a place to call home

In the ever-continuing spirit of documenting the good with bad pictures:

After almost three long months of living out of boxes, we finally have a real, permanent, all-ours, ready to move in to home.

Since starting to pack at the beginning of May, we've been living simply. When I say simply, I mean One-Pot-One-Pan-Three-Forks-and-Some-Ziploc-Baggies simply. An odd number of forks was poor planning, as there is an even number of us, but you get the idea. We wanted to pack it all up, get it down here, and leave it packed up until we got into our real place so the work would be kept to a minimum. You guys know how I don't like to work. The real place has been in the process of being built, as it's the residence hall that I was hired for, so they've put us up in a student apartment until it was ready. The apartment's been nice [lots of light, a dishwasher, and a front patio kind of nice], but let's be real. I'm ready to settle.

The new building is ready enough for occupancy, so says the great state of Texas. We move our stuff over on Thursday with the help of the maintenance team and a free day I get off of work [thank you, bargaining skills] and unpacking will begin PRONTO. That brand new apartment will be turned into our home in the blink of an eye. Really all it takes is a sweaty sports bra left on a doorknob [me] and some nerdy magazines on the back of the toilet [Ben], but still. Those boxes are getting emptied and thrown out of the windows. The smell of cardboard will no longer invade my nostrils. 

Thanks to the shitty job our moving company did, we have a big claims check coming our way, so I foresee many IKEA and Target trips in our future. I also see many DIY and decorating posts in this blog's future because I need someone to brag to. Thanks for forever being my audience.

I'm Keeping the Glitter

It's Monday, June 3 and we're here in Texas. Is it dramatic to say that the minute we passed this sign, I felt like I was at home? Yes, it is, but I'm saying it anyways.

The past two weeks have been crazy. We finished up packing and had fun in our tiny apartment stacked full of boxes. The movers came and took all of our things as we sat on the porch reading magazines like real lazy bums. We then spent the next six days staying with my mom and then Ben's parents, hopping around from event to event: a wedding I was in, last minute meals with friends and family, a sweet goodbye party with my whole family, and days and nights spent in the sun with my parents and siblings. 

Then last Tuesday, we hit the road. I have so many sweet pictures of all of our goodbyes and of our fun trip down here, but I don't want to share them yet. I heard an idea somewhere [I think APW] about events that hold a special place in your heart, like weddings, births, special parties, etc.: when they're over, they feel too sacred to share with the world yet. They were special and magical and filled with glitter and many times, we get scared to share them and shake them in fear of shaking the glitter right off. 

Like I said, our time with family before we left was so special. That was the last time that I was around, knowing that everyone I really loved was within a half hour drive. And everyone made us feel so loved when they sent us on our way, giving us hugs and love and gifts that we never expected. It was even more heartbreaking to leave than I ever thought it would be. And then our drive down here was so much fun. We made stops along the way, some at big attractions and some at tiny little nothing towns where there were motel rooms for $19.99 in a trailer out back [yes, I am also glad that we didn't get killed]. The time Ben and I spent in the truck and out of the truck exploring this new world we'd never seen was fun and so good for us.

And now we're in Houston, spending a few days at Ben's sister and brother-in-law's new house. We're helping them get ready for their new baby and we're taking a few days to regroup on homework and moving things and then just relax. We'll head up to Dallas when our apartment is ready on Wednesday and hope that the movers are there soon with our things and then we'll get settled into that new life. Maybe by then, I'll be ready to share more about the last two weeks, but for now, I'm enjoying this in between time and I'm keeping my glitter.

goodbye

It's hard to know what to say in a time like this, with so many transitions taking place and life as I know it coming to an end. It's even harder to know what to say in such a public forum, with aunts and grandmas and real life friends reading.

We leave in a week. The movers are coming tomorrow and we'll stay with our parents for six days: my mom's for a few and then his. We have a bunch of goodbye lunches and dinners and a party and then next Tuesday morning, we'll pull out of Spencerport with our truck/motorcycle/SmartCar combo and head south to Richardson, Texas.

