The One with Milly.

For the life of me, I can't find the desire to blog when I actually want to blog. I have so much I wanted to share, but I just haven't been able to sit down and write. I also have a terrible habit of starting a post and never finishing it unless I write it all in one sitting. I actually started writing this post weeks ago and never continued writing after the first paragraph. The amount of drafts I have written with one paragraph or less is honestly astounding. I'm working on it.

For most of July and August, I had to work every weekend. I don't typically work weekends, but in the student housing world, turn causes you to do things you don't typically do. Like, working until 11pm each night and eating pizza every single day because it's easy to feed an entire office on pizza. Needless to say, I was beyond ready for a break from the property and a break from my morning alarms. And I finally had a work free weekend towards the end of August. So I took full advantage of the weekend and decided to explore this cute little town I've been living in since May.

 

I started my day in downtown Milledgeville at Ryal's bakery. I saw their page pop up on Facebook one day and almost every review was good. I decided since I love all things bakery related (read: cake) I had to find out for myself if it could live up to the hype. My cake standards are very high, by the way. I come from a family where we celebrated every birthday or special occasion with a cake from Smoak's Bakery or Balloon Delights. We never had grocery store cakes and while I'm grateful for it, it probably helped contribute to my boujee-ness. And if you're in the CSRA and never had the delight of eating a cake from Smoak's or Balloon Delights, bless your heart.

I browsed the display cases trying to decide what I wanted to get. They only had one shot to make a good impression so I had to choose my selections carefully. I remembered that people on Facebook raved about their petit fours and I personally can't think of anything better than a bite size cake covered in icing, so I started there. I also have a strong love for cheese straws (thank you Smoak's) and those just happened to be calling out my name so I added some to my order. I asked the cashier if she recommended anything that I should try and she said a lot of people love the brownies so I got a caramel brownie too. I walked back to my car and took a bite of the brownie as soon as I got inside. It was good, but nothing fireworks worthy. I put the rest of the brownie back in the box and grabbed a cheese straw. My boujee taste buds couldn't even make it through one bite of those. They were so bad I threw them all away. Hanging on to a sliver of hope, I grabbed the petit four and took a bite. Then another. Then cried because it was gone and my dumbest mistake of the day was only ordering one of those. During the first bite I knew why the Facebook reviews were so good. It was hands down the absolute best petit four I've ever put in my mouth. Ever. And believe me, I've had my fair share of petit four taste testing. I called my sister to tell her that she needed to make a trip to Milly just for this cake. I honestly still think about it every single day. And rightfully so. It's that good. If you're ever in Milledgeville, stop by Ryal's for a petit four - just stay away from the cheese straws.

After I dried my tears, I decided to walk around downtown and pop in and out of the stores. I visited a few boutiques and the bookstore. The bookstore is mostly just GCSU apparel and text books. But, they did have a section of local author books. I didn't buy any, but I plan to go back to find a good one! I have a long list of other books I need to read my way through at the moment.

Next, I found my way to the newly reopened hot dog stand, Olde Tyme Hot Dogs. From what I've heard, they have the best hot dogs ever. The family that previously owned it close the shop when they moved to New York. Friends of theirs bought it and reopened it in August. It seems to be a Milledgeville highlight, so I had to add it to my list. As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a sign that said "pimento cheese & bacon hot dog." And it was at that moment I knew I would like this place. I ordered a pimento cheese and bacon hot dog, and a slaw dog. The pimento cheese and bacon was so good. Like, I should have ordered two of those. The slaw was terrible though and I ended up throwing that away because boujee. Everyone says I need to try the chili cheese dog so that will be next on my list. My only suggestion for them would be to offer sides other than nachos (I want fries, please!) and to toast the hot dog buns. After eating a hot dog from Freddy's it's hard to find one you love as much because their hot dog buns are perfection. But that pimento cheese and bacon from Olde Tyme will keep me going back even if they served the thing on a slice of white bread.

I headed back to my side of town after lunch because my car needed an oil change. On my way there, I stopped at another boutique called Chatter. I'd heard that Chatter was more reasonably priced than the ones downtown so I had to stop. They had a few cute things, but nothing that I couldn't live without so I left empty handed. I'd visit again though, especially to browse for fall!

