ITK with Jeff, Nancy & Taylor

aloha

2008-09-03T00:11:00.002-04:00

we just got back from our trip to Hawaii.. we took lots of pictures, check them out at:

http://funkyphotos.shutterfly.com/200808hawaii

there are 196 pictures.. enjoy!!

taylor's first bday!

2008-06-17T00:16:00.006-04:00

jerry (nancy's cousin-in-law) told me the other day that matthew thinks taylor is still clapping. i can't believe my last post was in february. i didn't get to post some of taylor's easter picture, hawks playoff games (yeah we went all three home games with taylor), and CA trip to see jenny & family, destin beach trip.. i posted lots of pictures since then, with the favorite ones on facebook.

time flies.. taylor turned one last week. she refuses to crawl and now is cruising (almost standing without hanging on). we had some pictures taken and took a bunch other from her parties:

here are a few other favorite photos from the last few months:

check out other pictures on shutterfly.

clap clap hands

2008-02-24T09:00:00.001-05:00

yesterday taylor knew to clap when both me and nancy told her in mandarin and in cantonese. the night before we went out to eat we told her to clap in english to the people at the next table, but she didn't know to clap. she's going to be so confused. she knows how to wave "bye bye" and congrats too, so we will try to catch her on video next time.

(does anyone know the pin yin for 'clap clap hands'?)

i have updated our photo album to include some pictures from chinese new year.
funkyketchup.shutterfly.com

la paz

2008-01-13T21:09:00.000-05:00

finally got to try la paz tonight. nothing special, nancy got the steak fajitas and i got the "arizona" quesadillas. the food is definitely more gourmet than other tex-mex, but the taste doesn't come close to papasitos. at least we got some northwest airline miles from it.

the restaurant is at the vinings jubilee in vinings village near our house. pretty neat place with small boutiques and stores like banana republic, ann taylor/loft, and other restaurants. we will definitely go back there and walk around.

on the way back home, we drove by the West Village (another new mixed use community on atlanta rd). we were surprised to see the number of restaurants in that community. we'll need to finally try five guys burger one day as they have one there.

ho ho ho..

2007-12-25T09:53:00.000-05:00

hope everyone have a merry Christmas and happy 2008!

"TIMBER!"

2007-12-15T08:44:00.000-05:00

two years ago when nancy and i were choosing between our current house and the one next to ours, we (or more me) chose our house because of the 100+ yr old oak tree in the front of the house. one thing i hate about new developments in Atlanta is that they get rid of all the mature trees before they build. also, it is especially hard to find within city limits with mature trees all around.

well this past summer, late summer, the leafs of our big oak tree in the front started to brown. at first i was hoping that it was not dead because of the drought and wanted to wait till next spring to do anything with the tree, hoping it will come back. during the past month or two the small branches and barks started to fall. the last thing i wanted is to have a lawsuit, or worse, the trees falls to our house (taylor's room faces the front) or to our neighbors.

i asked some friends to see if they can recommend some tree companies. i got 5 quotes around thanksgiving and was ready to hire the cheapest one - found out two weeks later they went out of business. not good. then we went with our 2nd choice and was able to talk the price down (being chinese). they really did a great job - everything was cut down safely and cleaned up nicely. they had to get like 8 men out here, along with a crane and trucks because of the size of the tree. it wasn't cheap, so don't be offended if you receive a small christmas gift from us this year, if any. so sad.. about the tree being gone.

they grinded the stump yesterday, i need to go rake now.

penguins & sea otters

2007-11-18T22:46:00.001-05:00

nancy's best friend jenny was in town for a week. taylor finally got to meet her god mom. two fridays ago we took jenny and the kids to the aquarium. it's been a little more than a year since we get to see with our god son tyler too. the kids' mandarin is much better than mine.. wow, i need to take the chinese class 102 after my 101 this past summer. the kids had a good time at the aquarium. hailey's favorite was the penguins and tyler was the sea otters. it would be so wrong if they have them on the menu, but i was craving for some sushi and sashami at the aquarium's food court.

congrats to the chens as they are expecting their third child! i was telling nancy before they left, this may be their last trip for a LONG time to atlanta as it may be impossible for jenny and james to travel with 3 kids! nancy was sad that jenny and family left last wednesday.

after my last posting, many of you have joined facebook, but just a few more! as always, pictures are posted on our new photo sharing @ shutterfly: http://funkyketchup.shutterfly.com

thief!

