• january and february filled with daily life and seeing a record amount of movies in the theatre in time for our friends’ annual oscar bash. our investment in cinema paid off as i guessed the most winners right!
• mom and a friend came for a visit in the spring time…got to experience more of the rural south at a garage sale that lasts for miles (who knew people could have so much junk!) and the lost baggage center.
• of all things, a scrubs episode changed our life, when it inspired wil that the time was now to pursue something you love for the rest of your life…and he decided to research culinary school.
• by april we had our house on the market…in hopes that it would sell before wil’s fall enrollment would take place! enjoyed the constant stress of showing a house a couple times a week with two great danes. we spent many afternoons with the four of us driving around (some days too hot to be outside for too long!) to waste time.
• as our departure from nashville loomed, our time with friends grew more bittersweet, highlighted with a great evening on the hills of arrington vineyards with picnic blankets, bottles of wine, and catch phrase.
• at the end of june we joined family in montana to celebrate my parents’ 25th anniversary…a good way to ring in independence day with lakeside s’mores and firecrackers!
• with life’s timing upside down, we received an offer from some dear friends to spend the summer at a music institute in the north carolina mountains, outside of asheville. it only made sense to take advantage of a period of rest in a beautiful setting while the house was in escrow and to do a little work to earn money. we will cherish the friendships made and solidified over terrible camp food, waterfall hikes, office episodes, and breathtaking symphonies!
• august brought us the end of our time at brevard, to come back to nashville to pack the rest of the house, sign papers and pack the dogs in the car in preparation for our cross country drive! it didn’t help that the week our house loan was to be paid off by the sale, our mortgage company disappeared off the face of the earth, with no one knowing where anyone’s loan information went! (god took care of that later)
• i won’t deny it was a little nervewracking to drive 2400 miles with only a city as a destination…no apartment or house lined up, and our stuff to arrive on a freight truck within days or our arrival! we touched base at our parents, but quickly scoured portland for a building walking distance to wil’s school that would accept two giant canines. that was interesting…
• we found a place and moved in at the beginning of september, and road tripped down for a tour through california, visiting 5 cities to see family we hadn’t seen for too long.
• wil started school shortly after that, while i got to experience the loveliness of job hunting. yay unemployment!
• although it soon became a tight squeeze for us, as the expenses outweighed a zero income, we fell in love with the city over the last few months and have enjoyed the proximity to everything, including our family. i finally landed a part time retail job for the time being, and get to walk to work. we went from a one car family to now hardly using it at all!
• with time on our hands, and wil’s expertise already increasing, we’ve enjoyed transforming this blog to reflect the foods and experiences we love, and are excited about furthering this endeavor in the new year, with a new layout and look.

christmas was of course a highlight, and here i am sitting back at home already, in my pj’s waiting to watch the rose parade. i guess i should wake wil up so we can enjoy a french press together on the couch with flowered floats passing by on our screen. happy 2010 everyone.

• moved back from brevard to nashville
• spent 10 days packing the house, sleeping on a blowup mattress and eating pizzas
• signed the papers to officially hand over the keys on the 20th
• drove from nashville to sisters in 3 days (whoo!)
• hung in sisters for a few days, with a trip to portland in the middle to scramble and find a place to live
• signed apartment papers, unloaded our the freight truck, and moved to our new place 2 days ago
• now trying to find one another amidst all the boxes in this teeny place

we’ll now be taking a break from unpacking and joining my side of the family for some camping the next couple days. i’m stealing someone’s inappropriately named wireless signal, so we still don’t have internet access, except for our phones.

we’ll get back here, i promise! with pictures!

wil walked into our cabin-home for the next two months right about the same time i stepped into our nashville-for sale home.

yesterday i went with my boss to atlanta…she goes once a month and this was my last time accompanying her (it’s usually every other month between me and cassie who joins). it was lame to add two days to the tally of being apart from wil, but before realizing that, i knew i wanted to take advantage of my last chance of visiting atlanta and our usual design stops.

wednesday we leave at 7 am, and it’s a 4 hour drive…we head straight to the design center…walking through showrooms looking at furniture pieces and different lines, requesting fabric samples to take back, and any other odds and ends that we are looking for at the time. it’s always really enjoyable to see things in person and also match faces with names of the people we talk a lot with on the phone.

it also made me curious if whoever i might work for visits the seattle design center and what that might be like.

we wrap up right at 5 when it closes, and usually have a great dinner…last night was no let down. we more often than not will shop for an hour or two- this time we visited the mall (usually it’s philene’s basement). but thursday has in store a very early start with lots of walking, so we honestly go back to the hotel and go to bed very early!

now, i know wil and all those starbucks folks are used to getting up at 4 and 5 in the morning, but it’s not so easy for those of us who are used to getting up 2-3 hours later. it’s rough! but we do it not so much for the deals, but by getting to the antique market while everyone is literally pulling stuff off the trucks, you are ensuring you get the best stuff before someone else! we wake up at 4:45 nashville time, and get to the buildings at about 6…

here is not long after we arrived in the south building…this row of vendors was just starting to unload. carolyn was checking out the size of a chest to be used for in a powder with a sink. it didn’t work.

this is maybe 3 or 4 hours later, and mind you, this view shows about 1/15th of what this building holds, plus a 2nd building of the same size…the ‘booths’ in this building are less defined, except for those hanging blue signs of letters, and tend to look a little more sparse than the north building because the south tends to have large furniture pieces and the north all the lighting, and other piddly things like silver, jewelry, books, etc. and it’s kind of madness the whole time. the economy has hit it, with usual vendors not showing up, or repetitive inventory, or just less inventory like this picture shows…more often than not you are maneuvering between pieces close together.

there’s definitely a lot of interesting nice pieces, but there’s still junk and stuff you wonder why someone bought that thinking someone else would want to buy it from them… our favorite usual dealers are either european, or go to europe themselves.

one very specific thing about scotts is the food. there are ‘food courts’ all over, and it’s all junk! this one is particular makes the whole center smell sooo gross..greasy southern food. just think about smelling fried catfish at 9 in the morning. pleasant.

oddly enough, after a lucky morning after buying a bunch, the power went out in the whole building while we were trying to look at oriental rugs. instead of picking a rug in the dark that we thought was brown and unroll at home and find out it’s like hot purple or something, we left about an hour early. i was quietly thankful, because usually the last hour is the hardest on my feet and mental endurance.

we got to nashville earlier than usual, and i made my way to our quiet home…i don’t want to get myself all down, but it’s really weird sitting at the computer just waiting to hear for the dogs to come up the stairs and see me.

wil, on the other hand, made it to brevard! yesterday was full of goodbyes and last social endeavors…golf, lunch, driving around, dinner, games. and i got a picture from his phone last night…

we decided in the last week to actually let the dogs be on the couch since it was the end of their time with that couch, and who cares! gracie had definitely tried to establish this for the last….well, forever, so you can tell she was all over it, and i don’t think ava quite gets it. : )

it looks like wil might have been stuck in some traffic, but he’s there! i asked him to take a picture of our cabin, so i will share. or maybe he can! maybe we can separately update the blog while we have our own adventures. that’d be fun.

we spent a perfect saturday evening at a vineyard just south of nashville with our dear friends…wine, blankets, snacks, catch phrase, cake. it was all just too good. saw a couple get engaged down the hill too.

i don’t even want to think about not being able to hang out with these girls!!! good friendships take so long to forge; i know we will stay in touch.

i could have put the sweet normal one, but this seemed so much more appropriate.

sunday we had a showing, and just chilled in the agriculture center…the dogs rolled around in the grass and chewed bark chips, and then we walked to a creek. it was a nice preview to our summer ahead. (oh and got dollar dipped cones at mcdonalds…simple joys!)

little bit later, wil and tom hit the course in the setting tennessee sun. seeing that i won’t see wil after tonight (i have a work trip making us miss each other a couple days more), i needed to take advantage of his presence, so i walked the course with them. i think these boys will really miss each other.

wil’s last day at starbucks was yesterday, and it just felt necessary to stop by and see him in his element one last time, since i didn’t make it out to this store as often as the past stores. i was unexpectedly emotional after getting back into the car…and it wasn’t even my job! wil has spent 5 years of his life at starbucks, making it a better company and improving people’s lives.

renee came by to visit later…i think this image is a good visual of wil’s love for his store and his people for some reason.

i don’t mean to bum everybody out, like i have myself. god has just really blessed us here and it is sad to leave! but leaving is really just opening the doors to more opportunities…chances to rediscover a new place, forge new friendships, and see what god has in store for us.

tonight is our last night together for about 2 1/2 weeks…and since he’s taking the dogs to brevard, i won’t see them until i join after montana which is nearly a month! what will i do without my babies! ugh!

*i stole some pics to post…valerie took most of the arrington pics (i have some on flickr), and andy documented wil’s last day.

=

priceless

as i type it is 13 degrees out, but the low tonight is around 2 or 5. i think with some wind chill making it feel below zero. tomorrow will probably be in the teens, maybe 20′s…but this is what i heard:

“all davidson county schools are closed tomorrow because it is too cold…”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? what state do i live in?

oh that’s right… tennessee…

you could totally title every blog in the month of december with a christmas song, there are so many different ones. i wish i thought of that december first!

anyways, the entire point of this entry is just to tell you it snowed last night. and how excited i am.

as we grabbed a couple 4 o’clock starbucks drinks to hold us over after the long days we’ve been having, it was starting to sleet. it’s been very rainy and muddy the last few days, so sleet just made it yuckier.

and then, an hour later, (in the darkness) cassie and i thought the grass at the office actually had a slight tint of white amidst the wet…as i continued east and got home, there was at least an inch of so of snow all around!

i honestly think i smiled the whole drive home (*smiling’s my favorite!*), even being stuck behind terrible drivers who don’t know how to drive in snow (or anything wet for that matter!)…and was excited to see the snow increase with every mile instead of the latter.

i was the first to drive on our little cul-de-sac, so i did a kristen version of a donut to feel cool and turn into the garage.

