On the road

No, this isn't about the Jack Kerouac book but it is about our crazy cross country traveling adventure. I swear I have been trying to blog... dreaming about blogging really and I've had absolutely no chance to. So many trips have happened and I really wanted to document them in detail but it looks like I'm going to have to play catch up instead. I will be posting about Jamaica and the second leg of our tour/trip in separate posts but here is what has happened since California:

I know I have pictures but they are on my other phone/camera and I'm currently in South Carolina without them. In order to catch you up on what happened driving through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana I will mostly write... 

Arizona was easy - nothing of note happened and the only regret we have is not stopping to take a picture with one of the GIGANTIC cactus's. Oh wells. 

New Mexico was great because we got to have lunch one of my friends from college that I have not seen in over 5 years! We did manage to take one picture together in the snow (IT WAS SNOWING IN NM WTF) and we got to meet her husband! They just got married earlier this year -- congrats again you guys and it was SO GOOD getting to catch up Jenny! 

After lunch we made our way through El Paso, TX and all hell broke loose. Apparently, there was an ice storm in West Texas the night before and the temperature was still below freezing by the time we got there - then the Sun set and things just got worse. It wasn't snowing but there was ice all over the roads and people were wrecking all over the place. We were 150 miles from Fort Stockton (where we had booked a hotel for the night) and there is absolutely NO WHERE to pull over or stop on that stretch of I-10. I have never been so stressed out and scared in my life while driving. Traffic slowed to a mere 19 miles an hour and I witnessed two cars speed past us and then spin out of control and wreck. Thankfully my prayers were working and none of them hit us and caused us to wreck. Chad was driving his car behind me and we were talking constantly on our walkie-talkies but they eventually died. It was stressful. It added 4 extra hours onto our driving that day. It was horrible and when we finally got to our hotel we both got out of the car and just hugged and kissed each other and thanked God for getting us to our hotel safely. I'm so glad I booked our hotel a few days prior to this because every single room in town was FULL by the time we got there. We saw several people that had to go to local churches and schools for the night or even sleep in their cars - it was just awful but thankfully everything turned out fine for us. 

The next day we woke up and started the drive to Austin, TX. I'm going to post about Austin in a separate post since we stayed there 2 days but one fun thing that happened was getting to meet a long time blog friend Cely from RunningofftheReeses! I can't tell you how many times her blog has made me LOL and she is just as funny in real life. It was so good meeting you Cely!  

We stayed in a Austin 2 days and then we left to head to Lafayette, LA for one of Chads shows. We were SO CLOSE to Mississippi I was a little pissy we just couldn't go ahead and GET THERE ALREADY but we had to stop due to his show commitments and I spent the night feeling like crap in the worst hotel ever. Never stay at the Red Roof Inn there - It was just gross and to give you an example of WHY it was gross; as soon as, Olive ran in the room she went under the bed and came back out with a CONDOM WRAPPER in her mouth. Thank God it wasn't the condom but EWW! After that I checked all the sheets and pillows for anything else weird and after all was good I laid down to watch TV and then finally I fell asleep. Chad had his show and then got back late and the next day we got back to Mississippi! The final count was 3,600 MILES driven! It was a long 11 days and we were so happy to be back home. We got back into town and immediately drove to our new rent house and signed on the dotted line making it ours! We move in February 1st and our stuff should be delivered around that same time. It still keeps blowing me away how everything is lining up perfectly and I am just SO THANKFUL for that! 

The next few days were spent with family and Chad had a few gigs and then on January 10th we took my nephew Matthew to his first Comic Con in New Orleans! (what's another 300 miles driving...) It was a blast and deserves it's on post but here is what we looked like: 

We pulled out our Bomberman outfits from Halloween and Matthew was some Anime character that I still can't remember the name of... oops. #badaunt We ARE those people that dress up... I mean that's like 90% of the reason I love going! After that we headed to Jackson to spend some time with my family and I got to meet another one of my long time blog friends Cassie from Always a Blogsmaid. 

My beautiful Gran and I at our FAVORITE catfish house... it's a tradition we share and was one of the first things she wanted to do once we got back in town. Things like this are why I'm so happy we moved back... it's these little moments and memories that I've missed and I'm so happy to be able to spend time with all my family and friends whenever I want to again. I do miss you already Seattle but Mississippi is just HOME.

