Hello! Welcome to my blog. The main purpose of my blog is just to give updates on what's going on in my life and/or the world. Basically, this is a place for me to ramble on! As the title states, this entry is going to be about our new (and first!) home! Nick and I looked high and low for months for just the perfect dwelling for us. Kevin (our realtor) was extremely patient... taking us from house to house for DAYS. We originally started looking in Livonia/Novi/Northville area, but then decided it made a lot more sense to look closer to where I work and Nick goes to school (Riverview and Detroit). So... the search began in both the downriver areas (Riverview, Wyandotte, Allen Park, Trenton...) and Dearborn. We fell in love with Dearborn! There were a lot of very cute homes in Allen Park and Trenton (also Wyandotte!), but Dearborn seemed just perfect for us. Their downtown is so cute with so much to do... and they have a real nice library, the Arabic culture, a beautiful mall, and did I mention how excited I am for the farmer's markets in the spring! My dear friend Vanessa (down in Austin, TX) hand-crocheted me some beautiful produce bags which I am visualizing myself carrying down to the farmer's market with Nick. Continuing on with wonderful things about Dearborn, did I mention Miller's? I think GQ magazine ranked their hamburgers as one of the top 4 in the WORLD... I believe it! Mmm... Then there's Westborn Market. The deli meat and produce just doesn't get better than this. OH and Camp Dearborn! Dearborn residents get a discounted rate at this beautiful park and camping grounds... which oddly enough is located in Milford I think? Odd... but cool nonetheless!
So, for all of those reasons Nick and I began to really love Dearborn and narrowed our search. By the grace of God we came across the cutest little brick ranch on Walnut Street... made an offer... then after a little negotiating, we came out with a very, very good deal for this little gem on Walnut Street! The house is on a cute, safe, tree-lined, brick home street with very nice neighbors. I feel very safe running on the block both night and day. Our home offers very easy access to expressways, which is great! Nick is about 15 minutes from campus and I'm about 20 minutes from work... not bad! I actually enjoy having a little more of a commute because now I can listen to music and get ready for the day. I don't drink coffee so a little music gets me going just fine. In addition to all of this, our home is about 2.5 miles from the cute downtown and 1 mile at most from a very large shopping center across the street that offers just about anything we could possibly need. Living the dream!
The best part of our new home is decorating it. We have really fallen in love with shopping for good deals and steals on new pieces of furniture or decor for our home. It's a new hobby of mine... next to shoe shopping of course! I'm going to attach some pictures of our home below, but these are pictures from the seller's agent, so any furniture or decor is from the previous owner ... stay tuned for pictures of our decorated home with our personal touch!
Nick is also getting very good at learning home renovation/construction skills. Thanks to my Dad's friend, Bud, Nick is picking up a lot of the skills and is starting to feel comfortable that he can do a lot of it on his own! He said a lot of it just requires knowing which tool to use, etc.. Now that Bud has given him a TON of tools and taught him a lot of different construction skills...Nick is building a pretty good foundation! I'm content with figuring out the best place to hang a picture or lay a rug... or finding just the perfect flowers for a table... hammers and screwdrivers just aren't my thing right now. I do enough of that sort of thing at work every day!!
Now another thing we are loving about owning a home is that life is FINALLY getting consistent!! For a while there we were constantly bouncing around busy... I was a craaazy busy graduate student, working on graduation, looking for jobs, packing boxes, arranging moving, beginning new job, living out of boxes for a while, then beginning to look for a new place to live! Nick was in school, travelling back to MI for the Marines once a month, applying to law school, packing boxes, arranging the move, beginning law school, living out of boxes for a while, and also looking for the new home! It is SO nice to finally be in the home, to know that we're going to be here until we decide we want to move, and to be able to come home and just work out, cook dinner, watch some tv or play some games, and RELAX.
That said, we have those relaxing days every once and a while but we know there are more to come in 5 months. Right now life is a little crazy because we are also getting ready for JUNE 12, 2010!!!! SO EXCITED!! OUR WEDDING DAY!!! Nick and I will be married on June 12, 2010 at St. Patrick Parish in Brighton, MI, and the reception/party wing-ding will be held at It's A Matter of Taste. It's a beautiful restaurant with the most delicious gourmet food that is situated right on Union Lake. We rented out the whole top floor of the restaurant and it has a balcony that overlooks the lake. (Fingers all crossed for good weather!) I can't say enough how excited Nick and I are for the wedding (109 days away, by the way), but for the time being I'll let that one simmer until later posts which will inevitably be about the wedding and all it's planning. In fact, I just had an idea. From here on out I am going to discuss the current planning that is being done for the wedding... up until the most amazing day!!! June 12, 2010!
Okay, for now I am just going to attach some of the pictures of our first home and then get back to work. It's definitely a tuesday....
