A little life lately of our house hunting trip & a lovely baby shower for my sister (in-law) Kelly.
What a whirlwind of a long weekend!
I’m not even sure I know where to begin.
Maybe I should start by sharing that we are in the process of purchasing our first home. Two weekends ago we travelled up to the Chattanooga area & saw a home that I fell in love with. After looking at the home, with both sets of parents, we were ready to make an offer.
When we went to make an offer we discovered that someone made an offer the day we saw the house & the builder had accepted their offer.
I was devastated to say the least.
I spent about 24 hours being sad grumpy (I had warned Roger that this might happen if the house sold).
We had a “home buying” trip the following weekend (this last weekend) so I tried not to be too disappointed. Roger then found a house that we both loved even more & from the pictures alone we were ready to make an offer (although of course we wanted to see the house first).
We were super excited about our home buying trip. We travelled up to Chattanooga last Thursday, spent the night in a little Inn downtown, & woke up to this beautiful sunrise. Our realtor (& friend from high school who was also in our wedding) then told us that the house we loved was under contract. It had gone under contract the day we were going to see it & they had called to cancel our appointment.
We were devastated.
That might sound like an exaggeration, but it’s really how we felt.
So at this point we had fallen in love with 2 homes that had gone under contract right when we were ready to make an offer.
It was beginning to feel like we were never going to find our home…
We ended up seeing almost 15 houses last Friday & by the end of the day my husband was getting kind of grumpy, & rightfully so. We had our heart set on a house that would never be ours.
As we were driving to see the last house Ethan (our realtor) pulled out his phone & showed us a house he thought we might like.
Now I should explain. We were looking for either a new construction home or one that was only a few years old that needed minimal changes (paint &/or granite in the kitchen). So when he showed us a home that was built before either of us were born that looked liked it needed a little more (much more) updating, I knew it would be a no-go.
Roger immediately said no. He did not even want to see the house. It was out of the question.
Unbeknownst to us Ethan drove us up to see it anyways. And since he was driving we couldn’t object.
Let me just say, the pictures online did not at all do the home justice!!!
We were split between a new construction & this mystery house (I’m calling it this because everything isn’t finalized & I’m afraid it will get swiped out from under us like the last two did). We spent the next day thinking & praying about it & 24 hours later we were back at the mystery house showing it to both sets of parents to get their opinion & to see if they thought we were in over our heads or had gone house hunting crazy (which is totally a thing!).
We were shocked! Their encouragement & excitement over this (mystery) house was beyond what we could have dreamed.
Everyone kept telling us that God had something better planned for us after the 2 houses we had previously fallen in love with fell through, but I would have never in a million years imagined this mystery house!
It’s a dream come true!
Actually it’s even better than that, because I didn’t know I could dream this big! I couldn’t imagine a house better than the first 2 houses we fell in love with & now we are in the midst of getting a contract on this amazing house!!!
BTW, if you are following me on Snapchat (@blissfulmiller) I actually posted a little peak last Friday of the mystery house. Although the picture wasn’t of the house, but the view.
I can’t even right now. I really want to share a whole blog post of pictures with you, but I know I must wait. It’s not our house until the appraisal & inspection, & even then it isn’t ours until the keys are in our hands on closing day, July 7th. Or at least that’s what Roger keeps saying…
So until then I will continue to share just mini glimpses on Snapchat & maybe 1-2 on Instagram when we go up there to visit family the house.
Ok, well now that I have shared way more than I was going to about the house hunting aspect (although I could have shared A LOT more) we can transition to the baby shower portion of this post!
Before we went to see the house again on Sunday & write up a contract we had an adorable little baby shower for my sister (in-law) Kelly. She is having a little girl named Lilly & I am beyond excited to meet her this summer!
The baby shower was held at my sister (in-law’s) gorgeous new home & every detail of her home is absolutely charming!
She even bought this beautiful chandelier from Joanna Gaines Magnolia Market (from the TV show “Fixer Upper”) & decorated it with fresh flowers & greenery from her garden.
Seriously, isn’t her home perfect!?
Although what’s even more perfect are these little princess!
They loved to help open gifts.
And they even became real princesses with these Tiaras!
Chas has gorgeous handwriting & I love the adorable details she added to the baby shower menu. And yes, that’s her pantry door!
Of course one of my favorite things about any baby showers is always the food!
I love finger food & Roger’s mom made this gorgeous display of fruit which was eagerly consumed by all of the little princess, but especially princess Ellie who kept raving over it & spent most of her time right in front of it! I love my birthday twin!
Now that we are buying our first home I have become obsessed with everything in her home, especially her counters! Aren’t they gorgeous?
I had wonderful help with these cupcakes!
My niece Ellie helped place all of the little sugar flowers on the cupcakes & she didn’t break a single one! I on the other hand broke several.
I think I’m finally starting to get a little bit better at frosting, at least mini cupcakes.
I love baby bumps! I can only hope & pray that I look as amazing as my sister (in-laws)! I don’t know how they do it, but you can only ever tell they are pregnant by looking at their perfect baby bumps!
I’m in love with her floor to ceiling fireplace & all the pink decor!
Chas spent hours creating this beautiful chalk art & I think it turned out perfectly!! Now all that’s left is to wait for baby Lilly Caroline to arrive!
Want to connect on a more personal level!?
You can find me & Domestically Blissful on
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Bloglovin, & Pinterest!
With love, G
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57
Nicola I says
April 21, 2016 at 10:26 amHouse hunting and moving was one of the hardest things my husband and I did recently. We started looking last November, but my Husband had been looking at lots of different properties online / emailing Estate Agents / calculating our affordability and possible mortgage and all the while I’d been struggling through life oblivious. We found several we loved but eventually settled on our current home after going back and visiting it so many times. Apparently he’d been watching my face each time we’d visited a possible property and seen my reaction (anyways, that’s a different problem).
When we put in the offer and were accepted we nearly burst with happiness – then my cousin told the family she was looking to buy a house too which put a bit of a downer on things as people got very excited for her as she’s so much younger than us.
I found moving to be the hardest part of it all – moving away from our old church, giving up the ties we had to the parish and community because the distance was just too far for us to regularly travel. I’m beginning to develop a new rhythm in our new house, and wouldn’t trade houses for the world as I love the fact we’re now out in the country and have a huge field out our back gate and beautiful views that are just full of green and life and wonder.
Long story short, I feel for you – the house hunting, the preparation to move, the moving. I hope everything goes well and you can finally be excited about moving into the house. because then you can make it your Home.
Domestically Blissful says
May 30, 2016 at 8:14 pmHey Nicola!
Thank you so much for sharing your house hunting experience! It sounds like you have found a little piece of country paradise!
The last month has been crazy. We finally found a house that was beyond our dreams & are now eagerly awaiting our July closing date.
I can’t wait to move into our first house & make it our home.
Thanks again Nicola! It’s nice to know we aren’t alone!
Hope you have a blissful week! 🙂