Women Are Always Right. There, I Said It!

Hey, Nick here! Wow, has it really been two weeks since our last blog entry? I’m so sorry, guys. Sometimes life just gets the better of us. 

I wanted to talk about a topic that the women are going to love, and the men might actually hate me for. But you never know – you guys out there just may learn something valuable. It’s time for: Our Women Are ALWAYS Right: 101! 

Men, no matter how you try to spin this, there will most likely be only a handful of times in your relationship when you will actually be 100%, utterly correct about something. Believe me, you will do whatever you can to find that moment when you might actually be right. A moment in a conversation when there’s a teeny inkling of a possibility when you could possibly be right. The moment your wife or girlfriend says, “You’re right,” is probably the most glorious moment of your life. So glorious, in fact, that you will ask her to repeat it. You will celebrate with a beer and call your friends to vast in your “rightness.” You may try and get her to say it on video to keep for all time, but that usually doesn't work out.

The reason I write about this today is because last week my wrongness almost cost me $600! Two short months ago I purchased a fancy new cell phone. One with a big touch screen that basically does everything but my laundry. The salesman at the store talked me into getting this protector case for it that is supposed to make the phone break-proof. I hated this case. It’s big and bulky and looked like I had a DVD player on my hip. My wife warned me time and time again, “Don’t take that phone out of the case. You’re going to drop it.” She must have told me that a dozen times, but I’m too stubborn to acknowledge it. In my mind, there was absolutely NO WAY I would ever drop this phone. I was so delicate with it. I handled it like a newborn baby – ever so gently. ‘I didn’t need that stupid cell phone case,’ I thought. ‘I’ll show HER!’

Well, last weekend I was out with clients showing houses and just as we got to the last house I took my phone out of my pocket and it slipped from my hand. I swear, it seemed like a slow motion scene in a movie as my phone fell from my fingers and crashed, screen first, to the concrete. 

After leaving my clients, I spent 3 hours at the cell phone store where luckily my insurance covered the damage and only cost $100 (I say only, because it could have been MUCH more than that), and came home to Anne with the, “I told you so” look on her face soaking up her rightness. She didn’t even need to say the words. Needless to say, I’m back to having a phone the size of a DVD player attached to my hip.

Sometimes, All We Are Left With Are Memories

One of the great aspects about being a married couple is that there are certain places and things that add special meaning to your relationship. While those special places and things may not have the same meaning to someone else, that's alright because that's what makes it special. Maybe it's a park bench where he proposed. Maybe it's the way she blows bubbles in her chocolate milk. Maybe it's a now five year old box of macaroni and cheese he gave her on their first date because he knew it's her favorite food. Whatever it is, it's the little things that tend to be near and dear to us, but sometimes all we are left with are the memories.

The reason I speak about this topic is because, as I'm sure everyone knows, Hurricane Irene recently ripped up the East Coast. It hit some areas more severely than others, but left the towns it did hit without looking back. Reports are saying that it was the worst hurricane New Jersey has ever felt. Anne & I are lucky in that we did not lose power or experience any other major damage to our home. Some trees fell, but that's about the extent of it. Other areas were not so fortunate.

This Summer we vacationed in the Catskill Mountains in the towns of Denver, Margaretteville, and Prattsville, NY. These towns were the go-to destinations in the early 1900's. They used to be Summer vacation hot-spots for families back then. Over time, their economy's slipped but the small-town feel is still very appealing. In fact, Winter is now their big season because skiing is very popular there.

                                                Downtown Margaretteville, NY. Pre-Irene

                                                 

                                             Me - Downtown Margaretteville - Summer, June 2011.

                                        Anne - Downtown Margaretteville - Summer, June 2011.


What you are about to see is downtown Margaretteville post-Irene:

 Photo from HuffingtonPost.com

Below is just a peek at what Prattsville, NY looks like now:

Photo from CNN.com

While Anne & I will now only have the memories of our vacations in the Catskills, that cannot even begin to compare to losing everything! Prattsville has a population of just 700, but nearly every single home was demolished in Irene's wake. There is now a relief effort that has been formed, and you can donate to help rebuild this small town. The relief effort is run by WIOX, a radio station in Roxbury, NY. The number to donate (by check or credit card) is 607-432-1030.

Big Giveaway Clue # 2!!!

Hey, Nick here, with the second clue leading up to the reveal of our very first (and HUGE) giveaway, worth $1,000. To refresh your memory, here is our first clue post: Clue # 1. 

The next clue has to do with a certain kind of fashion and/or design that was very popular in Europe during the 1920's. Sorry folks, that's all you'll get outta me for now ;-)

Don't forget...as soon as we hit 150 followers we will reveal the BIG PRIZE! Then, once we hit 200 followers we will open up the contest doors. So, help us make this happen by following our lil old blog by clicking "Join This Site" over to the right column. Thanks!

Home Prices Are Falling, But the Realtors Are Staying High!

Hi, Nick here. Everyone loves to peek into the lives of celebrities. Especially celebrity homes. We are OBSESSED with the way famous people live, so when a celebrity puts their home on the market it's the perfect time to snoop. Rose McGowan of "Charmed" fame put her Loz Feliz, California home on the market recently, and it's priced at $1.85 million - the same price she paid for it in 2004. Now, before I get into Rose's "technique" for getting her home sold, let's have a look inside her digs, shall we?

                                                               The Massive Front Door

                                                     The Impressive Foyer Entry Way
                                                              

                                       The Spacious Living Room w/ Exposed Beams


A real estate agent myself, I have done many open houses. A good way to attract other real estate agents to visit your listing is to offer food. Realtors LOVE free food. Sandwiches, pizza, sweets, you name it, we are a sucker for it. Rose thought the same thing, so she gave her Realtor some brownies to leave out for the agents to munch on. It seems the brownies had a "special" ingredient in them that impairs ones mental state. Rose was quoted as saying in a recent interview,

"There were eight Realtors and inspectors coming to the house...and you have to get out of your house...and I notice there's a big, huge plate of brownies that said 'Enjoy!' on the surround-wrap...and I just left, I didn't think about it. At 4:30 that afternoon, I get a call from my Realtor saying, 'I'm at my parent teacher conference; was there anything in those brownies?'"

Oh, Rose, what are we going to do with you? Unfortunately, any offers that are written up while someone is under the influence are considered void. But hey, it was worth a shot, right?


(photos & references courtesy of www.outrageousestates.com & www.sfgate.com)

 

Family Dinner

No, I'm not talking about Jersey Shore. I'm talking about Sunday dinner with my grandmother.

Tonight Nick and I treated my Nana to dinner. For those of you who don’t know, Nick and I live in the 3^rd floor apartment of my grandmother’s house (more on this in another post) and it is actually the house my dad grew up in! We see my grandma at least once a day to say hi and check in on her, but for the past 7 years Sundays have always been our  ‘’dinner date’’ days. In the past, Nana would make a typical 5-6 course Italian meal. The kind that had 4 different pasta dishes, salads, 3 types of chicken and meatballs, and if you didn’t eat at least 3 helpings she would call home to tell my parents that I must be sick! Recently however, Nana’s arthritis has gotten the better of her and hasn’t had the energy to cook, or do much of anything for that matter.  So instead of me cooking tonight we decided to get her out of the house and get her some ribs (she LOVES ribs). We headed over to a little bar/grille near our house and had a nice hour and a half hanging out and eating.

Nights like this with my grandma are my favorite. While living with her isn’t always the easiest, Sunday dinner is something that I look forward to every week. Seeing my grandma healthy and up and moving around makes me so happy. Getting her out of the house was a great end to what was a pretty hectic week.

