Finally home

So we made it.

We’re here in Virginia. And it feels more like home than Searcy did. Just the atmosphere. The ability to shop at a real grocery store, and not Wal-Mart, alone has made it feel like we’re in the real world, and not the island that is Arkansas.

Work:

Work is good. So far so good I should say. I feel like I’m catching on rather quickly. They’ve been letting me know that it’s been slightly slow. I was hoping so. I have enough work to get me about halfway through the day, and then I kind of sit around and wait for something to do. Well, kind of. I’ve been doing a little bit more of my old job due to unforseen circumstances. Not a bad thing, but it has given me more to do. I like the people. It’s different working with younger people as opposed to mostly people who have reached the average halfway point in life. There’s a little more interpersonal drama than family drama. But I guess that’s just the ebb and flow of life and your priorities.

Apartment:

We definitely like this apartment more. It’s older, and slightly more ghetto. But there’s more room. And I definitely feel more secure here than in our old apartment. We’re on the first floor. But the first floor is slightly underground — the windows begin where the ground begins outside. I suppose not having such a huge window by the bed is a big draw. I miss my old washer and dryer. And sometimes, especially on the cool autumn nights we’ve been having lately, I miss having a porch. But I think we like this place better. Much more conducive to entertaining. I think JD is getting used to it.

The Move:

The move went pretty well. I’m glad that Sean’s new boss when it comes to decisions is a little bit clearer when communicating. It was obvious that moves with his company are generally 100-250 miles away, not 900+ miles away. But we got here. With most of our stuff in one piece. And we’re mostly unpacked. JD hated staying in the hotels. Especially when we had to sneak him in and out under a big fleece blanket. Hopefully we won’t be moving half way across the country every again. At least if I have anything to say about it….

The husband:

Things are great. It’s hard to believe that on the 30th we will be married 9 months. Kind of crazy. I think the fact that we’ve moved halfway across the country and still seem to be going strong says a lot. I’m slightly spoiled now. He’s working 8am to 6pm and has off on weekends until the store opens. When the store opens, it’ll be interesting. I have a feeling he’s going to be at work a lot.  He loves what he does, and that makes me happy.  I like knowing that the only reason he dreads going to work is because he has to get out of bed next to me.  I am truly loved, even when I don’t deserve it.

Weight Watchers

Well.  I joined again.  I’m weighing heavier than I did because of the move.  But it wasn’t healthy weight loss either, so it doesn’t suck too much that I’ve gained some of it back.  Hopefully we’ll be joining the gym soon.  I miss working out.  I never thought I would, but it just gives me so much energy.  And sometimes I need that.  Especially on slow days like this at work.

So, life is good. So far at least.

Virginia, Here We Come!

It’s kind of hard to believe that two weeks from now, Sean and I are going to be moving to Virginia.

 Probably be somewhere in Tennessee stopped for the night.  It’s nice that Sean’s company is paying for the hotel stays.  It saves us from waiting a month for a refund check, especially since it’ll be 24 days until I get my first paycheck from the new job.  But, if we feel like going further, we can’t.  We’re stuck at the hotels they had to book ahead of time.  Whatever.  Just as long as by August 31, Sean and I are going to be in our new apartment.

We are so thankful for this.

I think we were starting to go stir crazy in Arkansas.  If it weren’t for Virginia, it would’ve been months from the last time I saw a mall.  I know that’s silly, but before living here, I never thought twice if I needed to run up to the mall to get something.  But here, you learned to be satisfied with fast food and crappy movie theaters with very little shopping.  Part of me still thinks if it weren’t for this, we might’ve gotten stuck in Arkansas for the rest of our life.  It would’ve been easy, and we would eventually have become very bitter.

I’m really really excited about my new job.  Part of me is kind of nervous.  It’s something completely new.  What if I don’t live up to their expectations?  What if I’m really not that great at what I’m going to do?  What if when it’s time to move up, I fail miserably at that?  What if I don’t fit in with them at all?  I know it’s silly.  And that everything will be fine, but it still a little nerve wracking.  I was at the hospital for almost two years, so it’s weird having to start all over again.