I'm thankful for everyone that is making it hard to leave. For everyone who loves us so much that they're encouraging us even though it's going to hurt them too. After growing up in western New York for 22 years, I do have roots here. I denied it for a while, as a teenager wanting to get as far away as possible, but now I see it. I have roots in this city, the one that I've stared at from the 490 bridge a thousand times, as we've driven in to see our friends, go to dinner, visit a festival. Everywhere we go, there's someone I know and almost everywhere we go, I know how to get there. Ben doesn't believe me half of the time, but I know my way around this city. Especially after staying here for college [and meeting my husband], this place finally feels like home.

But it's time to get going. To try something new and to make a new city home. We have some time at our new place before I start my job and I think we'll take that chance to explore our new town. To go for walks and find new places to eat and to settle in. I have no doubts that we'll find our groove and we'll make that place our home too.

But for now, I'm taking everything in here. I'm taking advantage of the fact that most of my family lives within a 20 minute radius and we're spending time with everyone before we go. We said goodbye to a best friend yesterday, as he left for a summer of traveling before grad school, and I'm sure we'll say goodbye to our other friends this weekend, in the good, old-fashioned stumble across Rochester way. Right now I'm sitting on my front porch writing this as I listen to the earlybirds sing because I know that 7 am in Texas might even be too hot for this. I'm going to finish this post, walk two blocks to get coffee from my favorite cafe in town, and I'm going to come home to wake up my sweet husband and get to packing. I may not love this town enough to stick around forever, but I certainly love it enough to be sad about leaving. This place has been home for all of my years so far and how do you say goodbye to home?

I like moving because...

we get to throw crap away!

Most of yesterday was spent going through the attic and the closets getting rid of stuff that we don't need to bring to Texas. My clutter-free soul loves boxing things up and sending it away. My nostalgic soul says "NO, I wore that shirt when I was 18 and kissed Ben for the first time while we were sitting on his bed watching the ending credits of Back to the Future". My boobs say "honey, you're not 18 anymore. We refuse to stop growing and that shirt will never fit us again".

Damn boobs.

The Big Move

Well, there it is. Ben & I's first big move is halfway across the country to the big city of  Dallas, Texas! 

One [of a million] things that made me so sure about marrying Ben was that we had similar goals for our future. Ever since a trip down to San Antonio for my brother's boot camp graduation during high school, I've wanted to move to Texas. I'm not sure if it was the Texas shaped waffle makers in the hotel or the wonderful warm air that made my hair turn into a frizzy mess, but that state won me over in a matter of seconds.

In the beginning stages of dating Ben, we got to talking about the future, as people in baby relationships tend to get carried away with doing. It came up that Ben's extended family lives just outside of Houston, Texas and he's always wanted to move there too. We bonded over the fact that we hate the cold, grey winters that last for 6 months up here and it was decided that someday we'd move to the big state of Texas.

Fast forward to my great job search of 2013 and that trip down to Tennessee. We love this city and the fact that it holds all of my family and a lot of our friends, but this isn't what we want for the rest of our lives. We decided that if we didn't try to move now, we probably never would. We were scared of getting stuck in a life we didn't want up here and so every single one of those 46 jobs I applied to were somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line.

And so the end result of that search is Dallas, Texas. I got offered a job working for a company that manages residence halls at colleges across the nation and it just so happens that they wanted me to work at the University of Texas at Dallas! I accepted that job on the first day of April and now I'm going to start my career in Richardson, Texas, with my husband by my side.

I'm elated. My Master's degree [that I'll complete in August] is in Higher Education, focusing on Student Affairs. I'm passionate about Residence Life and I think that it's something I'm going to be really good at. This is a really good move to get my foot in the door and I cannot wait to start my career. Plus, it's Texas! It's warm all the time and the people are so friendly. Life is easier there: more laid back and kinder. To be honest though, I'm scared too. It is 1,500 miles away. Literally every single one of my family members lives in New York. I'm so close with them and I can't imagine a life where I don't see them constantly. Also, we know no one in Richardson. With the exception of my future boss whom I've met once, it's just going to be Ben and I alone in this big city.

