Santa Monica ArtWalk

After Saturday morning's community bike ride, we got ready for the Santa Monica ArtWalk.

But first, no trip to Santa Monica is complete without a stop at Tito's Tacos. A neighbor to Santa Monica, Tito's has served up slow-cooked Mexican food since 1959.

Aside from its long, out-the-door lines, Tito's is special to us for a couple reasons. It was our first date 8ish years ago (an awkward double date) and then, it was our pre-proposal meal before we drove to the Pier (I'm romantic like that...).

After some grub, we headed over to the Santa Monica Airport to see Daniel Edlen's vinyl exhibit at ArtWalk (you may remember my 3-piece collection from Daniel).

Hosted in some old airplane hangars, over 60 local artists opened their studios to exhibit their work.

It was pretty cool to see Daniel's stuff up in the main hallway, and even more fun to hear people comment about which pieces they liked -- especially after producing the introduction video to Daniel's work.

So! Busy weekend. But totally worth it.

Hitting the Trail

Earlier today, the wife, Ashley and myself joined a few dozen other cyclists for the City's 3rd annual "Hit the Trail" event.

Starting at three different sites around the Valley, the leisurely 6-mile ride was a family event that ended at Bridgeport Park -- where we enjoyed free subs and smoothies from local vendors.

It's the days like this that make us really appreciate where we live. Yes, the neighborhood is very family oriented -- but more than that, getting out into the blue sky, upper-70s-in-March weather simply can't be beat.

10 Tips for Buying a New Home

It's hard to believe, but it's been over 6 months since we moved into our new house. Craziness.

And each time we walk around the neighborhood we feel extremely blessed to live where we do. It took a long time, a lot of stress and a lot of patience to finally get the home we did. It's a quiet, family-oriented neighborhood, it has a backyard for the pups -- it's perfect.

I've been sitting on this post for awhile now; mostly because it's hard to put all our thoughts down on paper. But here's our quick list, in absolutely zero particular order. Share with others as you feel led.

1. Be careful with timelines. It's no fault of ourselves or our agent, but imposing timelines on a home search can really open the door for compromise. If you do have a timeline, I really suggest doubling your lead time to make sure you're not pressed near the end of it. We began our home search in January and didn't actually close until August...after a 3-month escrow. Which leads us to our next point...


2. Don't compromise. For us, this was a house we're going to be spending years in. Bringing newborns home to. Raising children in. ...eventually..don't pressure us..we WILL fight back... And because of all of that, we didn't want this home to be something that we settled for because we were frustrated by the process or had a lease term to compete with. Granted, those were both obstacles, but sometimes you need to slap yourself around a bit to rearrange your priorities.


3. Find an agent that's right for you. Yes, your friend may have really liked Joe Silk Shirt Realtor, but that doesn't mean you will too. As we mentioned, this can be a really long process. So make sure you can see yourself 'courting' one another for awhile. This means being able to communicate the same way too; if you like talking via smoke signals, make sure your agent can too. Just because you meet with an agent doesn't mean you've necessarily hired him. Interview your heart out.


4. Have fun. Especially if this is a first-time buying experience like it was for us, you need something to break the frustrating monotony of really bad properties. Don't be frustrated by the blue-striped garage mural... laugh it off. No matter how irritating you might think it is, that irritation isn't going to remove the mural. This also applies to cracked sinks, missing cabinet doors, and the classic let-the-kids-draw-on-the-walls-with-marker-before-we're-kicked-out.


5. Don't get burnt out. Looking at houses, calling your realtor, browsing the MLS, and looking at houses again gets exhausting. Make sure you play too. Go to a movie, go on a walk, go on a weekend getaway. This is the digital age, so don't worry about missing anything. If you're out of town, you're okay. After all, we closed on our house while we were in Alaska. Bryan really pulled through for us while we were on vacation. Not only did we close escrow, but when we got back to the mainland, he arranged for our house to be repainted, and the new floors to be installed so we wouldn't need to worry about it when we returned. So if we can do that, you can go out to dinner. But make sure you have a good agent to back you up.


6. Identify your 'must haves.' It'll be tough to find that house that has absolutely everything you want, so what are you willing to give up? Do you NEED to have a formal dining room, or would you give it up for a big backyard? These are all up to you, don't let anybody pressure you into anything else. Tell your agent what really matters to you and specifically ask not to see a home that doesn't have a few of your 'hot' items.


