Tis The Season...

It's been about 2 months since we got married and about a month since we moved in to our house. It's coming along, slowly but surely. We're trying our best to make it "our own", but it seems to be rather difficult when the funds are limited! Here's a picture of the house before we even moved into it...please, do not mind Cory...

I'll try to post pictures as we change things, but so far, we've pretty much just tackled trimming the hideous bushes in the front yard (as you can see) and painting the fireplace mantle. FYI-I HATE our fireplace-and by hate, I mean HATE :) Painting the mantle has done it some justice, however, I would love to demolish all of the stones and redo the whole thing...they tell me it would be quite a task...we'll see ;)
BEFORE

AFTER (Mantle)

Don't mind the boxes, either...after a month, we're still moving in! Next project(s): paint, buy a refrigerator (we're currently borrowing Cory's cousin Jared's spare-thanks!), and decorate. Big projects: install a fence, redo the sunroom, put in hardwood floors and tile the bathrooms, new kitchen cabinets. Whew. It's going to be a busy year! Thank to everyone who offered to keep us when we got back from the honeymoon...you are very special people and we love you dearly.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

WE'RE CLOSING!!

So, we really never thought the day would come.

WE'RE CLOSING ON OUR HOUSE NOVEMBER 18, 2009!

It is a miracle :) Never did I ever think it would be so difficult to buy a house, especially with today's market the way it is. Boy, was I wrong!! It's been awhile since I've blogged, so let me catch you all up to speed....

We got outbid on the first house with the basement/pool...bummer.

We didn't get house #2 we bid on b/c the buyers wouldn't come down....bummer. (They wanted way to much for a house they purchased 6 months previously for almost $50K less for! We later found out that they are most likely paying a 2nd mortgage on it and couldn't afford to lose the money so it will most likely sit until it gets foreclosed on. Double bummer b/c it's too gorgeous of a house to sit).

**At this point, we have literally looked at EVERY house in Henry and Coweta counties. Seriously.**

House #3 we bid on-yay....we got it!! Right? Wrong! We go through the whole entire process with everyone telling us everything on our end looks great, nothing to worry about, we'll be able to close in the next week. Literally, ONE day after we were told this information, we were told that it fell through and we weren't going to be able to get the house. WTF?! Mind you, this is also September 11 (ironic), where many other unfortunate events happened to us in the same day.

So, 3 weeks before our wedding, we were left homeless and clueless as what to do next. I couldn't understand. It's so easy for the people on House Hunters and Property Virgins-why couldn't it be the same way for us?!

Anyways, we looked and looked and looked and looked and came back from the honeymoon still homeless, married, and still living with our parents. Cory & I had ourselves a little "come to Jesus meeting" if you will. A house we had looked at right before we left for Florida was still on the market when we returned. It wasn't anything we wanted or were looking for, but it was move-in ready and $70K cheaper than the other house we almost bought. Basically, we could buy this house and it be cheaper than renting. We bid, we won, and now we're closing! Whew!

So, we're soon moving into our 3BR/2BA simple little ranch on 1.5 acres....but we're excited. It's going to be ours and that is what really matters :)

Thanks to all of my lovely friends, family, & coworkers for allowing me to constantly vent my frustrations about our house hunting process!!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Well, unfortunately we got outbid on the house that we thought was for sure our dream house. But, we've moved on and have been looking non-stop...all over McDonough, Locust Grove, Newnan, and Sharpsburg. Mom took us out to Newnan yesterday to look at a couple houses and truthfully, we found great potential in every one of them. BUT, only one really stuck out :) It's a 4BR/2BA on 1.6 acres and is practically move-in ready, which I love! I wouldn't mind a fixer-upper, but a move-in ready is so much easier! The house is beautiful and we have decided to put an offer on it...here we go again. (I really thought buying a house would be much easier). I'll post pictures galore if we get it.

July 3rd was our 3 month mark til the wedding!! This past Saturday I met with all of my bridesmaids at the dress shop and it was the first time we had all been there at one time, which made me super happy! They looked so great in their dresses. Lately, I've been second guessing every decision we've made about the wedding, including their dresses and the color, but once I saw them on, I'm glad I went with brown instead of blue. Here's a few pictures of our day...none of my dress, of course ;)

Holly, Me, Sarah

Sarah, Amber, Echo, Holly

We'll keep you posted about the house offer :)

Our first blog....

Once upon a time, a boy named Cory met a girl named Jennifer and they quickly fell in love.

Fast forward 3 years-we're engaged, with 3 months and 10 days until the wedding (ahhhhh!), looking for our dream house with a tiny little budget, and I am currently trying to survive my first big-girl job as a nurse! Whew!

We are so excited about our wedding and each day that passes we (or rather I!) find something new to add to the ceremony or reception :) There's just so many great ideas for a destination wedding....the problem is trying to keep it within budget. Never did I EVER imagine weddings would be so dang expensive. People want to charge you an arm & a leg for anything wedding related-it's sickening actually. I started out wanting to DIY most of our stuff, however, trying to do so while finishing up nursing school was just not going to happen. But, so far everything has turned out great and we couldn't be happier! **Thanks to my parents for helping us out!**

On another wedding related note, we FINALLY booked our honeymoon! After months of debating where to go for the best price, we picked The Grand Palladium Resort & Spa in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Hopefully we do not get ran out by hurricanes! As much as we wanted to go to the Turks & Caicos Islands, that'll have to be a 1 year anniversary trip!

We've also been house hunting for quite some time and it is so exhausting/frustrating/exciting all at the same time. The minute you think you find your dream house, you also find that it's under contract or someone has outbid you, etc. From the moment we began talking about a house, we've wanted to move to Coweta County-it is such a nice area with nice schools and close to the interstate. We found a house we really loved down there in Sharpsburg, but have been too busy to go down and really walk around inside. In the meantime, my mom found a house right down the road from our current house and it truly couldn't be more perfect for us. It has everything and I mean everything we have been looking for in a house-3BR/2.5BA, an office, a formal dining room, cherry kitchen cabinets, a massive basement, a huge fenced in backyard for our dog, and.......an INGROUND POOL! Bonus: it's a foreclosure and cheaper than any house we've looked at thus far! So, we're putting an offer on it-wish us luck :)