Let the House Hunting Begin!

I did something crazy the other day. After finding out we got approved for a $160,000 loan, I applied for House Hunters on HGTV. Ryan and I are amongst the swooning masses who stop everything to watch that show. When there are House Hunters/ House Hunters International marathons on TV? Good night. We can be found sitting on the couch for HOURS glued to the TV, making a game out of which house the couple is going to pick. Thank god we don't actually have cable of our own, otherwise  we'd never get anything done. I don't think anything will come of this, but I thought it was something interesting to note!

So, you're probably wondering what's happened up to this point in our first time home buyers experience! Last Wednesday, we finally heard back from the bank that we had been approved for an FHA loan totaling $160,000. Our next step after that was to schedule an appointment with a mortgage broker to see if there were any other loans we could apply for. One of the things we've been hearing over and over is that we should shop around our mortgage as much as the house we purchase. We met with a lady (Alyce) that everyone had been recommending to us, and let me tell you, that experience made me feel so much better about the whole buying process. When we got our pre-approval letter back from Wauna, they quoted us about $11,000 out of pocket that included the 3% down and closing costs. That scared the hell out of me because that would be every penny we had to our name. I was starting to have second thoughts about us being ready to buy. I was thinking maybe we needed to wait a year and save as much as we could to have a greater down payment and to work on getting Ryan's credit up to qualify for a Conventional loan. Fortunately though, we were presented with some other options. Apparently, when you're applying for a loan, most times your median credit score is used, meaning that Ryan's 642 put us over the required number for a USDA loan. After crunching some numbers, Alyce was able to estimate that on a $139k house, we would be out of pocket only $900 with monthly payments of about $950 (assuming we can put in a full price offer on a house and ask for all closing costs to be covered). Boom. Totally do-able. We need to go in this week to turn in our W-2s, tax returns, pay stubs and letters of good standing to start the process of being approved for the new loan.

What we were able to do from that point is start looking for a realtor to start looking at houses! We had many friends recommend realtors that they know or have used. My parents have been lucky enough to have the same realtor through all of their home purchases, and even can consider them as friends. I know that I've heard people interview realtors, but for us, word of mouth was best. We ended up choosing a woman (Cheryl) that has been referred to as "the animal" who seems very client driven and who knows the market backwards and forwards. She's dogged in getting the best deal and best house for her clients, and we bonded over our love of vampire novels and she and Ryan both bonded over their shared loved of Harley's.

We met with Cheryl Friday afternoon to show her which houses we were interested in seeing and what we were basically looking for. We put together a list of "wants" and "must haves". The must have section was what we decided was going to break the house for us. If the house didn't have these things, it was off the list.

Wants:

• Livable basement
• Garage
• 1.5+ bathrooms
• Hardwood floors (or the ability to put them in ASAP-carpet literally makes my skin crawl)
• Curb appeal
• Minimal yard

Must Haves:

• At least 2 bedrooms
• Good natural lighting
• 1200+ Sq. Ft.
• High ceilings
• Nothing built after 1950
• Upgrade-ability

Our "must have" list isn't all that extensive, so we were able to pick out about 6 different houses we were wanting to see right away. There are only about 16 homes in our preferred area in our price range, so pickings are slim. 

So on Saturday, the search began!

MLS Number: 12-520
Year Built: 1949
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
Square Footage: 1,184
Comments: This was the first house EVER that we looked at and for that, it will always hold a special place for me. That being said, it was a very compartmentalized house that I'm not sure would be able to have an open concept plan, ever. The basement wasn't useable and there was a really creepy old doll in one of the bedrooms (it scared the bejesus out of me). The basement wasn't livable, it would only be used as storage space or a small shop space, and the upstairs would not be comfortable for any type of living. It did have a cool outdoor space, but it wasn't enough to redeem the rest of the property. This was an instant pass.

MLS Number: 13-661

Year Built: 1948

Bedrooms: 4

Bathrooms:  2

Square Footage: 1,580

Comments: This house had the most potential for maximizing space of any that we saw on Saturday. It had a decent sized main floor and a HUGE unfinished basement as well as some interesting attic space. The concerning piece was that the windows were leaking and molding the wood floors. When I see mold in a house, new or old, I am concerned. There was no yard space to speak of (which was fine by me) but the house was on a corner lot which wasn't in a good location. There are scummy apartments across the street and on the lot right next door which is a huge turn off for me because I would be nervous any night that Ryan isn't home, and I don't want to be creeped out in my own home. It's off the list.

MLS Number: 13-356

Year Built: 1935

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 1

Square Footage: 1,343

Comments: This house is really cute. It had a closed in porch, wonderful natural lighting, a cool upstairs loft area for the master, and some recent upgrades. There were wood floors throughout that were in decent condition and two bedrooms on the main floor that were workable. The down side was that it was on a pretty busy street with no neighborhood feel, and the river view was obscured by a HUGE power plant and signs to the local pizza joint. There was a basement, but it was a pretty short ceiling with majorly sloping floors that rendered it basically unusable. There was also a porch off the back of the house that didn't have a door from the house out to it. The previous owners had definitely put some work into this house, but you could tell it lacked the professional touch. This house was also at the top of our price range, so it was put in the maybe column. 