7. Don't fall in love. This was one of the toughest things we dealt with. We'd find a house, fall in love with everything it was, make an offer, and then get destroyed emotionally when we were outbid. You, of course, need to make sure you can see yourself living there, but you may want to stop short of already knowing where the area rug is going. If you fell in love with the house, chances are lots of other people did too. For us, it stopped being about comparing prospective properties with one another. Instead, it was more about comparing properties with our current home. Was it an improvement? Was it horizontal?


8. Expect to be surprised by something...anything. Every situation is unique -- for us, there were complications with the squatters/tenants. Then there was legal action. Then the short sale was turning into a quick foreclosure. And more. But when we went into this home none of that was really on the table. All of it came as a bit of surprise. There will ALWAYS be something you weren't ready for. So you can freak out about it, or you can be calm, accept the absolute worst case scenario, and then develop a solution for it. We found the latter is much more effective.


9. Be grounded. It's easy to get caught up in the moment and decide to spend more than you can afford on a whim. Don't do it. You (hopefully) established your financial limits before this journey began. So abide by them. Don't let your sudden love for a house you can't afford change any of that. The same goes for your agent, don't let him push you into something you can't afford. Unless he's willing to subsidize your monthly payments... For us, it was important that we could afford the mortgage on one income. It may be a different rule for you, but don't break your own rules.


10. Pray. This really belongs at the top of the list. No matter how much you (think) you want something, it really doesn't matter if God's not in on it. Pray for direction; pray for peace of mind. There's really no point in stressing out if you realize you're not really the one in control.

Feel free to add to our list -- surely there's something we've missed!

The Man with the Gorilla Feet

...that's me!

After I surpassed a self-imposed minute-per-mile mark, I rewarded myself with new running shoes -- the Vibram FiveFingers KSO.

Italian-made, the FiveFingers encourage a barefoot-style of running -- greater agility, shorter and 'bouncier' strides, increased balance, etc. So while promoting the barefoot sensation, the sole still provides protection from the ground.

I'm not going to lie, they certainly take some getting used to -- especially when you're trying to get each toe into its respective 'home,' but after a week or so, they slide on and are great fun -- at least for me. I haven't been stopped yet on a run, but it's a kick watching people try to figure them out.

Join us next week where our hero adopts a gorilla mask to complete his costume...

Random on Purpose -- Part 2

Here again, is a your short and concise gathering of all things Ryan and Emma. And only short and concise because we can't devote enough time to writing dedicated posts on each of the topics. Not yet anyway.

• We're counting down just over 50 days until we leave for Central America for a few weeks. It's kinda crazy. I'm pretty sure we should be more excited about the trip than we currently are.. but we'll blame our exhaustion on that. More on all this as we get closer.

• After much thought, I've finally settled on a "before-I-hit-30" goal -- a sprint triathlon (750 m swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run). That being said, in addition to my current biking routine, I'm also running (pathetically) and soon to be swimming.

• And because of that, if you know somebody who's willing to part with their road bike for absolutely zero cash, I'll actually ride it so you can use that space on your garage wall (Hi Bryan!).

• Rocco and Bella are weirding us out. Out of nowhere, they suddenly started licking each other's mouths. Gross. Evidently it's a sign of affection between two dogs living together -- acknowledging and respecting each other. But to me, it's a sure sign I won't do well with a teenage daughter.

• I'm over 20 pounds lighter than I was in the beginning of December (I still blame Ashley's cheesecakes for that weight gain). Much of the loss due to biking daily plus a modified diet. I owe a lot of accountability to Livestrong.com. Again, when I have more time, I'll get into that process a little more.

• If you actually look at the "what he/she's reading" sidebar at ryanandemma.com, you'll note that Emma's apparently in a morbid mood lately. Like every other female lately, she's been diving into vampire books -- first the Twilight series and most recently, a series that always has the word "dead" in it. Encouraging...

• Apparently we live in "Awesometown." This campaign is so discouraging on so many levels. And I've thrice debated critiquing it on the Rhyno blog, but elected not to each time so I'm not appearing overtly negative. But seriously... it's embarrassing to live here now.

• It's not fair to blame it on Amy, but I'm a huge Menchie's fan now. Not to say that Emma's not, but in my mind, every time is a good time for Menchie's. In her's, there's also time for a burger.

That's it for now...

When I'm able to get to bed the night before the next day begins, we'll be sure to digress about my upcoming purchase of gorilla-like shoes, my 5-10 steps for shedding weight, and a few posts bragging about all the places we'll be visiting in a couple months.