Spring is here

I've been having fun playing with the new camera.  Yesterday was a gorgeous day in Atlanta and I took full advantage of getting to know some of the settings.  Amazing what this thing can do (knowing full well that I'm not a photographer at all!)

Can't wait to keep playing!

To the left...

Do you know that really annoying Beyonce song called "Irreplaceable"?  If you don't know which one I'm talking about, it's where she sings:

"To the left, to the left
Everything you own is in a box to the left"

(You're welcome... you will now be singing it over and over and over.  I'm the best, aren't I?)

Anyway, this is the story of my life right now.  Except it is more like "everything I own is in a truck to the left (of the driveway)".  I can't stop singing it.

So I haven't updated things on our move to Atlanta.  Partly because I've been so frustrated that I don't want to bring everyone down with my sadness and frustration.  Partly because I don't want to jinx us.  Today we got some good news so I can share!

So back up just a bit.  We were in contract in a house that I posted pictures of here (mistake number one... don't post pictures of something that's not final).  We were super excited and fairly far along in the process when we found out that the garage was sinking in and that it would cost up to $20k to fix.  Uh... yeah.  That's not going to happen.  So we terminated the contract on a Friday in mid February and went to Atlanta to start over on the next day.  I was devastated... more because of the prospect of having to start completely over, knowing that I was being kicked out of my house in Delaware at the end of February.  We kept getting kicked when we were down. We ended up looking in a different part of town and fell in love.  With multiple houses.

Long story short - we found a great house, put an offer in, it was sloooooowly accepted and we've been in contract since mid-February.  Our buyer in Ohio graciously let us stay through the 16th of March... thinking that was plenty of time. Of course we could close in a month.

The second thing I've learned throughout this process is that never assume anything.  Ever.

The process has taken longer than expected, and last Thursday, we packed all of our belongings.  There were boxes everywhere!!!

We rented a 24 foot truck and the guys that loaded our truck did an amazing job - and they packed it to the brim!!!  (**kudos to Two Men and a Truck!!!)

With everything we owned in the back of the truck,  we drove away one last time and moved in with the in-laws.  Luckily they live on 7 acres so the truck is sitting on the driveway, just waiting to be moved to Atlanta.  We are living out of suitcases, with a mock office in a spare bedroom.  So there you have it... everything I own is in a truck on the left (of the driveway). 

We have been sitting patiently to see if when we would be moving forward with this house.  And today the call came... we have a closing date!

YAHOO!!!!

So, I can officially say that I'm moving to Atlanta.  We will get the keys to our new house next Thursday.  I am a big 'ole ball of emotions right now.

Haha...and you thought that I would show you pictures... not a chance!  Until those keys are in my hand, I'm not sharing that!  But, I will tell you... it's way better than the first one that we were in contract on and that Tom and I are in love with it!!!

So excuse my absence, and my lack of commenting on your blogs (I have been reading!). Things will probably be a little crazy for maybe another week or two.

But crazy is good!

When dirty girl isn't an insult...

You never want to be a called a dirty girl.  Am I right people? :)  Yeah, you know I'm right.  But I am super excited to get the opportunity to race the Dirty Girl race in Atlanta next month.

Don't know what the Dirty Girl is?  Well, it's a 5k obstacle mud run for women.  The race series debuted last year, and this year they have races in eight cities planned, with a total of 15 on the radar for 2012!  Atlanta just happens to be right after I move (yes, I'm actually moving and that will be another post soon).  What a perfect way for me to get to find other like minded crazies to have some fun with.

Because really, mixing a 5k with some obstacles with names like "H2OMG", "The Hangover", "Just get over it" and "PMS - Pretty Muddy Stuff", I'm pretty sure that I will have laughed hard enough to get a full body workout.

And the best part is, a portion of all entries go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Last year, Dirty Girl donated over $50,000 to the National Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation.  And they give 250 cancer survivors free registration and special recognition at each race in 2012.

So a fun race and a great cause.

I'm all over that.

So if you are in Atlanta (*cough* *cough* Jill, Andree, Kacie, Charity, Karen) and want to join in the fun, sign up.  We could make a fun team and probably laugh ourselves silly to the finish line!

After all the craziness that I call life these last few months, I think this is the perfect way to kick off my race season!




**FitFluential LLC compensated me for this campaign.  All thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are my own.

Home is where my heart is...

And as of February 27th, we'll have a new house to call home! :)

I couldn't have been more excited then on Thursday, 4.5 hours into my drive to Atlanta, when our realtors called and said that the bank had accepted our offer on the house we really wanted.  We had totally planned our future in this house so I'm glad that I didn't have to go through any heartache!  It's been a long journey to get there (I know, I know.. it's only been like 2.5 months and that I'm such a baby, but this is my blog and my life and I can honestly say that it felt like an eternity), but we are happy to know we won't be homeless in a month.

I'm excited to make this house our home.  For those of you that have been to our Delaware house, you'll know that we took a run down 1905 house and completely revamped it to be "us".  Anyone that came in always said "this house is so Tom and Colleen".  And we have big plans to make the new house truly "ours".

If home is where the heart is, I'm in luck... I LOVE this house!!!

