Ch-Ch-Changes.....

I've lived in the same place for almost 7 years. I've had my share of complaints, but I genuinely love my place. With landlords who didn't really care what we did......this place became "home" very quickly. I love Nashville oh so much, and this part of Nashville is where I have been for over 10 years - I can't imagine not being in this immediate area.

But unfortunately, we loved it more than the landlords. We took wonderful care of the place, we hired fantastic lawn guys, we painted - this place has been well maintained by the tenants for years. But the "big" stuff that needed to be done kept being ignored by the landlords. When they finally sent someone out last year, they told him to do a patch job only. (Which doesn't solve a major mold problem brought on by a major pipe problem nor does it solve the floor in the bathrooms giving out enough for someone to fall through!)

A neighbor let us know that the landlords put the place on the market in September but didn't mention it to us. As soon as we said something to them on 1/4, they sent us a generic letter telling us to go ahead and be out in February. Gee, thanks!

I'm not upset they put the place on the market, but I sure wish they had told us and actually communicated with us - especially given how long we've been tenants and how much love and work we put into this place. A little bit of communication would make this so much smoother.

So I threw myself into looking for a new place in the past two weeks. Success -- and now the time to pack has come. Who knew this was going to be such an emotional transition? When did I basically become Maggie Seaver going from room to room thinking of when I moved in and all the great memories in this place? I know every neighbor in this area.  I know everything that goes on in this area. I cried having tea on the front porch today because tea on the front steps has always been my thing & I miss it already.

Fortunately, I'm only going 2 miles away - so I'm still in the area I love and know like the back of my hand. The neighbor on the other side is going a mile, so he's close and we'll easily be able to meet up for our lunches and dinners. And we've discovered the mold in the place is what's causing some of my health issues -- so this is a genuine good move.

Doesn't mean I'm not gonna miss this place like crazy. And all the great memories here. I'll miss little making a cup of tea on Halloween and going outside to  Cliff's porch and sitting around talking & passing out candy to the kids. But change is good. And I'll embrace the upcoming changes.

And still cherish the memories of sleepovers here when littlest love was a little smaller!

Rock Springs

 

I'm far from a huge nature girl. My idea of camping is a cheap hotel.  But I sure do love getting to photograph it sometimes.

Rock Springs is beyond beautiful.  Getting away from everyone for the day was also beautiful. Not a sound in the world except the splash of water at the creek.

 

cannot even comprehend....

 

Just heartbroken today.

Spending the day on the Natchez Trace to get the hell away from humanity.

And then tomorrow I'll start listening to HRC.

 

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.....

Oh my heart. My love for Disney is so deep, y'all. My dream job is forever and always at Disney Animation Studios. Maybe I'll be like 78 when it happens, but it will eventually!

Until then, my heart is fulfilled with my constant Disney trips. This time I didn't take the kiddo with me & went on a girls trip with one of my best friends. A few days at Universal so we didn't skip out geeking out over Harry Potter World, a week at Disney.....solves 90% of my problems. (Okay, not really, but it does make me happy!)

First of all, let me say that Universal was such a bust this year. Thank goodness for Harry Potter world, because otherwise we literally wouldn't have even bothered going back our last day. The customer service was so terrible --- to the point we got kicked out of Moe's because it was like 30 minutes to closing and employees wanted to leave early?

 

Thank goodness for Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

We stayed on Disney property, so by the time we got back to the resort, we just wanted to hug just about every cast member we saw for being so amazing to us.

We did Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (um hello, HOCUS POCUS PARTY), and we specifically went during free dining promotions soooo we paid for just about zero food! I think we paid for two meals -- one sit down at Epcot, one breakfast with characters. We ended up with extra credits at the end of the trip.

We mixed the time up really, at all the parks, although Magic Kingdom holds my heart - which is where most of the time was spent.

A brief run down.....(maybe next year I'll actually day-by-day each park!)

 

Hallowishes

 

GUYS. MY LITTLE SNOW WHITE HEART CAN'T HANDLE THIS. 

