WE OWN A THING!

IT'S OFFICIAL!! And we have the keys to prove it.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3435-California-Ave-SW-APT-304-Seattle-WA-98116/48651144_zpid/

First order of business: dance at the awesome deal we got. Seriously.

Second order of business: rip out that white carpet. We went and met with one of Jeff's cousin's who designs kitchens for a living and she helped us pick out new flooring, cabinets, countertops, and we picked a few options to get a sample for tile backsplash. I of course was a slight idiot and didn't take a picture of any of this so that will have to wait. Now all I have to do is call the contractors to set up some times for them to come and do bids.

The reason we're do all this is due to a few factors:

• because we spent a lot less than we were planning on, we have the extra money saved up now
• Murphy's Law made it so we had to sign a 4 month extension on our current apt so we have time
• it seems much easier to put in new flooring when all our stuff isn't in the apt

The first week

First week of the new job went EXCELLENT. Monday we went out to a "welcome to the team" lunch where I got to meet everyone and we discussed the practicality of building a pork tower (5 stories, with the first floor being the hard salamis and then moving up in juiciness). And then on Friday the whole floor had a "summer salad potluck" which was awesome.

Katelin, who I'm replacing (she's being promoted) has been awesome. Great balance of letting me figure things out and imparting the wisdom that I need to know. I also met our Product Owner, who once Katelin is promoted I wont have to deal with as much, and he's an interesting character so I'm glad that she's getting paid the big bucks :]

Anyway, everyone on my team is super extroverted (our is the team that is always getting trouble for being loud) and I really like everyone and I think it'll be a great fit. Our team is also the team that is the most innovative in the Agile/Scrum stuff so we try new things a lot. For instance there was a discussion this week about trying to switch to three week sprints rather than two like everyone else does because we have process set in place for pushing from testing to production and it eats into a lot of the actual sprint time.

Also I've decided that I'm going ot implement "dress up Friday" rather than casual Friday. I'm sure I'll dress up more than just on Friday but having that set in place will make me at least once a week not just wear jeans and a nerd shirt.

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

Our first rejection

We have faced it. The first rejection. On Sunday we saw a place we really liked and put an offer in on Monday. They were reviewing offers Tuesday night so we didn't hear until 10pm last night that we didn't get it. The people who got it waived the inspection and offered $50,000 above listing price. But Brian had prepared us for this to happen and so we weren't too devastated. But the process was stressful and lot's of "Oh boys" were said.

We're going out tomorrow to look at more options and Jeff is wanting to open our options to other neighborhoods than West SEattle so we've started looking at other places. So we'll see.

Back in the saddle!!

We're pre-approved to go into debt

It's official. Someone called an underwriter has decided we're grown up enough to give large quantities of money in order to buy a house. We're meeting with the guy tomorrow to talk actual numbers and all the ins and outs and whatnot.

Yesterday we spent a couple hours driving around West Seattle with the realtor and we learned many things

1. We're pretty sure we're over condos. Like to point that if we end up with a condo then it's going to be an amazing condo
2. So that leaves us with either a townhouse or a small house. And I'm yet to feel it for a townhouse. Now that houses are definitely on the table I'm really liking that idea. The other key factor is that townhouses are very close to each other. Even the end units - the other building is 6 feet away. We started asking if the townhouse was in a "Townhouse-ville" or not.
3. We are expanding our price range a little bit. The places we were looking at in our original price range were more in the "best house on the block" range and we're thinking we want more middle ground. West Seattle still hasn't been 'gentrified' in a lot of places so it definitely depends on what part of the block you're on.
4. We're thinking very seriously about the 3 bedroom idea (actually to be completely honest, I've stopped even registering 2 bed places). So what happened is yesterday morning a house that was 4 bed, 3 bath came out. And we really liked it from the pictures but agreed that it was way out of our thought process. So we asked if we could tack it on to the end and we went and looked at it. And after looking at it (for a lot longer than any of the other places we looked at), we realized that if it was seven years from now, we would be all over that house. But it got us really thinking about the idea of staying for 3-5 years rather than less than three years.

So it was a fruitful adventure in that it got us really thinking about things and possibilities.

Other news - I just got home from watching Pitch Perfect 2 and it was acca-amazing. I haven't laughed that hard at movie in a long time and we (the ladies I was with) decided that it might possibly be better than the first one, which is rare.