New Places, New Faces, New Kitchen!

It happens.

Every few years, 2Chili and I seem to get antsy for change at exactly the same time. 10 years together and we’re pretty well in sync. We still disagree about what color a particular color “is,” and we don’t like many of the same foods, but with major life changes, we align.

Five years ago, almost to the day, we sold the house we had toiled over for 3 years, uprooted our lives, and moved to Park City, Utah, in search of good skiing and a more active life. That didn’t quite work out like we wanted. The snow was horrible that particular winter, we lived in a tiny apartment under a marching band (not literally, but it seemed like it), and we didn’t quite fit in amongst the Utahians. Utahites? Er, the people of Utah.

So, we moved back to Seattle, bought another fixer upper, shredded it for three years (there is a theme there) and have been happily not remodeling for some time. We regained our lives. I got into triathlon and started writing this blog. 2Chili started racing cyclocross and figured out technology. Mr. “I don’t need Twitter” is now a Twitter-aholic.

But, we’re antsy. We’re ready for some adventure again. We wanted a smaller house with a smaller yard and less maintenance. We wanted to move away from living next to a lake – it is not all it’s cracked up to be – and to someplace quiet. We wanted bike lanes. And close skiing. And sidewalks! Yes, sidewalks. Western Washington neighborhoods are terrible about not having sidewalks. If they were built before the ‘90s, there are likely no sidewalks.

So, we have been scouring the west coast for our new place. I am not kidding about scouring – I have been dragged home shopping in Northern California, Oregon, Idaho, and Eastern Washington. I do not like home shopping!

We finally found our place in Central Oregon in the town of Bend. We learned from our Park City mistake and bought a house that meets our needs, instead of just finding some cheap, temporary place. A permanent, nice place should help with the transition.

All of that lead up was to show you pictures of my new kitchen. I can’t wait to get in there and start cooking up some deliciousness! Oh, who are we kidding? To start blending up some deliciousness!

Just a few more days and this kitchen – and the house attached to it – will be ours to enjoy. And, we don’t have to lift a finger. It’s pretty much perfect already.

We have about a week until our Seattle house goes on the market, and have turned a punch list of over 100 items into a punch list with just a couple things left. It has been a crazy month! I haven’t been this tired since we were actually remodeling, but there is a big light at the end of the tunnel because we are almost done. It’s amazing how much effort it takes to prep a house to go on the market because we turn it into “new” again. Hopefully that will help it sell.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back with an easy “no-recipe” type recipe. Happy Monday!