Day One, Part Two: O.v.e.r.w.h.e.l.m.e.d.

I know, I know--it took me FOREVER to put this post up.  In my defense, I have been transitioning from my job working as the Events & Volunteer Manager at the Trinity Booster Club to being an Andrologist and Clinical Research Assistant and the Fertility Centers of Illinois.  So, the past week I've been working 10 hour days and I haven't been very good about getting this one finished.  But here it is and I will be better from here on out! 
♥H  

After discovering that Mike’s hockey practice was actually Sunday the 7th, not Saturday the 6th, and I got to relish in a rare moment of imperfection in his life, we decided to head up to Lake Forest around 10 AM even though our first showing wasn’t until 1:30. We were blessed with an absolutely beautiful day so we figured it would be nice to walk around and check the “downtown” area (and perhaps have Mike treat me to a guilt-induced breakfast for waking me up so early for nothing).

Once we arrived in Lake Forest, which was an easy 20 minute drive up 41 from Evanston, we parked the car and went on a search for some good, fairly inexpensive breakfast fare. As we walked through the downtown, where we encountered several gaggles of girl scouts hocking their cookies on roller blades and scooters, we were both amazed by how quiet and charming Lake Forest is.  We stumbled across The Egg Harbor Cafe which turned out to be everything we wanted in a breakfast joint and more.  There were tons of people there but we only had to wait about 5 minutes for a table.  We both had fantastic meals and we left feeling satisfied and ready for some hunting.

We met up with Lisa, our realtor, at the Lake Forest Baird & Warner office.  Right off the bat, we knew we had a winner.  She is funny and outgoing but also direct and can get down to business.  We had intended to talk to a few realtors, but once we were done with her, I looked at Mike and said, "I think we've found a winner."  We went through some paperwork and talked about the basics.  She also set us up with a daily MLS search that gets sent to my inbox each morning.

She took us to this house in Lake Forest we had wanted to see.  It became quickly clear why they hadn't posted pictures of the bedrooms.  They were so small and the ceilings so low, there was absolutely no chance we could be in a place like that.  I actually hadn't really realized that we'd need to take Mike's 6'5" bigness into account--he couldn't stand up the basement!  I just assume all houses are big enough for him! There was also some seriously HIDEOUS wood paneling that covered every inch of every bedroom. We'd never rule a place out because of wood paneling, but we just were NOT feeling it.  Needless to say, it was a bit of a disappointment but was exciting to see our first place.

Next, Lisa took us to a place she thought we'd like.  It's a short sale, so we weren't allowed to take pictures and there aren't any on MLS listing, but we LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it.  In all honestly, the place was such a mess, we wouldn't have wanted to take pictures--but we were able see past all of that.  From the front, it looks like a single level ranch, but it was built on a hill, so the "basement" is completely finished and has a door that leads out to the backyard.  And oh, what a backyard it is.  It looks over a ravine and has a fantastic deck on the second level (which we would definitely want to build stairs up to so it could be accessed from the yard).  Unfortunately, it was a bit over our price range...though we have continued to talk about it all week.  We are definitely going to keep our eye on it.

Last, we met up with a different realtor to look at this house.  It was one that I had found and really liked from the pictures.  We both liked it a lot, but in the end, the fact that it had practically no yard made us rule it out.  We just enjoy being outside, hanging out, throwing a lacrosse ball around, grilling...you name it, we want to be outside doing it.  And if there isn't a yard, it isn't for us.

We ventured back home, feeling exhausted and fairly overwhelmed.  We really started to realize how much this whole house hunting thing can take out of you. 

But we've begun the process and we couldn't be more excited.