My loyal readers, I’m sorry for not blogging lately- I’ve been so busy the past several days with work and my personal life. Things at work are going great- new leases are flooding in, renewals are up, improvements to the property are underway, resident satisfaction is up… my team has done a superlative job. We have an owners’ visit on Thursday to view the progress that we have made over the past 3 months.
On a personal level, I learned on Friday that my father’s colon cancer has returned and he was given 12-18 months to live. He’s getting a second opinion next week. Regardless of what the diagnosis will be, my faith lies with God- he makes the ultimate decision on how long we have on this Earth. I’ll be visiting Delaware toward the end of May, however, my father would like to visit here in the next 2-4 weeks if he’s healthy enough to travel.
Let me move on to something a little less sad. Yesterday, I went looking at a few foreclosed homes. In the next few months, I’m looking at purchasing one and either renting it out or doing some cosmetic repairs, landscaping , and staging and putting it on the market for sale. The stock market has been very good to me last year and this year and it’s time to diversify my portfolio a little. For those of you who are looking for stocks; Apple, GE, Regional Banks, Homebuilders, Citigroup- those are some of the names and groups you should be holding. I’d also suggest Google. In a year’s time, I managed to double my investment with Apple, Huntington Bancorp, Stand Pacific Homes, Fifth Third Bank, and a few small caps stocks.
House shopping wasn’t the only shopping I did, I went to the Mercedes dealership in Cary to check out the Mercedes SLK- that’s the sporty 2-seat hardtop convertible. Guess what. No, I didn’t buy it. I didn’t like it. I like having four seats. So… I looked at the C300′s and boy are they nice. Really nice. The layout of the controls are great. The navigation and DVD console are perfect. The seats are comfortable. The ride is quiet and smooth… so, why didn’t I buy one? Well, while walking over to see a white C350, I stopped and checked out the ML350- that’s the Mercedes SUV. After sitting in that thing, boy was I torn; the space, the layout, the feel, the comfort level, the… I could go on. I loved it. So now I’m torn. Do I get the C300, C350, or the ML 350. I just can’t decide. I’ll probably go back and forth with this for the next month or so before I decide. Any way, the shopping didn’t stop there. I drove over to Brier Creek and purchased several items for a mini-model. Mini-models are apartments that are vacant and you stage the bathrooms and kitchens with some accessories. I purchased some really beautiful pieces.
Life with the “boyfriend” is going well. We’ve been seeing each other exclusively for about 6 months. My mom likes him a lot. Because of our work schedules, we only get to see each other a few times during the week and late on the weekend. Yesterday, he went to Macy’s and texted me pictures of Marc Ecko shirts. He knows I really like Marc Ecko’s button down shirts and they’re difficult to find in a small so he bought me a few. He’s very special, and like me, he’s a news buff- of course our politics differ as you might imagine.
Speaking of boyfriends, I heard that Clay Aiken was uninvited from the Larry King Show. If I’m understanding correctly, Larry had Ted Haggard on with Jennifer Knapp, but told Clay that he would not be welcomed on the show. You know it’s bad when Ted Haggard gets the invite and you get the “dis-invite”.
Well, that’s all the time I have for now. I know I owe a blog over at the ClayAiken411 about Mischa- I may get to that today, but I can’t promise. I’ll be around for a little bit today, though. I need to unwind some.
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