Will and I thought buying a house was an overwhelming process. Now, I am happy to say that Will and I are getting married, so we are trying our hand at wedding planning. What could possibly go wrong? Well, so far in my life, whenever I say what could possibly go wrong, something does. Just ask my sister about our trip to Europe. Will is staying calm about the whole process, as usual. My main goal is to not become bridezilla. I am quickly realizing that being qualified to get married does not mean you are qualified to plan a wedding. The day after we got engaged, I went to the grocery store …
“There used to be a lot of snakes in this neighborhood. But a family moved in and would go down to the creek and hunt them,” my neighbor told me. “So the snakes kept the rabbits in check, but when they were killed off, the rabbits came back strong,” according to the neighbor. Thank God for this family, I told myself. Now, I’m not a particularly frightful person. I’m very comfortable in the wilderness. Hell, sometimes I even go camping. But snakes scare me. They scare my brother. They scare my father. I’m pretty sure it’s genetic. So when I heard the neighborhood used to be infested …
Will and I have made some huge decisions this year. The first and most obvious is our decision to buy a house. But we seem to be completely and totally paralyzed by the seemingly small decision of what color to paint the walls. For now, we are drowning in a sea of beige. The walls are off-white, the carpet is beige, and our sofa and chair are a light khaki color. In a word, it's bland. And according to Psychology Today, that is probably one of the worst combinations of color (or lack thereof) that we could choose. White and beige settings make us tense and moody and upset, the magazine says. …
I imagine that most people's memories of Christmas trees revolve around nostalgic decorations, sparkly lights, spiced cider and other happy holiday memories. For me, a good percentage of my Christmas tree memories revolve around trying to get rid of them, so it is fitting that I still haven't figure out how to dispose of my tree in College Park. Our problems started with the fact that we didn't actually purchase our tree until Christmas Eve, and we didn't decorate it until Christmas Day. This schedule delayed our dismantling of the tree until, well . . . last week. Then, for a lack of any …
I am not normally prone to bragging, but as you may have noticed, I have no qualms about saying that the house I bought with Will is the most perfect, adorable house you have ever seen. I am comfortable saying this to friends and strangers alike. But recently, a couple of people have answered my bragging by raising concerns about crime and the string of murders in the county since the New Year. So I have had to re-examine my feelings about my new home and neighborhood. For example, one new acquaintance relayed the story of her daughter, who promptly had her purse stolen after starting at the …
Now that I am living with Will, I have been getting twice as many colds as I used to. I asked Will if he was getting sick more often and he said the same thing. Right now we are sprawled on the couch with our heads at the opposite ends, buried under the same blanket, each with white snowy piles of kleenex and a stiff drink beside us, in a sort of flu burrito. This is one of the many great things we get to share now that we live together. While you always hear about sharing your cohabitant's happiness and joy, it turns out you also get a solid slice of their pain. Take, as another example, …
If you had asked me five years ago where I would be living now, I would not have said College Park. Living in suburbia was not something on my immediate “to do” list. But now, I am trying to come to terms with being a suburbanite, as well as the fact that I love it. You might be wondering, what is my problem with suburbia? I guess I have always associated the idea of suburbs with joining the mainstream, ceasing to question what I expect out of life, etc, etc. I asked Will what his perception of the suburbs was and he had a pretty straightforward response – it's just not cool, it's not hip. …
When moving to a new house, one of the first things people ask is, "how's the neighborhood?" I tell them neighbors brought us fudge for Christmas, there is a park across the street, and the Washington region's best chili is only a block away. In short, I tell them I'm thrilled with the area. But when I drive past signs marking the border of College Park, I think we may be too humble a community. Indeed, while many here think the world of their neighbors, their university and their local businesses, it appears the city and county are trying to set more modest expectations. "A livable community…
Moving into a home involves decisions . . . lots of decisions. For example, are we skilled enough with tools to build a do-it-yourself shed without killing each other? Should we fork over the cash for a brand-name TV or get the generic brand? Should we paint the walls taupe or red? What color is taupe anyway? But one of the most difficult decisions so far has been whether or not we should get a pet and if so, what kind of pet. Will grew up with dogs and has fond memories about a certain beagle of his that had more guts than brains. I have not yet had a dog, but am open to the idea. But …
What you don't know about your stove can kill you . . . or at least make you dizzy.The morning after we bought our home, my boyfriend Will and I woke up expecting to feel a number of things: excitement at finally owning a home, relief at having cleared all the hurdles in the home-buying process, vague nervousness about the commitment of having a home, etc. But instead, we felt dizzy . . . and a little nauseous.At first I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe it was stress of buying a home, I thought. But after walking through the kitchen a few times I realized it was gas – natural gas from the …
One of the best things about moving to a new town is exploring it like it is a foreign country. And, like traveling abroad, some of the best adventures are the ones you don't expect to have. Take, for example, the simple matter of logistics. What began as a quest to find a way to get to the metro turned into a pitch black night bike ride and a newfound knowledge of Maryland bike laws. In my old neighborhood in D.C., the metro was only a ten-minute walk away. The biggest obstacle between point A, my apartment, to point B, the metro, was the occasional police tape. (You think I'm kidding, but I…
If you have ever had the joy of living in a neighborhood with a speed camera, you know what it is like to memorize the few meters of road in which you actually have to follow speed laws. And then there is the unhappy day you forget and receive a portrait of your high-speed self in the mail for the bargain price of $45. But what you may not have experienced yet is that the lovely speed camera can do more than reach into your wallet, it can put the brakes on much bigger things, like buying a house. My boyfriend and I made this surprising discovery when we recently bought our first house, only …
