Pics of the New House

The inside of the new house anyway. I am kind of wary of putting a full-frontal picture of my house on the internet, but here is my new street.

Here is our master bedroom. The whole unpstairs of the house is a master suite, which we love. We are a bit confused about how to decorate this room. Do you paint the whole room one color? Do you paint the ceiling white? Where does the ceiling start? Oh, and this is not our furniture. We are currently renting the house to the sellers since they haven't found a house.

This is my favorite room in the house. The Den. It's so cozy and it's at the back of the house. I love the red walls with their grey couch.

This picture is of another of my favorite features of the house. The arched doorways in the living room.

This is another of my favorite things in the house. The huge kitchen sink. I could bathe Nick in there if we did such things. I hope they take the mirror though, it makes me think of people brushing their teeth in the kitchen sink. I don't really like how the cabinets and counters look, but we can live with those after we repaint the kitchen.


The sellers move out on the 9th so we can get in on the 10th. We want to paint before we move in, but we don't have any idea of what colors we will use. We also might consider refinishing the floors if they need it, as well as any other repairs that are necessary.

Weekend Festivities

Richmond is really hopping this weekend. The greek festival runs until Sunday, but the office went today for lunch. There is a Beer, Bourbon and BBQ fetsival at RIR on Saturday and CountryFest at RIR on Sunday. Dierks Bentley and Sugarland will be there. Not to mention Gwar will be playing at The National tonight and The Indigo Girls will be there tomorow night. Not that I'm a Gwar fan, but I heard that the sister to one of the band members is a chef at Avalon, a tapas style restaurant that I really like. So, there is plenty to choose from this weekend. What will Nick and I do? We will be packing for the move.

Mmmmm! Falafel Burger

Ok, I admit that it has been a long time since I ate meat, but I could swear that the yummy falafel burger I just ate had a crunch just like a fried chicken sandwich.

Keep on Movin'

Nick and I are buying moving boxes this weekend. I know it's weird but I am excited. This is the first time we've packed for a move since we left Columbia, so I am excited to go through all of our stuff again. It's easier to not take it with you than it is to get rid of it once you get there. I realize that I have probably not moved as much as kids who grow up in the military and I always stayed in the same schools, but this is still ridic.

This will be my 15th move. And I have never lived in a dorm or gone away to college so I'm not counting that.

This will be my 7th move with Nick.

This will be my 3rd residence in Virginia. We moved here in Oct. 2006.

This is the 4th state in 3 years that we have lived in.

This will be our 2nd house purchase.

I have lived in 5 apartments in my lifetime and 10 houses, of the houses, only 5 have been owned by me or my family.

Road Trip Advice?

Nick and I are tossing around the idea of a northeastern roadtrip this summer. Does anyone have any tips on good road trip planning websites?

Camping

I have had the camping bug bad lately. I think I want to purchase a pop-up camper at some point to make camping easier and a little more comfortable. I love unspoiled nature, but I also appreciate running water, cold beer and hamburgers (or black bean burgers). If we ever get one I want to make this campground one of my first stops. The reason for needing the pop-up first is due to my distrust of vault toilets. But the campground sounds nice and pretty and quiet.

Here is one I might try now. I like that the campground is near a trout stream and some sites are along the stream. We'll have to bring our screen tent for dinner without bugs.

One Hell of a Ride

If you love Willie, do yourself a favor and buy his new box set, or just buy it on itunes, One Hell of a Ride. It is amazing. I love the covers he does as well as early recordings of his songs.

One More Thing Today

I am having a young life crisis.

Songs I Have Totally Been Digging Lately

"Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl Jam
"Ripple" by Grateful Dead
"When I've Sung My Last Hillbilly Song" by Willie Nelson
"Graceland" by Willie Nelson
"Last Request" by Paolo Nutini
"School Spirit" by Kanye West

Have You Been in a Parking Garage Lately?

What's with everybody thinking that they have a compact car these days? I know that just because you managed to squeez your truck into the compact car spot that you think it fits. In reality, I still have to find a way to maneuver my compact car around the already impossibly tight turns in the parking garage and your dually is in the way.

Anniversary Trip 2008

Last year Nick and I had a very nice, uneventful anniversary trip. This year, it was very nice, but somewhat eventful.

• Thursday, May 15, 2008. 3:00 PM- Julie arrives home early to pack for vacation. Finds 6 week old kitten with badly infected eye outside of apartment.


• 3:30 PM- Trapped the kitten despite not really wanting to touch it and chasing it all over in my dress and work shoes.


• 3:45 PM- On my way to animal shelter, using my printed mapquest directions, I pass Nick on his way home with his happy GPS tucked into his console, not even being used.


• 3:55 PM- Can't find shelter. Text Nick "GPS."


• 4:00 PM- Find shelter. Drop of Kitten. Told by staff they will try to find it a home.


• 4:15 PM- Lost again. Stupid one way streets and "No Left Turn." Still cursing Nick and his unused GPS.


• 4:30 PM- Finally get home and start packing.


• 6:00 PM- Melissa calls back to tell me I can come use her hose to clean my cat carrier. Little guy was gross.


• 6:15 PM- Get on road. Don't have time to clean cat carrier. Go to Total Wine and get gas for trip.


• 6:45 PM- Pass a family standing outside of a completely burnt van, looking very sad, tired, and charred. Wonder what happened, but the pro's are on the scene.


• 8:30 PM- Reach Shenandoah National Park. No one is working the gates. There is a sign that says to pay when you leave. We feel guilty since we have a pass and aren't going to stop to show it when we leave.


