The minute I would tell someone that our house was on the market, my statement would be followed up with their question, “Where are you going to go?” For the longest time, I didn’t have an answer. I wasn’t sure if we would end up in a condo downtown or renting an apartment. All I knew was it wouldn’t be in Youngsville because we are way too far north on the map right now.
We recently decided what would work best for us and made plans. Plans I had become increasingly excited about. We would sell the house, buy some land and build our dream home. Not an outlandish, lavish or oversized house. A small and quaint one filled with personal details and desires. Like a gigantic shower. I hate the small shower in our home. And apparently so did the last couple that looked at our house because that was their stated reason for not wanting to make an offer.
My dad is a general contractor and built every house I grew up in. It never really impressed me as a child but as an adult, it’s mind blowing. Amazing that he could take a plot of land and board by board, brick by brick, build an entire house. I would joke that one day he would build me a house. A joke that over the years became a consideration and ultimately developed into a plan. A plan to sell our house and have my dad build a new one. I couldn’t think of anything more meaningful than having the hands that raised me construct the house that would finish raising me.
But we’re stuck. Our home is priced too high for our neighborhood. We can’t compete with the new construction and we can’t lower the price without losing too much money. We’ve had five or six showings but to no avail. The days on market are increasing and our hope to sell is diminishing. We both know our next step won’t be drawing up house plans. We’ll have to take it off of the market, try to build a little more equity and give it another go next year.
It’s disappointing when you make plans and then life reworks them. But this is just a classic case of trusting that the timing isn’t right. There are other plans I can’t see that are being drawn up, engineered and developed. And when the timing is right, it will make complete sense. And by it I mean why we purchased a house we couldn’t afford in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the 2008 real estate market crash and in a development that went bankrupt a week after we closed.
There are some plans I do intend on following through with which are my July goals. I have a lot to accomplish this month in order to check off a slew of items on my 30 before 30 list and in order to position myself in a comfortable spot before the Fall wedding season creeps up and consumes my life. So below is my “Plan A” for the month of July and should something not go according to that plan, I’ll keep my cool because there are still 25 more letters in the alphabet.
June Goals
The Bizniz
1. Clean up the van. – The van is sitting pretty at the repair shop. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
2. Schedule a schedule. – My entire month of July has been plotted and scheduled.
3. Order all needed promotional material. – In the works. Aprons and business cards for my girls, a new twitter background, updated Look Book and website updates are all in the works.
4. Start contributing to Carolina Style Magazine. - Stay tuned.
Life
1. Visit an amusement park I’ve never been to. – Done. Read about it here.
2. Indulge in an unusual spa service. – Scheduled for tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes.
3. Go have an eye exam. – Also scheduled for tomorrow. I’m not sure why I’m so nervous about an eye exam.
4. Order a fabulous dress. – My fabulous dress should be at my doorstep when I get home and here’s to hoping it fits and looks as fantastic in person as it did online.
July Goals
The Bizniz
1. Settle all van issues. – The van needs to be cleaned. I need to go get a special permit to get the van inspected in order to get the tag in order to drive it for the next year.
2. Stick to my new blog schedule. – Here’s to me following through on something I really, really need to. Today’s post is a good start.
3. Distribute business cards. – There are some amazing vendors and venues who need a little reminder that I adore them and they also need some of my business cards so they can hopefully tell other people they adore me too.
4. Decide on the OE headquarters. - I dream. A lot. Sometimes the dreams are bigger than I can comprehend and even when they seem ridiculously crazy, I believe in them.
Life
1. Go to a hookah lounge. – If we’re being technical, I already accomplished this because I actually created a hookah lounge at one of my last weddings and it had to be tested before opening it to the wedding guests. But I’ll keep it legit and actually go to a hookah establishment.
2. Send my grandmother flowers unexpectedly. – This one will be easy. And who doesn’t like a surprise bouquet of flowers?
3. Write a letter to myself to open in ten years. – Boy do I have some stuff to tell myself. Here’s to hoping that when I open the letter at age 40, I’ll be able to say that the way some things are today are the way they used to be.
4. Celebrate Brooke’s 30th. – This gal has become one of my closest and dearest friends and I am so excited to get dolled up and party the night away for her birthday.
5. Pay a stranger’s restaurant bill. – I swear this crosses my mind every time I go out to eat. I just keep waiting for some sign because I want it to be really meaningful to the recipient.
If you’re still reading, which gosh I hope you are, I have some words of wisdom. If someone says they could kill you with a straw and toothpick, believe them. At lunch today with my dad and brother, my dad was determined to prove to me that you could seriously hurt someone MacGyver style with just a drinking straw and flagged toothpick. I was the test dummy who stupidly and willingly put up my hand as dad blew a toothpick into my palm. I’m not kidding. It stuck in my hand and drew blood. And that pretty much sums up my family. Until next time. (Which will be tomorrow by the way because I’m sticking to this new plan.)
