Farewell, NASA

So this is going to be sappy...

 but I have found a release with writing everything down so here it goes.

I'm lying here awake at 5am after saying goodbye to my family today,

my NASA family to be exact.

Im sitting here thinking about all the people that I didn't get to say goodbye to. Of the 10,000 people at JSC I had a working relationship with nearly 2,000. I knew everyone and everyone knew me, "the little move girl"...

(I facilitated the moves around our main 30 bldgs onsite.)

I kept my goodbyes short, only because ive been trying to keep from breaking down,

 but today.. It happened!

As I pulled my awards, pictures and paperwork from the walls- it hit me like a brick wall.

I sat in my little office and broke down like a sobbing baby. I was saying goodbye to family and friends of 3 1/2 years. To no surprise I am one of the young ones out there and I think a lot of ppl took me under their wing. You wouldn't believe the number of parents/grandparents I left today.

This thought alone though finally makes me smile :)

I'm going to miss our daily/weekly chats. Our coffee time and afternoon chocolate breaks. I have learned and grown so much because of these people and now I'm kicking myself for not giving a better goodbye.

Don't get me wrong, there were hugs everywhere, sometimes multiple. But I wish I could have spent hours with people to tell them how much I have appreciated our time together. Everyone knew my situation with my husband being so far and were 1000% supportive. But my departure was no surprise and there was more joy than anything from everyone exclaiming, "you finally get to go be with your husband!" and I do!

And I am excited!

But it's so hard to be excited when you are leaving such a great thing. I truly loved my job and I loved my NASA family and will never forget them!

*My guys that made all the real work happen!!

My boss, one of the smartest guys I know, retired today :( Best wishes Barry! 

 

Enough crying, let's get to the good stuff. As you can probably guess, i get to see a lot of

cool stuff... I was determined to get pictures of my memories before I left.

NASA was never a big thing on my radar before coming out to JSC, but now I'm purely fascinated by the things I've learned.

I'll keep these short but try to give a good description...

Jasmine, my coworker, and I wanted a picture with the suits...

 

So they brought one out, it was awesome ;) The sucker weighed 100lbs!

 

 

If you know me at all, you know why i love this room...

the sewing room where they make all the space suits!

 

One of the multiple chambers...

 

My man, Robonaut!

 

SEV, space exploration vehicle

 

They let us in!!

 

The NEW up and coming SEV, introducing the Hovercraft!

Not its official name, but thats what i like to call it!! AWESOME!

 

I was actually standing there about a year or so ago when Robonaut took his first steps!

 

The space spider!!!

 

Orion

 

The famous, Chamber A!

 

Had to get a pic in front of the 90ft door!

 

Robonaut's wheels

 

Ok, not my pic, but an actual legit picture of Chamber A.

 

Farewell, NASA... now maybe I can get some sleep... 

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!

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!