Mein Bruder ist gettin' hitched!

My future sister-in-law updates the wedding countdown on Facebook pretty often and I can't believe it's less than one month away!

Enjoying a beautiful Charleston sunset after dinner on Shem Creek

Daniel & Deidra, Kyle & Kelly

My brother is cramming alot of milestones in a short amount of time:  Graduation, marriage, first job, buying a house, so I want to make the rehearsal dinner a fun night to de-stress. Especially since he, his future wifey, and half their bridal party graduate the following week!  They'll take their honeymoon after grad events.  My mom planned Kyle's graduation party and a shower for Kelly, so I told her I wanted to take the lead planning the rehearsal dinner since I'll be in Oklahoma the couple of weeks leading up to the wedding.

The theme my mom and I decided to go with was a Venetian Masquerade.  I can't quite convince my mom to pay for all the fun decor ideas I have, as she thinks her daughter's wedding was a big enough expense, but I think things are shaping up nicely.  I just want to get to Oklahoma to finish up the details because she keeps trying to buy things that I don't like just because she wants to "get things done" so she isn't stressed last minute. 

I found some awesome hand-painted masks from Venice at Pier 1 and picked up some matching ones for the lovely couple.  I'm buying some cheaper and more generic ones as favors and photo ops for the guests.

I was excited to get a sister in Kendal when I married Daniel and now I get another!  I love that Kelly and I can jump into deep spiritual conversations at the drop of a dime.  Ask any of my close friends, and they'll tell you I'm always game to take convos to a deeper level, whether they want to or not!  So I'm glad she's not afraid to go there!  I took a trip to Yellowstone with my family last summer and she came along; Kyle said he's excited for many years of Dunn/Rader family vacays!

Kelly finished her undergrad at OU in 3 years and is going to OU Med School in the fall.  Kyle is graduating with a Chemical Engineering degree.  Daniel and I often joke that we'll have to have the athletic children because their cousins will be pretty darn smart...

Here's to a growing family of fun!

The Waiting Game...

We looked at 15 houses this past weekend and drove by twice as many.  I could have looked at houses all day online, but getting to the Norfolk area and understanding where everything is really put the search into perspective for us. 

First off, I picked out my favorite houses from a list our Realtor suggested, but the pictures never showed the house next door or the car up on blocks across the street.  Growing up in a city run by Homeowner Associations, I was amazed at how you could see a house built in 1923 right next to a house built in 2005 that looked nothing alike.  Also, almost the entire city felt a little-run down and dirty.  My friend Heidi gave it the perfect description: "Deidra, the Virginia Beach area is the land of strip malls."

Secondly, most of the homes were built in the early 1900s, way before cars were invented, thus, hardly any houses have a garage.  Granted, Daniel and I haven't had a garage since we've been married, but if Daniel is going to be deployed for an extended period of time and I go back to Oklahoma to hang out family and friends, it would be good to have a safe place to lock up his pretty car.

I found that most of the charming houses I liked were in an area called "Park Place" - named for the Zoological Park not far from it.  Apparently it used to be THE place to live, but many of the massive colonial houses have been converted to multiple rentals units and is now considered a gang haven.  Awesome.  Also why the price of the houses I liked looked so attractive. Surprise, surprise.

One of the strangest things was realizing that there are hardly any "neighborhoods" in the area.  Sure, all the listings named the "neighborhood" the house was located in, but my definition of the word is a little different.  I grew up in a neighborhood of about 100 houses with only 2 entrances.  In Norfolk, almost every block is open to public traffic.

On Monday we were just going to meet up with my friend Heidi Jo for breakfast, then hit the road for the 10 hour drive ahead of us.  However, I decided there were a few more houses I wanted to drive by to see what the surrounding area looked like.  Heidi jumped in the car with us and I was glad to have another girl's opinion!  We found a charming Cape Cod in the neighborhood of "Suburban Acres Park."  Immediately the name had my interest piqued, and it was just a mile from our friends John and Gretchen.  As we got out of the car, I saw a guy in his Navy sweatshirt with his wife pushing a stroller around the block.   Awww... I already felt at home.  We peeked in the windows and decided we just had to see the inside before we left.  3 hours later, we were able to get a peek inside, and we liked what we saw!

 I'm taking suggestions for exterior paint colors!

We texted our Realtor (who was out-of-town at a conference) and told him we were ready to put in an offer.  He called me back and said there was already an offer in on the house, but it had not been accepted yet! Yeehaw!

It DEFINITELY needs alot of work - first thing going is the oven that probably was installed when the house was built in 1943.  The master bedroom is HUGE and I have big plans to expand the bathroom and put in a walk-in closet.

Now we play the waiting game to see if our offer was accepted.  I sure hope we get it so all of my dreaming and planning comes to fruition -- I already have paint colors picked out for each of the rooms!