2007-10-31T22:25:00.000-04:00

growing up, each year for halloween i tell sunny (my bro) that he MUST give me half of his candies from trick or treating. this year was no different, nancy and i have the excuse to go trick or treating and eat all of taylor's candies. nancy was all excited all week as it was taylor's first halloween. nancy carved a pumpkin for the first time. actually this was the first time i went trick or treating.

we wanted to go to the lenox square, but found out they didn't have it and ended up going to a nearby neighborhood, dupont commons. we didn't expect to see so many young couples with kids in the neighborhood. everyone was real nice there and we ended up only going to about ten houses. ppl knew we just wanted some free candy.. haha.

nancy is very proud of her work..

but she was caught stealing candy from taylor!!!

more pictures are uploaded on shutterfly: funkyketchup.shutterfly.com

they are back!

2007-10-21T18:33:00.000-04:00

finally, nancy and taylor came back from taiwan today. it's been tough for not having them home for the past 10 days. congrats to scott (nancy's bro) and mandy who had their wedding banquet sunday oct 14th in taiwan.

i have posted the taiwan pictures on our shutterfly website:
http://funkyketchup.shutterfly.com/

i have transferred most of the recent pictures from imagestation to shutterfly. if you haven't joined facebook yet - why wait. i am thinking i may start posting my random and useless blogs on facebook.

taylor is cracking up

2007-10-06T14:03:00.001-04:00

practice part ii

2007-10-06T11:01:00.000-04:00

last weekend we went out of town again.. this time to charleston. we found out that we couldn't do much on vacation with taylor this young, other than finding time to eat out and shopping between her feedings. all we wanted was a relaxing trip, so we didn't mind that we didn't do much.

there are definitely many things to do in charleston for young families. many sight-seeing places and many good southern and seafood. we were gonna try to take the boat ride to fort sumter tour on the last day before we drive home, but we didn't want to rush and figured we would come back to charleston again in the future.

on the first day, we were going to go to Hyman's Seafood place, but it was packed on a friday nite, so we parked downtown and nancy chose Charleston Crab House. it was nothing special. Sat lunch we tried Magnolia. it was good fancy southern food. definitely go there for the cheaper lunch menu. if you ever go to charleston downtown, park at the free magnolia parking lot but you would have to tell the attendant that you are eating there. sat nite somehow we found a Grand Buffet near the tanger outlet. near the end of the dinner i was shocked when nancy asked me "if we'd come back again", but she was referring to charleston. before we came home on sunday we got to try Hominy Grill for brunch. nancy wanted to try that place b/c rachel ray on food network did a thing on her $40 a day show.

is this a diaper bag or stealing free drinks bag, nancy?

you can view the rest of the pictures on funkyketchup.shutterfly.com.

out of town

2007-09-28T09:22:00.000-04:00

last weekend we took taylor "out of town" for the first time. nancy said it was her practice for going to taiwan with taylor in mid oct. first my church had a jbed (joint board of elders and deacons) retreat on friday night. then we were off to knoxville for sunday nite to see my college buddy neal. we had a chance to drive thru the great smoky mtn on the way back to atlanta.

100 days 3 years..

2007-09-23T08:18:00.000-04:00

taylor's 100 days birthday was on last monday. i think in chinese they call it "100 yrs old". both of our families came out to celebrate. i think this may be the first time since our wedding that both of our parents have gotten together, exactly 3 years ago. all the pictures above were taken when we were 100 days old. which is who?

ketchup

2007-09-19T12:58:00.000-04:00

i cannot believe dolce group stole my idea. they just opened 'ketchup' in east LA. anyone know how i can get a painting similar to the one they got in that restaurant (see gallery)?

California-like weather

2007-09-16T16:22:00.000-04:00

on sat it was absolutely gorgeous outside. nancy called it the CA-like weather. about 80 degrees (F) high - the fall is probably my favorite season in atl, except the fact that i'll have to rake leafs later this fall. before heading out for dinner with the warco's and hsu's, we stopped by chastain park nearby our house.

after we walked around the park for 1+ mile, nancy asked me if we were almost there. haha. she actually complained of back pains later that night. may be she needs to rake some of the leaves again this fall.

also grandpa so visited taylor for the first time from HK.

.mac

2007-09-16T09:00:00.000-04:00

sorry i haven't been blogging much lately. i've been real busy at work. for the past week i've been pondering about what to do with all the pictures i posted and shared on the web now that imagastation is going away.

i will probably transfer all my photos to shutterfly as imagestation is offering to do. looking at flickr, seems like it's pretty neat, but not so sure that if the free account is suitable. hmm.. should i be cheap like mike where i only post the best pics on flickr and use a free account somewhere else? or pay $25 for flickr pro account?

man, looking at .mac i am very intrigued. for the past few months i've been playing with iphoto more on my mac and just been able to use a lot of its neat features. it's got web photo/movie gallery, web hosting incl blogging, email/group emails, idisk, backup, and it syncs between your iphoto to the gallery automatically (and to your other macs or iphone). hmm.. iphone. but do i want to pay $99 a year? haha.

imagestation

2007-09-09T00:58:00.000-04:00

omg, found out earlier this week that imagestation.com is going away. i've been using imagestation all these time. i do have the option of transferring all my pictures to shutterfly. but still this really sucks - i think i have to relink all my pictures in this blog to shutterfly.

anyone is using shutterfly? any feedback? i know many of you use Flickr - maybe i will sign one up. is Flickr the best option out there?

shhhhh..

