Closing Day

I signed my name next to my husband's probably 50 different times today, and that might be a low estimate? We finally own our beautiful new home, as of 3:00pm today. All of the excitement I carried around with me all day is finally spent, and I feel exhausted.

This weekend, we will start to move our belongings little by little. I'm sure we'll be dying to blow up the air mattress just so we can spend a night over there as soon as possible, too. We know we should use this month to take our time and get everything ready, but the prospect of being out of this apartment and rid of our noisy neighbors might call to us sooner than later. I guess we'll see!!

What a Difference a Week Makes!

Carpet is in, driveway and back patio is poured, several appliances are installed and exterior paint is under way. Only 10 more days until we close. It's really just the final details now!!

The Blinds Decision

In the simplest sense, we had three choices for getting blinds into the new house for all of our windows. Choice number one was to add it to the build, and have the same style and color of blinds on every single window throughout the house. Initially, we thought the price to add this service to the house was WAY too high. So we declined the offer, sure that we could bring the price down by going with some more economical options in the rooms used less. Option two was to have a discount blinds company come out and give us a quote that was more tailored to what we wanted: economy blinds in certain rooms, and nicer blinds in others. The third and least desirable option (for me) was to buy all the blinds and put them up ourselves.

Last weekend, we went over to the house to meet up with a representative from a company that was going to give us a quote to fulfill the second option. We had a budget set aside for the project, and we were excited to be at a point where we can be talking about these kinds of details. While we were at the house, we were excited to find cabinets, some of the flooring and most of the light fixtures completed!

Unfortunately, I was so disappointed to find out that option number one and option number two were almost identical quotes! It would have actually been smarter to go with the option from the builder because it would have been higher quality blinds on every single window. I was honestly floored. Covering our windows is a must, but it shouldn't cost us more than our kitchen appliances!!

I am taking a reluctant husband back over to the house today, for round number two of measurements. We are going to move on to our third and final available choice for this endeavor. It is going to be a little time consuming to hang our own blinds, but my initial estimates have us saving HALF of the original two quotes. So it should be very worth it...

Trip to Interbike

I was so excited to get to travel to Las Vegas for the cycling tradeshow: Interbike. The floor of the convention center was covered with some amazing and innovative products, and one of my favorite parts was getting the chance to check out some new bicycles on the market. The hubs and I are both in the market for a race bike upgrade, and I was excited to find our favorite picks:

Drywall Up!

Three and a half weeks to closing! We're probably a little farther along now than these pictures show, but we've been running around like crazy people these last few weeks. It's too cool to see rooms coming together and taking shape though!! I have an appointment with a window coverings company next Sunday, so I'll get to see the progress inside very soon. I'll be sure to take pictures and post another update when I can!

Little Man's 3rd Birthday

One our favorite boys turned 3 this year, and I was so excited to finally have a munchkin who could send his fairy godmother his very own birthday list!! Among hot dogs, party hats, pigs, cake with lots of sprinkles and flowers, he put on his list that he wanted to receive Valentines this year. I thought this was definitely a new one to me, and his mom explained that he was recently reading a book where the little girl made paper hearts for her animals, and he really liked that. Not only did I love the request, but having another growing bookworm in the family just warms my heart.

So of course, I was more than happy to oblige this wish. After all, what is a fairy godmother for but to grant the wishes that seem too far out there to really come true? (I think we all saw Cinderella, and that turned out pretty good in the end). I made several paper hearts and wrote some Happy Birthday messages to him on them. Better than any card any day!! I can't wait to see what's on his Christmas list now...

US Pro Challenge 2014 - Colorado Springs Stage

My new job has already had its major perks, and one of them was getting the chance to work and get up close during one of the US Pro Challenge stages this year. I asked the hubs to take a day off with me to travel down to the Colorado Springs stage on Thursday. I helped to set up and work the retail booth at the race Expo, and he got the chance to see an inside view of the race. We even got to have lunch in the VIP tent and pretend to be awesome! Lots of pictures and lots of screaming happened throughout the day. I lost my voice cheering for Jens on one of his last days racing and for TeeJay leading the race. Maybe next year I'll have the guys to sneak into the green room and mingle with the racers themselves!  haha

I apologize for some grainy pictures... I may or may not have been jumping up and down.