MLS Number: 13-176

Year Built: 1900

Bedrooms: 4

Bathrooms: 2

Square Footage: 1,642

Comments: Oh boy, where to start on this one. First I will start off by saying Ryan and I were really excited to view this house. It's in a different neighborhood than we've looked before, with hardwoods and a considerable amount of room. The second we stepped in though, we noticed some MAJOR problems. For those who have never been to Astoria, OR, I will tell you it's a hilly beast. Think Seattle or San Francisco. One of the main concerns when buying a house is that it's in a slide zone. Yes, this is as bad as it sounds. A slide zone is where your house has the potential to wash down a hill into whatever might be in it's way. Our realtor said her best guess is that this house is in a slide zone. What we found when we entered was an uneven mess of a house that I literally felt drunk walking in. The kitchen cabinets wouldn't even stay closed, and it was like a fun house. I don't even need to continue with this review. 

This was the end of our house hunting for Saturday. There were two other houses that were top on our list to see that needed 24 hour notice to the tenants that currently live there. We were able to schedule appointments for Sunday. 

MLS Number: 13-859

Year Built: 1885

Bedrooms: 4

Bathrooms: 2

Square Footage: 2,237

Comments: This house was everything I wanted it to be and so, so much more. It is so gorgeous and timeless and fabulous, but it needs work. It's been a rental and has had some funny things done to it, but the bones make my heart race. I am so in love with everything about this house, but it scares the crap out of me. A house that was built in the 1800's could be a money pit for sure. The area is also known as a slide zone, but only the inspection will tell us if it's at risk. There is so much curb appeal and room for it to be so amazing some day at such a great bargain. It's so bright with views of the river from all over the house, original hardwoods and 12 foot ceilings, I just die. It's the only house that has inspired me and got my mind racing with all the possibilities, but like I said, I'm still nervous about it. 

MLS Number: 13-802

Year Built: 1917

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 1.5

Square Footage: 1,200

Comments: Ryan really had high hopes for this house. It is cute and does have a lot of Craftsman charm. The view is also pretty cool from this house, it overlooks the port. There were some problems with it though. It was seemed pretty tiny to me, and the upstairs space was literally made for oompa loompas. Every step further into the house, you could see Ryan's little heart crush a little bit more. He was so sad that it wasn't going to be the house for us. Nixed. 

So where does that leave us? We're doing a second walk through the beautiful Victorian tonight, and we're thinking about putting in an offer (!!!!!!!!!!!). I will know more tonight and will update with more pictures of the house and more knowledge about the whole signing process. 

I will end with:

HOLY SHIT WE'RE BUYING A HOUSE!!!!

Text Talk: Week 6

Well, my 80 book reading challenge for the year seems to be going down in flames. I think I've come to terms with it though. I would rather enjoy reading books than be driven by some arbitrary number that in the end won't really matter if the process wasn't fun. That being said, I've only finished two books in the last two weeks. Between work and looking into buying a house, plus my rapidly growing obsession with Law and Order: SVU reruns on Netflix, my reading time has been limited.

Here's what I've got:

Title: Delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver

Genre: YA Dystopian

Pages: 441

Reaction: I only finished this book about a week ago and it took me a little while today to remember what it was even about. Needless to say I gave this book a 3/5 stars. It was enjoyable while reading it but the story seemed similar to others I have read recently. I think I'll continue on with the series, but it won't be one that I'm rushing out to buy. 

Title: Ready Player One

Author: Ernest Cline

Genre: Dystopian/Sci-Fi

Pages: 374

Reaction: Just a fair warning, this is going to sound like a fangirl gush. I haven't read a book in recent memory that I have loved so much and devoured as quickly as I did Ready Player One. Imagine, if you will, a future where fossil fuels are nearly depleted, civilization has crumbled and every one lives in a virtual reality world. Human contact is limited to what you do online in "OASIS" through your avatar. You go to school, work, socialize, everything in a online platform. The creator of OASIS has just died and set forth a quest for anyone who can solve his clues to obtain his vast amounts of wealth and fortune (think Willy Wonka). Enter Wade Watts, a nobody with no money and born into a pretty crappy life. Through out the book, you follow him on his quest to solve the riddles and win the prize as he competes against everyone else in this virtual world. 

Okay, where I'm going to start raving is that this book centers around the 1980's geek culture. The creator of OASIS, James Halliday grew up during this time period and completely immersed himself in the 80's culture for the remainder of his life. There are so many references to some of my most favorite things: Ghostbusters, Pretty in Pink (I was raised on John Hughes movies), The Goonies, Star Wars, Pac Man, etc and so for ad infinitum. Not to mention some of the most amazing 80's songs were key highlights in this book. These were all things I grew up with too, so this was a wonderful walk through my own childhood. Also, video game consoles and the earliest versions of computers were a major component in my young life, so a lot of the early video games talked about in this book also brought back a lot of memories. I love the nerd culture, most wouldn't know this, but I do like to game every now and then. Sonic the Hedgehog, Zelda, Mario World, were all games that I loved playing growing up. Even to this day I'm a huge fan of all the Fable games, and my favorite game of all time is Kingdom Hearts. Anything that is an adventure with a good and noble storyline, I can get behind. This book was written like one of those classic games. It has everything a good adventure needs: an evil villain, a greater cause, nobility, human fault, a love story and an epic quest all mixed with the best parts of the 1980's, I mean seriously, need I say more?

