4th anniversary!

It's hard to believe we've been married 4 years already! Our actual anniversary was on Friday but due to family stuff and soccer tournaments, we didn't actually get to celebrate just the 2 of us, until Sunday and Monday. The original plan was to go to Kentucky but then Kyle's soccer tournament ended up in Fort Wayne, IN and we ended up in Chicago! This was the first time we have stayed in Chicago overnight. It was really nice not to have to cram everything into one day, to relax, and have free parking. Yep, the hotel we stayed at had FREE parking. Not bad!

Without saying too much, here are some of the highlights of our trip.

Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) Skydeck

We went out on the ledge... standing on a clear surface (yes, WE! Kyle did it!)

 Not gonna lie, it is a little bit scary...

 Kyle sits high above Chicago

Monday we walked forever to find this fountain... and this view!

 Getting better at taking our own picture and still getting somewhat of the view... 

 Spring has sprung at Millenium Park! 

 Went all the way out to Wrigley to take a tour of the stadium... only to find out there were no tours that day. If only the lady on the phone had just told us that...

 After walking down and around the Magnificent Mile we ended up with an anniversary lunch at the Cheesecake Factory! This is the remains of our yummmmmmmy cheesecake!

We had a great time celebrating our anniversary and we are looking forward to many more!

things I love

We've lived in our new house for a little more than a month! It has been great to have some room to stretch out, organize, shop, and yes, even clean. :) I will admit, though, that had it not been for my mom and her mad organizing skills that our house would not be as much a home now as it is. (Thanks, mom!).

So, just wanted to write about a few things I love (ala "a few of my favorite things" from Sound of Music). And, as much as I tried, these are in no apparent order.

1. My kitchen
I can see the living room and dining room and be part of the action. So far, that has mostly been me and Kyle but my most recent discovery... making dinner while watching HGTV... aaaahhh.

2. The garage
Finally both Kyle and I have a place for our vehicles INDOORS. No more "short end of the stick" parking outside in the yucky weather business. Got here just in time, too, this April has been ridiculously rainy.

3. My laundry room and washer/dryer
The laundry room is fantastic because of the organization center (love it!) and my new washer and dryer. Who knew laundry could be so much fun? ... On a side note, I am going to be looking for washer and dryer pedestals on sale because those front loaders are short!

4. The fantabulous walk-in-closet
All I can say it is is a lot easier to stay organized when you're organized from the get-go. Kyle has his side and I have my side and we even have a little Gator shrine going on. This wasn't on our must have list for our house but now that we have one, gonna say it is a must have!

5. The new shower head
Last weekend Kyle and I finally figured out what kind of shower head we wanted in our master bathroom. It is awesome! It's a rain shower head. Such an improvement over the dinky one that was there before. I'm not a huge fan of rain outside, but rain in my shower is great.

6. The new and improved guest room (awaiting visitors)
This weekend's project somehow became the guest bedroom. It had a bedframe, box springs and mattress, bookshelf and some other odds and ends, in no apparent order. Now, it has been spruced up with a fresh coat of white paint (thank you previous owners for leaving the paint, and leaving it labeled!),  our curtain rods that have been in storage for 3 years, bright red curtains, and a new bed set that we found on clearance at Meijer. The room still needs some stuff on the walls, but I love the way it looks now as compared to the way it used to look just 48 hours ago! Here's a quick peek...

7. The excuse to go shopping :)

Ok, we're trying to hold this in check BUT it is nice to be able to go out and browse for deals - like the comforter on clearance! You never know what you're going to find. On our browsing list now... bed side tables for the guest room, wall decor for the guest room, a mirror for the entry way, a mudroom kind of bench thing, a bed for our room, patio furniture, a grill... I'm sure the list could keep growing but I'll stop there. I am seeing too many $$$$$$$. 

So, those are a few things I love. 

On a side note - for those of you living in and about Anderson, we're hoping to have an open house for people to stop by and see our place, hang out, have fun... most likely sometime at the end of May. So, stay tuned and maybe soon you'll get to see the real thing instead of pictures. :)

our NEW home!

A LOT has happened since the last blog. Here's a quick rundown... I was sick, my parents came into town, we packed up the condo, we closed on the house, started cleaning the new house, moved, put stuff away and organized, started cleaning the condo, kept working, and, just now, have a chance to sit down a write about it.

