It is about 6 pm and after a pretty lovely day of sunshine and 50-something temperatures, it started clouding over around 4pm and then started sprinkling just the littlest bit.  Well, the temperature has dropped and it is now snowing AND thundering outside - what a crazy mix, but I have to say I LOVE the thunder and am really excited about our new home's climate!

After moving into our house, spending many copious hours unpacking almost all our boxes, getting a sinus/lung infection and then a stomach bug on top of it all, we are finally in Mexico!  It is our annual Little family holiday and 14 of our clan are here at the El Cid resort, located just south of Cancun on the Riviera Maya.  This is the first time in 10 years we have stayed at a hotel vs. a private house and it has its up and downsides. 

We are on the "all-inclusive" plan so I am still getting used to the fact that every time a nice little wait-person comes by asking me for a drink, it is already paid for and I don't need to automatically say "no" to an overpriced cocktail. Also, there is a huge pool with a huge faux stone grotto that the kids love with a huge slide and 10 foot jumping pool.  There is more food than we can possibly eat at the various buffets and tonight we are having a sit-down dinner at one of the five restaurants. On the beach they have lovely palapas under which to lounge on the nice loungers and there are kayaks, boogie boards and paddle boats to use on the ocean.  All of these are lovely amenities.

On the other hand, there are lots of people here and although the hotel stipulates they don't take "spring breakers", there is still a bit of that mentality with the daily pool aerobics and various other activities all done to loud music.  Since none of us are into the group thing, and really like the privacy and intimacy of a private house, this atmosphere is a big change. 

However, it is really fun to catch up with the family in a warm and beautiful place and we are all having a wonerderful time in the sun, sand and surf!!

El Cid Resort - the view from our room

We got the keys to our house yesterday!!  I was in there today cleaning a little bit before the movers come tomorrow & the next day - thankfully the old owners really cleaned up nicely and had the kitchens and bathrooms professionally cleaned.  We will just need to do some touch up painting, but other than that, it is ready to move in!

A very quick update to the rest of what has been going on -  I just got back from NYC and visiting my friend Amy. It was a last minute trip, but it was a great way for me to get my mind off everything that is going to happen this week.  While there we drove down, with our friend January, to D.C. to stay with another friend, Sara, and attend the "D.C. Big Flea". This is my second time, but the rest are all experienced flea-ers and we made it through two HUGE warehouse-like buildings in one day. I found a few treasures and can't wait to see what they will look like in our new house.

This week is going to be crazy but I will try and post some new pictures soon of the new house!

Yesterday I caught the Oprah show and it made my design encounter with Nate Burkas make sense!  The show was on a whole house make-over for a deserving family in none other than Kirkland, Washington!! This is the community just North of Bellevue, so Nate & friend must have been looking for a few accessories to go with all the Pottery Barn furniture which was featured in the show.

Interesting to think that was just a couple weeks ago and the show just aired yesterday - that is some quick production!

I was running errands and I threw my handbag onto the seat next to me, like I do everyday. This time, however, my car started dinging at me.

I was unsure at first what my car was trying to tell me since it is a new car, but then I noticed the "passenger airbag light" was illuminate - so being the math genius I am, put two and two together and lifted my bag off the seat. 

Needless to say it stopped dinging at me and I start laughing at myself. 

Guess I need to stop carrying around all those errands with me!

This past Sunday, as Reeves and I were browsing around the local Bellevue Crate & Barrel for furniture ideas for our new home, I heard this voice behind saying something innocuous like "what about this one" or "no, that one over there" - turning around, as I am always curious what other people are shopping for, I first saw this tall stylish man (obviously gay as few straight men dress that well, especially on a Sunday morning) then I heard the voice again from the other man who was with him, but had his back to me, which sounded strangely familiar. Since it had to be a couple, I though hmmmm....I want to know what they are buying so I can get ideas on what they think is worth viewing. 

I heard the voice again and in that instant, the shorter of two men turned around. If it wasn't for hearing the voice first, I don't think I would have recognized him as he had a knit cap pulled down, was in a bit of a scruffy coat and had about a weeks worth of stubble going on. It was Nate Burkus the interior designer made famous by Oprah!! 

We made eye contact (and he has great eyes) as I almost ran into him since he tuned around about 3 feet in front of me. Not wanting to do an obvious double take, I walked past him trying to pretend to look at more furniture, whispering to Reeves who he was - from which Reeves said "who???" :) 

I really wanted to subtly follow him around to get some free design direction, but they soon went down the escalator and I am sure kept moving so not to be recognized. 

I was really impressed I actually recognized him as I am really bad about celebrity sightings - usually I am too into getting done what ever it is I need to get done to worry about who is around me!

I also am wondering what Nate was doing in Washington?!?!

For the past two months we have spent WAY too much time on Redfin looking at houses.  Being in Ireland and having no way of "looking" at homes till last week, it was our lifeline in starting to determine what we wanted out of a house. 

Since Redfin aggregates home listing, using the MLS as its database source, it is the best way for the average home buyer to see basically everything that real estate agents can see. (including the $36 million property on Mercer Island overlooking Lake Washington!)

Needless to say Redfin has been a daily obsession seeing what is new on the market, what prices are changed, and if the status of the house has changed from being "active" to "Subject to Inspection" - basically this means the house is under contract and unless something extraordinary happens, it if off the market.

Well, just in the past few hours our house went "subject to inspection" - YAY!!!!!  One more sign we are on the way there! :)

After a very busy and stressful week, we had a nice and relaxing weekend recuperating.  I can't believe it is only week two!

Today I started getting into the swing of things and went to Whole Foods for the first time in a year and a half and I have to say I really had missed it!!  We are so spoiled here by all the wonderful selection of foods - from the bounty of fresh fruit and veggies to the vast selection of every boxed product you can imagine. 

In Ireland, it was not unusual, in fact it was usually the norm, for me to not find several items on my list because they were out of stock.  To qualify this, it was not that I was just picky about brand, many products only have one brand stocked - for example, I wanted to buy yeast to make some pizza dough - they were out and wouldn't be getting any in for two weeks! (and this is at Tesco - equivalent size to a Safeway)

I am excited to settle in again and start a routine and get into life, including even the grocery shopping!

After a week, where we didn't think we could possibly fit in any more life changes, we ended up going under contract on a house we are totally excited about moving into! 

As of last night about 11:30 pm (we LOVE our real estate agent - let us know if you need one as he is so great) we accepted the counter offer and we were under contact.  Due to the extra-ordinary ability of Ken (and his partner, aka, wife, Lauren) we were able to get the paperwork back into the other agent last night and be under contract by this morning, with an inspection scheduled for 9 am today. 

We met with the inspector (he was also the best with which we have ever dealt - go Steve of Home & Building Services, Inc.!) and he had nothing but a glowing report of the house - in fact, he said it was in the top 10% of homes he has inspected in a while (in regards to quality). And this is the same inspector which flat out told our real estate agent to not buy a house he really wanted.  So, needless to say, we are really stoked about the house, the location (which does have some nice views of downtown Seattle) and the quality of the fittings. 

While we don't want to count our ducks till the fat lady sings, we are ecstatic about our choice and looking forward to moving in on March 3rd!

Here are a few pictures of the house:

The Living room (the kitchen is to the left)

The beautiful kitchen - living room is to the right

  Not so good exterior shot taken through the windshields of our car