Just turned in our keys! We went over there this morning to pick up a few final things and do some last minute cleaning.

We’re going to set up internet at our house today, so expect a longer blog post later.

We were lucky this morning, because it wasn’t raining. After our second trip, we went to the store to get some mattress covers in case it rains tomorrow. By the time we left the store, it was raining pigs and chickens! We got soaked on our way back to the car. The clouds have calmed down since then and it’s sunny and clear again. I sure hope tomorrow will be rain-free, but it looks like there may be some scattered showers. Fingers crossed that they avoid us!

Nick and I will probably do another load or two tonight, leaving not much more than furniture for tomorrow!

Nick and I spent the morning taking a load of boxes over to the house and setting up some things there. It’s really starting to feel like home. We hung out with Margaret and Donna at the apartment afterward and then we went to the Volunteer Park Conservatory on Capitol Hill. I’m really glad we went because all the plants and flowers were gorgeous. Even the building itself was beautiful, made of glass with a wood and iron framework. I took tons of pictures, but it’ll be a little while before I upload them because I have to go through them all. We also walked over to Volunteer Park’s koi pond and Black Sun sculpture, but we didn’t stay long because of the rain. When we got back to the apartment, Margaret taught me how to crochet. Maybe sometime soon I’ll be able to do some fun crochet projects!

Nick’s Burrito Macho

We went to Sonrisa Modern Mexican at U Village for dinner. It wasn’t busy when we got there, probably because of the rain and we were there for an early dinner. The salsa that came with our chips was delicious and made in-house. We ordered a primo combo (three different enchiladas), baked chile relleno, burrito macho, and ancho rubbed chicken quesadillas. Everything was fantastic and Nick and I would definitely go back there again.

Margaret and Donna start their scenic drive back home early tomorrow morning. They plan on stopping in Salt Lake City and Jackson Hole to see the Grand Tetons. We said our goodbyes after dinner and gave them both big hugs. Can’t wait to see them again!

Nick and I took another car full of boxes over to the house tonight and we’ll spend tomorrow packing up what’s left and moving more boxes. We’ll probably only have furniture left by the time we do the big move on Sunday afternoon. Hurrah!

This morning, we all went to West Seattle to meet up with Mom and Amanda. We got there a little early, so we stopped to take some pictures of downtown (see picture above – the Space Needle is orange “galaxy gold” in celebration of the Seattle World’s Fair 50th anniversary). We walked around Alki Beach Park for a little while, too, before Mom and Amanda got there. We went to Duke’s Chowder House for lunch, where we enjoyed all sorts of delicious seafood.

Duke’s Fish & Chips

Donna hadn’t been to Seattle before, so we went to Pike Place Market after lunch. Even though we were there in the middle of the day on a weekday, it was still packed full of people. Donna bought some really neat handmade blown glass art and Nick and I picked up some awesome Seattle artwork for our new house.

We were all exhausted by the time we got back to our apartment, so we relaxed for a while and had an easy dinner of burgers and garlic fries from Kidd Valley. After Margaret and Donna left, Nick and I took a load of boxes over to the house and unpacked most of them. We can’t wait to fully move in!

Update: Added a photo of Nick’s fish and chips from Duke’s.

OMG, what an exciting day! We took Margaret, Donna, and Suki to the University of Washington this afternoon, so they could see where Nick works. Suki is a 14-year-old pug and she is having a hard time walking right now, so she was pushed around in a stroller (lots of people commented about how cute that was). The picture above is of Drumheller Fountain, just south of the building Nick works in. Mount Rainier is in the background. We ran into some of Nick’s coworkers on the way to his building, so we chatted with them and embarrassed Nick a little. We also went up to the office where he works to see his desk and meet the rest of the gang. UW’s campus is so beautiful and Margaret and Donna really enjoyed seeing it.

Margaret, Donna, & Suki

Visiting UW was also a nice distraction for Nick and me, as we spent the day counting down the hours (and minutes!) until we closed on our new house. At 5pm, the house officially became ours and we went to show it off to Margaret and Donna. We brought one of our gnomes and put him in the garden to mark the home as ours.

