So I haven't actually made much mention of this fact, especially since because of financial reasons we haven't been looking much as of lately, but my boyfriend and I are looking for a house/dwelling that we will hopefully move into by Springtime. For awhile we were looking on a pretty consistent basis especially since I adore our real estate agent, Mary. But after houses we were falling in love with were selling (which caused tears on my end, flippin brat) and we spoke to a lender who pretty much told us we needed to pay off some past credit issues before we could move forward. So sigh, here we are, I don't stalk Redfin as much as I use to because as previously mentioned I would get very upset when a house I had a crush on ended up with someone else. I do however check up on some bookmarked houses to see about any changes in price or activity, I was always under the impression and told that Winter was a slow time for the real estate market but um, I have seen sale pending and under contracts pop up on many of my bookmarked homes. I'm happy the little houses are finding owners but I want that owner to be ME, rawr! Plus, I have to say, I really like looking at houses. Thus far there has been 3 houses my boyfriend and I have really loved and all three are gone now. Not gone like obliterated, just sold or no longer on the market. Another of our issues, besides finances (which is a bit important huh?) is that we don't really know where we want to end up. We need to be within a reasonable distance of family, friends, and of course my boyfriends work BUT I'm really not fond of Virginia (to be honest) and it's really expensive around here. Now is a good time with the real estate market in the shitter to be a buyer but the market seems to be slowly getting back on that pogo stick.

It has been an adventure of looking for houses in two different states and pondering a third state. We have two real estate agents because one serves one state and one serves another. We have been toying with the idea of getting a Virginia real estate agent but I'm reluctant because I really haven't had the best time here. I mean I like the shopping (when I can afford to shop) and it's quiet, but it's so expensive and so stressful (the traffic is horrendous). I want to end up around maybe Frederick or possibly (don't drop your drink, if you're drinking that is) West Virginia. Yes, I said it, WEST VIRGINIA. Lookie here, because we've gotten a lot of strange looks when we utter those words to our Maryland and VA residents but WVA (I'm getting lazy, sorry) is inexpensive, you can acquire a great deal of land, and get more for your money. Damn judgmental bastards, I'm kidding, I love you all (*shakes head* most of you, I'm still joking, I can't help but joke -it's an issue).

I mean I don't have a job so unfortunately we our relying on one income but luckily my boyfriend is approved for enough that we can look at a decent amount of houses. I mean it could always be more, but isn't that always the case with money? So yes, I'm not sure if you're still following but so our issues are: credit issues, me have no job/me bum bum, location, and we like two different styles of homes. Jason likes spring chickens; new homes with large rooms and a full basement for him to take over with musical instruments and pictures of wolves. That is all dandy, I would not turn down a brand new colonial with central a/c (you have no clue how many  houses don't have a/c I guess I'm spoiled because I was shocked when I first found that out) and you know more than one full bathroom (which a lot of older homes do not). But I personally like older homes. Older homes have more history and more charm, I especially would LOVE to end up in a home that is on the National Register of Historic Homes. I love all the details in older homes such as pocket doors, built in cabinets, arches, eccentric kitchens, stained glass, and the hardwood floors are everywhere.

Both newer homes and older homes have their disadvantages, newer homes are kind of cookie cutter, most newer homes are built to look exactly like all the other damn homes all over the country. Newer homes don't have history, except for maybe stains from the last  rugrats that lived there. Older homes have no basements, usually they have scary as hell cellars (seriously been in some scary cellars of homes we've looked at, one was covered in spider inhabited spider webs it was ahhshsdhfdshdaahhhhrealmonsters). Older homes are prone to settling, small bathrooms, limited bathrooms, small closets, older windows, usually no a/c, and generally need more renovations and repairs. I know all of this but I love older homes! Jason wants a basement to turn into a music studio to help with noise control and so it can be his own area where his band can practice and in an older home he'd have to covert one of the bedrooms which he does not seem to want to do.

