more this & that

i haven't quite found a blogging rhythm these days.  i'm still trying to unpack (yes, a little embarrassing) and get organized at the hotel, get more sleep and work on stuff for the new house.  my parents finally returned from their 3-week vaca yesterday and i was looking forward to some free time but alas, my mama caught a cold so no contact with the baby allowed.  bleh.

one of the architectural renderings - hand sketched and colored!

anywho, we had our second meeting with the architect on monday and it was so exciting!  based on our wish list and discussions from our first meeting, they presented us with three different house schemes.  we reviewed each one and chose elements that we liked and made major decisions regarding placement of the cottage for my parents, garage, areas with vaulted ceilings, what sections would be two-story, etc.  we have our third meeting on monday and will be another step closer to the final design of our new home.  this process is soooo exciting and fun!   

left - cooking the arborio rice in the seafood broth/garlic/onion mixture
right - the finished product garnished with fresh parm and parsley

one of my favorite italian dishes is authentic risotto!  tonight, i made seafood risotto and sadly, i was the only one who enjoyed it.  the hubs went to the basketball game and the tiramisu only wanted to eat green apples and oranges.  she's drooling like crazy and my guess is that her last two molars are cutting in.  poor thing but she's such a trooper.  she's always handled teething very well.  we are so lucky!

have a great weekend!

this & that

it's so surreal that the creation of our new house is finally coming to fruition.  this is our design team... one designer and two architects.  our first meeting went great! we spent 1-1/2 hours discussing all the basics of the house (size, style, layout, etc) and creating a realistic construction budget based on our wish list.  the funds are tight and we've already had to compromise but i'm confident that we can build something that we will love...or at least i hope so.  hah.

here i am getting new nubbies put on my teeth.
this is the curing step of the nub process...each nubbie is cured so it doesn't fall off!

in other news, i'm back on invisalign.  omg.  turns out that my little refinement is not so little.  i have 15 new trays on the top and bottom...and a gazillion nubbies on my teeth...to make my chompers as perfectly positioned as possible.  these new trays are super tight and are pulling and rotating my teeth in sooooo many directions.  i feel like my teeth are going to fall out whenever i remove the trays to eat.  i don't remember ever having this feeling during my first and second course of aligning.  i guess their new teeth rotating technology works!

and lastly, i bought a new little refer for the hotel today to be used as a second refrigerator for produce.  i went to sears before lunch and was told that the refer was $569.99 less 5% discount plus $84.99 for delivery.  after thinking about it, i went back tonight at 8:45 pm to purchase the refer because i wanted it now now now and to my surprise, the tag now said the price was $509.99!  what the?!  i guess there's a sale that's starting on friday morning so they changed all the tags early and were willing to honor the price...and give me either a 10% discount or $15 delivery!  whooo-hooo.  i took the $15 delivery to save the hubby from having a cow about picking up the refer (and it was a bigger savings than the 10%).  

enough blabbing.  time to go to sleep.  btw - i'm not doing so well with my resolution to sleep earlier.

wussup?!

we're only 10 days into the new year and it's already kicking my arse.  pardon the blog absence but i've got a crazy mixed plate to deal with at the moment and it includes things like...

practicing safe lunch...by using condiments.  what a funny sign.

finally got our christmas...i mean holiday...i mean new year cards in the mail.  due to a few technical issues, i just couldn't get the cards out by the end of 2011.  using the glass is half full approach, at least we got to wish everyone a happy chinese new year, too.   

since the cards went out, i finally took down the flocked up christmas tree tonight and the hubby wheeled it away for disposal.  it was kinda sad because the tree was still healthy and smelled terrific but it seemed like it was time to move on, especially with the limited space we have here at the hotel.

and lastly, the IRS sent us this lovely letter that we owe owe owe.  uh-huh.  this is going to be a fun one to iron out.

we have our first meeting with the architect this afternoon for our new house! yippppy!