Update

Wow, February is almost over!! We've had a very busy month settling in to our home.
Our house is starting to seem more cozy as we've been able to purchase more furniture. It is amazing what a cozy rug, nice coffee and end table, and Uppercase Living ;-) can do to make a house feel like "home."




February 12th was my "little" brother's 13th birthday! I can't believe he is a teenager. I seriously spent a lot of time reminiscing about him as a baby, and remembering all my excitement and love for him when he was born. Every year Jesse and I ask each other if we remember the day he was born- we even remember the movie we watched while my mom was in labor. Longest day of my life waiting to meet him.


Well my baby brother isn't a baby anymore and he wanted a cool skate party. On Valentines Day we braved the freezing cold weather and it turned out great.




This was Jose and my third V-day. The last two he has surprised me with massages, and last year he even had secretly asked my boss for the day off for me so we could stay at the Cliffs. This year it was my turn to plan! I was so excited and planned on going to Arroyo Grande Village to watch a movie in the park, but the weather didn't cooperate and it was cancelled. Plan B was a progressive dinner (one of my all time fave things to do), and I had picked different places to go for each course that at restuarants that mean something to us. Silly me, I forgot how crowded EVERY FREAKING RESTAURANT is on V-day (actually we really didn't know, because neither of us have gone out to dinner on V-day before). Instead of waiting 2 hours at every place, we settled for Olive Garden. We decided to end the night with Starbucks, but got distracted by a super cheap ($22 an hour!) Chinese Massage. We ended up still having a blast even though our A and B plans didn't work out. I promised Jose I would make it up to him soon, but we haven't had time!

February 15th, we had a "few" (43!) of our close friends and family come over. We were so blessed and humbled by everyone's generosity! We have had so much fun welcoming people into our home!



This past weekend was just as busy! Friday night we had our work friends over. I was amazed how many drove out from Lompoc! We ended up playing American Idol with our die-hard friends until 1 am! It was a blast!

Waking up early the next morning to do our out of county visits was a little difficult though! We drove down south and later stayed near LAX at an Embassy Suites. We met a guy named Jeff who claims to be the CFO for Landry Restaurants, and claims to make 14 million a year, and lives on the same street in Louisiana as Brangelina, next door to Harry Connick Sr, and the Manning family. We don't know if we believe him, but we googled everything and he knows what he is talking about. Weird...

The following day we were able to visit Jose's dad. It was my first time meeting him, and overall was a good experience. Now that he is in California, we'll hopefully be able to see him more.

Every weekend we have had something(or multiple things!) to do every day. I can't complain because we are loving it, but it doesn't seem like our life will slow down anytime soon! This coming weekend we are planning on laying down new sod in our front yard, attending a costume party (can't wait!), and teaching Sunday school. The weekend after that is "Marlene Madness" a celebration of my 25th birthday (complete with a formal dinner!). I love having things to blog about!

Where to begin?

We have so much to blog about! I am waaaaay behind with birthday posts, our "open house" with 43 guests, and an update on Uppercase living! But since I don't have much time right now, I'll just do the Facebook 25 things about me (which I secretly have really wanted to do, but didn't want to jump on the band wagon.) So here it goes...

1.I have a lizard phobia. Seriously I am deathly afraid. I even tried EMDR to get over it, but now I'm trusting that God is going to heal me from it.
2.I started "planning" my wedding when I was in junior high. It might be accurate to say I'm obsessed with weddings.
3.I constantly ask Jose his opinion on names for our future kids.
4.I almost always have my camera in my purse,and I've been teased for always taking pictures. But whose laughing when everyone wants copies (actually nobody laughs).
5.I used to think I get over things quickly. One time I told my dad that and he laughed. I've since realized he is right.
6.I did not have my first alcoholic drink until 3 months after my 21st birthday.
7.I LOVED my college experience at Biola! Every penny of the thousands (and thousands) of dollars debt was worth it.
8.I wanted to be an Obstetrician for years. I was probably one of the few 12 year olds who knew about braxton hicks, pitocin, and bloody show.
9.I cried when I heard my dad was buying me a brand new grey car, because I had wanted a used silver civic. I got over it quickly.
10.I never in a million years would have imagined I'd be a child abuse investigator, and can't believe I actually love my job.
11.I used to be so comfortable and confident with public speaking, but now the thought of it makes me really nervous.
12.I get a little jealous of how much my 13 year old brother gets to do that I wasn't allowed to.
13.I have a really good memory, and get annoyed and sad when others don't remember things happening.
14.As special as our engagement was, I hate looking at the pictures and my ugly hiking outfit.
15.I will take any opportunity to buy/wear a formal dress.
16.I love to bake and cook, but get really nervous if I'm cooking for anyone besides Jose.
17.I have a non-cancerous tumor in my back. Yuck.
18.My favorite flower is a cherry blossom- yes they count. I would love a bouquet of blooming cherry tree branches.
19.I tried playing piano, softball, and ballet before I realized how uncoordinated I am. My family still breaks out in laughter when they remember my attempts at each of these.
20.I love holidays and making traditions.
21.I tried selling Avon when I was in 7th grade. I sold chapsticks and 99 cent lotions to my friends (and lots to myself).
22.I like having lists, and love crossing things off of my list.
23.I am kind of a germ freak. You won't ever catch me sharing a drink with someone (except Jose). I get grossed out whenever I see Jose share a drink or food, and think about it the next time I kiss him.
24. I got glasses in Kindergarten, and contacts before 4th grade. You would think I would be used to wearing either, but I prefer to blind then take time to put contacts in.
25.When I grow up I want to be a Children's pastor or Crisis Pregnancy Center Director.

