One year

It's hard to believe that it's been one year since we became Southerns.  This time last year I was making the 500 mile drive with my two dogs in the back of the car, knowing that my final destination would be at a hotel near the new house were Tom was staying with our moving truck.  We'd only stay there one night (which thank God because it definitely wasn't the Ritz) and would get the keys in the morning, but the way the moving process had gone, I was super nervous that something was going to happen that would prevent us from getting into our new home.

But alas, everything went smoothly (besides the new neighbor "introducing herself" and all of the neighborhood rules about an hour before closing, which resulted in my sobbing the entire way to closing, asking "what did we get ourselves into"). 

We love our house.  We love the South.  We love Suwanee.  We love our neighbors (well, most of them).  We love our new friends, and the weather (although I did see snow flurries yesterday and that's not cool), and the parks.  We love being close to Atlanta, but far enough away.  In other words, we made the right choice!!!

And looking back in the last year, so much has happened.  Lots of ups and downs.  Lots of being tested and being rewarded.  And in the end, Tom and I are closer than ever, a true team and that is all that matters.

This next year is going to be amazing - challenging as always, but amazing!  We have a baby on the way (you didn't know that, did you??? haha).  Tom recently was forced into a career change and although the unknown is a little unsettling (especially with me being 8 months pregnant), we're navigating through some options and ultimately will be working together again which is ideal.  We have some racing ahead of us, - new destinations, new courses, new goals.  Our sponsorships keep growing which is always fun.  I know that I'll see my family more and more this year (even if they are only coming to see Abigail, I will take it). And those friends that I mentioned loving... I know that our relationships will continue to develop and that they will be a huge part of our lives.

Thanks for sticking with me through the transition this year!

Moving on up...

Things are looking up for the Kingery's.  I buried a Saint Joseph statue on Tuesday of last week, upside-down, facing our house as instructed on the packaging (don't mock me for buying a kit for this... yes they sell them and you would have too if you saw the gleaming reviews on Amazon and the small $5 price tag).  You see, I've heard far too many stories of people burying said statue and getting an offer on their house.  Our home had been on the market just shy of two months and although we've had showings, we've had no interest.  What did we have to lose?  We were super serious throughout the whole burying processes (besides the hot pink buff that Tom was wearing on his head the whole night, and me practically crying from laughter through the prayer as we stood, holding hands in our entry way, reciting the words that the kit sent with us, Tom, still in his pink buff). But other than that, it was totally serious...

Low and behold, we got a call on Wednesday that someone wanted to see our house on Thursday.  By Friday our realtor called with some questions from the buyer.  Saturday and Sunday, Tom and I were cautiously optimistic that their person was interested, while not getting our hopes up too much.

Monday we got the call... the lady made us an offer on the house.  We countered.  She accepted.

WE ARE IN CONTRACT!!!! 

I am so excited.  I know that a lot can happen between now and the closing date (which happens to be 1/13/12), but we're moving (literally) forward with things.  I never imagined that we'd get an offer within two months of our house being listed.  Or what we'd sell for 98.9% of our listing price.  But, it's all coming together for us.  We fly our Sunday to look for houses in Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday.  And hopefully bu Christmas, we've found our new house.

Holy smokes... I could be sitting in a huge bathtub (that's one of my requirements of the new house) with a glass of wine on my birthday (which happens to be February 5th... don't worry, you have time to shop).