Categories: Life

Once Brandon and I found out that he would be attending George Mason University in Virginia, we started planning. We chose a moving company, decided on how we were getting there and even made a trip to Virginia to find an apartment. Every thing seemed to go smoothly until *duhn…duhn…DUHN!* the moving company decided they wanted to charge us $1,000 more than the quote. And they were so gentlemanly enough to tell us AFTER they packed half of our lives into their moving truck. So we so kindly (ahem) told them to bring our stuff back up and leave.

We had to think fast and decided to rent a moving truck, tow our car and drive across country to get us to our new home: Fairfax, Virginia. We (as in me, Brandon, his brother-in-law, nephew, Dad, MT, MT’s frat brothers and some of the EQ) packed up the moving truck and parked it at my in-laws. We stayed there at the Robison’s for about a week before we left on our journey.

We left Las Vegas around 8am on Wednesday morning. We drove across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas on the first day. We stopped in Texas so we could get sleep (only 3 hours) and showers. Then it was “On the Road Again” (I kept singing that song and let’s just say that it is banned from car rides for the rest of my life) through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia.

We made it to Virginia around 1pm on Friday (took us about 36 hours altogether to get here). After we signed our paperwork and got our keys, we started to unpack. Brandon’s new friend from GMU offered up his assistance and he helped Brandon carry all the big stuff up to our new apartment. We unpacked mostly everything before we drove to D.C. to pick up my sister Shilo from Union Station (she came down from New York to help us unpack…I love her!) The next day all we did was unpack and put the house together. Shilo cut my hair and I dyed hers. On Sunday we went to our new ward and dropped Shilo back off to go home.

This week we have finished unpacking, have been organizing the house, putting up artwork and looking for a job (for me). I have a couple of hopefuls but there is nothing for sure yet. We are slowly learning the area, or at least we are finding where all the Wal-Marts and movie theaters are. We have a neighbor that moved in the day after us and she is nice. We actually ran in to her today at the DMV.

Ah, the DMV. Out here their DMV is located in a mall. A MALL ladies and gentleman! Unfortunately, having it in a mall didn’t make the experience any less painful. It was filled with loads of rude people and employees who don’t know what it means to be “pleasant”. We should be getting new Virginia licenses in a week or so. I had to take my picture and the lame thing is that you can’t smile in your pictures….you have to “look natural”. And we all know that if I don’t smile in my pictures, I don’t look natural…I look awkward. So I might post my license picture if it comes out as funny as I think it will.

I will let you all know as soon as I get a job. We will be shooting a video of our new place and I will post that soon. Thanks for reading!

So I have wanted a new haircut for awhile now. I have enjoyed my long hair for long enough and I am ready for a change. What better time than now? I will be living in a new place, making new friends, working at a new job….shouldn’t I have a new hairstyle to go with it all? I think so! So here are some options.

I was originally inspired when I was watching the 81^st annual Academy awards and saw Taraji Henson’s hair. It is absolutely amazing:

So I started to look at other amazing short cuts like these:

But I know that those might be to short for right now. So here are some medium ones that might make Brandon more happy

Gotta love the Emo-style:

Then, of course, there are my fashion idols Nichole Ritchie and Selena Gomez. Here are some pictures of their super adorable hair:

So as of right now I am torn. I am not sure what length I will go with, but I will be sure and post pictures once I have done it. Yay!

Is what I have turned into. Now that the moving truck is scheduled to pick up our stuff in a little over two weeks, I have been stressing out. Not about boxing up the house (because I have been slowly packing since June) but about finding people to rent our apartment, buy my car, and buy everything we are selling. None of these have been very easy.

We have been wanting to find friends to rent the apartment, because we want someone in here that we trust. But no one has been able to. So knowing that we might have some strangers in here, who could possibly ruin the house is a bit scary. I really hope we find someone soon…and hopefully that someone is clean and normal. Is that too much to ask??

