Two Week Anniversary

Tomorrow makes two weeks in our new home. We have settled in quite nicely and made some vast improvements to the house. The house itself is in great condition, it just needed some paint and some TLC. Andrew also discovered some left behind patio furniture behind our barn. He spray painted a love seat and some matching chairs and now they look cool enough to work inside until we find an interesting sofa. Check out some of the finished product!

Andrew did an awesome job building the headboard in our room. The wooden mirror was originally part of an old dresser that belonged to my mom. It turned out super cool. We put my new/old vanity in the guest bedroom, since I took the closet in there. When we don't have guests, this space with serve as my 'dressing room'. I am in love with the antique vanity! We found it in this amazing shop in downtown Concord. We are calling it an early birthday present.

We could not be more happy with how everything turned out. We are going to continue to make some more changes slowly, like building bench seating in the kitchen and adding a really interesting sofa to the mix. But as for now we are beyond comfortable and feeling right at home. We actually already made new friends! Last Sunday we ventured into Locust to find a place to watch football and happened upon Tailgators. The spot looked bumpin', so we decided to give it a whirl. We could not have made a better decision. The place was packed with awesome old dudes watching the games and drinking beer. We quickly became the topic of discussion and could not finish a beer without one of our new friends buying another round. The group of guys have been friends for years and each of them live in and around the same area. They like to ride their motorcycles to the bar and invited us out to drink moonshine any time we like. That sounds like a winning combo to me! Needless to say, everyone has been more than welcoming and currently I am writing this post at Tailgators, once again surrounded by our new friends.

That's all I can do for now! I am distracted by the football games and people. But I promise we are getting Internet tomorrow (for real this time) and I will update asap!

xoxo

"The Bold Adventurer Succeeds the Best"

Well, we made it! Sorry for the delayed follow up; we don't have Internet at the house quite yet, so I had to wait until we came into Concord to run some errands. I can't believe that we are officially living in our new home. The entire move could not have worked out more perfectly. We had smooth sailing the entire trip, which included a stop in Montgomery for the night. The last day of driving flew by and we were pulling up to our new house before we knew it. Our realtor, Lynn, and the owner of the house, Farzad, were both there to greet us. The house is exactly what we expected, complete with cool character, an interesting layout, and beautiful surroundings. We really are in the best location. There are a few small towns around us, each with its own personality and various offerings. And Charlotte is 45 min or so away, in case we need anything only the big city can offer. So far though, I never want to leave our little area. The food is amazing, the people are fantastic, and Andrew and I both already feel a deep connection to our house. We have been busy moving everything in and getting set up, which includes painting each room and making it our own. Even though we are out in the middle of nowhere, there are still a few other people that live on our street. There is a really nice retired couple that lives closest to us and we have already made friends. The husband is an older gentleman who actually owned the house we are renting before Farzad. He said he would help us with the property maintenance, since there is about 2 acres that needs to be mowed regularly. We told him not to worry about it, but this morning I looked out the window and spotted him on his big ol' tractor mowing our property. Woohoo! Andrew went out to greet him and he explained that he enjoys riding his tractor over to mow, since it gets him out the house. More power to ya, is what I say!

Yesterday Andrew and I drove around for a bit and explored some of the other surrounding small towns. So far, we have a favorite restaurant in Albermarle that not only served up some delicious grub, but also magical drinks. We also have enjoyed breakfast and lunch out at some local cafes. Between the food, the views, and the antique stores on every corner, I believe I am in my ideal heaven. Andrew already said that I am not allowed to venture out unsupervised. I WANT EVERYTHING I SEE IN EVERY SECOND HAND STORE. So far I have found some 1949 versions of Liousa May Alcott novels and a vinyl Stevie Nicks record (topped of with a cover photo that made my heart flutter). I also have my eye on this antique vanity that took my breath away. I made friends with the shop owner and I am hoping we can go put down a deposit down later today. I promised Andrew that I would not bother him for at least two weeks if I could bring home the vanity. I mean, it looks like something Marie Antionette would use, while listening to her favorite Steve Nicks album. I gotta have it.

Overall, Andrew and I could not be more grateful for our new life and this amazing adventure. We find ourselves saying "I love our house!" about a million times a day. We are also taking some time to reflect on the importance of this adventure, since it's going to be part of the foundation our marriage is built upon. We refused the familiarity of our comfort zones and instead we are going to challenge ourselves to grow and experience life. We will work to balance one another in this growth and to compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses. This is the best way to create a positive and nurturing environment for our love and relationship. Even more so, we vow to work towards complete emotional, spiritual, and physical health. We want to start a marriage rooted in clarity, passion, depth, and achieving a higher understanding of consciousness. This move signifies the first steps towards our life together; and we get to do it while remaining connected to nature. I could not be more grateful.

I wanted to post a million photos, but they are taking forever to load. Grrrr. We have to finish running some errands, but I will try to post again sooner than later! xo

We Made it to Houston!

Woohoo! We made it to our first stop: The Partridge House in Houston. Since we aren't picking up the key to our house until Monday evening, we decided to take the opportunity to spend the night in Houston with our dear friends Rick, Lindsay, and Rylee. They relocated to Houston a couple of months ago and we had not yet seen their new house. We love the Partridge's so very much and we have missed being around their amazing energy. They are a family that Andrew and I idolize and we are excited to get in some quality time before we continue on our way.

Of course, before we got to Houston, there was the whole "goodbye to my mama and dad" thing... whew, it was a doozy. Last night we took the time to get some drinks and hang out to try and distract ourselves from what was going to happen in the morning. It was fun, but we still had a very hard time pulling out of the drive. I love adventures more than anything, but leaving my parents is always daunting. My mom is my heart and soul and when I am away from her it always feels like a little part of me is missing. However, we survived and I know it won't be long before I see her.

Okay, I am done crying and back to being excited again! We are ready to enjoy the weekend with Rick, Lindsay, and Rylee!

Under My Feet Baby, the Grass is Growin'

Andrew and I are moments away from embarking on our awesome adventure (finally!). After what seems like a lifetime of waiting, we finally have the moving truck parked in the driveway ready for packing. We plan on arriving to our new house on Monday, which gives us some days to take our time, and more importantly, spend the night with the awesome Partridge family in Houston. I can't think of a better way to start our journey!

For those of you who are in need of a serious update: Andrew and I are moving to Oakboro, North Carolina (outside of Charlotte). Andrew has accepted a job with the Cabarrus Community Health Clinic through the National Health Service Corp. He starts September 26th and I am beyond proud of his accomplishments. The fact that this is all happening in North Carolina is a result of what I like to call "random fate." After Andrew graduated from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio we took the opportunity to look at options outside of Texas and plan a little adventure. The National Health Service Corp. meant that Andrew could apply to jobs literally across the country. We had places from Oregon to Hawaii to New Hampshire to St. Croix picked out. But North Carolina pursued him the most aggressively and after a trip to interview in person he felt he had found "the one." I know that on the surface our choices seem scattered and random, but they were all rooted in our passion to find some new wilderness. So, we are off to find said wilderness in Oakboro, North Carolina! I cannot wait to nest and explore our new environment. We definitely ended up in some of the best wilderness this country has to offer. I plan on using our 10 acres to raise some Nigerian Dairy Goats and grow our own fruitful gardens.

Stay tuned for updates from the road!