warm weather wishes

i have a feeling almost everyone in a northern part of the country feels the exact same way and my floridian blood is not to blame for this next statement: I AM OVER YOU, COLD WEATHER. and i don't care who knows it. i mean, seriously. friday is april 1, and unless you, mother nature, are playing some cruel april fool's joke on all of us, we are done. d-o-n-e. done.
so, to get back at MN i am shifting my focus today to warmer thoughts (ha! you can't win this time, lady). i am picturing myself slathered up in sunscreen, laying on the beach in my new j. crew bathing suit (that i definitely can't afford), and instead of blending into the white sand, i am back to my normal shade of olive that my italian mother so graciously handed down to me.
ahhhh, to dream....

local find (and we're alive)!

in an attempt to explore our new city of south bend, i'm going to use this blog as a way to force myself to get out of the house (away from all the boxes) and navigate around our new grid.

but first! why not start in the town i feel most comfortable in? yep...that's right - we're back in athens. i mean we couldn't stay away for THAT long, could we? [well, in all honesty, as part of the agreement with notre dame and beau's program, which will allow him to still get his degree, he is supposed to come back to athens  three tuesday's throughout the quarter for class, sooo i guess we were kinda forced to come back].
athens has TONS of cute little coffee shops, restaurants and boutiques lining court street, but the one i have been to most often is definitely brenen's (you might recognize the outside of their shop from this post). they have great coffee and specialty drinks (their vanilla chai is a-mazing), bagels and breakfast sandwiches, and a HUGE lunch menu...lots of veggie options (their  tomato bisque is fabulous). the entire place is has floor to ceiling windows, so it's an awesome place to pop-a-squat and get your work done [yes, they have free wireless]. i've spent many a-hour soaking up the sunlight through the inside of their cafe...the owner even knows my name...

on  a side note, beau and i are alive! this is the first time i've had contact with the outside world since friday, so i'm trying to get as much in as possible before we drive back to south bend tonight...back to no internet and no 'real' tv.

the move was successful. my dad and beau did a bunch of work on thursday - picked up the truck and moved a bunch of boxes to the garage. then, those two heavy-weight lifters, and our gracious, gracious neighbor, spent six hours loading the 26' truck on friday. woke up at 6am saturday and drove six hours to south bend, spent four hours unloading the truck (with the help of beau's uncle and grandparents. yes...grandparents). and completely crashed that night. and crashed is probably an understatement.
it will take a few weeks to get our new home in order, but i'm up for the challenge :)

back!

we're alive!

will update later this afternoon :)

let me get sappy for a sec.

see, when beau and i first moved here i hated this place. it's tucked wayyyyy back, away from what most would consider 'civilization', in the hills of southeastern ohio. it's a small town, too. only like eight square miles with about 20,000 people - most of which, i'm assuming, are the college students. and, going with the whole away-from-civilization-thing, athens is a true college town. i classify a town as being a true college town when there is nothing in that city BUT the university. [beau and i have had multiple heated conversations about the definition but i'm right]. now, sure, there are businesses in the surrounding areas that employ lots of locals, but in athens county, ohio university is the largest employer. period. 

sooo, after about 6 months of being homesick and feeling sorry for myself, i finally snapped out of it. [then winter hit and that cycle started all over again, but didn't last as long]. looking back on our time here, i hate to admit it, but this little place has grown on me. all along we knew this would be a short-term stay. one of beau's professors put it perfectly - "you came here to leave". we knew we would be here for two years and then peace-out, but i don't think either of us expected our time here to go by so fast, nor did we expect to meet half of the amazing people we've gotten so close with - people whom we would have never had the chance to meet if we didn't take a leap of faith and move 1,000 miles away from our 'home'.


having to leave athens two months earlier than planned is so so bittersweet. i mean, we are moving to south bend for beau to start a position at notre dame. it's an unbelievable opportunity that we couldn't be more thankful for. but, that means we have to leave behind the place we've made our home...our first home as mr. and mrs. 


