Changing Habits

One of my favorite things about moving is that it's really easy to refine who you are and make new habits.  Lucky for me we are about two blocks from the local community center.  It's a small little center, but it has plenty for us to do.  There's little play land for the kids, and pools.  The most exciting part for me?  It has a workout center with great classes- like bootcamp and yoga.  So defying everything I've ever been, I've been getting up to go to the 5:30 class in the mornings so I can be back just before Casey pushes off to work.  It's completely crazy, but it's working so far.  It seems to be the only "convenient" time for me to work out.  I've been doing it for almost two weeks so I hope I'm on my way to making it a habit.

Okay, take your stab at my craziness in the comments.  Insanity is cleansing..... or something like that. :)

|Picture of Lake Waconia taken by Bob Loblaw|

I'm Moving.... AGAIN!

We're in the land of Minnesota and have made it through our first week.

Can I hear a halleluiah?

And now we're all sick.

Can I hear a booooooooo?

But really, we are fine. Not-feeling-well kind of fine. But at least we've got each other, right?

So, here's a quick update. In an effort to simplify my life, I'm condensing all my blogs down to one. That's right! You can catch me over at my new blog, Dose of Happy- which will be a mix of inspiration, and life and family posts. For the full story, read here. Please update your RSS feeds so we can keep in touch!

Love you all!!
xo

This Wind Ain't Got Nothin' On Me!

Life is a complete whirlwind right now.

We found out we are moving to Minnesota about 6 weeks ago. In that amount of time we have listed our home, sold it and put in an offer on our new house. Let's just say things have been completely nuts around here. I'm certain we will look back and say, "now, just how did we get all that done?!" Because even in the midst of it all, I'm wondering the same thing myself.


To have listed and sold our house so quickly in this market is a huge deal. And a huge blessing. To have found a house that is reasonable and makes us happy is a huge deal. And a huge blessing. We know for sure we are supposed to be in Minnesota for some reason. One we can't pinpoint now, but it will be revealed in the next few years I'm sure.

The boys have been so good about all the adjustments along the way. Again, what a huge blessing. I'm here staying behind with the boys in Nebraska to tie up a few loose ends. The boys and I will hopefully make it to Minnesota in the next month or so to be with Casey again. Everything has happened so quickly, but we are ready to live life as a family again.

I will try to post when I can, but for the most current updates on the new home, move, etc, follow me over at Fresh Nest Design.

xo

How to: Hire A Realtor

I wish our lawn was this green right now.

Spring, oh Spring.  Where are you?

This picture was taken in the process our landscaping work we did almost two years ago.  All that blood, sweat and tears has me reminiscing non-stop these days.  Just searching through pictures to find a decent one of the front of our house had me crying.  And here's why:

Where oh where did my little boy go?  This is Caden at about 1.5 years old helping us build our retaining wall.  And here's the boys again hanging out in the shade on this 1,000 degree day.

Ah, the memories.  And I know there will be more, but gosh dang it, it's hard to leave what feels like a near perfect life for something that you hope will be even better.  Because often when the grass seems greener on the other side, it really isn't.

When we found out we were moving, we knew we had to find a good Realtor to sell our humble abode.

One that cared for our place just as much as we did.

So why a Realtor when we are such DIYers? Fact of the matter is, I used to be licensed and I know all of what goes into in selling a home, and what the best odds are of selling it quickly.  And all the liability that's involved too when a deal go south.  Sure, we could have gone at this on our own, but I guarantee we would have lost money.  Whether it be in pricing our home incorrectly, or having our home on the market for longer than we did.  Plus, the added stress of showing our home in addition to keeping it clean, and trying to figure out everything else that goes along with moving sounded less than appealing.

So I called my two favorite Realtors and interviewed them.  And here's what I was looking for:

1. Price.  We needed someone who knew the market and wasn't going to shoot the breeze with me.  We knew we needed to price our home right so we could move to MN as quickly as possible, without leaving a lot of money on the table.


2. Pictures. Many Realtors hire professional photographers to get good snapshots of the home.  This is a must.  Everyone previews houses online these days and I need my to be on the "tour" list.  I don't want bad pictures being the deterrent from getting on that list.


3. Staging. Our house was looking pretty good, but I needed an honest opinion about some areas  (i.e. top of the cupboards, bold paint choices, etc.) and whether these were going to affect our showings.


4. Negotiation. Bottom line- I want the best price for my home and this includes someone negotiating top dollar for me and my home when the tire hits the road.


5. Marketing Plan. I need to know what the plan is.  When are price drops anticipated?  What if the house goes stale, and no one is looking?  Basically- how are we going to keep our house hot so we have the best chance of finding a buyer?

When it came down to it, both Realtors we interviewed we're top notch in all these areas.  It made the final decision hard when it came to choosing which one to hire.  We just went with our gut and hired who we thought would work the hardest.  We really lucked out.  I would say we chose the right one seeing that our house is sold and has found a new owner (in two weeks!).

What pointers do you have for someone hiring a Realtor?



P.S.  We announced the winner of the Shabby Apple giveaway.  Go on over and check it out!

Miniature Home Gift

I have two dear friends that are moving away very shortly.  Last week we had dinner party for them to send them on their way.  My friends and I wanted to give them something that they'd remember their houses and the time they've lived in this city so here's what I came up with:





I took pictures that I had of the front of their houses and recreated them with some layered paper.  One of them I didn't have a picture of, but no fear, Google Street view came to the rescue and I was able to get enough information from that to complete the house.

We matted them in a frame and then when the guests arrived at the party, we had them all write a little message on the mat of the frame.  They loved them!  This might just be my standard moving away gift from now on!

Little Birdie Moving Announcements

My good friend, Audra just moved into a new home and I designed these little birdie moving announcements for her. I had so much fun designing them and I had to share them with you-- cause you know birdies are my thing!

Congrats on the new house, Audra!!!