Su Casa Es Mi Casa: Day 3

Oh. My. Word. There are some CRAZ-Z-Z-ZY houses here! I mean, I think the Fraggle Rocks lived in one of the house's basements! I realize you get what you pay for, but some of the home owners really try to get away with a lot. They can because college students will put up with anything. But we've been extremely picky, and we accidentally found the greatest house!

Yesterday I listed what we were looking for in a house. After a day of searching, we realized we might have to compromise some.

Yesterday evening, we found what sounded like a good house to rent - perfect location at the right size and price. So we pulled up, and there was a window unit hanging out of the front of the house. My bearded husband says, "Uh-uh..." and we begin to drive away. Remember, A/C is a must and is non-negotiable. But by chance, we see that the cute little house next door has a "For Rent" sign in their yard. So I immediately call and get in touch with the home owner and arrange to see her house.

Skip to today - we walk through the newly remodeled, spacious two-bedroom, one-bathroom house WITH air-conditioning at exactly $1000 a month. It has a great front and back yards for Hannah to play, enough storage for Chris' guitars and such, a screened in sunroom with a gas grill and a garage. We were sold.

We met with the owners and paid our application fee and deposit almost on the spot, which was good because there were 23 others interested in the home that we beat to the punch!! As we began to get to know then, we instantly liked the owners. We even discovered that we even had a friend in common. I had to restrain myself from singing "It's A Small World".

We signed the lease and get the keys on July 12. They are still running a background and credit check on us as a formality, which makes me feel so vulnerable to let a perfect stranger know exactly how poor we've been! I'll get over it. And we'll hear something official by Monday. Just knowing we have a home waiting on us here makes things seem utterly official.

Here are a few pictures. They don't do this place justice!

Job Hunting: Day 2, Part 2

In the past few months, I've sent me resumé to countless businesses and ad agencies. I've had a few promising responses from a handful that want to meet with me once we've moved to town, but nothing solid. And so the search continues.

Late last Monday night, I did a very basic Yellow Page search, and an ad agency I hadn't seen before popped up at the top of my search results. I checked out their website and I was completely blown away by them in every way. I especially appreciate how little chest beating they do. They're very humble about their capabilities and let their work and reputation speak for itself. Most ad agencies will tell you how wonderful they are, but this agency focuses on how wonderful their clients are! LOVE that!

So like I said, it was late, REALLY late for me. There were no job postings on the website, but I took the chance anyway to see if they would consider me for hire. I have nothing to lose! I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. rewriting my cover letter. I sent it first thing Tuesday morning and received a response from the owner by noon! She said she wanted to meet with me when we were in town. So, a few emails later, it was arranged.

We met this afternoon at a local bar and grill, Austins, and talked for two hours over iced tea. I felt like I was talking to a colleague and like I could genuinely enjoy working for this lady. It couldn't have gone any better! She is going to email me a few more details about her company and I'm going to send her a a couple more items from my portfolio that I couldnt include (like radio spots). I'm VERY hopeful.


One other opportunity of sorts to mention - there is this great fabric store that I foresee spending a LOT of money at once we're here called Mama Said Sew. One of the store's owners is a freelance graphic artist who gave me a few other leads in the area. I'm going to follow up with those companies and organizations and see what happens.


All-in-all, I'm very hopeful.

We ended the day with a bike ride into Old Town for some ice cream. At 8 o'clock, the air was cool and the sun was setting behind the mountains. Every one was out on their bikes. It was the perfect ending to such an encouraging day!

House Hunting: Day 2, Part 1

After sleeping in a little and catching up on some MUCH needed Z's, we feasted upon the most amazing breakfast - La Mars donuts with a cup of The Good Farmer Coffee. It just doesn't get any better!

We did some searching online and mapped out our day of the houses we'd see. I touched base with an INCREDIBLE local landlord and scheduled a time to see one of her houses. After taking a look around, I was completely sold. Three bedrooms. Storage, storage, storage - a rarity in these older homes. One bathroom, eh, we'll live. But the backyard with a garden and sandbox completely won me over. One thing I hadn't noticed until Chris mentioned it after we left was that there was no air conditioning in the house, something very common in Colorado homes. That's a deal-breaker for my hot-natured husband.

And to add to my disappointment, the landlord, Michelle, calls me later to tell me that of the 10 families who previewed the home, they liked us so much and wanted to give us first dibs. She tells me that she and her daughter manage properties together and just have a great feeling about us. Oh, if the house only had A/C! I told her I'd call her back and let her know what we finally decide, but I know the answer. We're going to check out one of her other properties and see if it will work for us, because we've just GOT to rent from this lady!

So we drive around and around, checking out other rentals. I set up a few other appointments to preview homes, so we have a big day tomorrow. Our parameters are pretty specific, which limits us on our options:

• Rent needs to be around $1000
• We need three bedrooms
• We need air conditioning
• It has to be clean enough for our toddler to safely run around in
• If possible, we want to live where our ministry will set down roots - Old Town

You'd think we have a ton of options, but we're competing against college kids and their roomies picking up all of the good homes. But God promises to care for us. We may be living in  David and Laura's basement, but we'll be cared for. Kidding. Kind of. Please pray with us in our search!

We finished our house hunting early so I could prepare for my interview. (I'll have a separate post for that.) But before my meeting, we stopped by the Fort Collins Bike Library to rent a few bikes. You really can't live here without having a bike! This place is so stinkin' cool! 

Amarillo By Morning: Day 1

Day 1 of our FoCo Trip: Chris and I decided to drive through the night to Fort Collins. At 16 hours, it's the longest road trip we've made together alone. We took turns driving and sleeping every two-and-half hours, and it actually worked out quite well! Of course, we had a little Roy D. Mercer to keep us awake.

As George Strait sings, we made it to "Amarillo By Morning." I swear I sing that every time we drive through there, though Chris had never heard it until this trip. Seriously, who hasn't heard that song?!

Well anyway, we continued to stay on time and made it to FoCo by 2 o'clock, just in time to tour our first potential rent house. Two bedrooms, one bath, no storage. I vote no.


We spent the rest of the afternoon settling into David and Laura's house, which is way fun and really coming together! We even got to meet their neighbor, Hannah, who is so sweet! She and her boyfriend are young professionals and recent CSU graduates. We look forward to getting to know them better.

Our great friends Michael and Rachel Harper were in town from Denton scoping out the place to move to next summer. One-by-one, we plan to convince all of our friends to move with us. If you're reading this, you're next! We had dinner at Woody's Tavern - a fantastic pizza joint - and celebrated Mikey's birthday.

Day 2 promises to be exciting. I'm meeting with the owner of a local ad agency, The Mantooth Company, to talk about possibly working for them. We'll also be looking at more houses. Joy. I can't wait to finally have loose ends tied up and hope we can settle on some things this weekend.

Hi Mom! (Part 3)

Hi Mom! (Part 2)

Hi Mom! (Part 1)