Wow, it's been a week since I last posted, and what a week it has been!  We found a house (I'll do a photo post later), we bid and counterbid on said house, we finalized a sale price, and now we're at inspection.  I honestly don't expect anything to come up with the inspection, but you never know.  It looks like the people really took care of the place, so hopefully nothing major pops up.  It was more than we wanted to spend, but definitely not more than we could afford (I'm just cheap).  It wasn't on any of the houes blogs that I've done before, so you won't have seen a photo/link of it yet, but we fell in love!  Gorgeous brazilian cherry hardwood flooring, great kitchen, master bedroom and bath are fabulous, and the walk-out basement is to DIE FOR!!!!  It's going to be our entertaining area, for sure:  full built in bar, pool table, hot tub/jacuzzi, full bedroom/full bath down stairs, a few TVs down there, and more storage than I know what to do with.  Holy crap...it's exciting!

The rest of the week has been looking at paint samples, tiling samples (for tiling in the master shower extension we're going to do, furniture, etc.  I was supposed to head back today, but there's just no way, so I'm staying an extra week with Jamie to help get more sorted out.  It's been so nice to be "home"...though I don't really think of it as home quite yet.  We've run into coworkers practically every time we're out, and it's so nice to reconnect with friends/family that we didn't see much while we were abroad.  With every day that passes, I am more and more sure that we made the right decision to move home, at least for now.  I'll miss living in Europe, more than I can even imagine at this point, but I think it was time for us to move home.  The parents (on both sides) aren't getting any younger, and we'd like for them to be a part of our child(ren)'s life before it's too late.  

Let's see, what else?  I've basically just been overwhelmed and swamped with house stuff, so not a lot other than that going on.  I'll be sure to do another photo post later, once I put some of my photos onto the iPad.  

Hope you all are doing well!

XOXOXO,
K.

At the airport waiting on our flight!  So excited I'm nearly crawling out of my skin.  I plan to take photos of the places and do a recap post each night, but we'll see how it goes.  Keep your fingers crossed that we find something we love!

XOXOXO,

K.

Holy crap, I can't believe we leave tomorrow!  I am so freaking excited, it's beyond words.  I know the week is going to be hellaciously busy and stressful, but I'm excited to be going back "home"...even for a little bit.  Plus, it'll be nice to have the house bought and put behind us, so we can move on to other things (house hunting has taken over our lives for the past month).

In other news...I'm seriously considering taking a break from work and trying to find out what will really make me happy.  My job is fine, but it's not a "dream job" or anything like that...and I don't leave work every day feeling satisfied with the time I've put in.  I went to school wanting to help people, and I'm really not doing that in my job now.  The only problem is, I really struggle to think of things that I'd be good at.  I have my law degree and my master's, but I really don't want to practice law.  I would love to go into librarianship (my master's), but those jobs are so few and far between, and there's nothing open where we're moving back home to...so I'm not sure how practical that would be.

So yeah...some of you know me better than people I see on a day-to-day  basis...what can you see me doing?  Any particular "careers" come to mind?

XOXOXO,
K.

I am so excited to go home next week!  I know it'll be busy, I know we'll be packed with things to do, decisions to make, things to buy, etc., but I don't care.  As each day passes, I get more and more excited to be going home!  I know I'm going to miss this place so much...I've made a life here, I have friends here, and this is where Jamie and I have lived the longest since we've been together.  We've built a home here!  It'll be hard, but I think it's time.  I'm glad we're leaving on a high note...that we didn't wait until we absolutely detested the place before moving on.  I know I'll come back to visit people here, and that makes me happy.

Otherwise, not a whole lot going on.  We've been spending so much time looking at houses, dealing with mortgage companies, and picking out furniture that we haven't had much time for anything else.  One thing we really need to sort out is where we're going to stay in Hawaii!  I know it's still a few months off, but we need to book an apartment asap, because I'm afraid if we wait too long we're going to be stuck in a ridiculously expensive hotel, when I'd much rather be in an apartment (where we can cook our own food for some meals).  I spend so much time in hotels as it is (with work travel) that I really hate to spend time in them during holidays...I'd much prefer to rent an apartment than stay in a hotel, hand's down.  So...need to do that.  I hope we can sort that in the next few days, or at least by the end of next week.  That would be ideal.

