Back to the drawing boards

Well, let me start by saying thank you to everyone who offered up advice and words of hope on the short sale house situation!

As of this morning the decision has been made for me! I've just learned that the house isn't even IN short sale yet, the listing agent is scheduled to talk to the bank today actually. The current mortgage was for near $140k, and they still owe a good majority of it. I have no plans on offering anywhere near $100k (let alone more) for that house in it's current state of disrepair, and I also don't want to sit and twidle my thumbs waiting for it to go through the motions into short sale and THEN wait the many weeks that short sale negotiations take.

So... it's back to the drawing boards for this chick. I joked in the beginning that I wouldn't be heartbroken if it didn't work out because it doesn't have a front porch. I'm back on the search for my front porch I can call home!

His purdy side

This morning ChrisChris said I should write about him on the blog... I asked what about, he replied "how purdy I am".

Here's to you ChrisChris, it ain't easy being purdy.(because if girls can wear cowboy boots with shorts... why can't guys)

Biscuits and Gravvvvvy

Have you seen this yet? Lady Antebellum's twist on Lee Brice's - Love Like Crazy.
I've been cracking up all afternoon... my boss and I keep busting out in song... "I TIPPED LIKE CRRAAZZZYY"

(here's the YouTube link if that video isn't working above)

Once... Twice...

Three times a lady? I'm back on the house hunt again! (Well, I secretly have been looking this whole time but I don't like talking about it much I feel like I'm going to jinx myself!)
Last night I went and looked at this house for a second time. Is it the most gorgeous, elaboroate of homes on a sprawling estate? Not by any standard. But it's a cute home, in a location I want to be, a fixer-upper like I wanted and relatively big on size (nearly 3000 sq ft.)!

Keyword being "fixer-upper" however. The listing states that 'this home needs some TLC'. That TLC meaning new windows for sure, possibly a new roof, and some wall patching from a roof leak. This scares me... the whole not knowing what's behind all those problems!

It's got 3 bedrooms and a really large basement which I love... it also has a nice sized fenced in back yard (a big plus) and gorgeous old-house features like arched entryways and wood floors throughout. All in all, it's got great bones.... as long as those bones aren't falling apart!

It's listed as a possible short sale, and the price (while very cheap compared to what I've been looking at) is still a little stout considering it's condition.

Have any of you dealt with a short sale/foreclosure? Any horror stories for me? Maybe some success stories? Know of anyone that has?

Have you bought a fixer-upper in a state of disrepair like this??

Top 2 Tuesday : Favorite Perfumes

Another fun topic this week at Top2Tuesday with Undomestic Momma, Top 2 Favorite Perfumes / Colognes

I knew my answers immediately after I read the topic this week!
1. Heaven in a bottle; Dolce & Gabbana
Embarassing story: I may or may not have converted a couple boyfriends from the past to D&G wear-ers.... Now even though I love love love this scent, I requested Chris not to get it last time he got new cologne, ha!

2. My current favorite perfume that I wear, Dolce & Gabbana #6

I promise I'm not D&G obsessed, they just seem to make really good smells! Coming in at a close third was Philosophy's Amazing Grace

Spritz (ha!) on over to Taylor's blog and link up you smelly lady, you!

HullabaLou

Hulla-ba-who?
HullabaLou!

We had a little girls weekend down in Louisville this past weekend, and it was fantastic. My mom, my cousin's wife and my other cousin packed up and heading down I-65 to the land of Indiucky again! (or Kentuckiana, whatever tickles your fancy) Plenty of shopping, some very tasty food, a little Fourth Street Live action and oh yea a 3day long music festival!

The geniuses' who run Churchill Downs decided to host a 3-day music festival and aside from the 98ish degree temperatures, we had a blast!We only bought one-day passes for the second day (Saturday) but it was worth the price tag - some of my favorite acts we saw were Sara Evans, Jason Aldean (yummy - a personal favorite of mine!)and of course... KENNY! My cousin's wife (wow that's weird to say - they just got married a few weeks ago!) is a HUGE Kenny fan, so he was our main reason for trekkin to Louisville!My favorite part was probably when Jason Aldean came on stage in the middle of Kenny's performance and they sang a Steve Miller Band song, a Lynyrd Skynyrd song and then... a little Bob Marley!! I love love LOVE when artists do that - the opening act will come out and the headliner and them sing fun songs together!

I wish we would have gone on Sunday, Steve Miller Band and Zac Brown Band both played... I am looking forward to next year though! They had 5 stages with bands/artists playing ALL day long, it was really neat! The weekend featured everyone from Bon Jovi to Kenny to Dave Matthews Band to War to Gladys Night and Huey Lewis!

[All photos in this post are from HullabaLou's facebook page, I will try to upload mine when I get free time!]

Mixer and Mingle Fridays: Taste the Spiked Rainbow

Oh boy have I got a drink for you this week...
Skittles infused vodka
Quit turning your nose up for 30 seconds and let me explain!

Get out your infusion jar that you use for sangria, pour the Skittles in, and then add the vodka! Easy as that. If you don't want skittles floating aroudn the bottom of your infusion jar, then make it in a cheapo jug, let it sit overnight and strain the liquid into your jar later to serve!

