Highs and Lows of House-Hunting

Our plan has always been to get engaged, get married, buy a house, have babies and live happily ever after.

To this day, we've accomplished the first three things and are pretty blissfully happy. After the wedding, we set our next goal on buying a house in the spring of 2013. We've saved and planned and dreamed of this home.

We love the space we live in now. Keith bought it when we were first dating, and it was his "bachelor pad" til I moved in the following summer. And while it was plenty big enough for us in the beginning, over the past few months we've rapidly outgrown it. We knew we wanted to sell the condo, and move to the suburbs. We were anxious for a house with two bathrooms and enough bedrooms for the babies we hope to have. We especially wanted a yard for Gunner, who at almost 4 years old, was definitely a "city" dog.

I think we went into the process thinking that we were prepared. But honestly, we had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into. And we kind of did things backwards in that we started househunting and fell in love with something before we had even listed our place to sell. Needless to say, we didn't get that house and we were devastatd. Then it happened again. And again. You'd think we'd have learned our lesson the first time --- don't fall in love with something that you realistically can't have!

Finally, this past week our place went on the market. It took days and hours to get it ready! We staged our home to highlight it's selling features and moved all our extra crap into storage. Then we scrubbed and scrubbed til it shone!

We had our first open house on Saturday and four hours later we received a call from our realtor that we were getting an offer! Holy $%&@! How did that happen so fast?! Being on such a high we were convinced that this was going to be so easy. Ha, oh how much we did not know. The potential buyer had a 75lb lab mix. Our condo association does not allow pets over 30lbs without approval, and we instantly got 3 no's. We were devastated. How dare our neighbors stand in the way of us selling our home?!? (Unrealistic viewpoint #22)

An hour goes by .... and my realtor calls. The potential buyer refuses to give up and asks that the association meet her dog before making a decision. So there I am, three glasses of wine in, banging on our neighbors doors asking them to reconsider. And they agreed!! Hallelujah!

That was yesterday. Today we finally receive the official offer from the buyer. Another low point. The offer was much, much less than what we had expected -- especially from a buyer who it seemed would do anything to buy our place! Hrmph. To the negotiating table we go!

In the meantime while all of this was going on, we had fallen in love yet again with another house. Having this potential buyer meant we had a good shot of our offer being approved -- but it slipped through the cracks as well. Because we weren't able to get the association to approve the dog immediately, we weren't able to put our place "under agreement", and we missed the deadline for the ranch on Hobson. I think that Keith is more devastated than I am. I'm trying to save my energy now since I realize how long this road is going to be, and how many more bumps and turns and ups and downs we'll face. But I have faith. We'll get there. This process is all about timing, and we are just trusting that the right buyer will come along at the right time. And the house we end up buying will be our dream house, because it will have been worth all the stress, waiting and aggravation!

Stay tuned as we continue on this exciting journey :)

Our Honeymoon Recap!

Well, I can't believe it's been over a month since we got back from our amazing honeymoon and I know that if I don't get this post out, it'll never get done :)

We stayed at the Excellence Playa Mujeres Mexico. This is a top-notch, five-star resort for sure! We had never been to an all-inclusive before and so we did our research before deciding to go, and we couldn't have picked a nicer place!

Here I am, fresh off the plane and waiting for our room! 

My first drink of vacation -- a margarita of course :) 

Hubby's first drink -- a very strong Long Island!

The resort had eight restaurants and a gazillion bars. Everywhere you turned, there was a place to get a drink. And I'm talking ahhhh-mazing drinks. Some of my favorites from the week were a flaming Excellence coffee and a yummy frozen banana-chocolate-mudslide concoction. Keith enjoyed the Icebergs, a mix of frozen margarita and corona. I swear we gained so much weight just from the drinks!

Our room was pretty fantastic. We opted for a swim-out suite, so we were located on the first floor and had direct access to the pool in front of our building. The first few days, hardly anyone used the pool so it felt like our own personal one :)

Bathroom with separate shower. The bathrooms were open to the main living space though, which we thought was a little strange and took some getting used to!

Bed! It faced the sliding doors looking over the pool. There was also a huge couch, coffee table, desk and dresser. We could have lived there. 

Ahh this was bliss. The bed on our patio was so comfortable! We had our own lounge chairs as well. 

Our separate jacuzzi tub. The windows opened so you could relax and get a nice breeze. 

Fully stocked mini-bar! 

Good Morning Mexico! How's this for a view?? 

Me in my happy place. I could have laid like that for hours. 

This was taken our last night there, the sun had just peeked through the clouds and it was a beautiful evening.

Most mornings we enjoyed room service on our back patio, there was no need to go anywhere else when we had this!

The main pool. There was a swim-up bar and the water was just the perfect temperature. When not at the pool by our room, this is where we were :)

Oh the hammocks....these were seriously genius. We spent a solid morning laying over the water, dozing and soaking in the sunshine. 

Ready for dinner at Spice. Loved this dress from Express!

My bright pants make another appearance -- they are so comfy! Don't mind him creeping in the background :) 

This night we ate at Basmati, my first time with Indian food and it was out of this world! Sequin aztec skirt from Express and silky top from H&M

Tanned (ok a little sunburnt) and happy! <3

On the catamaran coming back from Isla Mujeres! 

For dear hubby, no vacation is complete without at least one round of golf! He played, I bombed around the course in the cart having a blast! 

Dinner the first night at Agave...hands down the best mexican food ever! 

The beach! To be honest, we didn't spend alot of time here. It was really windy (which I guess is typical of Mexico in January) and the water was really rough too. It was still beautiful!

Last photo :( We were sitting outside waiting for our car to pick us up. Love how tanned I was ! 

So there you have it....a week of photos in one, quick blogpost! :)

And while we loved our resort so much, we probably won't be back .... truthfully, I'd like to see the world and having crossed Mexico off our list, it's time to move on to another location! We're looking forward to spending an early one-year anniversary trip at Couples Swept Away, Negril Jamaica in July!!! 

Wedded Memories

It's really hard to believe that we've been married for almost six months....it's crazy how fast time goes by. These past few months have been amazing and we are so looking forward to what He has next in store for us.

Looking at my wedding photos brings back such a wonderful feeling, so I'm happy to share our favorite photos with you <3