for him to lick.
I decided to check on our dinner. There, I saw a trail of spaghetti sauce that lead to a meatball with two little divots eaten out.The m*f*er had somehow taken out a meatball from a boiling pot of sauce. He had probably nibbled away at the exposed top, then decided to try for the whole thing. His fatal flaw - the meatball dropped right on top of the neighboring saucepan. The lid of the saucepan clanged once before the meatball rolled off.
So...we tried to get a mortgage for Courtney Avenue, but it turns out that Eddie's credit score dropped 100 points since June. It was shocking! Well, I think the most harmful factor was that a lot of the credit cards dropped his credit limit by half or more, and so whatever balance he had in his credit card accounts went from being 20% of the available credit amount to 100%.Then the most recent payments we made to lower his credit card balance hadn't shown up, yet. From now on we're going to be vigilant about credit scores and asking for corrections on credit reports.Anyway, we can't get a mortgage for the amount we had wanted to offer. So...it looks like we're going to focus on Liberty Street, which is in fact back on the market.
Ka'a'awa Plantation! Some photos of the house we're renting for the wedding...
