Welcome to our blog! We moved from Texas to North Carolina in the summer of 2012 for a new chapter in our lives. Amanda is a tenure-track assistant professor at Davidson College in Communication Studies, Sociology, and Educational Studies. Al works as an EMT at Carrowinds Amusement Park and as the Fitness Facilitator at Central Piedmont Community College's gym where he teaches group exercise classes. He volunteers with the Davidson Fire Department twice a month.
**The permanent road to Davidson, North Carolina**
The moving truck arrived in the early a.m. and the moving crew immediately began to pack and load our town home into the large truck. It was weird to sit back and watch these poor guys do all that work. Moving is no fun and we have never had the privilege of having movers come and do everything for us!
After the movers were gone, I teased Al with this picture of his worst nightmare come true: the idea that a group of stuffed animals would somehow not make it into a box and get left behind!!!! Haha! For the record, no stuffed animals were left behind.
Al's parents came to Houston to see us off. On our last night living in Houston, we took them out for Indian food at Shiva, which was a new cultural food experience for them that they ended up enjoying (and a place that we love and already miss). We also made a stop for yogurt one last time at our favorite place, Yogurtland. Being the sentimental mushy gal that I am, I kept the Hello Kitty spoons we got as a memento.
We tied up loose ends at the apartment, were showered with more "going away" gifts from Al's family (including this Man Cave sign from Aunt Tencia!!!!), and finally packed the rest of our belongings for our road trip to our new home state.
Louisiana State Line
The next day, we said "bye" to our Houston home and headed out to Louisiana. I finally got my LA state line sign, though I *did* snap this pic with my phone while driving... I know, unsafe, but I seized the opportunity and was careful (I promise). As you can see, it is not a perfect pic so obviously it was done on a whim as I drove past the sign. Now my "dirty south" photojournaling project is complete. ; )
We hung out at the Isle of Capri with Al's parents for just a little more quality time before embarking on our road trip journey. Al and his mom gambled on the machines and Roulette table and WON!!!! Of course they did. They are lucky as always. I don't even try gambling because I know I'm just throwing my money away. Maybe if I had their luck, I would give it a chance. Na... I'd rather go shopping with my money, hehe. ; )
Thanks for bidding us a road trip farewell, Mama & Papa Olguin! : D
Al with his Mom & Dad just before we parted ways...
If I had to describe NOLA, here are the photos I would use!
We had a nice drive through the south once again, hit a bit of rain here and there, and generally took our time getting to where we would ultimately call our new home. We lived it up in New Orleans with our tradition of absinthe, red wine, and a couple rounds of Uno at Pravda, hung out at Razzoo's and shared a hurricane drink, then walked back from the French Quarter to our hotel to get ready for the next (and longest) leg of our trip to Atlanta.
The south is green and beautiful.
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia... then South Carolina and.... (drum roll)..... North Carolina, finally!
I was definitely *not* impressed that we hit a traffic halt once we were just about home free on the last highway to get to our house, but at least we were inching along at all. It wasn't long before we arrived to Davidson.Woohoo!
We met with the land lease manager, who brought our keys over and welcomed us to the neighborhood, and then me and Al ooed and awed over our house. It was even more perfect than we remembered. : )
We were actually only in our new home for a day and a half before the moving truck arrived with our town home's worth of belongings.
In the meantime, we relaxed, cleaned, shopped, put things away, got acquainted with the region and stores nearby, planned for each room in the house, and simply enjoyed the small things...
like having a washer and dryer IN OUR HOME, being able to sleep in and just rest peacefully, and cook meals at home.
Al couldn't resist doing his first load of laundry the first night we were there. I really love having a husband who enjoys doing laundry. It's such a luxury for me and a redefinition of "women's work," haha.
We anxiously awaited the moving truck the Saturday morning it was scheduled to arrive. The moving truck arrived just a little later than expected but, like the fantastic crew in Houston, the Charlotte crew was incredibly efficient, nice, and careful with our things. We definitely tipped the movers in Houston, who worked a full day,
and got a nice lunch for the moving crew who moved us in in North
Carolina, who were here half a day -- just a small gesture of
appreciation. United was awesome! We were very happy with the job they did for us. : )
While we waited for the moving truck, I made a video tour of the empty house. I came across a gorgeously perfect spider web near the side of the house and we had our first snake sighting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Al was pleasantly surprised with how well I reacted to the snake sighting, but had Mike (our land lease guy) not told us that black snakes are common in this area and good for keeping rodents out, I am sure I would have died out of fear at the sight of that HUGE at least 3-4 feet snake slithering around in our backyard! Al noticed that the snake was moving slowly but was aware of our presence because s/he seemed to slither away more quickly the closer he got to snap a picture. My theory is that s/he had just eaten a nice rodent breakfast and was on her/his way back to where s/he came from to rest and let it digest.
