Under the Tennessee Sun

Andy and I are moving to Tennessee on Thursday. We will lay over at my parent's house that night and roll into our new lives on Friday. We'll be living in a 2 story townhouse in Smyrna, TN; which is just south of Nashville.

I'm excited for a few things. The house that we're renting has more square footage of living space than our current house. It has 3 bathrooms! Right now we have 1 tiny bathroom. The guest bedroom has it's own bathroom, as does the master bedroom. Both bedrooms have walk in closets! Right now, Andy and I each have 1/2 a closet in separate rooms. The kitchen is huge and has tons of cabinet space. And that's just stuff I'm excited for about the house.

The area of Tennessee that we're moving to looks really pretty, and it will be near mountains. There's lots of places near by for camping, hiking and even canoeing. The weather will be miles nicer there than in Minnesota. When we get there, the LOW won't even be below freezing. I'm going to throw open the windows and breathe fresh air.

Since we'll have a townhouse, we can't do much gardening. So we'll take up what space we can on our little back patio for container gardening. Maybe we'll have a tomato plant and some basil. We can go to the Nashville Farmer's Market this Saturday when we get settled. I don't have a Tennessee job yet, but that's my focus once we get in and get settled. My temporary job is to unpack, cook dinner and find a job.

About a year or so ago Andy and I were talking about our plans for the future. We wanted to move within 2 years from that point and start seriously searching the January after we got married. Nashville isn't Portland, but it has a lot of what we're looking for. I'm excited that we're accomplishing such a big goal. We can get settled into life down south and maybe buy some land to have a big garden and some chickens.

I will update more once we get down there and start feeling more comfortable. Here's to new and exciting experiences!

Moving can't be that hard, or no one would do it.

But it rains in Portland

I've got a few things on my mind today. Let's start with the cold.

When we've talked to people about wanting to move out west to Portland, Oregon. A common reply is "but it rains in Portland." This is usually coming from Minnesotans, who can't imagine wanting to live somewhere else. I'm a true blue Minnesotan myself, I was born and raised here, I spent my childhood building snow forts, skiing and sledding. But I could die right now if I went outside in my pajamas for any length of time. I love going outside, but not when the outside could kill me! Death from exposure doesn't really happen all that often in Portland. Doesn't that sound nice? Portland is pretty mild all year round. And some people say they'd miss having all 4 seasons. I would miss winter more if it wasn't trying to kill me. The best thing about Portland is that it's surrounded by mountains and you can choose when you want to visit winter. Plus you don't have to shovel all the time.

Suddenly this week, Minnesota decided it was going to be winter. After trying to drive to work, shoveling the drive way and walking to the train when its -20 degrees, I've decided that winter is a season for kids. Kids get to bundle up and make snowmen, wish for snow days, build forts, fall over in the piles of snow made by plows. For adults, snow means snarled traffic, spin outs, and shoveling. Lots and lots of shoveling. But at least its pretty now.

My next topic: Southwest Airlines. When we took our honeymoon to Portland, OR we took Southwest to get out there. Since I checked in pretty late, we were slotted to get on the plane last. If you know anything about Southwest, you know they don't have assigned seats. Boarding the plane last would ensure that we would probably not sit near each other in the 4 hours to Portland. Andy asked the attendant at the desk to see if we could sit together for our honeymoon and surprisingly they agreed! We got 2 seats next to each other in the 2nd row and the flight attendant offered us free drinks and gave us extra drink tickets for our flight home! It was amazing and definitely unexpected. It was a great start to our honeymoon.

Since they were so nice at Southwest, Andy wrote in to tell them the story and recognize the flight attendant for her service. A couple weeks later we got a package in the mail from Southwest with a letter. They thanked us for being customers and sent a wedding gift!! I couldn't believe it. They sent us a candy dish with a little heart in the center. So essentially, we asked for something from an airline and they provided that and kept on giving. That is something that we don't experience with all airlines.

That's all I have for today! It's cold outside and I'm glad to be warm!