The Last Night In Your House Before You Move Across Country

The last night in your house before you move across country...

You will realize you've packed TOO many things that you actually needed

Such as plastic bags to store shampoo and such in

And all of your dogs leashes, harnesses, and collars

And the most important...a wine opener.

The last night in your house before you move across country...

You will shampoo the carpets in the master bedroom

And every time you have to sneak back in there to get clothes or use the bathroom, you'll leave soaking wet footprints all over the hallway laminate

And your house will smell like musty, wet carpet all night

The last night in your house before you move across country...

You will eat pizza in bed in your pjs

And drink wine out of plastic cups

The last night in your house before you move across country...

You will watch your husband try to open a fancy bottle of wine you've been saving for the night with a screwdriver

Which doesn't work

The last night in your house before you move across country...

You will have loaded your only car into the trailer

So you can't drive anywhere for items you're missing or have mistakenly packed

So your faithful husband will eventually walk to the mini mart for a wine opener

(He's the best)

The last night in your house before you move across country...

Friends and family will stop by to say goodbye

Which you should have prepared for

But won't have

So you'll be in pjs with wet hair and may or may not look like a hobo

The last night in your house before you move across country...

You will be excited

And scared

And sad

And EXCITED

Liebster Awards

I ended up getting nominated for the Liebster Award twice this week...how fun is that? So I figured I'd go ahead and combine the two so you guys don't have to read 22 facts about me and you know...be bored to tears. In case you haven't heard of the Liebster Award, it's a blogging award passed around for smaller blogs like mine with less than 200 followers. Here are the rules:

1. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, and then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
3. Choose 11 new bloggers(with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post.
4. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
5. No tag backs


11 Random Facts about Me:
1) I am obsessed with Broadway musicals and spend most of my alone time in our house singing obnoxiously loud songs from Phantom, Les Mis, Cats, or anything from that show Smash.
2) My husband and I became friends my last year of highschool and there were two Mikes in that group and I always referred to him as "the mean Mike." This super freaked out my mom when we started dating 8 years later...you mean the mean guy?
3) I can type really fast. And I actually enjoy typing. I think it's because my parents made my sister and I take these typing tests on our computer at home when we were young and they included some kind of spaceship that would blow up sentences with mistakes. It was fun for us nerds.
4) I Google everything. I don't understand how anyone ever doesn't know something. Fricking Google it! I have almost yelled that at numerous clients.
5) I'm really bad at doing my makeup so I do the exact same eye makeup every single day.
6) I hate my hair no matter the length, cut, color, anything.
7) I would rather eat cheese than anything else in the world.
8) I talk about poo more than anyone ever should. And I find it hilarious.
9) I can puff my lips out like a horse and for some reason it really makes people laugh.
10) I didn't have my first kiss until I was 17.
11) I'm the easiest drunk ever. As in I get drunk easily, not the other meaning for that word. Hmmm I should re-word this...

Melissa's Questions for Me:
1. Where did you grow up? Ridgecrest, CA a tiny little town in the Mojave desert
2. If you could live anywhere where would it be? London. Even though it would probably be super stressful and loud and expensive, but oh I love it.
3. What is on your DVR at all times? Fringe, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, and my guilty pleasure the Real Housewives shows.
4. What are two things on your bucket list? Go to Australia and get a job I don't hate.
5. Where can you usually be found doing on the weekends? Hiking, watching movies, or drinking wine with my husband.
6. What's your favorite hobby? Reading and writing.
7. Are you guilty of watching reality shows? Which ones? Real Housewives! My husband HATES it. But seriously, they make me feel better for not being rich and thin because those bitches are crazy.
8. What is your favorite holiday and why? I love Christmas. I just love everything about it, the decorations, the music, the festivities, the presents (duh).
9. Do you have a favorite quote that is meaningful to you?
10. What is your favorite thing about blogging? Getting my thoughts out in the open rather than holding them in and connecting with people I would have never met otherwise.
11. Do you have a beauty product you cannot live without? I double layer my Cover Girl mascara. One layer not waterproof, then a layer of waterproof. It's the only mascara that has ever worked for me.