The only thing I’m not looking forward to is splitting up the trip.  I’m a make-it-one-day kind of girl.  Sean is breaking it into three days.  He’s the one driving the UHaul and pulling my car, so he gets to call the shots.  I’d just as soon get there as soon as possible.  I’m sure JD will as well.  His favorite part about moving is the boxes.  I have been attacked more times out of boxes sitting around than the past year with this cat.

 I’m just so excited.  Keep us in our prayers!

Thank you, God!

Our trip to Virginia this weekend was a success.  Not without a hitch, mind you.

The day before, we find out the opening of Sean’s store is delayed.  It kind of stinks.  It’s three weeks further back.  But, I don’t mind–Jenel’s told me I can crash at her place if I need someplace to stay while I wait for Sean to be able to move.  Until Sean’s current boss starts talking.  He said, “In my experience, when store openings are pushed back more than 3 times, it’s likely the store won’t open.”  So, that sends us in a downward spiral.  We wasted three of my vacation days and $800 to fly out and not do anything. 

After psyching ourselves up, throwing up several times, and learning that if the lease on the building of the VA store is signed it will open, we head out around 5:30 am Tuesday morning.  As we are standing in line trying to find a rental car, his future District Manager calls to let him know, yes, the lease is signed, and yes, we can rent the $80 a day SUV that is the only available vehicle.  The whole trip turns around.  My stomach stops feeling like it needs to empty its contents and starts feeling the butterflies of my upcoming interview.

So, in short, we love the Ashland/Richmond area.  It’s beautiful.  It has all the creature comforts of home, for both of us.  The people have the Southern attitude, more similar to Sean’s home than Searcy.  The places are some of my favorites–Wawa, Panera, Coldstone, Friendly’s, Rita’s. 

His store location is great.  Ashland’s a town like Pitman and like personalized, hometown business and would rather reward that than traveling far away.  I mean, they’re known for fighting Wal-Mart.  The reason his store’s delayed?  There’s no door.  They need to cut through a brick wall to have a big window and a door.  And it’s the strip center’s manager who is falling down on the job. 

My interview went great.  An hour interview turned into 1.5 hours that had to be rushed through at the end because they all had an 11:30 lunch date.  Of course, for about an hour, I had no one else to celebrate with.  So I left messages and waited for phone calls and Sean.  Eventually the phone calls came, followed by Sean coming back.  We then found an apartment, paid our deposit.  The thing that’s kind of exciting about that, it’s probably going to be one of our last rentals.  We hope that given a couple of years and saving, we can make an investment in a home.

Yesterday was spent mostly traveling.  We returned home to the neediest JD we have ever witnessed.  He would not stop yelping.  We spent some quality time with him, played our new Mortal Kombat game, and then headed up to the Traveler’s baseball game.  Let me tell you, the luxury box is the only way to properly watch a baseball game.  All the food you want.  Under the shade.  If it get’s too hot, airconditioned room with plush leather couches to lounge in.  Especially with a cute boy to rest your head on and ask dumb questions about what’s going on.

And today.  Today I was offered the position of Staffing Coordinator.  I can’t even explain how much relief and excitement that means.

God is good.  All the time.

Time flies…

So, we’re moving to Virginia.

He’s been offered the job and accepted.  It’ll be a great opportunity for us, and their relocation package is quite amazing.  We’re flying out on Tuesday to explore Richmond.  He’s going to be meeting with his district manager, checking out the site, and doing some apartment hunting (although, we think we already found the one we want to live in).

The best part?  I have an interview.  The thing I was scared most about was finding a job.  And this company and job is what a guy at work called “little Emily heaven.”  I’ve had a couple interviews so far.  I’ve sent them references.  They’ve sent me an application, an I-9, a W-4, and VA State Tax Form.  I have a group interview.  Man, I want this so bad.  If this works, me and the husband are set!

We’re SO excited.  I still get nervous.  I’ll be a wreck if this job doesn’t work out.  But still, we’ll be out of AR, near my mom, near my best friend.  It’ll be wonderful.

