Home Sweet....Contract.

7.16.10

Summer is in full swing and as I write this morning the temperature is already in the 90's. Luckily the oppressive heat has not slowed us down. In fact, we are moving full steam ahead - on our new house that is!! I know I have not really been sharing too many details and I apologize, but until those keys are in our hands, I'm holding out! I am not risking this deal falling through!!
We hope to close in August and will have plenty of pictures then. In the mean time, here is something to wet your palette:


That's all I'm going to share!!! :) Stay tuned...

Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

7.6.10

It is summer and boy, we've been havin' a blast! Okay...so I'm in a corny mood tonight. But I have LOTS to smile about. Here - click here and press "Play" to get in the mood. :)

So what's been going on you ask? Well, let me tell you. I've officially been on the job for almost 3 weeks and I am loving it. It is such a great new challenge - exactly what I was looking for. The home office is working out well (Lucy LOVES it) as are the trips to New York City. I'll be back up there July 19th - NY buddies mark your calendars!

We have been keeping busy on weekends - trying to get a lay of the land. The three of us hit Burke Lake Park and conquered the 4.7 mile lake path on a fairly warm Saturday afternoon. Lucy was especially interested in making friends with the ducks. :)


Next it was time to celebrate Ed's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ED - so we headed into DC for a peek at the new and improved American History Museum. We were very impressed with the great exhibits. Ed's favs was anything car related. Mine of course was Julia Child's Kitchen. I wanted to hop over the stanchion and whip up a nice beef bourgonion!


Yup - that is Ed on the other side of the kitchen!!! :)

Next up - 80's night with The Legwarmers!!!! For those of you who are not familiar, The Legwarmers are the BEST 80's cover band in the DC area. We had a great time enjoying all our favorites AND we were in the company of Andrea and Rich which made it all the better.


And finally - Let's Play Ball!! It was family day down at Nationals Park this past weekend. We headed downtown to see the Nats beat up on the Mets (sad) and got a festive baseball hat out of it. The game would have been more enjoyable if we were not sitting in the sweltering heat, but it just made the beers taste that much better!


So far, this has been a great summer. There is some awesome news on the horizon but because I'm too superstitious I can't get into it now. Stay tuned!!!!!!!

P.S. No Ma, I'm not pregnant :)

Happy 1st Birthday Lucy!!

06.22.10

Today is a very special day in the Mangiaracina household. Our little baby Lucy is celebrating her first birthday!!! I can't even believe that so much time has gone by and that our loud, yappy puppy has turned into a loud, yappy one-year old! :) In all seriousness, Lucy has been a wonderful addition to our little family and I could not imagine life without her. We are celebrating tonight with some yummy bacon and chedder cheese treats and her favorite, a twisty stick.
She is a happy girl today! I tried to find a doggy-sized princess tiara but failed. Instead she got a Cutie bandana. Happy Birthday Lucy!!!


In other news, I am officially employed which is not only good news, but GREAT news!! Wouldn't you know that I found my new job at my old home, TIA. I am back working at the Toy Industry Association, but this time I find myself on the Meetings & Events team as their Account Executive for Advertising, Sponsorships and Promotion. I feel so lucky, not only because they allowing me to work from VA with monthly trips to NY, but because they are an AMAZING group of people that do AMAZING things. I'm so excited and happy about this wonderful new step in my career. Check out my new office diggs:


Now that I have a job, I finally feel like we can move forward with our lives as newlyweds. As you know, we have been house hunting and are hoping to find our first home sometime this summer. There are a few that have peaked our interest so once we get our approval, we plan to make a bid. More on that later! Right now, it's time to go have a PupCake! :)

Catching Up

I know...I know. I've been slacking. But being Mangiaracina is time consuming! I'm back now and have LOTS to report. Over the past few weeks, Ed, Lucy and I have been exploring our new town in many ways. Ed and I are knee deep in MRIS housing reports trying to find our first new home. Lucy is investigating every inch of the backyard and chasing after every squirrel she sees.

Memorial Day Weekend
We all decided to take a break from our separate activities and spent Memorial Day together at Gravelly Point along the beautiful GW Parkway. Lucy had a BLAST!! For those of you who don't know, Gravelly Point is a park that is right next to National Airport. In addition to the amazing views of the DC monuments, the location offers the pleasure of seeing many a landing airplane up close and personal. It truly is an amazing site - the planes are so close that Lucy thought she could catch them! We packed a picnic along with Lucy's new Frisbee and spent the afternoon running and playing.


After about an hour, the temperature reached 92 degrees with 100% humidity so we decided to head to Old Town Alexandria for ice cream. It was a busy day in the town and Lucy made LOTS of friends - her favorite being the duckies in the Potomac River. Because of the heat, it didn't take long for Lucy to tire out so after a big bottle of water and 2 ice cream cones, we headed home. All in all, a great Memorial Day in the nation's capital!



