I GOT A NEW JOB

We officially have a reason to live in Seattle now. And let me tell you, it feels totally grounding. 

So what happened: I actually interviewed at this place back in December. I went and the interview went great but the lead dev suddenly decided he wanted someone more technical and the recruiter said she wanted to keep my resume on file. Well she called!! They had a new PM position open and they reorganized so that the director of PMs (who really really liked me) is now the guy with the final say on hiring a PM rather than the lead dev. So I had a pretty good feeling that as long as I went in and didn't fall down drunk or anything I would get the job. And I did! They offered it to me on the spot and we talked terms and I start July 6th. One thing that Jeff and I knew was a risk of me getting an office job was taking a pay cut, but the benefits at this place definitely make up for it (and of course not having to pay our own taxes since I'll be a W2). I am so excited. The recruiter was talking about all the office activities they do and food all the time and I met the team I'm going to be on and I'M SO EXCITEDDDD. And from a career perspective I'm excited to learn how to do internal projects and finally get away from client projects.

Some really awesome interview questions to note:

- what are you reading? (I already knew that one from Ken, but it's the first time I've been asked it in an interview)
- Not a loaded question, but what kind of job would pull you out of here and go somewhere else?
- In one year, we're sitting in this same room, what would you be telling me you're proud of? (I thought this was a really awesome question because it made me think of some goals to have)

Rejection #2...followed very quickly by "we want this one instead!"

Ok so jeff and I have had some serious house identity crisis. If you recall, we started this adventure on the "2 bedroom condo that we can live in a few years and then when we have 1.5 kids we rent it and buy a bigger place." Then we started thinking about (and I quickly jumped on this bandwagon while Jeff was more hesitant) "how about a 1200 sqft 3 bedroom house that is a longer term live in but can still easily be rented out?" And so the identity crisis began. We have literally looked at everything for 800 sqft condo to a 2000 sqft 4 bedroom house - and every type of townhouse in between.

So we took a much needed break when Jeff went to Vegas and I went to San Fran and then we got back and pretty much instantly went of the family gathering so we've had a couple of slow weeks. But on Monday we were back in the saddle. We had a bunch lined up (again ranging across the entire spectrum) and we went looking. And we found two that we liked:

- the turn key Beacon Hill house - http://www.movoto.com/seattle-wa/4886-24th-ave-s-seattle-wa-98108-501_802941/ - completely redone, totally move in ready, with the potential that we could live there probably our whole lives if we wanted to. Only weird factor was that it's in Beacon Hill (good neighborhood just not what we had in mind) and we knew instantly that it would sell for way more than asking price and jeff was basically needing to breathe into a paper bag when he thought about the words "half a million dollars."

- the fixer-upper condo in West Seattle - http://nwhomes.seattletimes.com/homes/for-sale-3435-california-ave-sw-unit-304-seattle-wa-98116-nwclassifieds-nwhomes-798269-d - this would be going back to the original plan (and bonus - the building doesn't have a rental cap so easier to rent) PLUS it would give us an opportunity to dip our toe into the reno arena without using sledge hammers (hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, and the adventure of installing an IKEA kitchen).

So what happened was this: we did a pre-inspection on the Beacon Hill house, and put an offer in for a slightly lowball number (only in Seattle real estate is $501,000 a lowball number for a 3 bedroom house) and figured "hey if we get it then we got a really good deal and we'll see where the neighborhood takes us....and if we dont get it, we're doing anything we can to get that condo." And as of an hour ago, we're moved into the "we're doing anything we can to get that condo" phase. And to be completely honest, we are both really relieved. The Beacon Hill house would have been nice, but I dont think it really hit me at all until we put an offer on it that "lifetime house" meant lifetime. And we would have seriously rattled around that place for quite a few years, whereas the condo will be just right for us now and we can make big life long decisions after we have a kid so we're used to making big life long decisions :]

Family Gathering weekend

This weekend was a bit of a whirl. I'm calling it a Family Gathering bc Andrea, Jessica, and I decided that you can't call it a family vaca bc vaca implies relaxing. So anyway, it started Thursday when I went to a book signing. Mamrie Hart, Hannah Hart, and Grace Helbig are doing a #NoFilter tour right now to support Mamrie's book but the Seattle show was on Friday which I couldn't go to bc of the family gathering. However Mamrie was doing a book signing on Thursday. And bc Jeff knew I was really bummed out about missing Friday, he made it so I could go to the book signing and then he would drive all the way to Spokane during the night. So I went and met Mamrie Hart - who is a person I want to be friends with. I also met an amazing lady while standing in line for the signing and we bonded over the fact that 98% of the people standing in line weren't old enough to drink but were in line to meet someone who does comedy based on drinking.

So then we drove to Spokane to spend 12 hours doing meetings that I couldn't get out of and hanging out with Andrea before we hit the road yet again to drive to Pend Orielle Lake. We stayed at someone's super nice cabin complete with enough beds but no gate down to the dock - which is where the non-relaxing came in because no matter how many times the children were told to either stay off the dock or put their life vest on so they could go onto the dock, they didn't listen. But it was nice for everyone to get together and since we were only going to be there for a short time we kept everything very casual. On Saturday night we went to thai food in Sandpoint, and it was the tiniest hole in the wall place - so tiny that we used every table and every chair for the 14 of us. It was really funny - and amazing thai food. 

Then we drove home Sunday and didnt get in until 1 in the morning and I pulled the second shift