Our Land

Land is very hard to come by in the Philadelphia area, first off this area is extremely built up, even so far as 45 minutes outside of the city.  The second reason is because any available land is usually purchased by large home builders and sold as new construction.  Since Andy is going to be the builder of our house we couldn't buy any lots owned by developers or home builders.  It took us many many months to finally find the right piece of land but we finally did and in the location we wanted!  We are only five minutes from a Fresh Market and 1 minute from a Wawa!!!!  Our lot is 2 acres, it has some great trees and a pre Revolutionary War springhouse which has been registered as a historic property with our township.  Spring houses were used back in the good old days to keep food cold.  They are built over a natural running stream, this along with the stone exterior keeps the inside very cold.  When we first went to see the lot on a hot day in June I was so surprised when I opened the door to the Spring house and a cold burst of air came out.   This is definitely our favorite part of our land and will be a focal point in our backyard.    My second favorite part is our next door neighbors.  Not the actual neighbor but the animals!  There are roosters and chickens (definitely going to get the hookup on organic eggs) sheep and goats!  They are so cute and really make me feel like I am in the country!

Here is the lot in the summer, so pretty and green!

Here is the lot in the fall, most of the leaves have already fallen.

A very pretty fall tree on the lot.

The Spring House!

Our neighbors!

The official before picture of Andy and I on the lot, this was taken at the end of winter.

In The Beginning...

 This crazy idea to build our own home started on the beaches of Destin Florida in June 2013.  Andy and I had spent 6 months looking for the perfect home to buy in Pennsylvania after selling the house we loved and fixed up ourselves in Louisiana.  I am extremely picky in every aspect of my life, which is a severe understatement for anyone who truly knows me.  This translated over to our home search since everything in Pennsylvania is twice as old, and twice as expensive as what we were used to in Louisiana.   I have a beloved Christmas tree that is 10 feet tall.  I refused to buy a house that would not fit my tree!  After looking for what seemed like forever (all while living with my parents!) I realized in order to get what we wanted, we needed to build it ourselves.  Yes this is an absurd and crazy idea,  especially considering all of the stress we were already under (moving across the country, starting new jobs) but when I get fixated on something there is no going back.   Given that Andy's education and background is in construction it is not completely insane, just slightly.     Now back to Destin, we were on the Tate Family Vacation which meant we had lots of time together.  Lots of time for me to harass Andy about building our own house.  He tried to explain to me that since he had a full time job, didn't know any of the local subcontractors and didn't know how to build up North (what is a basement?!?!) that it would be impossible to do.  In an effort to get me to give it up he said he would call a local Philadelphia builder to get some more information about the process up North.  Corbett Hall of CD Hall Builders and Andy hit it off instantly.  Without this relationship there is no way we would be able to build our own home.  It just goes to show how God brings people into your life at a specific time for a specific reason.   We could have called many other builders and I know for a fact none of them would have been as helpful or responsive as Corbett has been.  We are extremely blessed and grateful.  This is going to be an interesting ride, one filled with lots of bumps, lots of tears (been there done that), and as always lots of laughs.  Crazy is our new normal, and I have learned that it is so much easier just to embrace the crazy.

To My Husband

Surprise! I know you didn't think I would actually start a blog.  I thought it was the least I could do after everything you have been through and everything you have done for us this past year.  Thank you for moving across the country for me, thank you for leaving your amazing job and starting a new one, thank you for leaving your wonderful family to be near mine, thank you for leaving warm weather for an endless snowy winter, thank you for putting all of our things in storage and living with my parents, thank you for still having a smile on your face a year later, and lastly thank you for building me my dream house, the reason for this blog.   While you do all of the hard work, I promise to keep blogging and to keep you laughing one way or another.