Monday, June 29, 2009

Weekend highlights

Sat morning we drove back to VA and visited with Spouse's mom, sister, and her kids. Then we stocked up on some non-perishables at Trader Joe's (wish we had one here), then picked up my aunt and went to our friend George's 80th birthday party.

The weather cooperated nicely for indoor/outdoor party in George's honor. There were probably 75 people or so, which really necessitated the usage of the outdoors. Several of George's nieces and nephews came from NH and NY, as well as many local friends and neighbors. The food was yummy and everyone had a great time.

Sun morning we met our VA realtor Betsy at a condo in Arlington. When we sold our VA house last Sept we used 1/2 the proceeds to pay against our new mortgage, and saved the other 1/2 for the garage/bath/closet addition and buying another condo. For months we've been searching for a condo within our budget that we could update a little and then rent. There have been very few foreclosures in our low-end budget, so we were excited to see this one on Sun. It had been for sale for a few months but had just been reduced into our budget. We liked it a lot and feel it could be a 'winner'.

Then we met up with Spouse's mom, sister, brother-in-law, and their 3 kids for lunch at Ruby Tuesday (love their salad bar), followed by a nice visit at Spouse's mom's house. We tossed our overnight bag and Jordan into the car and headed to our former neighborhood to meet Betsy again. On our recommendation, our former next door neighbors Suzanne & George selected Betsy to list their house. Betsy was there for the open house, and had a contract for us to sign and initial 1,001 times. We did this so that after giving it sufficient thought, we can call Betsy and have her present the offer, saving us the hassle of having to receive the contract via fax and then fax it back to her. (Its many, many pages long.) Then we headed back to DE.

After feeding and walking Jordan, we went for a snack at Shag. I like that Shag has 'small plates' so if you're hungry you order two; if you just want a snack you order one. Shag is also fun because they play 70s and 80s music in their large, outdoor dining courtyard. Spouse had angus sliders and a soda. I had bouyardi (a crock of melted feta with herbs, tomatoes, and pita) and an Atomic Age cocktail, and we split a small order of sweet potato fries. It was the perfect amount of food for us, and the evening breezes complimented the 75 degree temperature, making for a delightful dining experience.

We went for a short walk on the boardwalk, then returned home and watched TV before bed.

Crush du Jour: Erik Brunten

6 comments:

cb said...

Good luck on the rental condo!! Hope it all works out.

Anonymous said...

Good luck on the condo. Friend of mine is buying one here on the tony east side of Providence. He said the price is phenomenal, it works out the same as what he's paying for rent.

Sounds like you had a full weekend. Mine was a little boring, Keyron was in NYC for their Pride celebration. I was tearing down a phone system.

Now I'm doing database magic for the Marriage Equality movement here in RI, taking their mailing list and putting in state rep and senate district numbers. Takes about 2 minutes of my day now that I've scripted it all.

Of course I also act as advisor to the Executive Director. They're about to go out canvassing neighborhoods and I suggested they do door tags, brochures etc. People that aren't home get a door tag directing them to the MERI web site, while people who fill out the rep-contact postcards get the brochure with a sticker that tells them who their state rep and senator are and all the contact info.

Michael said...

What building are you looking at for the Rental condo?

Angel said...

YAYAYAY for rental condos!!!!!

Joy said...

I like Ruby Tuesday's salad bar, too. One of my friends (Tina) and I eat there fairly often because of it. Shag sounds like a fun place to eat.

Keep us posted about the condo and take pictures! Thanks, btw, for explaining where the door goes and the rooms of your first floor. It was an HGTV moment for me. :-)

Steven said...

Good luck on the acquisition of the condo. And hopefully the seller won't be too picky with the price.