Le sigh, le sigh. I feel like it's never going to happen and I'm such a home junkie so this is something I have dreamed of my entire life. To be perfectly frank, I never thought I would even be able to consider having a house I could call my own. I thought at best I'd have an apartment or a townhouse but a house seemed like a dream. It still is a dream at this point. I can stretch my tongue out and taste it but I don't get to take a bite. Not yet at least. It's just hard to save money when things keep popping up and we have to pay rent. Right now we rent out a basement and the carpets are filthy, none of the furniture besides a tv/tv stand/bed is ours and the furniture is fugly (you ain't got no alibi, yo' ugly, yo' ugly couch). Oh and as mentioned the shower is teeny tiny.

Another issue presented is I don't want my boyfriend to have to have a super long commute but at the same time I don't want to live around where he works and frankly we can't even afford to live outside where he works. I try not to focus on the house search because it felt a little overwhelming and disappointing. I admit I will cry tears of complete joy when we end up in our own place. I can't wait to decorate, oh holy beetlejuice, I cannot wait. I can't wait to throw dinner parties, have people over, get drunk at my own house, walk around in my underwear whenever I feel like it... I just can't wait for it.

Ugh Hero, my black cat, just ate pieces of the rubber off my head phones. How is that even a good idea cat?

Well so I figured I'll go a little into detail (do you ever stop talking? the answer is KEINE, keine, KEINE!) about the three houses we both liked:

*White home, two pitched peaks (I don't know how to describe that), it was across from a graveyard in a Civil War historic area which I loved. I love graveyards, I find them fascinating, as a kid I wouldn't even look at them they made me feel sad and now they fascinate me. Anywho, the house was built in 1935. It was renovated with central a/c, two bathrooms, and a partially finished basement. It had a somewhat enclosed porch off the living room that I looooooooved and in the backyard it had an in ground pool. Ugh I just loved that house. The kitchen had cabinets that went all the way to the ceiling (it needed new counter tops, new appliances, a paint job) and the living room had a cute fireplace. Oh how I miss the crap out of that house. When I first put it on the list of houses to see it was more out of curiosity but when I walked through the door to smells of pie and pine I fell in love. That house didn't sell they just took it off the market so I hope they will put it back on but the basement was too small for my boyfriend to use as a studio, the houses were really close together, and the garage area let in too much air. My boyfriend wasn't crazy about it but I loved it.

Light in kitchen with kitchen cabinets in the background. I don't want to post too many pictures since I'll tear up and it's not my house so I can't really.

Part of the graveyard, view from front yard and the tippy top of my boyfriends noggin.

See side porch of love? And the odd garage area. Such a cute house. It reminded me of the house on beetlejuice, although I don't think anyone else saw the comparison.

*The second house was also a home I put on the list out of curiosity, I don't even remember the address because my boyfriend and I were so bummed when it went off the market only days after we saw it. It was in WVA, on I believe 1-2 acres of land. The house use to operate a saddle ranch so it had stables and horse fences (lol I don't know what they're called) and it was near a bunch of other saddle ranches. I was really surprised but my boyfriend loved the house. It had a somewhat rustic vibe to it which isn't our style at all, but it was BIG. It didn't have a basement but it had a really large area off the left "wing" of the house that would have worked for him. It needed a lot of inside work especially in the kitchen but WVA has a lot of incentives to get ya to buy there. When you walked in it almost looked like a ski lodge with real wood beams and a huge stone fireplace. It was really cool. I hope the new owners are happy (fuck faces). My boyfriend was a sad panda when it sold.

the fireplace went all the way to the ceiling, which was very high.

view of the front of the house from my car. It was definitely a unique house.

Backyard view. A white horse greeted us while we were there but I guess he hadn't arrived yet for this photo-op.

Oh there is the horse picture. Look at him, he was all like "Whaddup.". I did try and walk over to him but my boyfriend pulled the leash back, well he did tell me no.

*The third house was the newest, built in maybe 2005, and the most generic but it had upstairs laundry, columns (which me love), a cute stone fireplace, open kitchen with a sink in the island, and a big full basement. It was a cutie. We both liked it. The backyard kinda sucked but otherwise it was a nice house.

view from front door off dining room.

open living room area.

So yep, we haven't looked at any houses since December. I'm pretty sure our West Virginia real estate agent thinks we've given up but I will keep on trucking and begging my boyfriend to sell his sperm for some cash.