Anxiety Dreams

Tomorrow we're leaving for Norfolk to go house-hunting.  Daniel has tried to be apart of the process of searching for homes online, learning about the Hampton Roads area, and talking to lenders about the right loan, but most of the load has fallen on my shoulders.  Partly because he just isn't as interested in the process because he's planning for deployment, but mostly because he works 12 hour days. 

I talk to my dad almost nightly about my progress, good faith estimates, and comparable market analyses.  I wish he would fly out and look at houses with us, but he said he thinks a Realtor can hold my hand through the process.  :)  We'll see.

Two of the houses our Realtor is taking us to on Friday

Since we'll probably sell the house in less than 3 years (we will either be restationed or Daniel will be out of the Navy), we are getting a 15 year loan to build equity much faster.  That takes us down a notch on wha we could get for a 30 year loan, but we realize it's just a "starter house," so we're trying to be positive.  It's just hard for us to swallow that we are looking in the price range of what our parents' homes cost in Tulsa, just because the cost of living is so much more there.  I read an article on CNN Money showing all of the median house prices across the country.  If we had gotten stationed in San Diego, we would have seen an average house at $355,000.  Tulsa's median price is $127,000.  Norfolk is right in the middle at $204,000.

This whole process has been amazing stressful.  I'm just thankful that tomorrow will (hopefully) end my dreaming about ugly cabinets, outdated tile, and a money pit house because I'll finally see the area and have some more peace about what we're getting ourselves into!

*Chandler Bing* Happy Dance Ensuing

I finished my monstrous project of the tufted headboard!  We bought a king-sized mattress a while ago and I just kept our queen-sized headboard up because when the bed was made, you couldn't tell it didn't extend to the edges...  Plus, I had a lovely mirror above that so it was a focal point enough for me... for a while.  Then I stumbled upon a few tufted headboards online and fell in love.  But not so much in love that I was willing to fork over the cash for the $1000 price tag.  So I improvised.

 Inspiration

Thanks to DIY Network and HGTV.com, I found plenty of videos and tips on how to create a headboard all on my own.  First step, gather all the materials.

I decided to go for something a little more simplistic and clean-lined for my first try. Nate Berkus Collection

I headed to Lowe's to get the plywood sheet.  The nice man Jason cut it down to size (78 inches x 48 inches) for us and we checked out.  I'm so glad Daniel came with me because what followed could not have been handled on my own: Driving home with a huge piece of plywood TIED to the top of my Jeep.  Granted, Daniel is an Eagle Scout so he knows all those neat knots and stuff, but all we had to use was TWINE.  I didn't think the plywood would be too big to fit inside of my Jeep!  But a king-sized mattress is much larger than you think...

Daniel had met up with me after getting off work so he had his own vehicle to drive home.  For the next 15 minutes I drove a constant 20mph and avoided stopping as much as possible.  I heard two loud "THUMPS" along the way and even pulled over just shy of our place because I could see the plywood from my rear-view mirror.  I mustered the strength to drive a few more blocks and then shrieked a sigh to release the anxiety; I had made it home without killing anyone.  Daniel said at one point when we were going up hill that the board had tilted up to almost perpendicular with my Jeep (No doubt preceding the loud thump!)  Oh Lordy.


Then I hit up JoAnn's fabric for 3 inch thick foam, batting, amazing fabric on sale, quilting thread, button making kit, buttons, and doll needles.  Here's the progression of my creation:

First I measured where I wanted each of my 22 buttons to go, then drilled holes into the plywood.  Just off to the side, I drilled another hole.  I put a screw in this hole to tie the thread around once I'd tufted the button to its correct depth.

After using spray adhesive to bind the plywood, foam and batting, I stapled the batting to the back.

The fabric was only 54 inches wide.  My headboard was 48 inches plus 3 inches of foam on each side, so I had to sew an extra flap so I could pull the edges around to staple it.

Now I have to tuft!  The longest process was covering all 22 buttons with fabric and then sewing them through the foam and tying the thread around the screws!

The first row tufted, and the second row with the buttons sewed through to the back. And a Huckleberry to the right with glowing eyes watching HGTV with me.

And the finished product!!  Once we get to our house in Virginia Beach, I'll attached legs to it for the appropriate height to the ceilings in our room.  But for now I'm so happy!  Commence Chandler Bing Happy Dance!

Let The Planning Commence

And the orders are in:  We are headed to Virginia Beach!  Daniel will be boarding the USS EISENHOWER at the end of March.

 

The USS EISENHOWER 

The ship left for deployment just after New Year's so he will fly out to the Middle East to meet up with them.  He's excited he only has to go for half of the deployment!  He'll get the qualifications he needs much faster that way, and the last month of deployment is usually hitting up Mediterranean ports on its way back to the US!

We were hoping for San Diego, but we are ecstatic to explore Virginia and the surrounding states as well!  Plus I have a dear friend attending graduate school out there.  Yay for buddies and meeting more Navy wives.

