Boxing Day

Today was the day I packed my life into boxes:

Now we are getting somewhere

I realize my room looks like a storm blew through it.

I never realized how much stuff crap I have.

It took me several hours to get everything packed up, but it's done!!!

The tricky part will be surviving without all of my stuff for the next 2 weeks.

One Month

We got a lot of shopping done today.

I picked out the upstairs bathroom accessories.

I went with green because it is the same color I chose for my bedroom.

the floor mat

I chose these to accent the towels below. They are more green than they appear (for some reason they look gray in the picture).

shower curtain

Like I said, I chose green for the bedroom.

the sheets

I just love this color with green.

I decided to get a blanket to put at the end of my bed to add some color.

and I am sticking to what I know best for a comforter

goose down...in white =)

The day ended with finding a wonderful dish set.

I am in love!

Slowly things are coming together.

It has taken a lot out of me and I get frustrated very easily.

I wish I could just and relax my last month at home =/

34 Days Out-Thanksgiving

The Holidays are rolling right on in and I am loving every minute of it. I am excited that my favorite time of the year leads right on in to my move to Durham.

Sure, It makes things more difficult, but I'm excited none the less.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I am glad I got to spend some time with the family.

Baby Sloan was being as cute as ever!

Jack playing with Baby Sloan

...and the food was as good as ever!

Round #1

After a ginormous meal, we all watched the ending of the Cowboys game.

It was a close one (shockingly).

The Boys haven't been doing well this season and we were up against the Saints (last year's SuperBowl Champs).

We turned it around in the end, but it wasn't good enough.

We were in the lead for just a little bit =)

proof!

Before Thanksgiving rolled around, we celebrated my Dad's Birthday. We ate at Joe T. Garcia's.

Followed by a yummy cake.

After Thanksgiving, we celebrated my Mom's Birthday. We ate at the Keg and had yummy steaks. Following lunch, we saw Due Date at the movies.

I can say that I have been thoroughly enjoying the Blue Devils kick some tail this season.

My Team (so proud) is 7-0 as of tonight!!!

It has even brought the pets closer:

(this is not normal)

We walked in during halftime and these two rugrats were snuggled under the tree!

This is just about the cutest thing.

I think they may suspect that they will be separated next month. Alley(cat) will be heading to Durham with me.

I have received the rest of my textbooks and now I am just waiting on software that we will be using on our iphones(or other PDA devices).

My couches, living room table, and mattress have been ordered. They will be waiting for us when we arrive in Durham.

My headboard arrived here today. The shipping was unpredictable so we decided to go ahead and have it shipped here. It will fit in the relo-cube we will have shipped to Durham on December 28th.

It turns out the Ashley's in NC does not carry the kitchen table I want and I don't have one that I like picked out yet.

I have ordered so much online that it is almost like Christmas everyday. You never know what will come each day.

I have also taken advantage of a free month of Netflix. I'm trying it out so I can save money on cable (premium channels). So far, I like it!

I've been able to spend time with friends these past couple of days and I have loved it. Each phase of life is so different. I remember the days of high school when it was just expected that all of us would get together each weekend. After each football game/band contest, we would spend the night at someone's house and spend the next day together. We were always together. Someone was always around. Then came college. Some moved, some stayed. We were all more independent and had our own lives to focus on (college).

Now, it is a longer and longer period in between seeing each of my precious friends....and I'm okay with that.

A true friend is someone who will stick by you. You don't have to constantly be around them to know they are there with you in spirit. A true friend is someone you can go days/months without seeing and when you see each other...you go right back to where you last saw each other.

I'm going to miss each one of them all in different ways while I am gone.

Look at me on the brink of being sappy.

That's as much sap you will get tonight.

Goodnight

Textbooks

The list of textbooks was emailed out to me and my peers a couple of days ago.

I decided to go the Amazon route because it is MUCH cheaper.

I spent around $360 on $630 worth of textbooks.

I recall hearing about people purchasing books this way back in my early days of college and brushed it off. I thought it would be too complicated to do.

Turns out....I was wrong.

I used Amazon for my prereqs this past summer and saved a bit then too.

I'm glad I've figured out the "hard"/cheaper way of doing things.

"Hard" =a little more work...not very hard at all.

Spending an hour on Amazon picking out my books was worth the $270 I saved.

I placed the order 2 days ago.

I received my first package, of 4 books, today.

I've used Amazon so much, I got a free month trial of a prime membership. On select items-I receive free 2-day shipping!

The textbooks I've received so far:

The Pathophysiology Book is the largest textbook I have had to date.

I'm more used to the size of the book on top (Patho is on the bottom).

It is going to be a crazy ride!

Furniture

The past 2 weeks has been a storm of browsing/shopping.

It's to the point that it isn't fun; it is annoying.

I have 2 days to get my townhouse in a somewhat "working" manner before school begins.

We get the keys at 10 AM on Jan 8th...and that is the same day the furniture would be delivered.

They cannot guarantee that it will be delivered after 10AM...and thus starts a snowball of how badly the day could turnout.

Do we give it a go and chance it?

We may end up having the furniture delivered to us at 8 AM...and then we would have to drag all the stuff in on our own...once we had the keys at 10AM.

We need to buy a TV...and have the cable/internet installed.

Things just get complicated when you are trying to cram everything in...in two days =/

I just need to tell myself to breath and not get frustrated ...even if everything doesn't go the way I had planned.

As long as I have a mattress, I should be okay.

Right?

We've spent days browsing the internet and this is what I have chosen so far:

I have found out I'm pretty picky with couches.

I have a sensitive tailbone, so I need a very cushiony couch.

I sat on this thing and fell in love

Right now I am leaning towards this for a coffee table

and this for the kitchen

As for the bedroom...I'm going white!

