Bringing down the house

Oh, dear readers, it's been a hectic week! I received a phone call on Friday evening from M.O.H. Nicole asking if I was okay. Why was she concerned, you ask? Well, because I hadn't blogged. So something must be up. And disappointingly, I don't really have any great stories or excuses for the lack of blogging this week. It's just as simple as the fact that I work all the time, non-stop. And I've been enjoying it immensely. Then when I do get home from work, I maximize my time with Bryan before I'm rendered unconscious by the taxing of my days (usually by about 10 p.m. although I managed to stay awake until 11 on Tuesday night like a champ!).

I am teaching a lab this semester which is fantastic. It's at 8 am on Wednesday mornings followed by a full day of work, an early exit from GSU at 4:30pm to head to Duluth for 4 hours of teaching test prep classes and tutoring AP Environmental Science. But overall things have gone off without a hitch this first week of labs and I'm really having the most positive experience ever with my new job. Bryan got to meet some of the characters I'm constantly talking about last evening (my new boss, his fiancee, the previous lab coordinator who trained me for a few weeks in July, one of our TAs, and the professor that I share space with in my "lab/office"). It was a really fun night. However, we had to be up-and-at-'em this morning for our first house-hunting excursion together in weeks. More on that in a second...

The major news this week on the wedding front is that we are still slowly getting our RSVPs - which is good (although I'm dying for a final count!). I was having a bit of a Bridezilla attack this week, but it ended up that after about 6 pounds of chocolate, I realized I was just PMS-ing (TMI? Keep reading, it gets better!).

Additionally, I went to La Belle Weddings yesterday and had another wonderful experience designing the programs we're going to use. I'm totally excited about them!!! I've got a few things to do this week - I have to sign Bryan and I up for pre-marital counseling, write about four billion thank you cards for all of the wonderful and generous gifts we've gotten the past few weeks at the amazing showers in Buffalo and Atlanta (I feel TERRIBLE that I have not done this sooner, I have not forgotten, I promise!!! But if you're reading this, we really appreciate all the generosity...I've gotta manage to sit down and not fall asleep in order to get them written though!), and I have to schedule our FINAL planning meeting with The Payne-Corley House!!! I'm so excited!

Ok, onto the REALLY fun stuff of the day: I think we found our house!!!! We met up with Tina Marie at 10:30 this morning and were given a list of 9 houses - one of which Bryan had looked at solo last weekend. He was excited about this particular house, the location, the amenities, everything. One issue: there was mold in the basement - but that could be fixed, I was told! House after house - we still weren't into anything. We got to the house Bryan loved last weekend and were welcomed by a horrific smell. Breathing through our mouths, we inspected the house. I wasn't overly excited about the main floor, as I thought it was somewhat small. The bedrooms were nice and the basement had a lot to offer (a bar, several rooms, a full bath, and a movie theater), but unfortunately it was covered in mold. The backyard was also fantastic, but that smell....blech! Smells you can fix (sometimes) but overall, we concluded there was just way too much work to be done to the house.

We continued our tour of homes that were not for us and finally happened upon a cute 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house in a cute neighborhood. I was all about it. I liked the space of it, especially the lovely fenced-in backyard (the backyard is a deal-breaker for us, we want LOTS of space).

As we drove to the last house on the list - in Canton, Ga! - I was muttering under my breath. Where the heck are we GOING!?!?!

And then we got there...and this house was GLORIOUS!!! It is easily the best house we've seen in the almost-5 months we've been looking across multiples cities and towns (4 bedrooms, 3 baths, INCREDIBLE backyard, SPACIOUS KITCHEN, unfinished basement - which, for the Northerners is unusual in the South, and is a BIG PLUS!). So I am pumped. Luckily for Bryan, the house is only 16 miles from his office. I'm not so lucky (35 miles...eeek), so I'm ready to do my homework this week and try the drives to-and-from work in the morning and afternoon. My cut-off is an hour. If I'm sitting in traffic for more than an hour either way (highly unlikely for me in the morning as I tend to be on the move earlier than the average person, but highly possible in the afternoon - yes, people go to work after me and leave before me - figure that one out!), then no dice.

So after 5 hours of house-hunting and 1/2 tank of gas, the hard work of the day paid off. Everyone had said I would just KNOW when we entered the house that it's the right one, and this is it. Bryan's playing it a little cooler ("Now, honey, we have to try our drives and see if it's do-able"), but I am already decorating the rooms in my mind. I can see Maggie running like the wind around this backyard. I can see the Christmas lights up along the back porch and all of our friends and family grilling out with us. And I've already told Bryan that if we lose this house for a stupid reason like someone offering cash on the same exact day we put in an offer, I will stab him with a butter knife.

On that note, I gotta go call the M.O.B. and freak out about this house some more!!!