Trip Two: Day Two: New Mexico - Dallas

Yesterday we made the long trek from New Mexico to Dallas. Dustin and I were joking that we now understand why football is SO big in west Texas, because there really isn't anything Else to fo until Dallas! In the picture below you can see what we saw...for FOURTEEN hours! Our Tom Tom is a lying bastard, he said it would take 10 hours, yeah right! We've realized that the time travel is based on the speed limit and some of the roads are 80MPH and there is no way in hell this truck can go that fast!

It was an especially long day because my phone and iPad didn't work for most of the trip! :( I had enough reception to text but it was that "E" service, whatever that is, it's slow as hell, so I couldn't even go on Pinterest! #firstworldproblems I did start the first book in the Maze Runner series and it's actually really good! It's odd to read a book where the main character is a boy, so I wasn't sure if I would like it. But it's pretty good, and I'm looking forward to the rest!

We stopped at a few rest stops and truck stops yesterday and what an experience those are! Some of them have showers in them! Weird! Gross! Scary! I also now am totally freaked out about going to the bathroom alone because of a friend who told me about some movie where Sandra Bullock gets kidnapped from a rest area? That's all I can think about, thanks Val!! It was so cold at the rest stops. Seriously, the coldest I've ever been because I'm not dressed for 27 degrees at all and it was painful just to walk the dogs and have my hands exposed. I have Cherry Point saved to my weather app on my phone and all I have to say is that, that BETTER be an error from yahoo weather down there! 1 degree in Cherry Point? There ain't no way!!! And if so, I'm definitely not prepared for that weather at all!!!!

We stayed the night in Dallas, and we were happy to see our friends the Wares!!! We had so much fun, we went to this place called "The Flying Saucer," and if was delicious!!!! My girlfriend Severina and I ordered a beer called hummingbird water, and it was delicious!!! We decided it tasted like sour patch straws, and I love weird little kid candy so it was right up my alley! We had such a good time. We all used to live in Oceanside together when our husbands were in the military and it made me miss everyone so much more. I really missed having everyone so close 4 years ago. I can't believe it's been that long, but its nice to know you always have friends in different places to visit.

Last night the dogs were very restless. I think it's because they slept all day, and they kept walking around waking me up. I am hoping and pleading that they're better tonight because I'm so exhausted! We've been waking up at 5:30 for four days in a row now, and we are in central time tonight staying in Alabama and I'm still on California time so it's making me so sluggish. I get in the truck every morning and try to sleep but its super hard in this damn truck! It was really hard to fall asleep this morning because I was munching on the Girl Scout cookies that Sevi gave us for breakfast! She better never quit her job there because I love me some Girl Scout cookies!!!! :)

Trip 2: Day One (Murrieta - Deming, New Mexico)

Yesterday we left Murrieta at about 6:20am to start our trek out east! We left 20 minutes late because mama needed a Starbucks and bless my sisters heart, she woke up at 5:45 to take me!! My little nuggets of some nephews were also awake! I think it's secretly because they wanted to see the truck off, Blake kept pointing at the truck saying "I want someone to give me a ride in that truck!" Uncle Dusty would have, but he had a miserable time backing that thing up the first time around. I told Blake he could ride with us but only if he sat in the chairs strapped to the car trailer! He agreed! Ha!!

So we left yesterday morning and it took us all day to get into the swing of things. Here is what we learned, so far.

Rule Number One: Stop when you think you have to go to the bathroom, in the slightest bit, or else you'll end up in tears saying to your husband, "I swear to you, if you don't pull over, I'm going to pee right here in this cup!"

Rule Number Two: Truck stops only. They may sound gross, you may have to squat above god only knows what, while your quads are burning from doing the Carrie Underwood leg workout, but it's easier to get in and out of truck stops when you're in a giant ass truck pulling a car trailer. If not you'll add on an extra 45 minutes to your drive time because you can't flip a bitch and you have to find three lefts to turn around! Thanks Palm Desert for that experience!

Rule Number Three: Toothbrushes and toothpaste for your dogs. My dog has the worst breath in the world and after 6 hours, I was over it. He wouldn't eat a mint, so I chewed up a mint, and tried to force feed him baby bird style and he wasn't having it!