2007-08-24T16:05:00.000-04:00

uh oh.. the secret is out. our zip code was on this ajc article:
http://www.ajc.com/homes/content/printedition/2007/08/19/home.html

below is an excerpt of the article..

Still bargains intown?

Revitalizing neighborhoods are emerging east and west of the core neighborhoods in the center of the city of Atlanta. "We anticipate seeing a couple of years of double-digit growth before it levels out in neighborhoods like Old Fourth Ward and Cabbagetown," says Brown, who notes she sees lots of growth in the Kirkwood, East Lake and Edgewood neighborhoods. "They're rich in history, and the area offers the convenience of intown living with affordable single-family homes."

Monica Manwaring, Realtor with Keller Williams Realty-Intown Atlanta, adds, "Neighborhoods like Sylvan Hills and Capitol View were built by the same developers who worked in Morningside. You'll find lots of brick bungalows to restore. Priced in the upper $100,000s, those bungalows appeal to singles, gays, young marrieds and in general to people who want to be active in the neighborhood and in the schools and help make change happen."

Best values now?

Brown says to look at Howell Station, Berkeley Park and Home Park. "These neighborhoods are at the start of their upswing." Roseberry adds, "If you pick it right, you can double the price of your home with a little sweat equity in a few years. That's one of the more attractive elements for people moving into town."

Jenny Nix, Realtor with Keller Williams-Intown Atlanta, suggests, "Look in the 30318 ZIP code. Prices are affordable, and people like knowing they can buy a house and increase the value of the property and the neighborhood. My neighborhood of Underwood Hills used to be full of singles and young couples; now we have 150 kids under the age of 5. That makes a tremendous difference in an area and in the schools." Her Keller Williams colleague Realtor Wagura Kamwana agrees. "Buying a house in a developing neighborhood is a chance for you to play a role in creating a vision and seeing it become reality."

taylor's 2 months

2007-08-18T16:58:00.000-04:00

picture above: taylor's visit to daddy's office, right before her 2 month's check up. she gained almost 3 lbs since her one-month check up and now at 12 lbs 4 oz. she also grew 3 inches and now at 23.5 inches. we can't believe how fast she's growing.

here are a few more pics from the august 2007 album:

our first dance

2007-08-13T22:15:00.000-04:00

hey everyone-
take two minutes out of your time to vote online for my cousin who's about to ink a record deal - with your help. there are only 15 contestants left. follow link below and find RICHEY LAM - GIRL CHASER. you will need to verify your vote with a valid email. if you came to our wedding, you will remember that we used his songs for our first dance and slide show.

http://www.star987.com/pages/rock_star_vote.html?feed=204416&article=2403680

here a link to his myspace page, if you don't have facebook.

8-5.5

2007-08-09T14:12:00.000-04:00

another useless and random itk.. the man in the pic above is the tallest person in the world, standing tall at 8 feet 5.5 inches. apparently his "growth spurt started at age 14 after a brain operation apparently stimulated his pituitary gland," according to the ajc article.

3.3 out of 100

2007-08-09T12:26:00.000-04:00

if you come to our house via I-285, you would have to cross this bridge to get from cobb to fulton/city of atlanta to our house. from this ajc article, this bridge crossing over the chattachoochee river was rated 3.3 out of 100. needless to say i took I-75 home instead yesterday. with all the trucks crossing this 64-yr old bridge, come to our house via I-285 at your own risk. haha.

rollover.. again..

2007-08-06T23:06:00.000-04:00

same video, except this time in google..

rollover

2007-08-05T23:17:00.000-04:00

taylor rolled over for the first time tonight. all those tummy time we gave her is paying off.

we have also posted some new pictures in the august album. link on the right, as always.

micah

2007-08-04T10:42:00.000-04:00

congrats to roger and jessie with the birth of micah back in july. micah is only 5 weeks younger than taylor. we got a chance to visit them yesterday at their place. omg, micah has roger's lips.

