Let go and just be free

Happy Holidays all! I hope you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to the new year. The title of this post is from Katy Perry's "Unconditionally" from her new album Prism which I got as a gift. Yes, I actually got a CD. I really feel like I show my age when I say that! Well anyway, I have a lady crush on Katy Perry and I will probably listen to this song over and over and over again.

I wanted to update you all on mine and Justin's trip. I'll get to that in a minute. And I'll forewarn you that this will probably be a long entry so if you're reading this, I hope you  have a few minutes. First I'll give you the low down on the kind of every day happenings. 

Christmas was pretty low key here. I was a little bit sad about not getting to see my family but I wasn't as down as I thought I would be. I guess all the years I've had to work on the holidays have sort of helped. There's been many a year that I haven't made it to my grandma's house or seen the VanHoutens. I miss them all and hate missing out but I suppose I've just gotten used to it. It was hard not to be with our parents and siblings though. We did get to talk on the phone and Skype with them though. Not quite the same but it will do for now. Justin was a good sport about doing some holiday activities like decorating cookies and getting a real tree. 

In job related news, I applied for a job as a front desk coordinator for a physical/occupational therapy clinic. The process has moved fairly quickly; I've had an interview and gone to do observation in a matter of two days. The gentleman who is the facility director at the location where I would work (there are several around southeast Georgia) is out of town until next week so I may not get an update for a  little while. Everyone put in a good word for me though so I'm feeling very hopeful!

Now, on to the details of our trip! I've been meaning to write before I forget everything but I just haven't really felt the motivation. So I will do my best to recount everything in as much detail as I can remember.

We started with a weekend stop in Tampa to see Liz and Dan. They were going to be dog-sitting for us and we thought the least we could do was make the long drive and spend some time with them. It's always a great time with them and I hope we can hang out more now that we live closer! Justin and I left early Sunday morning for the cruise port in Miami. It was quite the drive and it was taking longer than we had thought it would. We realized too late that Justin had set his GPS to avoid toll roads (the most direct route). We made it a little later than we planned but still with plenty of time to get to the boat. As we drove around Miami trying to find the lot we were keeping our car in, we had a slight panic attack when we saw a line of cars going around the block trying to get in a lot. Thankfully, we called the number we had and they directed us to the correct one and we had a reservation so we were all good. 

We were so excited to get to our room. We had a balcony which was a definite improvement over our window last time! 

I was glad to have the extra space since we would be on the boat longer than our last trip as well. We spent the afternoon enjoying the balcony and exploring the boat. There was a big screen on the lido deck that showed movies all week. There was also a water slide, three pools, and a couple adults only areas. I was so grateful for the adults only pool and hot tubs. Whenever we would walk past the family pool I would cringe at all the screaming children. I know that will be us someday but for now I am enjoying grown ups only time. Anyway, we headed to dinner and found that our table was a 4-person booth. It was set for 4 so we assumed another couple would be joining us. They turned out to be a couple about our age from Connecticut/New York. They were nice and we enjoyed their company but we didn't part ways as BFFs. 

Our first full day on the ship was a day at sea. We just spent time lounging by the pool and relaxing. Tuesday, we made port in Cozumel, Mexico. We disembarked and headed to our day at the beach at Mr. Sancho's. If you ever travel to Cozumel and aren't going to the mainland, definitely spend a day at Mr. Sancho's. We purchased the all inclusive package which included access to the pool, beach, lounge chairs/tables, lockers, and snorkel equipment. Justin had upgraded us to the Romantic package which included a cabana and 30-minute massages for each of us. We just laid on the beach all day and ate and drank and soaked in the sun. We had a waiter that took care of us all day too. He kept the margaritas coming! It was an amazing day and the weather couldn't have been better.