Rule Number Four: Book light/personal light. I was nearly done with The Other Boleyn Girl last night and it got too dark to read and I was kicking myself in the ass for not thinking of this earlier!!! (Finished the book, btw, FABULOUS! A must read!!!!)

So far, that's what we've learned! We were on the road for nearly 12 hours yesterday, driving in this truck is way slower than when we did it earlier this month in the jeep, and some gas stations the diesel pumps SO slow! Like 30 minutes to fill our tank! We've also decided to NEVER do a DITY move ever again. If I ever meet someone that tells me they want to do a DITY move I don't know how I won't slap them in the face! The money you make isn't worth it to me!!!!

The next leg of the trip is Deming, New Mexico to Dallas. I love Dallas and the people there!!!! Best part of our trip!!!! :)

Here are some pictures from our traveling! We def aren't stopping as much as in the car!

Packing!

Last week we spent so much time packing, that I feel like I wasted my last days of California away! On Thursday we went and picked up the moving truck, and instantly I thought it wasn't big enough for all my crap. The moving company said that it should fit a 3-4 bedroom house. Uh, yeah right. Maybe if everyone slept on mattresses on the floor and kept their clothing in shoe boxes!!!! We lived in a tiny house, it was only 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and we got a 24 foot truck, and filled it to the max!! We only have one bedroom set, and our other room was a craft room, so it's not like we had that much stuff.

Anyways, we went and picked up the truck and brought it home and Dustin backed it up into the driveway and we started putting boxes in the truck. On Thursday we mostly packed the truck up with small things we could carry ourselves. It was a little hard placing things because Dustin's motorcycle went in first and we had to stack around it. I was and am still fretting over things breaking. Don't get me wrong, I know something will break, I just have a few things that I would prefer THEY not break. When we moved off Camp Pendleton to our little yellow house, we broke one thing, a plate! I'm aiming for the same! I did make an agreement with Dustin, anything that he breaks he will replace no matter the cost and do it ASAP. Good luck hunting down those Pyrex sets Dusty!

So we packed up the truck until we were exhausted and decided to move it back a bit because it was sort of hanging out in the street. Dustin goes to move it...andddddd it won't turn over!!!!! I about died right then and there. We are supposed to drive this thing 2600 miles and it's already giving us trouble??!? Well, we had to call their hotline, and they sent a mechanic out after 2 hours of waiting, and told us it was something with the starter. He showed Dustin how to jingle it and keep turning to get it to start. I couldn't believe it! They weren't going to fix it or replace it??! What the fuck!!!!!!! (On a happier note this was 3 days ago, and the truck is fine.) I about cried right then and there because if you've driven cross country before you just KNOW there are some spots where there is nothing around! No help at all! We are still on the road, hoping nothing happens!

On Friday we loaded up the truck when my family came down with all the big stuff. It took me till 10:30am before I started crying because things weren't fitting. I have these big cute teal beachy chairs on our porch that I wanted to take so badly because our new house as a porch too. When it came down to it, Dustin said we might have to leave them and I lost it. Doing a DITY move instead of having the military move us was fine with me until I was getting forced to leave shit behind. Luckily, we got the car trailer and we were able to put them on behind my mini! But there was a hot minute where I was on the verge of a breakdown!

After we packed up, got the car trailer, we headed to my sisters house in Murrieta to stay the night so we were closer to the never ending 10 freeway. It was hard saying good bye to my family, because over the years I've realized we are an odd family. We are really close with my aunt and cousins, we were all practically raised together, so it was hard to say good bye to everyone. What makes it easier is that I know it's temporary. I keep telling myself that, and it makes it so much easier to see everything in a positive light. The hardest people to say goodbye to were our nephews. I love those little boys, and since we don't have children, we spoil them like our own. I think I had the biggest breakdown over saying good bye to them out of everyone, because I don't think they understand how far away I will be, and I'm afraid they'll forget all the fun things we did together.

Enjoy the pictures of our old home, the doggies, and our truck! I'm on my iPad so I can't insert them where I want them! Dammit!!

Merry Christmas!