The rest of the day was pretty mundane. I got an oil change, went to the car wash, shopped at Hobby Lobby for my mug swap partner, and did some laundry. I did meet my sweet Mama and Daddy for supper in Gibson though. We had seafood at Raley's with lots of good conversation about football and music. That's perfect in my book.

There's so much more I want to do around Milly, like tour the Old Governor's Mansion. But I think it's weird to do that alone as a 28 year old. Maybe the sister will make a home school field trip to Milledgeville soon. I bet Central State Hospital would also make a great lesson!

Sassy as always,

AK

The One with the U-Haul.

I'm sure you can imagine that moving three times, to three different states, in eight months provided many stories to be told. Some are hilarious. Some are pure pitiful. Some are ridiculous. And some are worthy of a "bless your heart"or two. My favorite is a mixture of it all. It's a long one, so bear with me.

I moved to Boone from Orlando at the end of February. I didn't have enough room in my car to pack everything, obviously, so I needed a U-Haul. My family had planned a trip to Disney so I knew we'd all be coming back to Orlando two weeks later. So, I thought the most logical thing to do was to get a storage unit and then have my brother in law drive the U-Haul back to Georgia. I did not want the responsibility of driving that thing behind my car. Thankfully, he agreed with the plan and I packed everything I wouldn't need right away in a storage unit in the middle of the ghetto of Orlando.

As some of you may know, I'm forgetful at times. In this case, at the worst possible time. When we left for Orlando, I left my keys in my car at my sister's house in the event anyone needed my car while we were gone. And on that key ring was the key to my storage unit in the middle of the ghetto of Orlando. I remembered about halfway down I-16 that my keys were not with me and that meant that I did not have the keys to the storage unit we needed to get into. My cousins were joining us for the end of the week so I called them to see if they could grab them. They refused and told me I could just have them mailed them to the condo to have them there by Saturday. Reluctantly, I had my sweet Daddy mail the keys to Orlando and they were set to arrive on Thursday. Perfect!

Our Disney trip was Tuesday - Saturday and our last day in the park was on Friday. My sister wanted to leave Orlando on Sunday, but I wanted to leave on Saturday because I would already have to drive the 5 hours back to Boone from their house. And I knew it would be rough to make both trips in the same day. We finally agreed to come back on Saturday, but she decided we should stay in Orlando all day on Saturday and drive through the night so the kids would sleep on the way home.

Saturday was packed with things to do. We had a character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, which was so fun! My sister wanted to stop by the Disney outlet, and have dinner at Disney Springs. My brother in law wanted a nap. The kids wanted to swim at the pool. I just wanted to retrieve my belongings from the ghetto of Orlando. And, what we had on that Saturday was a major failure to communicate.

The afternoon started off terrible when the office at the condo couldn't find the keys that were delivered on Thursday. We were so busy Disney-ing it up every day that I never even thought about the keys or checking to see if they were delivered until Saturday afternoon. Apparently, the mail room at the condo is closed on Saturday and no one could find the packages and no one was there to ask so NO KEYS.

Disney and the condo where we stayed is on one side of Orlando. My storage unit and the U-Haul I rented were on the complete opposite side, in the direction of home.
Since the outlets and Disney Springs are both on the side of town we were already on, it made more sense to go ahead and do those THEN go get the U-Haul and my stuff out of storage. Well. U-Haul would have been closed if we waited that long so Adam and I called around trying to find another one. We finally found one in Kissimmee, which is closer to Disney so we headed in that direction. WELL. The GPS took us to a giant field. But, we passed a U-Haul place on the way to the field so we thought that MUST have been it and the GPS was just a little off. We were wrong. The address was East and I put West. That U-Haul had nothing that could travel out of state and nothing big enough. So we had to race WEST in hopes of making it to the correct place before they closed. And thankfully we did.