Yeah...that's about it!  Life is good...crazy busy, but good!  I'm excited for the upcoming next few months, and ready to move back home and start our lives back in the US.  I feel like all I've talked about lately is the move and housing, so let me know if there is anything you want to hear about!

XOXOXO,
K.

Sigh.  As we move through the process, I realize just how little we actually have.  Before we moved back in 2010, we basically sold our lives.  Cars, house, etc.  Plus, we had really only lived in our house for a little over a year before we sold it (we closed on it in April 2008, then end of May we moved to Europe for 3 months for work, so really...we lived in our house from September 2008 - Jan 2010).  During that time, we knew in the back of our mind that an expat position was highly likely, so we really didn't accummulate that much stuff.  We still have our bedroom suite, but about halfway through this assignment, Jamie's back started acting up really badly, and we realized that the mattress wasn't really firm enough for him, so that bedroom suite will be moved into the spare room.  I tell you what...whoever comes to visit is going to have an AWESOME bed to sleep it (I love the bed, but it's bad for Jamie...sigh). 

So...that brings me to home furnishings.  We've been looking, and budgeting, and looking some more...just trying to get a feel of how much things are, what we like, and what would go well with our style and with the potential houses we're going to look at.  We love IKEA...love it.  Our bedroom suite that we have now has survived an international move and you can't even tell...it's been taken apart and put back together so many times, but you'd never know it!  Not everything at IKEA is great quality, but we've been really happy with what we've purchased so far, so it made sense to look at IKEA for some of the things we'd need.

Here are our thoughts for the master bedroom:

IKEA Hemnes Bed - Queen

IKEA Hemnes Dresser - 8 drawer

IKEA Hemnes Bedside Tables

The best part about this is that we can get the ENTIRE bedroom suite of furniture for under $700.  That's a queen bed, dresser, and two bedside tables.  I love it!  Plus...they're wood...not particle board.  We decided to go with a grey stain, because I think it'll be more neutral in our room, and the color of the flooring will be less of an issue.  However, if it doesn't look right with the flooring, they set also comes in a really nice black/brown color that's really rich.  Our last bedroom set was a very light birch color, which was also very lovely, but I'm looking for something with a darker finish. 

Then, I'm absolutely in love with this bedding from Crate and Barrel.  Normally, I wouldn't be keen on paying C&B prices, because I think they're ridiculously overpriced, but I really love this bedding, so I might splurge.  It's modern, but with lovely colors that would work well with the wood in the bedroom set.  It's really simple, but I like simple.  The white sort of scares me, especially with the thought of kids...but hell, it's a duvet.  You just wash it and move on.  And really, if it gets stained, that's life.

Here is another shot of the bedding, from the C&B website. 

That takes care of our bedroom, plus the spare room.  We're looking at 3-bedroom places, so the third will be an office for now, but will turn into a nursery once I get pregnant.  A lot of the places we are looking at have either lofts or finished basements, so we can install an office in either of those places, if we need to.  But honestly, I'm not really in love with a traditional "office" because I think it encourages you to bring your work home with you, and we already work a ridiculous amount of hours in a week to begin with.  So...that's a toss-up at this point.

Another thing we'll need is a couch.  Again...IKEA.  This time, it's more for practicality than anything.  IKEA couches have removeable, fitted covers, that you can just toss in the wash once they get dirty.  I love that!  Plus...they're fairly cheap, so if we have kids and the kids completely destroy the couch, we won't be out a ton of money when we decide to replace it.  Also, this allows me to change my mind about decorations in the house, because you can totally replace the couches every 3-5 years and not be out a lot of money!  Love it!  We're thinking either dark grey or brown...not sure yet, it will depend on the house we pick, the flooring the house has/flooring we want to install, and the living room area.  The photo here is in the dark brown.

I really like having the chaise bit on the end of the couch.  It's a great place to sit and read, watch TV, or do my yarn-work.  We're also planning on having some chairs and this coffee table.

Wow...after looking at this post, it looks like the only place we shop is IKEA...not the case, but we do like some of their stuff.  What do you think??  Like what we've picked out so far?

XOXOXO,
K.