That saved you a lot of time so now we can get to the good part... pictures! I'm a big fan of before and after pictures but in the craziness of everything we didn't get the "before" pictures, so I'll use the ones that were posted online when the house was listed for sale. I'm also bummed that because we got possession at closing the FOR SALE sign was already gone from the yard when we got home. We didn't get the obligatory first home picture with the SOLD sign on it. Oh well. We have a house that we love so I guess that is more important than that picture. :)

So, enjoy the tour! And, if you're far away, we have a guest room that would love some visitors!

Entry way before...

Entry way after...

Yes, it's a bit bare but we love how big and open it is!

Living room before...

Living room after... from several angles

And yes, this too is bare. Keep in mind we haven't even owned the house for a full week yet! I think it looks pretty good :)

close up of the couch and wall with our Japanese pictures... we may need to work on picture placement

dark view from the entry way

Kitchen/dining room before...

Kitchen/dining room after...

 (for those of you who are observant, we didn't paint! after working in the space and spending time in it, the color grew on me and now I love it. There may be a red kitchen in my future, but not now :)

Laundry room before...

Laundry room after...

our new "information center" in the corner of the laundry room, this is our drop off zone and our office

Ok, that's a lot of pictures. We haven't finished working in the bedrooms and bathrooms so we'll update those at a later date. Here's one more shot though, that shows the openness of the floorplan.

We love our house but we're ready for a few days off... I'm TIRED! 

Stay tuned for more!! :) 

closing date is...

As of Friday evening we now have an official closing date and time!

Thursday, March 24th at 11 am

This is what we were hoping for because we both have the whole day off so that means we have time to:

1) go see the house again! we haven't been there since the beginning of Febuary...

2) go to Lowe's and use our giftcard (and probably a little more cash) to get painting supplies, primer, paint, etc.

3) go back to the house and start painting!

We are planning to paint the kitchen/dining area and the living room. Here are the pictures that were posted by the previous owners...

Dining/kitchen

Living room

We've got a busy week ahead! Painting, moving, our new washer and dryer will be delivered next Saturday... I'm sure there will be lots of pictures and updates coming your way :) 

and the journey begins

I've started packing, sorting, organizing, cleaning, making messes, making piles, selling... Yes, we've started to get ready to MOVE!

As of right now we still have no official closing date but I keep hearing the 24th of March thrown around. That is less than 3 weeks away! Since the house is empty, we get possession at closing, and that means ... moving day is 3ish weeks away!

I kind of consider myself a professional when it comes to moving. If I really sat down and counted all the times I've moved in my life it would be PLENTY! Let's just take a small snapshot and look at the time from when I graduated from high school (2003) to the present (2011, for those of you wondering). I have moved a total of ... wait for it ... ELEVEN times. Totally not cool.

Kyle, on the other hand, lived in the same house he was born in until we got married. This is only his fourth move. Rookie. :)

Anyway, all that venting to say that since I know how big of an ordeal moving is, I've already started getting ready. Here are some snapshots of what has been going on in our house.

The rummage sale pile, taking up the entry way and entry closet...

The dining room turned into the room where stuff that is ready to be packed goes...

The laundry room has been cleaned out and is now storing tons of empty boxes. Who knew there were so many?

If I need quiet and clean space, I can hide under the stairs. All cleaned out!

And my latest craze, labeling every box with everything that is placed inside. This is going to be the most organized move yet, I can feel it!

So enough blogging, back to davy doing... packing...

at the theater

This weekend Kyle and I decided to get cultured... we went to see a play at the IRT, Indiana Repertory Theater. We got a great deal on tickets using a promo code Kyle just happened to find online. How great? Well, try $6.50 for tickets that would have been $52. Not too shabby, huh? We didn't do as great a job of picking our seats and ended up in the front row on the far right corner. We had a slightly obstructed view of the stage but it was well worth it.

We saw "The Diary of Anne Frank" It was fantastic. The cast was incredible and the emotion was overwhelming. The entire play took place in the secret annex. We laughed and cried with the characters and for the first time I actually began to think about what it must have been like to live in hiding for so long! I've been to the concentration camp in Germany (Bergen-Belsen) where Anne and her sister actually died but thinking about living in hiding for so long before even ending up at the camps... wow.