Half the battle was over. Except for we'd already missed our dinner reservations in Disney Springs. Now, why in the world the sister thought we could make 6pm dinner reservations AND nap AND swim AND get a U-Haul AND go to the outlets is beyond me. Rainforest Café was super nice though and said they'd keep us on the list. BUT WE STILL HAD TO GO TO THE OUTLETS. And as I already told the people who don't listen to the sister who once lived in Orlando, TRAFFIC WAS HORRIBLE. (Traffic won't be that bad, they said. It's Saturday, they said)
It took us forever to get the outlets, then forever to find the Disney outlet, and forever to look around. It ended up being 9pm by the time we pulled into the parking lot of Disney Springs for our 6pm reservations. Though we never even made it out of the car because Adam wanted to get home instead.

We skipped Disney Springs (expect for Goofy Candy Co. for rice krispy treats!) and we pulled into McDonald's for supper. The kids were already asleep so I sat in the car while Adam, Virginia, and Alabama went inside to get food for everyone. Now would be a good time for y'all to remember that we were in Orlando, Florida. Which basically feels like sitting on the sun, even in March.  And my dear brother in law didn't crack a window or leave a key with me for AC as he made his way inside the restaurant. Instead, he locked the doors so we'd be "safe" which in translation means DIE OF A HEATSTROKE. They were in the blessed McDonald's for an ENTIRE HOUR. And I sat in the hot car melting. After about 30 minutes, I finally decided to open the doors to get a little relief. Except that set off the car alarm which DID NOT BRING RELIEF and I had no way of turning it off. In the words of Coach Barnett - Hotomighty!

We finally left McDonald's and headed to the storage unit in the middle of the ghetto of Orlando. We pulled up about 11:30pm and Adam punched the gate code into the box. Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing happened. I told him to try another code. Nothing happened. We tried another code. Nothing happened. He tried the original code. Nothing happened. And by this time, we were all more than frustrated. I got online to find a number to call but there wasn't one to be found. I found the website and logged in to see if I could find some sort of answer to why the gate wouldn't work. And I did. It just wasn't the answer any of us wanted. Even with a personal gate code, the gate to get into the storage unit has hours. Which apparently is only until 10pm. Which I never knew. Never mind that the homeless of Orlando can get in and sit DIRECTLY in front of my storage unit at any hour. Isn't the point of a gate code to be able to access your belongings at any time of day or night?! CubeSmart doesn't think so.

We sat in the car debating what to do for at least 20-30 minutes. Should we just go back to the condo? Should we get a hotel room on this side of town? Should we drive home? And, we (I guess it was more me) finally decided to just drive back to Georgia. With an empty U-Haul at midnight. We pulled into Sterling Oak around 8am after a drive that seemed to never end. And those children that slept the whole way home were wide awake. And my storage unit in the ghetto of Orlando was still full.

Moving Machine

I know that I said in my last post, which was posted in February (smh), that I'd expand more on moving from Orlando later. And I guess later became 4 months later. But, I'm back and ready to fill you all in on the last 4 months of AK crazy. First up, location update.

As most of you probably know, I worked for a company based out of Athens, Georgia called Landmark Properties. Landmark develops, builds, and manages student housing apartment communities in college towns across the US. Which is why I moved to Orlando in October of last year. I was working for Landmark as a Customer Service Specialist at their corporate office but wanted to expand my experience in the housing industry and gain on site experience. The closest option to home was Orlando so I took it. Right after I accepted the position, I found out that the owners of the property (third party management - ownership hired landmark to manage the property) were putting the property up for sale which most likely meant that Landmark wouldn't manage it any longer. During the due diligence for the sale, Landmark moved me to Boone, NC to be the assistant property manager at our property there. And on a scale of 1 to Jessie Spano, I was definitely Jessie Spano on the excited scale. Boone was my DREAM. 

I packed up my tiny house and moved everything I could to Boone the last weekend of February. The move from Orlando could actually be an entire blog post itself because it was a terrible experience. I remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom crying my eyes out the night before I was supposed to leave Florida. I couldn't get my bed frame apart and I was d o n e with moving and cleaning and packing. D o n e. But, I'm stronger for the struggle. I'll say that. And if you ever need me to move an entire couch by myself, let me know. I can get it done.