For those of you who like to geek out like I do, I have a few documentary recs to go along with this book: Donkey Kong, Fist Full of Quarters and Indie Gamer. Donkey Kong Fist Full of Quarters is seriously one of the greatest documentaries I've seen. I even bought it I loved it so much. I have everyone I know watch it (if they want to remain my friend that is). I won't ruin it by even trying to explain it, just see it. And Indie Gamer is less about old school gaming, but more about independent game developers who are trying to get their games off the ground without having to go through a major corporation like Nintendo, Capcom, Atari, so on and so forth. Seriously some good stuff going on here. 

I loved this book. End of story.

Books Added to the Library This Week:

Title: Dash &Lily's Book of Dares

Author: David Levithan and Rachel Cohn 

Genre: YA Contemporary

History Behind My Choice: I've had this book on my list for a while, it's a contemporary set around Christmas. A lot of the BookTubers I watch have read this and said it was enjoyable. I'm not expecting a whole lot, but I got it from BookMooch because the same person had the next book that I was really excited to get.

Title: The Host

Author: Stephanie Meyer

Genre: YA/Science Fiction

History Behind My Choice: So after the whole Twilight craze, I had heard Stephanie Meyer had come out with another book. I didn't really pay it much attention. Don't get me wrong, I loved Twilight, but I was concerned it was going to be Bella, Jacob and Edward all over again, so I passed it up. Then, right before the movie came out, so many of my favorite BookTubers were saying they were re-reading it and that they absolutely loved it the first time around. So that intensified my need for this book. I tried mooching it from multiple people, it took about three months in total before it was available from a reputable user from which I got this and the previous book! I think I'm picking up this bad boy next. 

Title: Steve Jobs

Author: Walter Isaacson 

Genre: Biography

History Behind My Choice: This is the only book that Ryan has ever asked me to get for him. He's not much of a reader so when he requests something like this, I do whatever I can to facilitate him getting some good materials. He's got a major Apple obsession so I have a feeling he's going to nerd out on this book.

The House that Built Me

...Or us really. I've been excited to announce this for a while now, but wanted to wait until we had more information. Ryan and I went to the bank to see about a home loan today!!!! This might seem like it's coming totally out of the blue, but it's something we have been talking about for at least six months. I thought it would be interesting, since we're young, first time house buyers, and most of my friends are young and still renting, to chronicle (good and bad) our experiences with the whole process! I know next to nothing about buying a house, getting a loan or working with a realtor, so what I do learn along the way, I'd love to share, so here goes nothing!

Our Facts:

I understand that everyone is going to be in a different financial situation than us, but I wanted to share our history and what we're up against trying to secure a loan. So, as most people know, Ryan and I are both recovering alcoholics (for those that didn't know that about Ryan, email me later... I've got pictures), and being an alcoholic sometimes not only hurts you emotionally and physically, but financially as well. In AA, it's called "financial wreckage". I was lucky in that I never had any major debts, for me, my financial security, even when drinking was still a number one priority, so my credit score is still intact. I can't say Ryan has been so lucky. While he was out YOLOing it up, he was racking up bad debt like mad and letting accounts, credit cards, you name it, get sent to collections. So where my credit score falls somewhere in the upper 700's (best), he's barely scraping by in the low 600's (bad).

I don't get away scott free though in the loan hunt. Having gone to treatment and thus being let go from Enterprise, I have a 6 month employment gap on my record with only a little over a year at my current job. My understanding is that lenders like to see you have two solid years of earning history before you're a shoe-in for a loan. It also hurts that I only brought in about $7,000 total on last year's tax return. Ouch. Ryan has been working on his credit score ever since he got a car loan last year. Previously, he had something like a 550 (which is like lower than any D level score I've ever seen). Over the past year, he has worked hard to make financial amends by paying off creditors (to the tune of around $6000) and making car payments on time and over the minimum amount. Unbeknownst to either of us though, three more creditors came forward after the last pull of Ryan's credit score, so that's what we're working on paying off now. That will hopefully boost his score for the future.

Through the lending institution we chose to go to first, Wauna Federal Credit Union, there are two loans for first time home buyers. A USDA loan and an FHA loan. From what I gathered, the main difference between the two loans, is that the USDA loan requires 0% down at signing, where as the FHA loan requires roughly 3% of the cost of the house you're buying at time of signing. In order to qualify for a USDA loan, both applicants must have over a 640 credit score on all three credit score models (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), which we didn't. The good news is that we did qualify to submit our information for the FHA loan, but just barely. What I mean by that is that Ryan's lowest model scored him literally one point over the necessary 620. Yikes.

From here, Natasha, our home loan officer, submits our tax returns, pay stubs and credit history to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). At this point, they are looking at our past earnings and future earning potential to see if we are good enough candidates to pay back their loan. We have no idea what dollar figure they'll come back with, if any at all, so now we wait.

