Life Updates

It has been FOREVER since I've updated this, so I figure now is as good a time as any.

First things first - I LOVE my new job. I finally feel like I am in a job that I'm good at and can control my growth and development in. I felt pretty stagnant in the old job because let's face it, I wasn't very good at it and I just didn't have the same level of drive to do well. HR is truly a better fit for me (for those who don't know, I took a job as an HRG service coordinator). What is truly awesome about my job is that the position is completely new to the company. I'm in one of the pilot programs and if it's successful, it will be expanded enterprise-wide. So far I have been able to help develop it and create many of the processes - cool right? This is such a great learning experience and should give me a really strong foundation in HR tools and processes. Plus, I'm working at the corporate offices, so the building is really nice and I have a much larger and more private office than I did in Everett. Oh, and did I mention the commute is only 20 minutes? That definitely beats sitting in traffic for two hours coming home from the north end. My group is really cool too, though much quieter than my old team, but they have made me feel really welcome. I have no doubt that they will grow on me much as my old group did. 

In general life news, Sean has been taking me ring shopping, so I have no doubt that a fairly large question will be coming from him in the near future. Mom and I went ring shopping last night and I absolutely fell in love with one that we found, but it was a bit outside the budget Sean and I had discussed. Sean is very perceptive when it comes to things I like though, so I have no doubt he will find the ring that's perfect for me. I just can't wait to see how he asks! 

Now for the big news...updates on the house hunt (yes, despite everything else, the house hunting is still the big news). To make a long story short, we had the inspection done on the Willow Park house and there was MASSIVE flooding. Six inches of standing water in the crawl space - not good. Because the house is a short sale, the seller has no money to fix the problem. The listing agent has volunteered to take half his commission to get the problem fixed, which is cool of him, but it has been over a month and the bank hasn't even looked at our offer. Sean and I want to get under contract in time for the tax credit, so we've been looking at other homes just in case. Last week we found one in Maple Valley that we both loved, but it needed a new roof. We submitted a full price offer, but because of the expense of putting on a new roof, we couldn't be as competitive as we liked. Needless to say we were outbid. However, none of that matters now, because we found the perfect house a few days ago and submitted an offer on the spot!

This is the part of the story that is no longer short because I am absolutely giddy over this home and want to gush about it as much as possible. I can't even begin to express how anxious I am to hear back about it! This house is AMAZING! I never thought Sean and I would find a house that had every single thing we both wanted, but this house has it all. If we get it, I will own my dream home at twenty-five. I figured I'd have to wait until I was quite a bit older before that would happen. Of course, I'm trying not to get my hopes up because I will be devastated if we don't get it. I do know that we were the first offer, so I hope that gives us a competitive advantage. My Realtor doesn’t know if any other offers have been made, but as of yesterday afternoon ours was the only one. Here’s hoping we get a response today because the weekend is a big time for home viewing and I don’t want any competition. We submitted a great offer, almost $10,000 over asking, but if someone wants it badly enough and has a higher budget than we do, then I suppose nothing is stopping them from outbidding us.

So a little about the house…it is 2300 square feet, 4 bedrooms, and 2.5 baths. The yard is a decent size, fairly private, and has a great deck and patio for entertaining. Sean and I are already envisioning where the fire pit is going to go. There is already an established patio for the hot tub (with all the necessary hook-ups), so I suppose we have no choice but to get one now! The house has a three car garage, which of course makes Sean giddy with excitement, and I have to admit that I’m a big fan of that as well. The most amazing feature of this house though is the master bedroom. It is incredible! The room is really large, with a double-sided fireplace that can be seen from both the bedroom and the bathroom. On the other side is a large jetted tub beneath a big garden window. I was in pure heaven when I saw it! The shower is much larger than the one we have now and fortunately it’s a dual vanity, so Sean and I don’t have to fight over the sink anymore. Off the bathroom is the walk-in closet, which I swear is large enough to be a guest room. There is definitely enough room for both our clothes!

The other awesome aspect of the house is the neighborhood. When Sean and I started looking, we actively searched in both Willow Park and Vintage Hills – two well-established, mature neighborhoods. We eventually gave up on Vintage Hills because all the homes are way over our budget – they are really expensive, upper-end homes. Willow Park is very similar to Vintage Hills, but a little more affordable and not quite as high-end. Because of our budget we focused on that area, and eventually placed an offer on the Willow Park house mentioned above (it’s our back-up home). Then I stumbled across this bank-owned home (not a short sale!) on John L. Scott’s website practically the minute it was posted because I have been checking new listings obsessively for the past few weeks. Sean immediately called our Realtor and set up an appointment to see it the next day. I am absolutely shocked that we are able to afford a house in this neighborhood! It is such a perfect house for us, and it’s much closer to my parent’s than some of the homes we’ve looked at. 

I think that's about it for now...more to come later. Hopefully it's about our new home and acceptance of our offer! Keep your fingers crossed!