6th/7th week

2007-07-30T00:09:00.001-04:00

our church accc had our annual july bbq today. this may be the first time i didn't have to grill at a church event. thanks taylor! haha. lots of ppl came out today even with the not so good weather.

eric & eva @ the bbq

6th week with mom

taylor wasn't too happy when i was trying to wake her up..

six feet under

2007-07-22T05:12:00.000-04:00

seafood pub that is..

last weekend we had a chance to try out this place for lunch. interesting name. six feet under is one of my coworker (matthew) favorite place near his house in grant park. they opened one near our house near howell mill/west midtown area. on their website they claimed to be awarded as atlanta's best under $25 restaurant and best fried catfish.

without the history of the original where the restaurant is facing a cemetery, this new one plays it off where it's 'six feet under' the ocean with the decor? it's valet parking only with their small parking lot with a big roof top/patio seating. we sat on the main floor as we have taylor with us. actually pretty much all the tables around us had little ones with them. trendy restaurant, but yet family friendly. staff was friendly, as well as ppl around us - young families in the trendy west midtown area.

food was okay. i had the fish and chips and nancy had the shrimp taco. my fish and chips came with homemade chips. the shrimp taco was actually pretty tasty, comes with 3 tacos with fried jalapeño slices. we also shared a seafood gumbo that wasn't so good - a bit greasy for some reason. with valet and tip, our damage was around low $30s for both of us. we actually want to go back and try the shellfish platter.

anyways, our grade is that we will go back.

full month

2007-07-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

time flies.. taylor is almost 6 weeks old now. as some of you know, in chinese tradition we celebrate baby's one month and 100 days birthday. my mom came over for ying-ying's one month and make some bday noodles and red eggs.

yup, i am still hanging in there with the night shifts. ying-ying still sleeps like 18 hours a day, but with no complaints from us i guess. recently if we are lucky, she's been sleeping for 5.5-hour stretches overnight.

nancy is doing well. she actually went out and about after 1 week. both of us are definitely learning the in and outs of taylor and babies. we highly recommend the baby 411 book for any expecting parents.

i updated a new picture album for july - link on the right.

2 weeks old

2007-06-25T00:49:00.000-04:00

can't believe taylor is only 2 weeks old, but both nancy and i can see how taylor has really grown even though it's only been 2 weeks. first week home was a challenge, especially breast feeding for taylor and nancy and learning our schedule. taylor sleeps around 20 hours a day, with most of the time she sleeps through breast feeding time. last few days she has done a lot better. daddy has night shift!

below are some of my favorite pictures so far (as always, updated picture are listed in the latest album - links on the right side):

Taylor's Story

2007-06-13T19:33:00.000-04:00

we came home on Tues.. everything is good - both mom and baby are well!

around 5am on Sun June 10th, nancy woke up and some concerns after going to the restroom. she tried to wake me up a couple of times but i was in my deep sleep. she called her doctor (on call - dr soufi), and she told us to go to the hospital (northside) so she can check her, and she mentioned most likely we will go home after.

after arriving at the hospital, we checked in and waited for the doctor. the nurse came in and checked out nancy. she came in about an hour later and checked her again. there was little change - dilation from 2cm to 3cm. after another 15mins or so dr soufi told the nurse to come in and tell us WE ARE HAVING OUR BABY TODAY!! that was around 8am.

nancy's labor went pretty rapidly.. i went home to grab all the other stuff (had some stuff packed in the car already) as we didn't think we are going to stay at the hospital. by noon nancy was 7cm dilated and almost ready to PUSH! that was the time nancy got her epidural as her contractions was getting really painful. she thought she was going to die.

around 230pm everyone was preparing, including us. doc said the avg for mothers on epidural for pushing is around 2 hours. as the nurse taught me what i was supposed to help on nancy's side, i was thinking to myself, wow i think i am going to see EVERYTHING.

after a few push, i can see taylor's little head. it's tiny at first. then a few more pushes, her head came out. the cord was tied around her head, and the doc immediately cut/clipped the cord. i think the doc stressed a little and told nancy to give a few more pushes. taylor came out safely. yup, taylor came out after 3 contractions - SEVEN MINS!

Nancy, Taylor, and I came home on Tues and adjusting to being parents (with a newborn). we are definitely blessed with many friends and family who are thinking of us. nancy is now eating tons of seaweed soup and black chicken soup!

"EVERY GOOD AND PERFECT GIFT IS FROM ABOVE.."
James 1:17

taylor is our perfect gift. Praise God!

more pics:

200706_Northside

200706_Taylor

Taylor!

2007-06-11T01:16:00.000-04:00

Taylor Ying-Hsiu So
June 10, 2007
6lb 15oz
19.5in

i will post more pictures once i download them. we are way too tired right now. both mom and taylor are doing well. thanks for all your prayers!

in a week or two

2007-05-24T23:36:00.000-04:00

last sunday some of the our church friends threw us a baby shower. i must have gained 10 lbs with all the food from the babyshowers! thanks everyone for putting the showers together and your prayers & gifts. we are blessed to have so many friends that care about us and taylor's arrival. see link for more pictures.

last monday nancy's dr said that the baby may be ready to pop out in a week or two. wow we didn't expect that. please continue to pray for nancy and baby's health and delivery. on the bright side, the crib is finally here. we just need to go pick it up and put it together this weekend. sorry taylor, at least a few more days please..

