Week One: Raleigh

I think second to our wedding, we have likely had the most eventful week in our marriage.  Ahhh, it feels so great!!!

I started my job and L-O-V-E it.  I even said to Chris at one point today, “is it weird that I’m looking forward to going to work on Monday?”  I love what I’m doing, my 10-minute commute is amazing, my coworkers are great and I love having an office.  :)

We’ve had some amazing food this week, too.  We’re getting back into cooking and being healthier tomorrow, but we’ve just enjoyed immersing ourselves into the southern culture and I’m not going to lie, it’s been a tasty few days. I think our favorite spot was The Pit, famous Carolina BBQ.  It’s definitely a place we want to take our friends and family when they come to visit.

We also went to the Mellow Mushroom which we’ll definitely visit again.  The warm pretzels were delish!

Everyday, we’re getting more and more settled in the house, and I’m hoping by tomorrow we’ll have a fully stocked fridge and a finished house.  Check out the kitchen…we love it!

This morning, we took Hunter to an area dog park.  We love taking him to the dog park so he can run around and socialize with other dogs, but it’s unfortunate that his brain never tells him when enough is enough.  After 30 minutes we have to drag him out of the park on a leash before he passes out from exhaustion.  Today was no exception.  He has so much fun, but he can never just chill – he always has to be in the thick of the action, but it’s still fun.  We really liked this park (much larger than the one we used to go to in Virginia), but I’m not sure we’d go back.  It was about a 20 minute drive which seems a bit far – I need to do some more research to find a park a little closer to the house.  There is a great one very close to our house, but you have to pay a $40 annual membership and I don’t know about that.  We’ll see what happens.

After the adventures at the dog park, we finally got around to getting Hunter a new bed, but then this happened:

Yeah, I don’t know.  In the two years Delilah and Hunter have lived together, she has never expressed any interest in his bed, but today, she was all over it.  It’s been a few hours now, and Hunter has happily taken over, so all is right in the world again.  :)

Oh yeah, what else happened this week?  We put our house up for sale on Tuesday and received an offer on Thursday.  TWO DAYS Y’ALL!!  We accepted the offer and are officially under contract!!  So, so, so exciting and I can’t tell you how effing relieved we are.  I swear two days must be some kind of record – we are so excited and have our fingers and toes crossed that all goes smoothly in the next 30 days til closing!

Chris is serious about getting back into coaching swimming and has already been contacted by five swimming teams for either head or assistant coach positions.  Hellooooo, options!  I’m so proud of him for following his passion.  So, so proud.

My friend Emily said it best, it’s really like all of the stars have aligned for this move and life is pretty freaking good right now.  :)

Kinda Settled

So, we made it to North Carolina!  After an incredibly stressful Friday (maybe one of the worst days of my life, actually), we finally made it to Cary (Raleigh suburb) around 1am this morning.  Our moving plans fell apart from the moment we woke up on Friday, including a truck that was too small, movers who canceled 30 minutes before they were supposed to show up, and an all day downpour.  We were supposed to leave VA around 2pm and didn’t leave until 8pm.  Sigh.  We made it work, though.  It was hard, but we made it work.

This morning we were pleasantly surprised when our movers on the Raleigh side of the trip showed up early and finished in under two hours.  Then, the cable guy came and setup the tv and internet and all was right in the world.  We’ve been ridiculously productive for being in town for less than 24 hours.  We’ve finished the kitchen, dining room and bathroom, and have most of the family room and exactly none of the bedroom done.  We’ve done so much that I’m actually hoping that we can finish by tomorrow which would be amazeballs.

Now, for some visuals.

Kitchen, done!

Family room...coming together.

Dining room...getting there.

I love it so far.  The apartment is smaller than our townhouse, but it’s so new and swanky and pretty.  It feels like home already and it’s a wonderfully comforting feeling.   I’m so excited to get even more settled, to get into a routine and really figure out our new town.  Feels good, y’all. :)

Day One – NaBloPoMo

It’s funny, the first time I ever decide to participate in an National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), I spend the first four days of the month moving!  So, here we are on day one and I’m finally getting around to posting…at 9:30pm.

