Almost Here!

So these past few months have flown by at warp speed but this week is taking FOREVER to go by! I can't wait for my folks and Dane to come to town! But, having said that, we have so much to do this weekend. Check it:

Thursday - visit Pike Market for fresh produce for the weekend, pick up D from the aero-puerto, watch Stardust.
Friday - clean garage, sort sale stuff from keep stuff, errands, Alki beach with friends for a beach sunset and beach bonfire smores.
Saturday - graduation and dinner at Pink Door.
Sunday - more packing and sorting, take D to the aero-puerto, watch Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Monday - rest, relax, whatever.
Tuesday - folks go home, back to work and studying.

It's going to be a fun weekend. I can't wait to have both my folks in town.

Things are still progressing forward with the house. The contract is with the lender and we are ironing out the final inspection details. The Bellevue house was served with a Notice of Default this morning. I guess our landlord hasn't made payments since January 09!! Scary. We took it as another sign that it is time to move on.

Work is going well. Looking for a job is going well too, but it is a bit soon to really get any bites. I've sent a few resumes out, so far nothing. I hope to work with Robert Half in Denver, they already list an auditor position with an emphasis on nonprofit - that's exactly what I'm looking for. But I'm not going to stress about my job situation too much. I feel like the right job will come along in the right time and I'll know it when I see it. Dane is much more freaked out and trying to rain that stress down on me but I'm not having it. All this is happening in it's own time. Besides, it really is too early to be looking. And then when I should really heighten the search, I'll be in Europe for crying out loud! I'm thinking of asking a friend to watch the market for me and send my resume out. Or maybe I'll just have Robert Half do that while I'm out of town. We'll see. All in due time.

CPA stuff is going well. I should find out in the next few days what my score is for AUD. I'm almost done with my last set of classes for Regulation. I've been pretty bored - taxes can only be so exciting. I'm slightly behind on my studying but hope to catch up over the next few weeks. It's going to be tough trying to juggle getting the house ready for a garage sale, packing, studying, and preparing for a month in Europe all at once. I can do it though.

My diet has been on the fritz since April. BUT I haven't gained any weight either, so that's good. My body is not budging from its current weight but again, I haven't done much to deserve a loss. Summertime is always hard. Parties, beer, BBQ. I figure once I get to CO and the cold settles in, I'll be back in the gym and dieting hardcore again. It will be so nice having a gym less than a quarter mile from my front doorstep AND not having a ton of homework and studying to do. I can't imagine what I'll do with all my free time! Course, if I am an auditor, I'll be working 40 - 60 hours a week, so there goes any free time I might have banked on. I can only dream to be so lucky.

You should see our new house. It is so beautiful. Part of what makes it so beautiful is the furniture though, which doesn't stay with the house but hopefully we can find some nice equivilent furniture to fill the place up with. We are only supposed to have 2 cats though, so we are smuggling 2. Hopefully the HOA won't find out. That would be bad. We won't move out or get rid of any cats.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll post soon with the results of my AUD exam and my parent's visit.

We Bought a House!!

Well a lot has happened since my last post.  So much it's almost overwhelming to think of everything.  Chronological order always works for me, so here goes:

CPA - I took the AUD exam and did very well.  I don't want to be too cocky or count my chickens before they hatch but I would be shocked if I didn't pass.  I know I did well because I got the extra hard testlet for the second and third multiple choice.  I even laughed out loud because the difference was so apparent.  I had to read the questions two to three times before I even understood the call of the question.  None the less I still good.  I should know the final results by June 20th or so.  

I got my results from FAR.  I passed!!!  Just barely, but I passed!  That was such a relief, I went into that test expecting to have to take it again.  I still gave it my best shot but after losing a week of studying and putting too much pressure on myself I didn't expect a passing score.  

Colorado - wait...Dane's job comes first...