Newlywed Nutrition: Zero Motivation

Lately my motivation to work out has been non-existent. Normally, I am a 5x/week work-out-aholic. Whether I am walking outside, at the gym, taking a class, doing a workout DVD, I do at least 1hr of activity 5x a week. Lately, not so much. Between this crazy heat wave, my long commute to and from work, laziness, and summer fun, I've been lucky to get in 2hrs/week. I just have no desire to workout and it's so not like me. I love to workout. I plan my day around my workouts, I look forward to my workouts and I even schedule plans with friends around my gym time. Some of my friends think I'm a tad bit obsessed, but I think it's more dedication than anythign else.  I don't just workout for the health benefits and I don't workout to lose weight. I do it because it is a natural stress reliever for me. When I workout on a regular schedule I have more energy, less stress, and I love the way I look. It makes me feel GOOD. I know that I'm in good shape and that skipping the gym every-so-often isn't a huge deal, but working out is a hobby for me. It's something that gets my mind off of everything else going on around me and lets me focus on myself. I want to workout, but lately going to the gym seems like such a chore to me.

So...What do YOU do to stay motivated?

-Anne

Celebrate Good Times! @ Stamna Greek Taverna

  Yesterday was a momentous occasion in the world of Nick's real estate career. He closed his 50th transaction in less than 4 years! It is our little tradition to try a new restaurant every time Nick closes a deal and this time we settled on Greek. 3 summers ago, we went on a family vacation to Greece and fell in love with the food. So when Stamna opened only 10 minutes away from our house, we knew we had to try it.

Athens Greece 2008

Overlooking Athens

Dinner in Crete

 Donkey rides in Santorini

Stamna Greek Taverna is a little Greek place near our house and it is ALWAYS packed. It is owned and operated by a Greek family from a small Island in Greece. They have a pretty big menu with lots to choose from. I really like that they have a big fish selection and veggie meals for me and lots of meat options for my hubby the carnivore.

Nick before dinner.

We were seated outside on the patio and ordered hummus a Greek Salad and grape leaves to start. Nick ordered pork chops and lemon roasted potatoes for his meal and I ordered the grilled salmon and roasted potatoes. The portions were HUGE and we took home at least 1/2 of everything we ordered. After dinner they brought out Loukoumades (fried pastry dough with honey, a lot like Italian Zeppolis) and we ordered frappe's which we haven't had since our vacation. The food was amazing and so authentic. If I had closed my eyes, it would have felt like I was back in Greece.

Our bottle of wine (it's BYOB).

Massive amounts of appetizers!

 Our entrees.

This may have been our first time to Stamna, but we will be going back again!

Macho Macho Man (I Am Not)!

If you were to ask my wife to chose some words or phrases to describe me, she would probably say that macho, tough guy, burly, Mr. Fix It, handy, strapping, courageous, valiant, daring and jock are definitely not what she would use. But that's okay with me. It's so okay, that while Derek Jeter was driving home his 3,000th hit this weekend (the fact that I know that is astonishing) I was catching up on episodes of "The Bachelorette" with Anne. That's right, I'm in touch with my feminine side and I'm proud of it! I will probably catch a lot of flack from this post, but I've been catching flack for years when it comes to this. I guess I never understood how watching a bunch of muscle-bound men in tight uniforms chasing after a ball and jumping on one another is manly.

Dictionary.com defines "Manly" as having qualities traditionally ascribed to men, as strength or bravery.


That definition definitely does not define me. The beginning and end of my sports career was one season of tee ball when I was seven, and then I promptly opted for performing in the school musicals. My idea of fixing something means calling a contractor. To me, getting dirty is having to pick up Barney's poop. I just don't have the usual "guy" gene that is attributed to being...well...a guy. I have never been interested in the stuff that makes up ones manhood. Sports, eh. Video games, pfft. Chugging a 12 pack of Natty Ice by myself in under an hour, no interest. I know, it's strange, right? I mean, my wife has more masculine interests than I do. 

  Tools Anne used once to open a wine bottle when she couldn't find a cork screw.