The next day we were at Costa Maya, Mexico. We had tickets to take a tour of the Chacchoben Ruins and then to go to a Mayan village and have a traditional meal. We were lucky that it was just us and our tour guide. We met up with another group for the tour at the ruins. Our guide was very knowledgeable and I enjoyed learning the history of the ruins. It rained on and off throughout the day but it didn't ruin our time. After the tour, we split off with out guide and he drove us to have lunch. We learned how they make tortillas and got to make some ourselves. We were terrible at it, haha! They were very delicious though. These two ladies had made this amazing spread for us. I guess another group of 4 was supposed to join us but cancelled. They really missed out because it was the best part of the day. We had tamales, chicken, vegetables, rice, beans, and flan for dessert! We also had hibiscus infused water which was the most fantastic thing ever! I also had a cup of hot cocoa, made right there from the cocoa bean, which was very bitter so I added a bit of brown sugar. The food was so amazing and Justin and I continued to marvel at how we were the only ones there. All those people majorly missed out! Oh, I almost forgot! On our way to the ruins, we had to stop at a checkpoint and be searched for guns! I wasn't worried obviously but they actually made us get out of the car and wanted to look in our camera bag. I guess if you're caught with even a clip you can go to jail for a year. Our guide said, "There is still crime but no one is getting shot." All I could think was, that would never happen here!


Our next stop was Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Honduras. We had originally booked a tour guide to take us around the island but when we saw the gloomy day we decided to sleep in a bit. We did end up finding a taxi service that would give us a tour of the island for the same price. Our tour guide was great. He was about our age and spoke English very well. We actually happened across another couple with a guide that spoke very little English and they sort of hijacked our guide with a ton of questions. So I'm glad we got him! He had even spent a few years in Savannah! He drove us around the entire perimeter of the island stopping at a few good photo ops and then taking us where we wanted to go...the Iguana Farm and Gumbalimba Park. The Iguana Farm was a bust and I think we were both a little annoyed that we paid money to get in. I guess the iguanas stay in the trees in the rain so only about a half dozen or so were walking around. We could see some in the trees and on top of buildings but it was pretty disappointing overall. Gumbalimba Park, on the other hand, was amazing! We had a guided tour through the park and we learned about the history of the island. We walked through an insect museum, over a pirate bridge, and on to see macaws and Capuchin monkeys! A handler put a macaw on my shoulder and it sort of ruffled its feathers. Our guide says, "I think you may have just been pooped on." Sure enough, down my back, there was bird poop. I shouldn't have been surprised I guess; I have bad luck when it comes to being pooped on by birds. Justin took a picture of course. The worst part though was that no one had anything to wipe it off with. Our guide did find a hose though so I got to walk around the rest of the day with half of my shirt and part of my shorts soaking wet. Next we were on to the Capuchin monkeys. They came right down out of the trees and sat on our shoulders and heads. The handlers fed them seeds to keep them around. They were so cute and soft! And I remember being surprised that they weren't smelly either. I don't know why I thought they would be. Anyway, we hung out with them for probably 20 minutes, just letting them sit and jump between Justin and me. They kept trying to pull my bobby pins out of my hair and searching for food in Justin's shirt pocket. I think it was definitely a highlight of the trip.

And then we had a "you live and you  learn" moment. We get back to the port after our trip and realize we don't have enough cash for our taxi driver. Well there are ATMs everywhere so we don't worry on it too much. Unfortunately, the ATM doesn't recognize our bank so we can't get money. Justin then thinks he can get to the ATM on the boat and then run back out. So I stay with the driver so he doesn't think we're gonna stiff him. Well, since it's so close to departure, the cruise staff won't let Justin back off once he's on. So he doesn't get on and we kind of start to freak out about what we're gonna do. Justin finally finds a shop on the pier that will give him cash back. We give our driver the money and Justin informs me that it is 2:40pm and we were supposed to be on the boat by 2:30pm. And if you've ever been on a cruise, you know a lot of these piers aren't a short walk. So we are running through the duty free shops and down the pier and thankfully they weren't leaving yet. AND, we weren't even the last ones on the boat. We were up in our room, sitting on the balcony, and we see this golf cart come driving up to the gangway and a couple gets off and on to the ship. So that was our panic moment and we made sure when at our last port of call, we were back on the ship with plenty of time to spare!