These past two weeks have FLOWN by. Partly due to my huge procrastination, and refusing to do anything house related, so I've just been driving around the San Diego area randomly. I have been putting off packing, anything moving related because of the holidays! It definitely didn't feel like Christmas this year, we didn't put up a tree or anything, so it all went by so fast. I am excited about the new home and putting up the Christmas decorations a year from now! Wow! We have the perfect little front window for a tree, and I'll definitely make Dustin get up on the roof and risk his life so we can have some Christmas cheer!

Merry Christmas from the largest shih-tzu soon to be East of the Mississippi!

Here is our lazy animal laying on some boxes. He only ever lays on stuff, never on the floor, too diva for that shit!

We took our nephews to Sea World last week. Military get in fo free once a year! So we officially became parents! My sister went with us, but when we walked up the older two shouted "Mommy & Daddy!" at us, it was pretty darn cute. Aren't they the cutest little people you've ever seen! Sea World is kick ass because you don't wait much in lines, thank god! And the shows were pretty cool this year too, since it was Christmas time they were all Christmas themed, and they had the teeniest otter that was waving in one show. Watch out hedgehogs, mama wants an otter now!  It was nice to do something with the boys before we left. I think the oldest one understands we are moving, but the little ones still don't get it. It's going to be hard to leave them because I see them so much! I love those little boys!

Dustin, Me, Logan, Blake, and Luke 

Blake & Luke and Shamu

Oh god. Here is the story with this situation outside of my house. So we live/lived in South Oceanside, it's supposed to be one of the nicer areas in Oceanside. Wellllll, we are the first house in a nice neighborhood. Get it, FIRST house, aka we live next to derelicts. Our neighbor towards the shady side is a bit odd, but he's a nice guy. A nice guy as in he'd literally kill someone on our lawn for us, in fact, he did beat someone once on our front lawn with a billy club....Soooo one time my girlfriend borrowed my wetsuit, and I was leaving out of town, so I left it on my back porch for her, so she pulled up in my driveway, went and got my wetsuit and came back out and my neighbor was watching her staring her down. A week later I still wasn't home, but my husband came home and the neighbor told Dustin that he saw a girl come to our house and leave with something in her hands and that if anything was missing, he took down her license plate number!!! Bahahaha - so he's odd, but he means well, and he likes us because we never make a peep!

Anyways, the other morning as I was finally packing crap, I noticed a cop car pulled up outside of the house. Next to our crazy neighbor, on the other side of him, is a shadyyyyy duplex. For example, one of the people that lived in the duplex had just got out of the slammer and used to jump rope in front of the house with his ankle bracelet on. Walking the yard, literally. But he was actually a nice guy...anywayyyssss, the people directly next to our crazy neighbor are WHITE TRASH. They are horrible. Their kids are always out in the street, barefoot, at all hours of the day. Their dog is never on a leash, and it shits in my yard probably daily, and they're always out on their patio furniture, in front of the house, smoking watching the people walk by. And we are pretty sure they deal drugs too because random people will sit in front of their house in their car for like 30 minutes, and then go inside the house, get something and leave.

Well, when we noticed one cop showed up, then two other ones including the field evidence team came as well, I went in and made myself a sandwich and sat on my front porch to watch it all go down. Apparently, the wife beat her husband! I found this actually really hilarious because they're always screaming at each other on the lawn, and she's a little thing, and he's a lot bigger than her. Anyways, I watched them talk to her and him and when the police were questioning the husband, his children were standing on the hood of a car in their driveway, it was like an episode of cops or something! This all took place I think 2 days before Christmas BTW! They ended up arresting the mom, and put her in the cop car, and they drove her past her house, and her kids were waving to her. BIZARRE!! Merry Christmas children, mommy's in the gray bar motel!

Our new neighborhood in North Carolina is already MUCH nicer, let's hope that I don't have crazy neighbors there too!

And here is our other dog Smokey at the beach the other day. Our property management company that we had didn't know we had 2 dogs...for 3 years! HA! They didn't want a big dog in the house, you can only have big "outside" dogs? What the hell? WHY have a dog if it's only ever outside? That's not fun! Anyways, we had our inspection last week, so I took Smokey to the beach to enjoy some time. He gets CRAZY there and you can't control him! Luckily it was raining that morning, so there was no one there except for the kite surfer in the background. We hung out at the beach and watched them for a bit before it got too cold and we headed on back. Isn't Smokey such a beautiful dog? Very smart too. Love him.

Today we got the moving truck, and that's going to need it's own post tomorrow because WHAT an experience that was. A sneak idea? We had to call a mechanic already...

We leave for North Carolina on Saturday, please keep us in your thoughts and hope for good weather! NO SNOW!

xoxoxox

the gidge

Little Busy Bees - what we've been doin'!

We have been so busy lately! It's exhausting really trying to figure out everything that needs to get done to move, plus I have my own personal agenda. I have to work out everyday because I am like a kid on crack if I don't. I can't fall asleep at night unless I've worked out for a hour, so I've been trying to find the time to work out, clean, sew, cook, make phone calls, and breathe? 

We have been trying to get some time in here and there with my family. Last week we went to get Dustin's motorcycle from my sisters house in Murrieta since he doesn't have his car here, he is riding solo on his motorcycle. Luckily, it's been raining so much he hasn't had a chance to ride it, so he had to use my car to get to work last week. HA! He is so embarrassed to be seen in my car. It's teal, so what! Anyways, we took my nephew Blake to the trampoline park in Temecula when we went to fetch the motorcycle. We had so much fun, and holy crap, do children have energy. After about a hour and a half of jumping, flipping, and pulling Blake from the foam pit because his "legs didn't work," I had to convince that little guy that they were closing and coax him out of the joint with the promise of ice cream. We had so much fun, especially since that little booger is fearless! He's 4 and will do a flip? Crazy!

Dusty & Blake after a tiring day of jumping

It's been raining here so much lately, that we had one last fire in our fireplace at our little California bungalow. Isn't that mantle just gorgeous? I will miss it, that's for sure! We cleaned the fireplace today and there ain't no way in hell I am having another fire because I don't want to have to clean it again until we move! 

Dusty & Smokey

View of my run last week. Enjoying being able to run everyday 

by the Pacific Ocean while I can!

I've been sewing lately! I WAS going to do a tutorial on the blanket on the right, but in all honesty, I need to get these bad boys done and shipped to Maryland ASAP. Oliver is my newest little nephew from my brother. Random side note, my grandmother was a quilter, and she made so many beautiful quilts, and after she passed away my grandpa let all the grandchildren have one. I have mine currently right next to me on the couch. I don't like to use it too much because I don't want to ruin it, but it's always on display. Anyways, my brother asked me once if I was making quilts or not yet, so I decided to make little Oliver a cute quilt for Christmas. His nursery is dinosaurs and in those colors, so I worked with my brother and his wife to pick out the fabrics, and it's turning out cute! 

I wanted a "handmade" Christmas, and give nothing but handmade items, but it was really hard to try to sew ALL your xmas gifts in one short time frame. At least now I know what I am up against, and I'm SERIOUSLY considering starting as early as February. Don't judge me! Anyways on the left is Oliver's quilt all set out. The missing squares I was just too lazy to cut out to finish it for the picture. I sewed them all together on Saturday, FOR FIVE HOURS. Seriously. I'm very meticulous, and cut my ends and iron my seams out as I go because it just looks prettier. I have a neat border and backing piece that I NEED to get done, like yesterday that I'll post a picture of when it's done. 

On the right is the baby blanket I made. I'll do a tutorial for that later because I am actually going to be selling those. : ) Sooooo if you want one, please let me know! The name Oliver has been aplique stitched on, and heyyyy there is one of my new labels!!!!! I am probably only going to put them only on personal gifts for friends and family, but I designed them myself and had someone make them. Let me know if you want her info, she has an etsy account, and they're satin and AMAZING. So Oliver is getting a baby blanket AND a quilt. Spoiled baby. He lives in Maryland so I feel he needs extra love from me since I don't see him as much as I'd like to.

Did I mentioned yet that Christmas has been CANCELED at my house? No, but seriously. I'm not putting up decorations because I haven't been home for 2 weeks, and I don't have the time/effort to put them up and then take them right back down. In fact, I don't have a single damn, scratch that, I have ONE Xmas decoration up, and only because I just bought it. And low and behold here it is! My aunt has one of these little domes up in her house, so I stole the idea from her. She told me they used to be used to preserve plants in the garden, like a little greenhouse. ADORABLE right? Any who, my mom found these two little adorable reindeer to put in there, they're vintage ornaments, a boy and a girl, how sweet, and we also found that vintage Christmas tree. This could be my most favorite thing in my house. I'm going to change it seasonly. Is it okay to leave the reindeer in till Valentine's Day? I just can't part with them yet!

