We had been casually looking at MLS listings since December, and due to the wonderfully slumping economy (I am only benefiting from this recession-business so far), we decided we might as well get a real estate agent and start having a look at some houses. Well lo and behold, we found a house we really like on the first day! Amazing! So we went to see it again after having slept on it (figuratively) for a few days, and decided to put in an offer.

I will spare you the excruciating details of our horrible negotiations, so in keeping with my “for the love of God and all that is holy, be concise!” motto, here is a point-form summary:
- visit house for second time
- put in offer on house on Tuesday
- *nervousness*
- get 1st counter offer on Wednesday afternoon
- counter-counter offer
- little bit of vomit
- counter-counter-counter offer
- counter-counter-counter-counter offer
- counter-counter-counter-counter-counter offer
- various forms of indigestion
- standstill – $ 2,500 apart
- counter-counter-counter-counter-counter-counter offer
- *puke*
- vendors: fine, but we get to keep our fridge
- us: ugh, ok, fine! (Friday)
- (2 weeks’ wait for some stupid condition to be waived)
- WE GOT THE STUPID HOUSE!
- us actually starting to be happy and excited

So yeah, phew, the whole process was super anticlimactic and nerve-racking, but you know, now we have a house, so I guess that’s kind of neat.

I’ve got some pictures, I’ll try to upload them to Fickr this weekend so that may all marvel at its beauty (and look at the wallpaper borders that I’m going to peel off and subsequently test out the wood stove with).

As many of you know, Chris and I both grew up in New Brunswick. I grew up in Bathurst (Beresford to be more precise) and he grew up in Miramichi (Napan to be more precise). Over the last few years we’ve been realizing that as much as we love Ottawa and the life we’ve made here, we miss our families and friends in New Brunswick too much to justify staying here. We both feel that we’ve moved out, done our thing, seen another place, but now it’s time to go back. (I swear I’m not being paid by Shawn Graham to say this stuff!)

I’ve been looking for a job in the Maritimes since about July now. Last month I got a call from a manager in Fredericton saying she was interested in speaking with me. We spoke a few times, I met with her National Capital Region counterpart here in Ottawa, I flew down last week to meet with the team in Fredericton, and now they’re in the process of deploying me out to their department’s regional communications office in Fredericton! So as of December 22, I will be transferring departments and classification group. My new job title will be Communications Officer, Web and New Media and I will be working for the Department of Natural Resources Canada. I’m really excited about this new job, and I’m not just saying that because I was pretty much ready to accept any position in order to move, I’m actually really excited about the work I’ll be doing there – it sounds interesting and challenging and everybody on the team seems really excited about new media and Web 2.0 and how we can use it to better communicate with Canadian citizens as a government department.

Chris and I found a new house in Fredericton which we will be renting as of December 15th. The place is gorgeous and really big. The final details of the moving dates are still not completely finalized, but we will definitely be on our way to Fredericton in roughly two weeks.

Two weeks… that leaves me very little time to say goodbye to my life in Ottawa as I’ve known it for the past six years and all the wonderful friends I’ve made here. The next two weeks will more than likely be a whirlwind for Chris and me, but I hope nevertheless that we can squeeze in enough time to say goodbye to everyone and close this chapter of our lives on a positive note.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt this much excitement and sadness all at once.

Christopher and Véronique’s engagement, the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Oh wow, you guys are engaged! How did this happen?

Yes, we totally are! Chris and I got engaged on Saturday July 12 2008. It happened something like this: Chris came home from work around 6:30 and we decided to go out for supper somewhere around Centretown because it was such a nice night out. We ended up eating on the patio at Pancho Villa, had a nice meal and came back home. It was quite early so we decided to go see a movie, but we had about an hour to kill. We were just hanging out at home, Chris went upstairs and I was just checking my e-mail and fiddling on my laptop at the kitchen table when all of a sudden he came up behind me and handed me a ring box, got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I of course said “yes” (well, after a few “are you serious?”s). Yup, that’s about it, it was nice!

2. Awww!

Yes, so I hear!

3. Was it a surprise? Or was it sort of planned?

It was a total surprise! I mean, Chris and I had talked about getting married and we knew we would at some point in our lives, but wow I totally was not expecting anything anytime soon and had no clue that he had any of this planned. It was a lovely surprise!

4. Have you set a date? Where will this be happening? We clearly need details!

Well seeing as I had no clue I was getting married a mere 2 days ago, we don’t have many details yet. We definitely do not have a date, let alone a year. It will for sure be happening in New Brunswick, probably in Miramichi (where Chris is from). The only guarantee I have so far is that it will be a good time. Yes?

5. The ring! Tell us all about it!

Ah, yes! The ring is simply amazing. Chris knew what I liked in terms of rings as I had showed him a few in stores and we had looked at some Web sites together, but boy did he ever go out of his way… He actually went and got a ring created for me at Howard Jewellers based on various ring design elements that I liked. The result is simply gorgeous! It’s a 14 K thick white gold tension-set ring with a 0.5 K princess-cut diamond. I love it and it couldn’t be any more perfect!

6. Clearly, we are only here for pictures of the bling. Where are they?

Here you go!

Special thanks goes out to Val for the post-yoga class photoshoot at Bridgehead tonight!

7. Alright well. I think that was all of our questions. How can we stay up-to-date on your wedding?

Chris really knows me and he pleased the nerd in me by registering www.chrisandvero.com, which I will be turning into a wedding Web site in the next few months. So stay tuned for more details!

…. Yay!!

So yeah, wow, I’m leaving for Argentina on holidays today. I’m going to visit my friend Geneviève (Gen.V. or Pôle Sud pour les intimes) who is currently doing a semester of law school abroad in Buenos Aires. Geneviève and I went to high school, played soccer, danced, lived in rez and overall acted silly for the last 10 years of our lives together. Should be fun times!

I’ll be gone for 22 days, which is the longest amount of vacation I’ve ever taken at a time ever by far. I guess I’m new enough to the workforce that the concept of paid vacation still puzzles me a little, but hey, I’ll try not to let it get in the way of my enjoyment. Shouldn’t be too hard!

I’ll be visiting her in Buenos Aires for 11 days and going trekking/sightseeing/skiing/showshoeing/boating/glacier-watching in Patagonia for the other 11 days.

To be honest as I’m typing this, a mere 6 hours from my departure, I’m kind of exhausted and probably not as excited as I should be to be leaving on such a great trip, but I’m sure that once I get there tomorrow that’ll quickly change.

Anywho, you can check out a rough outline of my itinerary here. Have a good June everybody, and be on the lookout for a picture flood once I’m back in July! See ya!

I’m finally making the move to my own domain after many months of procrastination. I guess I like to think of this as a sort of new beginning to a more permanent home on the Web for me.

For more information about me or this Web site, please see About me.

For my interweb blogging activity 2003-2007, please see my old Livejournal. Livejournal users can also follow this blog through the workoutfine.com syndicated Livejournal feed.