July Preview

I don't think I'll be blogging much during July because we have a C.R.A.Z.Y month ahead of us. All very exciting things, but I know it's going to fly by. I have mixed emotions about it all because it's my last full month at home with Norah before I head back to work in mid-August. I'm planning to soak up every last moment with her before that. Here's a preview of our crazy life to come:

*Today {July 1}, we officially got possession of our new house! We showed my parents, Andy, Julia, and Lauren the house yesterday, but we could officially begin moving things in today. 

*Tomorrow Kurt and I plan to move as much as possible on our own to the new house. We're hoping to not have to keep the movers for as much time as they've quoted us. The less time, the cheaper for us! 

*Wednesday the movers come! It will be our first night in the new place! 

*Thursday is the 4th {already?!?}. This will be the first time in years we'll be celebrating in Indy. We'll probably go check out the fireworks downtown after working on the house all day.

*Friday we're going to head to the lake for the weekend to try and relax a little bit.

*Monday {8th} - Friday {12th} we are going to be working on the house as much as we possibly can. I'll make sure to take before and after pictures as much!

*Saturday {13th - Julia's 7th Birthday!!} my mom, Norah, and I are heading up to Michigan to meet Andy, Quinn, and the girls. Kurt and my dad are heading up after golf on Sunday. We'll be spending the week there with everyone. 

*Friday {19th} we are planning to leave Michigan and stop at the lake on the way home. We'll spend the evening with Kurt's family and pick up the dogs from his parents. 

*Saturday {20th} we are leaving the lake to come home, unpack, and do any last minute things on our old house. 

*Monday {22nd} if everything goes as planned {fingers crossed!!!!!}, we close on our old house!

*Tuesday {23rd) we are heading out to Newport Beach, CA for a business meeting that Kurt has.

*Wednesday {24th} Kurt, Norah, and I will be flying up to San Francisco to stay with Lauren and Jared!! :) Either Thursday or Friday that week, we are going to drive to their house in Tahoe and stay there until Sunday. 

*Monday {29th} we fly home! 

Hopefully, by the end of this month, we'll be vacationed out {is that really possible?!?}, ready to do some major work on our new place, and only own one home. It's going to be a crazy month, but so much fun. I know we'll come out of July feeling tired, but I can't wait to make so many memories! 

procrastination

The moving anxiety is beginning to hit me more and more as the days go by. I haven't done a thing to pack and I'm not sure where to even begin! Usually I'm a pretty organized person, but I just can't seem to find a good place to begin. I'd much rather sit and read a good book, watch some reality TV {I know...lame!}, or find a sister to adopt for Coop to play with! Anyone have any good suggestions for getting motivated to pack? I could use any advice! :)

5 More Days!

busy bee

How was your weekend?!? Hopefully, it was great. IKEA was amazing. I think we'll be taking more trips there soon. Oh, what I'd do to have them open one here. I'd probably live there!!! This week is going to be busy with trying to get ready to move....ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!!!

I'll be back after we move in with some before/after pictures and to share the things we bought from IKEA. We're going to the Kings of Leon concert on Friday, so I'm sure I'll have pictures from that to share as well. I'm hoping all our stuff is still safe in the storage place...guess we'll find out soon! Next time you hear from me, I'll be posting from our new office!! Have a great week!

two weeks

Two weeks from now, Kurt and I will be unpacking our things into our new house! I can't believe it's so soon. It feels like we've been talking about house things forever....

Pretty soon, that 'SOLD' sign will be taken down and the house will be ours!!

Things I can't wait for:
-Being back together with Kurt and Cooper everyday
-Getting to use our things again
-Decorating/{hopefully} doing DIY projects
-Our awesome house/yard/neighborhood!
-Our awesome neighbors {Josh and Mer}!!
-Snuggling with Coop {see below}

I found this picture on my camera this weekend....
Coop and I passed out together two weekends ago, so Kurt thought it'd be funny to take a picture of us!

I Cannot Wait!