SATC2 in NYC
I was a VERY lucky girl this weekend as I got to spend it in NYC with my other husband and boyfriend - Jim and Daniel! I headed up Friday morning and after a quick stop at TIA to see my best work buddies, I took the LIRR out to Queens to start our weekend of fun! Jim and Daniel live in a beautiful house in Forest Hills. I love to visit them not only for their company, but to see the latest in fashion, interior design and food! After a few cocktails at the house while viewing the many wedding proofs, we hit an adorable french restaurant in Long Island City (who knew!) with some British friends in town for the night. Saturday was spent in the city where we visited the new High Line, lunched at Chelsea Market and spent 2 1/2 hours in a movie theater with our favorite gal pals: Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha. :) OF COURSE we had to see SATC 2 together!!!! We rounded out the day with dinner at a trendy restaurant in Forest Hills - another fabo day/night in the city with my boys!

Sunday greeted us with sunshine and humidity so we decided to make our own brunch and dine in their gorgeous yard. Chef Daniel worked hard in the kitchen to prepare an AMAZING meal of eggs benedict, hash browns and stewed tomatoes. The food was SO good as were the mimosas - best brunch in the city! Jim / Daniel - thank you so much for a wonderful weekend. Let's do it again soon!!!

The New Digs!

After a long and slightly painful weekend, our stuff is finally in 1 state and we are settling in! As you know, we are shacking up in my parent's basement until I get a job and we buy a house. We fixed it up a bit so that it feels more like our "home" - check out the new digs!!

Our new living room - mom and dad's couches paired with our entertainment center. It's like a match made in heaven! :)


Our kitchen minus the actual kitchen. All meals are served upstairs at Cafe Quartuccio.


The boudior - where the magic happens!


Ed's instructions each night - :)!!!


We do have our own little bathroom down here and a storage room for some of our stuff. My wardrobe is housed on the 2nd floor of the house in my old bedroom since the closet space is minimal in the basement. We did need to solicit the help of Public Storage to hold most of our belongings, but all in all we are happy and comfortable in our new (temporary) home.

The job stuff is starting to look good so once I land something we will begin our house search. We are really excited about this next new (very expensive) adventure - but will enjoy our cozy little apartment right now. :)

Bon Voyage NYC!

The big move is looming and we are pretty excited about it. Don't get me wrong ~ the thought of packing up the truck, driving 5 hours, and unpacking the truck at 2 locations makes me want to hurl, but I feel like we have been living in limbo since returning from the honeymoon. It will be nice to have all of our belongings in 1 state!

Dad, Ed and I are heading out tonight - hopefully after the big thunderstorm invades the area - and then will commence operation Move to DC tomorrow morning. I'm a bit nervous that our stuff (and I'm talking A LOT of stuff) will not fit into the 16' Penske truck and the 100 sq foot storage unit...but I'm told that I'm being paranoid and not to worry. Easy for them to say. :)

Our newlywed life has been pretty good so far. We are getting settled into our new life in DC and are looking forward to having our own space. Once I secure a job we can really start looking for a house which is so exciting it makes me gitty! It's amazing how much more we can afford down here in the DC Metro area vs. up in New York. :)

The job hunt is slow, but stable. I did have an interview yesterday with the American Nurses Association in their credentialing subsidiary for a marketing position and I think it went well. I have another interview next week for a membership director job so the options are open. I sent out my 66th resume today so I'm PRAYING that something comes through soon. As much as I love being home, it's starting to get a bit boring!!! Lucy loves having Mommy home though! :)

Anyone Hiring??

So it is week 2 of unemployment and the anxiety has started to set in. I'm not freaking out yet, but it would be nice to get some bites on one of the 65 resumes I have sent out!! Don't get me wrong, I do have some significant leads, but I think I will be nervous until I am employed.

So what have I been doing otherwise you ask? Well, unbelievably I have been quite busy each day! Sue has been in town so we have been doing some sister bonding. I've also been prepping for the big move this weekend - Penske rental, Public Storage visit, groveling of friends and family to lend a helping hand. :) Moving SUCKS (just in case you didn't know this already)! And lucky for us, we get to do it twice in a short amount of time. First down to VA from NY and second when we finally buy a house and move out of my parent's basement! We are hoping that we will be settled in a new townhouse by the end of the summer (fingers crossed!!!)

Tomorrow is THE big exciting day for this week - I'm heading to Social Security to officially change my name!!!!!! I figured this is a good task to take care of while I have the time off - especially since I hear I will be in the SS office for a good portion of a day. We finally received our marriage license so I'm going to take care of the name change with SS, DMV and all the other lovely people that care that I am now a Mangiaracina. NUTTY!!