House Update

It's been a long time since I've written an update about the house.  Why?  Because there has been barely any progress. 

I'm going to update in bullet points to try to give you the best understanding of what this process has been like.

1. October - put house on the market
2. November - send offer to bank
3. Bank declined offer, said they wanted $14K more
4. We appeal the appraisal price and provide comps from the neighborhood that are well below the offer price
5. Bank asks for more comps
6. Send additional comps
7. Bank rejects our request and stands at their $14K increase
8. Go back to buyer with bank's decision
9. Buyer says "no way, not worth more than the offer", sends MORE comps to the bank
10. Bank rejects their request - stands at $14K more
11. My title attorney says he hasn't heard from the bank in over a week - also happening with 3 other clients he's dealing with.
12. Title attorney is now trying to see if the bank would accept their $14K more price WITH $5K in credit to the buyer.  If they accept, my realtor will go back to the buyers with that.

So that's where we are today.  Waiting to see what the bank will say.  Apparently, my title attorney said that several of his clients working with my same bank are in the same situation.  The houses were over appraised and the bank is not bending on any of their prices.

This is not good.  It means we will most likely have to go back on the market at the banks price.  And NO ONE is going to buy my house at that price right now. 

So I'm stuck right now.  If the bank refuses and the buyer backs out, then we are back to square one.  That's going to mean some difficult decisions.  I can't continue to manage the house unattended from halfway across the country.  It's going to mean we either walk away from the house and foreclose, or I suck it up and rent it out with my ex.  Neither of which are good options and the renting (for me, at least) is even worse.

Flip Flopping Weather

My least favorite part about spring is when the weather keeps flip flopping back and forth.  It was in the 80s a couple of weeks ago.  Today... high of 50. 

It makes it impossible to dress.  I'm trying to stay warm (and covered) while still wearing bright springy clothes.

I think this outfit works.  Especially with the sock bun (oh, sock bun... I'm glad you're back). 

Also, when I wear high shoes, I have to slouch to fit in the mirror in my room.  Good stuff. :)

*Jeans - Rock & Republic, shirt & sweater - JCrew Factory, shoes - Nine West Factory, earrings - gift from Lauren

Post Easter

Easter was nice and relaxing.  We "hid" eggs for Kayla.  I use the term "hid" loosely, as they were basically out in the open in all the spots she likes to look at.  She enjoyed opening them and shaking all the treats out.  The dogs like that also.

Kayla really liked the cart that GiGi got her.

Then I made an early dinner for everyone and spent the day watching the Masters.

Kayla also enjoyed bubbles for the first time.

The weather here is that weird high 50s-low 60s with crazy winds.  It makes it really difficult to get dressed.  I thought I would bust out my new green pants today.  I bought them at Gap after I finally found my royal blue pants.  Last weekend, they had them in a bunch of new colors.

Colored pants are awesome!!!

*pants - Gap, shirt & sweater - JCrew, shoes - Target (old)

#3 Best Thing about living in Chicago

Since I have moved to Chicago (a little over a month ago), I have had to fill up my gas tank twice.

TWICE.

When I was in Maryland, I had to fill up at least once a week, usually every 5-6 days.

With gas prices at $4.50 a gallon, my wallet is thankful for this change!!!

Head Shots - The best of them

Remember when I first mentioned that I had to have head shots taken at work?

Well, they finally were ready for each of us to pick our favorite three.  From there, the creative department were going to crop them close and pick the one that would work best for all the office collateral.

Being the good blogger I am, I captured my top five, cropped them so you would have a better idea of what the final product might look like, and am posting them on the internet.  I may regret this later. :)

Below are my top five (sketchy cropping by me).

These were the top three that I chose for them.

 Not bad huh?  Our Production manager went through and did a little touching up under the eyes and smoothed my chin up in the one where I am smiling.

Now the only remaining question is.... how did the video turn out?!

Miss Kayla

I needed a good laugh this morning.  This totally did it.

I few weeks ago when we were visiting Melissa and Justin and Kayla, Kayla was fascinated by the things floating around in my drink.  This video only captures 1.36 minutes of the 5 minutes of entertainment.

Palm Springs

Sorry for the unexpected silence the last few days.  I can't remember if I mentioned it here or not, but I had to head out to Palm Springs to handle my first site visit at my job.

My flight on Friday night was delayed by over two hours out of O'Hare because of bad weather in the morning that pushed everything back.  Luckily, I was nice to the customer service person at the airport and she got me on the already overly booked and delayed flight that was leaving 15 mins from now.  I pulled a runner across the airport and was able to get there and secure my new ticket with time to spare.  After that fiasco, and the number of people that were unsuccessful flying standby, I was willing to deal with my middle seat.  Even if I sat by the "guy who has to sit with his legs apart and his arms all over the armrest" and the "woman who wouldn't stop shaking her leg".

I arrived in Palm Springs at 11:45pm.  Just in time to say hello to Amanda and head back to her parents house.

The best thing about this trip was that Amanda was able to come down and stay for the weekend, and her parents and sister were there as well.  It was a family reunion of sorts for me because I had not seen her family in at least 5 years.

We had a lot of fun wandering around doing some shopping, hitting the Living Desert, and just have a relaxing time chatting and catching up.  I did manage to snag a few photos.

First, after dinner Saturday night, we swung into a sunglasses shop.  I was trying on a few regular glasses.  Have I mentioned before that I have glasses envy?  I have good vision and don't need glasses, but I wish I did. I love how nice people look wearing glasses.  I found a nice pair that I had to snag a photo for proof that I really have the "face" for glasses. :)

Then, on Sunday, we stopped at her family's favorite place.  It's a big resale shop for lots of estate pieces.  They have artwork, furniture, jewelry and other things.  It's seriously an amazing place.  If I lived down there, I could see buying most of my furniture.  I should've done a better job of snapping photos of things.  I did grab a shot of my favorite photo in there.  Shortly after I took this picture, Amanda told me she loved that photo.  Guess just more evidence of why we are friends.  It is so fantastically retro and girly.  If she doesn't buy it soon, I may have her parents buy it for me.  Then I could plan a trip carrying MORE artwork (I'll get to this story tomorrow).

It was titled "Hairdresser" and was framed for $100.

Finally, on Monday, I had to actually WORK on this trip.  So I checked into the hotel I was staying at and took my site visit with my contact.  By 11am, I was finished (God bless the small meetings) and found some time to enjoy this view.... and the pool:

I left early yesterday morning to return to reality.  It was a nice break and so nice to see Amanda and her family.