What Happens Next?

If we are approved for a loan and it's to our liking, we well get a letter of pre-approval from the bank and we will head out the door to look for a realtor. If we are not approved, or not approved for enough money to buy anything substantial, we'll put this whole process on hold. I will continue working at KLEAN, building my work history, Ryan will continue to pay off his debts, and we will start saving for a future down payment and renovation budget (because of course we are getting a fixer upper!!).

But that's not the fun part, so venture with me, if you will, into my dreamboat fantasy land.

Because Ryan and I are both recovering alcoholics and find it ever so hard to remain "in the moment", we have already picked out the house we are going to buy (without ever having set foot in it, naturally).

Here she is in all of her charming 1900's glory. For those who want to see more pictures and scope the scene, the MLS number is 13-589. She needs some work and love, and I have all of that to spare. 

Obviously, if we are approved, we will check out multiple houses before we make any major decisions. From what I have heard, if you buy a house, you want to wait at least 5 years before putting it back on the market, so we'll be locked into whatever we decided to purchase for at least that long. I know that we're not looking to find our forever home right now (especially not in Astoria Effing Oregon of all places), but this is a starter house, which we could see potentially turning into a rental down the road. It's also coming up on summer which is primetime for house selling, so us making a gut decision with buying the first house whose pictures we've fallen in love with is a little silly. So don't worry friends, our sanity is (sort of) intact. 

Going back briefly to what happens if we're not approved, I will let you guys know what our plan of attack is. How we propose to save money, pay off debts and live a more frugal lifestyle (because who doesn't want that). 

If we are approved, look forward to realtor advice, our list of "must haves" in a house and some overall really exciting photos of our house hunting process, plus MUCH more!!! We'll know sometime early next week so stay tuned!!

Also:

If any of you out there have any first time home buyers experience or advice, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE (!!!) contact me! We are greenhorns on the ship of life. 

A Hairy Situation

As I said in a previous post, I'm no beauty guru. I find it tiring trying out product after product with less than impressive results. Over the past year though, I have tried a few different hair product lines I thought I would share about. I'm coming to the end of two of the three bottles and for people who are hair conscious like I am, I thought I would give an attempt at a review. Enjoy!

Product: Macadamia Natural Oil

Pros: The smell of the conditioner is Devine. Like I could eat it, it smells that good. Like a tropical vanilla delight. The conditioner also leaves my hair so smooth and manageable after I use it. 

Cons: The shampoo doesn't lather enough! I have to dump tons of it into my hand when I first start using it and most times I have to add more to get the job done. I don't even usually wash the bulk of my hair (I only condition the ends) so I'm less than impressed about the amount I have to use to get the result I want. Also, the pot of deep conditioner smells like the cheap Tresemme hairspray. It works well, but all day I'm walking around smelling the harsh hairspray scent. I had purchased this product originally because of Elle Fowler on YouTube because it seems like she only picks some of the best products, but I don't think this is something I would repurchase.

Overall Rating: C+

Product: Wen by Chaz Dean

Pros: After the first use, my hair was silky and amazingly smooth. The scent of Almond Mint is very pleasant and doesn't linger too much on your hair throughout the day. 

Cons: You have to use A LOT of product. Like if I had the pump on this bottle, they recommend using 16(!!!!) pumps!!! This is a non-lathering shampoo/conditioner combo that came along with a whole set of other products that I haven't used. After the initial use, every use afterwards have left my hair looking greasy and stringy. I, like I'm sure millions of others, have seen the infomercials and thought this was going to be a solid purchase. After my experiences with this product, I asked Google why it leaves me looking like a grease monkey and apparently this is a problem many others have had. Some recommended that I switch to a different blend, that this one might be too heavy for my hair, but I don't think I'm going to be testing any others out. 

Overall Rating: F

Product: Alterna Caviar Recovery Instant Repair Shampoo and Conditioner

Pros: This is the most lathery shampoo I have ever encountered. It's amazing.  You barely need any shampoo in your hand to get a bubbly head of squeaky clean delight. The smell is light and charming, a lemony herbal scent which leaves your hair smelling sweet all day long. The conditioner is just as lovely and leaves your hair tangle free and soft.

Cons: I like to think I'm a fairly intelligent person. But for the life of me, I can't figure out how to close these containers. From the picture above, you can see the metallic portion of the bottle which is actually the bottom, thus making the product sit at the bottom of the container making for easier dispensing. Supposedly you are supposed to be able to twist the bottom closed to make for easy travel, but since I've had these around Christmas, I haven't been able to take them anywhere but my bathroom. Total bummer.

I think I would purchase this brand again, but maybe try a different mixture. For $32 per bottle, I think I expected something a little better, but maybe that's just because I have the most difficult frizzy thin hair ever created. Who knows. The search must go on!

Overall Rating: B+

A Week in Photos: Weeks 18 & 19

Monday 4/29: A while back, in thanks for a framed photo we gave Ryan's stepmother Jenny, she sent me this wonderful handmade necklace. After meeting her in Florida and seeing her don a similar design, I thought I would give mine a go.

