Buy the numbers

We met with our architect a few Sundays ago to talk about initial plans. Don (our architect) is a friend of my Dad's. They've been working together for over 20 years. A few of Mr. Joey's friends are architects and we had thought of going with one of them but well, my Dad is a pain in the rear to work with. He's a great guy to hang out with but he is a little intense to work with. We knew that having a friend work with him would just end badly.

We were a little skeptical about using Don because we weren't sure his style would match ours. We're looking for more of a modern style house and I know my Dad hasn't worked on too many of those.

I guess we didn't need to be skeptical because Don was great. We came in with a list of rooms we wanted in the house and pictures of styles we'd like to replicate and he was open to it all. He was really excited to be designing something different. We were really excited that he was happy to be designing something different.

After we discussed which rooms we had to have and which rooms we wanted but could live without, Don presented us with an unintentional gift, the street address to our future house! We have an empty lot to build on, so we just referred to it by it's plot number. Now we have an address! He has no idea how excited he made us.

We we're completely giddy in the car. Somehow the house number made the house feel real! Of course we're dorks and immediately we headed to the antique mall where Mr. Joey bought my ring. No, we didn't buy furniture (though I was tempted). We bought house numbers. Yes, that's right, house numbers.

Aren't they great? So apparently they were made in the 1940's and were for San Francisco's Chinatown. I guess all the numbers were going to be replaced with these gems. For some reason (probably the war), then never got used and just in their boxes until 2 years ago. The man who found them sells the little stock he has at the antique mall.

We saw them when we stopped at the mall (before my ring was purchased) to kill some time. We loved them when we saw them but of course at the time didn't need them for anything. We were so happy to go back 1.5 years later and still find them there. We really wanted black or orange but there were no more number 2s. We found our house number in the olive and bought them. The best part is that when we saw them before, they were $40 a number. When we bought them, they were selling for $10 a number plus 10% off if you bought 4 or more numbers. It was fate!

So, we bought our house numbers before our house has been built. Did you buy anything for your wedding before you were engaged?