Welcome back!

Aloha! Ahoy there! Hallo! Hola!

Hi friends, and welcome back. Apologies for the unannounced hiatus, but do you have any idea how much work it is to simultaneously fix up a house for sale, get it listed, and accommodate last-minute showings while still meeting all the deadlines on your new build?

We definitely underestimated the kind of chaos we were in for last month. So, while I'm sad I didn't get to spend time here, we made SO much progress in this whole adventure and I'm feeling really optimistic that our house will sell relatively soon :)

How do we feel about a "quick" recap?

Here's the rundown on everything we knocked out last month (including a few social events, because let's be real - we definitely weren't working 100% of that time). I realize it's not actually that short, but if you have any desire to hear about any of these topics in more detail, let me know in the comments!

1. New carpet installed throughout the entire house - did you know you have to move EVERYTHING off the carpet in order for the installers to come in? This was probably the absolute worst thing we've had to deal with in our house in the 6 years we've lived here. Very hazardous. Lots of teetering stacks of stuff in our den and kitchen.

2. Selection meetings for all of our finishes in the new house - there's totally a separate post on this coming up, but in a nutshell we chose: shower doors, bathroom mirrors, flooring (engineered hardwood, carpet, and vinyls), shower tile, exterior stone, cabinets, counters, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and appliances. All in a 2-week period. Yeesh!

3. Two much-needed movie nights with our group of friends - the SWATH crew (more on wtf this actually means later, I promise) makes a point to see comic, sci-fi, and sometimes even action movies on opening night. It's gotten to a point where we have actually rented out an entire theater for our ever-expanding group (Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Avengers: Infinity War). We had a group of about 20 for the two May releases, Deadpool 2 and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Let me tell you - I NEEDED THIS. Some time to kick back, laugh, and enjoy new installments to a couple of my favorite franchises. And I DID enjoy them both immensely.

4. Mortgage paperwork - the boring stuff. We locked in our interest rate for our new mortgage, since rates are likely to increase before we actually sign in September. Soooo adulty.

5. Final listing prep - ok, this got a little out of hand. Thank the stars for two friends who actually ENJOY the pain of manual labor. We had 3 full truckloads of utter crap that needed hauled to the dump, so we enlisted the help of some of our favorite humans, who also happen to possess a truck. Very lucky for us. After hauling all that junk, they stuck around for the rest of the day & helped us clean up our front yard - we pulled weeds, pulled a half dozen bushes, trimmed everything back, and cleared the leaves that were left over from last fall. My gratefulness knows no bounds for these two, seriously.

6. Deep cleaning - after all the hard stuff was done, we deep cleaned the whole house, starting with the kitchen (ew).

ADULTING TIP: don't start your oven's self-clean feature when you're about to spend hours in the kitchen scrubbing every surface. That shit gets toasty.

7. Listing chaos - more paperwork, yayyyy. And then scrambling to figure out what to do with our pets while the photographer came through. And then obsessively refreshing our browser windows waiting for the listing to magically appear. And then sharing it on every social media outlet known to man.

8. Showings - we had 4 showings the first week, during which time we also had to remove both pets from the house. Our dog, Hayden, has loved every second of it. He gets to go to Kyle's parents' house and run around their giant yard, while Ernie (the cat) has panic attacks in the car on the way to my mom's & hides under the bed the whole time he's there. He no longer trusts me to pick him up. Poor buddy.

9. Anniversary - FIVE YEARS. Kyle & I celebrated our milestone wedding anniversary by going out for a steak & lobster dinner, then out for a night cap, and then back home & early to bed. It was very adulty.

Whew. That mostly covers it. There were some Dr. appointments and dance classes in there, but those are all just a regular part of life by now. We usually try to keep things a bit more low-key, and I'm DEFINITELY ready for a mental health day, but we totally survived!

The next things we'll have to share are building progress photos, a round-up of the finishes we chose for the house, dance recital, and selling progress. I'm also due for a sleep study this month, so I'll probably have some details on what that experience is like.

Leave me a comment if you can relate to this kind of jam-packed month! Let me know I'm not alone *sob*

What I'm up to:

• Reading: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia (re-read. one of my favorites)
  
• Watching: a LOT of Fixer Upper
  
• Obsessing over: PLANTS. I've officially become a crazy plant lady. I've managed to keep my new houseplant friends alive for months, and it's safe to say I'm addicted. Check out the hashtag #idrinkandigrowthings on Instagram for some HELLA inspiring plant pics.
• Geeking about: SOLO WAS SO GOOD, YOU GUYS. I LOVED IT. I need to add a Lando Funko to my collection next!