Our last port of call was Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. We hadn't planned anything to do there since we couldn't find much from our online searches. We asked around a bit and found the best deal was to take a guided tour. We learned a bit about the island and got to see the Governor's House (who is appointed by Queen Elizabeth) and Hell, and stopped at the Tortuga Rum Shop, the Dolphin Aquarium, and the Turtle Farm. The Turtle Farm was really the only place we wanted to stop so all the other things were a bonus. We got to see tons of sea turtles. They're huge! I mean, you see em on TV but to see them in real life is nuts! They had smaller pools with medium sized ones and then even more pools with baby ones that you could hold. They weren't hatchlings but about the size of a turtle you might have as a pet. We were allowed to just reach in and grab them! They were so neat. Along with the monkeys, it was definitely one of the coolest things we did on our trip. 

We headed back to the ship with plenty of time to spare, deciding to take advantage of the fact that a lot of people would be ashore. We went down the water slide a few times and got to sit in the hot tub without being packed in like sardines. We were able to find lounge chairs in the adults only area and Justin actually fell asleep. A very relaxing afternoon indeed.

We had one final day at sea as we sailed back to Miami. I can't remember all what we did now, but I do know we decided to go to Bingo. The jackpot was $5000 so we figured why not. Of course, it was nearly impossible to win the jackpot but I did win $100! 

I know there was so much more we did and I'll probably never remember every detail. We had many excellent dinners (pretty much great food in general), went to some hilarious comedy shows, took cheesy posed pictures, and even went to Harry Potter trivia! It was such a fun and relaxing trip and I hope that, even once we have kids, Justin and I can take small trips for just the two of us. 

If you actually read all of this, thank you! I know it was long and it actually took me two days to write. There are pictures on my facebook page, which I know is where a lot of my readers come from. So you've probably seen them already but if not, they're there. I was going to post some in this entry but my laptop is not reading my memory card for some reason. Well, now I'm looking ahead to the big 3-0 in just a few weeks!

Happy Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving Day and my husband and I have just finished enjoying some pumpkin pie. I got out of bed before Justin so that I could make the pie for him. I hadn't really planned on making pie but there weren't any frozen ones when I went shopping last weekend. Since I'm Miss Suzy Homemaker these days I figured why not go for it. I ended up with two pies instead of one so Justin will be taking one to work with him tomorrow. I watched the Macy's parade while waiting for Justin to roll out of bed. When he finally did wake up, we enjoyed a late breakfast of bacon and eggs. Once we saw Santa safely arrive (thank goodness my husband humors me), we flipped the channel to the Lions game. It was amazing to see the Lions finally win a Thanksgiving Day game for the first time in 10 years. While we watched the game I peeled potatoes and snapped green beans. I decided to make just a turkey breast roast, which I've done in the past, since it was just the two of us. We had all the fixings to go along with it though and it was amazing.

In other news, I'm still unemployed. At this point, I'm holding off the search until we get back from vacation.

And speaking of vacation, we're on our way soon! We booked all of our excursions and I think I'm most looking forward to lying in a hammock on the beach with a good book and a good drink. I'll be sure to update when we get back and tell you all about it.

A couple of weekends ago I met up with some gals at the Savannah Food & Wine Festival. It was a little chaotic trying to find everyone but it all worked out in the end. A few of us ended up splitting off from the group. It was very crowded, making it hard to keep track of everyone. Anyway, for the price of admission, you received a wine glass for unlimited wine tasting, and five food tokens. It was a lot of fun just walking the square and tasting what Savannah had to offer. I wish we would have had more of an opportunity to get to know one another but it was a nice time overall and I'm very glad I went. One of the girls and I stopped at the macaroon shop on our way out. I couldn't recall if I had ever had a macaroon, and if I had, it had been a long time. I bought half a dozen and they were all amazing. I will definitely be stopping there again when Justin and I are downtown.

Well, we're about the finish off our Thanksgiving evening with a movie so I will talk to you all again soon.

I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset

Alright well I felt sorry for myself for about 5 more minutes after that last entry. I decided to do something about my life other than wallow in self pity. I joined meetup.com and found a group of women about my age that get together once in a while around Savannah. We're getting together this weekend at the Savannah Wine & Food Festival. I'm really excited for it and hoping I will make some new friends.