nancy bday & 35 weeks

2007-05-21T14:45:00.000-04:00

it was nancy bday last Wed. small group of ppl came out to tasty china on two sats ago to celebrate. the main chef left so the lion's head meatball wasn't as tasty.. it was good times and ppl came back to our place and hung out. nancy made a cake for her own bday. haha.

last wed i took nancy out to rathbun's in inman park. my coworker Matthew highly recommended the place for awhile. it won all kinds of awards.. lots of items on the menu. we started out with two "small plates" with bone marrow and chicken livers. my first time eating bone marrow - interesting to say the least. nancy got the halibut as her "big plate" and I got the buffalo strip steak as my "second mortgage". charred corn with cheese is not bad. for desserts, nancy likes the idea of picking 4 items for $11. she likes variety. nancy rated this restaurant: "going back: maybe" rating. she rated that the food were well prepared but nothing exciting.

here's another pic of 35 weeks:

raising gas tax

2007-05-21T13:48:00.000-04:00

i should trade in my car for the yaris liftback. check out this article about gas tax. it's true.. when we went to italy earlier this year, almost ALL the cars out there are tiny and prob gas efficient. instead, cars here in america are getting bigger..

more cake

2007-05-20T09:05:00.000-04:00

my work threw us a babyshower - here's a pic of the cake made by marilyn.

may 22nd

2007-05-18T10:35:00.000-04:00

it's a big day. no not as big as nancy due date on 6/16, but MY hawks will find out where they would pick in this year's nba draft. since hawks were the 4th worst team for this year, they have the highest probability of picking 4th, which they will lose to PHX from the joe johnson trade last year (top 3 protected tho). the hawks will get IND's pick from the Al Harrington's trade past off-season, but it's top 10 protected.

in summary, there are 4 scenarios:
1. hawks keep their pick, take IND's pick (~37%)
2. hawks keep their pick, lose IND's pick (~1%)
3. hawks lose their pick to PHX, take IND's pick (~60%)
4. hawks lose their pick to PHX, lose IND's pick (~2%)

i got the % from this article. the actual draft is on 6/28.

don't turn off your AC

2007-05-15T13:07:00.000-04:00

as gas prices are inching closer to $4 a gallon, cnn money posted an article on 4 gas-saving myths. i also read somewhere else that with cars built today, there is no point to warm up your cars before driving off in the morning.

babyshower

2007-05-11T09:28:00.000-04:00

big ups to chris and athena who threw us a babyshower last saturday. also thanks to all who helped with the shower for baby taylor. thanks for all the wonderful gifts, food, and most importantly, your friendships. here's the link for the pictures taken by jeffrey.

westown

2007-05-01T15:11:00.000-04:00

it looks like they will be voting on the 20% TAD amendment (instead of 40%) on may 2nd. this issue has gotten tremendous support from TONS of ppl. two of the commissioners may switch their stands to support 20% instead of 40%. check out nwatlanta.com.

found this article on atlanta business chronicle about a new development (Westown) in our area (near Taqueria del Sol). it's a long article but interesting..

Business News - Local News
Westown a west side whopper
Atlanta Business Chronicle - April 6, 2007
by Lisa R. Schoolcraft
Staff Writer

The largest residential community to be built in the heart of Atlanta in the past 10 years is planned not far from Atlantic Station in Midtown.

To be known as Westown, it would have 1,450 homes, the majority mid-rise condominiums, but also 42 single-family homes and hundreds of townhouses.

The community will be developed by Brock Built City Neighborhoods LLC in the 43-acre area roughly bounded by Fairmont Avenue, Booth Avenue, English Street, Boyd Avenue, Culpepper Street, Huff Road and Ellsworth Drive, about a mile west of Atlantic Station.

It will also include 150,000 square feet of retail/commercial space along Huff Road's intersections with English Street, Boyd Avenue and Booth Avenue. The project's total price tag is about $400 million.

Westown is along the proposed Beltline, near the proposed Culpepper transit line. The Beltline is a 22-mile loop of former rail line that encircles
downtown.

Westown would be the largest residential development in the city of Atlanta within the past 10 years, said Eugene James, director of Metrostudy Inc.'s Atlanta division, which tracks residential subdivisions. The next largest development ongoing is Princeton Lakes, a 785-home project being built by Pulte Homes Inc. in the Camp Creek area, he said.

Westown may be eclipsed in size inside the city limits by Miami-based The Related Group's proposed CityPlace at Buckhead, which calls for nearly 3,900 condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes, James said.

But Westown shows residential developers believe growing numbers of Atlanta home buyers are interested in close-in living.

Prices in Westown will start around $195,000 for the condos, with townhouses in the high $300,000s and single-family homes in the mid-$600,000s, said CEO Steve Brock.

