Well, ok, maybe LIES is harsh....since starting house hunting in January of 2011 HGTV has been on my TV pretty much constantly. I love watching Sandra and her Virgins, House Hunters, and My First Place. HOWEVER the farther along I got in the process the more I realized, that what they depict on the shows and what happens in real life just doesn't add up, at least not here in Seattle.
Now I know that the people on these show don't just look at 3 places and then pick one...although I had to explain that to Kevin (only kidding, he's not dumb like that). Where they threw me off was with the putting in an offer and acceptance process...it is NEVER as clean as it looks on TV and there is SO much paperwork. Oh the paperwork! Anyway, these shows inspired me to start writing down my story, because maybe it would help someone out there who, like me, knew the process would be hard, but had no idea just how hard it would be! Maybe it's because I'm young, I'm buying a house completely by myself at 26, but I don't think that's it. I did a TON of research, and still ran into trouble. So, if there's any way I can help others I would love to give it a shot.
Oh and PS I still LOVE HGTV, I've just graduated to Yard Crashers and Secrets from a Stylist.
Good luck out there,
Kells
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Monday, July 12, 2010
Just one of the reasons...
But it is a pretty big reason... why I wanted to move back to Seattle:
No, not because of amazingly blue lakes, boats and pretty floatie toys. But, because this is where some of my favorite girls live. I have been lucky to maintain close friendships with 5 girls that I went to High School with. When you move every 5-7 years growing up, this is a very big deal. Even though we moved away to college, and moved other places for jobs/internships/life after that, we all kept in touch and now 4 out of 5 of us are home for the summer. And I love it!
We went on a girls weekend to Lake Chelan to celebrate Kat's (pictured) Birthday last weekend. We would go to Chelan and absolutely tear the town up when we were in high school and during a couple of breaks from college. This was our first trip back since we became 'adults' (when I say adults I mean functioning members of society, not since we turned 18) and I must say it was a lot more mellow. Although, the trip wasn't as crazy as I expected, there's something comforting to know that we can come back to a place at different times in our lives and somehow all be on the same page, even if a year or two before it was a completely different page. Oh, and we still had a hell of a time!
nostalgically,
kells
No, not because of amazingly blue lakes, boats and pretty floatie toys. But, because this is where some of my favorite girls live. I have been lucky to maintain close friendships with 5 girls that I went to High School with. When you move every 5-7 years growing up, this is a very big deal. Even though we moved away to college, and moved other places for jobs/internships/life after that, we all kept in touch and now 4 out of 5 of us are home for the summer. And I love it!We went on a girls weekend to Lake Chelan to celebrate Kat's (pictured) Birthday last weekend. We would go to Chelan and absolutely tear the town up when we were in high school and during a couple of breaks from college. This was our first trip back since we became 'adults' (when I say adults I mean functioning members of society, not since we turned 18) and I must say it was a lot more mellow. Although, the trip wasn't as crazy as I expected, there's something comforting to know that we can come back to a place at different times in our lives and somehow all be on the same page, even if a year or two before it was a completely different page. Oh, and we still had a hell of a time!
nostalgically,
kells
Thursday, July 1, 2010
U-Haul (the moving story)
More like U-Blow. Moving day(s) has come and gone and I am just now in a mental state where I can even begin to tell the story...Here is my best attempt.
After deciding that we needed some help with the upcoming 839 mile trip up most of the West Coast Boyfriend and I decided to call the long-distance-driving/moving-guru, or Dad as I like to call him. Dad agreed to fly down on Saturday morning, hang out with us in San Francisco for a day, before helping us load the U-haul and drive to Seattle. NoBigDeal. Sunday morning, the day of our departure rolls around and we show up bright and early to pick up the U-Haul. We get to the guy that hooks us up with the trailer, only to find out we don't have the connection we need to hook the trailer into the lights of Boyfriend's truck. 2 hours and $200 in custom work later and were off to load everything we own into my car, Boyfriend's Tacoma and this:
After deciding that we needed some help with the upcoming 839 mile trip up most of the West Coast Boyfriend and I decided to call the long-distance-driving/moving-guru, or Dad as I like to call him. Dad agreed to fly down on Saturday morning, hang out with us in San Francisco for a day, before helping us load the U-haul and drive to Seattle. NoBigDeal. Sunday morning, the day of our departure rolls around and we show up bright and early to pick up the U-Haul. We get to the guy that hooks us up with the trailer, only to find out we don't have the connection we need to hook the trailer into the lights of Boyfriend's truck. 2 hours and $200 in custom work later and were off to load everything we own into my car, Boyfriend's Tacoma and this:
Why, yes, we do have a queensize bed, large sectional sofa, 8 bazillion boxes of kitchen stuff, 3 boxes of Cash's toys, big screen TV, and all of our clothes and other shit we've accumulated over the past 7 years, that need to fit into those three locations. Thank you for asking. It became very clear around noon on Sunday, that not everything was going to fit. It was actually a lot closer than I thought, but we still had to leave a lot of stuff behind. It's funny how when you pack, it's difficult to part with things and try to decide what is most important to you. But, in the heat of the we gotta get the fuck outta here moment, you can get rid of stuff real quick like.
I wish I would have taken a picture of how full the cars were, but I was too stressed and Dad and Boyfriend were in really bad moods. So, I'll have to give you a mental image instead...to say the cars were 'uncomfortably full' would be a tremendous understatement. You couldn't see in the windows or out the mirrors. Don't worry! You don't really need those when you're towing a U-Haul (at least my Dad didn't). I was driving with a deep fryer under my arm and a laptop bag full to the brim, dangerously close to the brake pedal (oh, how I wish I was joking right now). Oh Yea! Did I mention that it was devilsballsass hot for the majority of the drive? Well, it was...Does my car have air conditioning? hell no! Poor Cash was so hot that at one point Boyfriend packed his kennel with ice. He didn't feel as bad for me...even though it was so hot a stray piece of cheese from my Taco Bell Crunchy Taco actually melted onto my jeans...no pity for me I guess, only furry animals. The poor guy (Cash not Boyfriend) did have to ride in the kennel, surrounded by clothes and other belongings, because there was no where else to put him.
