NEW BLOG!

So do you want the good news or the bad news?

 

I'm going to go ahead and say let's start with the goods, mmka?!

I have a pretty new blog, same concept but different domain

aswoonworthyblog.com

click here

 

Internet Explorer decided that our time together was over, whatev! Made for more work for me and HubbyJack, but we made it work.

 

Bad News: If you are currently following me... I'm told that I cant just take you with me :(

PLEASE go to my new blog and re-follow me?!

It will make me feel loads better about the whole sucky situation.

 

I promise to keep you up.to.date. with everything at least 4 times a week! That's my goal!

Hopefully this new domain will allow those that normally get blocked at work a chance to follow.

 

See ya on the flip side ;)

And let me know you made it!

 

To New Beginnings!

Call off the search party! I'm here, I'm here.

I know what you're thinking...

'girl, how you gonna move 1/2 way across the country and not check in with us everyone once in a while?'  

I KNOW! Terrible!!!

 

I have been here for over 3 weeks now and NOTHING is complete. I know, it takes more than a few weeks to get things how you want them. My mom came to visit (sent like a little angel from heaven) for 10 whole days. THANK GOD! Mom always makes everything better. You wouldn't believe what we were able to accomplish...

 I have the entire downstairs painted with exception to the powder bath, but its behind a closed door so it can wait. Remember how the previous owner was OBSESSED with pastels?! GONE! ewwww 

THESE ARE NOT FINISHED ROOMS, SIMPLY BEFORE/AFTER UPDATED COLORS!

Dining Room

Office

 Front door/ Railing/ Shutters
Yes, we've only done the bottom so far, but it already looks so much better than that awful green!

My mom was determined to get something up on the walls, so here is the beginning of my gallery wall in the living room.

The largest task I took on: removing the pantry.
Yes, i did! It was way too small and took up a lot of potential cabinet space. I took my little hiney on over to THE Home Depot and bought myself a sledge hammer. We got back home and I went to town, only it wasn't working well, Mike gave me a few swinging lessons and I tried it again. I followed his instructions and "followed thru"...
*the events that are about to take place are all Michael's fault, since I was following his instructions.
I took a huge swing, followed thru and BAM hit the pantry, RECOILED and smacked THE GLASS STOVE COUNTERTOP! (hanging head)
NOT my proudest moment...
I did want to upgrade the appliances to stainless afterall! ;)

After much debate and my hubby actually agreeing to stainless, I decided not to upgrade. I think our kitchen will still look beautiful with all I plan to do, so I decided to save the money for something else. So long story short here are the progression pics.

My mom, Michael and I hung the new cabinets and now they are just all waiting for the stain. Eeeeekk!!! That's my goal for next week. We've already priced out new countertops and have decided to go with granite, hopefully that will be in by the end of next week too! The kitchen will seriously be unrecognizable!

Amongst all the work around our home, we did have an awesome Christmas just us three. We attended mass at the beautiful St. Andrews Catholic Church.

Seriously GORGEOUS!! We took an afternoon off to prepare the most amazing Christmas dinner: turkey, dressing, squash casserole, green bean bundles and mashed potatoes. It was PERFECT!

On today's agenda: finish caulking the crown molding in the dining. As for the hubby, he's been obsessed with getting the hot tub ready!

Everyone have a FUN, SAFE New Year's!!!!
 

We have arrived!

We are HOME!

Yep I actually said it, I called Roanoke, VA... HOME!

A pic of the first time I saw our home, yes it was 10p.

After having a little too much fun in Nashville and staying a little longer than planned,

we finally set out on the remainder of our drive to Roanoke... all 7hrs, a little hung over.

Nashville has definitely been on my list of places to visit, especially after the tv show stole my number one spot (LOVE IT!) We had an absolute BLAST!

For our first night in Nashville, some friends suggested a place called Whiskey Kitchen for dinner/drinks. Amazing!!

*I might have LOVED it more simply for the signage ;)

Apparently Nashville is famous for their "Hot Chicken" (as in spicy), so of course I tried it with a side of Jalapeno Mac & Cheese.

I will never make Mac & Cheese without grating some J's in there EVER AGAIN,

it was pure cheesy, spicy HEAVEN!

I don't normally take pics of my food, but the presentation was too cute. I told Michael I want to get little urns to serve my side dishes from now on ;)

They had over 150 different whiskeys to choose from and nearly that many different concoctions. We also took part in a whiskey flight! Four roses.

After dinner we made our way on over to Downtown, our first stop the World Famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge, among another few...

I'm all about going to see live bands, but these people were straight up ENTERTAINING. They ran all up and down the bar, rockin out with the fiddle & getting up close and personal with everyone. Serious talent here!