Did you realize that Anne Frank was only 12 when they went into hiding? I was super annoying at age 12... ha. This was one fun part of the play, she was crazy! And this particular actress was super high energy.

It is hard to say that we enjoyed our evening based on the subject matter of the play, but as much as it could be enjoyed, we did. I am ready to keep trying random promo codes and getting cultured. The IRT theater is small and welcoming, definitely worth going back to.

If any of you get the chance to see this play, we would highly recommend it!

successful saturday

It is a well-known fact that I am my father's daughter. My love for alliteration is no exception. My blog today is alliterated and a subtle tribute to my dad's delightful dealings with words. :)

Want to know why today was a successful Saturday? Keep reading!

1. Spending time together

It seems like our schedules are busy and not always in sync so today we got to hang out, just the two of us. We started off shopping for work clothes for Kyle. We cashed in on a birthday gift card and our 20% coupon at Kohl's. Success!

2. Scavenging

Last weekend we went antiquing and had a lot of fun. Today we went scavenging at furniture stores, flea market-type places, and Goodwills. We are keeping our new house in mind (still no official closing date, but sometime on or before March 25) and trying to find cool treasures we can use. Last weekend we found a cool stop sign at an antique mall but decided that sinage for the garage should be lower on our shopping list.

3. Surprise!

We were about ready to head home from Castleton this evening when Kyle suggested we stop at the Goodwill. Traffic was horrible (apparently nice weather and sunshine means everyone comes out of hibernation and goes shopping...) but we sat in the turn lane for a few changes of the light and then finally made it there. We went straight for the furniture and found .... da da da ... a ladder bookshelf! I've/we've been wanting one for awhile. It wasn't exactly the wood we wanted, but we had an idea. We couldn't turn down the $17.99 price.

Here it is at home (after step 4...) before ... 

4. Stuffing

Oops! We drive a VW beetle and had just bought a ladder bookshelf. It took some creativity to get that into the car and drive the 30 min home. We opened the sunroof and the back didn't latch but we made it. Our heated seats were on and the heat was blowing full force but it was still a cold ride home!

Look closely to see our stuffing strategy!

The back hatch wouldn't close...

5. Studying

We've never refinished any piece of furniture before, and that was our brilliant idea. Once we got home we got on the internet like any responsible DIY-ers would do to figure out what we needed to refinish this bookshelf.

6. Shopping (again!)

Off to Lowe's we went. That place is confusing but we found all the items on our shopping list INCLUDING a power sander. Kyle used some more birthday money for that and was thrilled to finally own his first power tool.

7. Sanding

With our tools in hand, we laid a tarp on the ground in the garage and got to sanding. Kyle did most of the work but I did get to use the power tool. :) It was loud and I was kind of concerned about the neighbors but it wasn't too late on a Saturday so we got it all sanded.

Let the sanding begin! Kyle at work

Jonni getting in on the power tool action

Sanding, check!

8. Staining

We like dark wood stain and had settled on a Dark Oak Satin stain WITH the polyurethane in it. (Sweet! one less step to complete). We started staining and loved it! We put on one stain and then let it dry for almost an hour before heading out to put the second stain on. Mind you, our garage is COLD because it is still winter but we had fun and wanted to get the job done.

Stain on the bottom 2 shelves, we love the color!

Completed first coat

And second coat on here

9. Satisfied

It looks great! We are super excited to have finished our first furniture project. It will be a great thing for our new house. Not sure of where its new home will be but can't wait to find it.

We did it!

We like the metal detail and, of course, our stain color choice :) 

So... that was our successful Saturday. Hope you enjoyed the alliteration and the pics of our project from start to finish.

... and now we're homeowners!

The search is FINALLY over! We have a house!

Ok, so I realize the above is helpful information, but you might want a few more of the details (maybe?), so here goes.

The ranch we blogged about last Saturday kept us intrigued. It didn't fit all of our criteria but it felt like a breath of fresh air when we walked inside. The more we talked and debated the more we realized we'd like to put an offer in on the house.