Virginia, here we come!

The Ultimate Airport Story

This weekend was my brother-in-law’s graduation.

Granted, it was on Friday and I was working the last shift of Open Enrollment at work.  Well, I would not have been had I been able to get off work to fly with my husband to Austin to see my brother-in-law’s graduation, but I was oh-so-critical to the operations of the HR department the Friday before Memorial Day. (READ: Maybe 10 people showed up in our office needing help.  Not one of which had questions that only I could answer.)  But I’ll save a post about describing my frustrations with my boss for another day.

My in-laws graciously decided to fly me down the next morning to spend time with them and enjoy a weekend away.  Especially since my husband, and only friend in town, would be away from me the weekend of my father’s death.  They were considerate and were willing to book me on a more expensive flight that would get me in to Austin around 1PM.  Since they were going out of their way to buy me a flight so I wouldn’t be stuck in our apartment with our cat who ignores me half the time, I volunteered to take the flight at much earlier time.  A 6:40am earlier time.

I did the math.  I needed to leave at 5:40 am to make my 6:40 am flight.

I know what you’re thinking.  She must live right across the street from the airport.  Although an airport is right across the street from my apartment, it is not the one I was flying out of.  I was flying an airport an hour away.  That’s right, I was planning on arriving the same time my flight was leaving.  Do you believe I got an A in College Algebra and Quantitative Business Analysis?

I had traveled about 7 miles and I noticed it was about 5:50 am.  It hit me.  My flight was leaving in 50 minutes and I still had about 45 miles left to drive.  My nice steady pace of 73-75 mph rose to 95-100 mph.  I know.  I am incredibly lucky that a cop didn’t witness my little red Echo taking flight down 67. 

At 6:19am, I miraculously made it to the Little Rock National Airport.  Then it became trickier.  I had to find a parking space.  It’s the Saturday before Memorial Day, my car was parked in Section U.  Out of Sections A-Z.  My car was literally about 10 yards from the exit.  Some poor parking shuttle driver took pity on the almost-crying, jogging girl and picked me up.  So, he took a 15 minute walk into a 3 minute car ride.  I booked it to the check-in.  My bag got checked in.  I jumped up to a kiosk and someone said I was cutting.  I backed off and started on another one.  The comment was too stupid to even dignify.  The Southwest rep told me I was lucky and my flight looked like it might be delayed, to drop off my bag at TSA and try to get through security.

My next obstacle was security.  I had my bag of 3oz liquids out and ready to go.  The line started on the ground floor close to baggage claim.  Granted, this is a tiny airport.  But the line was longer than I ever dreamed possible. 

At 6:38 am, I broke down and called Sean to let him know what happened.  It’s one of those things that you don’t want to tell someone until the last possible moment.  I hadn’t gotten within 30 feet of going through the metal detectors, and it was 2 minutes until our flight was going to take off.  He tells me what gate to sprint to once I make it through the ungodly line and lets me know that my flight shouldn’t take off for another 20 minutes. 

After another 10 minutes, I make it to the point where I can put my things through the x-ray machine, and a pilot showed up.  He cut in front of me to go through security.  He asked if I minded.  I told him I’m about to miss my flight.  Wearing his Northwest Airlines shirt he told me he’d get me there on time.  I told him I was flying Southwest to Austin.  He said oh.  And cut in front of me.  Just because you can flying an effing airplane doesn’t mean you have the right to make me late.  Douchebag.

By then I book it.  The end of that itty bitty terminal never looked so far away.  By now it was 6:52am, and it would be a true miracle if they hadn’t shut the doors and retracted the bridgeway.  I get to gate ten and ask what flight it was.  They said my flight number.  I almost cried.  They hadn’t even boarded yet.  I call my husband and tell him I’ll be in Austin in a few hours. 

The reason why I made it:

The night before, the plan flew through a flock of birds.  One bird sacrificed his life and got stuck in the engine.  They spent the morning at our gate cleaning the remenants out of the engine.  They warned us it might smell like burnt dinner or cooked chicken.  I was just thankful my butt made it on that plane.