moving day!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009 = Moving day. Not as stressful as it sounds! Tired, yes. Long day, yes. Carrying lots of stuff, not really!

PTL for MOVERS!

this is going to be very long. read it if you want, but it is mostly for me to remember the day. and all the pictures were taken with my iPhone so they aren't the best quality.

They did show up about 3 hours late. We hired movers from the DFW area (yes, we were in Waco) but they were a local company and we got a better deal with them than any other larger company. So they did have to drive in from Dallas to Waco. But they did say they would be at our apartment at 8:00 am and did not arrive until 11:00 am!

But we were so thankful for the movers that we did not complain {too much} and let them do their work when they arrived.

In fact, when the movers arrived at our apartment we headed out! John and I had a few last minute errands to run so we did a few things and had our last lunch in Waco at Schmaltz's.


It was fun to tell people that we were moving but not there! We enjoyed our lunch, reminisced about one of our favorite Waco restaurants and talked about our upcoming move to Victoria. Needless to say, that day was very exciting for us!

This goes without saying, but we have a lot of stuff! (see here and here for examples.) The night before our move I finally confessed to John something I had been worrying about all day. "I sure hope their truck is big enough." I really thought John would say, "Oh of course it will be," and reassure me. Unfortunately, he said, "Me too." UGH!

Monday, August 3rd was our last full day of packing. Unfortunately, we had a few visitors (Dinah B and the Broaddus') stop by and I did not take pictures. I'm kicking myself now. It was a sweet time and I will always remember our last visitors at #264. Anywho, we stayed up so late Monday night trying to finish all the last minute stuff that really doesn't fall into any normal packing category. Those are the really fun boxes to unpack. You know the ones, a Tupperware container, a flashlight, Season 8 of Friends, light bulbs, paper towel holder, and yarn that you bought when you thought it would be a good idea to teach yourself how to crochet. Or was it knit?

So Monday night we took apart our bed and ended up sleeping on our mattress on the floor. We wanted to make it super simple for our movers to take everything out and not have to take anything apart or wait for us to pack more boxes. We wanted to be completely done! And we were except for a last clean of our bathroom after our showers that morning and last minute cleaning after the rooms were cleared out.

It took the movers about 5 hours to load the truck!!! Holy cow! And our cars were completely loaded down also. Remember when I asked John if all our stuff would fit. It barely fit...we crammed a lot of stuff into that 900 square foot apartment in 4 years! The movers were actually a little nervous that it wouldn't fit. Yikes!

So they got there at 11:00 am and loaded the truck for 5 hours. That means we rolled out of Waco around 4:30 once we finished cleaning, prayed and thanked the Lord for all of our sweet times in our first home, I cried. We turned in our keys, and got on the road.

Our home from August 15, 2005 - August 4, 2009.

We arrived in Victoria around 8:30 after stopping in Georgetown for dinner. It did not take them as long to unload as it did to load. We were so excited to be in our new home for the first time.

And we were in bed by midnight!

Up next...pictures of our new place!!!

last days

Our last days in Waco were very bittersweet. Our last full week was busy! It was my last week of work at Baylor (Thursday July 30 was my last day) and John was in Hamilton doing Summer Music Camp. SMC is something that John started doing in Hamilton our first summer there, summer 2006. It was an instant hit and I was never able to be a part of it due to work. I always saw the performance on Friday night but I was never able to see all the fun yet hard work that went into the week.

With this year being John's last SMC at FBC Hamilton I knew I wanted to see at least one day so I was there all day on Friday and it was so much fun! Friday looks a little different than the other days of music camp, but it was fun to be a part of no less.

The SMC workers gave John a framed picture of all the SMC participants (kids and workers) that everyone had signed. It is proudly on the shelf in John's new office!

One very sweet woman, Shirley, has made John's life so much easier and less stressful these last 4 years in Hamilton. She has been a huge help during Summer Music Camp and we will miss her so much! Shirley and I were talking the last day of music camp and we were joking about how well she knows John now also.

After the last day of music camp and the performance that night we headed back to Waco for a going away dinner with good friends. It was a great time to talk and laugh about our years in Waco.


And dinner at Siete Mares is always wonderful! It is one of our favorite Waco restaurants. Thanks friends for a great dinner!

stay tuned for lots more!

behind the mirror

When John and I moved into our apartment in Waco 4 years ago we knew that there was a good chance we would be there for a while. I really don't think either of us thought it would be there 4 years but still. We knew he had 4 years of graduate school ahead of him so after living in our apartment for about 3 months we knew it was time to paint!

We painted and painted and painted for 3 or 4 days! Every room of our apartment (it was a 2 bedroom/2 bath) was painted except the laundry room and hallway. I spent a lot of time going through Pottery Barn catalogues to pick out my color and then we went to Wal-mart to have our colors matched. One of the last rooms we did was the master bathroom. It was small and we painted it a dark chocolate brown.

Fast forward 4 years and it is time for this paint happy couple to move out! If we wanted to get any of our deposit back we would have to paint the rooms back that would not be able to be covered with one coat of the apartment's white paint. So we had our apartment office manager come by and tell us what rooms had to be painted by us first. One of those rooms was the master bathroom.