today is our last day in athens. our life has been stuffed into boxes and the truck is being packed. i will miss this litte town and all it's shenanigans - court street, shuffles, two-for-tuesdays, my haning crazies, the uneven brick roads that make you feel like your car has hydraulics, the hippies at the farmers market, the "sig. others" and our dinner dates, being able to walk everywhere, the dance floor at broney's, but mostly we will miss the people. we love each and every person that has been apart of our life here in athens. you all have made our experience what it was, and it was nothing short of unforgettable. thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for being so welcoming and giving us the gift of your friendship. you will forever hold a special place in our hearts.

...know we will be back - even if just for a visit :D

fast facts & a rap

learn something new:
- ohio university was established in 1804 as ohio's first university
- home of: ohio brew week, hockhocking folk festival, sustainability festival, pawpaw festival, boogie on the bricks, bong fest, hookah in the hills
- student body from 50 states and more than 100 countries
- nationally-recognized, both academically and socially (ranked as the #2 party school in 2010)
- the athens farmers market is the largest open-air farmers market in the state (and it runs all year! yeaaa...even in the winter. it's pretty friggin' awesome)
- notoriously haunted: athens was voted the 13th (lucky #, right?!) most haunted place in the world
- not athens-related, but chillicothe was the original capital of ohio...not columbus..
- famous for the "mardi gras of the midwest": athens' ginormous halloween party attracting 10-30K people every year from all over the country to partake in their costume shenanigans, over multiple blocks of brick roads [it's a sight to see and should probably be on everyone's bucket list]
- the student union, baker center, is home to athens county's only escalator system (and their food court was named one of the top 10 most vegan friendly campus food courts in the nation!)
- home to a city skate park funded by the tony hawk foundation, featured on the MTV show "viva la bam"
- the alden library is one of the 100 largest libraries in the country
- also, charles j. ping center is one of the largest recreational centers in the united states and sustainable!
- another non-athens relation and probably my favorite claim-to-fame for the area: my beloved sarah jessica parker was born in nelsonville, ohio - in athens county!


betcha didn't know some of those, did ya?! or maybe you did...either way, at least i learned something new :)

annnnnd, you have to check this out! one of the baseball players here made this sick video, with sick rhymes (ha! you like my attempt at trying to sound like a rapper?) about athens. be warned: it's catchy and the video is pretty legit too. click here to see the goods.

chaos

 

 

this is our life right now and it's complete chaos.
every room has a maze of boxes to navigate around. i really wish there was a night vision camera in our bedroom - it would have got me on film, in the dark, tripping over 3 boxes, at 5am this morning and doing a little p90x, back & bi's, between 2 big wardrobe boxes. that would have been a sight and a half...not one that i would ever share, but entertaining nonetheless. [uh! and if you're moving in the near future you must check out these a-mazing boxes. they are, in my husbands words, "the cat's ass"]

i can't wait to get this mess out of the house and on the truck...just to move it and unpack and create more chaos in our new place :)

good news? my dad is flying up here today to help us move. i can.not wait to see him.

toodles!

office organization c/o etsy

thursday is my last day at work and it's going to be a sad, sad day in my little world. i've made some really, really great friends here, but there's no doubt in my mind that i will remain friends with these people for a very long time.

just thinking about starting a new job makes me nervous. interviewing is not my favorite thing. starting some place new and being "the new girl" makes me feel a little uneasy, too. i'd like to say that i get excited about it, buuuuut i don't. so, to help myself get pepped up about having a new office [even if it is at home, in a bedroom, with no one else to talk to] here are my picks to help me stay organized at my new desk...wherever that may be...

vintage metal locker baskets, metal basket, industrial table top file cabinet, yellow vintage organizer, wood drawer box, file sorter, turquoise valet organizer, mid-century desk lamp