P.S.- I'll be sharing some great pictures from the weekend soon!

decisions, decisions

We have a moving dilemma and we're not quite sure what the best situation is to fix the problem. Maybe you can help us clear our heads and make the best decision?!?!

Here's the situation:
When we moved from our apartment, we had to store all of our belongings {other than clothes, the dog, and a few miscellaneous items} in a storage facility. When we signed the paperwork, they informed us that a 30 day move-out notice is required and the month is not prorated. So in other words, you have to move out before the 1st of each month or you have to pay the entire month's rent. Well, our closing date is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30th. We originally planned that we would move into the house that weekend, October 2-4. BUT, if we wait until then, we'll have to pay $156 for the storage for the entire month of October.

Solution #1:
Keep the closing date the same, wait to move until the first weekend in October, and just pay October's rent.

Solution #2:
Ask to move the closing date up 5 or 6 days. So, we would close either Thursday, September 24th in the afternoon or Friday, September 25th. Problems with moving this weekend-- We are going to the Kings of Leon concert on Friday night {so not much moving would get accomplished Friday}. Also, my entire family {minus Christopher, who now lives in NYC} will be in Michigan at a wedding and won't be able to help us with moving.
{We hope our friends can help us out!! Drinks on us!}

So, do we suck it up and pay the extra money and stick with our original plans? Or do we move the date {if she agrees}, not have my family to help, and only have the original moving fees?

We're leaning towards choice number two. Any excuses of living together sooner are welcome!! We're not even sure yet if this plan is feasible, so we'll see.....
On to bigger and better decisions - finding more items to add to my House Wish List!!

Our First House

I'm having a hard time figuring out where to begin this post. As you've heard here and here, our house hunting process was more frustrating than I had anticipated. I'll spare you most of the ups and downs of the whole process, but would love to share some pictures of our {awesome!} new house.

When we started our search, we had hopes of buying an older house in the Broad Ripple area. We were looking for a house with lots of charm and really wanted things like hardwood floors, a fun neighborhood, and possibly brick. After {way too much!} stress and looking through all of the houses in the area that fit our criteria, I was venting to our friend Meredith. {Her mom is a realtor and she always seemed to have great advice for me!} We didn't know what to do -- wait around for something in the area to get put on the market or for the price to be lowered or should we change our criteria?

Meredith and Josh had recently bought a house in an up and coming neighborhood two miles north of downtown Indy. As we were talking, she suggested that we look around that neighborhood. After talking about it, I couldn't wait to get home and see if there were any houses in the area in our price range. {Long story short} we fell in love with the area and the {new} houses!

As you may have read, we found a house that we really liked and decided to put an offer on it. This whole process was a huge ordeal for a variety of reasons. Finally, after a week of suspense {and driving Kurt nuts because of my insanity}, the deal fell through. While we were going through this process, houses continued coming on the market. So, back to looking it was.

The night {Tuesday} the deal fell through, I found another house in the neighborhood that had just been put on the market that day. That Thursday, we set out for another l.o.n.g. day of house hunting. We started downtown {at the house we later would buy} and made our way north while looking at a variety of houses. We quickly came to the conclusion that we love the neighborhood downtown for a plethora of reasons {as well as the house}. So, we decided to put an offer on the first house we looked at that day. After one counter offer, we accepted and had a new house! It really sounds like it wasn't a huge, long, incredibly stressful process, but trust me I'm sparing you many of the details! {And probably being a little dramatic, too!}

OH, I forgot to mention, that our house just so happens to be 5 houses north of Josh and Meredith's house! {According to Josh and MapQuest -- 200 ft.} I could go on and on about how exciting it is to be buying this amazing house with Kurt AND THEN to have it so close to our best friends.....crazy.

