've always heard that you only have one chance to make a good first impression. When our realtor showed us our house three years ago my first impression was "wow... this needs work." And to be honest with you, I wanted to turn around and run. But I didn't. I headed up the stairs (which were covered in blue outdoor carpet) and into the living room. There was tile as far as the eye could see. I knew what a pain it was to pull tile so that was strike two for the house. But then something magical happened - our realtor (the beautiful Cara Keenan from Realty Austin) took us out onto the back deck. Instantly everything bad about the house disappeared. You see, growing up in Texas I had been surrounded by flat land my whole life. I had always loved trees, rolling hills, lakes. Yet living in the Dallas area, there was little of that to be found. But I wasn't in Dallas any longer - I was in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. And boy did this house make you well aware of that. We walked out on the deck to find this: