JenLeoLIVE!

Pic of Jen & John in Vegas

Our friends Leigh and Brian got married last week. They had a fun pool party reception over the weekend and snapped this photo of us. Thought you might need a reminder of what we look like in case you haven't seen us in a while. FYI - John pretty much only makes these ridiculously silly faces when the camera is on him.

CURRENT: Las Vegas
NEXT: ??

Carlsbad house decisions, progress is relative

We made  a trip to San Diego to have a look at the house and try to make some decisions with flooring and paint. It's true that you see the house in a new light after you buy it. Maybe it was the morning light, but the place looked like much more of a dump when we showed up yesterday than the few trips we made before we bought it. My friend Heather said that you see the flaws once you own it, and ain't that the truth.

"What's the crack in the ceiling running the length of the dining room," I asked John. "Did the inspector say anything about that?"

"Oh, I don't think that's anything," John said.

I walked away from our post-purchase inspection with a two page list of what needed to be done, and feeling a bit freaked out that there was so much work to do - even if I'm not really doing any of it.

Still, we have a few months and moved into high powered decision making mode. The floor sample that we loved ended up not looking as gorgeous as the control sample. (Burmese Mahogany). So - hardwood floor chosen, done! Next we went to a carpet place (for the bedrooms) - the soft frisee that we liked was affordable - carpet chosen, done! Next?

Then we looked at kitchen cabinets and suddenly our gorgeous hardwood floor didn't go with the cabinets. Uh oh - now what? We had to decide what was more important the kitchen cabinets or the flooring. We weren't really sure but opted for cabinets. Now we're back to square one with the flooring.

I hear this goes on and on and one...

So, what did we accomplish?

- got an idea of what flooring will cost for our taste/budget bracket
- found gorgeous affordable hardwood that we may or may not use
- found a house in the neighborhood that we'd like to copy for exterior paint (eventually)
- found some carpet we like and can afford!
- decided we're doing the kitchen sooner rather than later and narrowed it to two styles (sadly less modern and funky than I would've liked)
- oh yeah - found appliances we could be happy with and got store to discount them
- made list of priorities for Jason to tackle.
- looked at color palette and now only have one more color to choose for interior rooms
- and John got a haircut

All in all - very productive and I feel like even though we added more projects to the front burner, we did give our brains a life raft for the sea of unknown options they were swimming in.

CURRENT: San Diego
NEXT: Las Vegas by the afternoon.

It's a good day to be in San Diego...or is it? Earthquake coming?

We left Las Vegas yesterday as early as we could. John joined me since Vegas was going to be 107F and the World Series of Poker is ten days out which means he won't be able to leave for seven weeks. We've got just a couple days to nail down paint and flooring for the new house.

This morning a text came into my phone at 8:11 a.m. from the Las Vegas Review Journal. It said:

108 IN THE SHADE

The weather in San Diego is scheduled for a a non-too-surprising high of 72F.  It's overcast - but that will melt off.

Other interesting So Cal stuff: Last night I was listening to CoasttoCoastam and Geologist Jim Berkland was talking about the strange frogs in Bakersfield. China had a similar frog migration just seven days before their 7.9 earthquake. Berkland talked about the rising curve of lost animals in L.A. and said that at least a 4.0 earthquake  could be coming to Southern California. I was falling asleep, but I'm pretty sure he said within 140 miles of L.A. in the next few days.

CURRENT: San Diego, CA
NEXT: Las Vegas, NV

House Update: Thrilled homeowners now... (with pics)

On March 27 I blogged that we put an offer on a house. Believe it or not, we just closed yesterday, 48 days later. It was a roller coaster of a ride and we're more than happy it's over with.

Today I called to tell my friend Leigh about it and she asked if I was excited. I am excited, but my head is also overwhelmed with what to do with it that I'm not jumping up and down. I am so happy that we got it and I can't wait to start nesting, but it's practically all I think about. The house basically needs to be stripped and redone. I wouldn't say gutted, but walls will be patched and painted, wallpaper and snow down, needs new flooring, maybe take  a wall down, new windows eventually, of course a new kitchen and bathrooms (but not right away), we also need furniture, and I'm stuck on paint colors. This doesn't include landscaping, painting the outside of the house, a deck and someday a cabana with rooftop deck. Pool? Who knows, we have the ocean in our front yard.

I know full well that we don't have to do it all at once. I get that. But I am so excited that I can't put one foot in front of me. All I can think about is paint color. And budget. I know we won't do all that's needed to be done before we move in (July 21 after the WSOP) but I want to have a plan. And I won't be able to budget everything else until I get a grasp on flooring. So, I'm going to head down to SD next week.