I also, may or may not have an addiction to Pyrex? I have dreams that I am going to host Thanksgiving one year and put the food in nothing but pyrex dishes on the kitchen table!?! Hopefully we'll meet some new couples up in North Cackalacky, and have them over for dinner so that I can showcase my Pyrex. I think my favorite ones are those snowflake ones in the corner. They're about 60 years old! Can you believe they've lasted that long? My favoritttteee DISH is that black snowflake one. I've been looking for one of those for a while. Anyways, I bought an entire hutch at an antique store for a steal and am going to fill it with Pyrex in the new house. (Also, don't judge me on my magnet collection I have rocking on the right. We get one from everywhere we go!)

I definitely realized that I am a picture whore. I know when I lurk upon a blog, I LOVE it when it has tons of pictures, so here you go. We have another busy week meeting up with friends to say our last goodbyes! We will be on the road again NEXT WEEK. We leave December 29, are you ready to see those "welcome to" signs again!? Muahahahah. JK. We'll have the pups with us this time, and be in a moving truck pulling my car. We are hoping to make it to North Carolina in 4 days. Pray for good weather for us!

Busy!

I have been MIA compared to the everyday blogging I was doing. It's because we've been SO busy! And I have been sewing my little ass off for Christmas presents!

We flew home from North Carolina on Monday. We flew out of the Greensboro airport, which is a tiny little airport, but at least it had a Dunkin Donuts!! I lovvveeee DD, and the only one in the whole state of California is on Camp Pendleton. Seriously. Google it!

Anyways, we flew from North Carolina - Dallas - LAX. I kept joking with Dustin about which celebrity we would see when we flew into LA. I know everyone thinks that celebrities in California are just walking around all over the place, and they're not really, BUT I seem to run into more celebrities than anyone I know. Maybe it's because I read all the gossip magazines, and watch E! all day, but I swear I see more than anyone else.

For instance - I've seen at the LAX airport Cee Lo Green, Mike Epps, Keegan Allen, and Mickey Rourke. Dustin SWEARS he saw Sally Field one time, but I don't believe him!

Well, we didn't see a celebrity this time...We saw a KANGAROO on our flight! I'm not talking in the cargo, he/she/it was in a backpack on the plane!! I got up to go to the bathroom, and walked past this burly guy with something in his coat. He was acting odd, so I was staring at him while I was waiting for the bathroom. He said to his wife, "The flight attendants asked me to go show first class." and his wife said, "Well put it away, so you don't walk through the cabin with it out." I was definitely intrigued, and couldn't see WHAT it was, and when I went back to my seat I told Dustin and continued to sit for the next 45 minutes waiting for him to go back to his seat. When he finally did, I nudged the shit out of Dustin and was pointing, and the walked by us, and opened his backpack and showed us!! At first I thought it was a deer because it was all folded up very oddly in the backpack, and Dustin said, "Is that a kangaroo!?" And sure as shit, it was!

When we landed I wanted a picture of that damn kangaroo, but I didn't see the couple who had it. We got our bags and we were waiting curbside for my Dad to pick us up. Well Dustin went to the bathroom and saw the people again, so I went back for a picture. The couple was SO nice! They have a wild life rescue up in Paso Robles and the guy let me even pet the kangaroo! It felt a lot like a rabbit actually. They also had a cat with them and a lynx and a few bigger kangaroos all in cages with blankets over them. The kangaroo was so sweet and he was hanging out in the backpack, just his head and ears peeking out of the bag.

When the guy told me about his reservation in Paso Robles (is that even the correct term?) I told him I knew where Paso Robles was because my family went to Lake Lopez to go camping. He gave me his card and told me to bring my husband when we go up and call him and we can all go see the animals. Isn't that SO neat? They were such great people!

