Our Home (for now...)

Well I've been slacking on posting photos of where we're living, but today is the day.

We had our house warming party this past weekend, and it was so great to invite everyone into our home and celebrate us being in Australia. We had a nice turn out of about 30 people and Dan and I made a Mexican feast equipped with Enchiladas, Chips and Salsa, Fajitas, Margaritas, Coronas, etc.

Since our house is a little off the beaten path, we had about 10 people stay the night and had a nice breakfast the following morning.

Right now we are living in Redland Bay that is right near the bay water, but a bit of a drive from anything else. With that said, we are really happy with this as our first home in Australia, but aren't too sure if we'll be staying here :)

Coming from Carlsbad where you can walk to restaurants, bars, shops, etc, we feel a little secluded from options, and also secluded from our friends on the Gold Coast and in the city (Brisbane). Our lease is up in June, so we are on the hunt for a house that meets all of our requirements but that's in an area close to the city. It would end up being the same amount of time to work for both Dan and I since it'd be all freeway driving and against traffic, but we'll just wait and see.

Dan and I love our house and the neighborhood, just feel that at this stage in our life we need to live a little closer to life. So as they say, "watch this space" and until then... here's photos of our home now!

 Front of our Home. Our car in the garage :)

 Empty Room right when you walk in the front door to your left that should be a dining room or living room

 Den at the front of the house (or as Dan likes to say, Man's room... and Jackson's favorite room. There's a spare TV in here (not pictured) that showcases sports and only sports apparently. 

Walking into the Living Room/Great Room from the front hall

 The Living Room looking out towards the patio

 A little bookcase in the Living Room with our wedding photo books and some wedding gifts

 Our couch looking onto the kitchen table area

 Our kitchen, massive upgrade from our apartment kitchen!

 Our kitchen table and bar area

the beginning of the hallway from the kitchen that leads to the office, guest room, master bedroom, second bath, and laundry room. These drawings were done by Melissa Gear. Dan gave her photos of the places he's lived and loved in Europe and she turned them into these masterpieces.

 The office

 The hallway decorated with beautiful wedding gifts from Lissa and Kelly/Mauricio (the Estrada's :) )

 The Guest Bedroom. Like it? it's yours! come visit!

 The Master Bedroom. (not pictured is a walk in closet. so good!)

 there's a quick view of the closet. looks simple but what's inside is amazing! so big. this window in the master leads out to the patio

 Master Bathroom. Two sinks so that Dan can brush his teeth with cold water and I can brush mine with hot. #marriagesaver

Looking down the hall back towards the office from the Master Bedroom. This little piece is from Trav. He took photos of a lock he locked on a bridge in Europe. He gave us the two keys to the lock. we threw one in the ocean in Carlsbad, and we're going to throw one here. We're thinking in Bargara.

 Down the hall from the Master is the guest bathroom

 And Guest Toilet

 

 As well as the laundry room! (also an upgrade from the apartment). The door leads to the backyard and Jackson's doggie door is in this door.

 This is our patio (from the door in the Living Room). The wall to the right side is the Master bedroom wall.

 Our Backyard!

So.. just in case that was a little confusing to really see the layout of the house, here's a VERY poor NOT to scale rendering of the layout.

told you it was not the best drawing...

Well there you have it. Our first home in Australia. 

If you like what you see, you're welcome to visit anytime. Really- we'd love to see you.

Thanks to everyone who came to the house warming party. Sorry I'm a slacker and managed to take zero photos of the night. Just means we'll have to do it again sometime. 

As for Dan and I- we're stuck eating black beans and spanish rice for the next 3 weeks, as we may have made a few too many...

I'll leave you all with this...

Jackson is clearly settling in nicely. 

Until next time...