Anyway, I was up for a writing challenge and I jumped at joining the BlogHer NaBlogPoMo and here I am.  If you’re not familiar with this type of challenge, it’s basically where you commit to writing everyday for a month and you write based on prompts you’re given.  Sounds easy, right?  But life happens and shit gets in the way and the goal is to continue writing through it all.  Challenge accepted.  I anticipate having a really busy March (new house, new city, new job, what?!), but I’d really like to be fulfill my commitment.  Here goes.

Thursday, March 1, 2012
How do you feel about uncertainty? Is it exciting or scary?

Ah, uncertainty.  I have a love/hate relationship with this topic.  I think sometimes I really thrive on uncertainty, and sometimes it makes me want to pee all over myself in fear.  There are so many scopes of uncertainty, too, if you really think about it.  Like, before I got married, I thought that I would be a total spaz and fret about the “what ifs” (uncertainty), but I didn’t.  I just wanted to enjoy the day with my friends, family and new husband.  I sometimes struggle with being out of control, which then spirals into fear of uncertainty, but sometimes I get really excited.

Tonight, we’re sitting in a house full of boxes and bins, literally on the edge of uncertainty.  We move to a new state tomorrow, all by ourselves in the big, bad world.  There is so much uncertainty right now.  So, so much.  Do I have moments of what the fuck are we doing are we going to make it?  Yes.  But I also have those moments of this is so awesome and I’m so glad we are brave enough to chase dreams and live our lives for ourselves.  So many people have told us how they would love to move, but just can’t/won’t out of fear.  I feel brave, y’all.

So yeah, it’s a love/hate.  I think that uncertainty keeps life interesting.  If you could predict how everyday for the rest of your life could go, wouldn’t that get a little boring?  Right, that’s what I thought.

Viva La Raleigh!

So, we’re moving.  In 10 days, actually.  I’m going to try to spare you the boring details, but we’re pretty psyched about the move in general.  When we bought our house in the DC metro area a year ago, we didn’t think we’d be moving for at least five years, but guess what, life happens, and sometimes we’re presented with really epic opportunities that we’d be insane to turn down, so guess what?!  We’re freaking moving and its fabulous and exciting!

Our little innocent trip to Raleigh for a hockey game quickly spiraled into a new outlook on life, and we flirted with the idea of living in place with a slower pace of life, less traffic and higher quality of living.  DC is a great place, honestly, it is, but it’s also a hard place to live (especially if you’re not tied to a government job).

Long story short, life is happening fast.  Our flirtation turned into a very real reality when I was offered basically the opportunity of a lifetime, and now we’re on the verge of peacing out.  Was it an easy decision to make?  Not really.  Things happened so quickly that we literally had to make lists and spreadsheets and flow charts and pie graphs  (just kidding about those last two things) to figure out the best decision for us.  Ultimately it came down to an amazing chance for me professionally, a better cost of living, less traffic and the option to build a new and exciting new chapter in our lives.

I’m so excited to share this with Chris.  I’ve lived in Raleigh before, but Chris hasn’t, so it will definitely be an experience for a DC kid like him.  So far, he’s had nothing but good impressions of the city and people, so that makes me happy.  :)  I think it’s going to be great fun getting to know the city together and exploring a new place in our new marriage.

We’ve received so much support and encouragement since we decided to move, too.  It’s so nice to hear people really encourage us to do what’s right for us, even if it means they’re sad to see us go.  When we tell friends, family, coworkers, their response is generally “I’ve heard great things!” or “Ohhhh, I love it there!” or “I wish I could move down there!” or “That’s so exciting!!”   So awesome.  There’s just something so heart warming about hearing the great things that people have to say in support of us.   To be given the opportunity we’ve been given is rare and it’s awesome to get this kind of chance.

The only drawback to this entire thing is that we’ll be four hours from our family.  But, the good thing is that we’ll only be four hours from our family!  It’s such an easy drive both ways, so I’m grateful.

We’re excited, you guys.   This is big, and a gamble, and a lot of other adjectives…I’m so grateful to have Chris by my side as we embark on this new adventure, together.