Good morning! I hope you all had a nice weekend. Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to over the past week or so.
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Home Projects & Updates
We had a day with some severe weather last week, but thankfully no major damage. With the incoming winds, we moved a bunch of my newly planted planters around to protect them. They got a little beat up, but nothing major, and my oleander have started blooming like crazy!
Outside of the storm, the weather was gorgeous this past week, which meant more time spent on the patio! I added some of these cordless LED lamps (there’s a 30% off coupon you can clip today) to the outdoor living area recently. I also decided to order these cute shades that fit all of the ones I own. The wicker is plasticized so safe for outdoor use. I love how it takes the look up a notch!
SOURCES: Outdoor Sofa | Reversible Patterned Throw Pillow | Striped Throw Pillow | Coffee Table | Cordless Lamp | Wicker Shade | Similar Faux Hedge Apples
Shortly before the storm, Kurtis noticed some water spots in our upstairs guest bathroom. Our builder thought it was a condensation issue perhaps with our chimney stack and some missing insulation. Turns out we had a pinhole roof leak in one of the vent boots. Long story short, there was no attic access here so they had to cut a hole over the bed. Not ideal obviously, but after a few days of repair, and then patching, repainting, etc. it’s finally all fixed. I’m just glad he noticed it before it got too bad!
Friday we headed to Destin to look at countertop slabs for our areas they’ll be replacing. I’m really wanting to stick with a leathered or honed quartzite (natural stone) rather than a quartz. We really liked the Vena Oro Quartzite, but we need to see if there are two slabs that will work from a continuous cut (due to our long peninsula). I should have images soon of all the slabs so we can avoid some of the funkier veining ones. I’ll keep you posted on the route we ultimately go!
Here’s another slab of the same stone so you can see how it varies from slab to slab.
All the details below may be super boring if you don’t have interest in real estate investing or property management type roles, so feel free to skip over. But I know several of you enjoy this topic, so thought I would share, particularly as it’s been a busy month for us working through much of this!
I had a lot of property management tasks that consumed my time this week and several prior. A few weeks back we had listed one of our Omaha properties to sell, because we’re looking to buy another short term rental down here (something much smaller than Hola Beaches). We went under contract rather quickly, and on Friday, Kurtis and I signed all of our paperwork. We should be officially closed early May and can start looking for something down here to roll the funds to, so I’ll keep you posted on that as we make progress!
We also have two small office spots open in our commercial building we co-own on 30A, so I’ve been taking on some of those responsibilities to get it leased. That includes fun things like showings, updating lease contracts, etc. I think we have a great plan and potential tenants though, so it’s nice to be wrapping that up!
It’s also that time of year for lots of maintenance at our long-term rental houses, both here in Florida and back in Omaha. So things like setting up sprinkler openings, yard clean-ups, pine straw replacement (in Florida), etc. We also had one of our favorite long term renters find a house recently. Despite the property being in Omaha, we had managed that personally over the years, and are now working to roll that leasing and management over to our property manager.
Lastly, it’s tax season, so that always piles on the expected & unexpected paperwork, particularly as it relates to investing. We keep our properties under different LLCs (meaning one for the long-term rentals, one for the short term rental and then our commercial building). Add in my blog and our personal taxes, and we suddenly have five tax filings we have to work on with our CPA. Thankfully Kurtis and I are fairly organized and each have different assignments for keeping our books current throughout the year. But as most business owners know, there’s always still a lot to do when March and April roll around!
For the most part, most of our properties are pretty hands-off, but this time of year can definitely be pretty busy! It’s still something we really enjoy and plan to continue doing long-term. I share all of that because I know many of you have interest in real estate investment or are considering buying a property and we’re always happy to answer any questions about it!
In Case You Missed It
Following are the posts I shared over the past few weeks, in case you missed some days!
Around Town & For Fun
We had our closing paperwork for the rental and then countertop shopping late Friday morning. From there, we also had to do a bit of shopping for Kurtis in Destin and Sandestin for our upcoming trip for his work. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! I do always enjoy the shops in Sandestin when we need to hit a few chains.
Friday night we had dinner plans with a few of our favorite couples. Kurtis and I hadn’t been to Citizen in Alys Beach for a while now, so it was great to get back! We always love their food and cocktails and appreciate that they change up their menu seasonally. The pistachio pesto pasta was killer!
Grabbed this cute shot as we were leaving 😉 Kurtis loves to keep the photos rolling when we start goofing off so we had to laugh at this picture of me and Rachel. It was in live mode so it’s actually even funny when it plays as video. And that silhouette of the palms on 30A in Alys Beach are still one of my favorite views at sunset!
Early Saturday morning, we walked through our friend’s new house! So excited she and her family are moving even closer to us. I also couldn’t stop staring at the blooming Peggy Martin roses while walking over to her house. I’m thinking we might need some in our yard!