I have a few houses I keep my eye on but the houses are going fast, I think finally people realized "oh the prices are really low, I can get a kick ass house for a reasonable price." They weren't suppose to figure that out till I got MY house of choice :( At least the foreclosed houses that sold (most of the houses were foreclosures, which is unfortunate) are now (hopefully) occupied and cared for. I'll keep on looking, searching for deals, searching for a keeper and dreaming of walking around my very own house in my underwear.

There is one house I will to go down in price almost everyday, it is a good $50,000 out of our price range (only that little huh?) but it has been on the market for awhile with no activity. It is GORGEOUS darling, gorgeous. I would kill, literally kill, for that house. The kitchen alone is a beaut.

So yeah, dream a little dream with candles and hardwoods, columns, and porches. Hmm hmm. One day...

The last few days have been rather hectic with a mix of good and pain in the ass.

Sunday, I went to my Dads as planned. Arrived late because I couldn't get my lethargic ass out of bed but finally got up/showered/drove/arrived/and finally came in, saw Pavel(my step-brother) and his broken leg and had time to made him giggle (he is 1 1/2 yrs old), and then my Dad hurried us out the door to get to the Verizon store so he would have plenty of time to pick up vodka and get to his neighbors to watch football while cradling said vodka bottle. I honestly can imagine him cradling a vodka bottle, you'd have to meet him to believe me. Walked in and knew exactly what I wanted "DROIDX, DROIDX, DROIDX!." My Dad has a guy he always works with so handed over my old phone, shouted cries of "GIMME DROIDX" to where Verizon man replied "you have good taste." I hastily agreed and proceeded to worry about my naughty pictures I still had on the phone, hmm should have erased those the night before. Ran back to Verizon man to ask him if I could see the phone to erase old messages and "stuff", where as expected my Dad asked "aww are there naughty photos on that phone young lady?" and I had to be the guilty party and admit "there are some naughties." He just shook his head. After a bit, Verizon man brought out my phone and it was a beauty, everything I had dreamed off. My fiance walked up to my Dad and I signing curse words to one another, just your average father/daughter conversation. I picked out a pretty purple rubber dress for my phone to wear, we finished some last minute things and headed off to get vodka. Apparently they know my Dad and had the vodka waiting because he was in and out in under a minute and half - he counted. Went back to my Dads where I spent hours playing with my phone and never leaving its side. I wanted to catch up on 'Boardwalk Empire' but I suppose we waited too long, because it wasn't on demand. We did however, watch some TV but it escapes my memory what it was. We stayed the night and drove home the next afternoon.

who's a pretty girl, who's a pretty girl! I named her Viv or Vi, or Vi-vi.

Monday, we took a wee nap and did a little shower action. We didn't do action in the shower, just to clarify, our shower is way too small for that. It would be like having sex in a sardine can. Had plans to have dinner and a movie but as we went off to dinner at (again) California Pizza Kitchen (I think my fiance was a little jelly about my outing just days before) we heard from our friends D and Z and decided to meet up with them after dinner instead. Oh god at dinner we had the Spicy Chicken Tinga Quesadilla as our appetizer and I had the Pear and Gorgonzola pizza and oh honey it was mighty good sustenance. I highly recommend ordering the pear and gorgonzola on honey wheat crust with greens on the side. I took pictures! Decided to attend the comedy group I'm kinda sort a part of with D, Z, and a few others. Recorded a skit "Sorry I'm late, I brought bananas." After that we all went to a chicken and beer restaurant where everyone else ordered flaming hot wings and my fiance and I smiled at our brilliancy of choosing to skip the hot-as-hell-chicken-wings.

the pizza my lovah choose.

my pizza, obviously superior.

Tuesday, My fiance and I had lunch and then he went off to work for a few hours. My crazy ass decided to hit every Target from here to Gaithersburg in search for epic coat part deux but I was let down - they didn't have the one I wanted or any in my size! Bastardos (I'm probably spelling that wrong) but I did find a pink peacoat that was two sizes too big, purple slip dress, and an adorable head band that has been glued to my head ever since (well not ever since but y'know). Fiance got off work so we headed over to Tysons to catch 'The Green Hornet 3D' which was good fun and then headed home to wrestle. I kidding, I was exhausted, shopping and going nutso at traffic is hard work.