If you know me, then you know my biggest fear with moving is not knowing ANYONE and having to make new friends. Which after this weekend I don't know why, the hubby and I are a BLAST! ha. We made all sorts of friends... we were just sad that we had to leave the next day :(

10:30a the next morning...

we opened those wonderful black out blinds that all hotels have, which can be a blessing or a curse... We were supposed to get our butts up and make it by the Country Music Hall of Fame. Seriously disappointed, I was calling around PetsMart & doggy daycares' to see if anyone would take Dakota... nothing! grrr. LUCKILY, happen to be staying at the best new hotel chain EVER!

Shout out to Lowes Hotels for not only being pet friendly, but offering a goodie bag and a 3pm checkout so we could leave Dakota in the room, while we toured Nashville daytime ;)

Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry.

The Country Music Hall of Fame was awesome, definitely a must see...

Reba McEnitre

George Strait

Tim McGraw & Faith Hill

Last but not least, Carrie Underwood & Taylor Swift

Before we left, I promised Mike that we would try the BBQ. So being from Texas, I searched all over to try "the best place in the city," which brought us to Jacks.

Consensus says: Texas still wins!! But Jacks is a pretty good alternative.

Enough about Nashville, but I'm definitely going back..

Now that the movers have arrived to our home in Roanoke (and taken up the whole street) I guess it's time to get to work. It will all be worth it to not have to sleep on this for the third night in a row.

Wish me luck!

NOLA baby!!!

Well folks, we're on the road again...

Just can't wait to get on the road again!

NOT!

I'm over it!

We're halfway to Nashville and its taking FOREVER!

We have Dakota with us on this trip, so we had to seek out all the pet friendly hotels, which is not so fun! 

Lucky for us, Mr.Sheraton loves him some 4 legged companions. Did we get looks going through the lobby where D strutted her stuff through all the convention attending suits?! You bet ya!
But I prefer to think its because she's the cutest freaking dog they've ever seen! Mmmka?! ;)
She's been pretty good on the road trip, other than when we were 5 mins from the hotel and she threw up in my cup holder. Michael let her eat his fries! And I know it's not the safest way for her to travel, but she loves her little makeshift crows nest/perch we made her between our seats.

Have a mentioned I despise being in the car?! I'm a 5hr road tripper and that's a max!
This 20hr b.s. is not cool! Luckily my hubs agreed to break it up a little. We spent our first night in NOLA!

Dakota enjoying the skyline... 35 stories up!

I love New Orleans, everyone is in great mood and ready to party.
Not to mention the awesome people watching!

Last night we went to our favorite restaurant, Oceana Grill. If you are ever in New Orleans, GO! It's not too pricy, you don't have to wait forever to get in and the portions are huge! We originally went for the grilled redfish with a creamy seafood sauce, but our appetizers stuffed us so unfortunately we had to pass. The crab cakes are out of this world, the gator was good but chewy, but the oysters... AMAZEBALLS! Garlicy, parmasean goodness!!! Yumm!!!

  Ok stop drooling...

We decided we needed to get a good nights sleep in order to make the 8hr drive to Nashville doable, so we only had one hurricane and one hand grenade ;)

That was enough! Ha.

Although the streets were absolutely dead, I guess due to the holidays, we still had fun seeing the random marching bands and human sculptures.

 

Up next, the country music capital of the world (and my new favorite tv show)...

Nashville!

So long, H-town!

My weekend ROCKED!

Well, as much as any goodbye party can anyway...

I must say that I have definitely felt the love in the past few weeks from friends & family showing their support! As you know, this move is NOT easy for me, but everyone's encouraging words have definitely helped! If I haven't said it yet, THANK YOU!

My crossfit family hosted a special WOD in my honor. Check out "April"...

 

It's supposed to be a list of my favorite movements, however, they threw in a bunch of running since they know I love it so much!

Ba$?@&!

But, the more difficult the workout the more we LOVE to do it!

  

We then had a final round of cowboy burgers and frozen sweet tea vodkas' at our favorite post-workout bar Cedar Creek. We like it because you can go stinky! 

My family & friends hosted a goodbye party for me over the weekend. It was so nice to have so many friends come from everywhere to bid me farewell. From crossfit to high school besties to our football watching crew, EVERYONE came! It was so bitter sweet!

 

 

We may or may not have popped a bottle of champagne and then passed it around to nearly 40-50 ppl to take a swig! :-/

 

 

My ubercrafty cousin Michelle had everyone leave special goodbye messages to me on a platter, it turned out so pretty! Bake and 350 for 30 mins! Ha. I'm really happy to have something unique and special like that for memories sake.

As today is ending and I'm sitting here watching the movers pack up the last of our boxes, I have to face that fact that tomorrow is almost here. One last night to spend with my mama (if you haven't gathered it by now, I'm quite the mama's girl!) Tomorrow we will wake up bright and early and grab Miss.Dakota for her first road trip...

First stop NOLA!