Better (2 years) late than never...

Heidi ho, neighbor!

Let's see... It's been 2 years, 1 month, and 16 days since we last "spoke". I hope all is well :) Happy New Year, Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas for 2013, 2014, and welcome to 2015! Things are good here... let's just say there have been a few changes since my last post.

First and foremost, I'm (un)fortunately not a bored housewife enjoying funemployment over my holiday break. We are also no longer in Washington DC, hence the new blog title. Not a shock to 99.99% of you who are reading this. For the .01% of you who might have started following me 4 years ago when I started my blogging journey: What are you doing still following me? Weird.

Kidding.

But really, here's the scoop: In July of 2013, Zeke was offered an opportunity to join a Global Talent Management team with an oil and gas company in Houston that we couldn't pass up. I was able to keep my job and work remote, so after very little much deliberation we felt like it was the right time to pack up and head down South once again.

The three years we spent on the East Coast were some of the most defining moments of our lives, and I still have fun reliving them through my old blog posts.  I'm sad I slacked off for the last two years, and I really do wish I would have done a better job of chronicling our adventures for my own selfish reasons.  If you've ever kept a blog, it's like a diary, only very public and searchable forever.

Wait... I should just keep a diary.

Meh, I'd get writer's cramp in my hand. Moving on.

Fast forward to February 22, 2015. That's today (hopefully... this blog post is taking me for-freaking-ever). We've been busy bees lately, and a large part of the reason is we finally bit the bullet and bought a home last summer! We snagged our own little piece of the Historic Heights in Houston and are officially owners of a precious little 1910 bungalow!

Happy homeowners (pre mortgage payment, of course). 

Sale pending, eh?

"Take that!" you other people that bid on the house and made us pay full price.  We win!
(Or did we?)

Either way, Mr. and Mrs. Smith are finally HOME!

Yep, we are the proud (and terrified) owners of a 105-year-old house. The last 6 months have been such an eye opening experience full of highs and lows already.

For the last 2-3 years, Zeke and I have spent many hungover lazy Saturdays and Sundays in bed watching countless hours of HGTV and saying what we "would" and "would NEVER" do/say/act like if we owned a home and were doing renovations. Pretty sure every one of these phrases came out of our mouths at some point:

"Why does that couple fights so much... they'll be divorced in 6 months"
"It's just a wall, you idiot. Knock it down."
"WHY are you so obsessed with granite? I didn't have granite growing up. You'll be fine."
"It's paint, you can change it for f***'s sake."
"Aww, the shower isn't spa-like and glass? You sound like an a-hole."
"Living through renovations can't be that bad. You're being dramatic. It's just construction dust."

Little did we know... that we'd be those a-holes on HGTV that had people yelling at the screen saying the exact same things about us!

"I know, Zeke, but it's DID YOU SEE THAT KITCHEN"

My point of re-encarnating the 'ole blog isn't to clog your feed with more annoying mentions of House Hunters, so I'll defer this topic to a later post when I'm out of things to talk about and need some content :P In the mean time, I would, however, like to chronicle our experience as rookie homeowners and renovators. We've done a ton of work, and it's so fun to look back on where we started vs. where we are now. We also have some big changes coming up in the future, and I'd love input from any of you folks that have been there/done that. Some topics I'll surely touch on in the near future:

• Pinterest/Houzz are the devil and no one can afford anything from the damn sites. 
• Zeke vs. the creepy black cat that won't leave our front porch.
• How to cook with no kitchen sink and no countertops.
• Why NOT to let your toilet run or else you'll have an $800 water bill (for ONE month).
• What NOT to do when your hot water heather goes out 3 weeks after you buy a house.
• Why supporting your neighborhood businesses is a great idea.  
• Kate and the face-off with the roof dwelling raccoons.
• The case of the disappearing koi fish. 
• Why it's ok to leave a large Christmas wreath hanging above your couch until March.

And not that this makes any difference to you, reader, but I'm also updating the format of the blog considering it has been the same since... ehh... 2010. That's, like, half a decade. Time for an update, Mrs. Smith.

Ok, phew! Wrapped it up before midnight. Thank the lawd. I appreciate you tuning back in, and have a wonderful night! I sincerely hope it's not another 2 years before we meet again.

Kate