This whole homebuying process has been quite the hassle, but a little fun at the same time. I think I may have found a place already, although nothing is official yet. After looking at hundreds of homes online, and around 15 in person, house number 11 seems to have come out a winner. I wasn't real impressed with many of the homes I looked at and my main downfall through this whole process was I was trying to get in an area of town that is a bit more "trendy" and thus homes are slightly inflated. So last Sunday I made my first offer on the home I'm interested in. I underbid the guys asking price by 22k, which I didn't expect him to accept but thought was a good staring price. He comes back 7k lower and I come up 10k, so we are now 5 apart, and I'm set in my mind that I'm not going to budge a bit. He says hes not budging either, so I make it known I'm done with negotiations. A day later he comes down another 2.5k and I'm still sticking to my guns. So what happens late on Saturday night? The guy comes down the rest of the way. We have a winner!! Nothing official yet, but we are supposed to get everything down on paper early this week. So if everything goes according to plan, I should be the owner of a 1952 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1100 sq. ft. bungalow, in Berkley, MI. The only thing I have against the house is that its a corner lot, but that wasn't a deal killer. The 1100 sq ft. doesn't include the finished basement or from what I can calculate the third bedroom located on the second floor, so the place is bigger than it sounds.

Last weekend was the annual Noel Night, in downtown Detroit, where they open up all the museums for free and the whole town gathers in the streets to sing carols. It was quite the experience. I also got to catch dinner with my friends Debbie, and Dan (who was on his way back from Amsterdam). One of the local Episcopal churches was open, and was absolutely stunning. I keep thinking that its a shame they don't build churches like this anymore, but at the same time, its a bit of a waste to put so much money into something, when so many other needy causes are out there. I also learned what cappuccino semifreddo was this evening after being very unsuccesful in trying to drink what turned out to be a frozen beverage. Boy did I look like an idiot. I wondered why the cup was so cold, but thought oh well, its just regular cappaccino. Incorrect.

Hey look, its one of the wisemen with his camel!
Nothing says Christmas like a mariachi band in a public library.