We began looking for a home in the winter of 2007. Our search for a home first began in Irvine and gradually branched out across Orange County. We put offers on homes ALL OVER the place but luckily none of them panned out.

My husband and I could never agree on any of the homes. Everything he liked, I would hate and vice versus. Many times, either he or I probably could have pushed one another into to settling for X house. But we kept at it, looking for “the one” that would make us both happy. Our dissimilarity was quite a blessing in disguise, though, as some of the houses we came very close to buying declined tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Quite frankly, I don’t think either one of us knew exactly what we were looking for. I’m glad we explored many different options. We feel extremely confident now, the home we bought couldn’t be any better.

We bought a house like this. It’s in Fullerton, close to the downtown. I hope it has the Bk stamp of approval.

Irvine Renter, I was a good student. I exercised self control on the WTF houses above rental parity. The IHB calculator says my cost to own this house is $500 less than the cost to rent. Big thanks to you as if it wasn’t for my daily Blog studies I’d probably be trapped in an ill-suited house and severely underwater right now.

I can assure you, T (aka USCTrojanCPA), is not being paid for his rave reviews. He is just providing full service to his clients for half cost. And he is just the easiest person to work with. We started our journey with T in January. Even after 11 months of looking, never once did I feel pressure from him to buy. I truly felt he had put my interest ahead of his. When I did ask for his opinion he was always eager to help & brainstorm with me. And had it not been for him contacting me first thing in the morning, the day my prefect house, for the prefect price, in my prefect neighborhood, on the exact street I told him I wanted to live on, I would have probably been crying right now about how I let my dream home slip through my fingers. We love ya, T!

Well, that’s all I got for now. Stay tune for the update on whether my dream house & neighborhood turns out how I envisioned it to be. And stay tune for the big house party in honor of all my IHB forum comrades that provide the savviest guidance on the web!

Anyway, here’s what I do (very different now that I have a child!):

Friday night: Eat dinner at home and then watch TV, occasionally go out to dinner with family or friends
Saturday: Try to do a fun family outing, otherwise run errands
Saturday night: Eat dinner at home or occasionally go out with husband and leave the kid with the grandparents
Sunday: Either go out to lunch with my sister or with the family, then either relax at home or run boring errands

How about you?

This is from the article today—

One of my favorite O.C. wine bars is the Main Street Wine Cellar in Seal Beach. What makes it so good? In addition to the owners’ talents for sniffing out excellent wines and unusual varietals and labels for decent prices ($8 a glass for most vino), the place has a terrific food menu. Every time we go we’re impressed with what’s coming out of the kitchen.

artichoke bruschetta

smoked duck breast grilled cheese sandwich

Check out that menu on the Web site, which co-owner Chris Partlow warns is “a little out of date.” Here’s what’s new and popular: swordfish tacos ($12), a warm homemade crabcake ($15), white truffle butter popcorn ($5). “It’s a fairly large bowl, too,” Partlow told me. Something I will definitely order the next time I’m in: a warm crab po’boy sandwich ($15).

Main Street has been open since September of 2008, but Partlow says they’re making some adjustments because of the economic climate. “Our prices have come down and we have a lot more inexpensive things on the menu.” He mentioned homemade pickles ($5) and hummus ($8).

Partlow also let me in on the latest: a new Happy Hour will be launched next week from 4-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. “All of our $8-per-glass wine will come down to $5,” Partlow said.

Another thing I like about this place: If you buy a glass you can take a bottle of that wine home for $16. “It’s a unique way to drive our retail business,” Partlow said. “When you go to BevMo or Costco you’re picking something blind. But at our place, the cost of the glass of wine is deducted from the bottle price. You can get a glass and a bottle for $24.” You can also try that wine with decent food, which tells you how it will pair up.

http://fastfood.freedomblogging.com/2009/11/20/booze-on-a-budget-friday-roundup-2/43007/

www.mainstwine.com

The following are examples of the options.

Same Ethnicity; same Culture – Our friends from church who live downstairs, are both 1st generation Taiwanese-Americans.  They both came here roughly in their teens (high school) and went to college in the bay area.  They married a couple of years ago and moved to Irvine; they don’t have kids yet.

Same Ethnicity; different Culture – A couple comes to mind; I know of a white pastor from South Africa who married a native OC lady.  They live in Orange and have one daughter.  They are both Caucasians but they are very different culturally.

