Time to get back on our own...

Most of you know that Meghan and I have been living in the basement of her parents house for a while, since moving back to Minnesota. The purpose for this was to save up some money for a downpayment on a new place up here since we decided to rent our house in IL rather than sell it. It worked out fairly well for us and we recently decided it was time to move on even though it was very comfortable here at the Corcoran's.

We started searching for places about two months ago. The first step was getting pre-approved. We had our eyes on this one house (looked great, perfect location) so we pushed to get it done quickly only to see that house get pulled off the market the DAY we were pre-approved! CRAP...not the kind of start we were hoping for!

After spending some time evaluating where to live and what kinds of homes we wanted (luckily we have similar desires with homes) we started choosing places to look at. Meg found a place that she labelled her "dreamhome"...not only was it more than we talked about but it was out of price range and needed a lot of finishing, but there is NO denying that it was a STEAL and a place we probably could have lived in forever...and it was in the TPC neighborhood which is a sweet place . We arranged a time to see it so we could see if it was feasible or not but upon arranging our visit, we found out they had an offer come in. We still saw the place but realized we would have to move quickly. After looking the place over though, we quickly realized we were in over our heads, this place was totally too much work for us novices!! We moved on, a little sad because it was amazing!

About a week later an even better "dreamhome #2" showed up. It was perfect and a foreclosure so it was a STEAL. The house had an ALMOST finished lower level that would have been perfect for us. We could have lived there the rest of our lives though. After seeing it, we went home calculated how much we needed to spend to get the place finished up (needed appliances and stuff) and then on Monday (the next morning) we got ready to place an offer only to find out they had an accepted offer on Friday that they never told us about. Our realtor was LIVID with the other Realtor...we were crushed. We literally were moving in there in our heads already. We started to figure out that even though it seems like a buyers market, when the homes were priced right, you need to MOVE on them fast!!! It took us almost a week to even look at homes again, our spirits were crushed after missing out on this one! Tiffany, our realtor was great though and encouraged us that the right place is out there and to just be patient and move quickly when you find it!

We were quickly realizing that even though we were in a down market for homes, we weren't able to find the kind of place we'd be happy in for a long time in our price range since we didn't have much of a down payment. There wasn't much out there on the market that we were interested in now though so our second strategy was looking for townhouse or cheap home that we could be happy in for like 5 years and then after selling our place in IL, we'd find our new dreamhome. We set out to find a townhouse, something we both swore we wouldn't do again after the process of selling my last one. There were a few disappointments and a few with potential. We were quickly learning what we liked and didn't like in the townhouse market. At the end of the weekend we still didn't find a place we were excited about though. We came up with one more list of four places to look at the following Tuesday. There were two in particular that we were really anxious about.

We walked into the first house and didn't even make it upstairs...ew! No way we could make that one work. The next house had a great location that we loved but the arrangement would have been less than ideal so we moved on. Then we found our dream townhouse...we walked in and it was like alarms were going off in my head that this was the place! What? Oh Meg just told me that alarms were ACTUALLY going off...I guess the power was shut off and the alarms were going off. We couldn't bring Addison into the house so we took turns touring the house and our smiles grew bigger each time we switched off. Could this be THE one for us? Could we seriously end up living in Coon Rapids AGAIN!?!?

We conferred outside and came to the conclusion that this was THE house...we had to act quick. The house had been on the market for 4 days but was a STEAL. We also had an obstacle with having FHA financing which was not listed among the approved options by the bank that was selling the house and there were a few things that needed to be fixed up before we left. We rushed to our realtors office and wrote a very creative offer...then the waiting began.

Amazingly we got a call the next day...they took it! We were shocked...it was a long shot because banks are notorious for being completely inflexible. We've spent the last week figuring out what we need to buy for the place and hiring people to fix up a few things before the FHA assessment but we feel fairly confident that everything should work out and this is going to be our NEW home:

• 3 BR / 2.5 BA
• It has a lower level that is about 75% finished that will add an additional BR and BA...anyone wanna come help with that project?? :-) When we are done it will be a 4 BR, 3.5 BA townhouse...you don't see many of those on the market!
  
• All three bedrooms are upstairs and all have walk in closets
  
• Master suite with a walk-thru closet and a full master bath with whirlpool tub
• Nice detail work throughout the house
• All this for our offer of $135,000 (bank pays closing costs)
• The people bought it new in 2005 for $210,000!

We are very excited to move in. The closing is set for May 14. We've been out on the prowl for new appliances along with other fun stuff to finish the place off and make it our own!

Going to Paris and London for $300?

It has been planned that I would join Trevor on his every-other-yearly trip to Paris for the Paris Air Show for two years now. What made this trip even better was that we were going to visit Patrick and Susan in London after Trevor's business part of the trip was done. My brother and sister-in-law moved to London for two years in September 2008. They have not met Addison yet.

A few weeks ago when Trevor was in LA on business, he met with his boss, who told him that the company was cutting costs. No layoffs (thank you God); however, Trevor's name was taken off the list to go to Paris.