Ellissa's questions for me:
1. If you could be any character from the Scooby Doo gang who would you be? Scooby. Because he's a dog and all they do is sleep, eat, and poop. Also, I enjoy his voice.
2. What is your stress relief? Wine. Is that a bad answer? Also, Pinterest.
3. What's your favorite movie? I love so many, but Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Closer are pretty high up there.
4. If you could be any food what would you be? Cheeeeeese!
5. Where do you get your news from? Twitter...is that bad?! I follow all the news outlets on there and click on the headlines that interest me. The news is depressing, I have a hard time wanting to read it.
6. What nail polish color best represents your personality? Bright yellow.
7. Who is your biggest blog inspiration? Nat The Fat Rat
8. Describe your blog in one sentence. Nonsense.
9. What's your favorite non-domesticated (i.e. not a cat or dog) animal? I find sea lions adorable even though in reality they would probably bite my face off. But they're so fat and noisy, I want to rub their bellies.
10. If you could only visit one place, where would you go? London again or if it's somewhere I've never been, Australia.
11. What's your favorite season and why? Winter. I love bundling up in sweaters and fluffy socks and sitting in front of a fire. It's the most romantic season to me.

My questions for my nominees:
1) What has been the best meal of your life so far?
2) What book could you read over and over?
3) What is your favorite go-to piece of clothing?
4) What is the first car you had?
5) How did you start blogging?
6) What is the first blog you ever read?
7) What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you at work?
8) What is your favorite blog post from your own blog and why?
9) Who inspires you the most in your life right now?
10) What is your favorite thing about yourself?
11) What is your most annoying habit?

And my nominees are:

Jessica at Over Thinking

Courtney at Chase All Your Dreams

Beth at Dreams In A Poppy Field

Emily at Dirt Bikes & Diamonds

Amelia at The Homebook

Have fun and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

val

Yesterday

Gizmo barfed 8 times.

I had to actually physically carry dirty things.
Which is not cool.

I was awoken by my husband telling me we couldn't move in the day I'd planned so we had to change all our hotel reservations.

I had a beer at noon.

I threw a bag of chicken on the floor of a grocery store because Mike was being mean to me.

These things were said:

"It's dirty and scary in here and I hate it."

"I basically just shit in your mouth."
"That car thinks you're a dick."
"This rice is going to make him iller."  "No, he's already the illest."

Then Mike made fun of me for not having a car.

(Sorry for all the cursing)

Dear Mitsi

Today, I sold my car.

My little mitsi the Mitsubishi.

She was the first real thing I bought by myself.

(And by myself means my dad cosigned and paid a couple payments when I was unemployed for a while there)

I have had her for over 10 years.
We lived in Bakersfield together.
Moved to Texas, New Jersey, Chico, and Ridgecrest.
She has been hit in several parking lots, rear ended in LA traffic, ticketed in Virginia and New Jersey.
She has got a few busted parts.
But she's kept trucking and looking fabulous this whole time.
I still remember the day I paid her off and how adult and awesome that made me feel.
I'm glad she doesn't have to drive across the country for the third time for our big trip.
And that she doesn't have to try to weather East Coast winters.
But I literally teared up after she left today.
Bye bye little mitsi.
(Sorry about spilling in you all the time)

Scenes From The Move

These make me really sad but also excited.

My emotions are super confused with this big move.

MIA

I haven't been around the blog much lately.

I've been working late, packing, booking hotels, stressing out, and you know trying not to burst into tears or scream at my husband every minute of the day.

We move in 10 days.

That has not yet sunk in.

It's too fast.

There's too much to do.

I'm going to be unemployed in 7 days.

Again.

Looking for a job.

Short on money.

Stressed out.

And probably chubby.

(I haven't gone to the gym in weeks guys, not cute)

So yeah, stuff here is not really blog worthy.

Fun fact though dear readers:  Did you know that a 14ft Uhaul to drive across country costs 3,600 dollars?

And there are no pet friendly hotels in the town of Weatherford, Oklahoma?

And that you should have finished all your past due work BEFORE the new girl you have to train showed up because you will not have time again afterwards?

And no matter how much you like to talk (like me) training someone all day makes your throat hurt?

And finally, moving across the country is stressful!

I'll stop whining soon.

Here is a picture of my dog without a stress in the world to cheer us up.

Moving Update

So now that we've broken the news to our moms and my boss, I can finally write about our moving plans on here.

Last Thursday, while on travel to PAX (our new home) Mike called and dropped the bomb on me that our moving date was being moved up to not after Christmas like we'd hoped but to 3 weeks from now.

My response (while standing in the kitchen of my work) was HOLY SHIT.

That is soon.

We have to pack and move across the country and get a place to live and make plans and tell our families and tell our bosses.

Shit shit shit.

But also YAY!

We get to start our new adventure soon...it's actually happening.

It was a very confusing phone conversation.

That day, Mike found us an apartment, signed on the dotted line, and we were officially required to be in Maryland by November 29th.

Our apartment is amazeballs and if anyone (that I actually know) wants to know the details, just e-mail me.

I figure I shouldn't put online where we'll be living.