Ok, so the house is perfect. {Minus the fact of only having 2 bedrooms, but it's really ok...for boring reasons that don't matter.} It is practically brand spankin' new. Only five years old. And we will only be the second owners. The builder/owner made some fabulous choices while building the house...it's so perfect for us. Unlike the many older houses we looked at, this house is 100% move-in ready. Of course, we're going to want to change some cosmetic things in the future, but wouldn't have to if we didn't want. {Trust me, I can't wait to do small projects to spruce things up. I've started my mental list already! Hopefully, you'll be hearing about our projects here!}

Without further ado, here are {a few} of our new {'IU'-look at the colors} house:
{Sorry in advance if I'm bragging!}
{Oh! Remember it's not our stuff yet....}

Our House!
View from the front lawn.
Notice fairly big trees (compared to many new neighborhoods).
Take a good look at the awesome porch.

Porch Up Close.
I can't wait to find some cute furniture to spruce it up!

Living Room/Dining Room/Office
Walk inside the front door and you will find a very cozy open layout.
Check out those amazing hardwoods!

This is the office area {not shown above}.
Notice the half bath to the right.

Kitchen
It has tons of working space and cabinets.
I hope to make some improvements on some things in the future, but it's better than most we've seen in our price range!

Guest Bedroom
At the top of the stairs, you'll find a cute {nice sized} guest bedroom.
I love the windows and the closet is a decent size, too.

Guest Bathroom {Full}
Across the hall from the guest bedroom for better access.
Look carefully at the sink hardware {they are beautiful in each bathroom!}.
Storage under the sink is key.

Master
Down the hall a few steps, you'll find our {soon to be} retreat.
It's big enough for all our furniture AND Cooper's dog bed.
{There's even room for another dog bed that we'll hopefully need soon!?!}
The two very tall windows provide tons of warm sunlight!

The master bathroom is large enough for a third bedroom, but we love that we will have tons more space than any other place we toured.
{It's hard to imagine with pictures...}

HALF of the Walk-in Closet!
Yes, it's huge.
Hopefully, it'll fit all of our stuff. If not, Kurt may have to use some of the guest closet! :)

The bathroom has a huge wall of windows that provide tons of sunlight.
The sink is a little tall for me, but the storage is wonderful!!!

{There is also another room -to the left of the sink- where the shower/bathtub and toilet are housed}

Backyard
A great backyard was a deal breaker for us while looking for a house.
Coop will have SO much room to run around and play {with a sister...who knows?!?}
We also plan on adding a patio on the left side you can't see.

Two Car Garage
It's huge and CLEAN!
We will be able to store many things in there along with our cars.

I could go on and on while showing other pictures, but I don't want to bore you! I hope you are as smitten for our house as we are! We can't wait to move-in and start making it our own.

5 more weeks and we'll be back together as one very happy little family :)
{This makes me giddy thinking about it!}

no news is...bad news

Well, I guess not horrible. But, we're still in the process of trying to buy the house we fell in love with. Counter offers have been going back and forth since Friday. The owner seems to be dragging his feet and not willing to budge at all. We'll see what happens. Hopefully, I'll have more news {and maybe good news} soon!

One things for sure....buying a house is NOT an easy thing to do!

virgin hunters

Okay, so I'm finally going to gush about the 'exciting' news dealing with house hunting...

Thanks {again} to HGTV for borrowing much of my time due to my interest in all of their shows. I have found myself living some real-life episodes of both 'Property Virgins' and 'House Hunters'.

Last Tuesday, Kurt and I {along with his dad -- our realtor} spent a couple hours touring 5 or 6 houses that had sparked some interest. I was very excited to take our first trip to begin looking at houses. Throughout the entire build-up process, I have told myself {and reminded Kurt} that we need to be very careful about the decisions we make, to really think them through, and most importantly not act impulsively. I continued reminding myself of these things while looking at these particular houses.

