Monday, August 25, 2008

House Hunting

My new husband and I are in the ever so pleasant process of buying a house. We are fortunate that a very good friend is a Realtor. He is very patient with us and has done a TON of work for us. So, yesterday, we went out for the first round of looking. We had seven houses to visit. The first two were absolutely awful. The third was okay and was still on our "maybe" list. The fourth was, well, interesting. The fifth was absolutely horrible...and there was a stain in the basement that made me think that someone had been murdered down there. Then we got to the sixth house. As soon as we pulled up, I thought "This is the perfect outside of a house". When we walked inside, I immediately knew that I wanted to buy the house. It is small, but cute...everything has been updated, from the floors to the roof. Even the walls are great colors.

After falling in love with it, we decided to bring our parents over to give their approval. They all thought that it was cute and a great starter house for us. So, that night, we put in an offer, which was accepted the following day. So, now we are just waiting for the mortgage company to get their act together and get the appraisal set up (we are getting an FHA loan so we have to get it appraised before we even have the inspections). We know that it will pass inspections, but we are seriously hoping that it will appraise at what we offered.

Barring any complications, we will actually close in a couple weeks...the current owners have already moved and just want to get rid of the house. So, we will hopefully know within a few days if everything is okay. In the meantime, we are in the process of cleaning and purging and packing at our apartment. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in two years at an apartment...especially when you get married and get lots of gifts!

Anyway, I'll let you know what happens with the house!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Move In Day

If you have ever lived on a college campus, you should be able to understand what I'm talking about. Move In Day on a college campus is one of the most hectic and exciting days in the world. Today, thousands of students are moving into residence halls and apartments. Today is mainly reserved for freshmen move-in. The University Center is filled with excited looking students and anxious looking parents. The parents are probably my favorite part of this day. They are so excited for their children, but you can see that sadness in their eyes as they drop their baby off. As an employee of the university, it's easy to look at this day with disdain as our summer has quickly come to an end. But, this is actually my favorite day of the year. It's a day filled with such hope of the future.

Every year, on this day, I flash back to the day that I moved into my residence hall my freshman year. I was the first child to go away to school, and my mom was a mess! We waited in the lines patiently and were finally allowed to head up to the residence hall. I, as most freshman do, brought way, way too much stuff! The upper classmen can volunteer to help with move-in day. Basically, in exchange for their hard work, they get to move into their apartments and dorms a day early and beat the crowds (it's a pretty good deal!). When I moved in, they were so helpful and all of my stuff made it to my third floor room in one trip. I remember being scared, excited, and hopeful all at once. My roommate Kourtney was very nice, but I soon realized that she was going home that night and I would be all alone for my first night. I laid in bed that night and couldn't sleep. But, that day started my foray into college, and eventually led to my career!

So, basically, Move In Day is great! So, the next time you are out shopping in August and see that mother and daughter or father and son (or whatever) out stocking up in the "College" section of your local Walmart, Target, or Bed, Bath, and Beyond, remember your first day of college, or when you dropped your kids off...I'm sure the memories will come flooding back!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Welcome!

Hello! Well, let me introduce myself to you! I'm Michelle...a twenty-something girl living in Illinois. I work at a University in the Student Activities office. I spend my days working with our Programming Board and planning about 150 events every year. I absolutely adore my job about 90% of the time. I enjoy working with college students and am constantly amazed at the creative ideas they come up with.

In addition to my job, I am a newlywed. I got married in July and am currently basking in the glow of having completed my thank you cards! We are also embarking on the major task of buying a house. Needless to say, there is a lot going on in my life. So, I wanted to start a blog that would allow me to share my life, my thoughts, and, well, mainly many ramblings with whoever wants to read and listen.

Thank you for checking this out and I hope you will look for future updates!