Boone was a breath of fresh air after the hustle and bustle of Orlando. The views were gorgeous Simply gorgeous! The weather was perfect in every way. I even had to buy more clothes for the cold because I was ill-prepared.

Three weeks after the move, I returned to Florida for a week of Disney and I didn't realize how much I would miss the place I hated so much. While we were at Disney, I received an email from a company that had been trying to hire me since June 2017. I interviewed for a position before I moved to Orlando and it didn't work out. But they kept reaching out to me every single month asking if I would be interested in different places. Finally, in March 2018, he emailed and asked if I would be interested in an open position in Athens, GA. That was my place. My home. I couldn't say no, even if I had just moved to North Carolina.

Cardinal and I talked back and forth regarding the open position and I even interviewed with the manager in Athens. Ultimately, she decided to choose an internal candidate that also applied for the position instead of me. And I was okay with that. After all, I did really like Boone and wasn't really looking to leave. And, I had been praying that God would open the right doors and close the wrong ones. That my anxious heart would have the utmost peace throughout this process and that I'd trust His plan.

Not even two days after I found out that I wouldn't get the position in Athens, my friend Brad (who also works for Cardinal) calls to ask what I think about Milledgeville, Georgia. My response was something along the lines of: "What do I think about it? It's Milly. It's where the crazies go. What about it?!" He told me he had a Community Manager position available there and he thought I would be perfect for it. HEY BRAD. I DON'T WANT TO BE A CM. I'VE TOLD YOU THIS A MILLION TIMES. Spoiler alert: I'm a CM. With Cardinal Group.

I interviewed with several different people for the position in Milledgeville and even came here to see the property and interview with the current manager. (Quick back story, I also had an interview the same day at Landmark's corporate office in Athens. The interview was t e r r i b le and I wanted to die.) I prayed the entire drive from Athens to Milledgeville that God again would give me peace and open the right doors and close the wrong ones. I'm here to tell you that I have never walked into or out of an interview with more peace. The day before the interviews, if you had asked me what I was going to do, I would have told you that I was planning to take the accounting position with Landmark. I wasn't really interested in leaving, but I couldn't turn down the opportunity to interview. If you had asked me what I was going to do immediately after the interviews, I would have told you I wouldn't take the Landmark position even if they offered it to me. I got back in my car after an interview and lunch in Milledgeville and knew that's where I needed to be. And here I am.

This cute little town does remind me so much of Athens, just on a smaller scale. I've found my favorite restaurant and it's probably where you'll be able to find me on any given weekend that I'm in town. I'm working on finding a church because I need Jesus and people here, y'all. I basically have no co-workers, aside from my part time leasing staff that are all 21, so I literally have zero friends here. It's real fun. I want a boat (and someone to drive it) so I can live on Sinclair. It's really the most perfect location. An hour from home. An hour and a half from Athens. Two hours from Atlanta, with traffic. The only thing we need is a Target and I'll be set!

I never ever wanted to move 3 different times to 3 different states in 8 short months.
I wouldn't ever recommend it. I wouldn't ever want to do it again.
But I sure am thankful for the people and the places and the growth it has brought.

BSF

I hate unfamiliar situations. For example, having to find friends in a restaurant sends me into a fit of panic. I have also been known to cancel plans because I was unsure of the parking situation. I cried the first time I ever had to visit a new church alone. I guess you could call it anxiety and I guess it's due to the fact that I'm an ambivert. I love people and I love being social, but I also really love being alone and not speaking a soul. It's like a battle to be honest. On one hand, I'd love to meet you for dinner! On the other hand, it better be somewhere I've been before (unless we're going together!) or I will most likely have a meltdown and then I won't show up. This outgoing introvert life struggle is real, y'all.

Even still, some of the biggest blessings can come from the most unfamiliar situations. The ones you resisted with every bone in your body. The ones you had to talk yourself into. The ones you hated at first but grew to love because you knew it was exactly what you needed. Toastmasters was that for me last year. I loathed Toastmasters. I specifically remember saying after the first meeting we attended that I would rather be attacked by birds than to have to go to Toastmasters. But, after a while I started to really enjoy it. I was even an officer, serving as the secretary for our club, before I moved to Orlando.