As we get closer to going home to find a house, Jamie and I have been looking on various real estate websites, daily.  A few of the houses that I really liked are now moved to pending sale, and we've come across a few that we want to look at, that weren't available the last time I did a post like this.  The little cottage house that I really liked, from the last post...that went to pending sale last night.  I was REALLY disappointed...there was something about that house that really appealed to me.  But, guess it wasn't meant to be.  However, there are a few other houses that have moved to the top of my list, which I wanted to share with you and get your opinions on!  These are in no particular order, we like them all:

Option 1:  Washington Street - The Washington house is a ranch, which is nice because my knees are crap and having to go up and down stairs all the time isn't the best thing for them (though, if we were to find a 2-story house we loved, we wouldn't let my knees stop us from buying it).  The neighborhood is very good, established, and full of character (no cookie cutter houses here).  It's in a good school district, though I think we'll put our kids into a Montessori school, so school districts are slightly less of concern.  Regarding the house itself, we really like how it will require very little work.  The kitchen looks good, and has granite countertops (which I actually didn't want, but since they're already installed, I'm not going to rip them out), and we LOVE the exposed brick walls in the kitchen/living room.  It would need painted on the inside, as I'm not too in love with the colors, but otherwise, it's pretty much live-in ready!

Option 2:  Bitterwood Court - The house on Bitterwood is in one of the best neighborhoods in town (also one of the most espensive, which sucks).  HOA fees would be added on top of the price, which is already more than I want to spend (though not more than our budget...I'm just cheap).  I do like the house, however, though it is larger than I'd prefer.  The kitchen would need upgraded (mainly countertops, and I might paint the cabinets).  The backyard is heavily wooded, which I absolutely love.  Based on the photos provided on the website, I don't really follow the "flow" of the house, but everything looks ok.  I'd have to see how the master bedroom/bath work out, and determine if any flooring needs removed (not a fan of linoleum, would want tile in those places).  Plus, there would be a LOT of painting required (and please god, remove the awful wallpaper border in some of the rooms...who uses border anymore?!).  Otherwise, totally liveable...mostly cosmetic changes, which is nice.  Main selling points for this place is the location, the wooded backyard, and it has lots of room to entertain. 

Option 3: Countryside Court - This house probably needs the most "work", but it's also the least expensive of the three.  We'd need to replace the fireplace, and probably get new cabinets/countertops for the kitchen.  Also, depending on the condition of the flooring, we might need to replace carpeting/flooring throughout.  It's not too big of a deal, as it would allow me to put in hardwood flooring and tile in the place, which I would prefer.  It also has a fairly wooded back yard, which is nice.  I'm not sure if the master bathroom is ensuite or not, but I'll find out when we tour the place.  This place would probably give us the most opportunity to really go in and make it "our house" when compared with the other two options above.  We did a quick estimate (based only on the website's photos), and felt that we'd probably put in another $20k in upgrades/cosmetic changes, which would put this option more closely aligned, in price, with the other two.  Still well within our budget, which is good.

So, there are our top three (at the moment).  Thoughts???  Which one do you like best, and why?

XOXOXO,
K.

Happy New Year to you all!!!  Wishing you the absolute best for 2013!

We spent NYE in our apartment, for the first time since moving to the NL.  We had our good friends over...we spent the evening talking, eating, playing board games, and watching over an hour's worth of fireworks go off all over the city...all from the comfort of our apartment.  (Note:  this is the only time of the year that I'm thrilled to live in a 7th story, downtown apartment)  It was everything I could have asked for from our last major holiday here in Europe.

Our house hunting trip is booked.  Plane tickets have been bought, we've contacted the realtor, the paperwork has been processed, and we're on our way!   We leave for the US in a little over a week...and by the end of the month we'll be homeowners again.  It's scary, yet exciting, all at the same time!  Lowe's was having an awesome sale on appliances over the holiday, plus we got a discount because Jamie's dad is military.  We ended up purchasing a new refrigerator, a washer and a dryer.  And lord...it has only begun.  That purchase alone was enough to send me into a panic...in a few months, we'll be starting all over!

In other "moving" news...we've started a list of all the things we want to purchase while we're home for the house huntint trip, so that it can be ready the minute we get out of the airport after moving home.  These are things mostly for the cat...new litter box, food, cat tower, etc.  Other things we can live without for a night, but the cat has some needs that we have to plan for.  We talking about also purchasing our bedding while we're home this month, but I'm not sure if we'll have a chance to go furniture shopping along with house hunting.  I'm only there for a week...which gives us 5 working days to find a house.  I'm not even sure if I'll have time to see my family this trip, which I know will upset them, but there's not much I can do about that.