(I'm sorry this is so long!)

So while John was busy with Summer Music Camp (a post that will come soon) I set out to start painting the master bathroom back to white. And when I went to take down the mirror I saw this...

And of course it made me tear up and get all emotional about leaving our first home together.

It wasn't my last time to be emotional about that either...

simple living?

I read an article about simple living this morning.

Maybe I should take notes!

We move tomorrow!

change, moving, waco, restaurants, etc.

The longer I live in Waco the more I love it. I am so comfortable here. Everything is so familiar. But change is good. And change is about to happen.

John is out of town this week so I'm finishing up the packing, patching nail holes, taking down cabinets and shelves (yes, I'm using power tools!), and painting. It's a lot of work and I got a pretty good workout last night by moving boxes. You move boxes non-stop for almost 2 hours and you will too.

Knowing that we are leaving Waco soon {and by soon, I mean in less than 1 week} I've tried to visit our favorite places. And by places I really mean restaurants.

Here are a few that I've gone to one last time:
D's Mediterranean Grill (for a chicken kabob, greek salad and spanakopita)
Cafe Cappuccino (for a spinach egg white omelet and a banana pecan pancake)
Food for Thought (for really anything on their menu, black bean burrito mostly)
Siete Mares (for grilled Mahi Mahi with creamy crawfish jalapeno sauce)
Se Cocina (for fajitas and chips and salsa)
Papa Rollo's (for pizza)

And a few places I would like to make it to: {not sure I will...these are the non-figure friendly places!}
Health Camp (for a milkshake)
Vitek’s (for a Gut Pack)
Baris (for salad, bread and pasta)
Lolitas (for a breakfast burrito and chips and queso)

It seems like everyone who moves to Waco dreads it at first but grows to love it. We love it.

Those of you who have lived here or do live here, what do you love most/miss most about Waco?

boxes.

Packing is quite the adventure. Well, adventure might be the wrong word but you know what I mean. I hope.

We've gotten a lot done. A lot. So much that it is really empty and depressing here. We've packed 67 boxes. I know this because my amazing-super organized-plans ahead husband did some research on moving. Since we are going to have movers (yes, Praise Jesus we have movers!) he found an article online that suggested numbering your boxes so that you know how many you have, how many make it on the truck and how many come off the truck. So we (and by we I mean John) printed out some labels with numbers, our last name and phone number. That way, if anything gets lost they know where to find us.

We've purchased several boxes but have been given a lot also. One box was used before us by a precious family and it looks like one of the kids had a creative moment on the box. Love it.

The boxes have also taken over our dining room. I figure since this room is right next to the front door it is the perfect place to stack them up. I pushed the furniture to the corner and started stacking. There's a lot there.

It is the perfect place for my computer since my desk is a disaster zone.

And thanks to my sweet friend, Courtney, I have been able to enjoy some down time with a guilty pleasure we share.

But next up on my to do list. I need to tackle this stack of magazines. I don't think it is right to pack these.

It's time to tear out pages.

my "vacation"

So today starts my "summer vacation." I'm on vacation for the next week and it is going to be WILD!

My vacation includes these:


and a little of this:


a lot of this:


don't forget this:


Yeah, you're jealous.

Seriously though, it's weird. This whole packing up our lives thing. It's sad. It's exciting. It's a whole lot of emotions. It is also getting empty. And the walls are getting bare. And the number of boxes full of our worldly possessions is growing.

PS: I really wish I could hire someone to do the packing for me. And that they could be really good at it and be super organized and OCD. Otherwise, I will do it myself. Do you think Martha is available for hire? She's the only person I could trust.

PPS: I am looking forward to my mom coming this afternoon to help me pack...she is bringing Sprinkles Cupcakes to celebrate John's birthday!

**Anyone have any good packing/moving tips? Any and all are greatly appreciated!

Changes...

I've got some news for you my friends.

John and I are moving!

This is such a bittersweet time for us. And that is the understatement of the year. Big understatement. Our time in Waco (all 8 years!) has been so sweet and full of memories, friends and love. Waco is our home (never thought I would say that), it is where we met, fell in love and started our married life together. It is where Baylor University is. We love this place.

We will also be leaving our church. Ouch..that one hurts. This is the church that we have loved and served for almost 4 years. Almost our whole married life. They have watched us grow in our marriage and have traveled with us through our life as newlyweds and grad school. We love the people in Hamilton more than they will ever know and will always hold a special place in our hearts for them.

But it is time for a new season. And we are so very excited. We will be moving to Victoria, Texas. Yes, way down south close to the coast! If you come visit I promise we will go to the beach! John will be serving a church in Victoria as the Associate Pastor of Music and Worship. This church is such a warm and loving place and we already feel so loved and welcome there. Our official move date is August 3rd. John's first day in the office is August 17th and our first Sunday is August 23rd.

Yes, we will be moving in Texas during August. Hello...Can we say hot??

So there you have it! Life is going to be pretty busy the next few weeks but we couldn't be more thrilled!