Life and Links: We Moved!

Last Updated on January 11, 2020 by JaimeSays

Oof! You may have noticed that there was a two week stretch this month where I didn’t publish anything, and that my posts weren’t going up on the same days I usually set them.

That’s because my husband and I bought our first home! We looked at about 25 homes in one weekend before we found the one late on that Sunday evening. While there were many good ones on the market, either the neighborhood or disclosures made us pass. Frustrated after spending months on Zillow and Redfin narrowing down options, a new listing popped up that I knew we needed to see. We visited the property Monday and Tuesday, and made an offer by Wednesday. Five weeks later, it was ours!

Note: the main photo is not our house. It just was a beautiful secret garden I saw on a Discover DuPage walk.

It’s quite daunting moving from a 630 square foot apartment to a full size home, so furnishing and home decor is certainly our main agenda for the summer. We’ve also left Chicago for the suburbs. Making sure our garden thrives is another major to-do. I’ve already spent about five hours this week weeding and that was incredibly satisfying.

Just a couple of happy homeowners, enjoying having a yard.

And Then Our Car Died.

In the same week that we made the most expensive purchase of our lives, our car died. Full stop. Right after I had put brand new tires on the darn thing! Our mechanic tinkered with it and told us, “I’d drive this to a dealership while it’s still running.” Yikes.

So we bought a new car the same week we bought the house. It’s humbling watching your bank account shrivel in so short a period of time. Even the bank gave us an automated alert, saying “You spent XXX this week. That’s high for you.” No kidding.

This unexpected expense along with some other surprises means that we have to miss the French wedding of some friends of ours. That realization came with a lot of yelling and tears. Not only are they dear to us, Eddie and I both love France. Merde.

What’s Next?

Sunset on Lake Superior — With this kind of sunset, it’s no surprise we’re heading back to Michigan for Memorial Day.

Last Memorial Day, my mom and I hit up Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, visiting Laurium, the Porcupine Mountains, and Houghton. This year, we’re heading back to Michigan! I’m working with Visit Charlevoix to explore the area of Northern Michigan just down the road from Petoskey, where I spent some time this winter. My mom’s family has roots in Charlevoix county, so we can’t wait to investigate some of our family history while enjoying local recreation.