What I think of North Carolina...so far...

I am a bad blogger. I am very easily distracted. Crafts, sunshine, squirrels, GLITTER, anything will pull my attention away. I am promising myself right now, that I WILL blog once a week, if not more! PROMISE. If I don't, please feel free to verbally abuse me in the comments section below.

It's been 22 days since we crossed the South Carolina/North Carolina border in a 24 foot moving truck, and I have to say, North Carolina has turned out to be better than anything I had imagined. I think I had been mentally preparing myself for the worst, so when I arrived and saw it wasn't nearly as bad as anyone told me, it made it so much easier for me to adjust to. I have to say, I am LOVING living here. I've only been here 22 days, and maybe the "newness" will rub off and I'll start being a typical miserable marine wife who can only talk about how great their home state is, but I'm truly enjoying the east coast. I've always wanted to live somewhere else, and I am grateful that I have this opportunity to live in an entirely different part of the country than where I am from.

Let's talk about the weather. In California, there is usually only about a 5 degree difference from day to day. Last week it was anywhere between 75-80 degrees here, and I was in hog heaven. I am a true sun worshiper, much to my mothers chagrin. I trying to stay out of the sun, but there is nothing more in this world that I love more than sunshine. If it's 75 out, I'm in jean shorts and a bikini top...in my backyard soaking it up. I live for days where I can read outside in the sunshine. The great weather gave me an opportunity to ride my beach cruiser through the neighborhood. I love to ride my bike in neighborhoods and get a looksee in the windows of my neighbors... Don't call me a Peeping Tom! Sometimes I see kick ass antiques! I can tell that riding a beach cruiser near a river isn't the most normal thing in this neighborhood, but I've never cared what people thought of me before, and I definitely don't now, so I can't wait to do it all summer with the humidity and bugs!

Beach Cruisin along the Neighborhood

Fast forward to this week, and it's 37 degrees outside. Yeah, I don't get it either. The weather is positively bipolar. I'm all about exploring this area. I keep trying to convince my Guido to drive me around for hours exploring. I found this location below when it was warm, and I had to bring the dogs back. Smokey was out of control at the beach as usual. Here it seems to be even worse because I think he smells the animals. I kept screaming at my husband to go get Smokey because he would take off after something into the swamp! Definitely not going there by myself with the dogs ever!

River with the pupperonis

We went and walked around the downtown area of the city we are living in, New Bern. My most favorite thing about living in North Carolina, is the scenery. I think my friends, family, FB friends, and fellow Instagrammers are sick to death of the pictures I keep posting of the trees here. I stare out the window whenever we drive anywhere because I'm just not used to it. The scenery here is like something I've seen in a movie or read in a book. For some odd reason, when we were in DT New Bern, I kept picturing the movie "Hocus Pocus" where all the kids are running from house to house in the middle of the street on Halloween? Ever since I was a kid, that was my favorite part of any holiday movie. What an odd reference right? But it was bizarre to me to see such an old historical area with homes from the 1700s, there was even a home still standing that George Washington visited! The historical aspect is fascinating.

Tryon Palace 

*The sun was in the wrong place when we went and my pictures are too dark : ( 

But please google it, because it's beautiful!

People here LOVE  are infatuated with their firearms. There are gun shows, gun pawn shops, guns at Walmart, and we can constantly hear gunshots coming from the woods in our neighborhood. When we first moved here, it was just after that Sandy Hook incident, and all of the stores here were out of handguns and ammo. People are stocking up! I've shot a gun once before, and it's pretty fun. I would say that I would never go to shooting range if my husband didn't have experience with guns. Not that he runs around in his underwear with a revolver strapped to his hip, but he has had to shoot a gun for military ish. (Not even going to try to explain their quals.) So we went to an outdoor shooting range! It was a different experience because there is someone right next to you. Not sure how all indoor gun ranges are, but the one I've been to before, you're almost in your own little room. This one was just straight up open. Weird. The guy next to me was shooting one hell of a handgun, and the shells were popping out of his gun and hitting me while I was shooting. Yeah. That's safe. I'd like to be more gun safe, so shooting a baby revolver was for me. I LOVED it, I just wish they had a safety on them. I don't like that aspect of that gun at all.

Sweet outfit girlfriend

I have been craffffttttiiinnnggg Y'ALL! I have been wanting to make something out of pallets forever. I was a frequent visitor of the Long Beach Fleamarket in California, and I've seen a ton of different people make things out of pallets and put a pretty hefty sticker price on them. I've become quite a cheap bitch lately, funny how times have changed. I just CAN'T buy anything that I think I can make. We have been furniture shopping for our new house, and I can't seem to make up my mind on anything because I keep thinking "Screw that price. I'll make that shit, and it will be better." At one flea market we went to, a lady was selling anchors on pallets for $100. I REALLY wanted it, but I couldn't pay that. I just couldn't. I knew she got the pallet for free and paint is cheap, there was no way I was willing to pay that. I saw that pallet about 3 months ago, and finally got around to making one myself....anddddd I'm proud to say it turned out better than anything I ever imagined!

I am seriously SO impressed with the results because sometimes my ideas end up a Pinstrosity!! I got lucky, we found a kick ass pallet on base here. We grabbed a total of three, but this one had the best weathering, it also came with what could have possibly been the largest, furriest spider in the world on it, so I knew it was extra special.

Per one of my best friends that's also a crafty bitch, Sevi, I will be making a tutorial for this. I'm not going to lie. It's ridiculously easy to take apart a pallet and hammer it back together, but the key is getting whatever symbol you want mathematically correct, and symmetrical as all hell. You have to be willing to sit for a hour and draw and redraw that ish. I'll explain more later, but you've been warned!

I have two pallets outside weathering, but if I find one that is weathered right now, I'll make a tutorial sooner!

Anchored at the Heart ;)

Not bad for $13!!! (I only bought paint)

I have also been wanting a new TV stand, we'll since we bought the one we have...7 years ago. Back then everyone had intense DVD collections, so the one we have now is great for storing shit. But nowadays, I don't even remember the last time I bought a DVD. I watch everything on Netflix or OnDemand, so I want one more for some decorations. The one we currently have is super lower, and since there is a giant ass blank beige wall staring me in the face everyday behind our TV, I want a taller one to help me not feel like an inept interior decorator. Here is what we are making. There aren't any helpful directions on that blog, but I do thank the creator for the pictures, that helped us the most. The only thing I'm having a hard time imagining is the staining. I LOVE the white and the stain, but I don't know if that will look good with our furniture...I have stain for the whole thing, but I keep bouncing back and forth debating on what to do. Suggestions? Help a sista out!

Make us a TV STAND!

I promise to blog more often or else my posts just get too damn long!