My wife taking our bed apart in preparation to move to our new apartment...as I stood idly by.


Anne gets mad at me when I take the car for an oil change because she likes to change it herself. Her father is always telling her to let me do things around the house so I can learn to be more handy, but she would rather just git-er-dun. Fine by me! But you know what? I honestly think our non-traditional roll reversal of a marriage is what makes it so great. She gets a kick out of how uncoordinated I am with things you'd expect a man to be good at, and I think it's hysterical when we get a flat and she actually wants to change the tire. When we moved into our new apartment she painted the entire place herself. I wanted to help. Really, I did. But, it's for the best if I don't. I would've just ended up painting smiley faces on the wall. 


In all honesty, what we have works. So why try and fix something that's just not broken. I actually enjoy watching episodes of "The Bachelorette" if it means that I get to spend time with her. The end!

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding- OBSESSED!

Nick is out with clients all day and I can't seem to find motivation to get myself up and actually do something productive. So naturally the only logical thing for me to do is watch a marathon of crappy reality tv, DUH! Because Nick doesn't share my obsession (other than the Bachelor/Bachelorette but more on that later) this was the perfect time to catch up on one of my favorite things of all time- My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.



So a few years ago my oldest sister Laura was getting married. While on the search for her wedding dress we came across this amazing website. Featured on it were what they were calling Irish Travelers. Back before the glory that is the TLC show My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, this website sucked me in and I couldn't look away. It was like a bad car crash where you know you shouldn't look but you do anyway. I then spent the next few weeks learning everything about these Irish Travelers that I could find-it was mind boggling that they existed and their weddings were so insane. I mean, who wouldn't want a chubby mini me bride on your special day? Or your bridesmaids to look like Day-Glo Hilighters mashed up with strippers?

Fast forward five years as I'm flipping through channels on tv, I almost fall of my chair. In front of my eyes was my dream come true. TLC picked up the hit British TV show "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding". How better to rekindle my obsession by a weekly show featuring one bride's wedding and everything that goes into it?! I was in Gypsy Heaven!

Here are some of my faves-


The errr, blushing bride!







And who wouldn't want guests like this at their wedding?

So here I am on this gorgeous summer day, coffee in hand, lazy pup by my side, catching up on my obsession with no one to complain!

Newlywed Nutrition: The Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen

Organic? Pesticides? Chemicals? WHAT!!! Sometimes going to the produce section of the grocery can be more of a headache than it needs to be. With every grocery store offering a wider selection of organic goodies it's hard to figure out what is really worth buying organic or not -especially when organic can be so dang expensive!! $5.00 for a red bell pepper? No thank you! So how do you figure out what produce is worth buying organic? Follow the rules of The Environmental Working Group and their list of "Dirty Dozen" high pesticide produce and the "Clean Fifteen" lower pesticide produce and you'll be off to a good start!**

The clean 15 and the Dirty dozen is a list of produce that is split between what should always be bought organically, and what is ok to buy from the regular section of the grocers produce section. If you notice, most of the ''clean'' products have a hard shell or peel that shelters the fruit/veggie from the harsh pesticides or chemicals. Also many of the ''clean'' products are heartier and tougher. 

The Dirty Dozen 
celery
peaches
strawberries
apples
domestic blueberries
nectarines
sweet bell peppers
spinach, kale and collard greens
cherries
potatoes
imported grapes

lettuce

The Clean Fifteen
onions
avocados
sweet corn
pineapples
mango
sweet peas
asparagus
kiwi fruit
cabbage
eggplant
cantaloupe
watermelon
grapefruit
sweet potatoes
sweet onions


 My Paper Crane came up with this adorable cheat sheet that you can pop into your bag when you go shopping.

Now keep in mind that these 2 lists were compiled using conventionally grown produce and no matter what, when buying non-organic produce even the ''clean'' products will have traces of chemicals and pesticides in them. There is just no getting past the fact that in order to grow thousands of tomatoes at a very low price, chemicals are needed to keep the product fresh and cheap. With that said, remember to ALWAYS clean your produce before eating (even if they have a peel) to help lower the amount of chemicals even more.