Wednesday 5/1: After getting back from Florida, before returning the huge suitcase our friend Jenn let us borrow, Marley decided to make a home out of it. I don't know what it is about our cat and suitcases, but they LOVE them! For about a week period, we had another suitcase on our dresser and Peanut would not leave it! But we finally got Marley's hideout back to it's owner, Ryan and I should probably think about getting our boy a kitty house.

Friday 5/3: One of our KLEAN Alum came by to say hello to us and bring in his most amazing dog. Maximus is a Boerboel, basically an African Mastiff. Ever since seeing the first Harry Potter, I have been in love with Mastiffs. I don't know that I would ever be able to have one, too much slobber, but Maximus is one amazing specimen. Such a handsome boy!!

Friday 5/3: My fabulous friend and sponsor Vern had his belly button birthday on the 3rd. For those who aren't in a 12-step program, it basically means he aged another year! Our friend Vinessa baked this fantastic cake which featured a Narwhalicorn. We celebrated with sushi in Seaside!

Friday 5/3: On our way back from sushi, it was pretty hard to miss the Coast Guard helicopter searching the coast line for something in the water. Living in Astoria has some downsides (as I have already mentioned on here numerous times), so it took about two hours for us to find out what was actually going on. Ryan was even trying to listen to the police scanner to no avail. Apparently someone had called in that a 13 year old boy had been skateboarding down by the river and had fallen in. In actuality, a drunk guy saw two kids skateboarding and heard something splash into the water and only one kid run away. He called it in, and thus, this situation ensued. Thankfully, no one actually fell in the water, it was a good display that if something were to actually happen, the Coast Guard would swiftly get into action!

Saturday 5/4: Nothing gets Ryan going more than me finding picture of his "awkward phase" and posting them on the interwebs. And nothing gets me laughing more than doing it. Ryan put on Facebook in response to this photo that he was breaking up with me, which his mother actually believed. Too good. I found this little gem buried deep in a pile of things that came out of the Acura Ryan sold to a buddy, this was a gleaming picture of him at the fine age of 18 when he was having his first college experience. So good.

Saturday 5/4: I have been eying these adirondack chairs for at least a year now. Ever since Ryan and I moved into our little house with a deck, I have been daydreaming about sunbathing on our porch. We acquired a set of ice cream parlor chairs and table about a year back, but the refurbishing process on that came to a halt when it started raining in the fall. Unfortunately I left them out all winter and ruined their new coat of paint and I can't bring myself to want to do it all over again. I'm thinking of just posting them on Craigslist now that I have these beauties. The red is just so happy and pops on our porch, and they are comfortable to boot!

Sunday 5/5: The problem with having indoor kitties is that they get so jealous when you're outside and they can't be! This last weekend in Astoria was probably one of the most beautiful I have seen since living here. It was in the 80's both days and we had the windows flung open throughout the whole house. This toys with our cats emotions though. I was sitting in the aforementioned adirondack chairs right near the window, only to have Peanut meowing and playing with my hair. Such is the life of a house cat. Time to get kitty leashes!

Sunday 5/5: Since it was so nice over the weekend, Ryan and I decided that on our Sunday date day, we would sit out on the porch and BBQ for the first time of the year! I know we probably could have BBQed through the winter under our covered patio, but we aren't that dedicated to the art. Ryan is a steak fanatic, so of course we picked some up at Fred Meyer. And this picture ensued.

Monday 5/6: Our boy cat doesn't like to be picked up. He actually starts making noises like "uuumph ummph" (because we think he has a deviated septum and can't meow like a normal cat). So sometimes, to torment him, we pretend like we're trying to catch a wild animal (which we are). On this fine day, Ryan was running around our room saying he was trying to capture a "kitty-tor". Like that show "To Catch a Predator". It was hilarious and Marley was having none of it.

Friday 5/10: The most exciting thing happened. I was finally able to mooch a book for Ryan! For those of you who don't know, I am a Bookmooch addict. For those who don't know what Bookmooch is, I can do a post on it later, an updated one from this one. Ryan had been wanting the biography of Steve Jobs for a while now, so it was just meant to be when I saw this guy come up! When it arrived, it was in really good condition and a hardback! Boom.

Saturday 5/11: One thing I love to do when I go home to Olympia, is check out the Capitol Campus. I grew up going there while my dad was working and there's something about it that is still magical to me. I have taken Ryan there plenty of times before, but this time I wanted to take him to the heated bench. For those who didn't grow up in Olympia, the heated bench is basically like it sounds, a big wooden bench that has air ducts underneath it that shoot up hot air. Unfortunately, the "heated" part of this equation was no longer working. Still, we were able to walk around the campus seeing all of the war memorials and checking out the colored fountain. I showed Ryan all of the places I used to roller blade when I was younger, and all of the spots I used to play hide and seek. It was a wonderful trip down memory lane!

Text Talk: Week 5

It's been a couple of week since I last updated you all with what I've been reading and purchasing. It's taken a while to readjust after coming back from a semi-vacation. I will say that I didn't get as many books read as I had hoped I would, but that's because I was too busy exploring Orlando! With this last weekend being as sunny as it was down here in Astoria though, I had plenty of porch sitting time to kick back and relax with some good reads.

