Closing Day and Moving Weekend!!!!

WOW it has been an exciting couple days.  My whole body is sore (mostly my calves!) but it was all so worth it.  There is still soooo much to get done but all of the furniture is in place thanks to a great group of guys who carried super heavy stuff up to as much as 5 flights of stairs!!!  It seems like all of the heaviest stuff was on the top floor and the patio too :)  But...here is a recap of the weekend as I finally kick my feet up and wait for some cookies to bake (first baking experience in the new kitchen!)

Friday morning started early after a late night of packing.  Since our closing was at Joe's work, I drove him to work and worked from his office.  Since we knew we were closing at 1 we had to get in early to get our work done!  After a couple hours of work, it was finally closing time!  I was under the impression that it would take an hour max, but man was I wrong!  It was so incredibly nice of our mortgage guy to also show up to our closing (Paul Cook!)  I would totally recommend him to anyone looking for a house.  Although Joe did most of the talking with him, I know he was incredibly helpful, and brought us two pies as a congratulations gift!

So, things I learned at closing!  It pays to have a short name because you sign your name a million times! It is also unbelievably awesome to have a fiance that knows so that I didn't have to stress too much about what I was signing!  Last, it is awesome not having a middle initial!  You sign so many pages where you have to write in your  middle initial, but you also initial a million more pages!!! So, for the first time in my life, it was quite significant not having a middle name :)

So, about two and a half hours and hundreds of initials and signatures later, Joe and I were officially home owners!!!

HOME OWNERS!!!!

 After closing we wrapped up work in the next hour or so then it was time to go get the truck and pick up some new furniture.  The majority of what we bought new was coming from ByDesign which is a modern furniture shop that Joe and I fell in love with!  They have an outlet store in Atlanta so it is nice to get stuff at least a bit cheaper!

First car load of many...

After Joe got the furniture, it was time to pack up mine and his car and take a trip down to the house to unload our first boxes!  This trip was all kitchen stuff that was breakable so we wouldn't have to worry about putting it into a truck. Once we got to the house we were so excited we started unpacking and luckily didn't have too many stairs to walk since the kitchen is just up one floor from the garage!  After unpacking the cars, it was time to head home.  We did some more packing then went to bed since I had to be at our place at 8 the next morning.

Told you it was a huge truck!

Bright and early the alarm went off at 7 and it was the big moving day!  We quickly packed my car with all of our hanging clothes (Joe and I both have so many clothes!!!) and then I hit the road with Roxie in my lap since there was no other room!  I now realize we should have just packed the clothes because I had to take so many trips up the stairs with clothes to get them all up in our closet!  It was about 10 AM before I was done with that, and by then I was already exhausted!  In between loads of clothes, I was washing loads of dishes and drying them since most of my kitchen stuff had been packed in boxes for quite some time and was incredibly dusty!  Shortly after I got done with the last dishes and clothes, Joe's mom came with some stuff in her car so we unloaded that.  After that, Joe arrived with Andy Trinkle and Duncan as well as Joe's dad, and the BIG truck that was packed to the fullest!

Rox...not happy while she is waiting on the furniture to arrive!

Thank goodness for all these guys (Matt Trinkle and Andy Olejack also came!) because that allowed me to carry some of the "lighter stuff".  That being said, the drawers full of clothes weren't that light for me :) The first unloaded the truck into the garage then started with furniture and taking it to the right room.  Some of it was quite an adventure with doors having to get taken off and pieces of the furniture getting taken apart but everything is now in its place!  The only thing that had to switch was the office and the guest bedroom since the couch couldn't get into the door of what would have been the office!   It was quite a work out since most of the stuff from the truck was going to the third/fourth/rooftop floors so you can only imagine how tiring it was!

Derby Pie from and flowers from the DiDias!!!

We took a break around 2 or so to eat BBQ that Joe's dad had made the two days before!  Joe's parents were absolutely amazing throughout the whole move and deserve a very special thank you!  They even brought champagne and flowers to make our place a bit more homey even with all of the boxes in it!  They went above and beyond with proving food for Joe and I all weekend so that we would have one less thing to worry about.  It was amazing and I think I ate about 2 lbs of it throughout the day!  After lunch it was time to get boxes to the right.  We finally finished up with all the major things that needed to be moved and got to relax on the rooftop of a bit before the downpour of rain came!  That gave us the inspiration to get showered and go to dinner.  After coming back to our place for a bit, we headed out to Ivy which is a bar right down the street from us!  We were so excited to get to walk to the bar for the first time and it is less than a 5 minute walk!!!!  We went out to celebrate Kellie Ann's birthday, but called it a night fairly early because we were exhausted!  After a quick walk back, it was bed time (Best part about this place is LOCATION!!!)

Birthday Girl!!!!

Sunday morning came quickly and it was time to start getting situated, slowly.  Although looking around it doesn't look like progress had been made, it is coming together slowly.  I got all of my clothes put into the closet in the morning!  After that, it was time to take a trip to the old house and pack up mine and Joe's cars with the millions of things that we realized were left behind.  It was over 90 out so it was hot packing the cars, and would have been much more enjoyable sitting by the pool :)  After getting the cars packed we came home to unpack before heading out for some shopping!