Brock has built in Atlanta for 22 years and moved into the area west of Midtown, which has been called Westside, Midtown West and Northwest Atlanta, 10 years ago with a project called Adams Crossing.

Brock began assembling property for Westown in 1998 and says it will take seven years to build out.

Targeted buyers are singles or couples just starting families. "We expect families, but it's not the suburbs where families move for the schools," Brock said. Westown's nearby elementary schools include Bolton Academy, Boyd Elementary, Towns Elementary and William J. Scott Elementary.

And although it may be more expensive to pay city of Atlanta taxes, a home
buyer in Westown is just two miles from Midtown and about 3.5 miles from
either Buckhead or downtown, he said, without ever having to get on the
highway. "If you live in the suburbs, you are probably commuting an hour each way,"
Brock said, which can easily exceed 500 hours a year. "What's 500 hours a
year worth to you?"

The logic hasn't been lost on other residential developers. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) reviewed development plans in 2005 that called for 6,556 more residential units in the city of Atlanta, according to Matt Hennie, the ARC's communications coordinator. That number jumped to 15,150 in 2006.

At the end of the first quarter, the ARC has already reviewed, or is reviewing, development plans that would add 7,517 residential units. Developer Marc Pollack, who has his own project in the same area as Westown, says he is amazed at all of the activity going on. "I drive around over there and I shake my head."

Pollack, chairman and CEO of Pollack Partners LLC, is in a $120 million joint venture mixed-use development called 1011 Collier Road, which includes 643 apartment and condo units and 55,050 square feet of commercial/retail at Collier Road and Seaboard Place.

What Pollack likes about the Westside area is "it is close in," he said. "Almost as close to Midtown as you can get with affordable housing or rentals that are made out of wood and are not high-rise concrete."

The west side area is much more affordable than downtown, Midtown or Buckhead, said Gail Raper, CEO of Morris & Raper Realtors.

A high-rise condo downtown will cost $400 per square foot, but on the west side where Brock and Pollack and others are building, a home buyer can pay $200 per square foot for a townhouse or stacked-flat condo "and some of them have views," Raper said. "I think over the next 10 years that will be a hotbed for development. You've got all that industrial space with big parking lots."

Development on Westown is expected to start in two weeks, Brock said, with 34 townhouses on a 2-acre site on Division Street. It will also have 10 acres of green space, trails, a clubhouse and a pool.

In about six weeks, Brock will begin Huff Heights at Westown at Huff and Ellsworth that will have 28 townhouses, with an average price of $450,000, he said. The $13 million Huff Heights at Westown should be complete by the end of 2008.

Developers are "all pretty bullish about that area," Pollack said.

Brock and others are adding to the area, with projects that include:

* Ten Side: A $67 million mixed-use project that proposes 291 apartments
and 30,000 square feet of retail space at Tenth Street and Northside Drive,
being developed by Tivoli Properties Inc.
* Alexan Cityscapes, A $100 million project that proposes 600 apartments
at Jackson and Irwin streets, being developed by Trammell Crow Residential.
* Ellsworth Perennial: A $39.8 million mixed-use project that includes
340 residential units and 14,000 square feet of commercial space at
Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard and Huff Road, being developed by Perennial
Properties Inc.
* Gables Huff Road: A project being proposed by Gables Residential Trust
to build 300 apartment units and 30,000 square feet of retail space at
Foster Street and Huff Road.
* West Highlands, 700 apartments and 177 condos/townhouses being
developed by Brock Built City Neighborhoods.
* Hollywood Road, 72 apartments and 18,000 square feet of retail space
being developed by Alliance Real Estate Ventures LLC.
* Bolton Village, 29,000 square feet of retail and office space being
developed by Orinda Corp.
* Moores Mill Crossing, the proposed redevelopment of a shopping center
into 345 condos and 110,000 square feet of retail space at Moores Mill and
Bolton roads by Edens & Avant of Columbia, S.C.
* Bolton Crossing, 30,000 square feet of retail and office space being
developed by Brock Built City Neighborhoods.
* Perry Village, 367 apartments and 38,500 square feet of retail space
proposed by Wood Partners LLC at Hollywood Road and Perry Boulevard.

"The next thing that will be fun to watch," Pollack said, "is who can
assemble enough land to build a grocery store."

whoa.. too much pink!!

2007-04-10T16:32:00.000-04:00

our friends tell us that there are cuter stuff for baby girls than buying for boys, but i think it's just too much pink!! every time nancy comes back from baby shopping, everything is pink!

well nancy and i finally set up the baby registries for baby TAYLOR at babiesrus and target for the past few weeks. it was definitely stressful in choosing all these baby and toddler products, but thanks to advices from our friends as it was definitely easier than doing it ourselves clueless. we even splurged on a crib set. wow, do i feel old.

please continue to pray for nancy's pregnancy as she's in her last trimester.

moving to alaska?