I'll wait

Patience is something that I'm learning I lack, but generally need in this whole moving process.  A lot of people had asked what's going on with our transition to Atlanta and well, I wish I had more to give you.  Last Friday, we closed on the house here in Delaware.  As of midnight, we were officially renters of our home.  Super exciting news in this economy is that we sold our house in less than 60 days and were able to get 98% of our asking price for the house.  That was a huge relief.

The not so exciting news is that we have been through the ringer with Atlanta houses.  We've put seven (SEVEN PEOPLE) offers in on houses and all have fallen through for reasons that were out of our control.  Literally one seller took $15,000 less than we were offering so that she could close 17 days sooner. It's to the point where our realtors actually call and say "we are so sorry that this is happening to you again and again".  Awesomesauce!

I know that I need to be patient, but this saying couldn't be more true!

We find things we like.  We just find things that other people like faster.

We have an offer in on a house right now and have been countering with a bank for over a week.  They aren't so quick to respond - they own it and obviously aren't that concerned with getting rid of it.  I don't know how long I have it in me before I walk away and start the process of searching again.  I don't know how much energy I have left in me to continue this process though. We have until the end of February to rent our house in Ohio.  Then we have to move.

We really want this house.  And I'll continue to wait...

Seven Atlanta "things"

Kevin at Ironman by Thirty knows that I've been kind of in a blogging funk lately (aka, I don't do anything but ramble when I do actually post and my brain just can't think of anything exciting to write about).  So he tagged me in a post in which I have to list 7 things that I'm looking forward to in Atlanta.  This should be easy!!!

1.)  Roads with undulations.  I love the fact that I live in the country and can get to an empty road in 3 miles, but... there aren't any hills.  This is a typical road in Delaware and while pretty, just doesn't do anything for making me a better biker!

2.) The sports teams... just think of all the new things Tom and I can do on "date" night.  As a matter of fact, we're going to see the Atlanta Hawks play the Chicago Bulls when we are there in two weeks!  YAY for professional sports teams!

 3.) Chick-fil-a on every corner.  I love me some Chick-fil-a.   I love the way the company is run.  I love the people that work there.  I love their chicken sandwiches and their waffle fries.  I probably won't love the amount of weight I will gain from having one on every corner though. 

4.) The history.  The south has so much rich history and I'm excited to learn more about it.  Tom and I love that Delaware is an old town... by that I mean the main street has most of the original buildings, many of which just by looking at, you can imagine what is looked like in the 1800's.  There's something really cool about what makes a city and I know that Atlanta has an amazingly extensive history that we get to explore.

5.) Learning all of the Peachtree streets and whatnot.  hehehe... I swear, every road you turn on is a Peachtree, or every shopping center is a Peachtree.  Should make things fun when giving directions - "turn left on Peachtree and then pass the Peachtree mall and then make a slight right on Peachtree, past Peachtree Church." 

6.) The close proximity to other cities - In Delaware, we are 2 hours from Cincinnati and 2 hours from Cleveland.  And while those two cities are fun, after 31 years, there isn't a whole lot new to see.  Within just  a few hours drive from Atlanta, I can go to Athens, Chattanooga, Augusta, Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery, Knoxville, Nashville, Charlotte and Savannah.  Hello lots of things to do!!!

7.) People want to come visit.  I've lived for 10 years in Delaware and although it's a lovely town, people aren't really quick to say "hey, I'd love to come visit".  When we tell people that we are moving to Atlanta, most of them say "I can't wait to come visit".  I am so excited to have people come here, be it to actually visit me or as a stop over on another trip, to come train with us or to escape the cold.  It will be fun to show all of my friends and family our new town!

Sometimes I get sad about leaving (for instance, yesterday, when I burst into tears at my family Christmas), but I realize that there are so many great things that lie ahead of me in Atlanta.  The possibilities are endless.  The adventures will be fun!

And luckily plane tickets are easy to buy if I miss my small town!

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).

"Georgia On My Mind"

So, what do the following things have in common???

• 71 streets with the name "Peachtree" in it
• The largest 10k race in the world
• Headquarters to The Coca-Cola Company, The Home Depot, and Delta Air Lines  
• Birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr.
• Home of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games
• Home of the Braves, Falcons and Hawks

If you guessed Atlanta, you are right.  And if you guessed that we are moving there, bonus points to you!!!

So that's why I've been a little M.I.A lately in bloggy land (okay, one of the reasons).  Our house is for sale and as soon as it sells, we're relocated.  I'm so freaking excited!!!!

Tom got offered a new job with his team, a job that fits him perfect, but one stipulation was that they needed him to be at the team headquarters.  So, Atlanta it is.

I've always wanted to live in the south but never really had a reason (or the guts) to move.  I mean, my my family is here, my friends are here, I love my house, my business is settled here, it's flat, etc.  So to up and relocate with no real reason other than it's gotta be better weather than Ohio from November to May couldn't really be justified. 

Now we have a good reason... a very good reason!

I'm excited, albeit a bit overwhelmed with everything.  We spent Friday and Saturday of this past weekend in Atlanta, just driving around, looking at different areas, houses for sale, commute times for Tom, etc.  It definitely helped with my comfort in the fact that I'm moving.

Now we just need good vibes that we sell this house in Delaware before the winter hits!!!  We have two showings tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed!!!

Oh... and Run Across America starts on Thursday - I'll get more information about that this week.  My hubby is leaving for 20 days to run across the USA.  And I wonder why I keep having little freak outs. :)