We had an appointment set with our realtor, Rich, for Wednesday at 5pm. When we arrived he knew we were planning to put in an offer, but didn't know on which house. He wasn't too surprised when we said 847 Eastgate Dr. :) He was surprised, however, when we said how much we wanted to offer on the house. He talked us into $5,000 more than we wanted, but still almost $14,000 less than the asking price. We asked for closing costs, for the sellers to pay the title insurance, and for a home warranty to be included. We submitted it and asked to hear by Friday at 5pm.

Thursday came and went, no news. No big shocker since this house is currently owned by a corporation we were told they usually take all the time they are given.

Friday came and Kyle and I both went to work. We were just waiting for the phone call to let us know what the counter offer was. Well, the phone call came, but the news wasn't what we were expecting ... IT WAS BETTER! They accepted our offer as it stands! No counter, nothing!

We realize that there is more ahead of us as far as passing the inspection, actually getting approved for our loan (we are pre-approved already), and closing BUT it seems so much closer! Lucky for us, the house is currently empty and so we get possession at closing.

So that's the story. Here's a view of OUR house, pending any further unwelcome developments.

Thanks for going on this journey with us, I'm sure there will be lots more davy doings to come! :)

the search continues

Today we braved the weather to go out and see more houses. We decided to look at the Edgewood house again, a house that our relator wanted us to see (now $15,000 less than when we started our house hunt), and a third house we'd found just perusing listings in Anderson.

We started at a 2 story, 4 bedroom home that'd we'd seen back in December. It's empty now and easier to like without the weird furniture and decor that was there before. It is a huge house with lots of wallpaper, funky paint colors, lots of closets, and an outdated kitchen. I guess it we had to live there we could make it work but we aren't really interested in making it work.

Then we down the street and to the left a few blocks to the house we'd found while looking online. This was a 1 story brick ranch. For those of you who know us well, you know that is not the kind of house we were looking for! But... as Kyle says, it's a "modern" ranch. :) Anyway, from the minute we walked in, I really liked it and I could tell Kyle liked it, too. There's a big great room open to the kitchen and dining room. The three bedrooms all have walk in closets, not a necessity but a nice touch. The attached garage is big and clean, and the only thing I'd really change is the color in the kitchen (though Kyle likes the "southwest" feel...). Check it out at the link below!

Virtual tour

From there we headed out to Edgewood, the house I blogged about last time, in a much more excited way than I am now. It was... old. Charming yes, but old. We still like the house but the basement wasn't like we remembered, the breezeway that I'd dreamed into a mudroom needs a lot of work, and the garage is unwelcoming and small. Funny how your perspective changes!

So, the latest davy doing on the house hunt front, is leaning toward a neighborhood and house style we thought we didn't like... and so, the journey continues. No offer yet, but we'll keep you posted!

In the meantime, if anyone has any influence on the weather and they'd like to bring out the sunshine and 40 degree weather, do what you can, please! Hopefully our house hunt in the snow today will have been worth it but I'm ready for spring.

house hunting

I'm sure most of you have heard, we've been house hunting. I used to think that was fun but I'm beginning to change my mind!

We started in December and met up with a realtor who actually played college football with Kyle's dad and coached my dad in high school football. Before we went to Japan we went and saw about 7 houses on a saturday morning. Of all of those, we narrowed it down to 2. One of which we absolutely LOVED!

This was our dream home ... and we pursued it, only to have our dreams shattered by news from the sellers that they were not willing to move on the price and were waiting for an offer they'd received over the summer (YES, that would be more than 9 months ago...). The offer was that if this guy sold his condo, he'd buy their house. NO TIME FRAME. It was a rough week but I think we made it through stronger than when we started.

So, back to the beginning we went. Since our offer was rejected, we have seen 7 MORE houses, not to mention the nearly 100 we've looked at online... We thought that by changing our strategy to abandon the dream home idea and embrace a "fixer-upper" house that this hunt would be easier. Wrong!

I can't say for sure, because our minds are constantly changing, but I think we might have found a house that will work for us. It's a Cape Cod style house with a full basement (unfinished) in our target neighborhood of Edgewood. Kyle is really excited about the prospect of mowing and raking this yard... Keep your fingers crossed and we'll let you know how it goes.

We have learned that episodes of House Hunters make this process look entirely TOO easy!