Manic Manic Manic Monday

Mistas! Where to begin, because this day has been going so fast with no end in site. And I just remembered, that I just bought a Cindi Lauper album, so I could play Manic Monday as I compose this, but I won't because that would put me over the edge and I would never get off the computer, when I need to get off the computer to feed the animals, pick up some salmon for my man who is hard at work until 9pm every night (fish easier on the tummy for late eaters), and type this post, which does take time.

Mondays I'm always full of fresh energy, and this Monday, I promised myself I would not work on real estate stuff and would only do work. But after I bought the Suzi Orman Fico Kit for David (bought one for myself last week...I'm an A student for credit!), all I could do was plug in more numbers into color coded Excel sheets that I created this weekend, that kept me on the couch for the whole entire beautiful day to see what we could afford for real estate!

Back up Katie. Real estate, you ask. Where, you ask. Ohio. Ohio? The place that is on CNN every day with the stagering forclosure rate and the new story that Cleveland wants to sue the banks to get some cash? Ohio. Columbus. Columbus, the birthplace of David, and home to many, very well renovated homes and condos in downtown Columbus and in German Village, and area just outside that has several cute homes. Now, for David, I've been considering Columbus, but haven't found a home I'd want to uproot to (tho we'd try to find a cheap apartment here in NY as well). Then one day, we drove past this development. A blue brick house, to be exact (take the walking tour, I dare you), and I fell in love. In love. The kind of love I felt when I found out that the city of Charleston, SC had a college in it, which is where I ended up going. Didn't care about any of the other colleges, I just wanted the College of Charleston, and by Goodness, it was a good fit. And I had a great tan.

Columbus. What do you think inspired that whole registry? The blue house. And Jeni's Ice Cream was the first thing to make me truly consider Columbus. However, our families are up in arms with worry. We are jumping into this. So we did the research, and let me tell you, an intense real estate search can take over your life. I've learned about tax abatements, condo association fees, what is payed when into what escrow account, the rate of sales and houses in contracts this January compared to last January, realtors buying up forclosure properties and selling them for like $70K, how a few .points hugely effects your mortgage payment, maybe more than your down payment, what my lovely credit score is (I'm sorry, I'm just so proud), and I finally paid off my credit card debt!!!!

So do you see the manic? Katie James continues to expand, this time into strategy to help people with SEO and social bookmarking and potential advertising partnerships, so it's all very exciting. I'm taking the train to New Haven this week to get my hair cut at my favorite salon, and what am I making myself do on that train ride and while I get my color done? Design my own overdue Katie James Pixelated website, so that That It Girl can have a prettier place to live, so that services can be laid out like a French cafe menu, and so that I can just add to it whenever.

But now this expulsion must end. Dinah is jumping on me, the clock in the church tower struck 8pm, and I think that means my fish place to get the salmon has closed. Must run down the street to catch it. Oh, here are some words today from my brother, which were too cute not to pass on. Perhaps it will give more of an idea of where we come from, in terms of energy:

"katie!! you have to live here!! i just got really excited for no reason (mainly I'm caffeinated and its 65 degrees and I'm editing my new showreel which kinda pumps you up when you watch it over and over). So I ran out of the house, through the park, over the sledding hill, and did some pull ups to kill some steam. But its such a great feeling to be in this place! with the doors open and the great air coming through. There's people out in the park and everybody's walking dogs through the neighborhood, the tennis courts are lit up and people are playing tennis. (I don't know if its spring time in NY but it sure is here)."

He proceeded to tell me about a stable house which we think is a dream, but maybe too small. Oh, here it is. Trouble is, there are more dream ones where that came from. Here are 2 others dream houses:



And the ultimate cuteness: a blue cottage. With a weird growth coming out the top. And it has a hydrangia bush. But it does have a view of Long John Silvers. But look at the shingles! And the cobble stone street!


I know. I am the worst buyer right now. I must lose the love, then place the bid and walk away. This weekend, David and I are flying there to consider all of these in person. Stay tuned, because I'll be posting pics as we tour the homes via Flickr to here.