As for the car, we have priced it at $4,000 even though the KBB price is around $5,000. No one has wanted to buy it though, and I guess we should have known that since the economy is really crappy right now. So we have been willing to negotiate, but people are asking for too low of a price. This car has been my favorite I have ever had. I got her at 35,000 miles and now, 5 years later, she is at 118,000. I drove her everywhere, including back and forth to my parents house in California. She has NEVER broken down on me, never had any internal damage from an accident and has never had a “check engine” light come on. In a nutshell, she is an amazing car. And everyone is telling me that Corollas will last at least 200,000 miles. So when someone asked to sell her for 2600, I had to pass. She is worth so much more than that. I hope we will find her a good owner soon that will pay the right amount for her. If not, I have no idea what we will do.

And this brings us to the last point: selling a bunch of crap that wont fit into our new apartment. We have 2 T.Vs, 2 T.V. stands, a black bookshelf, and a few other things. We have put them up on craigslist and told friends, but they are still in our house. Ugh.

So because of all of this I am stressing out. Oh, and did I mention that I don’t have a job yet? Yeah, we are going out there unemployed…kinda scary. I have certainly applied to different jobs but have been unsuccessful thus far. So life isn’t so easy right now, but I hope that when we get to Virginia, things will start working out. If not, I guess its top ramen and macaroni for us!

Clothes. Since I am too poor to buy a bunch of clothes, I have become addicted to looking at them online and drooling over them in stores. I have decided that I needed to figure out what my “style” is. I have come up with a few celebrity icons which fit my style well. Now, before you go and find these celebrities in hideous clothes, take in to account that there are a few outfit choices that I would NOT wear. But for the most part, I adore their style: Nicole Richie, Lauren Conrad and Miley Cyrus.

I think my style is a mix of all these ladies. Here are some pictures to prove my point.

Nichole Ritchie:

I especially LOVE how she can make a plain white shirt so absolutely adorable!

Lauren Conrad (gotta love the moccasin boots!)

Miley Cyrus

The shoes below are too much, but maybe flats in that color would do….

There are also some items that I totally need to have. Here is my list:

Gladiator Sandals (Miley wearing them in first picture)

Peacock Feathers

FLANNELS!!!!!

See how Lauren rocks it….

I heart these looks:

And I need this jacket:

My favorite website to look at clothes right now is modcloth.com and Forever 21. I love clothes.

No.

But here are my baby names. I do realize however that since it may be awhile before I pop out some kids, these names might change…reasons why? Someone in my family might use some of these names, therefore I cannot use them or the names might get too popular, and I can’t have a normal name for my kids.

Boys:

Wesley Thomas

Oliver Lawrence

Girls:

Lydia Kaye

Sophia Lien

Jayde Demaris (J.D. for short)

It’s the new year, so I figured I should blog.

2008 was a crazy year, and it was full of new adventures:

I got married

I graduated college

I started a “real” job

I got my first tattoo

I (we) remodeled our condo

I inherited a fat cat

Started a business

And I am sure there are more, but those are just the major events. All in all, 2008 was a fulfilling year that seemed almost magical??? (Don’t know if that is the right word but it will have to do). A lot of the major events in my life that I have dreamed about since I was a little girl, occurred during the past year. There is nothing I would have changed about my 2008.  Since meeting Brandon, he has taught me not to regret anything. I may have done things differently (like waited a few more months to get married so I wasn’t so stressed out with school and what not) but I definitely don’t regret anything.

When I talk to people about 2008 most of them complain about the economy or the weather, and  hope that 2009 will be better. I hope so too, but I am not too sure that things will change drastically in one year. I do have a few “goals” for the new year, and would like to share them with you:

1. Go on vacation to the east coast for a week or more

2. Read more books

3. Pay off debt

4. Get a raise

5. Brandon and I will move to D.C. and B will go to GMU (This is technically Brandon’s goal but I hope that it happens)

I have other small goals, but I am leaving 2009 pretty open. I am starting to learn to be okay with change and will be okay with whatever gets thrown my way in the next year.

I hope you all had a memorable 2008 and wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR full of good health and prosperity!

So, Brandon and I have started a new business called “Sort It Out”. It is a professional organizing business and we go to people’s houses and help them get organized. We are super excited about it, so if you or someone you know could benefit from our business, please visit our website at www.SortItOutVegas.com

Thanks!