Our {latest!} Fort McMurray Real Estate Adventure...

So...ya...we bought a house. 

Well, I'm probably jinxing it because all the conditions haven't been met yet, but it's *thisclose* so it's probably going to happen. And we're too excited to keep quiet about it anymore!

Obviously it's a new build, so we hope to move by the end of June. it's close to being done. Part of our contract is that the basement be made into a legal rental suite {EVERYONE does that here in Fort McMurray to offset the RIDICULOUS house prices!}.

Getting to the point where we actually purchased this house was quite the adventure. We saw no less than FIFTY houses of all sizes {1200 sq ft to 3300 sq ft in vast range of prices}. 

You KNOW that I love real estate, so I've been perusing MLS since Big A was offered the job here. I got the know the Fort McMurray real estate market pretty well. On the very day when we qualified for our mortgage, we set out to buy a specific house that day, only to realize it SOLD... that very day! It had been sitting on the market for 5 months and it SOLD the day we want to offer on it!

Unfazed, because I truly believe all things happen for a reason, we found another perfect house. We wanted to sleep on it, so we held off putting an offer for a day, only to find out that it too had SOLD within that short window! Of all the luck!

Soon we found another house -- which was going to be an exact replica of the first house I set my heart on.  But for some reason, I just wasn't sure I wanted to put an offer, so we slept on it again.

The next morning, my amazing Fort McMurray real estate agent {and now my soul sister!} texted me that she found the PERFECT house for me, in the neighbourhood I wanted, for a much more reasonable price. No catch. Seriously.

 As soon as we saw it, we knew THIS was the house. It was in the middle of construction, with only dry wall and a few doors, so we had to use our imagination. To make it more challenging, ALL the finishings had already been chosen and I had no real idea what they were. So once we got clarification on what the big ticket items looked like {cabinets, countertop, tile, etc.}, we took the plunge.

We are so glad we did. Look what we discovered when we came back from Ontario this week! The tile floors and kitchen cabinets are in!

Luckily, our builder is AWESOME and agreed to let us choose the hardwood, carpet, backsplash tile and basement flooring & countertops. It's so exciting to be able to customize this awesome house on these important aspects of our home.

And wait till you see what we picked! We're taking a bit of a risk, but I LOVE it! It's GORGEOUS!

One thing that we really love about buying THIS home in particular is that it isn't ALL done. We're not paying for someone's design/decorating/customization. 

We are going to be able to really make this house OUR HOME. 

Bring on the DIY! Did I mention the garage is HEATED?!?!?!

Stay tuned for our more updates on our new home!

Read more...

Mummy's Got New Shoes!

As Spring is quickly progressing, and most of my beloved shoe collection is back in Ontario, Mummy needed some new shoes to tide me over.

So I spoiled myself this past weekend with several pairs. All shoes were purchased in Fort McMurray :)

Image via here

 I'm not a "heels girl" AT ALL, but I absolutely loved these shoes. Yep, they are crazy high {like 6 inches!}, but the platform is high too, and they are amazingly comfortable. I wore them for 3 hours straight which is a world record for me. I usually last about 8 minutes in heels. So I ADORE them!

Image via here

 I saw these cute lower-heel sandals, and I loved the stripes and colours! I had to have them! And they're only $40!

Image via here

 Even though my 1st pair of Toms ripped right away, I've still worn them for almost a year. But I need a new pair, so I found these super cute denim Toms! And they are VEGAN! They are soooo comfortable!

Image via here

I've always coveted Sanuk's Sidewalk Surfers, and I saw these adorable and comfortable sandals/shoes.  I love them. And they are VEGAN too! Love me some vegan, earth-friendly shoes :)

--------------------------------------

Not to be outdone, Little A found a cute pair of shoes of sparkly Tiny Toms-esque slip-ons from Payless!

Aren't they adorable?

Image via here

Image via here

Read more...

Real Estate Update {Photo Heavy!}

I just realized that in my neglect of the blog during the month of April, I didn't share two major things:

1) Amazing photos of our house!

2) Our house SOLD! We had 33 people in during the first 3 days and got an offer on the 3rd day! It firmed up a week later, so we SOLD it before we left for Fort McMurray. We're so blessed!

So I know you've seen photos of my house before, but I thought these HDR photos were extraordinary. Enjoy!

 

Thank you to the amazing Chris Abbott -- our Real Estate agent extraordinaire -- for letting us use these great photos, and for ALL his hard work in getting our home SOLD!

It's so hard to say good-bye to our old house, but now that it's sold, it doesn't even feel like ours anymore. Plus I'm really excited for the Adventures in Real Estate that we're about to have here in Fort McMurray, Alberta!

Read more...

Living Juicy

For the last few months I've been on a "wellness" kick -- you will continue to read more about this as my posts become more frequent. Back in February,  I came across a movie entitled:

 "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" - catchy title, eh?

 I just *had* to know what this movie was about. Since I lived in mommy-land suburbia, I rarely {ok, NEVER} went to the city to catch up on cool documentary movies.

I rented it from iTunes and was hooked. In fact, I watched it 3 times in 2 days. Seriously. I LOVED this movie!