Well here is the kangaroo and the little backpack he was hanging out in. I was so flustered with excitement I forgot to ask where the hell they got a kangaroo from. They were on our Dallas - LAX flight so I keep wondering if they rescued a kangaroo from someones property? So sad!

Lewisville & House Plans

Dustin & I arrived in Lewisville on Saturday to spend time with his aunt & uncle. Dustin hadn't seen them since he was 17, more than 10 years ago! You'd think it would have been a bit awkward, but it wasn't in the least! They are the nicest people. They opened their home to us, and are even keeping Dustin's jeep for us until we return in three weeks. We had so much fun at their house this weekend, it was a BLAST! They live in a beautiful home, exactly what you'd expect from a southern home. All brick, huge home, and cozy! Dustin's aunt Lamona cooked up a storm. Seriously, she baked I think 3 different cakes on Sunday, and I hadn't eaten that much, well in forever! I couldn't get enough of her cooking! Last night she made stuffed shells that were to DIE FOR. They made our little stay wonderful, and we will be forever grateful for how lovely we were treated. They are truly just the most wonderful, loving people. It's so sweet to see that Dustin's uncle has cared for him so much over these past few years. We were laughing so much about old family stories that at one point I thought, "my face hurts from smiling so much!" We also learned some embarrassing stories about Dustin's younger brother, Dennis, that we are STILL laughing about, and I can't wait to see Dennis to tease him about them!

We are at the airport now waiting for our flight, so it's been the perfect time to do some planning! Our new home is HUGE compared to what we live in and we need some furniture!

Here is what I am thinking we need:

-2 matching comfy chairs & ottomans "reading chairs" the house has what I think is a formal dining area, but I'd get MUCH more use out of a reading nook

-1 comfy chair & ottoman for our bedroom, it has like a master suite type of deal

-1 bench seat for the end of our bed

-Extra bedroom furniture (a WHOLE set! YIKES!)

-Rugs for the entry and living room

-Bathroom items for the master bath (we'll be putting our current decor in the extra bathroom)

-Man Cave items (not involved in this process!)

In my last post, I mentioned that I wanted to make a lot of the decor or even furniture if I can. I've had my eye on pallet ideas for a while now, I just haven't had the time or commitment to jump in and do it. I KNOW I can make a pallet headboard.  I just need to see some ideas to get the feel for it. I LOVE the way these bedrooms are set up below. I have SO many pallet ideas, and I kept showing Dustin and he was getting a little "pallet out." He kept saying, we can't have pallets on every wall Elizabeth! Oh yeah, watch me!! ;)

Extra Bedroom Ideas - Pallet headboard?

 I LOVE this one with the shelf above the pallet, and so does my aunt Wendy, so I think this is a YES!

I've ALWAYS wanted a little bench at the foot of our bed, the directions on how to make this one is on my Pinterest. It's made wih 2x4s so it is super cheap, and I think I can master that antique look with paint.

Pallet side table? I think this would be SO cute for the extra bedroom. I have a trunk in mind that I want to put on top of this pallet end table. Wouldn't it be so cute to put your guests towels and toiletries in an open trunk? :)

Our master bath has a separate shower and bathtub, but the shower doesn't have a glass door. It's actually one of the weirdest things about the house that I don't like. It's a stand up shower, with a shower curtain? Do they even make curtains for those? Anyways, who cares if they DO make them because mama is going to copy those anthropologie ones that are like nearly $200 for a stupid shower curtain? Oh hell no! I can TOTALLY make this. I just have to get brave and master a ruffle footer. Luckily, when my grandpa gave me my grandmothers sewing stuff earlier this year, there was a ruffle attachment for my sewing machine in her stuff. Isn't that just meant to be!? I have NO idea what to do about the colors. This yellow is cute, but not my style. I think the bathroom is sort of that odd pinkish/salmon color? Yeah, not my style either. What do I accent it with? MORE pink?? Ehhh. Let me know if you have any ideas because I want it to be rather neutral since Dustin will be using it too. I guess I could do beige...

Looks like a shower curtain? Right? NOPE! It's a regular curtain made from walmart sheets! I DIE for this. SOOO cute. I swear our new room has SIX windows in it!!! All with window dressings on them already, but they're beige? Not my style. I don't even know what my style is, rustic? Shabby chic? Vintage? Crazy misplaced Californian girl? I do know that it would cost me $60 to make these white curtains from Walmart! HECK YES!

