Lot Number Seven

Thank you to all the sweet friends who congratulated us on our new home! Truly, from the bottom of my heart, all the sweet words mean so much to me.

I figured I'd share the journey of us becoming homeowners, considering we kept it pretty quiet for the most part. We hit a few bumps along the way, so we wanted to make sure it was a sure thing before we shared too much. It might be a little wordy, but for memory purposes, I don't want to leave too much out.  So hang in there if you care to. :)
We decided back in September that buying a home was something we wanted to start taking seriously. And really, it all started pretty quickly. After being approved by the lender, we started the house hunting process. I had found some pretty cute houses online, and Cody and I decided to check them out one evening with our realtor. We really loved the houses, they were in our price range, but we weren't crazy about the lots and houses built prior to new construction. On our way out of the neighborhood, we decided to stop in one last house and ran into the realtor for the neighborhood. She quickly let us know about a newer neighborhood up the street that the same builder was building in. The lots were huge and wooded, which sounded great to us. 
We quickly headed up to the new neighborhood, and fell in love with the beautiful lots and quiet neighborhood. We decided on a lot that we thought was perfect for us and signed the contract within the next couple of days. Lot 13 to be exact. (the lot number itself should have been a warning) We picked our brick color, house colors, flooring, cabinet color, the whole nine yards. We were completely ecstatic.

Our original closing date was mid-December. But we quickly came to realize that that would only be a dream, because they were delayed with getting the lot grated. By the beginning of November, our lot was finally grated, but with one very large, muddy problem.
When we chose the lot initially, the land was relatively flat with small rolling hills. When the lot was grated, they dug our lot into a hole. The lot directly next to us was on a 15-foot mud wall incline above us. Not what we envisioned. The pictures don't even do it justice. When we asked for a retention wall, we were quickly shut down by the builder and was told it would be smoothed out at a later time. Our closing date became further and further out, and we were just over it.

Our hearts were really torn at this point. We watched our house being built, but had so many concerns with the placement. Not only was our lot directly next to a giant mud wall, we were in a hole at the bottom of a hill. We really worried about water draining properly, and of course, a wall of dirt sliding into our yard and house over time with some good rain. We really wanted to watch our home building process grow from beginning to end, but our hearts were pulling us in a different direction.
We considered breaking contract and leaving the neighborhood completely. We thought about picking a new lot in the neighborhood and starting fresh. But we couldn't make a decision. We decided to watch and wait. See how the house and yard was going to play out. We really didn't want to make a quick, rash decision with such a big, life-changing purchase. We put it into God's hands and did a lot of praying.

The week before Christmas we took a trip over to our neighborhood and looked at our house and other options in the neighborhood. We really loved the house, the layout, the price, the location - we didn't want to abandon this completely. That day, we weighed our options. We walked around our house and the lot one more time, but decided to look around the rest of the neighborhood too. 
There was one house that was built down the street, but wasn't sold yet. We actually looked at the lot initially, but opted out. I loved the colors, the yard was flat, and the backyard was beautiful. The house layout was the same as the one we were building on lot 13. We would lose some of our upgrades, but not worrying about a mud wall sliding into our house was worth the trade off. On our way out of the house, we noticed what number the lot was - lot number 7. Our lucky number all along. We figured that was a pretty good sign that the house was meant for us. 

After switching our contract over to the new lot and changing a few things around the house, at the end of January our house hunting journey finally came to end. We became homeowners on January 30th and moved in that very weekend.

We feel so relieved with our decision. We love our house. We love the neighborhood. We love knowing that this house will be the place we grow our family. We completely made the right decision and can't wait to make our little house into our home. 

Home Sweet Home...

Well friends, it's been awhile. I promise I have a really, really good excuse.

It's been our little secret since September. We've jumped through hoops, had several ups and downs, and finally, we can say that...

At the end of January, we finally became...

Homeowners!
We're so excited to finally be able to share more about this exciting time in our life. It's been a complete whirlwind since January, but our hearts are so full and ready to make this new house of ours into a home.
More to come!

On the Menu

It always seems like I have the best intentions with blogging and then my everyday life gets in the way. We've been pretty busy around these parts - going back to work, organizing/getting rid of items around the house, a student teacher on my part, one sick dog last week and a trip to the emergency vet with the other dog this weekend..long story.
But through all the busyness of life, Cody and I have done pretty good with our meal planning and sticking to it (minus a few crappy days at work and a not feeling good day by me). I'm trying my best to stick with healthy, well thought out meals that are quick to put together during the weekdays. Since I'm like 90% of the American population and trying to eat better with the new year upon us, I've been doing my research to find quality, tasty - food I actually want to eat - healthy meals. And I have to say, we did just that last week.
Now, I'm not claiming to be a professional health nut, nor do I pretend to be one on TV or on this blog for that matter. But through my 25 years of life, I've gotten a pretty good grasp on healthy vs. non-healthy. 
Vegetables & fruits = good.  Candy, carbs & chocolate = bad. (my three favorite C's) So needless to say, our meals might not be perfect, but they aren't double cheeseburgers from McDonalds. Although, that does sound nice. Anyway. I wanted to share what our dinner menu looked like for us last week because I LOVE seeing what other people plan for dinner during their weeks. It gives me inspiration and I know that they wouldn't be posting it if it was a complete waste of time Pinterest recipe. Plus, some of these are some freakin' awesome recipes that we really liked and will totally make again in our household. They have been officially approved by us.