I haven't heard anything about the job I interviewed for. I called the gentleman I interviewed with and he emailed me saying he had a few more interviews and would be contacting everyone the following week. Well, that would have been last week and I never got a call. I will probably apply for some new jobs this week.

Last weekend, Justin and I headed to Palm Coast, Florida to meet up with Liz and Dan. They're going to be dog-sitting for us when we go on our cruise and I wanted our dogs to meet ahead of time. We met at a dog park and they got to run around a bit. They didn't really pay much attention to each other actually. We decided to play some bocce ball and we tied the dogs to each other so they wouldn't run away. Thankfully, their dog, Caesar, is very well behaved. A few times they would go running for the bocce balls and mess up the game, but it was all very entertaining! After we finished a couple games, we headed to dinner on the beach. It was a beautiful evening and we had some delicious food. Once we were done eating we headed down to walk on the beach. We let the dogs run free and laughed at them running in and out of the water. It was really great the see Liz and Dan and Liz and I vowed to get together more often. Justin and I then headed up to St. Augustine for the night. We stayed at a hotel right on Vilano Beach. After checking out Sunday morning, we headed into historic St. Augustine. We mostly walked around taking in the sights. We stopped for a delicious lunch at a dog friendly pizza place. We walked over to the Castillo de San Marcos fort. I had no idea St. Augustine was the oldest city in the U.S. I really want to go back when we don't have Pepper with us so we can take in  more of the sights. It is a very cool city.

After our mini-getaway, and joining this meetup group, I'm feeling renewed. Here's hoping it sticks around for a while. If nothing else, I have our cruise to look forward to next month!

Wake me up when it's all over

November is National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for short. I see some of my writer friends posting about it but I don't entirely understand the premise. I think the idea is that you sit down and write something like 5000 words a day and by the end of the month you have something resembling a novel. I don't consider myself a writer by any means and have no intention of writing an entire novel, but I'm going to make a point of updating my blog more often. And in order to do that, I'm going to get out of this apartment more. I need to join a club or do some volunteering or something.

Last night I had a bit of a breakdown. The excitement and newness is wearing off. I'm starting to feel lonely and homesick. Don't get me wrong, I love Savannah. It's actually going to be hard to leave this amazing weather. I mean, right now, on November 3rd, I'm sitting on my porch in short sleeves and bare feet. I actually could be wearing shorts too because I'm sitting in the sun and it's pretty toasty. At first I was sad to be missing the changing seasons in the mitten but as soon as I heard the word "snow" in the forecast, I changed my mind. I digress. You guys know how shy I am. I've gotten over it a little bit (I literally used to be afraid of my extended family) but I'm still not the type to just strike up conversation with random people. I joined clubs in college but never hung out with the people I met outside of group meetings. So my days here have consisted of keeping up the apartment, watching TV, and hanging out with my dog. And all Justin wants to do on the weekends in lay around the apartment, which is understandable given how much he works. But last night I reminded him that, for the time being at least, he's all the family and friends I've got. And I don't think men care as much about having a social circle. Even when we lived  in Michigan, Justin never really went out with the guys. Once in a while he might go golfing with our neighbor or guys from work. My dad doesn't have any friends other than family or my mom's friends' husbands. It's not a bad thing, it's just different and I think maybe Justin doesn't understand. I guess that makes sense if you look at the rest of the animal world. Men are loners and women hang out it groups. Today I feel bad that I got so upset with him because I know that's not what he needs. And my being bored and lonely is within my control. I just need to get over myself and get out more.