Wow...it's happening!  I love when the process starts to move along...up until this point I feel like things just drag along and nothing gets done, but once the ball starts rolling, it just takes off!   I know these next few months are going to fly by...we're trying to plan our last few travel adventures, which is always sad!  I'm thinking Athens and Meteora in Greece, but who knows. 

I'll let you know how things go...wish us luck in this new adventure!

XOXOXO,
K.

Wow...these past two weeks in Switzerland were EXACTLY what I needed!!!  The mountains were so gorgeous, and the weather was fantastic (for the most part...we did have a day or two of rainy snow, but otherwise, perfection).  I managed to get in lots of rest, tons of relaxation, and just the right amount of outdoor sports to make me happy.  I wasn't able to go skiing (damn knee), but I was able to go sledding a few times, snow shoeing once, and lots of walking about the small town.  Jamie skied quite a bit and was really happy with it, so I was glad he was able to do that.  While he was off skiing, I was working on a crochet project (Tupp's baby blanket) that I've been trying to finish up for what feels like forever!  I'm nearly there...I've crocheted all the granny squares, and now I am just connecting all the squares to make a blanket.  I used to think that weaving in the ends was the worst part of crochet.  Nope...not so much...it's the damn connecting of everything that's going to be the end of me!  We're heading over to Tupp's on the 1st, so it needs to be finished by then, regardless.  I plan on spending some time on it today (after we hit up the grocery, because we have absolutely no food), and then finishing it up tomorrow if I can't manage to finish it today.   After that, I have one more baby blanket to make for a friend, then my mom's afghan that was supposed to be for a Christmas present, until I got her something else, and then...finished with planned projects!!!   Maybe at that point, I can make something for myself.  We'll see...I just love being able to make things for friends...it makes me happy!

Jamie and I have been on the great hunt for all things fun and exciting for our non-existent house.  Things like...washers and dryers...squee!   Actually, a few places are having really good sales right now, so I think we'll end up purchasing a washer and dryer, then storing it until we move home.  Can't pass up 25% off!  The rest of the stuff will probably wait until we're actually stateside again, but if we come across a sale, I think we'll jump on it.  

Which then brings me to my newest bitch about life...cell phone plans!  Holy crap, those suckers are expensive!!  It's been so long since I've had a US plan, I had forgotten how much they were, but now that we're putting together budgets and such, its all come back to me!  Cell phone plans here are so cheap...phones are unlocked, so you just go to a store to get al el-cheapo Nokia or whatever, then go get a SIM only plan at a carrier service.  Smart phones are a little more in-depth, but you can still buy an unlocked smart phone, then just go get a data plan from a carrier.  Best thing...they have unlimited data, and you're only charged minutes for the calls you make, not incoming calls.  Also, you're only charged for texts you send, not incoming texts.  Man...I'm going to miss that.  And though I love my iPhone, I think I'm just going to get a regular, non-smart phone for when we get home.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to break down and get an iPad with wireless and 3G to take the place of a smart phone, then just carry that around everywhere.  I'm thinking the iPad mini, rather than the full sized one...do any of you have any experience with the mini??  Do you like it??

Tomorrow is NYE and we're having a little soiree here at the apartment (and by "little," I mean, 5-8 people).  I've put together an appetizer menu, complete with LOTS of champagne and wine!!!  It's the first NYE we've spent in our apartment (and the last), but the Netherlands has a tradition of shooting off fireworks at midnight, and with our 7th floor apartment, the view should be amazing!!!  Our apartment overlooks downtown on one side, and residential areas on the other, with full wall windows, so we should have a good show!  And, if not, well...I have plenty of champagne.

Hope you all have a wonderful AND SAFE holiday!!

xoxoxo,
K.

Protected Post Up.

Oy...after a hellacious past few months at work, we are finally on vacation!  On Saturday, we packed up the car with a ton of stuff (including our cat), and made our way towards the Swiss Alps!  We're here for two weeks of relaxation, snow, and Christmas.  I've had to pass on some activities, due to the knee, but Jamie's making it up to me by sending me to the spa a few times.  Good man.

I hope to upload a few photos soon, because it is absolutely gorgeous here.  In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful week!

XOXOXO,
Kristin