The First Christmas in Casa de Hall

This year will be our first Christmas in the new house in California.  It was an eventful holiday season for us.  We moved into the house in October, and then traveled for a week at Thanksgiving to visit family on the east coast.  A week after returning, I left for Italy for a few days on a business trip.  Jay and Meow held down the fort while I was away.  We had put up the tree before I left, but Jay hung the outside lights to surprise me when I got back. 

Jay wore his new antlers and made egg nog to enjoy while decorating the tree.

The finished tree!  We listen to Christmas carols and drink egg nog while we decorate.  Each ornament is from a trip we've taken together.

 We ran the Santa Monica-Venice Beach Christmas 5K, and that was an adventure - if you saw the pictures on Facebook, you know that we were drenched.  It only rains in the winter in Southern California, and that day was the lucky day.  Not so lucky for us.

My nutcracker collection continues to grow.

My Christmas carousel from Germany.

Even the entryway got a little snazzy!

We really enjoyed being in our cozy little home for the holidays.  The nice thing has been the two week stay-cation I got this year.  We have taken advantage of this time to put in a new wall on the driveway, clean out the garage and organize it, work on the lawn, and begin planning and prepping for the hallway bathroom renovation.  I am very grateful our house has two bathrooms, so we don't have to rush with this bathroom remodel. 

Casa de Hall - the before shots

This week marks our first week in Casa de Hall!  It has been a busy, busy time.  If you are curious about our new home, here are the shots I took before we painted and moved in.  You can see some pics of color swatches we were comparing to make our choices.  First of all, here's the front door. 

Front entrance to Casa de Hall, Thousand Oaks, CA.  The window on the left looks into the garage.

One of the first things Jay did was empty the garage completely and epoxy the floor.  He did a great job!  I could hardly believe how nice it looked when he finished.

The newly epoxied garage floor, after the appliances were returned. 

The garage enters straight into the kitchen.  It will eventually be completely gutted and remodeled, but that will be a little while in planning and saving.

The kitchen, before....

Immediately to the right is the living room.  One of the first things we did was paint the entire house.  Most of the rooms were a rather pale green, and we wanted something much warmer.  We also painted all the ceilings.  A fresh coat of bright white on the ceiling always adds polish!  The wall separating the kitchen and living room was going to be painted a rich brown...  Every room has a ceiling fan, and recessed lighting.  Jay was also wiring the living room for surround sound.

The living room.

The accent wall, wonder which shade we chose?

The living room leads to a hallway, and that's where the hall bathroom is.  It will be the first room to be remodeled, this December.  We will be putting down a new tile floor, pedestal sink, new tub, and tile surround for the tub.

Hall bathroom, before.

The guest room is right across the hallway, and the office is at the end of the hall.  At the end of the hall to the left is our master bedroom and bath. 

The master bedroom has a door onto the backyard. 

The master bath has a stand up shower.  It was also painted green, but we wanted a new color to accent the marble countertop.

The house has a fully fenced in backyard, with a brick patio and a retaining wall.  We have big plans for the landscaping!

The side of the house next to the kitchen.  A slider opens onto the patio.  The door you see leads into the garage.

The backyard has a retaining wall, and brick patio.

The other side of the yard.  There's a sprinkler system, but we're not entirely sure how to work it yet...

I hate trying to envision the layout of people's homes just by a verbal description.  And Jay and I had wanted to be sure we could fit in our furniture.  So we bought some software that allows us to build our home virtually.  We can design the new kitchen and bath, and our landscaping.  But here is a layout of the house.

Coming up next - the house after we've moved in!

It's almost official!

There are three big things happening in life for us right now.  The first?  Our house!  Escrow is set to close tomorrow.  We have some work to do at the house before we move in.  It's in rather good condition, but it needs to be painted, cleaned, the garage set up to our liking, etc.  The home has been a rental property for a few years, and while move-in ready, there are some upgrades we will make over time.