• 9:00 PM- Start going through patches of cloud. Can't see anything.


• 9:30 PM- 10 miles later. Reach hotel room. Thankful we are in one piece.


• 10:30 PM- asleep


• 1:30 AM- Wake up to Daisy eating her food.


• 1:31 AM- Realize Daisy is on the bed with me.


• 1:32 AM- Start "bowing" Nick to get him up. I have lethal elbows.


• 1:33 AM- We have this conversation:

Nick: "What?"

Julie: "Something is eating Daisy's food and I don't think it's Daisy."

Nick (the eternal sceptic): "Why?"

Julie: "Daisy is right here."

Nick: "OK"

Julie: Either he doesn't believe me or he's sleepy. I wait for the noise again. Once we hear it I say, "See."

• 1:37 AM- Nick finally believes something is eating Daisy's food, so we turn on the light and wait. Sure enough, the mouse finally comes out and eats some more food and takes a drink from Daisy's water bowl. Daisy is shaking and barking/whining/growling.


• 1:40 AM- Nick is up out of bed with a trashcan in hand and the balcony door propped open.


• 1:41 AM- Nick is giving me the evil eye. He thinks I had something to do with the mouse. It's true, I can conjure up animals to interrupt his precious sleep when I know they will bother him the most.


• 2:00 AM- Mouse finally gets chased out of our room, by the brave, heroic Nick and scurries off across our balcony.


• 2:03 AM- We get back in bed. Daisy does some pacing to make sure the mouse is gone.


• 2:05 AM- We are trying to get back to sleep. I have my leg pressed against Nick. He asks if I can move over a little. I do and he stays where he is, so mad about my mouse-hearing abilities that he can't stand to touch me. This makes me laugh.


• 2:07 AM- Nick is asleep.


• 3:00 AM- Julie is awake


• 4:00 AM- Julie is still awake. Stupid mouse. All I can think about is how I don't want it to get into my goldfish crackers. I bought a bigger box than usual.


• 8:00 AM- We wake up. I must have finally fallen asleep. Nick admits that he was irrationally blaming me for a) the existence of mice, b) that there was a mouse in our room, and c) that I heard the mouse and woke him up for it. I argued that I didn't know that what was eating Daisy's food was actually a mouse and shouldn't I wake up my husband for things like that? Anyway, I knew he was mad at me for the mouse. Plus, it was nice to see him succumb to irrationality, even if it was from tiredness.

We made it through the rest of the weekend with minor incidents and mouse citings. The fog finally lifted so we could see the valley. We went on some great hikes. If you are in Shenandoah near the central region, Lewis Falls is an awesome 3.3 mile circuit hike with some scrambling and a stream crossing. The stream is actually the waterfall and after you cross it you get to an overlook for the falls. You return on the AT, which is relatively easy.

On Saturday night, our last night, the mouse paid a visit to Nick while we were watching TV. He got on the bedside table right next to Nick's head to try to steal Nick's cookie. This really upset Nick since he loves cookies. So he chased the little guy all over. The pic is where he hid after we pulled out the bedside table. We asked for another room, but they didn't have one. They did come put a mouse detering plug-in in our room and Nick finished his cookie in one huge bite. Turns out mouse deterrers only work in theory. We still heard the thing running around all night. Daisy would pace for about an hour, hunting mice, and come to bed for an hour. She is no mouser. We finally got up at 5AM and checked out. We figured we could still get home early enough to take a nap. It was a beautiful drive home with very little traffic, save the house they had to move across the street we were on, so we did get stopped for a while, but we got to see a house move. We made it home safely and managed to get some more sleep before Nick called his family to find out that his Great Aunt Mary had passed away. So, a lot of happenenings. I've been putting off returning my phone calls from the weekend cause I need an uneventful day.

This Guy Makes Me Smile!

He just seems so content. Can't you see it in his face?

Happy 4th Anniversary, Nick!

Old Pics

I found some pics of our move to Dallas in 2005. We look so young. I want to tell us how hard it will be and how much we will change in the next few years. I have no idea what I was expecting from the move at that point, but I was uncharacteristically optimistic. Here is a pic of some unhappy, drugged up, collar-wearing cats in a hotel room. They sobered up long enough to realize that the cat carriers brought them in, so the cat carriers would take them out.

Happy (late) Birthday Megan!!! Wish we could celebrate together.

I've Almost Made it

Today is the last day of finals. I think my last paper is finished. I just have to listen to 4 presentations tonight and then take my last final and I'm finished until August. Nick and I close on our house tomorrow. The sellers still haven't found a house and we are letting them stay until next month. Then on Saturday morning Nick and I are off to the best beer festival in the world. Ok, there are probably better ones, like, I don't know, Oktoberfest, but anyway. This is the best beer festival that I have ever had the privilege of living near.
The picture is our view from the festival from last year. The festival takes place at an old plantation in the foothills of the Virginia Mountains. The town is an old Main St. town with antique stores and a candy shop and Nick and I found a decent hotel not far from the festival which allows dogs. Your ticket buys you a 6 oz. glass and 10 beer tickets and you go around to beer tents and stand in line to sample the more obscure beers made by your pretty normal beer makers. It's fun. Plus, the area is bucolic and peaceful. Last year, we met a very drunk, sunburned, shirt less guy who tried to convince Nick that I wouldn't mind if he wanted to check out the other ladies at the festival, he said it was good for guys to "shop around" and that I would understand. Then he told Nick that he would actually like to "shop around" with me. We tried to tell him we were on our anniversary trip, but the alcohol was affecting his hearing and he kept asking us for cigarettes. Wonder who we'll meet this year.