And now on a lighter note, the Halloween fiasco. Well, maybe it wasn't a fiasco but it was ridiculous nonetheless. Our porch light has not worked since the day we moved in. Even though it is on the outside of the building, we are responsible for replacing the light bulb. I went out the morning of Halloween to buy a new bulb. I first went to Walmart and bought the wrong bulb. I then headed to Home Depot and was able to locate the correct bulb. Upon returning home, Justin informs me that the light has a sensor on it. So, you leave the switch in the on position and as it gets darker, the light will come on. I put the new bulb in, turned the switch on, and awaited the trick-or-treaters. Some of you may have seen my posts on Facebook wondering where all the kids were. It wasn't until about 8pm, when things are usually winding down, that I took Pepper out and saw my porch light was still not working. So the reason I had no trick-or-treaters was because of me! So obviously there is some kind of electrical issue that we need to let maintenance know about. Thankfully, I had the forethought to buy candy we didn't like and Justin took it all to work with him the next day. Here's hoping Thanksgiving and Christmas go a little better!

Lazy Days

Things could not be more boring at the moment. I am definitely not having the adventures I thought I would be. I guess that's my own fault. I let fear and laziness get the best of me. 

I did have some adventures a couple of weeks ago when my mom came to visit. She arrived on a Tuesday and Justin and I picked her up from the airport. While we sat in the cell phone lot, a lady parked next to us and asked us where in Michigan we were from. She was a nice lady but one of those that enjoyed talking and wasn't really getting that we didn't want to talk to her. Thankfully my mom called and we picked her up at the door. Justin had to work that night so my mom and I just vegged out for the evening. 

Wednesday morning her and I headed to downtown Savannah to take a historical tour. They have a few different trolley companies that give tours and we decided on one that offered an on/off option. Our tour guide was great. He was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Savannah is such a beautiful city and I loved learning its history! We got off the trolley at City Walk and stopped in a few shops. We hopped back on and rode a few more stops until River Street. We spent the rest of our time there, going in and out of shops and stopping for a bite to eat. 

Thursday we had a girls day of shopping and movies. We headed to the mall for a few hours and then went to see "The Family." Friday we decided we were going to go to the Botanical Gardens and the Oatland Island Wildlife Center. We had a hard time finding the Botanical Gardens and when we did it looked like it was in someone's backyard. There were a lot of roses but not much else. We saw some monarch butterflies and caterpillars and some crazy big hornets. After the gardens we decided it was too hot and humid so we skipped the wildlife center and went to check out Tybee Island. We didn't take our suits thinking we wouldn't feel like swimming and then of course wished we would have brought them. The water was amazing and we even got to see some of the filming of the new Spongebob Sqarepants movie! My mom left on Saturday afternoon after Justin and I took her to lunch.

This past weekend, Justin and I headed up to Hilton Head Island. We first stopped at the Tanger Outlets and Justin let me spoil myself a bit. We headed to the beach for a little while after that. People that Justin has talked to have told him it's way better than Tybee Beach. I don't know if we didn't go at a good time of day or what but I was really disappointed. It was a kind of cloudy day and I think we were there at high tide. There wasn't much actual beach and what was there, was covered in broken up driftwood. I think I'll stick with Tybee, especially since it's just about 10 minutes away. 

In other news, I applied for a job last week and had an interview on Wednesday. I think it went well and I hope to hear something next week.

Pepper and I went to Petsmart this morning for the Halloween fun. I thought it would be busy so I went early and there was only one other lady there. There were other customers but without pets or didn't have them dressed up. We got a goody bag and had our picture taken and then headed home. 

Hopefully Justin will feel up to doing something this weekend. He's worked a lot of late nights this week and really enjoys just lazing around on his days off. 

Life in Savannah

Well, everyone, we made it! And I've finally had a moment to get on a computer and write about it. We don't have our internet set up at the apartment yet but thankfully our complex has a "business office" with computers we can use. I feel like it's been forever since I updated and I don't know where to start!

Two Fridays ago, we closed on the house. I had to go alone as Justin wasn't in town yet and it was a little nerve-wracking. A quick side note; it's much easier signing when you're the seller. I think I signed about 5 pages and I was done! After all the signing was done, we had to wait for the money transfer to happen so I got a chance to sit and talk with the couple buying our house. They were very nice people, maybe people we could have been friends with, and that made me feel a lot better. It was a little bit emotional for me at times (like when the husband said,"Yeah, it's our first home" and I said, "Yeah it was ours too.") but I came out relatively unscathed. I did cry later, when Justin was back in town, and he started dancing with me in the living room. I wasn't sad about the memories we had made in that house, but more so for the memories we wouldn't be making. No children and all the memories that come along with them, no more family get togethers and holidays. It was hard to think of our home becoming someone else's home.