it’s not going to stay, because it’s just too wet and not cold enough in the forecast…the ground underneath isn’t even frozen in our yard, so it’s a big mud pit already, but feels so christmasy and home like!

the dogs are nutso about it, which in turn drives me nutso. instead of doing their usual bathroom that is on the minute every morning, they just want to eat and run around like goofballs. the second we came inside this morning, gracie usually trots back up to bed, but she just stood at the door, looked at me and play barked. what a brat!

i need it to snow again this year, not on a workday, so i can have time to take pretty pictures…because i only have this one i just took out the upstairs window…just as proof.

and here’s a cutie sleeping ava just to make you feel all snuggly and comfy this weekend.

no it’s not that bad, as i am happy to just relax. today was an interesting morning. i was *almost* a fully legal starbucks employee today…had the apron, wore the dress code, served the pastries…just no paycheck. (i got $7 in tips though!)

wil’s store agreed to have a booth at a “fall fitness festival” for a grand opening of a nearby ladies fitness center. (bizarrely enough, the fitness center looked like it has been there for a decade or so, so i’m not sure if they revamped or got a new name or something?) i helped him and our friend/his coworker laura man the booth from 8-1…serving free stuff: brewed coffee, pastries, hot chocolate, and bananas. i really hardly did anything, except act like a barista and pretend like i knew what was going on…but unfortunately for the fitness center, there were hardly any people at the fair, so the morning consisted of most of the people from the different promo booths walking around visiting the other booths to all get free stuff from one another. (i don’t know how well it was promoted, and it was in a parking lot behind a movie theatre, where the fitness center is, so not great for drive by traffic).

not to be negative though- it was a nice morning. we’ve made the fantastic transition to cool fall weather, so it was perfectly crisp out, where the warmth of the sun made you feel toasty and cool at the same time. so great. laura’s husband came by halfway through and sat with us, which was nice because the four of us like to hang out outside of sbux whenever we can. we were entertained by a singer songwriter who performed next to our booth, and then watched ever so often when they did aerobics/weight class demonstrations out in the middle of the fair with the hip hop blaring and the lady giving instructions on how to do squats over the loudspeakers. also, one of the vendors was a ‘booth free’ business…a lady that just walked from booth to booth with her ADORABLE great dane (that was a perfectly behaved, off leash, so mellow, therapy dog) with brochures for her doggy day care/grooming/boarding place. i kept visiting “gilda” (who was wearing a full size tshirt) a few times, and watched her from afar. around lunch time, the man making some amazing pulled pork hooked us up for half price sandwiches. yum. and the most exciting part was that i won a free 90 minute massage in the raffle…so stoked for this because massages are one of those luxury things in life that are so awesome, but something i would never spend the money on. and 90 min! woot!

i played my role well, and convinced everyone there i knew what i was doing…i helped wil and laura take everything down when it ended and headed home (wil had to go straight to work to then work at the store for another 7 hours, yucky for him)…i can’t imagine for him but i was pretty tired when i got home…no sleeping in on a saturday morning, talking to lots of people and relaxing in the fall weather for a few  hours all combined to make me a very mellow sleepy girl when i got home. so i have zoned out on the couch while wil watches the red sox attempt to come back and win another game in the series to not get knocked out.

actually, we are excited to host the presidential debate on tuesday (we as in nashville, not we as in me and wil…’welcome to dinner mr. obama and mr. mccain! we apologize for our crazy horse-dogs…’). it’s actually at wil’s old school, and it’s kind of neat that of three debates and the whole country, one is here in our neck of the woods, in the building across from wil’s old dorm.

they’ve had the event center fenced off for a few weeks for preparation, and last night while buying some snacks at the ghetto gas station across the street, we saw the center lit up like day time with huge banners and pristine planters. kind of crazy.

i haven’t decided if i want to try and be out and downtown just to be part of all of the excitement (even though i know you probably won’t be able to get even within blocks of the whole campus), or just stay at home and actually watch the debate in my pj’s…our friend mike says he just ‘wants to be in the vicinity of history being made’ (coming from a history major, mind you).

we’ll see…but that actually was not what i intended to write at all when i sat down here at the computer…my mind hasn’t been able to stay on course very well recently. wil is sitting down stairs just coming home from work, so i’ll make it short so i can say hellow and hang with him, but i just wanted to say how happy i am it is fall…the leaves are starting to change, the nights and mornings are cool with perfect afternoon temps, and the mums are gracing everyone’s doorsteps (including ours, yay!). i hope to get some pretty pumpkins again and maybe grab my teeny box of october decorations out of the attic to disperse throughout the house. yipee for fall!

and i also am excited for a new haircut…i keep going shorter and shorter the last few times i get it cut, and this is by far the shortest. it’s been chopped off the back and it’s really refreshing. why are new haircuts such a big deal on affecting your outlook on life? everything just seems to be happier with new bangs swept across your face? that is…assuming you like how the cut came out…

wil got his hair cut in the last week or so too…but his never seem to be a drastic change. : )