Right now we are planning to move midway through October.  That gives us a month to perform the painting, then pack, and follow that with the move and unpacking.  I am planning to take some pictures before we move in, so we can share our progress here as we make our upgrades.  Here are some of our more long-term plans:

• Renovate the guest bathroom:  We will do this ourselves, adding tile, putting in a new tub, tiling the walls, and putting in a new pedestal sink to replace the older vanity.  This will be happening in December.
• Put down new hard-wood floors - no time set yet.
• Fully renovate the kitchen - this one will be pretty extensive, as we have several major changes we would like to make if possible.  We will be saving our pennies to hire a contractor and have the job done properly.  No time set yet, probably two years.
• Paint the outside of the house, replace the back screen door, and replace the front outside light.  Probably early next summer?
• Landscaping - this one requires almost an entire post of its own.  In the front, we will be adding trellises with jasmine, and some plantings in the front bed, as well as staining the retaining wall.  In the side, we will be added a gate and a pergola over the seating area, and installing Meow's fountain and custom catnip garden, and a kitchen herb garden.  We will be raising the bed and staining the concrete.  In the backyard, we are going to replace the existing wood retaining wall with stone, build a pergola over the existing patio, add a raised vegetable bed, put in a new walkway, and set up some nice plantings on top of the retaining wall.  Maybe add a small storage building if needed.  We will do this as we can, and put in a more defined timeline later.  

The second thing keeping us busy is Divemaster training.  We passed our exam, and are now in the midst of our qualifications for skills.  Then we have practicums and all the dives we need to complete.  I hope to have this complete by end of Q1 2014.  

The third thing, as always, is work and our professional commitments.  Things are busy, busy, busy at Amgen - for very good reasons.  And my new position is incredibly challenging and engaging.  I am a biologist working in engineering; quite the change.  It is really challenging my very rusty calculus skills.  I'm also hoping to finish up a paper with my post-doctoral lab, and I am serving another year as AWIS LA/VC chapter president.  Jay is really pushing himself with his writing, and while he is not pursuing it as heavily as he originally intended, he still has photography work he is handling.  Plus his required stay-at-home husband work...

We are still trying to make time for fun things.  We went to the LA County Fair in Pomona this weekend.  We walked through as many exhibits as we could, and really marveled at what beautiful things people can make.  It was fun to hold hands, watch the lights and the people screaming on the rides, and smell the fair.  We of course had funnel cake.  We also took a wine tasting class, on the joys of red wine blends.  It was a good weekend.  The next ones will not be quite so colorful, since we will be spending those painting and packing, but I am committed to enjoy the process and remind myself that everything takes its allotted time.  

Where have we been lately? Well....

We have been underwater, of course! We are now far past where we were a year ago.  We are completing our Rescue Diver certification course this weekend.  Next up, Divemaster.  After that, well, I think we might just enjoy the diving.

We've been working!  I am settling well into my full time position at Amgen, learning lots about process development and engineering.  It's been a big change, but it has gotten better and better with time.  Jay has made the biggest move of all this year in regards to working.  He left Ricoh in January, one week after my position started at Amgen.  He's been a freelance writer and photographer ever since, and amazing me with how hard he can work at home.  The boy has focus, that's for sure.

We have been enjoying life in the suburbs!  Since our move to Thousand Oaks in December of 2011, things have been very quiet.  We are living in a two bedroom townhouse with wonderful cathedral ceilings, a courtyard complete with water fountain and catnip garden, and a big back patio.  It is a beautiful, relaxing place for us, and for Meow.

We have been traveling!  We've been to Cozumel, Mexico for a dive trip organized by the TO Dive Club.  We've been to the central coast and Ojai.  We've been to Las Vegas.  Of course, we've also been back to Georgia to see family.

We have been house hunting!  And now, finally, we may have found the One.  Our new home in Thousand Oaks, Casa de Hall.  Stay tuned....