I had already purchased my ticket via WorkPerks miles. There was no way in my mind that we weren't going to make this trip that we had been planning for two whole years! Trevor's boss knew we had purchased tickets and knew we were going to vacation after Paris, so he was very apologetic. Trevor's boss (Mike) came up with a compromise. If Trevor could get to and from Europe, then the rest of the trip would be paid for (meals, hotel, transportation) in Paris. What a relief! The cost for round trip coach class ticket on the flight I was already booked on was only $4000! Well, Mike offered Trevor his own WorldPerks miles so that we could make this possible. Talk about having the world's best boss.

So we paid a grand total of about $300 for round trip tickets from MSP to Paris and London to MSP. (We are taking the Chunnel train from Paris to London.) I am so excited for this opportunity to go to Europe again and explore some cities and countries I have not visited yet. Or wait, have I visited London? Here is a picture I found of us at the Somerset House doing some ice skating!

P.S. For a cute pic of my bro and SIL in London, click here: http://pscorcoran.blogspot.com/2008/11/blades-of-glory.html

Growing Like a Weed

For those of you who are not on Facebook, you probably do not get as many updates on Addison as the rest of the world. (Hint, hint--get on Facebook, it's the cool thing to do.) Anyway, she is getting so big and developing daily. Here are some updated videos and photos of our little munchkin.

Rolling over on February 13th

Our little home girl

In her pretty spring dress

Laughing...watch the whole thing, the end is the best!

Playing in her ExerSaucer

A Birthday of Choices

Trevor likes to talk big and taunt me with presents and surprises. This birthday was no different. I personally think he wanted to go down in history as Husband of the Year. He gave me vague hints and multiple times told me that I did not choose to listen to his hints, which I came to find later was a hint in itself.

When my birthday finally came, or rather two days before my birthday because Trevor couldn't wait any longer to give it to me, I opened the card only to find a CD enclosed. On the CD was a Powerpoint presentation made by the one and only Trevor. The Powerpoint presentation was where I would make my choices. The first screen informed me that I had a 60-minute massage scheduled at 3 p.m. on Saturday (3/7) with Kate at Aveda in downtown White Bear Lake. The next screen was where I had to pick one of three choices. I had to pick from a facial, mani/pedi, and new hairdo/highlights. I decided to go with the facial (a little taste of Heaven as my SIL Krista so nicely put it). My final decision was to pick between four things. The first choice was to go to two Twins games this year. The second choice was to shop and pick out a new "sexy" outfit (as Trevor put it) and go out to an "average-priced" dinner. The third option was dinner at the Melting Pot. The final option was a "night on the town" which included some activities at Block E in Minneapolis, which included dinner, movie, Shout House (dueling pianos), and of course GameWorks. I choose Melting Pot.

To back track a little bit, I was given a few days to make my choices, until my birthday to be exact. My reasoning for choosing the facial over the mani/pedi and hair was simple: I just got my toes done by Krista a few weeks ago and didn't need that done, and I didn't want to keep paying the maintenance every few months to keep getting my hair highlighted. My reasoning for choosing Melting Pot over the other choices was also somewhat simple after talking through it. We always go to a Twins game or two every year anyway, so why take it as a birthday present (sorry Trev, the truth comes out!). I did not want to buy a new outfit because I am in the process of losing weight, so having an outfit that I would wear maybe once didn't make sense to me. I chose not to do the night on the town because when it came down to my last two choices, Melting Pot blew a night on the town out of the water.

I have yet to set up my appointment for my facial, but we did go to the Melting Pot on Saturday where we were able to easily spend well over a hundred dollars (and that included a free chocolate fondue!) Unfortunately, our camera was left in the car, so we do not have any pictures to post. However, the food was outstanding, the little enclosed table with curtain was very romantic, and I could not have enjoyed myself any more.

THANK YOU HONEY FOR SPOILING ME! I LOVE YOU!

A tough week ahead...

I knew this day would come but I managed to put it off for FOUR months...

Today is my first business trip (without my baby coming along). Honestly, its going to be hard to not see my little girl (and my wife) for most of the work week! I am accustomed to spending so much time around her lately that I think I am going to go into withdrawals by Tuesday night! Luckily my wife has family here now to support her while I am gone which gives me some peace of mind! She'll do well though, Meg really has this parenting thing down!

On a positive note, Addison is doing great! Addison is healthy and growing nicely...at her four month checkup we found out she is 11 pounds 13 ounces now and 24 inches long. She's long and skinny, does that like anyone you know?? haha I am sure she will love to be blessed with my skinny genes if that is the case! There isn't much that is harder to endure though than watching your helpless little 4 month old baby get shots though. I have NEVER heard her cry like that though! We are expecting a new cousin for Addison in the coming weeks which will be so fun for her...Meghan and I each had a cousin about the same age as us and we have fond memories of us hanging out together!! We can't wait to meet little baby Vik!