Different Ethnicity; same Culture – Another friend from our small group comes to mind.  She’s Caucasian from northern California and he’s African-American from Alabama.  They live in Long Beach and also don’t have any kids yet.

Different Ethnicity; different Culture – One of my high school friends comes to mind.  He’s ABV – American born Vietnamese who married a 1st generation Korean.  She barely spoke English when they meet 6-7 years ago.  Although they are both consider Asian; I still consider them different ethnicities.  They don’t have kids and are actually doing great the last time I spoke to him!

  Personally, I guess we fall somewhere between Different Ethnicity; same Culture and Different Ethnicity; different Culture.  My wife is Caucasian born in Whittier; and raised in the OC; while I’m 1st generation Taiwanese American.  Our family immigrated to the states in the early 80’s.  My first culture is Taiwanese, but I’m pretty much Americanize.

  I realize there isn’t an option for multi-ethnic and multi-cultural couples; I think the poll would just get too complicated, besides there isn’t room for that.  You can respond with a reply for your situation.  Thanks…

Some things are pretty much as advertised:

-Lower traffic, yes.  Of course, that’s true anywhere but NY, Cairo, Mexico City, or Tokyo.  Average rushhour speeds on freeways are 50+ mph.  Not quite screaming along with impunity, but pretty good.
-Parking, yes.  Not many limitations.  So far, I haven’t seen any gratuitous “No parking third mondays, full moons, except with zone 14 permit” kind of signs.
-Friendly people, yes.  As a native Southerner, I pretty much expected this.
-Attractive women, yes.  It’s kind of like being at UC Santa Barbara or USC, but on a bigger scale.  FAR better than LA, moderately better than OC.
-Much lower housing prices, especially for nice places with big lots in good neighborhoods.  However, inventory is building up and prices are dropping.  Not an LA/OC/Riverside kind of collapse, but another 15-20% off wouldn’t surprise me.  In Dallas there is no jumbo conforming and it’s hurting the high end.  Still, a $700k property here would be $2.1 million in Irvine.
-Somewhat lower rents.  Nice furnished place, short term lease, takes dogs, excellent neighborhood, 3 br 2 ba, 2000 sf, 1/2 acre lot.  $2000/mo.
-No state income taxes.  Just got my first TX paycheck, and yes, there is no state tax.

Some things aren’t at all as advertised:
-Rednecks, very hard to find in Dallas.  There are some poor people, but not sunburned alcoholic guys with shiny cutouts of women on their mudflaps.
-Heat and humidity, missing in action.  Santa Barbara’s summer weather appears to have been kidnapped and brought here.  Very clear air, highs in the high 70’s.  This might change at a moment’s notice.

Not advertised, but apparently true:
-Fewer tattoos.
-Much much less graffiti.  I’ve found like 3 pieces of graffiti, and was able to read all of them.
-Almost no trash on the freeways.  While this isn’t much of a problem in OC, LA apparently never cleans the freeway emergency lanes.  You could do your Christmas shopping there.

Further updates as I notice things.  Feel free to ask questions.

Just for the record and on a totally personal note, we like Irvine because there is a much bigger proportion of families (and kids) that look just like ours as compared to anywhere else we have ever been.  Eight of 22 kids in her class are half white/asian just like our daughter.  We like that.  As a bi-racial child we want her to be raised a setting that reflects her.  Not that one can’t thrive wherever they live (don’t need anyone chiding me for that)—- but kids can be mean, and being an oddity in a sea of people who look don’t look like you is just one more hurdle.  Southern California is a very diverse place—- but it also can be very segregated. Living in a place where most of the kids look like me (south OC) or like her mother (Arcadia) is not the environment we were looking for.  This one fits.

The Santa Ana-based chain operates 15 Orange County restaurants and 38 nationwide.  When each store opens at 11 a.m., staff will hand out various presents to customers to thank them for their loyal support, Wahoo’s said.

The first 21 guests will receive a goodie bag, which will include items from action sports companies such as Famous Stars and Straps, Tony Hawk Inc., 900 films, Jakks Toys, Liquid Force and Tilly’s.

“Everyone who visits their local Wahoo’s to celebrate our milestone will get a present from us,” shared Wing Lam, co-founder of Wahoo’s.

http://fastfood.freedomblogging.com/2009/11/20/wahoos-21st-birthday-bash-free-food-gift-cards-more/41725/

Flash Animations for Physics

Long Bets

Photo Gallery of Japanese Zen Gardens

Golf Club Atlas

Lucid Dreaming Website

I have many more of these.