It's a change. It's a big, scary, exciting change that is going to turn the course of our lives. On May 22, the movers come to pick up our things and on May 27, we're heading out for the road trip to end all road trips. In only 39 days, we're leaving the comfortable known for this new adventure and I couldn't be happier to do it with my sweet husband as my teammate.

Oh and here's a little GIF I made, but can't get to be unblurry. Oh well!

Created with Gifboom

what about our friends

The thing about having college friends stick around town for a bit after college is that it comes to an end. Right around the same time we're leaving New York, one of our best friends is doing the same, heading off for a summer of traveling and then settling at grad school. Another is already gone, back to his hometown 4 hours away, and the rest while slowly disburse at the end of summer when their lease in the city is up and life goes on.

It was at about the same time that we all realized that an era of last minute plans (barbeques, shows in dark bars, house parties and diners the morning after) was coming to an end. Ben and I are leaving town at the end of May, and one friend leaves a few days before, so we only have six weeks together, as said friend likes to point out.

That's why this weekend was so necessary. On Friday, Ben and I had a lazy night: dinner with his dad and a few hours spent watching tv. Saturday morning, we got up and putzed around, going to Lowes and Triple A and other Saturday morning things. 

But Saturday evening? Saturday evening we spent with our friends. Our far away friend drove up for the weekend, and we all reunited over bacon cheeseburgers and whiskey, and the boys threw a toga party. Togas were unnecessary, but good for the story. We spent the night drinking too much, remembering old stories, and making new ones. The next morning [or afternoon] once everyone was up and alive, we walked a few blocks in the beautiful spring air and recovered over greasy diner food.

I don't know what it's going to be like moving to a new city and making new friends, but I know that we're sure as hell going to miss the ones that we have here.

News with a capital N

Monday, although a day for April fooling, was a day that brought about much joy and disbelief in the Quigley household. Monday, there were excited text messages shot back and forth, detailed phone calls in hushed tones, and lunch-break shoe buying.

For Monday, I accepted my first real, professional job!

As you guys know, I've been applying to jobs for the longest time. Ben and I made a deal back in January [I think] that I could quit my restaurant job if I applied to 100 full time jobs in my field for the next school year. I made a handy Job Chart of Wonder and promptly applied to 46 of those. When I say promptly, what I really mean is that I dragged it out for as long as humanly possible because we all know that applying for jobs is a bitch. Even getting through 46 applications was pushing it. Ben and I went on a road trip to Memphis at the end of February, where I interviewed for 13 different Student Affairs jobs in the south, and I was pretty confident that I had rocked those interviews.

Turns out, I was right. In the second week of March, I received a job offer. That was this position. I was hesitant to take it because all of the other positions were on a much slower schedule, not ready to give me any answers regarding my status, and not even close to making offers. I asked this place if they could wait a bit for me to see what else was going on, they said sure, but we need an answer by April 1.

I got my butt in gear trying to get answers. I called people, I went for an interview in South Carolina, and I tried my best to be as patient as I could. However, April 1 was looming. Ben and I had a million Grown Up, Married People, Can You Really Believe We're Old Enough to Be Making These Decisions conversations about it and decided that this offer I received was a really really good one. And it was the best decision for us as a Baby Family.

So, Monday morning, I called my future supervisor, told him I'd love to take the job, and here we are today, with a giant change in our very near future. After stopping at Target on the way home to buy a celebratory pair of shoes [of course], I came home to the absolute sweetest thing Ben could have done for me:

That man popped a bottle of champagne, wrote me the sweetest "I'm proud of you" note, and got a bunch of cash from the bank for my new We're Moving to the South clothes fund. I'll be damned if he doesn't make me feel like a rockstar.

So, thank you for all of the sweet congratulations on Instagram and Twitter! As soon as everything is officially officially official, I will share exactly where/when/how/why/every other possible detail of our move. 

If you've been a little detective so far, you'll remember that it's 1) in the south and 2) in our very near future. A gold star and a high five goes to the first person who can guess correctly [but if I've already told you, don't be a little cheater!]