Tea Bags& Hot Water: Getting Real

image via here

It's time to get real. I'm really stressed, worried, and have been grinding my teeth a lot (as a result of the aforementioned emotions). I'm about to pull back the curtain and reveal some big insecurities here on the old blog. Mr. SE and I accepted an offer to move to Denver, and within 4 weeks we were packed up and driving across the country. Sure, we owned a home in Nashville and had a solid network of friends. Surely, we'd be able to sell the house within a couple months and make new friendships. Well, the friendship part has come easily. People in Denver are SO nice; and not the sometimes nice of the south (I believe they call it polite) where they're nice to your face and not behind your back. Genuinely nice. While I miss my friends in TN dearly, I'm comforted by the relationships I've been able to create in the past 3 months. And things have been going great with my business, 3 brides on the books already for 2012 and we weren't expecting anything until spring 2013! But there's this one thing that's holding us back...our house.

Y'all. If our house doesn't sell in Nashville we can't close on this new house in Denver. It's like this big fat bully that's riding us piggyback. Our first realtor wasn't really pushing the house, and took a really passive approach to getting it sold. Look, we're not "thinking" about moving-- we packed up and moved across the country, so please bust your buns to sell my house! So after 60 days on the market, we withdrew our listing with that realtor and used a referral from our new realtor here in Denver. The new realtor had back-to-back visits in the first two weeks, but now it's slowed down a bit. Mr. SE thinks it's because of tax time, and that tours will pick up again when folks start getting their refunds.

And me? I'm frustrated, grumpy, and this is a completely sour topic. I'm worried that if anybody else asks me if we "at least have any offers" I'm going to bite their head off. Hello? If I had an offer we would've sold the house! Clearly you have no experience listing a home from 2008-2012. Kthanksbye. I'm trying to stay positive, I really am. But every day I'm dying to get a "showing" email or some sort of head's up that a sweet family is putting an offer on our home.

Here's where you come in. Please send us whatever form of encouragement suits your soul-- prayers, burying a St. Joseph statue (my mom suggested this), house selling dances, positive vibes, or any other ritual you prefer. Please just send it our way.

Thanks for allowing me to get real on here. It's not normally something that I do, since I try and keep the blog more upbeat. Promise I'll try and be back to fun posts tomorrow.

*Update** 

I added a link to our listing in case you know someone in the market in Nashville

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4272-Rachel-Donelson-Pass_Hermitage_TN_37076_M85816-05125

This is Your Life- Storage Unit

This is what our life looks like right now. Remember how we moved from a "grown-up house" to a 1 bedroom condo? This weekend, Mr. SE and I finished sorting through all of our boxes, and rounded up the stragglers that needed to be taken to storage. Now our condo is much less cluttered, and the things we don't need are out of site.

Items in the storage unit (way in the back) that we wish weren't--
A) Mr. SE's Playstation (used as our BluRay player)
B) My summer clothes and bathing suits (didn't think about how we'd be in the apt until Jun 30th)

Looks like next weekend we'll be purchasing a new BluRay player and a bathing suit for me so I can use the building's hot tub. But Sarah, that's lazy-- why don't you just get it out of the storage unit? Oh, have you ever put your whole house in a storage unit? Yeah. None of these items are coming out from the back, unless they're all coming out. Please note the picture with Mr. SE in front for scale---

moving is better when you've got this eye candy

psst-- the unit is 15ft deep!

Running in My Gerbil Wheel

Dave Ramsey always says that we shouldn't settle for running around in a gerbil wheel. There's still boxes and chaos in our 2nd bedroom, boxes in the garage to be unpacked, lots of pictures to be hung. An apartment to be cleaned (apparently the past renters had a golden retriever- so that's why my allergies have been so bad). While trying to transfer my license, insurance, plates, and title (from my parents) it feels like I'm in my own little wheel. I've spent the greater part of my day trying to figure out which office needed what forms and what needed to be completed prior to each location. Whew! I'm worn out. And we haven't even started putting together the Ikea furniture. Oh, and what's for dinner? I have no clue! I'll probably do the lemon/garlic/white wine standby. Mr. SE loves it. On second thought, I might just pour myself a glass of white right now.

Did anyone else have problems trying to transfer everything to a new state or out of your parents' name? I'd love any/all advice. Sorry about that post, I just needed to rant a little bit.