This year, Bible Study Fellowship has been the biggest blessing for me even though it was something I absolutely did not want to do. My sister signed me up for a welcome class and made me go. I was so nervous and wanted to run as far away as I possibly could. I was literally the only person in the welcome class and I wanted to hide. The leader was so sweet and introduced me to my group leader before I left. But, I still wasn't sold on the BSF thing. The second week I couldn't find parking and almost went home. I sat in the parking lot for 15 minutes telling myself that I HAD to go inside. And I went. And I really enjoyed it. The ladies in my group were so sweet and their love for Jesus was so evident. They brought the ugly part of life that most people try so hard to cover up and shared it with us. It was the very first time I've ever sat with a group of Jesus loving women, studying the Bible, and felt like it was okay to not be okay. To not be perfect. To not have it all together. It was exactly what I needed.

This year in BSF, we are studying Romans and what a blessing it has been! God's love for us is written so beautifully in Romans. His plan and promise and saving grace are prominent throughout each chapter and verse. He is working ALL THINGS for our good! I don't always complete my lessons on a daily basis, but I do take a few hours on Sunday to get caught up before our Monday night class. My favorite thing to do while reading the verses for the week and answer the questions, is to find commentary or a blog about those specific verses and read that as well. It helped me so much and I loved getting to read several people's perspective on specific verses.

This is my last week in Orlando (more on that later) and I am so sad to leave my BSF group. I'm sure there will be another group I can join, but here we go again with the unfamiliar situation! I'm so thankful to them for welcoming me so sweetly and showing me that it's okay to not always be okay.
My friend, SJ, has always said that BSF saved her life, and I always thought she was exaggerating. But, I couldn't have been more wrong. I know for a fact, I wouldn't have made it this long in Orlando without BSF and the sweet ladies who welcomed me into their group. I'll be eternally grateful.

Sassy as always,
AK

The Haps

Happy New Year! Better late than never, right?! Really, you should all just give me bonus points that this is published before Valentine's Day. Who am I kidding? I meant 4th of July. I guess you could say, I've got my ish together in 2018!

Your favorite Orlando girl has been busy the past couple of months. But, this past weekend was the first time since mid-December that I didn't have to go anywhere or be around anyone and I took FULL advantage of every second.

I cleaned house.
I caught up on all my shows.
I kept up with my exercising (new year, new me, I guess).
I went grocery shopping.
I took my car to the car wash.
I cooked.
I washed clothes.
I I didn't apply make up at all.
I never put on real clothes.
I wore Nikes instead of heels.
I rarely answered the phone (even texts).

It.was.amazing. And exactly what I needed. Sadly, I've gotten used to being alone here in Florida and a two week trip to Georgia didn't offer any instance for solitude. During our work conference, I had a roommate during the week at the hotel. She is sweet as she can be, but bless her heart she talks so much and so early. I don't do mornings and that was complete torture. She wanted to have full on "feelings" conversations at 7am and, honestly, I don't even want to have those conversations at 7pm.
After a week with a hotel roommate, I was stationed on my sister's couch (so thankful!) for the next full week. Those neices and nephews of mine are adorable and just sweet as they can be, but if they could wait until at least 9am to start playing loudly in the living room, that would be ideal. Bless their hearts, boys will be boys. Trucks and trains at 7am, with sound effects! You couldn't sleep through that if you tried (trust me, I know!).

I got back to Orlando the Wednesday after Christmas and my girls flew in on Friday afternoon to ring in the New Year with me! While we had such fun and I'm so thankful they came to visit, I ugly cried on Thursday night while I was cleaning my house because I needed to be alone (Well, I think that was the underlying reason. the breakdown happened at that moment because there would be 4 girls staying in my 500 square foot house and there just wasn't room! I know, I'm dramatic).