On Monday morning the movers came. I would say that having movers was a positive experience overall. There were some communication issues (not with us, but between the company and the guys that showed up) but nothing that couldn't be fixed easily. They were nice guys, professional, and worked quickly. They got started between 8:30-9am and had everything packed and on the truck by about 2pm. After we got my truck packed up with our essentials we headed down to Justin's folks for the night. It was nice to get to spend a little time with them since they had been out of town the last couple of weeks.

Tuesday morning came way too early. We were up about 4:30am and on the road a little after 5am. We wanted to make the entire drive to Georgia in one day. I started out driving so Justin could sleep in the car (he is not a morning person). I drove all the way through Ohio, which, at the time, was boring. I would later be thankful for being able to drive on flat land. Nothing especially exciting happened during the drive. We only stopped for food and gas. Driving through the Smokies was amazing! I love seeing mountains since I've lived in (relatively) flat Michigan my whole life. Justin and I had this whole discussion about what determines if a hill is a mountain or just a hill. Thank goodness for smart phones so we could learn while we traveled. We discovered there is no magic elevation, someone just has to declare it so. While the scenery was beautiful, I was much more comfortable enjoying it from the passenger seat. I drove a bit through the winding mountain roads and after we crossed into North Carolina, I was done. I think I actually started to have a bit of a panic attack. Once we got through the mountains and back on flat terrain, I hopped back behind the wheel and drove for about another hour or so. Justin finished up the drive in Georgia since he knew where he was going to the apartment. We made it around 8:30pm.

The rest of the week was a lot of fun. Justin had taken the whole week off from work. The moving truck wouldn't be coming until Monday so we slept on an air mattress in the living room. We unpacked what little bit we brought with us but mostly Justin took me around Savannah. We went downtown and ate and shopped. We went out to Tybee Beach and I remembered how much I love the ocean. We went swimming in our apartment complex's pool. Last week, Justin went back to work and I spent the whole week unpacking. I ventured out a bit to get things for organizing the apartment. It hasn't been easy trying to squeeze a 1500sq. foot house into a 900sq. foot apartment. This week will involve more organizing and cleaning. Dear Lord I hope my dog stops shedding soon. We bought an area rug since we have (laminate) wood floors in the living room and within two days it was covered in dog hair. But I haven't had the chance to vacuum since there were boxes everywhere. I've enjoyed being a stay-at-home wife so far but we'll see how long that lasts. :)

Oh, and yes, it was very hot when we got here. It's cooled down a little (low 80s) but it is still humid as all get out. And we haven't been called yankees yet :). While out shopping for our living room furniture, the sales girl we met was from Wisconsin. I was hoping that everyone I met would have an accent and say y'all but I feel like most people I've talked to don't! We hung out with a guy that Justin works with and he had a good accent and thought it was weird we didn't eat okra on a regular basis! Haha!

My mom is coming to visit next week and I'm so excited to see her! I can't believe September is almost over already. It has flown by! Here's to more adventures!

Labor Day

So I'm attempting to write this on my new Kindle Fire. My husband was in town for the weekend, surprised me with it, and took the laptop with him so it's my only option at the moment.

Well it's been an eventful couple of weeks. My brother texted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I was free Labor Day weekend to come to his wedding. He and his new wife just planned something very small that took place in her grandparent's backyard. So that was yesterday and it was beautiful. I was so glad Justin was able to make it up from Georgia. We had a great weekend together and I was a little sad dropping him off at the airport this morning. Thankfully, he'll be back next weekend to finish things up at the house.

On the home front, our realtor told me we should be closing this week sometime. I haven't heard from her recently so I guess we'll see. The movers are coming next week to pack up the house. I don't feel sad yet but I'm sure I will come next Tuesday.

My last day of work was Friday and I'm definitely not very sad about that. I love what I do but I'm looking forward to some time off.