As we pulled up to the very first house, I can remember not having really any expectations of what we were going to see. To our surprise, we walked in and pretty much loved everything about the house. {It surely didn't hurt that we quickly discovered two very cute doggies in their backyard along with lots of IU paraphernalia around the house!!!} The house has a new roof, new windows, a semi-finished basement with a radon pump, a new furnace, 3 bedrooms, and lots of storage....huge things for a house in our price range. {Yes, we would have to do some upgrading, but that is what we're looking forward to doing. Plus, I would MUCH rather spend money on redoing things and decorating rather than dropping a ton of money on a new roof!}

We left that house with two complaints: the front isn't brick {but not many houses in our price range are -- and it's only our first house} and the upstairs master is hot {something that wouldn't be too hard to fix with a fan or two}. When we left the house, I was determined to not think about it too much, knowing that I probably liked it so much just because it was the first one we had looked at. Well...none of the other houses measured up, at all. We saw a few that had some things we liked, but overall the rest were a disappointment.

That night, we decided to keep that house in the back of our minds, but that we needed to look at some other houses before making any type of decision. I do remember saying to Kurt that we needed to look at other houses quickly because I think I would be really sad if something happened to that house.

The more I thought about the house, the more I could picture us living there and envision our furniture and belongings inside of it. I've been thinking all about the things that we would renovate, what order we would do things in, and what we would want it to look like. I couldn't wait to show my parents the pictures and tell them about it and we made sure to tell some friends about how much we liked it.

AND, we found out yesterday that it was withdrawn...taken off the market.

Sweet. There is still some hope. Kurt's dad called the realtor shortly after we found out, to ask why it had been withdrawn because he had people who were interested in coming by for a second showing. The other realtor explained that he thinks it would be okay to still come by for another showing. We're still waiting to hear back from that guy about a time {if any} to visit the house again. We can't call back because Kurt's dad explained that we can't seem too interested in the house because then we won't be able to negotiate with them if we were to decide to put an offer in {and if they are still planning on selling it}!!

In the meantime, we are going to visit a couple other houses today. Hopefully, we'll find a few others that have potential and I hope especially that we'll hear back from the realtor from our favorite house.

So that's all our house hunting drama. Soon I hope to no longer be a 'property virgin' or to be 'house hunting' any longer!! Keep your fingers crossed {and maybe your toes, too} for us!

home?

Honey....{oops} Mom and Dad, I'm home...

As of today, I officially live at home with my parents, again. I'm quite bored, very much missing my boys, and sad that we said goodbye to our apartment and everything in it today. I'm exhausted from this c.r.a.z.y. weekend that we just had and extremely ready to relax {after I unpack all my things into my old and way smaller room}. Unfortunately I despise moving, but hopefully we'll be doing it again soon......

Now, it's time to focus our attention on finding a house. I've definitely been on the prowl for awesome decorating tips/ideas that I can't wait to use in our {future/non-existent} house! Maybe one day Kurt, Coop, and I will wake up next to each other in a totally redesigned bedroom looking somewhat like this....

(Picture from {one of} my favorite blogs, Young House Love. This picture is from this post.}

busy as a bee

As the weekend quickly approaches, I'm reminded of the busy days Kurt and I have in our near future. This weekend is so jam-packed, I don't know when we're going to get a moment to breathe let alone enjoy our last couple days in our apartment {we pretty much know this isn't going to happen anyways!} I am OCD about making lists and plans. Although I have a billion lists for this weekend, it'll make me feel better to get it all down on one 'master list.' 

Friday: 

-LAST DAY of summer camp! {Clean-up at school and bring all materials home}

-Wedding 

-Last night in the apartment {with furniture} 

Saturday:

-Wake up early/finish any last minute packing

-Movers coming at 10:30am

-Move all things to either storage shed or parents' house

-Paint two walls back to white 

-Cook-out for Christopher 

{My brother - he just graduated from grad school and is moving to NYC}

Sunday:

-Kurt will be playing in my families annual golf outing all morning while I be doing a major cleaning of the apartment

-Cook-out at my Aunt and Uncle's house after the golf outing

-Julia's 3rd Birthday Party at 4:00

Monday:

-Doing any last minute things at the apartment and turning in our keys :( 

Phew. I kinda get stressed out thinking about it. Have a great weekend!

one year

One year ago, Kurt and I moved into our apartment. It was a very exciting day. I had been looking forward to moving in together for quite some time. We had spent months searching for house ware items and were able to buy 95% of our things on sale {I couldn't wait to use all of them...even the cleaning things!} Everyone from both our families came to help us move and before we knew it the place was looking really great.

