a day in east nashville
A year ago tomorrow, I moved to Nashville. I was excited about starting school, but not at all excited about leaving Atlanta. The first few weeks were
really hard. But, as I've mentioned before, they've gotten easier over the course of the year and I find myself really enjoying Nashville these days.
Today, as I pondered living here for a year and how things have changed, I realize that what I particularly love is East Nashville. (Of course, I love my program and Vandy and wonderful friends in my department too.) This morning, my car was in the shop and dear Julie, who also works at Vandy, was kind enough to pick me up, which is no big deal because she only lives half a mile away. I finished things up at work a little early and headed over to
Ugly Mugs to finish up one more thing for work and some last minute details for our trip. Much to my delight, my dear friend Jen was there. And Jen just bought a new (well, rather old actually) Jeep Cj5. So we went for a spin in it through the neighborhoods and parks of EN and stopped in at Sonic for happy hour.
This evening, I went over to a friends house for a Christmas in July craft sale, where I ran into other friends and suggested to Miranda we go try
Mas Tacos new permanent location. It was ridiculously hot and crowded inside, so we went outside and crossed the street to sit on the steps of our friends Allison and Meredith's house. Allison came out to join us as we ate and the sun set. I then ran by another friend's house to drop a few things off before coming home to finish packing.
All of this within the space three miles. As I sit and ponder this time a year ago, sitting miserably in my first house with Amy Mo, waiting on my movers to arrive and unload my furniture, I'm really amazed at God's goodness towards me. Kailin often reminded me prior to moving, "Where God guides, He provides." And He has. And, as promised, His provision has been immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine.
So to celebrate, I'm going to Vegas!!!
road trippin'
I head out on Thursday for the great road trip of 2010. Summer just isn't summer for me without a road trip. This summer, I'm headed to Las Vegas with my friend Laura from my cohort at school. And as we've been telling people, Vegas isn't the primary destination, it's the turn around point.
Here's are the highlights- posts will follow when adventures have actually occurred:
Day 1: drive to Norman, Oklahoma
Day 2: drive to Amarillo, Tx and an amusement park
Days 3 and 4: Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM
Day 5: Sedona
Day 6: Grand Canyon
Days 7 and 8: Las Vegas with a Cirque de Soleil show throw in
Days 9-11: national parks in Utah- Zion, Bryce, Arches, and maybe Canyonlands
Days 12-14: Mesa Verde NP, Durango and Silverton, CO, Great Sand Dunes NP
Day 15: drive to Kansas City, KS to see Royals vs. Yankees (MLB ballparks are on Laura's bucket list)
Day 16 (Aug 13): home to Nashville!
I hope those days add up correctly.
Labels: roadtrip '10, travel
new house!
Should I be packing right now? Yes. Have I swung between the "ludicrous highs" and "melancholy lows" of an ENFP today? For sure. 2pm: on the verge of tears from the overwhelmed-ness as friends ask when and how they can help. 5pm: bursting with joy when Laura calls to tell me she has the keys to the new place. I've been thinking that I really was taking things in stride. My emotions tell me otherwise.
But anyway, I have some pics of the house! What you'll note first off is the lovely colors the walls are painted. No, we cannot paint. Alas.
Front of the house. Yesterday, the porch was covered in smiley faces of various kinds. Soon, it will be home to my swing.
Living room at the back of the house.
Kitchen with view into the living room.
Kitchen. That's Laura.
Purple guest bedroom/ Laura's office.
Front room. Dining room? Living space? To be determined.
Laura's PINK bedroom.
My bedroom, upstairs. It's ginormous.
My office. What?
My bathroom. And yes, both bathrooms have jacuzzi tubs.
Backyard. There's a garage back there too. Lots of room for the swimming pool I'm going to build.
Come visit, friends!!
moving
I hate moving. Growing up, I lived in the same house until the day I left to go to college. My parents still live in that house. Through the years, they made a number of decisions, including my dad quitting at least one job when he was transferred to Louisiana, in order to not have to move. I think I'm a fairly rare case, but I really appreciate the decisions they made to keep us from moving.
Things have changed a little bit since then then: since college, going on 8 residences, including 4 abodes in 7 years in Atlanta. Quelle horreur! Friday, I move into house #2 in Nashville. I'm really excited about it: #1, to have a roommate, #2 a fantastic new roommate, and #3 a bigger, nicer house. I've hired movers, so that alleviates a lot of the stress, but moving is still one of the most stressful things in the world to me. It means change, disturbing my routines, knocking me out of my comfort zone.
Lying on the couch last night watching a terrible movie (The Informant!- turned it off halfway through), it all hit me: You're moving in 3 days and your house is a wreck. You only have 3 more nights of living alone and only having to think about yourself, of not having to talk to anyone if you don't want to.
But it will be over on Saturday and I will have a fabulous new house with a wonderful new roommate, enough space to have people over, and the lazy, selfish parts of me will be more subject to sanctification. And these are all good things, not to be stressed over.
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