Dane's job - As you know, Dane got laid off in April - same day I failed BEC.  And maybe I mentioned it, maybe I didn't, but we also qualified to purchase a house the same day.  Since Dane lost his job, we decided that it wasn't the right time to buy a house.  Which sucks cause the house we were looking at was beautiful.  Anyway, Dane put his resume out and got hits back from a Blackberry company in Toronto and Comcast in Denver, of all places.  After much discussion, we decided that Denver would be the best option for him so he accepted a 6 month contract position there.  We pulled some strings and I took a couple extra days off of work so I could make the drive down to Denver with him, since I was planning on being there for Memorial Weekend anyway.  Now I can move on to Colorado. :-) 

Colorado - I've been back to Colorado 3 or 4 times now but during this trip something in me snapped.  I can't pinpoint the exact moment but I can remember a few highlights where it became very clear to me that it was time to come home.  Maybe it was because it was the first time I had to drive back in to town, prolonging the excitement.  Maybe it's the fact that Dane isn't tethered to his job anymore.  I don't know what it was but sitting out on the patio enjoying beer with friends, I knew it.  Hanging at Dave & Busters, I knew it.  Dancing at LoDo's, I knew it.  Standing on the 16th Street Mall with some of my favorite people in the world, I knew it.  Driving to my favorite restaurant, I knew it.  If you would have asked me before Dane and I drove down there, I would have told you I had no intention of leaving Seattle.  In fact, Dane and I even discussed - AT LENGTH - the possibility of moving home and came to the conclusion that it wasn't the right time.  By the end of my CO trip, which was really great.  I had such a great time meeting up with everyone - I forgot how deep my roots run there, I was begging Dane to find a way to get us home.  

The Decision - But really I was the one attached to Seattle, what with my beloved job at Treehouse.  I decided that I would use TH and how they handle my CPA certification as a gauge to see if it was time to move on or stay put.  I had several conversations with Jim, really good conversations, but frank.  Basically I've worked myself out of a job at TH.  I've taken 2 full time positions and a company with a near adverse audit opinion into a fully functioning, smoothly operating accounting department that really only needs 1.75 staff members with half the qualifications that I have.  It would be a disservice for me and for TH if I stayed there.  #1 - I wouldn't be challenging myself, and #2 - TH would be overpaying for a position that could be staffed by an employee with less qualifications.  Once that became clear I realized that Colorado aside, it was time to move on from Treehouse.  At first that was  a hard pill to swallow - that TH wouldn't pay me what I wanted, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that I am the reason why they are in the position they are in.  They don't need to pay someone like me a high salary anymore.  I cleaned up all the mess and got things in order.  Now it's time for me to fly away and find another damsel in distress.  So I started looking at housing in Highlands Ranch and then in Palomino Park last week and decided that it might be fun to see if we could qualify for a loan again, considering the changes to our stitch, and to see if we liked the PP townhome.   I figured between the signs in CO and TH that things were shaping up like I should move home.  I asked God to be the decision maker and if we were approved for the loan, then I would take that as his final sign that I should move home.  

The House - well we got the loan.  Actually Dane did, I will still sign on the loan, but it was all his qualifications that got us the house.  So the final sign was there.  Unfortunately by the time we got the sign, we were too late to put an offer in on the 3 car garage, 3 bedroom townhome we wanted, but its mirror image was still for sale, with a better kitchen.  We put an offer on the house yesterday and found out today, after much haggling, that our offer (several times countered) was accepted.  VERY EXCITING!!  Of course we still have to go through all the red tape, but barring unforeseen and extenuating circumstances, we are home owners!!  And Palomino Park is just beautiful.  I'm so excited to live there.  Fitness center, pool, 1 mile walking track around a pond and park, gated community in a PERFECT location!  I've lusted after PP for a long time now and I just can't believe that my wonderful husband got me a nest there!!  It hasn't really set in yet.  I spent all day today shopping on Pottery Barn and dreaming up decoration schemes.  

The Reality - so now comes the hard part - the logistics of moving, finding a job and juggling all that with studying for my final CPA exam.  Plus living apart from Dane, it's tough.  We plan on getting rid of a lot of our belongings, only taking the few things that we need/have spent money on.  At this point we still plan on going to Europe and I plan on working at TH till at the very least August 31st.  Probably closer to the end of September before I actually leave.  Crazy stuff!  I can't believe I'm actually going home!  I'm so excited!!

More to come as I have time to blog.  I always say I'm going to post more often and never do.  I'll try but with the CPA and the move and my folks coming to town I'm not sure I'll get much done.  

Yay us!!