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!

It happened...

I may or may not be counting down the days I have left of work… 

from right this moment, I have 6 days left!

I may or may not have categorized all of the websites/blogs saved on my computer into an excel spreadsheet... hey, it has taken 3 years to accumulate!

It may or may not have totaled 102 different sites…

I may or may not have already ordered a personalized return address stamp with our new address… Sorry, I’m not sorry!

 

 *obviously not our real address, I'll send out the real one if you need it!

I may or may not have already looked thru all of the top Black Friday ads and made my list…

My list may or may not contain all things “house” related… I’m such a grown up!

Our new neighbors may or may not be cussing us right now because we haven't mowed the grass yet... oops, no mower! They will have to wait for Black Friday...

My hubby may or may not have accidentally had the lights turned off at our new house last night and had to go back to his apartment for electricity…  

sorry babe, cracking up as I type ;)

My reason for running the 10K Turkey Trot on Thursday morning (4 times annually) may or may not be so that I can gorge myself on Thanksgiving Day and NOT feel bad about it! Hey I need my strength for shopping!

Last year, post race!

Packing is FUN! (said no one EVER)

Holy cow it’s Monday! 

With that said, I’m a little relieved because it gives me a break from packing…

Needless to say, I’m exhausted! 

I have to give props to my superstar mom for spending her weekend doing the same!

This is what my weekend consisted of…

 

  (cue frightening nightmare music) 

When Michael moved to Virginia 2 years ago, we packed up our apartment and shoved nearly everything we had into a 15x10 storage unit. 

I only kept the necessities: clothes, tv, shoes… you get it! 

I then moved in with a friend that I was a nanny for during my college days. 

(When I met them Harrison was 3 months old; Lexi was 2). Now 8 & 10! 

I adore these rug rats! They are like my little brother and sister.

So yes, I have pretty well grown up with them and they are my family. I’m practically a nomad and stay with them Mon-Thurs (I have my own side of the house) and then on the weekends I stay at my mom’s house or with my cousins. Gotta get that quality time in!

When Michael and I got married last September, we never even unpacked our wedding presents… well, it’s not like we even had a place to unpack them!

so for the last year and a half they have been stored in my mom’s guest room (storage unit #2).  This weekend I brought all of my clothes to my mom’s house, so now my closet looks like this… 

i cant find $#*&!

And Storage Unit #2 is now ORGANIZED and looks like this!

I’m pretty proud! ;)

You want fun photos?! Well sorry, I don’t have any… packing is NOT fun!

I did, however, get a fun photo from the cousin’s at the TEXANS game that i had to miss out on :( 

(*cough, 9-1!!)

Not to worry, I promise to capture interesting photos from the Black Friday crowds later this week! Yes, I am “one of those!” I LIVE for BLACK FRIDAY!

Thank Goodness for the short week ahead! 

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!