Our weekend was spent with lots of laughes and sarcastic comments and many eye rolls. We drank a lot of coffee (and maybe a few other things) and ate way too much delicious food. It was perfect in every way! They left me on Monday and I never left my couch. Except to open the door for the pizza delivery guy. I watched football all.day.long. and loved every minute of it.

The next weekend, I met two of my three favorite Wood sisters, Katie and Emily, in Fort Lauderdale to see Jeremy Jordan at Parker Playhouse. It was like a dream come true! We've been stalking him since Newsies on broadway came to the theater and we never thought he'd be so close to us! Emily and I also got meet and greet tickets so we could fan girl evven more! He was so nice and took a picture with us. As soon as I told him my name, he said "oh, we got some southern girls here tonight!" ha! He was even more amazing in person and it was definitely worth every penny (which was a lot)!

We also got to enjoy yummy food in Fort Lauderdale and spent Sunday shopping in West Palm! It was such fun, but it ended much too quick. I get to see all of my Wood girls in about a month and I'm so thrilled for that!

February will hold lots of visits from friends in Orlando and a visit to Georgia. So I think I'll keep the rest of January low key for the sake of my sanity (and bank account)! 2018 has started out well and I'm looking forward to what happens this year. I'm thinking it just might be amazing!

Sassy as always,
AK

Hard Seasons

I thought my move to Orlando would bring more blog updates for all of you to skim through, but the reality has unfortunately been the opposite. To be honest, I haven't been able to find words to convey my thoughts, but here goes nothing.


I would say that I'm adventurer to an extent. I've never ever been one to sit at home. If you say road trip, I'm the first person in the car. I love to travel and see new places. I moved to Athens almost three years ago and never once missed home or thought of moving back. But Orlando has been a whole different ballgame. I could tell you everything is great and I love Orlando and I'm meeting people and doing all the fun things, but none of that would be true. I actually really hate Orlando. Don't get me wrong, I like my job, and most of the people I work with, but this place is just not for me. I'm a small town girl and nothing about this place is small town.


This has been a HARD season of life so far. It has gotten better over the past few weeks, but I used to sit at home and cry my eyes out every single night. My heart longed for Georgia. For Friends. For Family. For things familiar. I've never in my life felt that way before and I haven't really figured out how to deal with it yet. I tried my best to just hide that I was struggling. I didn't want anyone to worry about me (read: my Nana). But, the more I tried to act okay, the more I cried. So, I've learned that it's okay to not be okay sometimes. And right now, I'm not okay.


Orlando was not where I wanted to be and it was far from an easy choice to make. I cried and prayed a lot before making this decision and it was not something I just decided on a whim (I had a job offer for a company in Boone, NC as well and if you know me at all, you know that Boone is my DREAM location). However, the Lord has "shown up and showed out" the past two months. And that gives me peace to know that even though this is not where I want to be, it's exactly where I'm supposed to be.


The week before Thanksgiving, my gospel singing friends were in Jacksonville singing on Sunday night so I drove to see them. I needed that visit more than I knew, and I'm so glad I was able to go. Then, I got to go home for Thanksgiving (and got off early for it too!). The week after Thanksgiving I was able to have dinner with friends from Augusta who were in town for Disney. Which happened to be the same night my car battery died and they graciously rescued me with a set of jumper cables. You can't tell me that God didn't ordain those dinner plans.


This week, I leave for Georgia. I'll spend a week in Athens for a work conference and a week in Augusta for family time. It is going to be so hard to get me back in Orlando after that! But, my girls (most of them) are planning a trip for New Years and I couldn't be more excited! My parents are planning a trip (for a bluegrass festival about an hour away) in February. My old roomies are also planning a weekend trip for February. My cousin and BFF are possibly planning a trip for February. I also have a feeling I can expect the sister and her family sometime before summer for Disney World.


On top of that, there have been so many not so little things that have meant THE WORLD to me.
Like, my BBE sent me flowers and FIVE separate "thinking of you" cards to tell me how much she misses/loves me and how awesome she thinks I am.
Some of the Landmark Cottage Construction crew were in town for a work trip and invited me out to dinner one night.
I've received so many text messages from unexpected people telling me they miss me.
I met some fellow UGA fans while watching the Auburn game. It was nice to be miserable with some fellow fans.
The staff at work bought me a Georgia state shape necklace for my Christmas gift, along with a card to tell me how much they love having me here and it was the sweetest thing. I might have cried.


