Update

So much has happened since the last time I wrote, so to start off my new series of blog entries I thought I would bring everyone up to speed after a few months of hiatus!

1) We sold our house and moved out May 25th! It ended up being a private sale to a co-worker and all worked out wonderfully. They love their new place and we were happy to sell so we could move to our next project. I will say that the final day there I did cry, as I walked through each empty room and reminded myself what it looked like when we got it and thought of all of the funny and amazing things that happened in that house - I had a little cry! It was our first place together and we will never have another first home - that house taught me a lot about myself and it was really like saying good bye to an old friend - but I am glad that there is a family there that will love it as much as we did. That house gave me more cuts, bruises, dirty nail, funny moments and laughs than I ever imagined, it was all wonderful and worth it!

2) I should have mentioned - when we sold our place, we hadn't bought a new one! Yes, that is right; we were homeless for June & July - so we lived at the cottage (so not REALLY homeless), our stuff was stored between the farm, the cottage and a storage facility and we learned that we aren't really attached to our stuff. If it wasn't for the fact that this was the most awful summer on record - living at the cottage would have been wonderful!

3) As Ty was out in BC catching giant fish with his dad - I headed out to an auction with my Dad and Uncle Scott. Turns out, I raised my hand the most (3 times) and bought a house - a soon-to-be beautiful house that is! It is the most surreal thing you can ever do - buy a house at an auction. You go and literally within 15 seconds (after the bidding started), I had raised my hand to the final selling price! .... it took a few more minutes (which felt like a lifetime) - for them to stop the bidding and declare me the successful bidder and then I sat down at the dining room table with the sellers and signed the documents! Afterwards Uncle Scott and I went out to have a few drinks to calm my nerves and fill my stomach - it was a pretty cool moment and I was pretty proud of myself for doing it on my own (well - Uncle Scott and Dad stood behind me as my body guards! But I actually raised my hand and bid myself! Which is fairly intimidating!)

4) Our favorite weekend of the year came around a few days later - July 1st long weekend - and as always we had a fantastic group of friends at the cottage - this year we were lucky enough to have some people out for 5 days with us! This year was even more special as we went shopping and got the bridesmaid dresses AND I was thrown an amazing surprise bridal shower with the ones I love the most there with me! I was shocked when I woke up to find a letter under our door and a veil and sash hanging outside! It is amazing how easily my friends and family can lie to me! (There was also a VERY surprise engagement party in June! It was amazing to walk into a room so filled with excitement and pure love - and the 1a.m. dance party will always be a treasured moment for sure!!)

5) After everyone went home from the long weekend, we took a 2.5 hour drive up to pick up our new puppy - our new great dane puppy! Odus Webster Atkinson came home, he was 3 months old and weighted over 40 pounds - but was the biggest lap dog you would ever see! He continues to be a very well behaved puppy and is learning a lot of new lessons and tricks. At 4 months he currently weights 53.4 pounds and grows bigger every day! He and Lulu Delovely (the 6 pound cat!) are still working out their relationship, but I am sure that one day they will be the best of friends!

6) We got our new house - an 1881 brick Victorian stunner - on July 27th ....... there was some work that needed to be done before we moved in, so we just moved in a week ago (Aug. 9th!) ..... we continue to wrestle with the replacement of moldy showers, removal of awful 1970's painted wallpaper and figuring out how to get a hospital bed out of the attic (will expand on these in the near future) ..... but we are in love with the potential this house has. She will undergo a major face lift over the next few years to bring her back to her glory and then ...... we will be moving on again .......

Stay tuned, there have already been some priceless moments in this place that I will catch everyone up on shortly! Just wanted to take this entry to bring everyone up to date on our whereabouts!

Cheers,
S