Our First House : Home Tour

Oh look, a house tour...a year and a half later! But seriously, these pictures are better than any I could have taken, so we're rolling with it. 

It's very surreal seeing these pictures. It still hasn't hit me yet that we are moving, so seeing these is just really weird. It's also the cleanest the house has EVER been. Anyone who has been to it and knows me can vouch for that. I don't think the duvet on our bed has actually ever been ON the bed before this week. If this isn't motivation to always keep a clean house, I don't know what is!

So here we go, our first home! (Picture overload...)

-The front of the home-

-First of two spare bedrooms downstairs, with doors to the "backyard"-

-Jack-n-Jill bathroom downstairs-

-The second of the two guest bedrooms downstairs-

-Second floor landing-

-Living room with doors to lead out to balcony-

-Living room, view of the rock wall-

-View from the living room into the kitchen area, with stairs leading to the third floor-

-Kitchen, from the dining room-

-Kitchen, view from the sink-

-Kitchen, with view into dining room-

-Dining room with view into kitchen-

 -Dining room, with coffee station to the right (they took the coffee maker and tray off!-

-View of dining room and kitchen-

-Half bath on second floor-

-Master bedroom-

-Master bathroom-

-Bonus room/office/craft room-

-Reading nook. My little slice of heaven!-

-"Backyard"

-We are going to miss it!-

Phew! Lots of pictures. Not pictured is the laundry room, which is between the master and the office on the third floor. When we moved in, the office was the media room, hence the stage. We planned to use it as a nursery if that time came. 

It was the perfect first house for us - I will seriously miss it. 

We're moving to Mexico!

Juuuuust kidding. But seriously, close enough. Want to see how close?

See how close Brownsville is to Matamoros? As in, Matamoros, MEXICO? Yea. Super close. Super fun! (Sarcasm font needed.)

Let me fill you in. A has been working down there for the past 5 months. They have, surprisingly, gone by super fast, but that might be because his company pays for him to come back once a month for a weekend...with a few visits paid for by us sprinkled in. Well...two weeks ago we got his new assignment contract and they changed the terms to a relocation one. We are getting a lump sum to relocate to Brownsville. (MEXICO) It's slated right now to finish up in May of 2016. If I stayed in Houston, that would be us paying for every trip home for an entire year and a half. Aka - spending all and then some of his bonus and the extra bump in pay he's getting to be down there. And I wouldn't say these past 5 months have been easy, so I'm not sure I could handle another year and a half of it! 

We found out about the relocation on January 8th, and decided for sure that I would move down there  on the 14th. I gave notice at my job on the 15th (my new-ish job! I moved on and have been doing Social Media/Marketing for a local antique store. So fun!) and we decided on the 16th to sell our house. (Sidenote - I never did a house tour when we moved in, but you're in luck! Fancy realtor pictures mean I can finally do one. As we are moving! Check back in Thursday.) I met with the realtors on the 21st, and they were back again today to do a final walk through and take the fancy pictures. It goes on the market the 29th, we have an open house on the 31st, and then we move everything out on February 2nd and drive it all to our new (rented) house in Brownsville.

I am exhausted just typing all of that. 

This was a really tough decision for us to make - I went back and forth for a few days over staying here and "toughing it out" or moving down there. And then do we sell or lease the house? In the end we made the decision that was right for us and our marriage, and I know some people aren't happy about it, but it really is the best thing for us. Do you know how hard it is to think about starting a family when your husband lives six hours away?! HARD! My entire family is in Houston, I have three perfect nephews in Houston, we have an amazing house in Houston...but my husband is in Brownsville so that's where I have to be. 

And as of February 2nd...I will no longer be employed. For the first time since 2008. I will have more than just a week off once a year (who can take all three weeks of their vacation when you are so stressed out being away??) for the first time since 2010. I'm incredibly nervous about this aspect, but we're not going into it blindly. We won't lose money, even while we still own the house, and it'll be a lot easier once we sell. I plan on looking for jobs as soon as we move and get settled, but Brownsville is a totally different job market than Houston. Not to mention...I'm no where near bilingual. It's pretty much a requirement down there. I'm looking into (finally) going through alternative certification and teaching, and I am overly excited about that, but trying not to be because nothing is set in stone. 

Overall, I'm really just happy to be back with my husband full time. I know there are many, many people who have it worse than this, but man, it's still been pretty rough! 

(It's much easier to blog when you don't have a job. Aka, why I am back. And I have no friends in Brownsville. MEXICO.)