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!

Thanksgiving is OVER?!

WOW! So you know what I realized this past week?

I am terrible at this whole blogging thing!

Especially when I have 1,000 boxes to pack, I’m organizing everything for my last days at work and moving next week. YIKES! Plenty of excuses…

So let's finally recap my turkey weekend.

My cousins and I woke up bright and early to run our annual 10k turkey trot. Michelle and I always stick together and really push one another AND we actually did pretty good this year with a time of 1:09!

Thanksgiving Day was spent at my aunt’s house where there were casseroles on top of casseroles. Delish! We were able to watch the Texans game & strategize our Black Friday shopping adventures.

So, I know you're dying to know what madness was endured for Black Friday, especially since Sears was my number one stop! Ha. Guess that's what happens when you buy a house! 

To my surprise Sears Black Friday sales started online that morning!!

Jackpot!

I was able to order everything I wanted and ship it all to Roanoke for free!!! I was happy and so was the hubby because now he didn't have to go wait in lines with me. We (and our neighbors) are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our new lawnmower...

I can't wait to bust out the miter saw and nail gun and spiff up the new place with crown molding EVERYWHERE!! I may even allow Michael to use it on the deck ;)

And of course, a wet/dry vac has MULTIPLE USES... we HAD to get one!

Now one would think, awesome I don't have to go shopping now! Wrong!!!

Now I get to choose a NEW “door buster” location.

Insert: Walmart!

The madness!

Some say, “girl, you cray for doing that”… BUT, I look at it as a challenge!

Two years ago my work gave me an iPad, unfortunately I have to return it. So that's what I was after! Two hours later.... I had a voucher! Ha. Trust me though, the people watching was soooo worth it! So I'm still waiting on the iPad, but I think the $75 gift card was worth it! 

Next stop, Target! The line to check out was around the store! I was NOT waiting! What's a girl to do?! Grab everything you want and hide it!! Bhahaha.

Hey, it worked!! 

Our final event for the weekend was the last UH game at Robertson Stadium.

UH is designing a $105 million dollar bigger, better version ;)

So of course Michelle and I had to take one last photo from our tailgate. Go Coogs!

Mi casa es su casa

Oh wait, I didn’t tell you?! 

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!! 

Our first home as husband and wife… well our first home period. 

But she’s all OURS!!!

Isn’t she a beauty? Boy was this a process, but she’s all worth it! The last time I visited Michael in VA was over July 4th weekend; together, he and I and our realtor Ann looked at around 15 houses… it made for a really long trip. Long story short we put an offer on a home (that I fell in love with) and were quickly outbid.

RULE #1: NEVER fall in love while house hunting. Like it enough to live there for a while, but be prepared to kick that thing to the curb faster than a cheating boyfriend if things turn sour.

 Soon after my heartache was over, I came back to Houston 
and visited realtor.com daily/nightly/hourly
 (hey who’s counting, realtors update that shzt all the time).  
 Our realtor thought I was nuts for not coming along, but I sent Michael on the hunt for our home anyway. He ended up going to around 40 houses. 

Another offer, another overbid. Boy do we look cheap?! But I have to get the best price possible and if they don’t want to accept my offer, FINE, I’ll find another!

Am I nuts for buying a house I’ve never seen in person? Probably.

Am I the only person that has ever done that before? No!

But my husband knows how ‘cray’ I can be and how particular I am about things, so I trust him completely! Luckily as a designer I have vision, and well my husband has a camera. I instructed him to “make me feel like I was there”… 150 pictures later, I felt like I was there.

I was in love!

But I didn’t DARE say it! I told Michael that I liked it enough and we should put an offer in… our realtor, still flabbergasted that I’d agree to put an offer in on yet a third house without seeing it, did as she was told. And, guess what?! We WON! Ha. That’s what it feels like! WINNING!

She is officially ours! We have the keys and the moving truck arrives to my mom’s house (aka. storage unit #2) early December.

We will then make our final trip to Roanoke, Virginia.

I am sad to leave everything I know: my friends, my family, my job, crossfit… 

“It’s times like these we learn to live again” but seriously, I have had two years to get used to the idea of leaving and I can finally say that “I’m moving” and NOT cry. Trust me, it’s a huge accomplishment! The flood gates will open during my going away party, no doubt. 

And even though I curse facebook all the time, I’m super thankful that it’s around so that I can keep up with everyone. I’m super thankful that after 2 years of reading Kristen’s blog, I had enough courage to start my own. 
Read mine, follow me and KEEP UP WITH ME!!! 
Don’t be afraid to call me and chat and check up on me. Because as of now, I HAVE NO JOB! And that TERRIFIES THE SHIT OUT OF ME! I haven’t NOT had a job since I was 16 years old. I don’t sit still very well. So if one of you readers has a random hookup in Roanoke, shoot your girl a message! 

I’ll leave you with a few house pics, let’s call these, “the before photos”…we got some work to do... but i like to think of it as "Blog Material!"

**(excuse my husbands inability to take the date stamp off the photos and 

    Ann's ability to be present in nearly every photo)

The kitchen... aka. first project!

Can someone please tell me what this oak "tower" is in the bathroom? 

Consider it GONE!

Yes, that is 4 different colors of wood in the backyard... project #32 

AHHH more pastels!! NEW paint, ASAP!

Spare bedroom! Who's going to be my first visitor?! 

We have a basement!!

No backyard neighbors... ;)

Now, I know she needs updating... 
but you should see what's going on in my head right now. Actually, you will! 
Inspiration boards up next!