Tysons. This is before I hid from my fiance and then ran down the hallway giggling like a doofus.

View at Tysons outside the AMC. Lots o' lights. We saw the last showing so it was a ghost town.

Wednesday... what do I even say about you Wednesday? I am not referring to Wednesday Addams because she is cool but this Wednesday known as the day I thought I was going to die/go off the deep end of insanity/pull a Michael Douglas in 'Falling Down'. I made the very, very poor decision to ignore meteorologist predictions and venture out to return a coat. Yes, I realize how stupid that sounds, "oh I went into the jungle to return a coat and covet things at Target and it was worth it losing that leg to that Tiger." Trust me, I paid dearly for my stupid decisions (as I usually do bah!). I returned the hot pink peacoat I bought the day before because it just looked horrible on me -  being too big and all. It was only slushie like weather outside when I had first arrived - nothing too serious, nothing too delicious. I looked for another coat in my size but no such luck. I tried on a few things but they all looked like bad. Decided to venture over to the dark side (shoes) - and happened upon a many I tried on and fancied but decided against (or couldn't afford). Happened upon a cute pair of clearance boots, tried them on and heard sweet music that means only one thing - MINE!

yes that is my skin and not a strawberry milkshake poured into leg molds. I really have no clue why my skin looks so pink.

see, see. Cute with the pants. I thought so at least.

Well as I was pondering boots purchases and walking about I started to notice that the abundant amount of fellow customers had trickled down to maybe a small handful, something told me "BAD OMEN". Weather has gone down hill, literally. Get to the register, buy said boots that ended up being only $6.00!!

But just as I was getting excited, looked outside and saw to my horrors - that it looked as if the Dude had spilled his white Russian all over the state of Virginia. I was none too pleased, that is a waste of booze and a real pain in the ass to drive in. SO to cut a long story short. I put on boots and headed to my car, got snow in my ears, had to shove my glasses into my cleavage for protection, and my hair was dripping wet by the time I got in my car. I made it safely home 2 and 1/2 hours later to go 6 miles. I'm honestly not exaggerating. It took some of my friends 7-8 hours to get home in this shizzle. It was none too pleasant. When I got home though I did have a nice long chat with our new roommate, Dawn, who is actually really awesome. It was really nice to have a chat and  have someone laugh at my lame jokes and it was my first time besides brief introductions of getting to know her a little.

We decided to help out D and Z who lost all power and ended up getting in a really horrifying fender bender, slid on ice and hit the guard rail, and generally had anxiety the rest of the ride to Z's sisters house. BUT everyone is safe and sound (there's only some body damage and some scratches to my fiance's car) and that is all we can ask for (safety. safety dance. we can dance if we want to), and red velvet cake, I expect some damn red velvet cake after the day I went through!

If anyone is in the area of the white Russian (snowy) mess, be safe! (I'm sorry if there are grammar/spelling issues but I'm way too tired to proofread everything right now, you like my mistakes dammit :)

Oh my bleeding stars (that does not leave a good visual, me sowwie, I quite like stars too) anyway it has been bone chilling cold the last few days - it is currently 12 degrees and will get down to 10 degrees tonight. The cold depresses me, especially since I'm not really fond of the fit in any of the pants I own and all the tights I own are either too small or have holes in them. I hate to sound superficial but life is just more fun when you get to wear cute outfits and my cute outfits are more geared towards Spring like weather and not the arctic. I can even reasonably deal with 30 or so degrees but this... is just horrid. I'm completely ready for Spring! I'm sick of wearing my baggy jeans that make me look terrible just to stay warm.

I had made plans to spend the day eating, shopping, goofing, and possibly seeing a movie with my friend Summer. I got up and felt lazy but dragged myself out of bed anyway to fuss with my shake weight and clean in my nightshirt then I finally hopped into the shower. I had the 'Fraggle Rock' theme song stuck in my head so I shook my ass in our tiny camper sized shower after I accidentally walked into the shower with my glasses on (as per usual, they've kinda became an extension of myself so I forget I'm wearing them). I wanted to go with a pinup look for today's outfit but my leopard tank top just is not flattering on me, I really should sell it. It's a stretchy size L from Forever 21. Anyone interested? I'll post pictures if anyone comes across the blog and is interested.