That's all you get for now folks. It's way too hard to type on a tablet screen!

When will I see you again

I've sat down a few times and tried to write and ended up feeling like I didn't have anything worth while to write about. I still don't feel like I do, but thought I should give you all an update on the moving situation. 

Well, if you haven't heard, we sold the house! We settled lower than we really wanted to, but no lower than we absolutely could go. We had our inspection last week and just this morning the gentleman came to pick up the radon detector that sat in our basement all weekend. I hope that we will hear something tomorrow. I know the buyers walked away from the other house they were going to purchase because it had radon. More than worrying about losing our buyers, I'm worried we've been breathing in radon for the last three years. My husband swears we had the house tested before we moved in and everything was fine. We very well may have and I've just forgotten. Anyway, I also met with a coordinator from the moving company and we talked about what was staying and going. I'm so glad my husband works for such a company that can provide us with this service. They literally come in and pack for you. All I need to pack is essentials for the few days we'll be without our stuff, and sentimental/valuable things like jewelry and photos. It makes things so much less stressful. 

My in-laws visited this past weekend and helped with cleaning out our garage. I had to work this weekend and I was so grateful they did so much work while I was gone. My family is visiting next weekend to help finish up the garage and with whatever else I need. I have an amazing family and I'm so glad I have them around now. Distractions are good. 

I miss my husband. I know there are women out there whose husbands are fighting wars and I really feel like I shouldn't complain. But I have a new found respect and admiration for them. I don't know that I could be that strong. I guess I could if I had to be. Well, he's still far away and I can't help how I feel. We're hoping to move the 2nd week of September and he'll be flying up then. I cannot wait to see him! And until then I feel like a teenage girl with a crush. I've got pictures of him and us all over my phone. I'm texting him all the time telling him how much I miss him and love him. This being apart business is just no fun.

I probably won't have any more posts until moving day, unless something major happens. Thank you all for reading so far and I hope I'll have more fun and interesting stories once I'm actually in Savannah!

St. Joseph

Well, we may have a buyer after all! The very first couple that looked at our house wanted to buy it. They put in a very low offer and asked for a crazy amount for closing costs. At the time, we were still unsure of what my husband's new salary would be so we held off on a counter offer. They hung on with us for a few weeks and just when we thought we would counter, our agent told us they went with another house. 

We've had a ton of interest in our house, just not enough for anyone to make an offer. We're starting to feel discouraged and that we may be stuck with this house longer than we want.

Tonight our agent sent me a text message saying that the first couple decided not to buy that other house and have sent us another offer. The offer price is slightly higher but they want even more in closing (are ya kidding?!). We lowered our price quite a bit and are hoping they will meet us there.

So please, please, please send good vibes our way! Do a dance, burn incense, pray to St. Joseph.... whatever you do, do it for us! I so hope and pray that we can reach a compromise with these folks. Obviously they really want our house, but as anxious as we are to sell, we're not going to give it away. 

I feel bad for my husband being down in Savannah all on is own. We were talking on the phone the other night and he said, "I can't believe I miss you this much already." About broke my heart. While I miss him too, I at least have the comfort of being in a familiar place, having our dog with me, and having friends and family around. I just can't wait to get down there and share this experience with him, instead of a thousand miles apart. 

I was taking our dog for a walk yesterday evening and it started to hit me how much I'm going to miss our town. Neighbors were outside talking, kids were playing in the streets, people were jogging and walking just like me. It suddenly hit me that this is home. I didn't really realize how much I love this place until that moment. It will be hard to leave and I don't think we'll ever find another neighborhood like this one. 

I think about you every single day

Well the countdown to my husband and I being together again has begun. He left on Saturday. And unfortunately things aren't quite going according to plan (do they ever?). He was a couple hours away from his destination (Knoxville) when his car broke down. Because it was late on a Saturday afternoon, he had to wait until today to even get someone to look at it. They started working on it but he won't be able to leave until tomorrow. He was supposed to start work tomorrow but now has to start Wednesday. Thankfully, they are very understanding and told him to take his time getting there. 