 

I took the most ultimate Nicole photo ever....Starbucks at Magic Kingdom. 

 

Stormtroopers totally stalking me.

 

Can I move to the Haunted Mansion? I want to be there 24/7.

I needed this trip. And I'm working on next years NOW. Because I dont know how the next four years could potentially be....I may need all the happy places I can get!

I'm baaaack....

It's apparently time for me to get back in the swing of blogging.....

Not only to have my outlet back, but for all the trips I have coming up.

Slowly getting back into the swing of it, and making some changes. Back full time super soon.

That time it was all about me....

And here lies my completely shallow & selfish post, because when it's your birthday, you're completely allowed to do that, right???


It's finally September which means….my birthday month is over! And a great birthday month it was. Do my friends/family know me or what?! Throughout the month I kept receiving box after box. Eventually I opened up all these gems.

What kind of treasure trove is this? A mix of Disney, Once Upon  a Time & The Walking Dead? It’s hard to get better than this.

And not only did I get a mix of all my shows and Disney, I got my coffee mugs! While I don’t drink coffee at home, most of you know I AM obsessed with tea. (And yes, I drink wine out of them too!) So my twin cousin sent me these gems for the new Inside Out movie! (If you haven’t seen it, you HAVE to,  it’s not only a great Disney movie, it’s an AMAZING message about emotions - and probably something kids really need to learn.)

(They are adorable, and yes, they are all my faves but we pretty much determined after the movie I’m a mix of Joy & Disgust ;) 

After all this,  I rearranged my cabinets, and….I’m pretty sure I’ve got my tv show, and Disney covered with my coffee mug collection?

I spent my actual birthday having lunch with my mom and niece, and hitting Jurassic World in theaters again. Yes, it was the third time, but...it was in the IMAX? Who would skip that chance??

Saturday I went to celebrate at Dolphie’s with the sis, our friend Kim & my best friend.  The Denny’s next to the bar is long gone, but this was the first time we’d gone in a few months….so sadly the Denny’s before and after our night tradition has ended. We grabbed dinner at O’Charley’s beforehand, and ended up going to bed after karaoke was over. Bummer. But still a great, great night.

My sister totally wins on the cake front. HOW ADORABLE is my Snow White dress cupcake cake? Seriously? This is adorable. Because yes, I'm the 32 year old with a 12 year old heart. This is what happens when you're an artist that loves the creative stuff.

 

My sister found it online, so she was so proud she got the bakery to do it exactly like she saw it!

Slight picspam, because there really aren’t a ton of pics to post for once:

And with that....it's off to get my nerdy brain back in photoshop!

Happy (almost/getting closer!) Fall Y'all!

I love summer. Always have. I love warmth, I love the pool, I love flip flops -- summer is just fun.

However, I also love love love fall. Not only is it fun, it smells amazing and it's gorgeous. I am so excited for fall decorations, pumpkins, apple cider and of course Pumpkin Spice Lattes! I am ITCHING to put out my adorable pumpkins I painted in UK blue last fall!

And of course, Halloween. I have my Halloween playlist ready and roaring to go. While normally I have fun at a Halloween party, this year I'll be in Atlanta at a Walking Dead convention...because the nerd in me can't not go & I need to see Norman Reedus in the flesh. Given how many people cosplay at cons....I'm sure I'll be surrounded by plenty of zombies on Halloween this year ;)

But lets be real... the two best things about fall are (well, okay, besides all my shows coming back!):

Bath & Body Works having Pumpkin Pecan Waffles in stock.

A friend of mine spotted the small candles in stores a couple weeks ago and immediately sent them to me. And now I'm the nerd who keeps going to stores every week to see when they plan on releasing the large three wick candles so I can stock up. Last winter I blew through so many of these candles that I resorted to eBay for more. 

And of course....

It's almost Hocus Pocus time! Fall & Christmas are the best times of the year because I can turn on my tv at any given time and find Hocus Pocus or Christmas Vacation. And even though I own both movies, watch both movies year round....I STILL get giddy finding them on tv!