I had a pretty amusing back and forth with my fiance over text:

Me: hey, where are some batteries? Ow ow I accidentally sat on the shake weight. (Accidentally sitting on the shake weight was really not pleasant, just a disclaimer from me to you)
Him: aww.. umm what type of batteries?
Me: double a like Kate Hudson's lack o'rack (I'm giving him a hard time because he once told me she was cute and although I agree I just well, like to give him a hard time)
Him: think we're out of AA baby.
Me: shame on you! shame on your entire family! oh goats honey, that soap in the bathroom says "God bless us everyone" I almost lit it on fire. (yes, I'm an atheist but I also don't like religious messages whether holiday intended or not pushed on me. especially on my soap)
Him: oh the soap YOU picked.
Me: Yep, shame on me, shame on my whole family. I'm going to walk into a blade, ninja style.
Him: uh no, please don't.
Me: I won't. I am tempted to write goats in its place.

I just thought the back and forth about nothing was funny.

So anyway met up with Summer and we walked around Kohls, picked up and put back a few things because we didn't want to wait in the line for 15 minutes. Goofed off, harassed these bear and cat sculptures on park benches (are they called something else?) by wiggling our asses in their faces, and walked to the furthest restaurant in the freezing cold. I haven't been to California Pizza Kitchen in awhile but it was really tasty, definitely a good choice. I ordered the strawberry tea (noms) and roasted garlic pizza on honey wheat dough.

Then it was off to see the cupcakes at this placed called Lilly Magilly's Cup Cakery (they don't have a site or I'd link you to it). I would have taken pictures but as stated in the silly text conversation, no batteries! I got 4 cupcakes (I couldn't resist) including the vanilla, cookies & cream, red velvet, and cherry almond; the latter of the two I have yet to enjoy. Summer bought the cherry almond and salted caramel, she said the salted caramel was good but she didn't get the salted caramel flavor. The cupcakes are very good but a little rich.

I saw many things I wanted but am on a very limited budget, between food and gas there doesn't seem to be much funds left. I went into Bath and Body Works and smelled their new Island Escape Collection and I actually liked every single one. They smell really good, I'm not typically a tropical island scent kinda gal but if I had the money I probably would have bought one of each. I'm always on the lookout for a new scent. Maybe the next time I have money! Oh, look at me getting excited at the prospect already.

So by the time we left the cup cakery (cute) the temperature had dropped and I was freezing. I have outgrown my two winter coats (a beat up leather coat I've had since I was in 8th grade and a cream colored coat I adore but is one size too small - okay maybe two sizes too small) but since I quite like the cold I usually just dress in layers and in large sweaters but 12 degrees is way too cold to not be in a jacket (plus I decided to wear a skirt which was a big mistake). We ran into Target for two reasons, Target is awesome and it was WARM. My legs and face were bright red from the cold, eek don't recall being that cold before. As we were walking around Target we came across some coats on clearance and I actually found one that fits and is absolutely adorable and you know what it was $15.74! I couldn't pass that up. I will take pictures later but it is black and ties around the waist. Sadly my funds were so low I couldn't even swing that low of a price but Summer stepped in and bought it for me (thank you, thank you) and so I owe her more than just a dinner. How do you repay someone for helping prevent frostbite? We finally left after drooling over sparkly tutus that were wayyyy too small (little girls section haha), scaring many a customer with our weird noises and behavior, and getting way too much enjoyment out of the cart lift. 

Then we walked, proud to say coat clad and much more toasty because of it, to her car to eat a cupcake and chat for awhile. It was a very dandy outing, if only it was warmer brrrrBrrrrbrrr.

The ride home wasn't as pleasant with much annoyance from road work and having to rush home to the potty after entirely too much water.

Tomorrow I have plans to eat steak with my Dad and Step-mom and get my belated Christmas present better known as a new cellphone. I have decided on the DROID-X! I'm so excited. I've been looking for cute cases already. 



I can't decide between something sparkly (I'm a sucker for sparkles and glitter) or a rubber/hard case.


I really like this one! Maybe I have found a winner.


