The American Dream

Wow! Lot's have changed in just one day! Today I had a meeting to write the contract to buy the house in London on E. Park Ave. and we agreed upon the closing date of August 31st. That means...I could be a homeowner in less than 20 days! It's really unbelievable to think about how much I have learned during this entire home-buying process. I didn't know anything back in April and today I negotiated my way through a contract all on my own. The contract is contingent upon home inspection/appraisal, so as long as there aren't any surprises I will have my house! It's 1160 sq. feet with a full unfinished basement. It also has 3 bedrooms, 1 full bath and a half bath. It's located in a wonderful neighborhood in a great school district. In a way I'm sad that I couldn't afford a house in WJ, but I couldn't be happier with this house and location. I'm going to be saving a boatload of money in gas because it will only take me 1 mile tops to get to school and working at Todd's will help me bank some extra money to cover my car payment and gas. The interest rates are incredibly low and I get $8,000.00! Some would say that this is not a very good time to buy a house because of the economy and I would agree with them, but I also think that it's a great time for a first time buyer to buy a house if they can. I know that the mortgage payment on this house is less than most rent payments and that makes me happy. There is a teacher at London Elementary that just purchased a home with his wife at the end of June and today he told me that he received his $8,000.00 check! Once he amended his taxes it took a little more than one month to get the money and it doesn't have to be repaid as long as you stay in the house for 3 years!

Ok, I'm done blabbing about the home...for right now anyway. I'm already thinking room colors and decorations, but I can't get my hopes up because ya never know! Something may come back in the home inspection or appraisal that will raise a red flag. Let's hope not though because I found my dream house! <3

Party USA is offering something for every occasion

Now you can invite the survivors of the titanic over to celebrate their survival by reenacting the most tragic event in their life.



Disturbing? Yes.

See for yourself: http://www.partyusa.com/titanic.htm

On a better note, I think I found some paintings I would like to use in my new house (dependent upon closing). There is this great website I stumbled upon a couple weeks ago and it offers modern art. The website is www.etsy.com and if you're into modern art, you will not be disappointed. Here are two pictures of paintings I am saving up to buy. I love them!




I'm planning to paint the living room a shade of green and the back wall where the dining room is I plan to paint brown. Is it sad that I'm already planning this and I haven't even signed the contract?

Sense and Sensibility

Today turned out to be fairly productive. I played tennis with Aaron, Nate and Chris. We played at least 4 sets, I believe. I won two, but it was probably only because Nate was on my team. After that I watched a movie called The Company. Terrible, terrible movie!! If you feel like losing an hour and 40 minutes of your life that you'll never get back go ahead and watch it. No joke. It might be the worst movie I've ever seen.

On the other hand, I just finished watching Sense and Sensibility ( the one with Hugh Grant and Kate Winslet ) and I have come to the conclusion that it may be one of the greatest movies I've ever seen! My interest in Jane Austen came about around a year ago and since then I've yearned to read all of her novels and watch the movies based upon those novels. I used to watch Pride and Prejudice at least once a week and now I'm almost positive that I will devote at least once a week to Sense and Sensibility. My heart was thrown back and forth during the entire movie. I've never felt so many emotions in a movie. It also had a happy ending, so of course I loved it!

I may be buying a house very soon. Tomorrow I take my mom, grandma, and BFF Kate over to London to see the house. They should be able to help me with the decision. I already had a house in contract and I had to pull out because of the home inspection. I have a really good feeling about this house and I think it's the one. Tomorrow's last walk through will determine whether I'm a new home owner or continuing my stay with grandma. However, I could honestly live with grandma forever. She's incredibly generous and supportive and I love her very much. She will be greatly missed when I move out.

Other than that, nothing else is new. Oh, I went to a going away party this past week and was able to meet up with David, Andreas and Simon. I never thought the meeting would be awkward, but I didn't plan on it being just like old times. I felt as if no time had passed since our last meeting. It had almost been a year since I saw Andreas...maybe even more! It was wonderful, to say the least. Hopefully, we will be able to all get together during the major holidays.

Now, I'm off to bed. Hopefully, I will dream of a happy ending like the one I watched this evening. <3

Kindergarten woes...

