New House = New Hobbies

All this house hunting has reminded me of how much I love color, drawing, decorating, shopping and space planning etc. (I also love how there are still things that Alex and I can learn about each other -he's learning just how talented I am haha).

I dedicated a notebook to these new adventures...

 It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

House Hunting

Alex and I have officially (or unofficially) started our house hunt. It all started a little sooner than we thought, but we came across a house that we really just wanted to check out... next thing you know we have a realtor, we are pre-approved for mortgages from multiple lenders, and we're making lists of our needs vs. wants. Life really catches up with you. In some regards I don't think we could possibly be old enough to be house hunting but in other ways it just feels exactly right, and almost easy in a sense. (I think that's where Alex's personality comes into play big time!)

  

I blame the whole thing on our personalitilies. Alex and I love to plan ahead and when it's something that we both put value on that means we'll be real go-getters. Before Alex and I got married I really wondered what it would be like to make life's big decisions together, and how our space would look (after all, we have different taste).

I love seeing what things have come out on top of our list as important:

• Ranch (with basement), 1.5 Story (with or without basement) - anything 2 stories (with or without a basement) is likely to be bigger than we need
• Size - 1500-2000 sq ft
• 2-3 bedrooms (looking for a master bedroom, office and/or guest room)
• 1-2 bathrooms
• Flat medium to large backyard (fence is a plus)
• Garage would be ideal, but at least off-street parking
• Houses that need work would be considered, but definitely not interested in new builds
• An older neighborhood with trees and front yards (sidewalks too!)
• Anything close to a park or within walking distance to shopping etc.
• Good school district (not important for us - but for resale purposes)
• Fireplace

Now actually picking a house will be interesting because I'm a lot pickier than Alex. Just got an email from our realtor right now so it looks like we'll be looking at some houses this weekend! I'll post pictures on my flickr! (Reminds me of the show House Hunters on HGTV).

Spousonomics - Life Lessons from the Field of Economics

I randomly stumbled on the book Spousonomics on thenest.com. (The Nest is a takeoff of The Knot theknot.com - amazing!). After reading a few sentences on the book I felt compelled to buy it. I didn't happen to be "looking for answers or advice," but it just seemed like a book that could pack a lot of punch and something about it intrigued me (I will admit that the cover of the book was part of it).

I bought it on amazon.com (also amazing - did you know they have an iPhone app?) and it arrived a few days later. I immediately started reading it. It had quite an interesting personality - it was easy to read, entertaining, thoughtful and intelligent, and most of all real. The authors of this book are real women who are using their passion (and careers) to write about something that the majority of people can relate to. Here's an overview on spousonomics.com:

"Paula Szuchman and Jenny Anderson, journalists from The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, present a radical new idea: Every marriage is its own little economy, a business of two with a finite number of resources that need to be allocated efficiently. With great wit, insight, and compelling stories from real-life couples, Szuchman and Anderson apply bedrock economic principles to some of the most common conflicts in domestic life."

To me economics has always reminded me of the horrible classes I had to take in college.. Well I take that back... They were interesting, but I just didn't prefer to be tested on the information because it wasn't the type of stuff that stuck well in my brain. (Let's face it - I would not be as well-rounded without those classes even if I can only remember the general principles).

Now that I'm finished with the book I'm Alex will read it too. Previously he was trying to read it over my shoulder at bedtime but that didn't work out so well because I'm a speed reader - even sometimes a page scanner (gasp). It seems to be a book that the male species can sink their teeth into as well, but I'm not sure if I can tear Alex away from his real-estate and finance books. Maybe that's where the word "economics" could be beneficial...

As with economics, marriage is an on-going challenge. The authors have started a blog so they can keep sharing real world examples and their theories. (They're even on facebook, twitter etc.) Speaking of the real world examples, I loved that they had an array of couples, situations, and lengths of marriages (everything from one year to 25+) - it's truly a book for anyone. I don't believe that you have to be married, or even in a relationship to learn something from this book. Many of the conflicts they discuss can be related to any type of relationship, coworker, sibling, friend etc.

Next on my to-do list is to share the book with Alex.. then come the coworkers.. then I'll probably read it again...

Using Economics to Master Love, Marriage and Dirty Dishes

 

Traveling & Food Culture

Alex and I have a few shows that we dvr daily (reruns). There's Sex and the City which I watch during lunchtime or while making dinner. Alex's favorite is Two and a Half Men. We usually end up watching it together after dinner or later in the evening. The last show is Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.

 

If you have not seen this show and you're interested in food, cultures, or traveling then you should definitely check it out! It's on the Travel Channel. We love to watch it because it gives us a little taste of different countries (even continents). While we can't always travel to places as exotic as Andrew we're looking forward to doing a little US travel over the next 6 months.

 

We'll be heading to Cincinnati, Cleveland, Niagara Falls (Canada), Louisville (for Derby!), Chicago, Columbus, Toledo, Sandusky and potentially even a cruise out of Galveston, TX and a weekend trip to Washington, DC. It's so fun to have friends in all different cities and to have the flexibility and income to travel for a short weekend or even a week!

 

We also have a wish list of places we would like to go... Among them are Europe, New Zealand or Australia, and Hawaii.

Luckily our taste buds change every 7 years and I'm becoming more adventurous with food and seafood. As we've learned from Bizarre Foods, the food in a place can help you learn just as much about their culture as you can from the people.

I just found and tried this recipe last night that turned out to be Hawaiian... It's a delightful way to bake ahi or mahi mahi encrusted with an onion mayonnaise with fresh crab meat.

 

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. block of ahi or mahi mahi
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup chopped round onions
• 1 cup shredded or chopped crabmeat
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Preparation:

• Cut fish into steaks about 3/4 inch thick.
• Salt and pepper fish as desired and place in a baking dish.
• Stir mayonnaise, onions and crab meat together and spread over fish.
• Spread bread crumbs evenly on top of fish steaks, pressing lightly to hold in place.
• Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes.

Maybe I have been watching too much Bizarre Foods because I always seem to want to write about food! For this recipe I used ahi tuna. I thought that I had crab meat already on hand, but when I realized I was out I went ahead and made the recipe without it and it was still delicious. If you're making this for company or happen to love crab, I would recommend throwing it on top because it adds an extra luxuriousness to the entree.

Since I'm not a fish lover, the thought of grilling fish was a little intimidating since I would have no idea when it would be done. Baking seems to be a great place to start. Next on my list will be tackling salmon!