Palermo Model

Well, we drove to Williamsburg on Friday (an hour to get there, 3 hours to get home!!) to look at the decorated model. Fortunately, we got there at the perfect time (opening time) because the sales rep was leaving to go to another property and was closing the model for the day. So we had 5 minutes to see the home we will live in for the rest of our lives! Ugh. We got a good feel for the floor plan, as it's a reverse Palermo like ours. And then we got to go outlet shopping, so that's always a plus. I got a few (kind of bad) pictures.

A very dark kitchen/morning room from the pantry area. My baby Louis looks good in here. :)

The dining room from the kitchen. 

The great room from the kitchen. The door on the right will be a nook to the bedroom. 

meetings.

It's been a long half week of meetings. Friday we had the loan meeting. Wow, my hand hurt. And there's still more paperwork to find! Aaahhhh! 😆

Monday night we got to pick our flooring! While I wanted hardwood in the dining room, it was not built in the contract and I had a little bit of sticker shock. So I can live with carpet for now.  I mean we use the room like twice a year? So I don't really care anymore. We also had originally asked for tile in all baths. After talking with the flooring expert, we decided to keep the tile in the powder room and then upgrade vinyl in the 3 full baths. Sticker shock played into that,

along with memories of being on my hands and knees at my parents' house cleaning the grout in the bathroom with a magic eraser. While it worked, I swear my fingers were swollen for days. We (read: I reluctantly) upgraded the vinyl in the laundry room. While I don't have issues closing doors, Aaron does and it drives me crazy. So I let him have the prettier floor. That's no excuse to leave the door open though!! We also upgraded the carpet to get the 8-lb pad for free with the stain resistant carpet. I will update the options page with our selections because I can't recall all the names at the moment. But here's a pic of everything: 

This morning we had our meeting with Structured Cable of Virgina. The meeting was in the Milan model. We really liked that floor plan! We loved the neighborhood it was in but it's too far from everything in our lives. We are getting the 4 cable jacks in the owners suite, bonus room, great room and first floor bedroom. We are thinking about adding an outlet and HDMI drop in to the ceiling in the bonus room for a projector. We will be installing speakers on the deck after closing, but the wiring will be done pre-drywall. Those speakers will be connected through the great room tv so we can grill and have games on or broadcast pandora through the speakers outside. We are still thinking about the security system. It's between that and Verizon Fios (our current cable company- love it!). 

I think that's all the new details. We're going to take a day trip to Williamsburg Friday to look at the Palermo! Yay! 

family pictures and changes already

We got an e-mail that Ryan is no longer using the flooring company that I had just made an appointment with. I was able to set up an appointment with the new flooring company for Monday evening (an hour away. boo).  I'm finding that it has been extrememly hard to schedule these meetings (mortage, flooring, cable).  I can take time off work to go, but I'm trying to save for our actual move. Lesson learned: Don't sign the contract right before the busiest 2 weeks in a long time. This week, I had conference calls with Asia and Europe (yes, I'm that important..not really), so I worked some abnormal overtime. Next week, my little sister graduates from high school and I had planned a "stay-cation" so I can chill with the fam. STRESS TIMES A THOUSAND.

We did get a chance to go to the lot on Wednesday, though...

So here's our submission to Awkward Family Photos... I look like a total nerd. Aaron looks mad at the world. Simon obviously has ADD. My phone in my back pocket is giving me a weird shape. Story of our lives, I guess.

Here's a shot of the model home from our lot:

Simon really enjoyed himself...We probably weren't supposed to do this. But hey, we own $1,000 worth of this lot, right?

We also will have this lovely view from our front porch. On the plus side, we have awesome AT&T LTE/4G service.  On the downside, we may die of cancer. At least we will die on a nice porch. In all seriousness, it's not even in our neighborhood. I'm hoping that a 2-story home will be built on the lot in front of us and will block it a little bit. There was a windmill on top, but it blew off in a wind storm last month. I hope it goes back up. This makes me feel like we live in the country.

Sold sign!

So this whole blogging thing...

I'm new to the world of blogging... My degree is in Journalism, but I work in Finance, so it's nice to write. Don't judge me if I use incorrect grammar or spelling.

Anyway, I was just exploring the Gadgets you can add. I added one at the bottom of the page called Daily Puppy. There will be a diffrent, random picture of a puppy everyday. Just in case you need a dose of cuteness.  Speaking of puppies, things are about to get awkwardly adorable.  Here's my baby boy, Simon Rowdy Hampton DeBord:

He got in his bed after a long walk and cuddled with his pig [R.I.P. (apparently Simon didn't like Mr. Pig anymore and decided that it must be destroyed!)] Simon, or Sy, or Sy-Sy, or Simone for when we're feeling fancy, is a 15 month old Mini Schnauzer and I (Alyssa) worship the ground he trots on. We keep telling him we bought him a new house. I'm sure he understands. I wonder what room he'll choose as his? Oh right, all of them because he controls me.

the ride so far..

We've been wanting to move almost since we moved in.  We love our house, hate strongly dislike our neighbors (well, really one in particular).  Here's reason #5023 we're moving, keep in mind that this is an everyday occurrence:

Yup, right behind our driveway, blocking access to a sidewalk. EVERY SINGLE DAY. (Note: The cars parked there are not always this particular trailer, and not always attached to the same neighbor.)

So, after months of searching through Trulia, I came across a new development in Chesapeake, VA. I've always wanted to build, so I thought I'd ask my dad to tag along with me to the model to look "for the future"...

April 20, 2013

This was my first visit to the new Ryan Homes community. I love the location. It took 5 minutes from my dad's business (that my husband- we'll call him Aaron- works at a couple hours a week, and I stop by about once a month), so that's a plus! We toured the Ravenna and I was sold. My dad (whose opinion I take into consideration often) seemed to really like it too. The floorplan was exactly what I was looking for, it was pretty, etc. So I got the info and took it home to Aaron. He wasn't completely sold, but decided we could go look...

Side Note... My favorite running shoe is the Ravenna model by Brooks. This had to be a sign. 

May 1, 2013

Aaron I toured the Ravenna again. He was now sold on the idea. He enjoyed the feeling of new. We decided to build our home on paper that weekend.

May 5, 2013

Aaron and I ventured back to the Ravenna- but with a different plan of action. After looking through all the floor plans, I took a second look at the Palermo. Basically the same house, but no formal living room (I didn't want one anyway!). Oh and it was $10K less! WOO! So we decided to build that one out, I really didn't mind the monthly payment or down payment, but needed time to think about it. Throughout this week, I was in Excel for hours a day (I'm a nerd) and we were looking up pictures of the Palermo. I'm very thankful for other blogs...they really helped with the decision process. I went to the site twice during the week before we ended up where we are today...

May 12, 2013

LOT 47 SOLD!!!!

 

After about a 2.5 hour meeting (we ask a lot of questions),  we signed our contract and put down our lot reservation payment! So very excited about the next 5 months! 

There's Aaron in our backyard. 

Aaron signing the contract. He doesn't look like he has a neck here...

This week we will meet with NVR Mortgage, shouldn't have any problems, but you never know.