#27

Add Curb Appeal to our House

HERE ARE THE MANY PHASES OF OUR HOUSE.........
The before pictures:

2003 Where are the windows?!

2009 When we bought the house it was so cute!

The hard winter killed most of our plants. So this is what it looked like most of the time:

YUCK!! It's so boring!

During:

This is with new exterior paint. It was peeling off & very dull, so we had Jamie scrape & repaint. He did a great job!

Side view



DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....

The After Pictures:

Ryan built the shutters himself & hung them up!! I'm so proud of my handyman!! We had painted them a blue color but it looked terrible so with the help of friends I settled on this green & Jamie painted them. If someone ever takes the shutters off, they'll be horrified by the back of the shutters since they are still blue! I was so worried about picking out & committing to paint colors, but now that it's finished I'm very pleased with my commitment!

WOW!!! It's hard to tell all the blooms & colors that everything has since it's not full grown yet.

Window Close up

Side View!



Here's What We Planted:

Outer Windows - Wax Leaf Ligustrum - Pyramid & Periwinkles to the side

Under Windows - Blue Velvet St. Johnswort - Hypericum & Wandering Jew in front

Chimney - Double Knock Out Rose - Hot Pink & Daily...??

Porch - Golden Euonymus

I'll take a new picture in a few months once everything fills in a little more. We mulched over Memorial Day weekend so it looks different now. Once there are some blooms, I'll post an updated picture.

#8 update

Here are some pictures of what my garden looked like 2 weeks ago:

The lighting in the picture is bad but here's what it looked like tonight:

We harvested a jalapeno, cilantro & basil tonight. I have 2 tomatoes and about a dozen more jalapenos that aren't quite ready. Every other plant has flowers blooming so it shouldn't be too long before I get more fruits & veggies! Thanks to the future Mrs. Mark Ruth, I learned about Liquid Seaweed & my plants went crazy! Thanks Jen!!!!

April Recap

Here's what I accomplished in April:

1. Run a 5k
2. Sew a button on & it stays - Cathy will help me as soon as I buy some buttons
3. Blog about 30 under 30 - post pics & update my progress - so far so good
4. Eat Indian Food
5. Master 3 or 4 Greek dishes – Saganki, Passtiso & Moussaka, Baklava
6. Take a cooking class
7. Cook a whole chicken/turkey
8. Plant/grow tomatoes
9. Host a formal dinner party
10. Have a murder mystery dinner party
11. Host a family holiday
12. Paint a painting – Groupon purchased!
13. Make & Paint pottery
14. Take a self defense class
15. Learn/invest in the stock market
16. Read the One Year Bible
17. Go camping
18. Take a road trip by flipping a coin
19. Plan & take a cheap weekend getaway
20. Sell $6 million in RE in 2011 – in process
21. Pay off HH Loans
22. Get my Broker’s license
23. Get CRS Designation
24. Leave my 20's in style
25. Find a facility & start volunteering for the Delta Society with Nickel
26. Hang a light fixture
27. Add curb appeal to our house
28. Take at least 1 picture of RH & I every month - so far so good

29. Indoor rock climbing
30. Learn to sew a quilt & apron with Michelle & Jenica

I'm almost 50% done! Color Code: completed in January, February & March.

#23

Get CRS Designation

I had only 2 more classes to take & I took them online! CRS stands for Certified Residential Specialist. Carol, my broker, wants all agents to get this designation since it's one of the most prestigious ones available. It is not one you can get by paying money or taking 1 class. I had to complete over 25 transactions (meaning they actually closed & I got paid), take 2 core courses totalling 16 credits each, 2 elearning courses that were 8 credits each, and 32 credits in electives. My Bachelor's Degree counted as 16 and then one of my other designations counted for 16 credits. So as you can see, this is something that takes a lot of time and effort & not a lot of agents have it. Another reason I wanted to get it was because CRS Designees earn nearly 3 times the $29,400 median income of REALTORS® serving as sales associates. (Source: 2009 NAR Member Profile). CRS Designees average a total of 21 transactions per year with gross sales (not income) of $3.2 million. I want to make more money :)!! Here's the link if you want more information http://crs.com/

#9

HOST A FORMAL DINNER PARTY:

This was the evening of our Pottery Class, so Michelle & I spent the whole day together. She helped with the center piece & everyone's place cards. I'm so glad I didn't host and cook! Jenica did a great job cooking. I think it was the best she's ever done!!! She used all family recipes and it was AMAZING!! Here's a picture of our awesome chef, maybe she's for hire...

...although she did say if we do this again next year we should have it catered! Hahaha

Here is our menu:
Appetizers: Hot Ryes

Salad: Walnut, Apple Gorganzola Salad

Main Course: Filet of Beef with Gorganzola Cream Sauce with Potatoes & Roasted Tomatoes

Dessert: Chocolate Roll with whipped cream & hot fudge

YUM, I'm hungry again just thinking about it.

Here's what the table looked like:

It was so much fun getting dressed up. We usually are very casual when we get together, so this was a nice change. Here are some pictures:

Kyle's dad was in town, so he got to join us!

Ryan & Chelle haven't taken a picture together since the BRH trip to Paris at Baylor...let's not count the years!

Jenica touched raw meat...this is a big deal for her! Yay!

#13a

Make & Paint a piece of pottery


Groupon started at the best time! Michelle & I bought a groupon at Fireside Gallery for 2 pottery classes. The first one you make the pottery & the second class you paint it.We had so much fun making our bowls & spending time together. I'm still waiting on pictures from her from the first class... :)

Our next class is in June! I can't wait to have the finished piece.

Ummm #3

Ummm, where did the time go?? I lost my battery charger so I haven't been able to retrieve any of my pictures, leading to a lack of posting. Now I'm confused where I left off! I'm having fun blogging, but I must admit it's more fun when you stay on top of it! Here goes...