While this city, and most of the people that live here, are not my cup of tea, I'm so thankful God has continuously worked ALL things for my good. I hope my time in Florida is limited, but even if it's not, I know that the Lord will continue to take care of me. If any of you are ever in Orlando, or want to take a road trip, hit ya girl up. I welcome visitors with open arms!


Sassy as always,
AK

Humble Abode.

I've been in my new house in Orlando for a week now and I still haven't fully unpacked. I could have done that this weekend, and really probably should have, but instead I watched football and Stranger Things 2. I know you're currently jealous of my productivity level and, frankly, you should be. I have so many clothes and finding space for them, plus all of my shoes, feels like such a daunting task in this tiny house.

I don't hate my house, but I also don't love it. For starters, it's too expensive for what it is. Sure, it's been newly renovated, but it was done as cheap as absolutely possible.There also seems to be more wrong that I saw originally and I wish I could cancel my lease at this point because I'm kind of annoyed. Lucky for me though, I know legal procedures for this in the state of Florida and I'd only have to pay two month's rent to break the lease. But, I don't really want to move everything again, and I know my dear brother in law isn't making another trip to God forsaken country so I guess I'll just stay put. Over the weekend I realized that my refrigerator door will no longer shut completely. I noticed when I first moved in that I had to make sure it closed all the way, but now it won't seal at all. Perfect thing to find out after a trip to the grocery store, huh? I put in a work order first thing this morning, so hopefully I can go re-buy groceries soon.

I haven't taken any photos of my house since I moved in, because you know, I'm not finished unpacking. But, I did want to share a few photos from the listing I found it on. It's 520 square feet, 2 beds, 1 bath and comes with the smallest kitchen I've ever seen. The thing I hate the most about it? There's not a single drawer in the kitchen. Not one. WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO PUT MY FLATWARE?! There's also no where to put food (aside from the fridge that is currently inoperable). No pantry or cabinet dedicated to food storage to speak of. But, I'd rather have my food on display than my forks and spoons. Why yes, they are part of the Pioneer Woman collection from the Walmart, but you don't need to know that unless I've invited you over for supper. Not because you've stopped by to sit a spell and happen to glance over into the kitchen to find flatware sitting out on the counter. Ree and Paula would have something to say about this, I tell ya.

         

         

   

That backyard is screaming for a dog, y'all. If I were the dog having kind of person, not the traveling kind of person, I'd have one in a minute. But what in the world do you do with a dog when you're gone for a week at Christmas?! It's just not fair to the pup. I guess I'll just have to let the squirrels take it over. Oh, and the grass because I'm supposed to cut that myself, and in the words of Heather Land "I ain't doin' it." The house really isn't alllll that bad. Except for I did see a bug on the porch and that obviously means that I need to burn the place to the ground (or call an exterminator like a responsible adult to prevent them from getting INSIDE my house, but I don't do bugs so EWWW). 

The drive to work is about 15-30 minutes depending on which way I go and what time I leave. I've taken the toll road to work every morning so far because forever late, but I don't in the evenings. I've already had to refill my Sunpass once (after the balance gets down to $10 it automatically adds $15 dollars) so that's gotta stahp! I'm used to driving 30 minutes to work away, so that's nothing new to me. I just gotta start getting my tail outta bed in the mornings (and going to bed before 2am at night) so I can go the long way. The struggle is too real, y'all. 

All in all, the house serves its purpose and for that I'm grateful. It was becoming a challenge to live out of my car (and the model unit at the property). Finding clothes to wear definitely proved to be the most difficult task! 

Now, let's all start praying that I have enough room for shoes AND clothes between the two closets I have. If not, I guess we know what the spare bedroom will be devoted to! Forget the people who might want to visit. They better bring a tent...there's plenty of room in that backyard! 

Sassy as always, 

AK