The first time I ever saw Mad Men (in the very first episode), I noticed that horrid headboard the Drapers have.

The color was all wrong and I asked my Mom why anyone would ever buy that thing. She told me it was the style back then.

I never thought in a million years I would fall in love with this headboard:

I love it!

media chest:

and nightstand:

That is what I have so far.

Furniture is about to go on sale (Black Friday), so I need to choose stuff by tomorrow! eek

scary/exciting

Road Trip Vids!

All Float On

After several days of detoxing (from fast food and constant driving), I am feeling back to normal!

All in all, it was a great trip.

I wouldn't say we have changed into a "road trip" kind of family, but we discovered new things.

We will always have the crazy stories to tell that I chalk up as "experience".

Example #1:

The man who decided to turn the room next to ours into a brothel at 4:30 AM in Atlanta, GA. We phoned the front desk (at a whisper so the crazy man next door couldn't hear us) and they told us they would take care of the problem. My Mom and I were both waiting for the guy to bust down our door and shoot us to death; no joke! He had at least 3 women in his room and the beds kept banging up against our wall. Ew.

Example #2:

The woman who decided it was an awesome idea to walk down to the lobby barefoot to go smoke outside. Once she came back in, she realized there was an ashtray and says, "Oh, I could have smoked in here." You know, right where our breakfast was being served...in the entryway/kitchen.

I would say you get what you pay for, but we paid almost the same price for every hotel across the board.

Some hotels need to bring up their standards.

Moving on

I started looking at furniture today...and let me tell you...I felt overwhelmed with everything. I'm over here trying to focus on a couch and my mom is trying to pull me over there to look at beds...and then kitchen tables..etc...

my goodness

We are also trying to decide Uhaul vs. Pods.

I'm pretty sure a Uhaul is going to be a LOT cheaper, but my Dad is worried about pulling a trailer behind the car...in the middle of winter.

I feel all scrambled about and there is so little time.

My dog and I butted heads today.

The top of her skull made contact with the upper ridge of my right eye socket. It was so painful, all I could do was yell and feel my eye tear up. Whenever I'm really hurt, I don't cry. It's weird. I cry more when it doesn't physically hurt. I put ice on it immediately, but it started swelling within minutes.

I was already bummed that I had to go to jury duty on Monday. I figure I look so young that I'll never get picked. Add a shiner onto that...this might just help me get out of there before 9:00 AM.

I'm just now uploading my last video from the trip. I'll post all the vids once it is up!

Day 9 of Road Tripping

It rained for most of this morning's drive, but once we made it to Chimney Rock...the rain let up and the sun shined!

the views of Lake Lure were incredible

We decided to take the 45 minute hike to Hickory Nut Falls:

the leaves were perfect!

wonderful reds

my parents at the base of the falls

Visiting my Future Alma Mater

Well...

Stupid me waiting up to register last night at midnight...without knowing registration did not open until 7 AM. I set my alarm and awoke 6 hours after I went to sleep. I did get all the sections I wanted and I'm happy.

This trip's mission was a success.

Score a place to live....check

Register for classes....check.

This morning we went to The Duck Shop to buy memorabilia.

Dad got 4 shirts, I picked up a sweatshirt for my friend Chelsie, and got myself another sweatshirt and some shorts.

Oh, and we got Alley (my cat) a little Duke shirt...it's meant for little dogs...but I'm sure it will fit her.

After that, we walked around the campus and I felt out of place.

Everyone had somewhere to go and fit right in...but, they were students...so that makes sense.

After we went in the nursing building, we made our way back towards the chapel and ran into this cutie pie:

We saw this cute puppy roaming around on the lawn and were drawn to her immediately!

The lady holding her (the owner) is Claire Conceison. She is a theater professor at the University. She was just as friendly as her dog and we struck up a conversation (along with the young man in the back of the photo who PS: turns out to be a basketball player). I have never felt so welcomed on a campus. That feeling of not belonging just minutes earlier went away.

This will be a moment I know I will remember for years. She told me I could stop by her office anytime to visit her (or her dog).

Tomorrow we head towards Asheville. We have a stop along the way at Chimney Rock. Hopefully the rain will stop and allow us to see it's beauty.

Road Trip Day 7

I am currently snuggled under a blanket in a Comfort Inn some 7 miles away from my future Alma Mater.

It is almost midnight and I am patiently waiting.

At the stroke of midnight it will be November 3rd...the day I register for my first semester in nursing school at Duke University.

Why do I want to register early?

Because I don't want to be stuck on campus from 5-7 pm every Thursday evening for 4 months.

I will be taking Statistics online, thank you.

We did secure a place for me to live today.

I AM IN LOVE!

I got the place I wanted with the most perfect location.

It sits right up to the woods and I have an end unit. Total seclusion in a fall fairytale.

Things could not have gone smoother....except when my Mom accidentally kicked my shoe out of the car without knowing. We had to double back and found it sitting in the parking lot where it was left all alone.

The trip has been great so far.

We ended up staying 3 nights on Kiawah Island and the weather was great. The highs were around 80...perfect!

Now that we are a bit north, a cold front came in and it is pretty cold up here in Durham.

There is a chance of snow on Friday and Saturday in Asheville. Maybe we will see some?

I have managed to wear a scarf and a bathing suit on the same day during this trip...pretty crazy.

I'll post some more updates when I can.

Road Trip Day 1 TX LA MS

First Stop: LA

We ate a Buffet Lunch!

We gambled a bit at the Horseshoe Casino

Shopped at the Boardwalk along the Red River

In front of Bass Pro Shop

There was a Sonic inside!

Next Stop: Vicksburg, MS

In front of our Hotel's (Ameristar) Casino

Sunset over the Mississippi River