Dad met us at the townhouse, so he was there to experience us being in our new home for the first time. We all went to dinner at Tutta Bella in Wallingford for dinner to celebrate. We were surprised by how packed the place was! Donna got a calzone and the rest of us split three pizzas:

• Filomena (extra virgin olive oil, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, roasted asparagus, roasted onion, prosciutto cotto, grana padano)
• Tutta Bella (pomodoro, fresh mozzarella, isernio’s italian sausage, onion, basil)
• Giovanni (extra virgin olive oil, fresh mozzarella, tomato, prosciutto crudo, arugula, shaved reggiano)

Filomena pizza, the monthly special

Donna said her calzone was delicious and we enjoyed all of the pizzas. I think the Tutta Bella was the favorite, but they were all great. We somehow managed to save room for dessert, too. Nick and I got pear gelato (of course), Dad had chocolate panna cotta, Donna got a trio of Italian cookies, and Margaret shared her tiramisu with us. Everything was so yummy.

Tomorrow, we’ll hang out with Mom and Amanda at Alki Beach in West Seattle.

Nick’s mom, Donna, and Donna’s pug (Suki) arrived safely this afternoon. We hung out with them at our apartment this evening and had Chinese food delivered for dinner. We were really happy to see them and they’re excited to see where we’ve been living for the last year.

Tomorrow, we may or may not go visit the University of Washington so they can see where Nick works. If not, we’ll do that on Friday. We close on our house tomorrow, so it will officially be ours tomorrow evening – woohoo! Once it closes, we’ll go show Margaret and Donna our new home. We’re going to go out to dinner with Dad (our real estate agent) afterward to celebrate, too.

Getting into Gunter was not an easy task yesterday! I think our neighbors have gotten crazier now that we know we’re moving… either that, or I’m just super impatient about moving.

It’s just after 4am. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep. Nick’s mom and Donna should be starting their trip to Seattle right about now. Yay!

Living & Dining Room

We had been looking at houses online for almost a year, so we got a pretty good feel for how much houses cost in the area. Decent houses in the area start at almost half a million dollars, so a townhouse was a good, more affordable option for us. We also wanted to stay close to UW so he could have a short bus ride to work (parking at UW is expensive, plus we would need to have two cars — right now, one car is all we need).

Three weeks ago, I found a townhouse online that was in our price range and looked pretty much perfect for us. We had Dad (a real estate agent) take us to see it a week later. Just over a week ago, we wrote up an offer on the townhouse, which was countered, and we accepted the counter-offer the next day. We wanted to wait until after the inspection (which was yesterday) before sharing our exciting news with everyone. The only issue that came up during the inspection was that the seller needs to install carbon monoxide detectors — no big deal. Other than that, the inspector thought it looked great, so the townhouse will be ours in about four weeks! Yay!

Kitchen

The townhouse was built in 2007 and the previous owners took great care of it. It is a green-certified, energy-efficient building with a gas fireplace, bamboo flooring in the main living space, a covered balcony, granite counters, and a gas stove that Nick can’t wait to use. The kitchen is big and open (we can both be in it at the same time, omg!). There are two bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs and there is a bonus room on the ground floor behind the garage. One of the big selling points of the townhouse was its fenced yard/patio area. It’s the perfect size for Nick and me and it looks great without requiring a lot of maintenance. It has a nice raised flowerbed, where Nick and I want to plant herbs. Location-wise, the townhouse is in a good spot, too. It’s only about 8 minutes away from our current apartment and Nick will have about a 30 minute bus ride to get to work.

Yard & Patio

We close on Wednesday, June 20, the day after Nick’s mom and friend, Donna, arrive in Seattle to visit us. It’s actually pretty neat because they’ll be able to see both our apartment and our new home.  They head back home on Saturday, June 23, so we’ll probably move in to the new place sometime between that weekend and the following weekend, depending on when we can get help.

So, that’s our big news! We’re so excited and can’t wait until next month!