The story of our home

Here we are. Homeowners.  We feel like we've signed our life away, are super sleep deprived and living like nomads a bit until this weekend.  

People ask about our house, want to see more pictures, and want to hear how we got it. When we found out we had to be out of our apartment by June 1 we started looking for places. We've always been okay with moving outside the city and wanted a place that would be okay driving distance for Benjamin's job too. 

Looking at rentals was super depressing. City life is so pricey for such little space. 

So we went out with a realtor one day who I had met at an open house a few weeks before and essentially the first place we walked into Benjamin said "it's great- I'll take it."  That place is the home we ended up buying.  

Every other home didn't wow us and we couldn't see ourselves in it. So. We low-balled an offer after seeing the home once more, comparing it to others in the neighborhood and sleeping on it. Offer accepted. 

The whole process took a week and was quite the whirlwind considering Anderson and I were both sick and Benjamin was preparing for finals. 

Now we've been painting and gradually moving in. Our furniture will move this weekend and then we'll officially be out in the country. 

Fun at the Zoo

We made it to the zoo this morning. Hooray. Mission completed. 

Although a bit rainy at times it was a good morning to be there. The kids were at the perfect age to watch the monkeys and lions and polar bears, oh my. 

I'm going to let go of the idea of getting to a museum. We can make that a day trip when he's older.

Thankful for a fun morning- and now back to packing. 

Things I'm going to Miss

It's our last full week here. We close on the house on Friday and now that they've sent us a lovely email with the money we need to bring with us at closing I suppose it's really happening. 

Last night at dinner Benjamin asked me to pray and I started but couldn't finish. I'm going to miss it here. 

I'm going to miss our neighborhood- the trees and most importantly our neighbors, two of whom have become dear friends. Our kids are all close enough in age that they play well together and we can call one another when we have free mornings or afternoons and need to go for a walk, the park, or just have one another over to socialize. 

I'm going to miss being so close to the city... In that I'll miss that I can get my favorite ice cream of all time (Jeni's Salted Caramel) at a wine and cheese shop 15 minutes from our house. I'll miss that 2 minutes from that shop is a little bakery with the best petifores I've eve had. I'll miss that if we want to we can go to some great restaurants and be home in 10 minutes. I'll miss that the zoo and other museums can be a morning activity and not consume a whole day. 

I'll miss old town Alexandria. It's reminded me sometimes of Santa Barbara in that its got character but isn't an overwhelming city.

I'll miss del ray. When we venture down there it reminds me of some little parts of Denver I liked when visiting. I'll miss the mom and pop shops galore. 

Although our house has been driving me crazy with its lack of space and overall fact that its been fighting us- its our first place together. It's the house we brought Anderson home to and where he's spent 20 months of his life.  There are a lot of memories here and as Benjamin has reminded me- we'll look back at this little place and think of how quaint it was. 

This time is in fact bittersweet. 

Soaking it up

Trying to enjoy our last couple weeks in our neighborhood and close to the city. I have high hopes of trying to get to the zoo and to the natural history museum so Anderson can see the big dinosaurs before we go. We'll still be close enough but not 10 minutes close.

In the midst of packing I'm figuring out paint colors and think we've made some progress today. Potentially the neutral for the family room, kitchen, dining room, and master are figured out. Hooray!

A little update

Things have been busy around here. Anderson and I were sick for a week, we found out we had to move out of our apartment, we house hunted, and now we're in the process of buying a house. Big times around here.

My free time is now consumed with packing boxes and trying to figure out paint colors. I'll be back when I can!