House Hunt Continues

Well we are now up to making offers on a total of four houses only to be outbid. Here are the first two houses as a reminder.


House number one was what we called the Alki house. Located 7 houses down from Alki beach in West Seattle.


House number two was the Ravenna house located near the University of Washington.

Here are pictures of the latest two houses.


House number three was Alki II. It was a great place located two blocks in two different directions to Alki Beach.


House number four was located in the Genesee neighborhood of West Seattle.

The search continues.....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kitty Wells

How the hell is it that I know almost all Kitty's best hits? She was 92 for God sakes!
RIP Kitty!

Jim


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Virginia and other updates

I'm on my way back from Williamsburg Virginia where my colleague Charlotte McGuire from Ohio and I put on a 3:45 minute workshop on Reclaiming Futures. We had a good crowd and the presentation went well. Glad to be heading home. I have been so busy and feel far behind both at work and at home. Tomorrow I have to drive down to Vancouver for an all day meeting and then Thursday present at a statewide conference in Seattle. If I can get through this week my summer can begin!

We are still in the market for a house. It's been frustrating and exciting at the same time. We have made two offers and were outbid both times. We see everything out on the market and get notices right away when something new comes out and there is just not a lot available. We know we want to be in West Seattle, Green Lake, Montlake or Ravenna. There are a couple of other neighborhoods such as Magnolia or Queen Anne but the top two are West Seattle and Ravenna. We limit the stock quite a bit by our own criteria of a two car garage. Both the houses we placed offers on actually had three car garages. Although we would love to purchase a turnkey ready home, we've decided to consider doing a complete remodel on a house if the right one came on the market. The problem is I have no idea how much money it takes to completely remodel a house and add a garage if we need to. We have used a designer, Julie Evans from JM Designs on two projects in our current house so we have contacted her to have her join us at a house that would need a remodel so she can give us an idea of costs. Lots to consider.

Kent and I enjoyed our time in Virginia. On Saturday we actually went out to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and took a dip in the Atlantic ocean. Here is a map of our route. It was about an 180 mile drive to a part of the country that I've previously not visited.













We visited the site where the Wright brothers flew the first plane.












Cape Hatteras lighthouse.



We visited several national parks including the site where the final battle of the Revolutionary war took place. We visited the original settlement in Jamestown and of course Old Town Williamsburg and the College of William and Mary.



























We had a great time and look forward to going back for another visit.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Nags Head, NC

I love the name - Nags Head! We just went for a dip in the Atlantic. We are debating if the town is named after Kent or me! Lol! Keep your comments to yourself!









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day of Firsts

In Richmond Virginia in route to Williamsburg to present at a conference on Reclaiming Futures. It's become less frequent to get in a new airport and state capital but today we got both!









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Yet another lost house!

We made on offer on yet another house that we did not get. Without going into a lot of detail I'll just show a picture. It's been time consuming and we keep looking.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Seattle Bound

Once again I have been delinquent in my blog posting as life gets hectic! I am writing this post as Kent and I return from a weekend in Charlottesville, VA. I had a work presentation on Wednesday and Thursday of last week and Kent joined me on Thursday.
My work went well. I presented at a conference on co-occurring youth in the justice system. The meeting was held in Bethesda but I managed to get into DC a couple of times. I also had the opportunity for the first time to see the Walter Reed Medical Center. I went out for a run in Bethesda and specifically took a route that would take me by the hospital since I've never seen it.
I also too the opportunity to go visit the US Supreme Court on the eve of the big announcement on the Affordable Care Act. It was exciting to be in DC during the time the court maxed it's big announcement. We were all huddled around a TV in the hotel watching the announcement. I am so please that the high court upheld the law. I find it hard to believe that their are so many people that one don't fully understand the law and two that don't support universal health care. I'm sure that support for the law will increase as time goes by.


Once Kent got to town we headed right down to Charlottesville where we spent two days hiking in the Shenandoah's on two separate hikes. One on Friday that was 10.4 miles and then one on Saturday that was 8 miles. I also managed to get in a couple of 6 mile runs in while in town.



It was really hot while we were in town. When we finished our hike on Friday the temperature was 102! Going for runs was fine but I had to get up extra early so not to run in the heat of the day! W really enjoyed our hikes. Both were challenging and interesting. We took the time one day to take a dip in a stream along the way to cool off. We saw a big black bear from the car on one of the days.
We went to a movie on the hottest evening to stay cool. We had some great meals while we were in town. Our favorite was Tavola, which Kent found on Yelp.
We went to the home of James Monroe on one of the days which was very interesting as well. W have been to Charlottesville 5-6 times over the years and everything leave wanting to come back for another visit.
Funny thing is - we will be back here in a three short weeks to Virginia for yet another work conference. W will fly into Richmond this time and then spend time in Williamsburg and surrounding areas.
Finally as we travel we keep looking for houses. We are actually going to look at four houses tonight when we get home. We are keeping our realtor busy. We are particularly intrigued by a house in the Ravenna neighborhood that has a walk score of 92 and is near to many of the things we enjoy the most. Keeping our fingers crossed that the perfect place comes along!
Have a good one - I'll keep you posted on the house hunting!
Jim
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad