Fall around town

What a perfect time to move! After not getting to fully experience Fall since I was a toddler, I get to experience it right now! The leaves have changed a lot even in the last two weeks since we got here. Some leaves are falling off now(sad) while some trees are still green. 

So I hope these colors stay around a little longer! 

Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday on Wednesday with family! 

Me, Kavi, and my parents went to Trussville (45 mins away, near Birmingham) to eat at a cute place called The Three Earred Rabbit. I had a delicious sandwich and some vanilla coke.  

We went to Target after that and I bought myself a few birthday items: a cute candle with words written on it about Autumn, a pretty purple top, and a bright white duvet cover/shams for our bed. 

In the evening we had dinner at my parents' house, where my mom set up this table so nicely for my birthday. She had the centerpiece up for over a week now, but added all the extras for my birthday dinner. My husband met us there after work.  

I got some great gifts from everyone, including a cozy and soft sweater cardigan I picked out from Old Navy(one of my parents' gifts to me). 

------------------------------------------------------------------

We are still setting up our house of course. It's fun and also tiring! 

Yesterday I stayed home most of the day, which felt nice, and took this picture from the porch. 

Also yesterday, a friend of mine who lives right down the street, almost across from that yellow tree, brought me a plate of cupcakes she made. :) That's another great thing about living here. We are not only close to my family, but to a lot of friends.

A week in Alabama

We made it to Alabama very late Monday night!

The days after my last post were a complete frenzy! I had decided I never wanted to pack and move again as we scrambled even into the last hours before driving up. It was crazy and I hated that part!

The drive up was hard and started late in the day, around 2pm, which mean we didn't arrive at my parents' house until after midnight (EST). SO tiring! But then we felt a sense of relief. We were here! We really made it!

The next morning, despite falling asleep so late the night before, I was awake by around 6am and couldn't fall asleep again. My mind was going.

Within a few hours of waking up, a friend let us know she saw a rental sign just go up on her street, my husband called the # to see if they would consider a 6 month lease, they said yes, we checked out the place, I loved it, and we claimed it! We had called another place but they wouldn't agree to a 6 month lease. The reason we wanted a 6 month lease is because we still want to buy a house and need more time to look. I don't want to rush into buying house. So this worked out so well.

living/dining

The house is a cute, very spacious three bedroom, 1 bathroom. Hard wood floors throughout besides in the bathroom and kitchen areas. Old style, bright white painted molding around doors and windows! I have wanted to live in a house that looks like this for many years. A historic, old, charming house. So I am very excited. Apparently a hoarder had lived there until a few months ago! :-o  Sadly the house was condemned, he(or they) were kicked out and it was sold for a cheap price. The new owner has a team of people who fix up houses and rent them out. They must have worked hard because I would have never known it was a house in bad condition not long ago! (I would have been majorly skeeved I'm sure) It's all freshly painted and has new counters/cabinets/sink in the kitchen.

dining/living

our bedroom

when we first looked at the house

after adding fall decor! all the flowers and pumpkins are from my parents. the cute stake is from my sis. 

Saturday night was our first night sleeping over! We have had the keys since last Tuesday, signed the official lease on Thursday, and still had to do some setting up. We still need a couch, dressers, and a few other small pieces of furniture. Between Tuesday and Friday, of last week, we ran around doing things at the DMV for our cars, got our Alabama driver's licenses, bought new blinds for the house, bought other needed items, etc. Something I do not like here is that they put your weight on your driver's license! First of all, I lied. And the lady I was talking to was a sweetheart and said "let's put this instead", and dropped my weight down even more! hah!! I love her. I need to actually get to the weight on my license now. Still, there's no way I want anyone I know looking at that part! Even with the lie!!

OH-My mom set this up for us to see at their house when we arrived!

Adorable! Made using decor they bought a friend's baby shower which was the day before we arrived. 

I will post more house pictures as we fill the space!

My birthday is tomorrow too! So much has been going on that I keep forgetting. But it's going to be a really nice birthday, being near my family! 

