Update: Breaking Ground in Ball Ground...finally!

Bless it. One day, I promise to be a responsible blogger. I'll be one of those people that don't wait 8 months in between posts...

Well friends, sad to say, but up until this past month or so, there hasn't been much to chat about. We closed on our property in February after being under contract for MONTHS and it's been slow going up to this past stretch. I thought that I would give you a quick timeline update that should catch us all up to speed going into framing week (then, I promise to be a better blogger)!!

October 27--after months of searching for the perfect property, we found our little slice of Heaven on Earth; nestled on a quiet road in the country. Covered in hardwoods and quiet; we fell in love with this land. We put in an offer, went under contract, and waited...for 3 months...

February 2--we closed on our property!! After all of the soil inspections, land surveys, and delay after delay, we made things official. Paul couldn't have asked for a better birthday present this year!

March 4--The house box went up. This was kind of a big deal to no one but myself, but seeing our address up there for the first time was a moment. And I won't lie to you or myself when I say that I got emotional when Paul texted me at the office that day. Turns out we can add "seeing your address in writing for the first time" to the ever growing list of things that makes me cry (soldiers coming home from war/wedding proposals/children finding out they are going to Disney for the first time/Publix commercials).

April 18--We are approved for our building loan. It took a long time to get someone to take our money and equally as long to try and get someone to lend us money... A little advice--don't settle for a lender just because you've used them before/you know a guy. Because then, you'll end up with Travis. And Travis will misplace your loan files for weeks and use them as toilet paper. ...Travis...

Paul put up a T-Pole at the head of our property. T-Pole=temporary power pole (see, I'm learning so much!! Soon, I'll be a professional!! (Paul's eyes are going to roll so far back into his skull for that comment).

April 21--We began clearing. I will tell you...I have never found my husband more attractive than I did watching him take a chainsaw to trees... I was like a little Queen standing atop a fallen pine, pointing to the ones that would live or die. We only had a couple of casualties during this process: Paul's chainsaw and his Yeti tumbler.

April 23 --We put down a construction drive (aka: Kori's worst nightmare. Let's face it...I'm clumsy on a good day, so let's throw in some gravel to really throw my equilibrium off. I guarantee you that I break something at some point during this build simply trying to avoid breaking something).

April 27--We finally lived up to our blog namesake and broke ground!!

April 29--I planted peonies along the front fence while Paul and Josh dug out our basement. Let's face it folks, I am not someone that you want driving any kind of construction machinery. #asiandriver So, I was relegated to picking up sticks, moving rocks, and planting peonies by the front fence line. You know, suuuuper integral tasks to the completion of our home. It's alright, I know where my skill sets are. I have an idea that my perfectionist personality will be really helpful in tiling and bricking later down the line.

May 2--The outline of the house (house box) was laid and the footings (extra stability for our foundation made from concrete and rebar) were poured. I still can't see the house at this point...

May 10--We formed and poured some walls!

May 11--Somewhere between the pouring of our footings and the drive from Atlanta to St. Simons, I came to terms with not getting my metal roof. ...sort of...I'll go out swinging on this one until the day the roof is nailed into place. But it was during this, our very last trip anywhere for a very long while, that Paul and I hashed out some pretty important house details over a couple of beers at Brogan's (and then a couple more on the beach).

May 17--We dug a well. It's at this point in the build/blog/life that I started coming up with punny instagram posts, much to the chagrin of everyone around me.

May 19--The rain hit hard and turned the property to soup. And by soup, I mean that at one point my tennis shoe...(yes, I know...I need proper boots if I'm going to be working up there...but we will get to it) got stuck pretty deep. Gotta love that Georgia clay!

May 23--We poured our basement and garage slabs. Slabs are here!! ...yup...now you get it...punny building Dad jokes...

May 23 (this was a big day)--Amidst the death cold, we met with the window, door, and lumber guy to pick out the windows, doors, and to firm up changes to the interior and exterior (hello bigger laundry room). Edwin is the BEST. My immune system, is the actual WORST.

June 5--Lumber is delivered. Wood you believe it?! Ok...I'll stop... (I'll never stop...)

And we started framing today!

Obviously this is the super lazy, college Cliff's notes version. In between there have been some pretty epic blowouts where Paul and I contemplated the build entirely and there were a LOT of set backs, but who wants to read about that stuff? Oh, YOU do? Well, friends...I will admit that building a house is NOT like HGTV. And I am sure that some days even JoJo wants to demo Chip's face and Chip wants to shove some shiplap up...well, that's marriage right? Friends and family cautioned us long before we began building that it would test all of our strengths and that is the hand to God truth. But something they didn't tell us was that there are going to be really great moments that have ultimately strengthened our relationship. At the end of the day, my best friend and I are building the house we will entertain family at the holidays, raise our children, and have Sunday suppers. We will make a lifetime of memories under this roof (even if it is a shingle one). For every disagreement we have about tile, we have 2 agreements over margaritas and key lime pie. So far, it's truly been a crazy experience that I never thought we'd get to have.

I'm going to make a promise to y'all. I promise to put out a weekly post...and that's a lot since I'm a self proclaimed (and otherwise proclaimed by everyone) bad blogger. That's a full time, deeply committed relationship that I am willing to enter into with you. So, if I make this promise, I guess that means I need to get going on things like content and brain dumping future post ideas. If this is sounding exhausting, I'm starting to second guess myself... Ok, I'm going to stop writing before I back out of this one sided deal I've made. See you next...oh gosh, commitment...Thursday...Wednesday...shoot...Monday! See you next Monday!!