We're Homeowners!

It's official! We got the keys! It's ours! :-)

Delightfully, our new home is a short stroll away from all the nifty shops on California Ave. and we already love the farmer's market they have every Sunday (amazing stuff!). It's also close to the CalTrain station and just a few blocks from some tennis courts at Peers Park. And we're pretty excited that we're basically across the street from Mollie Stone's, so we can actually walk to get groceries. After three years of living next to a fire station and a dirt lot that would eventually become a Lowe's, we are ECSTATIC to be moving someplace where we can walk to so many awesome things.

(Note that we did walk to the Lowe's once or twice to buy light bulbs, but few things are as useless to a renter as a home improvement store. And there was already a Home Depot down the road! Give me a break right?! Anyways it was sad when they finished building it, because we were desperately hoping it turn into a Borders, haha.)

We don't move for a couple more weeks, but we'll be starting to Craigslist some of our current furniture and shop for some new stuff. Our brothers will be coming up to help us move during the second week of August.

If you're shocked and amazed at how suddenly we decided to buy this place, so are we. I looked back through our emails and realized that we didn't seriously start looking for a place until June 10, when we first wrote to a couple potential real estate agents. We decided to make our first bid on June 23 (which we lost, probably for the best). A mere week later, we bid on this lovely condo at Palo Alto Central, and now, here we are! I always assumed that I would be terribly picky before making such a gigantic investment, and that I would be searching for 6-12 months at least. Looks like I was only off by an order of magnitude or so, heehee.

On the brighter side, three years ago when we moved out to California, I chose our apartment (which we're still living in today) without even seeing PICTURES it. I was actually on a beach in North Carolina with only some very shady cell reception when we committed to it, so we've at least raised our standards a little bit since then. :-P Plus, we've been pretty happy at this apartment, so I suspect I just have totally awesome judgment.

Our kitchen doesn't have those hot new granite countertops, but then again...our kitchen doesn't have those hot new granite countertops. :-)

Anyways, we're super excited, and we'll post more pictures and updates as we move in!