Later Saturday morning, we had a few things to do down at Hola Beaches. After that we hit the beach for a few hours. It was a bit windy but still such a beautiful day! The Gulf coast lupine is blooming in the dunes and looks so pretty when you see the purple down the entire length of dunes!
We followed the beach with our favorite casual pizza spot on 30A, Bruno’s. The ambiance inside is definitely pizza bar vibes, so I prefer to sit out on their patio when weather permits! It’s the perfect little spot when you’re in beach clothes and beach hair.
Kurtis had a few hours of work down at Hola Beaches again Sunday (lots of fun golf cart maintenance, updating streaming services on all six TVs, and washing pollen off the decks). We have to take advantage of any openings on the rental calendar for maintenance, since it’s much tougher to get in during the month of spring break vacations and then summer rentals.
Our kitchen is basically my sourdough workshop these days. I’ve been trying to test out discard recipes, etc. so while I keep the bread in constant rotation, I’ve been sampling other ideas. Would love to know of any recipes you may all have and love! These sourdough discard ranch crackers were really good – just hard for me to get evenly spread out. Especially with our humidity and the dough staying rather sticky!
These two basically just cry at the back door now until we let them out onto the “catio”. Turns out they love the space as much as Bailey did, but these two are just much more fair-weather and prefer temps in the 70s. True Floridians now 😉
We leave town late this week for Kurtis’ company trip, so I plan to do some live updates on my Instagram account if you have interest in following along!
Recent Buys & Sales
Following are some sales from the weekend that have carried over and are still going strong!
- AMAZON has a number of deals today! Our favorite LED cordless table lamps have a 30% off coupon you can clip today that stacks with the discounted price! You can shop their site here.
- ANN TAYLOR is offering 30% off pants and skirts, $50 off jackets, dresses and shoes, and an extra 50% off sale styles. You can shop their site here.
- ANTHROPOLOGIE has added a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- BALLARD DESIGNS is offering 20% off sitewide, as well as up to 30% off and free shipping on 100s of spring favorites. You can shop their sale here.
- BODEN is offering 20% off your purchase with code D2D6. You can shop their site here.
- COLLEEN ROTHSCHILD is offering $25 off $100+ with code SPRING25, $50 off $200+ with code SPRING50, and $75 off $300+ with code SPRING75. You can shop her site here.
- CRATE & BARREL is offering up to 30% off in-stock furniture and up to 60% off clearance items. You can shop their site here.
- GAP is offering 50% off your purchase as well as an extra 50% off sale styles. You can shop their sale here.
- J CREW is offering 40% off spring’s best dresses as well as 30% off your purchase with code SHOP30. You can shop their site here.
- J CREW FACTORY is offering up to 60% off everything as well as an additional 70% off clearance styles with code SALE70. You can shop their sale here.
- LOFT is offering 50% off everything and free shipping with code CYBER. You can shop their sale here.
- LULULEMON has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- MARK & GRAHAM is offering up to 50% off bags, accessories, and travel plus free shipping on orders $150+ with code SHIPFREE! You can shop their site here.
- MARSHALLS has a number of deals sitewide plus free shipping on orders of $89+ with code SHIP89. You can shop their site here.
- MICHAELS is offering 30% off all regular priced purchases with code SAV30MIK. You can shop their site here.
- NORDSTROM has a number of new items in their sale section, all marked up to 50% off! You can shop their site here.
- OLD NAVY is offering 60% off Mystery Deals for the family. You can shop their sale here.
- POTTERY BARN is offering up to 60% off spring clearance items, as well as free shipping on 1000s of items. You can shop their sale here.
- RUGS USA is offering an additional 20% off everything with code GETSET. You can shop their site here.
- SERENA & LILY is offering up to 30% off and free shipping on all outdoor. You can shop their sale here.
- TARGET has a number of home deals, up to 30% off patio furniture and decor, up to 40% off picture frames and wall art, up to 30% off lamps and lighting, plus tons more! You can shop their site here.
- TJ MAXX has a number of deals sitewide and is offering free shipping on orders $89+ with code SHIP89! You can shop their site here.
- TORY BURCH is hosting their Spring Event with 25% off $200+ and 30% off $500+. They have also added a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- TUCKERNUCK has a number of new items added to their sale section, as well as free shipping and free returns on everything. You can shop their site here.
- WEST ELM is offering up to 60% off their sale styles. You can shop their site here.
- WILLIAMS SONOMA is offering up to 40% off and free shipping during their spring cookware event. You can shop their site here.
I hope you all have a great week!
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Linda Grubbs says
I love, love your oleander! Wonder if it would work in KS? So pretty!
Also, I’m anxious to see which slabs you end up with.
It will be fun to hear about your upcoming trip as well!! Have fun, be safe.
Sarah says
Thank you Linda! And the oleander did great for me in Omaha! It bloomed all summer long. It likely wouldn’t survive the winter unless you brought it inside, but it’s so beautiful! And thank you so muh – we’re excited!