The premise is that this average overweight, albeit very sick, 40-something man decides to allow his body to heal itself. That is, he nourishes his body with optimal nutrition on the premise of Hippocrates, "Let Food be thy Medicine and Medicine be thy Food."

This film documents his SIXTY DAY green juice fast {which was done under a doctors supervision, I might add}, and ultimately how he was able to cure his disease -- and lost almost 100 lbs -- all by drinking vegetable juices, then eating only fruits & veggies until he was completely off his medication. 

Obviously there's a lot more to this movie, but that's the gist of it. 

I had been toying with the idea of juicing before, but I really didn't know much about it. This movie inspired me to promptly buy a fancy Breville juicer and I haven't looked back since. 

 

No, I haven't been on any juice fasts, but I do enjoy an {almost!} daily hit of the lean green goodness.  Juicing is different than smoothies. I don't know how to explain it, but I can literally feel the goodness in my cells almost immediately after drinking my juice. I still enjoy a Green Monster smoothie, but I've learned that the juicing is important, if not VITAL to my health and well-being too.

Since then, I also discovered the AMAZING Kris Carr - wellness warrior and green juice goddess.  She is living with cancer and filmed a documentary about her healing called, "Crazy Sexy Cancer." If you have a moment, check out her website. LIFE-CHANGING.

Image via here

She has also written a number of books, including Crazy Sexy Diet and... my FAVOURITE  - an e-book called:

 Crazy Sexy Juices & Succulent Smoothies. 

 

I highly recommend it for dozens of recipes, not too mention her delightfully catchy "Hey Girlfriend!"-style of writing. Kris Carr knows her stuff and inspires you too to live the Crazy Sexy alkaline lifestyle!

Do you LIVE JUICY too? Tell me about it!

Read more...

A Sure Sign of Spring: New Tiny Devotions Mala Beads

The weather lately has been so lovely here in Northern Alberta - so delightfully Spring-like. We're in shorts & capris, but enjoying the fresh cool breeze. 

I thought I would treat myself {I seem to do that A LOT don't I?} to a new mala bead stack from Tiny Devotions for the summer. I love the amazing quality and love that goes into the making of these beautiful mala beads. I've blogged about them before, but I absolutely ADORE them!

It arrived on Monday {4 days to get here when I paid for overnight delivery! Gotta love Fort McMurray mail!} and I couldn't be more THRILLED with the happy lil' mala stack.

It's called the Tight & Bright Stack that is supposed to attract Joy, Light, Love & Reaching Potential - "This special stack is for the fun, vibrant and limitless girl who is happily contented with exactly who she is." I think that's a pretty accurate description of me -- or at least the woman I aspire to be. 

This stack reminds me to always choose to be that girl.

Namaste.

Read more...

May Day!

HAPPY MAY DAY!

 I can't believe it's MAY already! And I can't believe I didn't even post ONCE is April. Sorry about that. We've just been enjoying ourselves exploring our new town and settling into our new {albeit temporary!} digs. Our two bedroom condo is small compared to our old 2500 sq ft house in Ontario, but we're making do -- living simply. 

So what have we been up to in April?

  

Let's see...

1. HOUSE HUNTING - the house market here is a little bananas. The house prices are about TRIPLE the prices in Ontario. A tiny condo like the one we're in is about $380K. A detached house similar to our home in Ontario is over a $1 Million. Yep - you read that right - a million bucks +++ for about 2500 sq ft. We're at the point now when looking at houses when you see a $850K house and think it's a steal. I guess we're desensitized to the insanity. Our house hunting at first was mostly educational, so until I have a job, it's on hold.

2. FULL-TIME MUMMY - So I'm home with both kids full time for the first time ever. The kids are very busy, and sometimes a wee bit grumpy, but overall we're having a blast! This is a precious time and I'm appreciating every moment because they are growing up so quickly. We go for walks, exploring the amazing trail system, go on playdates and spend HOURS at the park {meeting new friends}almost everyday. I also am busy doing domestic chores to keep the house organized. You can't hide mess in a tiny place like this!

3. YOGA - I've found a yoga teacher I really enjoy so I've been attending a few of her classes. I also start with another yoga teacher this week. I'm really enjoying deepening my yoga practice and learning more about yoga. When I'm not doing yoga, I'm reading about yoga or other health and wellness options. 

4. FAMILY FUN - We've been spending a lot of time with my brother, sister-in-law and their amazing kids. I am so grateful that we're here in Fort McMurray with them. It's been such an easy transition because of their hospitality and generosity. The cousins love playing together and hanging out. We're so lucky!

I'll leave you with a several photos of the little kidlets from April...

New Double Stroller from Kijiji - it's a BOB Revolution. And it's a MACHINE.

EZ's Rockstar future is so bright - he's gotta wear shades!

Little A seems to make this squishy face now for the camera...sigh...

Little A also discovered a new sleeping position. She does this in her crib, in the car seat, and as you can see...on the floor!

Munching on a chocolate covered marshmallow at Mac Island!

EZ showing off his new walkie-talkies!

------------------

So I promise to post more diligently about our McMurray adventures! Perhaps I'll even set a goal to post everyday this month! I welcome you {EZ-speak for "you're welcome"}.

Read more...