House Hunting part 2: Let's Go See Some Houses!

So today B and I went out with our real estate agent to look at a few homes. We saw a couple different homes but here's a brief rundown of what we saw.

House #1 was in a nice looking neighborhood and had a GORGEOUS kitchen. There were only two odd things about it--the only way to access the basement was from the outside and it was very narrow and tall, which made it resemble a brick church of sorts. Not really our style.

House #2 was an itty bitty brick ranch. While it was cute (and had a lovely kitchen), it was off a main road and also only had a basement access from the outside and the laundry room was in the garage! I don't like the idea of doing laundry in the same place where B changes the oil in our cars, so that one was off the list.

House #3 was an adorable split level. It had the wood floors and vaulted ceilings that I love, a large backyard and the kitchen, while small-ish has the potential for us to really personalize and make our own. B was glad that the rooms were large enough for all of our furniture too. This one was our favorite so far.

House #4 was in a great school district and was a split level home. It needed a little TLC (hello floral wallpaper and mauve carpet!), but it was at the bottom of our price range so we'd have a little dough left over to update it. While the neighborhood was adorable (and had a pool and tennis courts!), the yard was small, the laundry connections were in the garage (is this a Southern trend that I'm unaware of?) and we saw some water damage on the ceiling, which made us cross this one off.

House #5 was a possible contender. A very cute ranch stye home, that was fully updated. The kitchen was small but completely updated. It was on about an acre of land, but was mostly wooded in the back. The overall feel of the home was nice although  there was no basement which meant that it's about the same size as our current apartment.

At the end of the day we asked our real estate agent for more information on house #2 since it was our favorite.

Foiled by Mother Nature

I realize it's been a few days since I've updated and I was hoping to be able to write an upbeat post this afternoon after our house hunting expedition, but it was not meant to be. We woke up early today (a very big deal since B is now working nights) so that we could go out and see some homes that we picked out with our real estate agent. Of course, right as we're getting ready to leave, we get a call that the agent doesn't want to go out because the weather is "bad". Sure there was a little rain, but nothing to write home about and cancel and entire day's worth of showings!

Maybe I'm a little jaded because in Colorado things seemed so different. In Colorado, people actually seemed to want your business (don't even get me started on hard it has been to find someone who will actually answer my emails and phone calls!) and even if it was snowing people still showed homes, but apparently down here a little bit of wind and rain is enough to scare people away. Granted, there was a tornado warning in effect for a portion of the county that we were going to be in, but the warning was set to expire an hour before we even headed that direction so it most likely would have been fine. I've come to realize that around here there is a tendency to overly worry about the weather so I tend to take everything with a grain of salt because 9 times out of 10, there's nothing more than a little rain and wind. 

So now I'm sitting here, staring out the window at the grey sky and wondering if it was worth cancelling our entire day.  The wind has died down, the rain has passed and we would be halfway through our list of homes for the day had we actually stuck to our plans. We've rescheduled everything for tomorrow (another early morning for my poor husband!) so we're hoping for the best. Considering that we've already had to rearrange plans twice now, I'm not holding my breath but we shall see what tomorrow holds.

Chips and Salsa and Guac....Oh My!

Guess what I picked up on my way home today!!! An amazing delicious burrito bowl from Chipotle. As some of you know, when we lived in Colorado I ate at Chipotle probably way more than I should have (in hindsight I probably should have bought stock in the company). I've never been able to resist their burritos and I always comforted myself with the knowledge that even if I was eating "fast food" at least it was organically grown, right? 

When we moved down to Georgia I had to give up my habit because unlike back home there was not a Chipotle on every corner. In fact until recently I think the nearest one was at least half an hour away, in a part of town that I rarely end up in, so it's been about two years since I've actually eaten at one. But as I was driving home from running errands this evening I happened to notice that there was a brand new one just up the road! I must not be the only one who loves their burritos because the line was all the way out the door (and it was chilly out!). But like the devoted fan I am, I waited in line, ordered my favorite meal  (a veggie bowl with brown rice, extra black beans and veggies, pico de gallo, salsa roja and guac!) and scurried home to enjoy my dinner. 

And you know what? It was amazing! I have a feeling I'm going to find myself there a lot, which may not be great for the weight that I've recently lost. But if you'll excuse me now, I have some chips and guac to finish! :)

This is the package that deliciousness comes wrapped in. 

House Hunting, Part 1 - The Emotional Roller Coaster Begins

As some of you may know, B and I have been looking for a new place to live. It's not that we hate where we live but every time we renew our lease we think about how much better it would be if we were actually putting that money towards a home of our own. One that has a yard for our vegetable garden, and space for our quickly accumulating stuff (don't all married couples tend to accumulate lots of miscellaneous stuff, or is it just us?). We long for a place that has more than one bedroom, where we can paint the walls bright purple if we wanted to (not that we would!) and that doesn't shake at all hours of the day and night because there is a train passing by. Actually as I write this, I've heard/felt two trains go by already. 

And today we thought we had finally found the home we were looking for online. Brand new on the market, it had the beautiful hardwood floors that I love, space enough for us and all 5 of the kitties, an amazing kitchen and a huge yard. We were so excited! We got the paperwork all sorted out and were ready to go see this beauty in person--we couldn't wait! I swear B and I were acting like giddy little kids and had basically mentally moved in. And then we received the fateful call that burst our happy little bubble--there was already a bidding war on our dream home and unless we could pay cash we were out of luck. Oh well, back to the drawing board...

Life As We Know It!

Welcome to our little blog! A place where we hope to share stories and crazy adventures with all of our friends and family. The reason for starting this blog is twofold. First, I promised myself that I would start writing again and this seemed like a good way to ease into the process without getting too overwhelmed. I've also been told that I suck at keeping in touch with people so this blog also stems from a desire to stay connected with the people I care about. Hey, it's not perfect but it's a start! So without further ado, I bring you "The Garritson Garrison: Stories from the Front Lines of our Crazy Life"