I'm a Home Owner!!

Well it's official on Friday I signed the dotted line and now I am officially a home owner. I got the keys to my new place, then went to get some supplies so that I would be able to paint up a storm this weekend. My Mom stayed with me at the condo all weekend and we were very productive I have to admit I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to get it all done. Every time I finished a room this weekend I would look around and get a big smile on my face. We worked long hours this weekend but man was it worth it. My Dad helped out every day this weekend and my sisters Laina and Jen came by yesterday and without them I don't think we would have gotten it all done. It was just a matter of needing a couple more hands. Over the course of the weekend we got all the rooms painted. A first coat of the trim done in the two rooms that were being sanded and polyurethane today.

I don't want to bore you with a bunch of before and after shots but let me know if you want them I can definitely forward those to you but here is what the finished rooms looked like in the order that we tackled them:

First we did the Living room since this is the biggest room and one of the rooms with hardwood floors since those are being done today.


Next we did my bedroom and I absolutely love the way this color came out and I can't wait to get my stuff in there and figure it out.

After that we decided to tackle the kitchen because the office is the only room without any pipes so we figured we would leave that until the end.
Here is the office/guest room. It is the most neutral of the colors since all the rooms lead into this one.
Finally this is my new bathroom. Once I have it decorated I know that this is going to look phenomenal. I still can't believe that I bought my own place.

I know that money is going to be tight for a bit until I figure things out and I am sorry if my social calendar winds down for a bit while I figure this out. Not to worry if you need a place to stay in Boston that is right off the T look no further. Once I am all moved in and settled not to worry I will send out another update. Just wanted to let you know it all seems to be working out.

Rafting Trip

Ok so Andrew was nice enough to organize a rafting trip and we thought it was going to be white water rafting it was more like a nice 10 mile rafting excersion on mostly calm waters. Did that stop us from having fun. Hell no. We had water fights with other boats and we were able to get out and swim a few times. We stopped halfway and had lunch provided for us and here is our group photo:

You all know how not graceful I am so here I am trying to get back into the boat. I am trying to pull myself up and I see Deb snap a picture. I called her a not so nice name after it was taken. Oh well now I can laugh at it.

There was two boats and Gabe, Becca, Deb and I were in a raft with another Gabe. Little did we know that we ended up with the bitter, Racist rafting guide. I didn't know that this was possible but here is a picture of Racist Gabe falling into the water. We were all cheering when this happened we just were able to do it too much out loud.

Then after a day of rafting we all set up our tents and had a bit of a girl mishap. The mishap being it would never really heat up and the burgers that we enjoyed were slow cooked over a flame for two and a half hours. After we enjoyed our dinner and many drinks that were consumed it was also a weekend of meteor showers. So we all headed down to the parking lot where there was a good opening to be able to check it out and enjoy the show. We all had an absolute BLAST! I can't wait to go and do it again. Of course the next time I go I want some actual rapids. Oh well. You can't have it all.

Whirlwind that I call my Life

Ok so I finished the bar on Thursday July 26th and my life still hasn't slowed down yet. I don't think that is going to happen until around Labor Day. Before I get into that I want to tackle the questions about the bar that I keep getting. I really don't know how I did. I am not trying to modest. I am not trying to not sound cocky in case it doesn't happen. That is just how the test is designed. You take 200 multiple choice questions where you don't have to tell them the right answer you need to tell them the best answer so I was able to narrow it down to two and take my best educated guess from there (which is how most people I talked to felt). The other day for Massachusetts is 10 essay questions. 5 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. I was able to write an answer for all for all of them and had the appropriate buzz words memorized, spotted as many issues as I could. That is all I can do. You might be saying but you were able to answer everything you have to feel good about that. Here is the thing. We are judged by what everyone else writes. It is on a kind of scale. So first they read all the answers and then they decide on the 1-7 scale where I fall and give me the corresponding points that is then scaled into my total bar score.

So you can see there is a lot left to chance and subjective measure which means as much I would like to say I think I passed. I just can't. I don't know. It kills me that I am not going to know until some point at the beginning of November but it doesn't change the fact that it's true. Yes that is right I said I won't know if I passed until November sometime. Not pulling your leg on that one either so right now I just need to forget that I took the exam and move on with my life and hope that I get good news when everything is said and done.

Now why is my life hectic until at least Labor Day you ask. Well on top of trying to get my social life back on track and to a normal pace I bought a condo in Brookline. It is right on Beacon St not too far from Coolidge Corner and walking distance to Fenway and my favorite karaoke bar. So how could I possibly pass that up. This means I am moving the end of this month. I have to go through everything I have accumulated living at 22 Knoll St. and decide what gets to come and what doesn't. There is a lot of things that aren't going to be coming that I need to decide if I am going to throw it out or if someone else wants or needs it. I am going to paint my new place before I move in and need to figure out what colors I want to paint it and I want to clean it thoroughly before I move in too. Once I close and the place is empty I will definitely take pictures to show you guys and hopefully be able to show you some after photos as well.

Other then that just the usual overbooking of my life. I am going on a white water rafting trip this weekend with some friends and next weekend my cousin Steve and my friend Anna are getting married. The weekend after that I close on my place wow that is going to be here before we know it. Well that is the update from me. Hope you are all doing well.