Here!

I started working on a longer post but lost steam! I will be finishing that post and writing about everything soon. Still busy busy, but everything is going great! Very happy to be here!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

In just a few days...

...we will be headed to Alabama! Due to the packing frenzy and everything going on, some feeling very last minute and overwhelming, this may be my last post before I will be in Alabama. (Maybe?)

Source: etsy.com via Karen on Pinterest

I just foresee some very busy days ahead. I will share more about it once we are at my parents' house. Right now we already have the moving truck outside! My husband picked it up today! He was supposed to get it tomorrow, but the place we got it from called to say they had to close tomorrow and that he could get it today. Also when he got there, they did not have the 16 foot truck we reserved and gave him the 24 foot truck instead(for the same price)! It's so BIG! We don't even need all of that space, but better to have more than enough space than too little, right?

Tomorrow I get to meet another online friend that I have been in touch with for many years! I am excited. While her situation was not exactly the same as ours, we initially got to know each other because we both  experienced the process of immigration paperwork involved in marrying someone from another country.  And since then, we have shared in talking about all different things, Etsy too! She loves it, is an artist, and has two shops (which are on vacation for a short time). She just moved too, closer to where I live, which is why I wanted to meet her before leaving Florida. :) Her links: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LauraHussein(for watercolor prints) and http://www.etsy.com/shop/lilwordtoldme (hand painted wooden letters).

I packed up my favorite coffee mugs today, finally, and some other kitchen items. It feels more and more real! I will be back in a few days.

Let's go on an adventure

                                                                   Source: alt1984.tumblr.com via Christina on Pinterest

I really like the above saying. I feel like parts of my life have been that way, with my husband. 

And then I found this cute shop on Etsy with adorable paintings. These are original paintings for sale, similar themes but each one original!! They would look great in a child's room. 

Or even just around the rest of the house! I would put one up anywhere. 

(You can click the shop banner above to see more)

As for my own Etsy shops, they realllllllly slowed down. And now they are back in vacation mode because I packed up all my supplies and sewing machine. I will wait and see what the future holds for my shops, after settling down. 

Boxes and Recipes

Boxes, boxes everywhere! Packing is quite the task. Still have so much more to do, and not a lot of time left! For a few short minutes I wondered why packing seemed to be a bigger task than the last time. It didn't take long to figure it out since last time we only had to move two people's items. This time, we have three people's items, along with many toys! We are giving away and donating a lot of stuff. 

Since cooking a good dinner every night is not happening lately with the focus on packing and getting other things done, it actually makes me want to look up new recipes to try out. Eventually. I am pinning them, since they have the handy link provided to the recipes. I have soup on the mind, since we will be living somehwere that is colder during fall/winter than FL! :) (By the way, it gets messed up for me sometimes when I try to center pinterest images and write something above it. Frustrating!)

Here are a few I have got to try, after moving:

Chicken, lime and avocado soup

Source: homemadesoup.org via Christina on Pinterest

Veggie coconut curry

Source: savvyvegetarian.com via Christina on Pinterest

Eggplant meatballs (vegetarian)

Source: midwestveg.com via Christina on Pinterest

Crockpot chickpea curry

Source: savvyvegetarian.com via Christina on Pinterest

Fashion Inspiration

I don't think I have posted about clothes/outfits in a few weeks! It's time!

Interesting combo

Source: weardrobe.com via Christina on Pinterest

polkadots

Source: collegefashion.net via Audrey on Pinterest

Cozy sweaters/cardigans

Source: oldnavy.gap.com via Christina on Pinterest

Things are Happening

 A lot has been going on lately. Mostly behind the scenes! Well, some of the reason was that I couldn't really say much until my husband gave his notice at work. Because we are moving to Alabama to be closer to my family! They moved up there from Florida as well and it's been difficult being apart for over 3 years now. I thought I would share my mom's blog post about it for now where you can read a little more:
http://considerthelillies09.blogspot.com/2011/10/so-much-excitement.html