Horns beat TCU!

I love college football! Our game didn't start well, down 10-0 at half but McCoy and the defense really came through, 34 points in the second half! I hate to admit where we watched the game, ok, don't judge me you feminists, HOOTERS! Argghh, the Texas Exes meet there because the manager is a huge fan and he gives discounts on food and even has Longhorn stuff all over the place. So we got to meet lots of fellow Horns, very fun. And I have to brag on the Big 12 (because nobody ever does, ha) 11 teams won their games this past weekend!!! OU looks SO good, we are so going to lose. Poor Michigan, sorry guys. Washington looked great too, saw Boise State fans all over Seattle this weekend. Husky stadium is right on the water, gorgeous, and has the most unique tailgating ever, BOATS!!!! I think I should become a fan.....

We got the house!!

Yay!!! After agonizing over foundation, electrical, and roofing issues uncovered from the inspection and much going back and forth between the sellers over what they'll cover, the house will be ours!! Our closing date is in 2 weeks, Sept. 21st. Now our battle is to retrieve our stuff from storage in Mississippi and have it delivered as close as possible to that date. I have a feeling we'll be investing in an air mattress!!

One friend commented how easy it was to buy a house. Do you all think so? I couldn't disagree more, with this, my first experience!! Maybe newer construction is less involved but each inspection we had seemed to divulge more issues, argghhh! Maybe it's better to not know?? I had no idea the stress involved in this whole process. We almost walked away as their counter-offer after the inspection was much less than we were willing to settle on. The major stuff that needed to be done to the house amounted to an estimate of $20,000!! Our realtor warned us it's an old house (built in 1914) so there would be issues, still I wasn't prepared to take such a critical look at where we might call home. We eventually compromised at $12,000, now the real work begins..... The house is definitely "move-in ready" but we have some ideas on updates. I'll gradually post pictures instead of all at once to pique your interest in visiting us!!

Seattle Rocks!

This weekend was so fun because we weren't busy doing house stuff so had time to explore! There are tons of quirky little neighborhoods. For example, there is literally a troll under one of the bridges squashing a VW bug on Troll Ave, I'm not kidding.

We've been in Seattle for a month now so thought I'd post some pictures. Does the first one look familiar, you Grey's Anatomy fans? The other 2 are from a music/indie film/art festival we went to this past weekend called Bumbershoot in the coolest venue ever: under the Space Needle. I'm telling you all of this so you will visit us next year over Labor Day! It's a great time to visit....perfect weather and Seattle's uberfest. We heard The Shins, The Gourds, Rodrigo y Gabriela, all highly recommended!!! Hope you all had a great weekend too!

A Political Statement

I went to my first protest last Monday! Pres. Bush visited Bellevue (the more conservative, suburban answer to Seattle) while avoiding Seattle entirely. About 400 protestors were out in full force. There were no arrests, just some shoving with crowds, although there were some scary looking militant people at the ready. Have to say I was impressed with the diversity of people there: of course, there were scary extremists and a definite SWAT team presence, but there were people of all ages and cultural backgrounds.

The first picture is the best crowd shot I had (love the Crate & Barrel in the background) and the second is of the "I Miss America" girls, creative, huh? Even I didn't agree with some of the bash Bush posters such as 9-11 was an inside job. My all-time fav was "Dumb, Dumber, Dubya!" Although I didn't physically see 43, just his huge motorcade, at least I was a part of the "welcoming" committee. Is 2008 here yet??!!

Glacier National Park--Montana

Even though it's been almost a month since our visit to Glacier, thought I'd post some pics and tell you a little about our time there. Have to admit it was hard to pick which pics to post since there were so many good ones, that's my excuse for procrastination anyway. So these are all from the area of Glacier Park called Many Glacier. The glacial lakes are a stunning shade of blue! Unfortunately, we didn't make it here until the last day and liked it so much we added another day in a cabin with no bathroom (this was only for 1 night though and the bathrooms were super close, not a big deal at all). The other parts of the park pale in comparison and don't seem like they should be part of Glacier Nat'l Park.

While still in Yellowstone, we heard about the fires at Glacier and were wondering if we'd have to cut our trip short. Upon arrival, the fires really limited visibility but on the higher hikes you couldn't tell as much and on the bright side, it made for killer sunsets. The famous Going to the Sun road was gorgeous with views of huge cliff drops and stunning scenery some of which was obscured due to the fires. We also saw quite a lot of wildlife here too: mountain goats, bighorn sheep, bear cubs way off in the distance (binoculars and others helped us to see this) and my favorite: a female moose literally 10 feet away eating. And was she ever noisy! Then she crossed right in front of our path. I didn't want to tear myself away but Ryan had to get a picture of me, isn't my expression hysterical?

The best hike I've ever done (even including boonie stomps) was up to Grinnell Glacier, the most "accessible" glacier in the US. It was 6 miles uphill! And every step kept getting better and better: trail switchbacks, dramatic scenery changes, and walking through a waterfall. There were bighorn sheep all over and marmots too. The way down was another story, my knees were killing me so much that the next day I couldn't hike :-(. Good thing there was a boat so we saved ourselves about a mile walking back.

Overall, I was very impressed with Montana. The people are liberal and laid back. We went to a bunch of independent little restaurants and coffee shops in Whitefish, Kalispell, and Missoula. Our very last day we went to Canada as the land from Glacier abuts their national park, called Waterton. It was very interesting explaining to Canadian customs that we're moving from Mississippi to Seattle and stopping for a daytrip to Canada, ha. Great way to end our national parks trip and head to real life in Seattle.....

Our offer was.....

....accepted!! So pending inspection and closing, we'll move in September 21st!! Only 1 more month in the Extended Stay..... Now we have time to have fun in Seattle!!

The quaint, charming, cozy (i.e. small) house is 2 bedroom/1 bath in the Green Lake area, an almost 3 mile hike and bike path with easy access to the freeway. The best part is we'll be within walking distance to 3! Thai restaurants, at least 1 local coffee shop, a brew pub or two, and even a Whole Foods. It feels like Europe to us! There's potential to add on another bathroom and spruce up the kitchen. I'll send pics soon.....

Progress on the house search

After seeing at least 30 properties ranging from tiny condos with city and water views to run-down houses in sketchy neighborhoods, we found a cute house and made an offer last night! Don't worry, it's not in a sketchy neighborhood!! Now, I'm waiting (not so patiently) to hear back if the sellers will accept it. This whole process has been all-encompassing, not to mention exhausting learning the real estate lingo as well as trying to figure out the 'hoods we like the best. We've been told to expect a counter-offer but we're planning to hold firm with our offer of $5,000 under list price.... I won't describe it just yet in case we can't come to mutual acceptance--new term for me. Keep your fingers crossed!