Things aren't going as well as we hoped here either. We continue to have at least one showing a week but no offers. We had an open house on Sunday and only 4 families showed. That's not terrible but our agent was expecting something like 20. We do have another showing tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed they make an offer. Nobody has had anything negative to say, they just keep finding something better. Something a couple people have said was that they wished the basement was finished. All I can think is, if our basement was finished, it would add another 500 sq feet to our house and would probably be out of your budget. Lord knows we would not be selling for this price if it was finished. So, it's all a bit frustrating and starting to worry us a bit. We know that families want to get in soon so that kids can start school in the fall. With a 30-day closing that means we need to sell now. We're worried that if we don't sell soon, it will be much more difficult to sell as the months go on. It will be a monetary struggle but we also don't want to be apart that long. 

I've been doing okay on my own so far. My husband and I have spent the better part of our relationship on opposite schedules so right now it sort of feels like he's at work. Since we've been married, we've never spent more than a weekend apart so this is going to be interesting. I'm sure as time goes on I will miss him more...like when it comes time to mow the lawn! I guess I better buck up and learn how to use the lawnmower.

New Adventures

For anyone out there who doesn't know me or my husband, I'll catch you up real quick on the story so far. We are a happy couple currently living in Michigan with our pooch, Pepper. We built our house about 3 years ago in a quiet suburb of Grand Rapids. My husband works for an international corporation and was recently promoted and this promotion will be taking us to Savannah, Georgia. The company he works for is always reminding its employees they must be willing to relocate to move up. Well, we don't have any children and we're still young so why not explore this new adventure?

I decided to start this blog for a few different reasons. One, I want to keep my family and friends in the loop. Our closest relatives will be cousins in Atlanta, and our closest friends, in Tampa, FL. Not so far that we could visit for a weekend, but not so close that we could call them on a random night to hang out. As much as people (myself included) promise they'll call or write, they inevitably get busy and forget. Or, if they're like me, they don't like talking on the phone that much. My mom is about the only one I can talk to for an extended period. I hope that it will give me (and my poor mother and mother-in-law) some comfort to put my thoughts, feelings, and fears out there.

Two, my husband is convinced that he will now be making enough money to support the both of us and I won't need to work. Or I can just work part-time so that we have a little extra. I haven't decided how I feel about this. If we were staying in Michigan, I think I would like this idea very much. There's always been a part of me that wanted that 1950s cliche. Wife takes care of the home, husband brings home the bacon. In Savannah, though, where I have no support system other than my husband, staying home scares me. I'm not really the most outgoing person and definitely not the type to just go up to people and strike up a conversation. If not for work, how will I meet people? And what the heck will I do with all of my free time? Answer: blog!

My final reason for writing is because living in Georgia is definitely going to be different than living in Michigan and I'm sure hilarity will ensue! While my husband was born in Wisconsin, lived in Nevada until he was 12 years old, and then moved to Michigan, I have lived in the mitten state my whole life. I think moving to the south is going to be a bit of culture shock. I mean how am I ever going to get in the habit of saying "soda" (or is it "coke" there?) instead of pop??? Not like our "northern" accent won't give us away in a heartbeat. I've heard lots of wonderful things about Savannah, and those who've never been saying they've always wanted to visit. 

So, where we are now...my husband has received and accepted the job offer and will be moving by the end of this month. The plan is for me to stick around until the house sells. Fingers crossed that happens quickly. We've had half a dozen showings, one low-ball offer. Even after we enter into a contract, it can still take up to 8 weeks to close depending on the type of mortgage the buyers have. I don't really  feel like spending 8 weeks away from my husband (yes, I know there are other women who have it worse than me and I'm thankful for what I have) so hopefully we'll be under contract before he leaves. 

I am excited for this new chapter in our life. I do have some fears but if I didn't, I guess I wouldn't be human, right? Also, I'm starting to feel sad about leaving our home; both the house itself, and the state of Michigan. This is my and my husband's first house and we built it together, picking out all the features and filling it with memories. I'm sure moving day will be very bittersweet. And while I'm sure Savannah will be beautiful, Michigan will forever be my home.