Getting Blackout

This isn't about my obsession with Sauvignon Blanc. It's about our bedroom curtains- and a little tidbit I thought you decorating divas might be interested in. We previously purchased some cheapo drapes for Mr. SE's bachelor pad bedroom. But now that we'll be sleeping there together (and we're next to the apartment complex entrance), I wanted to purchase something nicer. Blackout curtains have always seemed like such a fantastic fantasy to me- especially with my migraines. I'm sure Mr. SE will be pumped that I won't be sporting any more eye masks while sleeping. The curtains I purchased claim to block 90% of light and a large amount of noise. Sign me up!!!!

First I went to Bed Bath & Beyond. Can I just say that I have an aggressive love affair with this store?! I picked up these Eclipse panels for $29.99 each. Obviously I had my 20% coupons on hand. I also had some things to pick up at Walmart, so I decided to check out their curtain situation. Walmart had some blackout curtains at a much better price, $14.97 per panel thankyouverymuch. Although the price was more appealing, I was concerned about the quality versus my BB&B lovelies. Which panel do you think is more expensive?

{the one on the right is my cheapo find}
Hooray!!!

Table a Deux

Here's some pictures from my special project! I spent the week leading up to graduation refinishing my kitchen table, chairs, and bench. As seen in my previous post, this Pottery Barn table was my inspiration. What I thought would be a quick little project, ended up taking much longer than I thought. BUT- the final outcome was beautiful and I'm so proud of my first refinishing project. Here's a before picture, along with what the table looks like right now. Since we're in day 2 of moving, there's still a lot of STUFF everywhere. Please bear with me, I'll include a prettier picture in a few days.

Moving Day

What an exciting weekend! Today's the day that Mr. SE and I are making the trek to Tennessee. He's about to go pick up the moving truck with Daddy SE. Here's some pictures from yesterday's graduation.

Navy & Peach

Hello bloggy friends! Just wanted to do a quick post and let you know I'm still alive! We're up to our ears in moving boxes and just realized we're having some complications with our truck rental (eek!). For now- enjoy this lovely inspiration board from Snippet & Ink. I'm loving this Navy and Peach color palette! Navy is one of my favorite colors for weddings (classy, yet not stuffy like black), and Mr. SE is my Georgia peach!

I'm Back

Sorry I've been MIA the past couple days. I've been working on a big project and getting ready to move. Please hold tight- I promise I'll share all the deets on this super sweet project soon enough. My cute townhouse has turned into rows and rows of boxes, and lots of bare walls. This is just the breakdown of my bedroom!

Housing Search: Part I

Today is a super busy day. I'm getting back into the grind of school and trying to get everything done before next Friday. Why next Friday? I'll tell you about my special plans in a couple days.

Mr. SE and I had a great time looking for apartments. I'm happy to report there were no fights, although things did get a little testy around Werthan Mills. We drove around for six hours without getting out of the car. We looked downtown, uptown, midtown, suburbs, west end, sylvan park, and hermitage. We're in Hermitage right now, Mr. SE drives one mile to work, and he'd like to stay close. It'd be a little easier to search for a place if I knew where I'd be working.... Nevertheless, we covered a lot of ground.

Right now our main decision is whether to rent an apartment or lease to own a house/townhouse. Housing prices still have farther to fall, so I think we're going to stick with the apartment for the next six months. We're right by Priest lake, and I love being able to go out there and picnic in the nice weather. And Mr. SE likes to fish. How cute is this picture of Mr. SE and Duffie?

*** I'm going to have a Dancing With The Stars recap later today***

Moving In

Mr. SE (we'll call him that from now on) and I will be moving in together in May. My parents weren't too excited about the idea, but financially it didn't make sense to have two separate places. We decided that since we are planning on getting married next year, I should move to Nashville and try to find a job here--> versus moving home to DC and having to get my own place ($$$$) or live with mom and dad (ack!)! Also, there's the little bit about trying to find my first post-college job and leaving after a year. Not too good for the 'ole resume.

Long story short, at the end of May Mr. SE will be driving a moving truck from NC to TN and I'll follow in my car with *Duffie*. He's not too thrilled about driving this little beauty through the NC/TN mountains...

We're excited to be taking this jump together and looking forward to this new chapter of our lives together. Mr. SE's bachelor pad is a little (read 600 ft.) too small for the two of us, so we're out apartment hunting for the day. I'll be back with some great posts, and pictures, tomorrow!

Random Want for Household Items

I'll be moving to Nashville after graduation. Aside from being obsessed with all things wedding, I love decorating my living space. I'm super excited about getting into a new apartment. Our color palette is a modern twist on neutrals: black, espresso (gold tinted), and taupe. It'll allow us to keep some older pieces (save my Carolina blue toile bedroom set), and mix in some new!