So that is a little bit about me. That actually took much longer than I thought! Maybe I can convince Jose to do his 25 things next.

Uppercase Living

Awhile back I discovered Uppercase Living. Uppercase is a catalog that sells vinyl decals for the wall. The decals look as if you stenciled and painted the wall, but come off when you are tired of them. Jose and I had a cute phrase over our bed in the last house.

I convinced a co-worker to join "under me", but she got tired of waiting for me to sign-up, so she did it first. Now that we have moved and life is settling down, I signed up under her.

So here's the honest truth. I am NOT a salesperson. Jose and I went back and forth for months deciding if I should sign up, because I'm not a hustler, and may not make any money doing this. But I LOVE this product for my house, and think that other's just by seeing it will want to order. I honestly don't think I'll ever book a party (though I think I would enjoy it), but if you are interested in looking at the catalog let me know. There is so much you can do with this!

So if you are interested in taking a look, check out "my" website
http://marlenevelazquez.uppercaseliving.net/OnlineCatalog.m

If you don't like any of the pre-made decals, you can always create your own letters.

Here is a picture I stole from a blog's that used uppercase



And here are some examples my co-worker (the one I convinced to sell uppercase) has done with clients.










Hope you like it as much as I do!

We love "hosting"

Before we moved we had our hearts set on having a Superbowl party. It was tempting to cancel it when our team didn't make it. But last minute we agreed to try to pull it off (I can't believe only a week earlier we didn't have furniture or painted walls!).

It was so fun having a full house with some friends and family. I got a little worried right before that there might not be enough food. HA! There was sooo much! My favorite food ever is appetizers, and I was glad to get some good reviews on a few snacks I made. We were so full from the appetizers that we almost forgot to bbq the burgers and salmon!

While I was taking something out of the oven, my dad said "wow, you really like this huh?" I didn't know what he was talking about, so he said, "You know, having people over and being a 'host'." YES! I do! We've only been in our home a little more than a week, and we've had almost more people over already than we did in the two years in our old house!

We are so happy that God has blessed us with a home! In our long house hunting process, Jose and I always prayed that whichever house we get, we would use it to welcome others. Whether that means renting a room to someone in need (our brothers excluded ;-), hosting Bible studies, or just showing people God's love through a get together, we are committed to doing it!

And by committed, I mean we have 4 more events already calendared in the next month!

Playing Ladder Ball before the game



Watching that game with one of our favorite girls! (I found some baby pictures of Jose, and Danica looks SO much like him! All the aunts, moms, and grandparents were shocked! Which is good news for me, because I think she is adorable, and a good chance our kids could resemble her.)



Watching the 3-D commercials

First dinner guests

Last night was our first time inviting people over for dinner! Jose's aunt Josie and uncle Jorge, Lindsey, Andrew, Danica and Anastasia (our favorite little girls to spoil). A couple of weekends ago, Jose and I asked to borrow the girls for the day. We took them with us to some model homes, and let them have fun climbing the stairs. They did not forget their stair climbing lesson! That is all they wanted to do! Jose and I had a lot of fun entertaining for the first time!

We've moved in!

We just got our new home hooked up to internet and cable! Finally! It has been a very, very busy 6 days since we got the keys and I’ve been wanting to blog our progress. But since there is so much to say, I think I’ll recap in a few points and then let the pictures do the explaining.

Quick Recap:
1.Rain and moving do not mix (unless you want to stress about new beige carpet and mud on the floors).
2.My husband and Dad can do anything, and they are strong.
3. I am not a good judge of paint samples, and will be living in a bedroom that is not what I wanted. And have two extra cans of Behr Burnt Almond that I decided I didn’t’ want to use downstairs afterall.
4. My husband, dad and I should not quit our day jobs and become painters. However as point 2 suggests, by the 3rd room they proved they can do anything.
5. My mom and Bridgette can clean anything. Really anything. (Even the stove that was so disgustingly dirty that Jose and I decided to buy a new stove instead of trying to clean it. But after 6 hours of my mom cleaning the disgustingly dirty stove, it looked as good as new, and we returned the new stove we had bought. True story.)
6.My body is not in shape to climb stairs 100 times a day. I woke up Day two, three and four barely able to move.
7. I found enough pennies, nickels and dimes in the move that the total amount probably would have paid our down payment.
8. I understood what a goldfish feels like when we didn’t have blinds up for the first 5 days.
9. Target employees and I are on a first name basis, after going at least twice a day for the last 6 days. Which reminds me, I have a third bag of returns to do.
10. We will not have a guest bed for awhile. Mattresses are waaayyy more expensive than I thought. But will still welcome visitors—as long as you are happy with an air mattress!
11. We love our house! Every time I go down the stairs and look around I smile. We have both agreed that it still doesn’t seem real, that we own this home, but it feels more like we have been in a vacation rental with my family (they have been around everyday to help so much! We are so blessed!

Check out this album of pictures to see the before and after process
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060938&l=ce675&id=68600295

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!

Funding has gone through for our house! Some time tomorrow, not sure when, it is going to be recorded through the county, we will get our keys and be home owners. It feels like we have been waiting for this day for so long. I am so grateful that God has blessed us with this great opportunity!