Yesterday was a big day for us! Spontaneity kicked in and we decided to make the long 4.5 hour trek up to the Dirty D to see our rehab guru, Nicole Curtis!
A few days ago I was scrolling through my FaceBook newsfeed and came across a post from Nicole:
Okay!!! It's finally here!!! This Sunday -June 14th-the one and only Open House for 571 East Grand Blvd in Detroit....
Posted by Nicole Curtis on Thursday, June 11, 2015
if you don't remember my feelings on Nicole Curtis, please refer back to this post
I almost couldn't believe it. I read this out loud, as if I were reading to a 5 year old, to my husband - to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Then reality came to and I realized "There is no way we can go to Detroit on this short of notice, no way at all". Then sadness happened - sounds kinda like the 5 stages of loss and grief:
1. Denial
Detroit really isn't that far. Driving 500 miles in one day is no big deal.
2. Anger
Why me?! Why can't we just go? Why.
3. Bargaining
Okay, I promise I'll never ask for anything like this again, never.
4. Depression
I hate my life.
5. Acceptance
I hate my life.
We had 3 days to really decide if we were going or not for sure. I was talking like I was really going - that's the denial right there. "I'm sorry I can't do that on Sunday because I'm going to meet a celebrity" "No we won't be able to make it to that because we're going to be on TV"
Really, Kendra? I even made arrangements for my aunt to watch our dog..
Saturday rolls around and we have the worlds biggest chore list which felt like we were not even making a dent in it. Okay reality, thanks. We have responsibilities to tend to tomorrow, we can't go..
Saturday evening while hubs was at work, checking my Facebook newsfeed again and came across another post from Nicole:
Absolutely wiped out -so much work goes into these open houses. Please remember to thank all my crew tomorrow when you...
Posted by Nicole Curtis on Saturday, June 13, 2015
I frantically text M and tell him that I'm not sure that I will be okay with not going tomorrow . This is when I bargain with him and tell him I'm going to storm through the house and do all of our "tomorrow's chores" so that we will not feel as bad about going:) After some back and forth talk, he finally said "What the heck, let's just go" (!!!) I couldn't even believe it - we're not very spontaneous so it came as a surprise to me.
Fast forward to Sunday morning:
5:30am: woke up to water in the basement
5:35: we can't go.
5:45: we have to go
6:00: should we go?
6:30: get in the car, we're going.
6:35: [in car] do you think were going to be late?
7:00 (central time) - 12:15 (eastern time):
various
do you think she will like us?
I hope it doesn't rain.
[sleep]
Omg Nicole posted a video!
Front of the Line
Today is the 571 East Grand Blvd Open House!!! We decided to do a little PSA about who gets to come to the "front of the line"! You can't buy your way in --hmmm, maybe I should second think that:)
Posted by Nicole Curtis on Sunday, June 14, 2015
you brought gum right?
[watches Grey's Anatomy on phone through blutooth]
I can't believe Burke just left Christina!
So this is Detroit, huh?
omg, our phones are both dying.
etc, etc
12:24: We're here!
*I am going to try my best at describing our entire experience but please be aware that this may involve some embellishing and possibly slight delusion.
It's really hard to believe that we have just driven 290 miles and are about to see our rehab hero and the house that she just laid her magic into.
As you read in Nicole's Facebook post, we drove over 70 miles and could come to the end of the line - silly us, we wanted the full experience so we walked around the entire block and stood in line for about 2+ hours and basically showered ourselves in sweat - Great, I'm going to smell like B.O for my first time meeting Nicole..
At one point a camera guy came around the corner had us all wave to "Nicole". I don't know what happened but I just happened to shout out "We're from Chicago!" The camera man stopped and said wait what? I repeated. He asked if we came here just for this open house - I refrained myself from saying the usual "does a bear shit in the woods" or "is the pope Catholic".. He then asked us to repeat it into the camera - so we did and he pointed out our matching shirt that we wore especially for the occasion
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| These were our Christmas PJs - don't worry, we didn't wear the pants to the open house. |
He made a comment about us being smart and ordering ours online [they were all sold out at the door by this time].
I was preparing myself to be in a sea of fans all wearing our grey shirts - how original right? I thought wrong - we were 2 of maybe 5 wearing these. We looked like we were a part of the crew :)
You will not believe the amount of stares we got for our shirts. Uhm didn't you guys get the memo to order them online..? Must not be true fans then *turns up nose*
We then ended our segment with "Go Blackhawks!" and of course I threw in at the end in a whisper "go cubbies.."
The camera guy continues on and M looks at me and says "We could quite possibly be on TV" Omg! How does my hair look?
Matted down with sweat, that's how. I don't even care - I will proudly show that video to my grand children if it ends up on television.