 

Daniel and I at the commissioning of the USS TRUXTON

Whilst he is busy tracking down pirates and floating off the coast of Iraq, I'll be looking for our first home.  I begged my mom to fly out to help since she only works part-time, but my dad said he was confident a Realtor could hold my hand and I could call him at anytime.  Booo.

It seems the most popular choice of home, by far, is the colonial.

I was looking for job openings at the local news stations and found something interesting on one of the websites: The usual tabs for "News," "Weather," and "Sports" were all there, but then I saw a tab labeled "Military."  HELLO GENIUS.  Every station's website should have that tab!  The Norfolk area is home to more than 10 military installments.  The tab had a bunch of fun stories relevant to military families and ship activity in the area.

New city, new job, new house.  Didn't I just go through this 6 months ago??  Ah yes, thus is the life of a military wife.

Jeepers My Liberty is Ticking Me Off!

I've owned three vehicles in my life.  First came my precious green 1998 Ford Explorer bought for my 16th birthday.  I remember coming home from basketball practice and my mom opened the garage door and viola!  A shiny SUV all for me.  I remember peeking inside the windows before running inside to hug my dad and ask for the keys.  Emily the Explorer was so good to me.  I named her after my 7th grade science teacher who named her Durango, "Deidra."

 

Ah the classic "I just turned 16 and my parents are making me take pics with my car"

Next came Lorelai the Liberty.  A silver 2004 beauty.  So cute and maneuverable and just as wonderful as the Gilmore Girls character, I vowed to always keep Jeeps at the top of my list.  Poor Lorelai went home to car heaven after a semi rear-ended her when my dad was driving her.  I was studying abroad in Germany at the time and terrified when I heard my dad was life-flighted back to Tulsa and in intensive care for a few days.  He pulled through, Thank You Jesus, and is now fully recovered 3 years later.

With the high school best friends... getting back together over the summer to float down the Tahlequah River! Leslie, Me, Miranda & Hannah

When I got home, we went shopping to replace dear Lorelai, but had the hardest time.  My dad and I couldn't find the right deal and couldn't agree on anything.  Finally we found a blue Liberty that we had to settle for because I was going back to school and we couldn't trade off cars anymore.  First mistake. I haven't even named this Jeep because I've never gotten emotionally attached.  I got her checked out about 2 weeks before I got married to make sure everything was in tip-top shape to make the move to South Carolina.

With Daniel, Emily and Jordan crossing Lake Champlain into Vermont on the car ferry.

Daniel and I got home from our honeymoon to find all our presents packed into my dad's Grand Cherokee.   My dad wanted to surprise us with new tires for the Liberty when subsequently he found something wrong with it.  The engine had to be REPLACED!  It was covered under warranty, but would take almost 2 weeks to be fixed, and Daniel had to report in South Carolina.  We traded them back 6 months later, but since then has been a string of unfortunate events and brought us to the decision to trade-in the Liberty.  Daniel will soon be getting deployed, so I'll drive his souped-up sports car until he gets back.

Then hopefully I'll have found a suitable replacement... and find the love that I first found in Emily.

To Buy, or Not to Buy...

Daniel just found out that his orders to be stationed on a carrier will be delayed another month.  We were supposed to be leaving by the end of February, but it looks like we'll be here until the end of March, at least.  However, we still thought we'd have the orders so we'd know where we would be moving.  We put San Diego at the top of our list, so keep your fingers crossed for us!  Daniel wants to end up on the USS Ronald Reagan!

There are three other places in which we might be stationed: Norfolk, Seattle, and Japan.   There are six carriers in Norfolk so there's a high chance for us to end up there, considering the Navy has a total of 11 carriers.  I've heard great things about Virginia Beach and I have a few friends from college that live in that area.  Also, Christian Broadcast Network is based out of there and I would love to continue my career in journalism by getting on board with the station!

The most frustrating thing about the Navy taking its time in passing along orders is that we cannot begin our living arrangement search!!  President Obama passed legislation that extended the 1st-time home buyer credit to June and that just opened the door to us considering purchasing a home.  We will only be there 2 years (Just the on the cusp of time to justify buying a home) and you can't sell your property before 3 years of ownership or you have to pay back the credit.  Plus, the market and economy in California is especially shaky.  Daniel and I just keep confessing that we will get San Diego and are making plans accordingly.  I have already looked at 25 apartment listings online.  The cheapest I found on the military website (which helps landlords hook up with reliable military tenants and offers discounts) was $1300 for an outdated 2 bd 2 ba.  The CHEAPEST!  Granted, the Navy will up our monthly housing allowance just because the cost of living IS so much more in that area, but I still think that paying $1000 in rent in rural upstate New York is ridiculous.  But I have a skewed perception of what rent should cost.  I see my dad renting out his properties in Oklahoma for $600-$700 and most are 3+ bedrooms!

I just cringe thinking about how much money we would be throwing away in rent over the next two years if we don't buy!  I just need to get in touch with a Realtor when we have orders, educate myself, seek wise counsel and just trust what we are led to do.