Monday, March 2, 2009

Update from the East




We've accomplished quite a lot in the last month. On February 1st, we decided to begin the hunt for a house. Our very first weekend of real estate shopping, we found a townhouse that met our needs and we put an offer in. Unfortunately, we were outbid. So, we moped for a couple of days and then, kept on looking.

The next weekend was President's Day weekend and we took a trip out to California to visit friends and look at wedding venues. I'd had my heart set on one (mostly because of the beautiful pictures online), but I was a bit wary of the outrageous catering costs. The site of Vintner's Inn is just as beautiful as all the pictures online. We had brunch, and were lucky enough to steal a late dinner spot on Valentine's night. Someone had canceled their reservation during our tour. Dinner was absolutely amazing and that sealed the deal. The date of the wedding is July 17, 2010 in Santa Rosa, CA. www.vintnersinn.com .



Andrew was doing some traveling for work from February 18th (my birthday) to February 24th. During that time I focused on things around here, and tried to have a little birthday fun. Two coworkers took me out to dinner on two separate nights. It was nice to go out with new friends. Andrew also bought me a Wii for my birthday and set it up before he left. So, we're in the new video game generation. BTW I love Wii bowling.

When Andrew came back into town we decided that we would look at houses again that very weekend. We looked at about 7 homes that day, and the very last one we looked at was a townhouse in Sterling, VA. It is located very close to a shopping center and conveniently less than 2 miles from the school where I work. The sellers are the original owners (1991) and the townhouse is in very good condition. After we got back to the realtor's office that afternoon, Andrew and I hopped in the car and started deliberating about two different places that we had looked at that day. I knew he liked the townhome because of its proximity to so many amenities. I really couldn't disagree, so when we were about a block away, I turned the car around and went back to the realtor's office to let him know that we wanted to put in an offer on the townhouse. The market is hot here! This place was only on the market one day and got 3 offers! Luckily, we put in our escalation clause with our paperwork and managed to still get it under value.

In less than a month..hmm 2 weeks really, we have a house under contract and a wedding venue. All, so very exciting. Now, we are looking forward to Aaron and Sophie's wedding in Park City, Utah in 2 weeks! Life is never dull in this household!