House Hunting Adventures!

Matt and I will be in our town home until Feb 2015 which seems far off but it really isn't. We are leaning towards building a home which will take about 8 months which would be a great timeline! With the prices out here I just am not finding ANY resale homes I like and I would rather spend my money on things we pick out and LOVE!!!
We have spent most weekends "Suburb Shopping"and although we have found many suburbs we love finding the right combination of affordability, location and what the community has to offer is the hard part!! We love living where we live now but it also happens to be one of the most expensive places you can live....so unless we win the lotto we will be heading to the 'burbs. In fact Stapleton where we live is home to one of the HGTV Dream Homes.....I know, right???
I made you guys a quick slideshow of some of our favorite homes that builders are offering "around" our price range!!! And let me tell ya........ Denver is SOOOOOO expensive, it is unreal. I mean we aren't in Oklahoma or Ohio anymore!!!!
Enjoy.......

A little house hunting

The BIG Catch UP

Guys! I am BACK!! I'm sorry I was gone so long but I was just in a rut, I was trying to start a life here and I was just plain stuck when it came to blogging! But I am slowly pulling myself out of it!

I have a few things to catch you all up on today and the rest of this week that we have done over the last few weeks!!! Lets dive in........

A few weeks ago we spent all day Sunday planting our new flowers, herbs and fixing up our patio....we celebrated by dining on our patio with Salmon BLT's (Recipe HERE) !!! Having everything fixed up outside our Town Home made me happy, made me feel at home. 

 Then this happened...... who knew Denver had such severe weather??? All of that is hail!! It shattered all our new patio lights and literally killed every single plant and herb that we spent so much time and money on! It was scary, we had Tornados and the whole thing......it wasn't the best welcome to Denver!

 And this happened.........my entire Jeep that I love so much is covered with hail dents! Like literally all over....it is soo depressing! You see in the town home we don't have enough room so our garage is used for storage only.....hence my car being parked outside and getting beat to hell. Bummer

 Do-Over......on Memorial weekend we re-planted everything and got new patio lights (more sturdy this time) and so far so good! Now we try to enjoy it and eat outside as much as we can!

Guess what? We are officially Coloradans......WHY??? We got bikes! Nothing fancy, just bikes from Target but who knew it would be so much fun?? Now don't get me wrong.....I am not some crazed biker but I am a rider for enjoyment on my cruiser bike!!! I look like a nerd in a helmet huh????? Totally! Matt and I even biked a mile for brunch a few weeks ago and it was so fun......who are we? People who bike to Brunch now I guess! hahaha

The past 2 weeks Matt and I had 2 really fun Date Nights....... Memorial weekend we got gussied up and went to eat at a nice steakhouse!! We actually had a gift certificate that I got from my In-Laws for my Birthday and it was nice to finally use it! Matt and I had a really nice time together, it was nice to get out and actually take time to talk to each other instead of going thru the motions of life. 

Last Friday night I got us tickets to the Denver Science Museum Summer Nights...... Food, Drinks, live music and we got to tour the new Maya Exhibit! It was just something totally different and we loved it......after the museum we headed down to an area we love Cherry Creek to have a late dinner at North Italia! 

I think that covers most of what I have been up to.......I have a few more posts to come today and tomorrow....some outfits I loved and our adventures Suburb/House Shopping!!!!!

Move in

Our stuff arrived on Saturday, 3 days after Mom and I arrived and boy oh boy was it a mess. I have to admit that we got the 3 slowest movers in the history of movers!! Yes, we have a lot of stuff but it took them 8 hours on Saturday and then 4 MORE on Sunday! I swear our neighbors must have thought the Beverly Hillbillies moved next door!

 This explains everything perfectly! Yes, there were times that Mom and I were so delirious and overwhelmed that we would laugh our heads off over nothing. And no not happy laughs.....like crazy person I am having a breakdown laugh. Matt said it scared him!

 What was so complicated is that this Town home is only 10 months and we had to use our garage here as a storage unit....literally stacked to the ceiling. So..... only 1/2 the stuff came into the home and most of the 1/2 I wanted inside didn't make it. So we are living with a hodge-podge of stuff with the majority of everything somewhere in the Tetris design that is our garage! ugh

 It took me over a week to go thru boxes and get this home to a livable space........ we aren't decorating for 2 reasons:
1. Most everything is boxed in the garage
2. We don't want to have to repaint or do anything to this home in 10 months when we move.
SO that is weird. End of story. Weird.

Moving really is the WORST...I cannot explain to you how much I hate it! This weekend I will take some pictures of the place to give you all a tour!!!

3 Days, 6 States and $300 in Gas!

BIG on pictures........ short on words!!!

Matt loaded up all the dogs 2 days before Mom and I headed out and they hit the road for a boys road trip! I wanted Oscar to come with me but I gave in and let Matt have all my boys!

Yup, there it is...... our life all in the driveway in Ohio. It was surreal and it was sad to see the home I loved empty and say goodbye!

 Monday morning April 14 Mom and I picked up Bella from the vet and hit the road for Day 1 to St. Louis!

 Goodbye Ohio........ Hello new future!

 Sometimes you become delirious and inventive when in the car for 8 hours! The perfect spot for my lemon Oreos don't ya think?

 For day 1 we got a treat..... we got to spend the night with my Brother, Sister-in-law and my niece Dagny.......isn't she adorbs? Jordan cooked us a yummy dinner and it was nice to see them and get to spend time even if it was only for a night!

 SO.... you know me....on the way out of St. Louis I stopped at the "Exorcist" home that was featured on Ghost Adventures! This was the home that held the events that lead to the movie The Exorcist! Eek 

 

 Day 2 was to Kansas, Salina to be exact and I needed coffee......lots of coffee!

