Last weekend, the weather was beautiful and we didn't have any plans, open houses that looked interesting, or projects to work on (miracle of miracles!). So Saturday morning after waking up, we spontaneously decided to head to San Juan Island for a weekend getaway. Why not?! We made ferry reservations, booked a hotel room (the last one available at our favorite hotel in Friday Harbor) and packed a bag in about fifteen minutes. Then we were out the door!

On the way up, we stopped in Snohomish for twice baked almond croissants and coffee. I really love Snohomish and if the commute to Seattle weren't so long, it would be at the top of my list for areas to buy a house. We also tried to visit the tulip fields in La Conner, but once we hit the Saturday "tulip traffic" (seriously, it was insane), we decided to skip it. Instead, we grabbed some lunch and hung out in Anacortes until it was time to get on our ferry.

The ferry ride to San Juan Island was long, beautiful, and sunny. And the best part is...WE SAW ORCAS! Ben was the first one on the entire ferry to spot them. There were three orcas, blowing water near some whale watching boats. Then we saw their fins and backs rising out the water, for several minutes as the ferry passed. It was mesmerizing. We're planning to go to Vancouver Island the first week of June for our babymoon, and I want to do a real whale watching tour so we can hopefully get up close and watch them for awhile. I've seen orcas a total of three times now, but each time was from a distance and I could only see their fins. So next time, I reeeaally want to see one breaching!

Once we landed at Friday Harbor, we checked into our hotel, then grabbed sodas and snacks and headed straight to South Beach. It's Ben's favorite spot on the island--a long pebble beach filled with tons of driftwood and rock formations to climb on, with an amazing view of the Olympics, Mt. Rainier, and Vancouver Island. We hung out there for awhile and just relaxed, then we headed to Lime Kiln Point to watch the sunset.

Lime Kiln Point is my favorite spot. It has an old lighthouse that's still operational, and there's always lots of wildlife along the shoreline. We saw seals, a sea lion, lots of bald eagles, and (best of all) a pod of porpoises that hung out for awhile as the sun was setting! Magical.

Sunday morning, we headed to Roche Harbor and along the way I spotted the cutest house that was actually for sale! Too bad it was just a little bit out of our price range at $825k. ;) At Roche Harbor, we got donuts and bacon (breakfast of champions!), walked around and looked at all the fancy yachts, and played bocce ball. We also checked out the historic Hotel de Haro, where Theodore Roosevelt supposedly stayed twice. It's a beautiful building with a lovely manicured garden out front. You can get married there too--they were setting up for someone's wedding while we were there!

Afterward, we headed back to Friday Harbor, visited a few of the shops, grabbed some picnic food at the grocery store, and lounged on the beach one last time. Then it was time to head back!

We didn't see any whales from the ferry on the way home, but I was feeling rather large myself. :) Here I am at 23 weeks pregnant!

We also made one last attempt to see the Skagit Valley tulip fields on our way back. This time, there was no traffic at all and we got right in! So, if you're in Washington and want to catch the tulips without battling the crowds, go on Sunday evening. One of the big fields (Tulip Town) was already closed at 6:00, but we still got to see RoozenGarde, which had rows of tulips in all different colors and a gorgeous garden that felt like something out of a fairy tale. Totally worth it.

We had such a fun weekend, and it felt almost as refreshing and rejuvenating as a "real" vacation. I was inspired to take a few more mini-getaways before our baby comes! We'll see if we can cross off any of the other destinations on my PNW list.

Alternate title: What To Do When You Hate the Carpet in Your Rental. Seriously, our house has the nastiest, most matted down carpet in the bedrooms. We took over the lease from Ben's brother and sister-in-law, and the carpets were already old when they lived here. So I think they're at least six or seven years old, probably more. I've tried to convince our landlord to install faux wood floors or at least replace the carpet, but at this point I don't really care since hopefully we'll be moving soon (right?!). Still, the carpet is probably my biggest pet peeve with this house, so when Kohl's and Mohawk Rugs offered to send me a new rug, I immediately thought our bedroom would be the perfect place for it. I got a nice and big one, so it covers up as much of the floor as possible. Now I can pretend that gross carpet doesn't exist! :)

I chose the Adona Lattice rug because it looked plush and cozy, and it matches our blue bedframe. It's currently on sale too!

I think Ben was a liiiiittle annoyed at me for making him lift the bed up and shove a new rug underneath, when we're hoping to move so soon (and he's probably right--what's the point if it only lasts for a few months?). But even he had to admit that it's nice to have something soft and cushy underfoot when we wake up in the morning! Plus, who can stay mad at a pregnant lady? :)

If you're in the market for a new rug, Mohawk has a bunch of great, affordable options. Here are a few of my favorites that I considered.

Shopping sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

P.S. I realized I've been talking about putting a rug in our bedroom since 2014 (!!!) when I wrote this post. Of course, I finally get around to it now while we're house hunting. Ha!

Thanks to Kohl's and Mohawk Rugs for partnering with me on this post.