As a rough guesstimate use about 60 Skittles for every 6 oz of vodka.

I'll warn you - this looks like mud water. It tastes like the rainbow though!
If you want to make it a little prettier, you could always make seperate containers per flavor (You will end up with very brightly colored vodka with a serious punch of flavor!)

[Image via]

Enjoy it straight, as a bomb with energy drink, mixed with Sprite, on the rocks, or make some funky martini's... the possibilities are endless!

*It's not necessary you use Absolut Vodka, but I don't recommend using the cheap stuff!

Check out my other Mixer & Mingle Friday features to find more great recipes to kick your weekend off right!

i Magazine clippings

For some reason, ever since I got an iPhone many moons ago I developed an odd habit of using it as a handheld, traveling magazine clipping gallery.

It was really bad when I worked at the hair salon on Saturdays and spent all day browsing magazines!

If there's an outfit I want to replicate...
If I saw something I liked I'd snap a picture, as if to remind myself to buy it...If I saw something I wanted to remember when I'm decorating my own place down the line...And even if I saw something that reminded me of Chris (he has a side business painting)
Am I only the only person who does this?!

Then later on down the road I flip through my photo gallery and get all sorts of fashion & home decor inspiration! It's become a habit to just snap a photo on my phone if I like something, my thoughtless way of remembering it!!

The Caribbean Cake Islands

Once upon a time I was asked to make 3 different kinds of cake balls and a batch of Oreo balls... and then I decided to throw some chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate covered pretzels in there for good times.

Those cake balls went to live on an island at a graduation party. An island created by my mother and I.

Why yes, we did create a palm tree out of 4 pineapples, a bunch of palm fronds, a 6lb bag of brown sugar and a blue sheet. I told you... creativity is in my genes!
(By the way, West LaLa is what West Lafayette is known as around here... aka the city where Purdue University is located)

UnFantasy 500

As I was transferring all my posts over I noticed this poor little gem had never evolved past draft status!

Remember that Fantasy 500 party that was supposed to house guests such as Kim K... Marky Mark... and so on....

The event that I got all gussied up for in a brand new dress and shoes....

The lavish event that hosted unique guests like this....

and saucy little ladies like them...

well, I told you it was, uh, frankly a dud to put it nicely. Atleast the mister and I looked cute!

(Special thanks to the DECKED OUT chick in her t-shirt and cargo shorts who didn't even get my shoes in the pic.)

Hey all!

Welcome to my new space in the blogger realm.

This has been a long time coming, I longed to have a place for my quilts and that side of my life (which is what Cream&Cotton will become), but didn't want to bog it down with all my floufy posts about personal matters (which is what HelloMissChelsea is for)!

Everything will pretty much remain the same with the exception that my www. is different and my emails will now be coming from hellomisschelsea (at) gmail (dot) com!

Don't forget to click FOLLOW so that you don't miss out on any posts! You all know if you don't switch over with me I'll be quite sad!

Agave Amore

Last spring my mom and I took a spur of the moment trip down to Mazatlan, Mexico. One day we decided to take a break from the beach/pool/fruity cocktail grind and go on a tour of a local tequila distillery. Yum.

It was the first time I've been on a distillery tour of any kind (surprising considering my career field, huh!) so I found it pretty interesting! The "free samples" may or may not have swayed my decision.

There was miles upon miles of agave plants. To me it looks like aloe vera, however I'm pretty sure your margarita wouldn't taste nearly the same.

Then they get chopped/pulled/not.sure.what.happens out of the ground and become pinecones-on-steroids (these are HUGE by the way... like atleast 12" tall).

 Next up comes the giant wood chipper machine...

Then they put it in a giant metal pot in the ground to cook it down, once it's cooked down it tastes oddly similar to sweet potato.

Once the agave is cooked down into a liquid form, it's put into huge vats and then from there into metal vats, then through some tubes, a few more vats and that's where the magic takes place!

And now for the sampling!

Makes you appreciate your Cuervo a little more doesn't it?! Oh, and did I mention I made a new friend?

My mother likes to taunt me

by sending pictures like this all day long on Mondays (when she babysits my sweet niece)

Kentuckiana... Indiucky

Friday afternoon Chris & I packed up and headed south. He is originally from Louisville, and still has family down there so we decided to make a little weekend trip to go visit!

While I've been down there a handful of times in the 19ish months Chris & I have been together, it was still fun to let him show me around the city and see some of his friends!

Our weekend was full of good food, cute shopping, fun family, great friends and even fireworks!

Once we got back to Indy Saturday night we hit up a local festival at a church, and although we had to duck for cover from pouring rain every 30 minutes we had a good time!

And since we had already ate our weight in fried food this weekend we decided to finish it off with a trip to our county fair - an order of fried pickles, a ribeye sandwich, an Italian sausage, and one walking taco later we wobbled our way through the cow barns, pet nearly every sheep and even watched a baby chick trying to come out of it's egg shell.

It's weekends like this that I love - spending a ton of time with my mister, eating delicious food with great company! I wish I would have taken more pictures, but oh well!