We are MOVING!!!

***Photo Tour Below***

We are so excited to announce that we are finally moving. Lauren will have her own room and so, so, so much more. We, well Justin, has been looking for a new place to call home now for months. We live in a spendy part of San Diego, but we love it here, so it is hard to find something that is nice, meets our needs, and most importantly, our budget.

Justin found a wonderful place last month, but it did not work out. We were really bummed out, but I knew that because I had been praying about it, there had to be something even better in store for us...and there was!

This place was only listed one time, and Justin happened to see it. It just sold to a new owner and she is looking to rent it long term. She lives in China, but she is an American. So on to our new home.

The first thing that just drives us bonkers about our current place is the lack of parking. Well, there is NO visitor parking what-so-ever at our current place. It is not a lack of...there just is none. It is a gated community, so when guests do come over, we have to go to the gates and let them in, after they have parked off site. It is so annoying. New place: Guest Parking Galore! And it is right in front of our unit.

Opposite of our garage is an entire row of guest parking spaces. They are reserved spaces...and our unit has 2!!!

Another one of our requirements was a 2-car attached garage. We have a 2-car tandem now and it is annoying. It works, but it is not great. This place is side by side and attached. The garage is super deep and has plenty of room to store things in it. Hooray!

The garage is on the ground level and then the living room is up one flight of stairs. We will call that the first floor, and then up an additional flight of stairs are the bedrooms. We will call that the second floor.

The additional requirements we had were:
More Space-Check!
2 Bedrooms instead of one, like we have now-Check!
2.5 Bathrooms instead of one, like we have now-Check!
In Unit Washer and Dryer-Check!
Storage-Check!
A Living Room Large Enough for Our Giant Couch-Check!
An Office Would be Great too-Check!

So without further adieu, I will take you on a tour. These are all the images from the MLS real estate listing.

The front door is in the back left of this picture. Not seen, to the right of the front door is a powder room. Through the doorway in the kitchen is a side by side washer and dryer. To the right of this picture are the stairs down to the attached 2-car garage. The dining room is to the left. Check out those amazing views out the windows. I love that the windows face East, so they will get morning sun, and will be shaded in the evenings.

The kitchen, with recessed and under cabinet lighting. To the right are the stairs that go to the garage.

The powder room near the front door.

Looking in the opposite direction of the kitchen and dining room is the living room. To the right of the fireplace are the stairs that go up to the bedrooms and to the left are the stairs that go down to the garage. We will mount our TV above the fireplace. See that mantle? I am SO excited to decorate it!

This picture is looking from the front door towards the dining room and living room. That door leads out to a large deck (where we will put our barbecue and patio table and chairs). The far wall on the left is an extension of what you see in the picture above. Way to the left are the stairs to the bedrooms.

Here is a picture of the deck and view. There is a creek that runs down there. A creek in San Diego (who knew?) and there is water and ducks in it!

Okay, lets head upstairs now. At the top of the stairs, you run in to floor to ceiling cabinets and they are beautiful, but we do not have a picture of them. If you make a u-turn at the top of the stairs, you find this beautiful office with built-ins. It is a bit narrow, but look at all that storage!

If you turn right at the top of the stairs, and then go straight, you will end up in Lauren's Room. It is a dual master, so she has an attached bathroom. Lauren's Room is HUGE. (13 feet by 15 feet). She has a window AND a sliding door to her own private balcony. What we love about that is how high the wall outside on the balcony is. We do not have to worry about her escaping and falling off the deck. (We will still lock the slider up high). To the right of the slider is her own bathroom.

This is Lauren's Bathroom. In the left mirror reflection, you see her own walk in closet, and it is HUGE! You can also see her glassed in shower/tub.

Another view of her shower/tub and walk-in closet.

To the left of Lauren's Room is our bedroom. When you walk through the door, the bathroom is straight through and to the right. This picture was taken from the door. We also have a balcony and slider. The bathroom is on the opposite side of the wall on the left. To the right is Lauren's room. This room is also 13 feet by 15 feet. HUGE!

This is the Master Bathroom. The opening to the right of the medicine cabinet leads you to the bedroom if you make a left turn. The wall that you face when you leave the bathroom/on the left when you enter from the bedroom has a wall full of built in cupboards. You can sort of see them in the reflection of the mirror. To the left is a private restroom, with a door. Opposite the sinks is an enclosed shower and walk in closet that is huge.

The bedroom windows all face the west, which is wonderful, because the morning sun will not be blasting in. We will get the evening sun in those windows, but we will not be up there anyways in the early evenings. Both bedrooms and the living room have the wiring in for ceiling fans, so we plan to purchase and install those once we move in. We are allowed to paint, so I am looking forward to that as well.

We love that is is close to the freeway, but not so close that we hear freeway noise and get freeway dust (like we do now). The complex only has 60 units, so it is quiet and nice. There is a nice pool as well. This is our view from the bedroom windows. The guest parking is right in front.

This is our dream home (in San Diego) and we are bummed out that we are only leasing it, but it just felt like home the moment we walked in. It is 1,500 square feet. A big jump from our 800 square feet that we live in now...oh and did I mention, we get all of this for less than $100 more dollars a month then we are paying now? We move in 3 weeks and are so very excited.