Posing in front of the state flag of our new state earlier this year
I still remember July 23, 2010 when Matt came into our bathroom where I was sitting on the floor scraping wallpaper (sidenote- I'm seeing a pattern here, we seem to be drawn to homes with ugly bathrooms) and he said, "I got the job, we're moving to South Carolina." I think one of my first thoughts was, "Oh no!!! I'm in the middle of redoing this bathroom, how are we going to sell this house right now?!" If you've been a blog reader since the beginning (thanks!) you know that we became super motivated to transform that bathroom as quickly as possible and within 3 weeks our house was listed.
If you want a detailed account of our home selling/home buying adventure, you can go back and re-read older posts. For now, I think I'll just recap some of my observations as I think back...
Hardest month: October. After the disappointment of our first buyer backing out in September, October was especially tough because we went the entire month without a single house showing. Everyday I'd leave for work with the place looking perfect hoping that it was the day someone would come see it, fall in love, and buy our house. All the unknown variables about our future, the fear of heading into winter trying to sell a house, being bored at work because my replacement had started, and really missing Matt made October a lonnnng and scary month.
Best month: January. We were reunited. The stress of the move was behind us. We loved our new house. The weather felt spring like. Both of our families and several friends visited us in our first month in our new state. By the end of the month I had started my new job and SC already felt like home to us.
What I miss the most about the old house: my kitchen appliances, really my whole happy, red kitchen
What I miss the most about our old city: Southland Christian Church (luckily I can still watch Jon Weece's sermons online every now and then)
Who I miss most: Claudia
What I miss most about my old job: lunch at Panera with the girls! My new co-workers are not avid fans the way we were, and we hardly ever eat there
Lessons learned in the past year:
* Paying professional movers is worth it.
* Don't let wallpaper scare you off from a great house.
* Find a job you don't dread going to everyday.
* Winters are milder, but summers are hotter.
* Our families are great and will support us no matter where we go. They will also still come visit us even though we're farther away.
* Home is wherever my husband is.
I am so glad I started blogging- it's been such a crazy 12 months that I'm not sure I'd remember most of what happened if I hadn't been journaling about it all online. Now that we're settled in I feel like I have less exciting material to blog about, but it's nice that life has slowed down again a bit. Thanks for following all the ups, the downs, the interesting, and the mundane blog updates this past year!
Great post! I'm sitting here in the office at my parent's house, reading your blog while I wait for our freshly signed contract to fax through to our agent...so when I read the part about your buyer backing out, I almost threw up. That must have been terrible, and I hope it doesn't happen to us - yipes!
ReplyDeleteI've loved following your blog! Thanks for writing about your adventures. You and Matt are adorable and I hope our move can be as happy as yours!
P.S. Give Ellie a squeeze for me, you lucky duck. Oh, and tell Pete and Laura we said hi, too. :)