By now we are about 10 yards away from the house and of course it starts to pour. Oh perfect, the smell of sweat is washing off our bodies! Luckily we brought our umbrella because the people behind us [don't get me started on this boyfriend's attitude towards his girlfriend] did not bring one and they just stood there helpless soaking in the pouring rain.
We are approaching the door - I kept forgetting that we are not just here to hopefully see Nicole but to see the house too!
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| We can see the house! |
All of the sudden I see Nicole running past us and my head is telling me "Get your camera damn it". My mind was not working with my hands so I just stood there with a dumb look on my face. I did, however, get a photo on her way back
We are slowly approaching the door!
We are starting to get real pumped!
As we approach the door, we have to put our phones away and follow the rules :/ Whomp. No pictures inside.
Hubs and I had a really hard time containing our joy and fully taking in the charm of this old Tudor. M was so excited - at one point he told me he may pass out [may not come as a surprise to most of you :)]
As we walked through the house I would make comments like "oh this is where Nicole said this" "Oh remember when she spilled the stain here?" "Oh I remember when she had that wood guy make this door and table" "Oh it was raining when she did this space" "Oh I remember this episode" etc. etc.
It sort of makes M and I want to watch this last season over again!
I pulled these photos from HGTV.com
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| Front door |
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| half bath off of the kitchen |
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| basement |
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| Living room |
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| Kitchen |
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| Butler's pantry off of the kitchen and dining room |
I really thought I had something going at our house here at two two one but it really doesn't do justice to what Nicole has created. It truly makes me want to work harder on my house and hone in on every last detail.
We managed to soak in every inch of all 4 levels in this beautiful home and we loved every minute that we were lucky enough to experience. :)
As we were leaving we were on some sort of high. I just didn't want to leave. We were towards the end of the line so people were just trickling out of the house by this time.
THEN.
I spotted Nicole at the front door with a few fans. I asked myself if I really wanted to be "that fan" that begged for a picture/autograph/hug/anything. Yes, yes I do. I drove 4.5 hours to meet her and by golly I will touch her.
I walked up to the door while hubs and I executed a plan - okay you take the umbrella and my phone and get a picture of us. Break.
I walked up to the porch and it was like something in a movie. We locked eyes and it was like we were sisters separated at birth or long lost friends ripped apart on the Titanic. I was speechless for what felt like forever. Say something!
One thing I took away from school was that you have to start your essay with a really good sentence that will grab your readers attention or else you possibly could lose them. I take this through life everyday - with my posts or statuses or meeting a new person, anything. I had to use this philosophy today with Nicole.
I could say the usual "Omg, I'm your biggest fan!" No, that's stupid. "Hi, my house is 124 years old!" No, cheesy. "Omg you're so pretty/talented/adorable" No, creepy.
"Hi, we drove all the way from Chicago - do you mind if we get a photo with you??" Could have been worse..
I'm not really sure what happens after this because I temporarily blacked out, but I will do my best on telling how I feel/hope it went.
Oh wow, of course! [you could definitely tell that she was done with thousands of people trampling through her house and asking for photos and autographs. ]
She then hopped down from the porch steps and stood next to me.
To answer some questions:
Yes, she really is adorable.
She is that small.
Her boobs are really that big.
She is very down to earth
Yes, her voice is really that loud:)
Her hair is that perfect.
She asked someone to take our photo so M could get in with me - everyone jumped at the chance to follow through with her demands.
Click.
I don't care how terrible we [M and I] look, we got to meet Nicole Curtis and we couldn't be happier:)
After our photo I rambled some things off (hopefully none of which she heard) and none of it was what I really wanted to say.
What I really wanted to tell her was:
You're so pretty
Are you hiring?
Can we be best friends?
So, what are the chances of you letting me buy this house?
How do I go about signing up to be a volunteer?
I like old houses too:)
How do you get your hair so long??
Wow, you are tiny.
Can we have lunch with you guys..?
Do you need a ride home?
Can we be best friends.
I have been replaying yesterday over and over in my head and I just still can't believe we just hopped in the car and drove to Detroit. It was such an amazing experience and I'm so glad we were able to make the trip and actually meet Nicole:)
Our ride home was just us on cloud 9:)
Husbie and I played "What if" the whole way home:
What if:
we moved to Detroit
we bought this as our vacation house
I really was a volunteer for Nicole's crew
I moved to Detroit to live with Nicole and you kept our house
we had dinner with Nicole and her [amazing] crew
we were on TV
did this again next time she has an open house
etc etc.
After this adventure we have just gone on, I realize I want to be something bigger than I am now. I am making goals and I'm going to move mountains :)
June 14, 2015 was a great day:)
. . .
side | bar
While Mom Mom and Dad were away, Tiffany played with her new best friend Selah:) Looks like she was having as much fun as we were!
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