…and finding joy everywhere
Between the two of us, Ralph and I have owned a half-dozen homes. We’ve jumped through some crazy hoops in the past to get a mortgage (paperwork! deployment! marriage!), but we’ve always been successful. However, after lurking in a few “Expats in France” types of Facebook groups, we began to realize that mortgaging a home […]
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We saw three homes on this trip to the Aisne region of France, and while there were things we loved about each one, none convinced us to make an offer. Or more specifically, none convinced ME to make an offer. One had the most beautiful exterior with an edgy blend of modern and traditional, but […]
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After the heartbreak of a failed purchase right around Thanksgiving, Ralph and I took a little break from househunting for the holidays. In reality, it lasted about all of two weeks! And now as we embark on our third trip, I figured I’d start writing a bit more about the process since I’ve had a […]
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Once the tickets to Toulouse were booked, I started browsing websites for more homes to see. I figured we couldn’t fly all the way out there for one house…I needed more lined up to make the trip really count. It wasn’t long before another house on FB marketplace caught my eye. It was a 3-story […]
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Twelve hours before our flight to Toulouse, my house-hunting buddy Jen and I got texts from Lufthansa that our early morning flight was cancelled. Instead, our new flight to Toulouse around took off around noon. We’d hoped to arrive in Lauzerte in time to see the Saturday market, but now that plan was out the […]
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In the fall, we were back in the US to see the boys graduate their respective basic trainings – Logan at Fort Jackson, SC for the Army, and Brady at Great Lakes, IL for the Navy. Along the way, we stopped in Pittsburgh to see my family. Ralph and I had independently noticed a house […]
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It’s been a while since my last post – practically two years, in fact. So much has happened since then – the boys graduated high school, Ralph and I became empty nesters, and we decided to move to France! Most of these posts have been adapted from my Facebook updates because somehow those just seemed […]
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Ahhh, house hunting. It’s fun, it’s frustrating, but we’re finally through with it! Ever since I was a kid, I loved watching those real estate shows that would run on Sunday morning. Then HGTV became a thing, and I’d be watching that all the time if I had cable (which is another reason why it’s […]
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Well. It’s been a minute (ahem, about 3 months) since my last post. Things got real after the kidney stone episode and moving into the house. But now that we’re so close to being “settled,” I figured it was time to dust things off and capture some of the highs and lows we’ve experienced since […]
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Ok…maybe not everything. But in the spirit of keeping it real, I thought I’d share some of the latest musings as we close out our second month in Germany. Now that all the newness and wonder has worn off, the frustrating bits have become more pronounced and noticeable. Someone pour me a stiff drink! It’s […]
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Delightfully Disoriented 
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