** I am in no way trying to push anyone to go organic or change their eating habits. Nick and I don't even eat purely organic foods nor do I think we need to. However, when it comes to foods such as produce I do try to be a bit more careful with chemicals/pesticides etc as the chemicals tend to be higher and much more present than in, lets say, a pasta product. I am more of a firm believer of buying locally grown in season products. This is because when produce is grown and sold in season, they have a much less need for pesticides and chemicals than those items that are trying to be grown out of season (they won't grow as big or flavorful during the off season without the help of chemicals). These farms are also trying to grow thousands of tomatoes to service a large grocery store chain- these local farms tend to have less stock but are better in quality. 

Just Married Real Estate on News 12 New Jersey!

Hey, Nick here!

Late last year, Marci Rubin from News 12 New Jersey came across a write-up on me from Baristanet.com and thought Just Married would make for a great feel-good piece in the midst of all the negative housing news we're used to seeing these days. A few weeks later we shot this spot with a lovely newlywed couple named Sandy & Danny (no, it wasn't Olivia Newton John & John Travolta), and it aired 15 times that weekend.

*Disclaimer: News 12 did not give me a copy of the tape, so I had to film it from the TV using my Flip Cam, hence the shakiness. Hope you enjoy nonetheless :-)

Soon to be Newlywed (again), Nick Lachey's Bach Pad for Sale.

With his wedding to Vanessa Minillo fast approaching, soon to be newlywed (again) Nick Lachey is putting his bachelor pad on the market.

After his split from Jessica Simpson (I am still in mourning from this), Nick bought this 4,722 sqft home with 4 bedrooms in LA for $4 million from Heidi Klum and Seal. Now, 6 years later he is putting it back on the market for just under $6 million.

Do you think the house is worth almost $2 million more than when he originally bought it in 2005?

The swanky outdoor pool and bar area.



Large Living room with wet bar and pool table.

Gorgeous view!

Gourmet kitchen .

All photos from http://www.tmz.com/

Decorate 4 Less: The Wall Collage

A few days ago I decided to finally decorate our very boring, very large dining area wall. We had this wall put up before moving in to create a 2nd bedroom and while it was a great addition to our place, it created a lot more wall space for us to fill up. I wanted something that would showcase photos and other ods and ends but wouldn't be shelving (our cats aren't too bright and would knock everything down). After some googling and bing-ing I came across the oh so popular wall collages.

Like this from Pottery Barn

Or this from Young House Love (awesome blog, go check it out!)

Or this from Darling Savage Blog (another awesome blog)



 Lightbulb went off and I was on a mission to have my very own wall art collection. I already had a lot of photos that I wanted to frame and other odds and ends (like a painting of my home town and a vintage poster). Because I am cheap smart, I wasn't about to spend over $5/photo frame. Seeing as Nick and I love our antiquing and garagesale trips we saw this as the perfect opportunity to help us decorate for less! We hit up 3 garage sales and ended up with 10 mismatched photo frames for $14 total! With the help of my best friend -spray paint and sandpaper, we had matching frames!

 Nick spray painting the old frames

Next, I stuck up newspaper in the same sizes as our frames and mapped out where each frame would go. Once it was perfect, I spent about 20 minutes nailing and hanging and viola, our photo wall was complete!

(Sorry for the awful quality- our Cannon wasn't charged so we used the Flip Cam)

 The finished product!

Here are some details of what is hanging.

Barney shilloutte- I painted this and I will do another DIY on this later one

This was in the fram when we bought it at the garage sale. It is actually the front of an old menu from the 30's!

This is a painting my mom and dad bought me and had framed. It shows the two sides of Main Street in the town I grew up in! I love that it's a little piece of home away from home!

We still have plenty of wall space to fill up- so we will be adding as we go and will be updating the progress!