One night I was in town I met up with Cassie and we went to a yoga class together and then to Babalus for dinner! It was SO MUCH FUN. I can't believe I'm that friend now that everyone wants to go to workout classes with. My old self would have just wanted to do dinner and eat all the carbs I could find but now I get so excited to workout with my friends. Cassie and I grew up in neighboring towns and have always known about each other but I don't think we've ever officially met. Then I moved away and discovered she had a blog and then we fell in blog love and blogged happily ever after. #truestory She's fantastic and I can't wait to get to hang out more now that we are in the same area again! 

Once I got home I told my Mom and Gran all about my yoga class and they made me show them the moves while my Mom copied me and decided that she could do yoga too. I love it - my Mother and I have so much in common and I hope she was serious about wanting to go to class with me one day! I used to do yoga a lot before I started kickboxing and I've always missed it. I'm pumped to get back into the yoga grove again. 

#camelpose

Later that week we did some work at a few coffee shops because my Gran has no internet and our cell phone data plans are already tapped out for the month. It's been pretty amazing not having to go to work and instead work along side of my main squeeze. He goes and gets me water and does everything I tell him too #bestassistantever JUST KIDDING. He's been working his ass off booking gigs while we are starting our business and I'm just so proud of him. 

After a few days in Jackson it was time to take a vacation... off to JAMAICA we went! 

More to come on that in the next post...  

ByeBye Mississippi.

I'm not going to keep you guys waiting any longer and from the title of this blog post I think you can guess what our Big announcement is! No, I'm not preggo like tons of people were thinking (guess I'm looking extra large lately) This is something that we have been wanting to do for the last 4 years and after planning, saving, and making sure that all our eggs were in a row it is Done and the apartment is rented! We are moving out of Mississippi into the great unknown 2,700 miles away...

to the beautiful city of Seattle, Washington!

Right after we got the Stamp of approval from our new apartment complex!

The main reason for this gigantic move is for Chad's music (CHECK HIM OUT HERE AND LIKE HIS PAGE ON FACEBOOK) and the second reason is for adventure. We both want something new and exciting in our lives and I want him to chase his dreams. He really is a fantastic musician and a wonderful person (I told him he may need to stop being so wonderful because most people that make it in music aren't always so nice) and if anyone deserves their dreams to come true it is him. When we were getting our marriage counseling by our preacher he asked us a question about how we knew we were supposed to be with each other. I immediately knew my answer and I still feel the exact same way and I think I will forever... I really believe that God put me on the planet to find Chad, to love him, and to support him completely. He has a wonderful network of family in friends but honestly the support was lacking. You see a small town musician and think he is good and go to a few shows and buy some CD's but the bigger picture is that he has that drive and that talent to go further in life. In my opinion he has just simply outgrew Mississippi. I want him to go for it in life; to never look back and wonder "What if I would have gone for it?" This is his go for it moment, our time to start our lives together, and his time to shine like I know he will. Every second since I met him I felt like God was pushing me in the right direction and that I was doing exactly what I was supposed to do. I'm not sure what success or failures are waiting for us out there but we are going to face it head on and together.  (forever & always)

A beautiful little park in our new city of Kirkland, WA

There are so many emotions running around right now and Chad is basically doing cartwheels in the living room as I type. We secured the apartment on Tuesday and I booked our movers on Friday. We turned in our notices to our jobs, (HIS is the one that held me up on letting out this massive news until this morning!) let our landlord know we are leaving, and let both of our families know the date we are leaving Laurel, MS: October 6th 2011. (Happy birthday Marley! She is very pissed at me that we are leaving on her birthday lol) On the 6th we will head up to Jackson, MS to spend the next 3-4 days with my family and friends. Chad is also busy booking up his last Mississippi shows that some of you have been questioning us about what the "Last show" means, now you know. I think the last one is going to be in Clinton, MS October 7th so I expect to see everyone there and bring money to get your Tshirts and Cds (We are both jobless now! Yay!)

This blog is going to be really fun for the next little while. I plan on detailing our move, our road trip across the country, and our ups & downs of finding our way around a new city with limited friends (BUT WE DO HAVE SOME GOOD ONES WAITING UP THERE FOR US!) This is the life I've always wanted and it is scary as all get out to leave everything you have known behind, but that's what Change is for and how dreams are accomplished.

If you live in Seattle or around the area and read my blog let me know! I need new friends and your advice on conquering a new city.

Now, enjoy some random pictures from our trip:

Apartment searching day 1!

He did so good driving a rental car for the first time!

Our sign that we should live in Kirkland, WA in our Kent hotel room haha

Just doing a little shopping a few miles away from our New apartment!

We are actually doing it!

Flying back to Mississippi excited about what we just did.

I can't wait to blog more about this, any questions you have for me let me know and I'll try to answer as best I can. I'm so excited I could just burst!