We finally arrived at my Parent's house Monday afternoon, for a brief rest before our scheduled 'move in day' at the new house. Boy, did I sleep like a log that night. It was a good thing I did too, because our adventure was not over by a long shot. We get to the apartment on Tuesday. Get the U-Bitch, uhhh, I mean U-Haul into the garage and back it up to the elevator and park the truck. Super Dad has brought dollys from his work to make unloading a piece of cake, so we roll up the big U-Haul door and start unloading. OH WAIT...no, the big U-Haul rolly door WILL.NOT.OPEN. It's not a little bit stuck, not kinda opens, it's fucking not going to budge. Boyfriend and Dad (two very good sized men, if I might add) are pulling as hard as the can, all of their weight into it... it starts to creak...and an eternity later they have it open about 3 inches. Which isn't quiet enough space to get anything out...We start talking about what might have shifted and is now blocking the door, but let me remind you this thing was so fucking packed we barely got the door closed...my dad looks at me and says "Well girl, I don't know...do you have a crow bar?" Right, let me go check my purse! Since my magic bag of miracles didn't produce a crow bar, I suggest using my car jack...great idea kellsbells! We barely squeezed it into the crack under the door and started cranking. It made a horrible creaking-popping noise like you would never want to hear anything that close to all your worldly possessions make, and then finally, after a very large CRACK! It opened! And we all looked with panic to see what broke in its path.....nothing....even after unloading the whole damn thing and completely unpacking, we never found what made that awful noise. Well, that was fun, now we get to unload everything we own!
FML,
a completely exhausted kells
I wish I would have taken a picture of how full the cars were, but I was too stressed and Dad and Boyfriend were in really bad moods. So, I'll have to give you a mental image instead...to say the cars were 'uncomfortably full' would be a tremendous understatement. You couldn't see in the windows or out the mirrors. Don't worry! You don't really need those when you're towing a U-Haul (at least my Dad didn't). I was driving with a deep fryer under my arm and a laptop bag full to the brim, dangerously close to the brake pedal (oh, how I wish I was joking right now). Oh Yea! Did I mention that it was devilsballsass hot for the majority of the drive? Well, it was...Does my car have air conditioning? hell no! Poor Cash was so hot that at one point Boyfriend packed his kennel with ice. He didn't feel as bad for me...even though it was so hot a stray piece of cheese from my Taco Bell Crunchy Taco actually melted onto my jeans...no pity for me I guess, only furry animals. The poor guy (Cash not Boyfriend) did have to ride in the kennel, surrounded by clothes and other belongings, because there was no where else to put him.
We finally arrived at my Parent's house Monday afternoon, for a brief rest before our scheduled 'move in day' at the new house. Boy, did I sleep like a log that night. It was a good thing I did too, because our adventure was not over by a long shot. We get to the apartment on Tuesday. Get the U-Bitch, uhhh, I mean U-Haul into the garage and back it up to the elevator and park the truck. Super Dad has brought dollys from his work to make unloading a piece of cake, so we roll up the big U-Haul door and start unloading. OH WAIT...no, the big U-Haul rolly door WILL.NOT.OPEN. It's not a little bit stuck, not kinda opens, it's fucking not going to budge. Boyfriend and Dad (two very good sized men, if I might add) are pulling as hard as the can, all of their weight into it... it starts to creak...and an eternity later they have it open about 3 inches. Which isn't quiet enough space to get anything out...We start talking about what might have shifted and is now blocking the door, but let me remind you this thing was so fucking packed we barely got the door closed...my dad looks at me and says "Well girl, I don't know...do you have a crow bar?" Right, let me go check my purse! Since my magic bag of miracles didn't produce a crow bar, I suggest using my car jack...great idea kellsbells! We barely squeezed it into the crack under the door and started cranking. It made a horrible creaking-popping noise like you would never want to hear anything that close to all your worldly possessions make, and then finally, after a very large CRACK! It opened! And we all looked with panic to see what broke in its path.....nothing....even after unloading the whole damn thing and completely unpacking, we never found what made that awful noise. Well, that was fun, now we get to unload everything we own!
FML,
a completely exhausted kells
Friday, June 18, 2010
Going Home to the Emerald City
I decided to start this blog on the day we got approved for our dream apartment in Seattle. I am so excited to be moving home to the Pacific Northwest, where a good majority of my family and friends are. You see, I have been living in San Francisco for the better part of the last 7 years and I needed to mix things up a bit. San Francisco is, in my opinion, the best City in the world. Somehow, even though I was surrounded by fabulous bars, restaurants, and beautiful landscapes and architecture, there was no amount of substance that could drown out the fact that things were starting to wear on me. Mostly, this City is EXPENSIVE and as much as I love it I could no longer stand living with roommates. I am 25 forgodsakes, have a dream job, live with my boyfriend and our crazy dog... I DO NOT NEED TO LIVE WITH 2 OTHER PEOPLE...oh, wait, yes I do...either that or go "apartment poor." So, with approval from my Fabulous Job to relocate, in 10 days we will be packing up a u-haul and driving 12-16 hours (depending on how difficult it really is to tow a u-haul) due North to hopefully find some peace and happiness, or at the very least make life a little more interesting.
welcome to our adventure,
kells
welcome to our adventure,
kells
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