You know, murderers and whatnot.

Then I had to tell my bosses that my last work day would be November 21st.

Less than two weeks from the day I'd be telling them on.

They were not pleased.

We won't talk about that here, but it was a bad day.

A sobbing in my car outside of work kind of day.

Then we had to tell the moms.

That we were leaving early.

That we wouldn't be home for Christmas.

That I wouldn't be staying behind waiting to find a job.

(Seriously, how bad of an idea was that?  Like I could really live across the country from my husband for months.)

We were scared.

So we invited them over for dinner and wooed them with Julia's French Onion Soup, a tasty salad, and some wine.

And they were of course awesome about it and my mom promised not to cry until moving day.

All in all, a win.

Now we have 18 days to pack up our whole house, get a truck, put down a deposit on the apartment, wrap up everything at work, pick a course for the cross-country trek including making reservations at hotels along the way that allow dogs, deliver all the items we have sold to various people (goodbye couches and car) get the house ready for our renters to move in, change our address with every bill and organization, re-write our home as a rental dwelling, get renters insurance, and you know drive across the country and move into a new home by November 29th in time for Mike to start work on December 3rd.

I need a cocktail.

So, I may be a little MIA for a while, but trust me, I will take plenty of obnoxious pictures of us packing and moving and our new place once we get there.

Don't you worry.

Here's to the big adventure and big move!

My Boyfriend's Jeans

I am admittedly super late to the boyfriend jean trend.

But these things are so darn schlumpy and comfortable, I don't care.

I have no funny story that goes with this outfit.

I got buzzed at lunch.

So yeah, I feel pretty good while I'm typing this.

I may go nap, sky is the limit!

(I said sky is the limit because I don't know how you spell sky's the limit, skies the limit and I'm too lazy to google it.)

Sweater:  Banana Republic Outlet

Jeans:  Gap

Shoes:  Bamboo via Amazon

Earrings:  Premier

High Five For Friday

My husband was gone all week.

(He's back now so don't try to come murder or rape me)

(I'm very paranoid about being murdered and raped when I'm home alone)

(I watch too much Dexter)

So I didn't really do anything all week except work late, make dinner, clean the house, and take care of the dogs (yeah, I don't normally have to do any of that stuff except work late) and the only pictures on my phone are of my dogs.

So....

Here are the five best things about this week:

Head on over to From My Grey Desk Blog for more (and less boring) H54F Posts.

Cat Noise

I wore this outfit our first day in Cambria.

We had a bunch of tasty meals.

Walked around downtown.

And I kind of looked like a wealthy divorcee most of the day.
But, I was fed alcohol at almost every meal so it worked out okay.

I feel like I'm going to use this picture of me over and over for years.  Classy and tasteful...so me.

Shirt:  Borrowed, J.Crew

Pants:  Gift, Gap

Shoes:  Gift, Sperry's

Necklace:  Premier

Cambria

Last weekend my mom, sister, and I went for a quick girl's trip to Cambria.

And it was fun and relaxing and tasty.

I mean, full disclosure, the dog got fleas, we had a first world freakout when we realized our cell phones didn't work there, and we all bickered half the time.

But that's pretty tame for a girl's trip.

Here are some pictures.

The view from the house we stayed at.  Trees!

The handsome little flea bag.

Deer in someone's backyard.

Wildlife!

I get really happy when people buy me wine.

The indoor pool at Hearst Castle.  I want one.

Annnd the outdoor pool.  I'll take one of those too.

I'll pass on the living room though...

I feel like Gizmo would be great friends with the elephant seals.

I am trying way to hard in this picture.  Yikes.

Weirdos.

I wish this were my backyard. (It has a wine bar in it)

High Five For Friday

At this moment, I am a fussy ball of fussy fussiness.

But, looking through my pictures to do my H54F post, I realized this week wasn't all THAT bad.

So here are the 5 best things about it.

HARUMPH.

(That's my fussy noise)

I am freakishly in love with this picture of myself.

(1) Okay, this was technically last week, but I was out of town for H54F so I'm counting it!  Meeting up with old friends and drinking inappropriately small cocktails.

(2)  Getting to borrow (and "accidentally" steal) my sister's clothes during a recent trip.

(3)  Family time during our trip (my mom was there too, but she doesn't like pictures of herself so I'm being nice and not including them...in this post)

(4)  My coworkers insist on running the AC way too cold during the day so I combat it by wearing my favorite zebra scarf.

(5)  Wine tasting with friends.  It's been way too long.

Head on over to From My Grey Desk Blog to see more H54F posts and have a good (non-fussy) weekend!

val