I woke up this morning at 7:00 AM! I know...crazy, right? I've been sleeping in until at least 9:30 for the past couple of weeks. It felt really good to get up early. It helps when you have a purpose in the morning. I love my summer break from teaching, but it's hard not to fall into a slump of waking up late and feeling like there's no need to rush because you don't have anywhere to be. I've never been one to adjust to time off I always feel like I need to have something to do, and when I don't have anything to do I feel anxious. Anyway, this morning I had to meet at Tammy Welch's house. She's the other Kindergarten teacher for summer camp, which starts on MONDAY!! We got a lot of planning accomplished and I feel very prepared for the next two weeks of summer camp. This is the first time I've volunteered for summer camp and I'm a little bit nervous about how it's going to go. I'm used to teaching children with MD, so it's going to be a whole different ball game to have 25 typical Kindergarteners. I'm excited though, a little change might be refreshing. Who knows, maybe I'll fall in love with teaching Kindergarteners! In all of my student teaching I never once had the opportunity to teach Kindergarten, so this should be a great experience...let's hope! :)

Waitressed at Todd's tonight. It was very slow until about 8:30 PM. Then I had some of my regulars that I dearly love. I worked with Amber, Chris, Nate and Tyler. We're a pretty good team! I'm going to miss Friday's when I start teaching. I might be able to keep working on Friday's and Monday's, but it may get to much because of school and grad school. Who knows how busy I'm going to get! I have to teach Jr. Church Choir soon too..AHH! I feel like I've blown my entire summer and now it's all over. I haven't planned at all! I hope there are other teachers out there that are just as bad as me. There has to be, right?

Tomorrow I'm going to be playing tennis at the high school with Nate, Aaron and Chris. I'm super pumped! This is the first time we've played with Chris and I have a feeling that he's going to be pretty intimidating because he played on the high school team. Hopefully, I don't completely embarrass myself. I know I will, I've never been known to be the most athletic person. Oh well, I'm happy with who I am.

I have to finish Breaking Dawn!! It's official!! I only have like 100 pages left...maybe if I get off here and start reading I can finish it tonight!

Nitey Nite!
<3 Wendy

How old do you think I am?

See my page at the Age Project

Monday, Monday

What a great day! Tonight the group went met at Red Robin & then we went to Galaxy Golf. We were planning to go to dime-a-dog night at the Clipper's new stadium, but Jon called to reserve us tickets and they were completely sold out! Can you believe that?!? We were pretty bummed, but then I thought putt-putt would be a good alternative and it turned out to be awesome! Kate, Amanda, Ashley, Lauren, Aaron, Nate, Kyle and Jon went! As we get older it gets harder and harder to get our group together all at once, so I was glad to get almost everyone together. I was sad that Jo couldn't make it, but she was in our thoughts. The boys were against the girls in putt-putt. Unfortunately, we lost. I thought we did really good too! Oh well, we had fun!



This is Kate and I at Red Robin!

I'm so excited! This weekend I'm driving to Myrtle Beach with Katie and Ashley! It's going to be awesome! We're camping at Myrtle Beach State Park which is right down from Pirateland Campground where I stayed last year with family. It was a blast. I'm planning to take them down the beach to Pirateland, so we can swim in the lazy river! We're not planning on doing much. Spending days on the beach is enough for me. I love the ocean, so this is going to be one of the greatest birthday's! :) I can't believe I'm going to be 25! AHH!!

Until next time...Peace Out!

"Pippin" ain't easy!

What a great night!! Just got back from Steak'n Shake with some of the cast members! Tonight's show went very well.  I don't think it was as good as last night, but it was still great! I feel so blessed to have so many people come to the show to support us.  The audience is what makes the show great!  I can't speak for everyone, but I get pumped up when I hear the audience laugh or respond to lines.  It's so exciting to know that all of our hard work is bringing happiness to others.  That's the real reason I perform in plays and musicals; I love to bring smiles, laughter and happiness to others. :) 

It's hard to believe that we only have one more performance of "Pippin" left and then it's all over.  We've been practicing so much lately I feel like London High School is my second home and the cast is my second family.  It's definitely going to be sad tomorrow when it's all over with.  Once the musical is over we have to strike the set and then we have a cast party!! Clayton, who plays the minstrel, has invited the cast to Ronettis.  It should be a blast!  Clayton owns Ronettis, which is an amazing pizza restaurant in London...I work at a pizza shop, so I know good pizza! ;) Well that's about all I can say tonight.  I'm pretty tired and I have to get up and possibly go to church tomorrow before the matinee.
Make it a great day!
<3 Wendy