What you've been waiting for.

This is it...my BIG news.  I bet your minds have been turning (because you think about me all the time, I know!)...none of you better have guessed I was pregnant.  Come on...you know how I feel about kids.  And with the recent financial depression of summer 2010, fuck if I am bringing a kid into this family.  Ok, ok...stop teasing you.

But seriously guys (ok, mostly gals)...we found it.  Our house.  Here's the story.  We had almost given into this house...a week or so earlier:

So quaint and cozy!  

Of all the other homes we had looked at, this was fit the bill for us.  Hardwoods, all appliances (even w/d) included, three bedroom, one full and one half bath.  The rooms were a bit small, but we loved the neighborhood and knew we could resell easy there.  Conveniently the seller was considering renting the house out soon, so the pressure was on.  We felt like we hadn't seen everything we wanted to and decided to look a more before we bit the bullet.  

You know I told you we had primarily only been looking inside the Raleigh beltline.  I mean I was pretty freaking solid on NOT looking outside that.  Our realtor sent us some homes outside so we could see what we could get for our money if we looked outside.  I practically shot her right down.  The houses we were looking at in our price range inside the beltline were pretty small.  Now you know I didn't care about/want anything big.  After some googling (I love how this is now an acceptable verb), we drove by a couple of home outside the beltline.  They were relatively close to downtown too.  We set up some viewings.  When we walked in...I fell in love. Later, D and I both agreed we just felt at home there.  The map below shows the beltline and location of the house...

  [That little "A," that's us!]

In reality, this house is the same distance from downtown Raleigh as the little white house above.  It also shaves off a bit og my commute time.  We've been negotiating and came to a pretty awesome deal that D and I are so happy with.  It works out with our financial situation and meets the sellers' needs as well.  Soooooo...without further ado...meet our newest roof!

 [Ok, ok...worst pic ever.  These aren't my pics...I haven't gotten a chance to take any yet, but ahem trust me they are coming!  But note the swing on the front porch.  She looks tiny, but she has a lot more space than the little white guy above]

 [So I am sort of obsessed with this backyard.  Perfect size for the doggies.  Already made privacy fence.  And see that little extra space to the left of the side of the house?  Yep...that's where our garden and chickens are going to stay.  Right ladies!  I said chickens.]

 [I don't need no stainless steel appliances!  I'm happy that we won't have to buy any appliances immediately.  Oh and let me please note that I am ecstatic about having a dishwasher again!  It's been a long 6 months without one.  This will certainly save us some money and we can eventually upgrade when we're ready.  Adore the open kitchen.  There's a ceramic sink with disposal.  Huge cabinets.  That white table is the "breakfast room" area.  There's a little desk nook to the left of the pic]

[Adore the built in bookshelves.  We're going to knock out the ones around the TV so it'll be easier when we upgrade to a bigger TV...one day.  The adjacent wall to the bookshelves has a set of three windows to allow lots of light in the living room.  Living room is a bit small...but I'm content with that]

[Possibly the worst pic yet.  Master bedroom.  The only room with carpet, but we want to eventually put in hardwoods.  Master bathroom with a standing shower and double sinks!  I die over them.  That was seriously something we wanted but thought we'd never get.  Omg.  Love.  HAVE to get rid of the full mirrors on the closet (which we also weren't expecting to find a master with such a big closet).  I'm not ready for sex surrounded by mirrors...TMI?]

[Second FULL bath!  So cute.  It also has built in shelves behind the door.  Super excited to have 2 full baths for when guests come]

So I am not even kidding.  I love, love, love this house.  It has everything I could have wanted (ok minus a fireplace...but I'll totally deal).  It was built in 2006, so everything is relatively new in house years.  Hardwoods, the already built fence, two big guest rooms (seriously...the others were tiny in comparison!), dining room plus the breakfast room as a part of the kitchen, the bathrooms, a back deck (which we can totally build on a screened in porch too), etc. etc.  D is not showing his excitement as much as me.  He keeps talking about projects and handy-man stuff he's going to do.  We're moving in sometime in October and hopefully I'll be posting LOTS more pictures of the house and this process.  I'm looking forward to spring and having this experience with D :)  It'll be fun to watch him do projects and make our family of us and two dogs and two cats complete with our house.  Can't wait to share this experience with you all!

**Ps. I have been totally scared to share any of this with anyone (including my parents!) because I didn't want to jinx any of it.  I am totally typing this on Friday and scheduling it for Sunday so I can remove it if necessary.  I am supposed to get the official word tonight or tomorrow...but I still nervous to make the blogosphere announcement.  Here's to hoping!