Well wish me good phone shopping luck. I also will have to remember to buy some AA batteries so I can take some pictures. Enjoy the rest of your weekend <3

Today was a bit busy, well for me, I woke up right after my boyfriend went to work and did some laundry. I'm always proud of myself when I start my day off with doing something I'm suppose to instead of you know like waking up and eating two baby bell cheese rounds. Then I decided to try for the third time to activate my new debit card which was being a complete pain. Every other time I tried to activate it seemed to magically be a holiday I'd forget about. Not that I forgot Christmas was Christmas, it'd be a really hard to be oblivious to Christmas. Well trying to fix the problem over the phone was not a success so I had to actually go to the bank. Then blah blah blah some of the money I was going to use to shop now had to be deposited into the new account I had to open because I'm a doofus and forgot my online login for the second time and it squashed my plans to walk around Potomac Mills. I've never been in the mall at Potomac Mills just to the movie theater so I was a bit bummed. But I gave in and went to a local mall instead, the plan was to go into the ginarmo Forever 21 to check out their Faith 21 department but I got distracted by the oh shiny of a store I just discovered called Charming Charlie. One of the girls there complimented me on my hair right when I walked through the door and we had a quick chat about red hair. I actually spent about an hour there. They have so much cute stuff, mostly jewelry, purses, and hair accessories. I ended up buying this really beautiful cream open cardigan, which is funny considering they didn't sell many clothing items and I ended up with a clothing item.
That isn't the best picture, it's quite dark in the basement we rent out. The material is really soft and the beading is really beautiful, almost a henna like design but in black. I'm in love with it. I wanted this long necklace as well but figured I should pace myself so I could look at another store.

I did finally go into Forever 21, they seemed to have shrank the accessories department which was a bit disappointing. I don't know if I just missed where the rest of the jewelry was but most of the jewelry department was replaced by shoes. The shoes were cute but they looked amazingly uncomfortable. They had a few skirts and things I ended up trying on. I only actually liked maybe one thing on me. The rest just were not flattering at all. It was really warm in the store too so I didn't feel like sticking around.





This one fit well but it made my hips look even wider than they already are. The site doesn't seem to have any of the links to the other stuff I tried on. There was this red jacket I quite liked but I was a bit too hot to try it on and I couldn't afford it anyway. There was also a blue tulle like skirt I kind of liked but I don't know if I'll go back for it. It was a 'kinda like' not a 'love' situation.

After that I decided to leave the mall and get something to eat and drink. Ended up at Trader Joes and bought oranges, apples, carbonara ravioli (which I've yet to try), and vanilla almond clusters cereal. The cereal was surprisingly filling. The woman at the checkout complimented me on my earrings, there were just a little pair I made myself with my little sisters beads. It is always nice to round out an outing with two compliments.

Now waiting for Jason to get off work so we can run to the store to buy a few essentials (i.e toothpaste and the like).

Oh, hello there. I say that as if I'm surprised to see you, well I would be considering this is the interwebz and I can't actually see you... Anyway, I'm not very good at describing myself but the basics are a good place to start. My name is Rachel and I'm 25 years old, I live in Northern Virginia, which is about 20 miles outside Washington D.C. I rarely ever venture to DC, a sad fact but the traffic (and parking) situation can be a bit of a headache. Anywho (I'm fond of that word, after awhile you won't even notice it) I actually grew up outside Baltimore. I live with my fiance, two roommates, and four cats; two of which are ours. I love them to pieces and guarantee they will have many a mention, especially since they are fond of putting their fuzzy selves right in my face when I'm at the keyboard.

I've been blogging for awhile, usually on livejournal but it is more of a personal journal than anything I use to communicate with other people. I'm interested in a lot of different things and have a lot of different things going on in my life currently. I'm trying to find a job I don't despise which is an ongoing struggle and my boyfriend and I are searching for a house of our own.

I plan on talking about anything and everything: shopping, fashion, TV shows, movies, music, cooking, baking, and I promise to limit myself but probably the occasional rant. I'm still tinkering with my blog so hopefully it will get better over time. Thanks so much for reading <3 I really do appreciate it. I come across so many fabulous blogs and I just hope to be apart of them.