2007-04-04T12:17:00.000-04:00

cnn money just came out with an article today on the tax friendly places of 2007. atlanta and georgia didn't do so good. hmm.. alaska..

just to update on the TAD funding, there's an online petition - please sign and help support NW Atlanta. you don't have to live in the district to sign.

emma darnell

2007-03-28T11:20:00.000-04:00

nancy and i attended the city of atlanta NPU (neighborhood planning unit) meeting for our district D tues night. it was a big deal b/c the main agenda was the TAD (tax allocation district) that city of atlanta is batting with fulton county district 5 commissioner Emma Darnell. she insists of 40% affordable housing restriction on the district funding while all other TADs had either 0% or 20% restriction. this has stalled a lot of developments in the transitional area we are living at.

wsb (channel 2) news was there and did a story live during lunch and after the meeting at 11pm tues night (couldn't find link). we almost made the camera.

neal boortz is in this thing too - her producer actually lives in the neighborhood. a meeting normally has 30 attendees turns into 300+ last night b/c of this issue.

comcast and the-story local newspaper is in this too.

hopefully things will move forward..

2:21

2007-03-28T09:20:00.000-04:00

alright obviously these 3rd person impressionation are not working, so i am going to start writing my stuff in 1st person. i don't think nancy even know the log-in id and password for our blog.

amazingly, i finished the half marathon this past sunday without stopping except for getting water a couple of times. my unofficial time is 2:21:08 (10:45 min mile pace) posted on the ING Georgia Marathon website. i kept pace with alex for 11.5 miles and then he left me in the dust. overall i thought ING did a pretty good job with choosing the course through some very nice neighborhoods within city of atlanta and with the whole marathon thing for the first time in atl. i am sure they will work out the kinks for next year. i heard from runners that it is one of the harder course b/c of all the hills. being a first time half marathon runner, i have to say a right fit pair of shoes and running socks make a huge difference.

13 miles!?!!

2007-03-23T07:45:00.000-04:00

is jeff really going to do it? the ING Georgia Marathon (& half marathon) is this Sunday. before this jeff has ran a few 10Ks (years ago) that he barely finished and has since retired. jeff didn't really train for this half marathon until a few weeks ago with alex. last sunday they actually trained for 10 miles without a trip to the ER. well we will see if they actually do it this sunday, dark and early, in atlanta. for those of you in atlanta, local tv channel 11Alive has the coverage or of course you can go online to track if jeff and alex will really show up.

babymoon

2007-02-28T14:53:00.000-05:00

above are a couple of pictures of nancy's 23rd week. in Feb we took our last real vacation (or mary calls it the 'babymoon') before our newborn. we went to italy for 8 nights! see below for some of our favorite pics. Venice is our favorite as we are amazed at how the city is built around water. of course Rome is incredible with all the history and monuments there. by the end of the trip we were ready to come back home as we were both tired of eating spaghetti and pizza everyday!

baby or not.. no problem for jeff. thank God the timer was only 10 seconds.

we spent our first 3 nights in Rome. we did a ton of sightseeing, trying all kinds of italian food and gelato, and walking! we went all over Rome sightseeing the colosseum, paletine hill, forum, spanish steps, trevi fountain, vatican museum, st. peters, borghese gallery, pantheon, campo di fiori, jewish ghetto..

we made one quick stop at Pisa on our way to Florence. rick steve's guide book calls Pisa a touristy quickie! did you know the other 2 buildings next to pisa tower lean as well, just not as much.

while we only spent one night in Florence, we did both Uffizi Gallery and Academia (David). and a big florentine t-bone steak.

venice was celebrating the carnivale (similar to mardi gras in new orleans) while we were there. it was real festive and lots of ppl dressed up! we spent 2 nights there. frommer's recommended to try the squid ink spaghetti - nancy didn't try it as we were afraid our baby will have purple skin!! haha.

our last stop in italy was Milan. pic on the left: check out the columns inside 'Duomo'. pic on the right: you thought phipps plaza was nice in Atlanta. other than the Duomo and the Last Supper, there are not much to do in Milan other than designer shopping.

check out the rest of the picture album. link on the right.

KFC

2007-02-09T10:08:00.000-05:00

"Korean Fried Chicken" that is. not so sure why i am posting this article i read. another useless ITK. nancy was craving for some last night before she went to bed. it's only 10am.. i am getting hungry.

the next ebay for real estate?

2007-02-07T14:46:00.000-05:00

if you haven't checked out zillow.com, check out this article first.

watch out mike..

2007-02-07T14:43:00.000-05:00

the first red flag applies to you. here's a link to an article to the 5 tax audit red flags by the IRS.

another random ITK..