 So this happened....... Front seat driver, ghesh!

 Bella didn't really love being shuttled to my brothers home, then a hotel.......cats don't like things like that but she was a trooper....a gripey one but a trooper!

 This face explains how much I just love driving, packing, moving, eating on the road.....bleh.

 Day 3 was the drive to Denver and this happened! For real in the middle of NOWHERE Kansas I got a ticket for going 90! Yikes! Mom and I just laughed!

 Then we made it to our new Town Home for the next 10 months! Welcome Home.................

It's Done...

Well it's official.......... we closed on our Ohio home today and what better way to start off the day than with gourmet donuts?!?!?! We both needed a little sugar rush to start the morning off right!!!!

 It was fairly easy.....sign sign sign...... give the keys and now we are no longer home owners. (Which is weird)
From here...... tomorrow the movers arrive to pack us all up and my Mom arrives!! Then Sunday the movers come back to load up the truck! Monday morning we will hit the road for Denver! It is so weird, I don't really know how I feel about all of this. I feel happy, sad, scared, excited.....you name it!

Keep us all in your thoughts and prayers for the coming week that everything goes smooth with the pack, the journey and the animals! Hopefully next time we talk I will NOT have any disaster stories to share~
I probably will not be back on the blog for over a week or so.......but follow me on Facebook and Instagram in the meantime!!!

A Few of My Favorites...

Hey Friends!!!! 4 DAYS left in Ohio, can you believe it??? Matt is flying in this afternoon and I think he is going to have to immediately mow the yard here before our final walk thru tonight! It is gonna be hard making the house look awesome while it is in utter disarray! We shall see, huh?

I also want to throw in a WW update...... my current weight is 142, which is 34 pounds total lost since I started this journey! But over the coming week I will be eating out for every meal as well as traveling in a car for 3 days (which means snacks) so I can guarantee that once I get settled I will have some catching up to do!!

Ok, back to today! I want to share with you a few of my favorite memories over the last (almost) 2 years here in Columbus! I know I missed many but here are some that stand out!

* Visiting the National Air Force Museum with my family last Labor Day to celebrate my Dads 60th Birthday! That was a wonderful weekend and this museum is a "CAN'T MISS"!!!!! I only wish I had read Unbroken last Summer before I went, it would have been neat to put the real planes in my book memory!

 * Visitors!!! Family, Friends and unlimited Fun Times...................

* Being 10 rows back to see Payton Manning and our Broncos play the Bengals!! #orangecrush

 * Watching Tiger Woods play here at Murfield in the Memorial Tournament here in Columbus. This was also our 2nd weekend in Ohio, seems so long ago!

 * Doing the OVER night Ghost Hunt at the Ohio State Reformatory and getting to see where the Shawshank Redemption was filmed! The best!!!!

 * Visiting Ohio Amish Country! My first time to see Amish Country side, Buggy's, the cheese factory and eating home cooked Amish food!! What a fun day with Mom!

 * Snow! I loved all the snow, it never got old to me! I love these pictures of the boys frolicking.

* Going to see Kings of Leon with Kylee! One of the best concerts I have been to! So much fun! I LOVE KOL!

 * Getting to see the Diana exhibit in Cincinnati and exploring a new city both with Mom and Kylee!!

 * Crossing over into Kentucky and visiting one of the most haunted places in the US.....even if only from the outside, still very very cool!

We will always have good memories to look back on and I know that many more will be made in Colorado!

Dear Ohio,

Dear Ohio,

It will be 1 month shy of 2 years when we hit the road for our new home next Monday. These past 2 years have been filled with trials, challenges but also memories I will always cherish. I thought Columbus would be our forever home so I did fall in love with several things that I will miss. This short list is not everything but some of the top things I will miss about Columbus!

* Country Living Fair

Every fall the Ohio Village hosts the Country Living Magazine fair and after going last year this was one of my TOP things I Loved! Really..... this day at the Fair was one of my most favorite days. 

 * Food Food Food
There are several meals around Columbus that I MORE than love. It is crazy just how much I will miss certain plates of food!!! Thank you Columbus for fulfilling my foodie dreams!

 * Our Neighborhood
I will miss our neighborhood, it is a just a dream. I will miss waking up in the Summer to find Hot Air Balloons over our yard. Our little slice of life here in Columbus was so peaceful, it had everything I could want.

 * Jeni's / North Market
North Market is a place that seems to transport me to like NYC, a place that when I step inside I can find any food item my heart desires. North Market also houses Jeni's Ice Cream......Oprah was right it is most defiantly one of my FAVORITE things too!

 * Our Home
I love our home. I love the huge entry way that the dogs run up and down, I love my kitchen window that lets me look out into the neighborhood while I prep dinner, I love my huge basement perfect for storing anything and everything, I love how our families can stay and have the perfect guest suite set-up upstairs, I love the bright windows and I love our master bedroom. I really loved this home and I hope the new owners will love it as much as I did.

* Our Pond and Backyard
In Oklahoma it is too hot to enjoy too much time outside but here we spent many night on our patio and it was a true extension of our home. I loved the pond and I loved having dinner outside listening to the waterfall......

I Loved how our backyard is like a park for most of the year, I will truly miss this......

 * Kylee
I will miss my dear friend Kylee, and no this isn't goodbye but we won't be in the same state again. Kylee is one of those rare people you meet who is kind, fun, thoughtful and really has a heart of gold. I only wish I had met her sooner but if I got anything out of the job that I HATED I got Kylee! She has been a blessing in my life.

These past 2 years have also taught me several things but one stands out.......How to do anything alone, including going to the Zoo or eating alone. I have always been one that would go to a movie alone but going to a restaurant and eating alone is just something I have learned to do.