After moving in you realize there are random things missing.  For us, one thing was that none of our bathrooms have toilet paper holders, so we had to buy the standing ones.  I also cannot reach the top cabinets in the kitchen so a stepping stool was a must!  After some shopping it was time to come home and get dinner ready/bake!

I will post recipes tomorrow, but baking today was for a gift basket for Julie, who represented us as our agent.  I still believe she was the reason we got this home under contract and we are so grateful!  I made two different truffles and peanutbutter cookes with a twist as Joe started unpacking his clothes in our room!  No, for the first time this weekend, we kick up our feet and relax for a bit, knowing there is lots to be done, but we deserve a little break!

So, as we get rooms settled, I will be posting before and after pictures room by room, but for now, let's say slowly but surely, it is coming together!  I hope everyone's weekend was super relaxing, and I am one super excited person for getting to work from my new office all this week before traveling to NC!!! 

The Ups and Downs of House Hunting and Moving...

It always seems like the weekend goes way too quick no matter what is on the agenda.  This weekend was one of those weekends where we didn't have much planned but were incredibly busy.

Friday night started as a normal low key night.  Dinner was cooked, and it was a meal that I had made before but Joe loved.  

Chicken with Sun Dried Tomato-Basil Sauce

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken tenders, thawed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup onions, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 shallot, minced
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped (in package, NOT oil packed)
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.  Add chicken & grind fresh pepper on each side. Cover & cook until done, about 5 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and set aside, keeping covered.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, & shallots, cooking 1-2 minutes, just until soft.  Add sun dried tomatoes; stir. With a whisk in hand,  add flour & stir.  Slowly pour in chicken broth, whisking constantly to remove any lumps.  Add cream, still whisking.   Continue whisking for 3-4 minutes or until sauce begins to thicken.  Take off heat and let sit; it will continue to thicken, feel free to stir every so often. 

After dinner was when the fun began. Joe and I had gone to see a town house that we absolutely fell in love with and it was in the perfect location in Buckhead.  It even had a rooftop.  We offered on the house on Thursday night, and as of early evening Friday, nobody else had offered on it.  A couple hours later, we receive an email saying that the buyer went with a different offer.  Since we had nothing to lose, we set in a full price offer.  After a couple questions from the agent, and sending a approval letter, we started thinking that we were actually going to get the townhouse!  Little did we know, a little after 10 PM we receive an email that we had lost out.  We had our hears set on this place, so it was a hard thing to accept for both of us.  After a lot of ups and downs in the evening, we called it an early night.

Isn't it beautiful...

Dinner :)

Saturday was moving day.  After Joe and I got engaged, we decided that financially, it made sense for me to move in with him and his roommates since they were living in a house.  I had to cancel my lease with 60 day notice, so my lease ended July 1.  With that, I think moving day came very quickly, and Saturday was the day we had rented the truck.  Luckily, I had started moving a lot of the smaller stuff, i.e. clothes, food, kitchen appliances, etc. the past two weeks so all that was really left was big furniture.  I got up early and cleaned the whole place, and Andy (one of Joe's friends) was kind enough to offer to help Joe move my furniture into the truck and move it!  It didn't take long, but I am grateful that Andy was there because even with the limited stuff that I moved, I was sore the next day.  We finished up right around lunch time so we ate lunch than took a nap to recoup from the day.  After that we headed downtown for some yummy BBQ at slopes then visited Reza because he clearly needed a study break. He was studying all weekend for his first big test at PA school!  After his study break was over we headed to Andy's house to hang out and have a low key evening.  We have to mentally prepare for the 4th of July and Welfare so we decided it was a better idea to go low key this weekend since we are getting old :)

Moving Day!

The best part about this weekend came as quite a surprise.  There has been a lot of AC issues in the house that Joe lives in, and we quickly realized that the upstairs unit was not working again, and it was 89 degrees inside!  Since we had just moved in all my stuff, we brought my mattress into the living room and had a slumber party downstairs in order to stay cool :)  Roxie loved it because it was right next to her food, so she could get a midnight snack if she woke up hungry, and of course woke both Joe and I up!

Bathing suits that have gone bad from lack of use:(

Sunday was cleaning day!!!  My stuff was everywhere from moving, and we have a lot of doubles when it came to furniture, washer and dryer, etc.  So, Joe posted some stuff on craigslist to sell (we made some money!!!)  and we decided it was time to take a close look at our closets and do some donating.  It was fun going through some of the stuff because it brought back great memories and we ended up donating 3 HUGE trash bags worth of clothes!  We also got a bit more organized and my office was set up so that I could get to work on Monday!  After a day full of cleaning, we went to Joe's house for dinner.  After dinner was work time for Joe and I got a 10K walk in (I still can't run :() to wrap up the weekend.  Now, 3 days until the 4th of July and 4 days until I get to see my beautiful bridesmaids in Greenville!!!