I thought I'd share another house hunting update, because I've always been interested in hearing other people's house hunting stories. The reason I was so absent on the blog last week is because we came this-close to buying a house. Remember the Craftsman I mentioned? Well, we put an offer in on it two weekends ago, and it was accepted! We were super excited because it had so many of the things we wanted--lots of natural light, a big front porch (one that we could probably expand with the help of personal loans), four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fairly open kitchen, and a cottage in the back that could bring in some extra cash. It was even three blocks from a park that overlooked the water, in a walkable neighborhood filled with beautiful historic homes. There were a lot of things that felt right about it. So we met with our lender and turned in loads of paperwork, we wrote a check to the escrow company, and ordered an inspection. This was the farthest we'd gotten in the house buying process so far, and it was exciting to be so close to the finish line.

Alas, the inspection turned up a lot of issues that we did not foresee. Remember how I said it was updated and move-in ready? Well, I spoke too soon. Our inspector found (among other things) that there were rotting support posts, a crack in the foundation, and possibly other structural issues. The upstairs had knob-and-tube wiring which would need to be updated, and the sewer pipe had a leak. Those were just a few of the major things--there were also lots of little issues. We expected that with a nearly hundred-year-old house, we'd have to spend some money to fix it up...but foundation, electrical, and plumbing issues combined were more than we were willing to take on.

Especially since the cottage itself, which had seemed like such a plus, turned out to be in pretty bad condition. We hadn't seen it until the inspection day, because we had to give 24 hours notice to the current tenant. The minute we walked in, I knew we were not going to be able to rent it out right away. There was mold on the bathroom walls, rats living in the crawl space and attic, and the whole place stank. It would have taken significant work and money to get it fixed up. So what we thought would be a money-maker turned out to be a potential money pit. Booo.

Even with all its issues, we still considered trying to negotiate for a lower price, since we loved so many other things about the house. But in the end, we realized that it had a lot of the same things that made us walk away from the farmhouse fixer-upper...so we decided to back out (and get our earnest money back!).

I'm soooo thankful that we got an awesome and thorough inspector who found these problems before we moved into the house. The Craftsman wasn't meant to be, but it gives us another point of comparison as we continue looking for the right house.

Homeowners, I'm curious, how many houses did you put offers on before you found "the one?" Did you ever back out because of what an inspection turned up?

Hey guys, how are you? I've been extra busy lately, what with getting stuff ready for our baby and house hunting, on top of regular life and work. Plus, the weather is getting super nice so whenever I have free time, I just want to get outside and go for a walk! Definitely not complaining about that...but it does mean I haven't had a lot of time for blogging. So today I thought I'd share a quick update of what's going on with me!

Pregnancy-wise...I'm still feeling good. We got the results back from our ultrasound and the baby is healthy and normal (yay!). I felt him really kick for the first time yesterday, and Ben even felt one too! We've started gathering baby stuff, including the crib, the stroller, and some other smaller items. I've been having fun planning how to decorate his nursery, and looking at cute baby stuff online. We also started planning a babymoon! I tried to convince Ben we should go to Hawaii, but he was really nervous about me flying when I'm that far along (we won't have enough vacation time built up until the week of Memorial Day, when I'll be 32 weeks pregnant). So we decided on Victoria, BC. Neither of us have ever been there and it looks really beautiful. It's not tropical beaches, but I'm still really excited! We haven't picked a name yet, but we do have a front-runner that we're kicking around. Names that we've considered but decided against are: Gideon, Asher, Elliott, and Austin. I also really liked the name Ethan but our last name is Allen so that one was quickly ruled out. Any suggestions for similar boy's names? We like ones that are somewhat classic, but not super common.

House-wise...we've been going to open houses every weekend, and have seen two houses so far that we really liked. One of them was an old white farmhouse (above) with over an acre of property--which is really rare for this area. It was also exactly the price we were hoping for, and in the exact area we've been targeting. The only problem? It was a legitimate hoarder house that hadn't been updated in decades and needed MAJOR work (plumbling, electrical, flooding basement, new roof, the works). Being a fan of the show Fixer Upper, I was up for the challenge. But Ben talked me out of it, and honestly I think he was right. It had the potential to be a dream house, but it also could have been a total nightmare. The second house we liked is a 1920's Craftsman that is totally updated and move-in ready. It has lots of big windows, wood floors underneath the carpet, and four bedrooms in the main house (all exactly what we wanted). The cherry on top is that it has a little cottage in the back complete with a kitchen, bathroom, washer/dryer, and one bedroom, so we can make some income by renting it out. The main problem with this house is that it's farther out from Seattle (a little over an hour during commute time). But we think we could make it work.

Life-wise...I've been enjoying the beautiful spring weather that Seattle is having! We went and saw the daffodil fields in Skagit Valley a few weekends ago, as well as the cherry trees at UW. And I've been going for walks almost every day. It's such a mood-lifter to see the sun shining, especially after our rainy and stormy winter. I'm loving it!

Those are the main updates with me. Like I said, life has been busy...but it's all good and exciting stuff! What's new with you?