So that empty plot of land I mentioned we bought back in this post, well, it's DONE! We closed on it January 2nd of 2020 and it was the best way to kick of the New Year. We of course had to have a little champagne to celebrate, and my husband was sweet enough to think of having the same exact kind that we had when we got engaged (he is truly the best sometimes).  All in all it was much less eventful than we thought, just a lot of signing paper and then they handed us the keys! We both felt a little, "uh...they are actually letting us have this grown up house no questions asked...WHAT?" 

Okay, so there totally were questions asked, obviously, during the approval for the loan, but it had taken place SO far in advance (house took eight months to complete with permitting taking about four of those months) that it felt like we just showed up and they handed us this awesome house. We thought there would be more drama involved since we had heard so many other stories that were the opposite experience but I guess that's when you are selling/buying at the same time and we were lucky enough to have all the time in the world to wait while we crashed at my in-laws who live 5 minutes from our new home. We actually just moved in a few weeks ago, really taking our time to fully transition.

It's a much (understatement) larger space than we come from so decorating has been a slow, expensive process. We still have empty rooms but I am happy to take my time and get things right that feel good instead of just throwing anything into the spaces to fill them. I'll share the rooms as they start to take shape. Our style isn't for everyone and I'm not a professional (don't want anyone to think I'm trying to be a home blogger) so I get intimidated to share things, especially when it feels like everyone lives in a picture perfectly designed house on Instagram, but it's a really fun process for me and 100% a labor of love so why hold back? It's exciting. They're just room outfits, right? 

Anyway, this year has already been a really great one for my family. Glad to be able to share it and so thankful to you if you are reading this! 

We did a crazy thing. After starting a family last year we knew we would eventually need more space. After much back and forth about when to buy, where to buy, how much we could afford now v. later, being disheartened by the prices of things in our current location. Basically, everything that was aesthetically our style in Arlington VA is deep deep into seven figures and the ones that were within the tippy top of our price range would require a lot of work - which we would have little left to make happen. We came to the realization that we aren't really players for even semi-desirable homes in the Northern VA area, so we decided to do the thing we NEVER thought we would do and look our in the suburbs. Specifically at a planned community down in Stafford, VA.

We only knew about it because my in-laws live a short 5 minute drive from the community. We thought it would be fun to check out a model home or two back in January, not thinking too too seriously about it. We left Isla with her grandparents for the afternoon and ended up being blown away by one of the models that seemed to check all our boxes. We went back in February, multiple times and again in March. Having the knowledge that we could have a brand new beautiful forever home just 45 mins down route 95 was becoming louder and louder. By April we decided our dollars just went too much further down there to not move forward. It was the best decision for our family, and we were ready to buy. We had serious in depth meetings with the home builder representative so we knew the lot and model but when we got there, someone else had purchased the one we were looking at. We felt deflated...for about 30 seconds. Turned out the mirror image lot that was previously unavailable had just become available again and we were in luck. We reserved the lot, came back the next weekend to work out our structural plans, and here we are. We don't expect to break ground for a few months but we are so excited about this whole process I wanted to share the very beginnings here.

This next chapter is going to be a very new one for us with lots of learning to do. We have very little now as we live in a small one bedroom + den apartment so while moving to a big house is a dream, it's also very VERY intimidating. I can't wait to document the build, the design, and decorating process! Big things happening for the Soybel's in 2019.