I’ve had this in my drafts for over a year, I’m not really sure if it was finished or if it was why I didn’t post it, but we’re just going to go with it…(new comments will be in this color)
Last time I was here I said I was back…can we all just laugh about that for a minute? This is very laughable because I still wasn’t back.
I’m not sure if it was the blog writing for my job, or just that I wasn’t very happy in that job, but my cup was empty at the end of the day. I couldn’t bring myself to write and produce content for myself. I really have only posted one Instagram post per month, too. That’s low for me.
Since we last chatted back in FEBRUARY 2019, a lot has changed in my life.
Just when you think you have the rest of your life planned out, everything can change in a minute.
To start, I was unfortunately laid off from my job a couple of months ago July 2019. So for now, ya girl is back to applying her heart out to jobs and back to the old serving job. Since ya know…money. I was due to go to Vegas in just a couple weeks after that.
This actually turned out to be a blessing. The work environment I was in was very toxic and I can see that now being in a supportive work environment. I had been wanting to leave pretty much the entire time I was there. And then…
I GOT A JOB
When I first wrote this, I was devastated that I had to go back to serving. I went to school for 5 years, and for what? And then — after just 6 short months — I managed to land my DREAM job.
For real, I used to tell people “I want to be a graphic designer for an advertising agency.” And I DO THAT NOW?! Pinch me, I still can’t believe it’s real sometimes. I recently saw an old friend and was updating him on life and he goes “That’s exactly what you wanted to do, congrats!” and I was like, “you know what, you’re right!” I just feel so lucky. And I can’t believe it has almost been a year of this job!
Starting a new job and then going into lockdown 3 months in has also been…interesting.
I started out as a graphic designer, but over the last year I have taken on a larger role of project managing and web development. The previous web developer is no longer with the company and I have since taken over all of our web operations. It is a whirlwind, but I thrive on being busy and picking up on things I don’t necessarily know. Which brings me to my next update….
And just look how fun my headshots are:
I’M GOING BACK TO SCHOOL
Because I have taken over such a large role of web development with limited formal web development education. I made the decision to go back to school at Metro Community College. I actually started my first classes this week!
A little bit about me… when someone asks me to do something I’m not the type of person to say “No, I don’t know how to do that.” I’m very much a ‘Yes’ person. I’ll take the thing I don’t know how to do and mess with it (with the help of Google, of course) until I figure it out. This has become quite a frustration for me in my web pursuits, because not everything in web is “figure-out-able.” You kind of need an education.
So that is why I decided to go back. And I NEVER thought I would be back in school. Friends would talk about getting their Master’s degree and I would say, “couldn’t be me.” You can ask anyone, they will confirm. Me and school are not good friends. BUT it had everything to do with taking courses that I felt were unnecessary, to complete my degrees. This time I am just taking what I need and I’m not going for the degree.
WE OWN A HOME
Exactly the same day I was laid off in July 2019, Dan and I had plans to go apply for a home loan and were approved for a HOUSE. A whole house! Again, I still can’t believe it.
We found the house of our dreams on day one with our realtor. White cabinets, grey subway tile, brand new wood floors and deck. It is perfect for us and our budget.
But we were beat out by another couple…
This was the second house we saw and we immediately put an offer on it, writing a heartfelt letter to the seller to sell them on us. We poured our souls into this letter and went in above asking price, but they chose the other couple for technical reasons related to our loan.
We were so crushed.
We saw a lot of duds after that. Like REAL duds. A house with carpet stains and cockroaches {I wish I was kidding}, a house that was flipped very poorly and a house way out of the area we wanted to live. We were getting very bogged down by it all. Looking back on this it’s kind of funny now because we only looked at houses for ONE WEEK, get real Jess.
We were hoping for the couple that bought “our house” to back out. Our realtor said we would be chasing that type of house and I felt that over just one week. We were impatient and there wasn’t a lot on the market in our price range. Every house we liked was also selling in less than a day. Also, our lease was about to be up in the apartment.
Then, a miracle happened.
The couple I mentioned above, the one that beat us out for our dream house, BACKED OUT OF THEIR OFFER.
Why did they back out, you ask? You’re going to love this.
The previous owners of the house had cats and this was apparently a dealbreaker for the couple. My love for cats just increased times a million, if that was even possible. Who would have thought that the existence of cats would get us into our house??
We put in our previous offer again and it was accepted!
Move-in day? The day I got back from Vegas. It’s fine.
It was actually perfect because the lease on our apartment was up at the end of September.
We were counting down the days until we could get out of the dark dungeon of our apartment and move into our dream house. Every single day we said we wished we were moving today. And now we’re here and it’s EVERYTHING.
Every day we just look around at everything and can’t believe it’s ours. The best part of the house is the sunlight that floods in from every direction, bouncing off our *new* white walls. It’s just so bright and beautiful.
Over the last year, we haven’t done much to remodel other than the paint and some light fixtures, but we certainly have made this house into a home. It’s the perfect space for us!
INTERIOR DESIGN COMING
I have pretty much designed our entire house since finding out we got it. The first step was painting everything white. And it made such a difference! From green-grey in the main room and master, two colors of bright pink in the bedroom, bright yellow in the other bedroom and dark blue in the main bathroom — it’s a new house {but someone please remind me to hire painters next time…I’m exhausted}.
In the coming months, I will try to get some content up about everything we’re doing and where I got it all. I literally can’t wait to start my interior design project on our HOME. Ugh I just can’t stop saying that WE HAVE A HOME!
I am going to share our plans for the house so soon. I have a vision for each room (they change all the time though) and I can’t WAIT to see it all come together!
Thanks for patiently waiting for me to get my sh*t together and, as always, for reading this little blog of mine. I really do love writing and hope to get back to it more consistently real soon.