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....

Catalina Island

Wow!  Behind again - I promise, it's just because we are having so much fun.  Jay bought me a Roomba for our anniversary, so that should free up some time to post more.  :)  My birthday was a month ago, and I am just getting around to posting some pictures. 

We decided for my birthday weekend this year to go to Catalina Island, and, yes, go diving.  I believe for the next few months you should just consider this blog a run down of our diving adventures.  We took the afternoon ferry over on Saturday, and stayed at the Hotel Atwater.  That evening we strolled through Avalon, and had dinner at Armstrong's.  We went to bed early, since the next day would begin early. 

Our diving master and instructors took the first ferry over the next morning, and we met them at Casino Point.  The old casino in Avalon is built right on the water, and now overlooks a dive park preserve with some of the best diving I've experienced in California.  It was lovely.  We were able to get in three dives that day.  The video below was taken during our Fish ID dive - we are working towards our Advanced Open Water certification, and this was one of our skills.  The large orange fish you see are called Garibaldi.  The spotted ones are kelp bass.

That evening we rented a golf cart, and drove into the hills surrounding Avalon to get a better look at the scenery from above. 

The golf cart driver, and photographer.  I grabbed the camera for this shot.

The view of Avalon bay from the hills above.

That evening we celebrated with dinner at The Landing.  We watched the sun set over the water and enjoyed a delicious dinner.  The next morning we had time for breakfast and a quick walk along the water front to the casino before we caught the last morning ferry back home.  We will need to return to Catalina soon for a much longer visit!

My passion for writing, love of investing, and something cool I'm getting paid to do!

I know.

Two posts in one week?  We don't seem to make the time to do that very often, do we?  Especially when you consider that the post April just did was from our trip in JULY...

Anyhow, this will be quick.  Many of you know that I love to write, and that one of these days I plan to retire and be a writer.  Well, April has insisted that if I am to do that, we need to be rich.  So I have been actively investing for the past 5 years or so, and have really become quite passionate about it.  The bottom line it that for most of us, the only way we can have the promise of a better tomorrow is by long-term investing.

So with that said, I have recently begun writing blog posts for the Motley Fool.  For those that aren't familiar with Fool.com, it's one of the best places to go to learn about investing as an individual.  It's all about empowering people to take their financial future in their own hands. 

At any rate, I have been an active member of a couple of the services that they offer (specifically Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers) for about 5 years, and it has really enriched our lives, and allowed us to make up for lost time towards our retirement plans. 

And while picking your own stocks and investing directly in them isn't for everyone, understanding if you are heading down the right path is for everyone.  And while Financial Advisors aren't necessarily bad people by nature, most people don't know that they are just sales people first, and that their interests aren't necessarily aligned with yours.  Doing your due-diligence and understanding where your 401(k) money is invested and why you are being recommended specific Investment Funds by Financial Advisor is just as important as questioning your Physician about your health, and the prescriptions that he gives you.  This is your future.  Don't just leave it up to a sales person. 

Okay, so I am really starting to ramble.  Check out my blog.  My goal is to post at least once per week, and increase over time. 

If any of you want to talk investing, please reach out to me.  I'm not an expert, and I'm not going to tell you which stocks to buy.  But I can tell you where to start!

-jh

Diving trip to Key West

It has been on my to-do list to get the blog updated for some time... this particular trip was taken the first week in July.  We headed to the Florida Keys to get in some scuba diving, and spend time with Rob and Tia.  We haven't had an honest-to-goodness vacation in some time, so we made the most of our time.

We rented a house on Key Largo.  During our stay, we went diving with Island Ventures.  This was a great diving outfit.  On our first morning out, we were the only four people on the boat.  In fact, all the dives had fewer than a dozen people on them.  You don't always get that with charters - often they pack as many people as possible onto a boat.  In total, we had six dives with Captain Al.  All were beautiful, warm, relaxing... ah, what's that?  Nausea?  Seasickness?  Well, I had a new secret weapon!

Do you see that little patch just below my ear?  That is a scopolamine transdermal patch.  It led to my first trip on a boat without motion sickness.  In fact, while others on the boat did get sick, I remained blissfully symptom free.  For once, it was me bringing water to sick passengers.  I loved my first experience diving without nausea.  It was incredible!



Jason complained about the equipment he used to take photos underwater.  We dove at several sites, including the Benwood wreck, Turtle Ledges at the French Reef, the wreck of the City of Washington, Elbow Reef, Christ of the Abyss at the Dry Rocks, and the Horseshoe Reef.  We saw so many beautiful, colorful fish, and although the coral reefs are not faring well with global warming and other depredations, they were still amazing.

Having a blast without feeling sick!

Brain coral.... brains....

Me reading the plaque at the Christ of the Abyss site.

Stoplight parrotfish, one of my favorite to spot! 

When we weren't in the water chasing parrotfish (or yellowtail snapper, bar jack, French grunt, butterfly fish, spadefish, French angelfish, Blue angelfish, Sergeant major, damselfish, goby, Spanish hogfish, or any other of the beautiful species we got to see) we were enjoying the other delights of the Keys.  For one, we went kayaking in the mangrove forests.  We rented two-person kayaks at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, then promptly got lost.  We spent about 30 minutes getting lost, then about 2 hours finding our way back.  Thank goodness for GPS and iPhones.  Map reading is not my forte.   It was a great way to spend the 4th of July!  After we got back home, we grilled out and watched the fireworks from the house.

The back of my head in the kayak, wondering where we are.

We also spent one day in Key West.  On the drive down we stopped at Robbie's of Islamorada so I could feed the tarpon.  And I spotted this giant lobster.  Who wouldn't want a vacation photo with a mutant lobster?

We visited the southernmost point (just a short 90 mile swim to Cuba), then headed to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory.  It was magical - air conditioning, gorgeous butterflies everywhere you looked, and the cutest birds!

Posing at the marker for the southernmost point... clearly.  It was brutally hot that day.

 From there, Jay and I headed to Ernest Hemingway's house.  I'm sure it's a lovely house, and I enjoyed the tour.  I have even read an Ernest Hemingway book or two... but let's be honest here.  I went to see the famous six-toed cats.  There are around 45 cats that live on the property, with free rein to do as they please.  All are descendents of Hemingway's original six-toed cat, Snowball. 

Count the toes on that paw... that's right, six.  And he let me shake paws.  Love.

From that point, we ran flat out to get to the Key West Shipwreck Museum before it closed. 

I am leaving out the naps, the enormous amount of seafood, and all the fun we had just hanging out.  There's only so much room for pictures!