Sunday Crockpot Thai Peanut Chicken from Rachel Schultz
I can only give credit to Christina at Carolina Charm for introducing me to this one and for introducing me to Rachel Schultz, who quickly became my new favorite person to go to for interesting meals that are simple and realistic for the everyday kitchen. Anything in the Crockpot gets automatic bonus points from me. We put it over some brown rice for a warm dinner on a chilly night. Monday Better-Than-Takeout Chicken Fried Rice from Rachel Schultz
Although I didn't follow the steps exactly - I used a rotisserie chicken instead of cooking my own. Total time saver by the way. It turned out just as promised - better than takeout. And much healthier.
Tuesday We ate at Outback. Oops. Ashley and Paul invited us out for dinner, and it was just one of those days at work. Although we ate out, I tried to stick to a healthy dinner - steak, salad with a vinaigrette dressing, and rice pilaf. Although the pasta sounded much better. Ugh.
Wednesday Turkey Sausage with Roasted Spiced Carrots from Rachel Schultz Because eating healthier does cost more at the grocery store, I tried to save a few dollars by buying a cheaper protein that wasn't high in calories. Not the healthiest food in the world, but the Butterball turkey sausage is sooo delicious and full of flavor cut up in rounds and cooked with olive oil. I've been on a brown rice kick (sorry Cody) the last few days, so I added that and the most delicious carrots ever. Honestly, they didn't even taste like carrots. They tasted exactly like sweet potato fries, which was AWESOME. You could totally pair those with a hamburger and not even miss the fries. And coming from the queen of carbs, that means a lot.
Thursday Oven Roasted Fajitas from Rachel Schultz Another delicious recipe from Rachel Schultz. Cody, who hates onions, even ate one of these cooked onions. And liked it. Talk about miracle. Cody stuffed his fajitas in a tortilla, while I piled mine over you guessed it, brown rice.
Friday Salmon with Asparagus
Cody and I are total salmon lovers. Which is weird for me, because I don't like fish. I found this recipe on Pinterest awhile back, we tried it and felt like professional chefs because it came out so perfect. It's a simple recipe with simple cleanup and that's how we like it around here.
Saturday I had a delicious meal planned from my favorite gal - Rachel Schultz, but I felt terrible all day, plus a trip to the emergency vet led our tired butts to Cracker Barrel.  We are not ashamed.
Where do y'all find dinner menu inspiration? I'd love to know! Let me know if you post about your dinner menu for the week so I can check it out! :)

A Peek Into My Lunchbox

Last week I tried meal prepping for the first time in my entire life. And I have to say, I am hooked.
I try to bring my lunch to school as much as possible. It saves me money and I know exactly what I'm eating and how much. When things get busy during the weekdays and especially after a long day at work, the last thing I want to do after I cook dinner is pack my lunch for yet another 30 minutes. So many of nights, I'd chose to cuddle with Maci or spend much needed time with my husband instead of putting together a lunch. Which of course resulted in me hitting up the teacher's bar in the cafeteria the next day, eating pizza, burritos or something completely unhealthy for me. But hey, I added a side salad so bonus points for me. Except not really.
Since I know I need to be back on my healthy kick, I decided to prep my lunches on Sundays for an easy grab and go the next morning, forcing me to eat something healthy and nutritious without emptying my pockets. Here's what I came up with:

A yummy, delicious salad with tons of nutrients and good fats. I'm digging it.
Here's what's in it:
romaine lettuce || ok. so I really didn't want romaine lettuce this week, but my grocery store is low on leafy greens. Last week, I had a mixture of spinach, kale, chard and some other plant I've never heard of. It was good, but I think next week I'll be mixing my own leafy bunch using romaine, spinach and kale. Tons of vitamins.
apple || I used Gala apples in my salad. And to be honest, I'm normally not a fan of fruit in salad, but this totally works in this one. I cut up the entire apple into small bite sized chunks the day before only. This is the only ingredient that I don't add to the salad on Sunday when I'm prepping because they'll turn brown. But I'd much rather take three minutes from my evening to cut up an apple, than to throw a whole salad together.
cannellini beans || I actually forgot Chickpeas at the grocery store yesterday, so my back-up is cannellini beans this week. Since I don't have a protein in my salad, this adds a little to help fill me up.
walnuts || I don't add a lot of walnuts to be honest, but enough to get a nice crunch. Walnuts have good fat in them which is perfect.
fat-free bleu cheese crumbles || I wanted a cheese that added a different texture, but not high in fat or calories. I used fat free feta last week, which was yummy. So this week I'm trying the bleu cheese.
thyme, salt, pepper || Just for taste.
fat-free raspberry pecan dressing || The perfect sweet dressing for this yummy salad. It balances the sweetness of the apple with the richness of the cheese and walnuts. It's fat free too which means 0 fat grams of course, but only 50 calories per two tablespoons. And that's really all I use. I found tiny dressing containers at the grocery store, so I fill those up on Sunday to throw into my salad containers for the week.
This salad is yummy y'all! And it holds up the entire week. I packed five salads (minus the apples until the day before) on Sunday, and had fresh, put together salads all week. Even on Friday! After the success of lunch prepping last week, I prepped all our dinners for this week also to see how that goes. I can already tell it's going to be life changing and time saving. I'll let y'all know how it goes. :)