I remember telling people that it was really bizarre to be moving out of my parents house because I would never live with anyone other than Kurt {and our kids} for the rest of my life. How scary yet very exciting this was to think about! That day after everyone {finally} left, I remember feeling so weird. I was obviously so excited, but I remember feeling a little sad for the first couple of nights about the fact that I would never again live with my parents. It was almost like a "WOAH! I'm really growing up." moment that I was having a difficult time with. 

Now, as I sit here packing up everything from the past year, I'm even more sad. I'm sad that I won't be able to see my boys every morning I wake up and every night before my little eyes close. I'm sad that all of our things will be stored away for who knows how long before we get to use them again. And, I'm sad because I've loved this little apartment of ours. I don't think we've had the time yet to really sit back and think of all the memories we've made living here together. 

Moving in was our first big step we made together. Now it's over. The place is a mess. Everything is finding its way into a dark box. And little by little, we're disassembling everything that made our little apartment a home for us. 

So, I guess life throws tons of curve balls at you and you've got to figure out how to catch them and make them fit into your "plan." While I wasn't planning on ever living with anyone other than Kurt again, being back with my parents won't be so bad after all! And hopefully we'll be back together again as our little family of three in a new house {in the fall}. 

Life also likes to teach you lessons the hard way. OK life, I learned {!!}  ....don't be so impulsive and don't rush into big decisions. Maybe we should have waited a few more months to move or moved into a not so nice apartment, who knows and who's to say what would have happened. But, one things for sure - I'll never forget this awesome apartment and the things that took place inside of it. I'm glad I get to share those memories with Kurt. 

   

P.S - Cooper is sad because he will no longer be able to look out our huge third floor windows at all the dogs walking by on the Monon.   

don't mess with me

I am angry, fuming, foaming at the mouth...

I don't know where these emotions come out of, but some things just get to my core and I absolutely cannot get over it for quite some time. It's very bizarre because I'm a hard person to anger and typically very understanding. On one hand it is killing me that we can't get this resolved {or attempt to} tonight, but on the other I know it's good for me to have some time to cool off before we have a chat tomorrow afternoon {and hopefully leave in a better mood}. 

Kurt was very insistent that I do not share too much information because he wants to keep all of our bases covered. But, I will tell you these feelings come from some issues around us moving out and money. {that we don't have!} I will admit that I've always been {or tried to appear} as a "goodie goodie" and I've always hated the feeling of getting in trouble....so I don't get in trouble often {knock on wood}!! Not that we're in "trouble," but there were some miscommunications that may cause us some big-time mula. :( {Some money that I'd much rather save up to use on some of those dreamy house things.}

So...I'm pissed. And I can't s.t.o.p. thinking about it. It's driving me c r a z y!!! I decided the only thing that was going to keep me sane tonight was {drumroll.............}

Bub's  Peanut Butter Chocolate Moose Tracks Ice Cream

Don't you worry -- I made sure I got a hunkin' big cup FILLED with chocolately peanut buttery goodness. 

 Tip for you: When mad, always indulge in amazing ice cream that takes your mind off of being angry and "fixes" the problem {even if it's temporary}!

Clearly, this strategy worked for me....for the 7 minutes it took me to finish this entire bowl and lick the bowl, too.

And then it was gone...yum.

Poor Kurt was trying not to think about it and I kept bringing it up...

Coop didn't really care because he knows we'll still love him and he'll get some ice cream...even if it's just one TINY little lick, it's good enough!

Hopefully, we'll be in a better mood {and not be broke} tomorrow afternoon. If not, I will be joining Bub's tomorrow evening, and this time I'll be asking for the ENTIRE tub of ice cream...no matter the cost. 

