Mike and I have been technically homeless since we moved to Taiwan in 2010. We sold our house in Centennial and moved to Taipei and then to Brazil and Saudi Arabia. The last 3 years we lived in Jubail and I decided I want a place to call my own. We could pick anywhere we wanted as we had no jobs to determine the location. First time ever that we were picking a location.

We had some criteria of not too hot and not too cold. Someplace close enough to the ocean that we could go for a weekend. A place close enough to a major airport for easy travel. A home that was private but close to basic needs.

We created a pros and cons for different states that meet the criteria and Virginia seemed to win. We moved back to the states at the end of May and thought our house hunting would begin shortly there after.

Well we all know that life has a way of happening right smack dab in the middle of your plans and we ended up postponing the house hunting for months. We helped my dad move to Maryland in June to live with my brother. We helped my sister move out of her house in Massachusetts and then into her new place in Virginia in September.

In the middle of all of this Mike and I took master courses to renew our licenses.

We closed on our place the first of October and are finally feeling settled in. The storage unit is gone and the boxes are all unpacked (a future post). While the house is not fully furnished nor decorated it is ours.

These are the photos from the listing not taken by either of us. The yard does not look exactly the same but you can get the idea. The front yard is filled with trees and you cannot see the house from the road, ideal for privacy.

I love the porch and cannot wait to chill out in the summer reading a book.



We have a 2 car garage and a sun room. The sun room is my favorite place to be right now as I can see the birds in the feeders they left behind and the deer that bound over the fence to eat.



We have loads of trees so we feel like we are in a canopy forest. The squirrels are also fun to watch as they chase each other and drill acorns into the ground all through out the yard.

Cannot wait to see if there are more flowers in this bed.




We are not used to oak tress so the raking of leaves has been an on going battle. We rake or leaf blow every 2 days and still cannot get rid of them. We have recently learned that they will not actually lose all their leaves to spring! Ugh!

So we will continue to rake and work on the yard. It does not look like it needs a great deal of work but there are dead trees, grapevine and English ivy and other strands of invasive plants that need to be removed. Also we need to get some color into the yard. I am looking forward to planting come spring.

Once the house is picture ready I will post those.