We found a house!

I am back to blogging on my phone! Boo! I like the computer better because I can insert pictures for each subject. I like to think I am an extremely organized person, and I hate it when the pictures are out of order! When I have time, I'll go back and fix some of my posts.

Anyways, we have a house! We were really stressing on Thursday to the point where we were wandering around aimlessly calling people willing to take anything. So when we got the call to take the house that we wanted from the beginning, I started to cry. I have been so stressed out, and I'm the type of person that is miserable with anything I don't absolutely love. We almost took a different house on the same street that wasn't as cute, and I know if we did I would forever be walking by the beautiful home we wanted cursing the new renters.

We got very lucky with this home. It's been vacant for 2 months now, so they were desperate for some renters, so we bargained the rent down a bit! I have become quite a thrifty person (sort of) now that I'm older and spending my own money. It also helps that I'm married to an Italian. I swear he never wants to pay full price for anything!

Anyways, this house is gigantic compared to the one we live in now. Our current house is a 50s California cottage/bungalow near the beach. It still has the original light fixtures and has so much character, so I knew we needed a house similar in charm! This house is a lot larger than anything we have ever lived in before, so we are going to need some new furniture! It's 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, with a FROG. What is a frog? It's a "finished room over garage" aka MAN CAVE! I'll include a picture but the walls are angled or else it would be a perfect craft room, but my sewing cabinets wouldn't fit up there anyways. So Dustin is going to turn it into his Marine Corps memorabilia room, and we will probably put a futon up there for more guest sleeping space. Plus I am so happy to have a place for the kinect! I'm going to drop down and get my eagle on up in that room playing Dance Central!

I have started looking for furniture like crazy, online, antique stores, anything I can google! I decided I DON'T want to purchase any large pieces! Instead I have been going on Pinterest like a mad woman. I've decided to make the items we need (if I am able to.) I always knew this blog would turn into a craft blog once we found our home! Luckily, the husband is sort of handy, so we should be able to make some good stuff! I'll do another post for just the items I'll be making or else this blog will ramble like my others!

So here are some pictures of our home and the area we are moving to! We are on our way to Dustin's uncles house today! They're keeping our car for us until we return in 3 weeks, thank The Lord for them! They've been so generous to open up their homes to us!

House Hunting/Pictures!

House hunting sure is exhausting, especially when you know nothing about the area you are moving to. Today we spent 5 hours driving around New Bern, Havelock, Newport, and Morehead City. We REALLY like this one area of New Bern, but we were waiting on hearing back from the rental agency to make sure that our pets were okay. So we started to freak out and think maybe that area isn't the best area, and we were second guessing our decision. Morehead City seems to be more of an area that's similar to the one we live in now, but I just can't justify the teeny houses there. We live in a small house now, and part of me was excited to come out to North Carolina because we are outgrowing a 2 bedroom home. When you have one room dedicated to just crafts, that tends to happen!

Plus, a lot of houses in Morehead City don't even have a driveway! Forget a garage, no driveway!? WTF! We started to panic because we couldn't find anything we liked. I was on the verge of tears all day because I was so stressed out. I just want to be done with this house hunting crap and have somewhere locked in to live. Plus I went to the cutest antique store today and wanted to buy half of the items in the store for our new soon to be home.

Tomorrow we hear back about one of the homes, and we are viewing another that's beautiful, so PLEASE think good thoughts for us! We could use them or else we won't be going home on Monday as planned!

Remember how I mentioned that our wonderful friend Ramona took pictures for us for Christmas? She has done this for the past 2 years as well! SHE'S amazing! Seriously! She makes us look better in these pictures than we do in real life. Ramona is the best, she should REALLY consider opening her own photography business because she could make a killing! :o)

So here are a few that I LOVE LOVE LOVE. I uploaded all 34 pictures and realized that was a bit extreme and had to cut them down. But I want to have them ALL up, because there isn't a bad one! NOT ONE! 

Be sure to play the game, "how many tattoos can you find?"

Nice "blue steel" face!

Glad that I get to wear cowboy boots more in North Carolina!