Goodnight, sleep tight, and dream of us keeping our money in our pockets.

 

great news & feeling sad

Luckily, these two things are completely unrelated! 

I'm so excited to share my great news with you! I officially got a job today....teaching at the SAME school that I absolutely l.o.v.e. While I won't have my own classroom yet, the style of teaching at Orchard is different than many because we work in close knit teams {so I'll be in the classroom a lot}. The best part is, I've already worked with this team for a whole semester!! I can't wait to see what this new year of teaching brings; many exciting ideas are floating around in my mind. I feel so relieved. I'm so lucky to be at such an amazing school with teachers and kids that I adore. I'm sure you'll be hearing more news via Orchard in the upcoming months! :)

On the complete other side, I was feeling quite blue today. As I was shopping, {for a father's day present and Josh's birthday gift} {HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSH!!!} I couldn't help but to notice how utterly perfect all of the house items were. Ever since we decided to move into an apartment, I love admiring {and occasionally buying} things to spruce up the place. I have a new found inspiration to decorate a place...especially with all of the talk of us trying to buy a house. I couldn't be more excited to find a place and get started on the renovations. 

But there is one {LITTLE} detail holding that inspiration back...

We're moving home, not buying a house anytime in the immediate future. And that means I won't be buying any of the stunning items that would make our place look fabulous. Also, it means that when I'm shopping, I can either make myself miserable while drooling over things I can't have or quickly peek at these items while I sadly move my cart down the isle to the less interesting side of the store. Call me dramatic, but I'm almost jumping out of my pants with the excitement of {hopefully} decorating a house. Until then, I'll keep designing rooms in my mind of where I'd love to live {and be writing my blog}. 

But, hey guess what? Moving to a house is a little more realistic now, because I HAVE A JOB!!!! Going out with Kurt to celebrate a little tonight. Enjoy your evening; catch you on the flip side :)

P.S. - Happy 25th Birthday, Josh! Hope you have 25+ more amazing years ahead of you! :) 

hooked on blogging

It's true, I'm a total addict. 

My blogging fixation began with wedding blogs. {Kurt and I have been together for close to 6 years and are hoping to get engaged soon...not to mention I've been obsessed with weddings ever since I can remember!} I continue to follow some really great wedding blogs and save things I'd like to remember when my time comes. A couple months ago, I couldn't wait any longer {to get engaged} to start a blog. So even though I don't blog about wedding planning, hopefully sometime {soon} I will. :) 

Our engagement plans were put on somewhat of a hold a couple months ago. Our apartment lease is up in July and we had to decide if we wanted to stay or leave. We are smitten for where we live, BUT it is pricey. So pricey we could probably get a mortgage for less than what we're throwing away each month. With the way the housing market is {and the $8000 tax rebate} we decided to save money and try to buy a house by the end of the year. Sounds great, huh?!? 

Not. So. Much.

There is absolutely no way that we could save money for a house by renting our apartment monthly. We don't have enough money to buy a house now. And, we don't want to get locked into another lease by moving into another apartment. So the solution is for us to move home. To our parent's house. Separately. It's really not the end of the world and moving back home isn't the worst part {of course I'll miss both my boys extremely}, but hopefully everything will work out in the fall. 

Long story short, lately I've been drawn to reading house blogs {since buying a house will most likely occur before planning a wedding.} I am t o t a l l y hooked on This Young House. If you haven't checked out this blog, you're missing out big time! Be prepared to be glued to the computer screen for hours - you have to start at the beginning. I love that they have totally redecorated an older home because we are looking at buying an older house that will definitely need lots of work. Instead of me blabbing more about how great this blog is, just go check it out....I'll probably be reading, too! :) 

In the near future, I hope to be blogging about redecorating a house AND planning a wedding. But for now, I'll continue to drool over all the other great blogs and dream about my turn to do both of these things. 

I'm not the only one dreaming. Cooper was dreaming about how much he {and his mommy and daddy} wants a doggie sister and a nice BIG yard where they would play a lot.