It's Friday! And we're moving!


Yaay and a half! Just one more little night in our house to go!

My parents are en route to Atlanta to help, and, let me tell you, there are very few things that are a greater testament to how much they love me than the frequency with which they've helped me move. Three times in less than one year, to be exact. Not to mention twice in the two months preceeding our January 2012 move. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Here's to hoping this one will stick, or else people might start wondering if we're in witness protection...

Happy long weekend, you guys! I hope it's great!

image one and two

on letting people in



A few of my friends have told me that when they read my blog, they feel like they're just talking to me - it's pretty much stream of conscience. And while I do get on here most days and ramble about myself - almost exclusively - I can be pretty awkward when it comes to actually talking about myself in person. My friend Katie and I joke that we go into interview mode, where we just hammer out questions to deflect the conversation.

Certain subjects we have mastered and could talk about for days - because they're safe. But when it comes to the real conversation - the hard stuff - I can get pretty squirmy. For better or for worse, I'd rather listen all day than have to get real about some topics. 

I've been working on being better at it for the last few(+) months - on getting real and opening up. And this week I was talking to my friend Jordan and mid-conversation stopped and said, Jor, I'm so sorry. I am completely dominating this conversation. To which she said, No! I love it. You never do this. 


And I don't think I'm alone here. If you watch closely, there is a whole crew of girls out there who are constantly trying to shorten their stories, get to the point quickly, ask how are you, before someone can ask them. 

Somewhere along the line, we've been trained to think that it's impolite or selfish to share with one another. But as I've tried (seriously - it's hard) to be better at sharing, I've noticed that it's actually just the opposite. It comforts the other person when you can share that you, too, struggle with this or were wondering about that. It drives the relationship and creates a sense of both safety and vulnerability. 

So, yes, I once told a therapist: but tell me about you! 

But that was long ago, and now I'm beginning to see that as scary as it is to open up and let people into our most personal of spaces, it's a lot happier when there are other people in there with you. 


life lessons in the most unexpected of places

On Monday, Mel and I met with our new landlord and he told us a story about a friend who has a mouse in his house. He said when he heard the story, he thought of us.

To which I said: Are you saying when you think of rodents, you think of us?

We were, of course, flattered.

He then went on to tell us that they've never had any animals in any of their 80 properties in 27 years, except one mouse in Smyrna.

To this, Melissa and I simultaneously made a joke about the fact that we'd basically welcome one tiny mouse into our house at this point. I think she ended with something along the lines of, "he sounds kind of cute!"

When we moved in to this house, we were terrified when we saw a cockroach. Had you told us we'd have a mouse down the road, we'd have flipped. Nowadays one little baby Fieval doesn't seem like much compared to our brood. 


And while I hate to give any sort of credit to them, I can't help but notice the major perspective change we've had in just three months. It's amazing how everything that happens to us - good, bad or beautiful - is clearly and quickly shaping us.

Lately, I've had these moments where I feel a little bit stuck in life - like I'm not sure what exactly I am supposed to be doing, and this revelation gives me a sense of hope. In the moments where I just don't know what is next, I know that in three months, I could be seeing things entirely differently, feeling a new way or making changes bigger than my address. 


If we just keep doing our best and trusting that things will fall into place, they will. A mouse may have been scary in September, but it's January now, and we're braver and bolder and open to this unexpected change. Do we clear those traps ourselves? No. But we're not breaking any feet over them, either.


weekend and a half and a halfway move

Do you ever have those weekends where you fall into bed Sunday night and feel like you can barely remember what you did Friday? Where it seems like forever ago and even though the weekends are never long enough, it felt like 37 combined?

This weekend was one of those. Mainly because we halfway moved out.

Some of our things went to storage, and some are going to the new place. Katie's super sweet parents came to help us with the first half. They got into town in the afternoon, so, to get a jumpstart on the task, we pulled everything we were moving out onto the lawn Saturday morning. We thought we were really funny and set it up outside like the inside.  Moving furniture already cracks me up for some reason - add that to our outdoor living room and I was doomed to lose it. 


It was also one of the easiest ways to move I've ever done (which is, let's be real, a subject I'm familiar with), because by the time the truck arrived, we had a full picture of everything we needed to load. Like a big puzzle! 

I also rented this beauty just to make sure we had enough room. Needless to say, it doesn't have the turn radius of my Jeep. It also beeps when you back up...


Surprisingly, we had no less than 11 people ask us if we were having a yard sale. At one point, we said no, but a girl still said: could I take a look and see if there is anything I want to buy?


I almost said yes, based on her persistence alone! I guess if you really want my table that badly...

Other weekend highlights include a late dinner at Taco Mac Saturday night, drinks on the patio at Noche Sunday afternoon, and dinner with Sally and her mama at Two Urban Licks Sunday. 


Sunday night, I crashed into bed - happily exhausted. Now, just a few more nights until a rat-free home. Yaay! I hope your weekend was wonderful, too!