Title: Last Sacrifice

Author: Richelle Mead

Genre: YA Paranormal

Pages: 594

Reaction: Okay, so I loved this series, like if I can get over the embarrassment of saying the words "Vampire Academy", then I would tell everyone (who likes paranormal YA) to read this. I do have to say that I was a little disappointed by this last book though. I think my main complaint is that towards the end of the series, it started suffering from "Twilight-itis" meaning that there was MAJOR love triangle action occurring, and as it was with Twilight, my "team" didn't win! (Still Team Jacob.) I finished this book on the flight to Orlando, and I sat there thinking after I closed the cover, "That's it? That's all?". Again though, I'd still give the entire collection of books a 4/5 stars. I enjoyed the experience of reading them, they are total low brow entertainment, but easy to divulge in, none the less!

Title: The Princess Bride

Author: William Goldman

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 398

Reaction: So everyone knows this is a huge cult classic. When I was younger, I knew people that were OBSESSED with this film, but I never got it! In Olympia where I grew up, we always had a summer film series in the park, and Princess Bride was a movie that was always shown, and always cheered at! I tried watching it on a couple different occasions, and I just couldn't get into it. I thought, now that I'm older, maybe I'll understand it a little bit better. Nope, still don't. I thought the writing was wonderful, I thought the intro by William Goldman was even better, and yes, I was duped into believing there was actually an author called S. Morgenstern, but this book just didn't resonate with me. I thought Buttercup was selfish and irritating, but Westly redeemed her. The supporting characters brought humor and interest to the story, but it wasn't enough for me to rate this book higher than 3 stars. Am I missing something??

Title: Delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver

Genre: YA Dystopian 

Pages: 441

Reaction: I am about 100 pages away from finishing this book. I always seem to do a running tally in my head of where I think a book is at during the reading experience. I've wavered between a 3 and 4 through the entirety of the book. I have a friend that highly recommended this to me, so I had to pick it up. At first, all I could think about was this book is exactly like Uglies by Scott Westerfield. Once teenagers in this world reach a certain age, they have a surgery that changes the course of their life forever (just like Uglies). As I have read further in the book, the similarities have ended and at this point I'm looking forward to reading the next installment in this series. More on it next week.

Books Added to the Library This Week:

So when I started writing this week's edition of Text Talk, I thought I wasn't going to have very many books that I added to my library since last time I wrote... Wrong. As I started going through my Goodreads account, I somehow added SIX books to the library!! I was flabbergasted. 

Title: The Baker's Daughter

Author: Sarah McCoy

Genre: Historical Fiction

History Behind My Choice: This book was recommended to me by Goodreads after I finished the Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani. It sounds to be one of those that interweaves many lives and tells a beautiful historical story. I saw it on Bookmooch one day and grabbed it up!

Title: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Author: Lionel Shriver

Genre: Contemporary

History Behind My Choice: I don't remember when I heard about this book originally, but it was one of those things that you gain knowledge of, then hear about it everywhere after that. It's like when you learn a new word and you hear it constantly from that moment on. Anyone with me on that? Anyway, this book is about a mother who's son was responsible for a school shooting. Chilling? Yes. Heartbreaking? Yes. I'm going to have to mentally prepare myself for this one!

Title: Ready Player One

Author: Ernest Cline

Genre: Science Fiction/ Dystopian

History Behind My Choice: This book has been HOT in the BookTube community recently. When I saw my favorite BookTuber Priscilla (TheReadables) do a review that said this is an amazing pop culture/ geek book, I knew I had to pick it up. Then when my favorite author, Patrick Rothfus simply stated "This book was f*cking awesome", it was on like Donkey Kong. I finally picked it up one of the times I was at Powell's recently. 

Title: The City of Ember

Author: Jeanne DuPrau

Genre: YA/Dystopian

History Behind My Choice: I saw a review for this book on BookTube, then when I read about it on Goodreads, it sounded like a young adult version of The Passage by Justin Cronin. Yes please.

Title: Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: YA/Dystopian

History Behind My Choice: This was another book that was popular on BookTube a while back and a bookish friend of mine, Bree also recommended it to me. It was a book that I was waiting to drop in price, but after Florida (where I didn't spend very much money) when we went to Powell's, I decided to spring for it as well as previously mentioned Delirium. I'm holding off on reading this until the final book of the trilogy comes out later this year, just incase I want to tear through them like I did with Twilight. 

That's all I have for this week, I hope to get through with Delirium today and have a few other books to talk about by the next time I write! I'm expecting a few more books in the mail this week, so I'll have updates on that as well!

A Week in Photos: Week 17

As I said in my last "Week in Photos", I had been in a picture taking rut. This last week though, I was seeing new places and getting out of my typical box and thus, I have MANY photos to share! I hope you all enjoy!!

