We Got It!

We got word Tuesday afternoon that we'd been approved for the place we'd sent in rental applications for. SWEET! We met with the property manager that evening to pay our deposit and sign the paperwork, and set an appointment to meet back with him next week at the place to do a walkthrough inspection and get the keys.

Are we excited? YES.

Our new home is part of a 4-plex, but its kind of an unusual place. It's more like someone built a house, then decided to drop a three-unit 2-bedroom/2bath apartment building behind it.

We went there to see the house last Friday, also checked out the apartments behind it just for kicks, and later put the house at the top of the list after we went through all the pros and cons of every place we visited that day.

It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1 story house with a yard in front and a side porch area. The front door opens into the large living room which is open to the dining room and large kitchen. A hallway goes to the 3 bedrooms and a bathroom, while the 2nd bathroom is in the master bedroom. Behind the building is our 2-car garage.

We really liked the layout of the home, which is very open and amenable to hosting friends. The front yard is all fenced, so Carter can play out on the grass and not wander into the street. The street (with plenty of parking) is a cul-de-sac in a nicer part of town (which was important: we rejected a couple places outright based on the areas we drove into.) This is all a stark contrast to our current 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment in a not-so-great part of town with limited street parking.

Katie and I are beyond excited for this, and can't wait to get pictures up for people to see. We'll snap some photos next Wednesday when we walk through and start taking stuff down there.

The big moving day is Saturday the 18th, if anyone wants to help ;)

Having Fun with the Kid

On the Hunt

Heading down to the San Diego area *early* tomorrow morning to start checking out some potential apartments/condos/houses. Katie's lined up a dozen or so appointments to view places across Friday and Saturday, so it's going to be quite a full couple of days.

We're looking to upgrade! Our ideal is a 3 bedroom pad, even if it costs a few hundred more than we're paying now. We're starting to feel cramped in our 2 bedroom, and with an extra room Carter could have his own bedroom while all the office stuff and Lego could go in the other. Right now the Lego is in the living room and it's eating up a fair amount of space in there.

We are also thinking about getting rid of some furniture. Katie's had a couple sofas she got from Ikea years ago, and we may be looking to possibly sell them to someone here instead of moving them with us. Same thing for the entertainment center, though depending on the size of the new place we may find a place for it yet.

Oh, speaking of things we want in the new place, we really want washer/dryer hookups. Moving away from Mom and Dad Bradley means no more free laundry (thank you, guys!) Doing laundry in our own home would be a dream come true. Oh and a dishwasher, too. <3

Lego on the Brain?

Finished the new blog design while up with Carter since 2 this morning. I was worried Katie would find it too Lego-centric. Turns out she likes it.

Do you?

Well, I Got It

Most have heard by now: I was one of 5 new Model Builders offered jobs to work for Legoland California. One newspaper article quoted me as saying my acceptance of the position depended on the salary offer: immediately after talking with that reporter we were ushered into secret quarters and given our official offer letters. They had told us the pay range was between $12 and $15 an hour, and they gave me the full 15! I was stoked beyond words, and signed the paperwork right then and there.

What does this mean for the family? Well, I report to work in a month. That gives us 30 days to find a new place to live, or I crash with friends or family down there so I can start working while Katie continues the search from home. We're hopeful we'll find a new home, though.

Katie's job was a huge concern for us. She earns more than me, and her boss relies on her a great deal. After she broke the news to him about my job offer, their discussion rather positively turned to talks of Katie working from our new home and driving up to the office to work a day or two every week (and stay with her parents while there!) If this pans out, not only will we still have two incomes, but we can scratch "Find Daycare for Carter" off our To-Do list!

Although the $15/hr is not super incredible, for me it's a nearly $4/hr jump in pay, and working full-time means more hours than I ever had while I've been in school the last several years.

But wait, there's more! Full benefits include:
2 weeks paid vacation from the start!
Health, dental, vision, and life insurance a month after starting
401k six months after starting

Other awesome perks include:
30% discount on park shopping and food
Twice a year there are 50% off days on Lego. SWEET.
4 free passes to the park every quarter
Family Pass to the park Katie and Carter get in FREE anytime they want! Katie about jumped out of her seat with excitement when I told her this, she was so giddy.

There's more, but I don't remember all of it right now. Needless to say, we're super super excited, and we're looking forward to all the big changes, despite all the work and headaches it means to reshuffle our entire life.

Pardon the Dust

While working on updating my portfolio for the Legoland thing on Wednesday, I started messing around with the blog. Don't be surprised if things look different every time you come back, as we try to settle on a look we both like!

Job Prospects

40 resumes sent out and applications filled, and just one response back from a prospective employer.

Any ideas who that one response is from? (Hint: See last post)

Yep, Legoland! After hearing from friends who work in the park about the open position(s), I submitted my application and waited. Last Thursday, I got a call from the park and had a phone interview that lasted about 25 minutes. On Saturday I got an email confirmation that I was being invited to the park on Wednesday and Thursday of this week to participate/compete in a set of building challenges that, if I perform well in, will lead to another interview and hopefully landing the job.

Am I excited? You bet I am. Although it's not the kind of work I thought I'd be doing after graduation (TV jobs are not only hard to find, but don't seem interested in me), at least its work doing something I enjoy doing. The word is that because the model building workshop is expanding so much in anticipation of Legoland Malaysia, more positions will open up within the next 9 months, and those who already have jobs can look forward to promotions if they're good enough.

Getting this job would mean uprooting the whole family and moving down to the San Diego area, Katie would have to find a new job, and we'd likely have to find daycare for Carter. None of these things is fun even by themselves, and all of them at the same time is going to be a special kind of nightmare.

We'll keep everyone as updated as we can throughout the week. I head down to Carlsbad on Wednesday morning!