Luckily, my brother Jason and been more than amped to be our coordinator and head fix it/remodeler guy. He loves working with his hands and will consider our house a part time job getting it ready for us. Hopefully we can have an architect come over next week to talk about taking down a wall and an ugly roofing thing (hold tight for pics) - and then Jason and I can go price out hard wood floors and tile. We are really really lucky to have Jason, and that we can do stuff like paint and floors before we have to move in.

Now, here are the before pics of our Carlsbad fixer:

Carlsbad House (Flickr set) 

CURRENT: LAS VEGAS, NV
NEXT: SAN DIEGO, CA ? (Mon - Thurs?)

Mother's Day in Charleston, SC

It's been a lovely weekend here in Charleston - pictures, pictures - I know.

Yesterday we crashed in on two families for Mother's Day. The first was brunch at John's friends' Michelle and Sid's out in Park West. They have two kids and spread a quichetastic meal for us. The entire weekend I've been wondering if we made a mistake in deciding to move back to Southern California. I know it's the right decision family-wise, but it's hard. Charleston ranks right up there with Bay Area in terms of how many good friends we have in this town. Sid and Michelle gave us a look at what our life might be like. They are laid back Californians and although they live at least 30-40 minutes from downtown Charleston, we still got a glimpse of some difficulties we might face here. Sid wears a t-shirt and shorts to work, a business he owns. This sometimes gets strange looks from the suits that he sees around his building or at lunch. They also told us about being somewhat ostracized because they don't go to church. It was an interesting perspective considering we usually hang out with locals that don't have these issues (that we know of). Artsy alternative locals, but locals still the same.

I try to keep in mind that this is vacation. But every restaurant, every wine bar, every gorgeous historic house that we see nags at me. Did we make a mistake? Would we be happier here? We eventually let it go and dream talk about a future in which we can be bi-coastal. Or tri-coastal. Some of our friends here are encouraging us to buy some beach front property with them in Panama. John is super keen to find out more info. I'd like to see pictures and hear more about the three hour drive from the nearest city first.

Ok, back to bed for a nap. After all, it's only 5am PST.

CURRENT: Charleston, SC
NEXT: Las Vegas, NV

Getting some soul food in Charleston, SC - $20 trick works here too

We made it to Charleston, SC last night. It's really great to be traveling with John for pleasure as opposed to work. Stress? What stress? Never heard of it.

Except for a few minutes at our hotel...upon arrival. Travel Tip #1 - remember who booked the trip. John books 98% of our travel arrangements. But for some reason which we now know is not only Mother's Day but also the local college graduation - hotels were pretty booked up downtown. So, I spent some extra time online surfing for the best deal + location. Only, I forgot. And when we arrived at the King Charles Best Western on Meeting Street and asked for Caldwell - the hostess told us she didn't have us booked.

"We probably booked it under Expedia," John said.
" Or Hotels.com," I added. We only book through Expedia or Hotels.com. Or directly I thought - but then they would've had us.
"We booked this months ago..." I said, fulling losing faith in online travel booking procedures. John wondered where we'd end up since the whole town was full up.
"Might you have reserved this under a different name?" Molly suggested.
"Jennifer Leo?" I questioned hopefully.
"Yep, we have your room," said Molly. "And you booked through Orbitz."

I started chatting to her about the reasons I chose this hotel. And asked her about the recent renovations. Apparently they only had 30 rooms redone so far.

"And if I slip you a $20 can we get one of those new rooms Molly?" I smiled. "Worth a shot, John - hurry," I dictated pointing to his wallet - "it works in Vegas."

Molly didn't mind. We'll get moved to one of the new rooms on Saturday for the last two nights of our trip. That was her first availability.

So - SOUL FOOD.
The best way to give your soul exactly what it needs is to go home. There are some people in this world that  make me feel like I've come home the minute I'm in their presence. That's how we felt last night.  We had dinner at Johnny and Hayne's and couldn't have started the trip any better. They just had twin boys, 2 months old, and when we arrived Johnny had one in a sling and one over his shoulder making parenting look easy as pie.

Our friends  might have the only mid-century modern house in Charleston and I walked around the house drooling, mentally taking notes at what we might be able to copy from their expert design efforts.

Classic music was playing, steaks were on the grill, and veggies from their CSA delivery were all prepped.  So, you see, this isn't the kind of soul food you were thinking of - this is good loving, hanging out with great friends, an occasion that doesn't happen often enough.

And right now I'm starved again - so I better go find something to eat.

CURRENT: Charleston, SC
NEXT: Las Vegas, NV (May 12)