Sunday 4/21: So if you've read my blog at all, you know I'm a book fanatic. Two things are happening in this photo that I'm wanting to point out. 1) My boyfriend is reading a book. This never happens. The last book I think he read was The Giver. In like second grade. This is a miracle. 2) I have found out that my boyfriend is the worst thing you could be as a human: a book bender. I will never loan him a book for as long as I live. This is an act against humanity. No spine or page should ever be bent this way!! I was so appalled that I had to take this picture. A little part of me dies every time I look at it.

Monday 4/22: I saw a picture on Instagram the other day that I knew I had to copy when I was flying out to Florida. My sorority sister Jamilynn took a "What's in my Bag" picture before heading to Europe which had gorgeous composition and I felt like I needed to do the same. These were just some of the things that I took in my bag with me to the East Coast.

Tuesday 4/23: In order to get to Orlando at a reasonable hour, we had to fly out of Portland at a completely unreasonable hour. 6:00 AM flight meaning 4:30 airport arrival meaning 3:30 wake up. It was a painful day. But, it was the first time Ryan and I have flown on a plane together, so of course that meant we had to snap a photo!! This is as good as she gets.

Tuesday 4/23: I think like anyone who flies, I get majorly anxious that we're going to miss our flight and end up having to spend a lot of time and money trying to correct the mistake. I wind myself up and get into panic mode when really, everything is fine. Over the years, I developed some inflight traditions to help me unwind from the pre-flight panic attack. For me that includes tomato juice and sprite (or ginger ale if they have it). There is something soothing about this combination for me even though I don't drink these beverages at any other time.

Wednesday 4/24: Even though my internal clock must have been way out of whack, I still managed to get up at 7:30 AM the morning after our flight. I knew that I had until 1:00 PM when my training started, so I took full advantage of sitting by the pool. I spent all morning reading The Princess Bride, communing with the wildlife (lizards and squirrels) and warding off amphibians (literally a snake 3 feet long and black as sin slithered through the pool area, close to families and children). It took a while to get used to the natural inhabitants of Florida, but I was able to find some peace and some sun.

Wednesday 4/24: For those of you who have been to Orlando before, our hotel was situated in the Lake Buena Vista area. For those of you who haven't, it basically means we were on Disney's doorstep. There is an area of the Disney Resort that is called "Downtown Disney" which is home to restaurants, shops and gimmicks galore, so naturally we had to check it out. Upon arrival, the first (and only) thing that Ryan noticed was that there was a Lego store. My 25 year old boyfriend is still such a kid at heart. So upon entering the store, he started (literally) squealing like a little girl when he saw the Lego Death Star. Not only is my boyfriend a child, but he is way into Star Wars. This is him oogling said things:

Wednesday 4/24: Ever since Disney acquired LucasFilm (yes, I know that random Star Wars trivia thanks to the character pictured at the left), Ryan has been obsessed with looking at the things Disney is producing. This Mouse-3PO that Ryan is donning is by far one of my favorite things. Both times this past year we have been year any of the Disney franchises, we have considered purchasing these. At almost $25 a pop though, we've decided to let that dream go and just live with the picture as if we did purchase them! Good enough for me.

Thursday 4/25: For the first time ever in my life, I got sent away for a business trip. The real reason I was in Florida to begin with was for a CARF 101 Accreditation Conference. For those who don't work in the Behavioral Health field, CARF is an international accreditation board that certifies outstanding health care facilities. With working at a brand new treatment center, my executive director has given me the title of Continued Quality Improvement Coordinator (CQI for short) and handed over the accreditation process to me. This will be a year long adventure that I'm sure will take up a lot of my time, some sweat and a few tears, but I'm excited to be implementing some solid changes to our newly founded treatment facility that will have the person served at the forefront of everyone's minds. This is a wonderful program and I can't wait to get started!

Friday 4/26: After three long days of all day training, it was time to cut loose. Before I left for Orlando, my clinical director, Mel, told me that there are gators in every lake around the Orlando area. She knew this from previous living experience. So for me, being from the PNW, it was like a game of Where's Waldo for every lake we drove by (which in Orlando is like thousands). I tried mating calls, doing the gator chomp with my arms like they do at University of Florida, and yelling out "chick-chick-chickennnnn!!!!" (because everyone knows gators love chicken) to no avail. I didn't spy a single wild gator. So naturally, as a tourist, I talked my party into going to GATORLAND!!! And naturally, as a tourist, I got to sit on a half-dead-tranquilizered-up-gator. This picture ensued:

Friday 4/26: Apparently Gatorland has been around since the dawn of time, or like 1977, which is why they have this HUGE stucco gator mouth out in front of their establishment. By no means is this the most technologically advanced, coolest gator mouth you have ever seen, but this thing has some history on it, so of course Ryan and I had to get a picture to prove we were there.

Saturday 4/27: In order to get ready for the big day we had ahead of us, I thought I would try to burn off some of the head cold that somehow managed to take hold in my body. The times that I get to sit out at a pool early in the morning before anyone else is around is probably one of the most relaxing things for mind, body and soul for me. I'm at ease and at peace, the only thing that can enter in my subconsious at times like these is, "where is that mother #$%&ing snake!?!" Which then is quickly followed in my head by, "Snakes on a mother #$%&ing plane!" (welcome to my head).