2007-02-02T12:28:00.001-05:00

some of you may not know what's ITK stand for.. IN-THE-KNOW! pretty neat website i found, for those who live in the metro-ATL. i need to get my real estate license soon.

http://www.whatsthebigidea.us/

be like mike

2007-02-02T11:57:00.000-05:00

want more pay for your job? cnn money has an article for the top 10 paying jobs where demand exceeds supply. staff accountant and financial analyst are #9 and #10. whoa i need to work for someone else.

they also have an article on 10 best jobs in america.

no joe

2007-02-02T09:10:00.000-05:00

detroit's all star point guard Billups summed it up best when he said in an ajc article, "Every year, there's always going to be some people who don't make it that are very deserving. I think a guy like Joe Johnson, he's an all-star," Billups told reporters in Detroit Thursday night. "I think he's one of the best guards in the conference, and he didn't get in. But I think he's an all-star. "

joe made a late push for the all star reserve in the eastern conference as the hawks finished january with their first winning month under coash woodson (in three years) with an 8-7 record.

marvin williams did not make the 2nd year squat for the rookie challenge neither. the hawks are 17-27 overall and that's probably why.

the year of the golden pig?

2007-01-27T14:51:00.000-05:00

lunar calendar new year (or 'chinese new year') is on Feb. 18 this year which is also the year of the 'pig' (one of 12 zodiac animals). found out today from this article that some fortunetellers call this year 'the year of the golden pig', which only comes around once every 600 years. newborns were believed to bring wealth and great fortune. we are going to be RICH! haha.. j/k.

it's not too late to have a golden pig of your own.. for you married ppl out there. haha.

check out this article too.

daddy's girl!

2007-01-26T18:18:00.000-05:00

20 weeks! wow can't believe we are half way there. we've been waiting for this ultrasound appointment and found out the exciting news.. it's a GIRL!!! praise God that everything is normal and the baby is healthy so far. hopefully nancy won't go out and start buying too many little girl's stuff.

nancy on tv!

2007-01-18T17:05:00.000-05:00

nancy is famous! if you miss nancy on tv last year, here is a link to Atlanta & Company show on local Atlanta channel 11Alive, while representing her current gig at Perfect Wedding Cake.

whittier mill village

2007-01-17T12:39:00.000-05:00

many of you have came to our house and asked why and how the heck did we find the area.. here is one of the reasons. for sure there are good and bad. WMV is a community next to us. here is an AJC article from earlier this month.

condos or apartments?

2007-01-17T09:12:00.000-05:00

still thinking about buying one or thinking about selling? pretty good article on NY Times.

nancy's 18th week exercise

2007-01-16T21:52:00.000-05:00

it's 70 degrees in the middle of january in atlanta. unbelievable. we have a tons of hardwoods around our house where leaves cover our entire yard during fall and winter (or spring if we don't rake!). someone please apply hands on atlanta for us. we may just qualify. nancy didn't look too happy with her exercise in the picture - probably didn't agree with the 'less work, more weekend' label on the rake.

see picture links on the right for new pictures. drop us an email or comment if you can.

buca

2007-01-14T00:35:00.000-05:00

few of us got together and celebrated tom and welleen's babyshower 2 (another boy) at buca di beppo. welleen was surprised. we were so "chinese" and gave the waiter 4 different coupons.. they only took 2 of them. for more pictures, see links on the right.

regular unleaded

2007-01-05T15:13:00.000-05:00

jeff finally gave in. we got a MINIVAN. well it was sort of a compromise in a SUV that jeff wanted and a bulky minivan that nancy wanted. we traded in the 2-door prelude and got the mazda 5 (a sporty/compact minivan with sliding doors and 3-row seats if needed) right before the new year. it's a little funky looking.

this website has a pretty good video review of the vehicle:
http://www.drivingtelevision.com/clips/311/01HH311.wmv

this give us more space that we will definitely need in about 6 months.

boy or girl !?!

2007-01-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

yup, we got some exciting news to share! a boy or girl we won't know until later in january. the picture above is taken at 8 weeks. please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to be parents and for nancy to have a healthy pregnancy.

the picture below is at 13 weeks. most of jeff's family seems to think it's going to be a boy. come back to our blog later and find out..

Where Dreams Come True..

2006-12-25T17:22:00.000-05:00

last week a few of our friends came with us to orlando. we stayed at a 2 bedroom villa very close to disney. when jeff checked in they thought mike was his son. dang, we got grand kids! the weather was so nice and warm, even a week before Christmas. jeff doesn't remember the last time he went to the magic kingdom or epcot, but it was definitely fun for the kids and all of us. disney was getting crowded but alex got all of us FASTPASS. the highlight of the trip is when mike made fun of the ppl waiting in line (prob about 2 hour wait) while we fastpassing through for the spacemountain ride. also, mike needs to make more of "executive decision" (inside joke-ask v about it). here are a few pictures:

to see the rest of the album, see picture links on the right.