Pen and Ink

Land baron.

Well, I did it.

As planned, I assumed ownership of the house that I have owned with Mike. On Friday, I closed on a refinancing that removed his name from the deed.

It had to happen. We need a clean break from each other so that we can move on as friends.  I was nervous about taking this financial step. Still am. But I was talking to my friend M. about it today. She asked what my new payment was and she said it was really reasonable compared to what she is paying for a 2/2 on Miami Beach.  Put in that context, she's right.

So now I'm a land baron, as John calls it.

* * * * *

My work life has been so hectic, it's been wreaking havoc with my nerves. I haven't had much motivation to write, but I'm back.

Hello.

I'm still here. Just really busy with work. Leaving me exhausted when I come home.

I'll write soon. Promise.

Where the boys are.

Canal.

Fun in Hialeah.

Georgina's house.

Mortgage.

So, I'm going to be a homeowner. Again. Still.

Back in December, Mike and I hired a realtor and put the house back on the market again. It had been two and a half years since our split and it was time, despite the bad market, to try selling the house again.

Of course, in the nearly three months it's been up for sale, there's only been one person come to see it. And he was mostly a sightseer, checking things out for his daughter who may or may not move to Fort Lauderdale.

Mike's been anxious to sell, because he wants to leave Florida. While I dread the thought of moving, I've been looking forward to maybe getting to buy my long-coveted loft downtown.

But the market is shit and nothing -- and I mean -- nothing is moving.

Interest rates haven't dropped as all of the analysts had predicted. Prices are still falling in South Florida and there is currently a two year inventory.  Two years!

We had talked about refinancing if the rates came down and Mike's spent all week last week crunching numbers. And talking to Scott, our mortgage guy. But apparently the numbers they were crunching weren't just for refinancing.

Mike was anxious to talk to me about numbers all last week, but I had several late nights and it wasn't until Friday that we could actually sit down.  When we did, he presented me with a proposal of sorts: to buy him out.

Wow.

I'd considered the idea more than a year ago, but the value of the house was much higher and there was no way I could swing it.  Now, the value is down and I have a new job and higher salary. After freaking out for a bit and then talking to John, Cary and my father, I decided to do it.

Scott had hoped that the rates would fall today to 5.75, but they didn't. He's got all of the paperwork and we're ready to go. The rate just has to fall a bit and then he will press the button.

And then I will be a homeowner again. Still.

Stay tuned.

Night on the town.

As any reader of Pen & Ink knows, John and I go out to theater a lot. Sometimes there's dinner before, sometimes not.  When we do go out to eat, it's nothing fancy. Neither of us needs elaborate meals or restaurants to make us happy.

But, then again, sometimes it is great to have a "night on the town."  A good meal, fun company, something interesting to do after dinner.

I got to have that on Saturday night with my friends Robert and Debbie.  We met up for cocktails and dinner at Novecento on Brickell Avenue in Miami. Very nice Argentinian restaurant where we enjoyed full meals (Debbie is in her second trimester of pregnancy and was eating everything!). 

From there, we took a cab (not something I've ever done in Miami -- it felt very urban) downtown to meet John at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts to catch another feature of the Miami International Film Festival: Then She Found Me.

Written, directed and starring Helen Hunt, Then She Found Me tells the story of April, a New York schoolteacher facing 40 and desperately wanting a baby. When her sweet but immature husband (Matthew Broderick, who just isn't aging well) proclaims their marriage a mistake, she is left in a fog. Her upside down life is turned even crazier when she meets Bernice (Bette Midler, who looks fab), an eccentric local talk show host who claims to be her birth mother.

Saturday night's viewing was the film's East Coast premiere. It's been making the rounds of the film festival circuit and opens in Israel on May 1 and the following day in the United States.

The audience was treated with an post-film talk back session with Ms. Hunt herself.  She came off as very gracious and warm, and really very sweet. It was a nice ending to a perfect evening.

Muscle dude on bike.

A lotta spam.

Spamalot is in town at the Arsht Center (formerly Carnival Center).  Good theater queen that I am, I'm going twice (mainly because John has comp media tickets for Tuesday's opening).  Cary says it's so funny that it's worth seeing twice.

I'll let you know.