Saturday 4/27: For those of you who don't know, I'm just going to put this out there in the open now: I love Harry Potter. I don't mean I've read the books once "love" and think they are a cute story, no. This is the kind of love where I have read every single book every summer since each came out and I know parts by heart. I have seen (and own) every movie countless times and can quote many lines and tell you where the books and movies differ. I have a Harry Potter related poster in our guest bedroom and always ask for at least one thing Harry Potter related for every birthday and at Christmas. It goes beyond love for me, it is a passion and club I'm proud to belong to, the Potterheads. So needless to say, when I first heard about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter way back when, I knew in my lifetime, I had to get myself there. This was one of those bucket list things. So the second I found out I was going to be able to go to Orlando for this training, I started figuring ways I was going to get to Universal Studios, I would have begged, borrowed and stolen to get there. I didn't care about anything else, just getting to the world of Harry Potter. This was my first magical glimpse of Hogwarts, the little girl heart in me started racing at this point. (Fair warning: All further pictures are Harry Potter related, I don't be offended if you stop reading now.)

Saturday 4/27: This is the view upon entering in the front gates at Hogwarts where the first ride is. Unfortunately, my love for Harry Potter forced me on to this ride (which tours you through Hogwarts) which is a simulator ride, which I know from previous Disney experience that I don't handle well (I almost puked on Star Tours, for real). Everything up to the ride experience was AMAZING though. It literally was like being in Hogwarts, everything I ever imagined. The line takes you through the greenhouses, a classroom, some of the Hogwarts hallways (with all of the talking/moving pictures on the wall), a common room and even the headmaster's office (for those in the HP know, they used the first actor (films 1-2) of Dumbledore as his portrait on the wall of the headmasters office as opposed to the actor who had been playing Dumbledore in the last films (3-8) which I thought was very curious). I thought this portrayal was very very well done, I loved everything about it.

Saturday 4/27: After another hellish experience on a simulator ride, I thought there would be nothing better than to cool down with a refreshing Butterbeer (for all of those who worry I had to change my sobriety date, no fear, Butterbeer is non-alcoholic). It's a delightful butterscotch drink that I would have on a regular basis if I could. Also at the Butterbeer cart, they were selling Pumpkin Juice, and further into the town of Hogsmeade, they sold Firewhiskey, which is actually an adult beverage.

Saturday 4/27: I have other pictures that show the town of Hogsmeade more, but this to me was so perfect. From the way the sign of the Hog's Head, a notoriously seedy joint, hangs off to one side, to the wood sign itself, this is really how I imagined it looking. I had a chance to peak my head in the Hog's Head, and of course it was actually a pub inside the theme park. Too perfect.

Saturday 4/27: They had a Hogwart's Express and a Platform 9 3/4. I died a little bit. It's perfect, the dreamlike quality this picture has, because it's literally something that is out of one of my dreams. I can't tell you how many times when I was reading the first and second books for the first time ever, I wished wizarding schools were actually real and that I would really be taken away on the Hogwart's Express. The world of Harry Potter seems so much simpler to me. No cell phones, computers or TV, it's about the real human connections and some kick ass magic. (Who am I kidding, I'd still like to get my Hogwart's letter in the mail!)

Saturday 4/27: After the magic of Harry Potter is over, they try not to let you down too hard at Islands of Adventure. You quickly travel to Dr. Seuss land where all of the Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts I saw all week were being produced. Being in this place made me realize how truly deprived I was as a child. I think the only Dr. Seuss book I had growing up was One Fish, Two Fish. When I saw The Lorax this last year in theaters, that was the first time I had ever even heard of that story. Horton Hears a Who? Same thing. College was when I heard "Oh the Places You Will Go" for the first time. But after coming here, I've realized there is a whole world of good literature that I have missed out on! End rant. This is a picture of us amongst the Truffula Trees.

Saturday 4/27: And of course I had to get a solo shot because I think their reproductions of the Truffula Trees was spot on. And they're fun. And match my dress. Moving on.

Saturday 4/27: As a last ditch effort to find something to commemorate our time at Islands of Adventure, we stopped at a gift shop on the way out of the park. The only noteworthy thing was this Bob Marley rasta hat Ryan insisted on trying on. I don't know what Bob Marley has to do with Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, The Hulk or Dr. Seuss (other than I think Dr. Seuss and Bob Marley enjoyed some of the same substances), but this hat was there. And Ryan loved it.

Sunday 4/28: After a long day of traveling, Ryan and I were ready to get home to our little kitten squawks. Upon entering our abode, we found this precious sign hanging in our kitchen, it was something that was greatly appreciated and clearly made with love and care from our friend Jenn who watched our little gems while we were away!

Monday 4/29: And last but not least, this is a picture to depict how much our little fluff balls missed us. Last night, I went to sleep around 9:00 PM and was out COLD, ALL NIGHT! I never do that. It was some kind of personal record. That aside, I clearly didn't notice that I had a kitty laying on my pillow all night long until this morning when the alarm started going off. I took a couple of moments before starting my morning to give Marley some loves, since clearly he was lacking. It was a wonderful way to wake up.