We have definitely been treading a lot more carefully around here. Al has sprayed with Home Defense for bugs at least twice, inside and outside of the house, and we are hyper aware of our steps when coming from our vehicles and into the house. So far, so good. Please pray that we don't have any more snake run-ins, y'all. I will surely die and not get to enjoy my fancy tenure-track job!!!! : P Now please enjoy the video tours! (Just click the 'play' buttons on the images below).
Part 1 - Downstairs & Outside (snake sighting!!!!)
Part 2 - The Upstairs
Whew! The moving crew is done. Now it's up to us to make this house a home.
We are all moved in now and have things mostly set up. There are a few odds and ends to do still, like hang up a few more things on the walls and fill picture frames with updated photos of our near and dear "inner circle" members, haha. No shortage of those since we had such a boomin' social life before we moved away. : D
I plan to make another video tour once the house is totally ready for your viewing pleasure.
Here are some highlights:
I found a salt and pepper shaker to match Al's cookie jar from Aunt Esther.
We took a break from unpacking one evening to walk to the Ben & Jerry's a few blocks away. We had ice cream for dinner! : )
My office building is only a couple blocks from our house!
Degrees are framed & displayed in my office on campus. So exciting!
Al's Goodwill punching bag find made the move! Man Cave set up is in the works...
Small town life has its quirks. This whole street was shut down for a tiny caboose to pass at a snail's pace, haha.
People are extremely friendly around here and very conversational. They also border on overly interested (read: nosey, but trying to be nice with my words here, hehe). When we were moving in, an older woman with a child in a stroller gawked at our moving truck from across the street... then, she walked over, sat on the curb as the crew unloaded, and stared at them bring our stuff into the house. I'm talking about RIGHT on our curb in the front yard is where she was perched up. She later asked us, "Moving out or in?" LOL. Seriously? The big city mentality in us had us annoyed and even borderline mad at the situation... What? Was she scoping out our things to rob us later? But the moving crew told us that that's kinda how people are around here. Curious and interested. Here's a woman exemplifying such behavior, stepping on a concrete block to peer into the construction going on in downtown Davidson, haha. We watched her here for a long time because we were at a red light. It was quite comical!
Gorgeous green backyard.
It rains often here. Unlike Houston, after a good downpour, it actually feels cooled off and the temperature drops outside. Of course it rains often -- That's why it's so beautiful and green here!
Our first visitors! Lucky for us, much of Tiffany's hubby Stephen's family lives in the Carolinas area! They just so happened to come up at this time when we were all moved in = perfect timing! We can rest assured we'll get a visit from them at least once a year. I had a blast hanging out with my cousin and my little godson, AJ.
We went to the Auto Racing Hall of Fame museum...
At The Soda Shop in downtown Davidson, just a short walk from our house.
Watching Tiffany, Stephen, Mark, & Al race the cars on the indoor track!
The Race!(video below)
Now for a game of black light mini-golf... I told Al I was good at this and it is only now that he experienced my awesome mini-golf skills, haha! Wifey for the win... by a long shot!!!!
Mark won the jackpot 500 TICKETS!!!! AJ left this place with a boatload of prizes after cashing in his tickets. So happy to spoil my godson on his visit to my house!
The moving truck arrived in the early a.m. and the moving crew immediately began to pack and load our town home into the large truck. It was weird to sit back and watch these poor guys do all that work. Moving is no fun and we have never had the privilege of having movers come and do everything for us!
Al's parents came to Houston to see us off. On our last night living in Houston, we took them out for Indian food at Shiva, which was a new cultural food experience for them that they ended up enjoying (and a place that we love and already miss). We also made a stop for yogurt one last time at our favorite place, Yogurtland. Being the sentimental mushy gal that I am, I kept the Hello Kitty spoons we got as a memento.
We tied up loose ends at the apartment, were showered with more "going away" gifts from Al's family (including this Man Cave sign from Aunt Tencia!!!!), and finally packed the rest of our belongings for our road trip to our new home state. 
Al couldn't resist doing his first load of laundry the first night we were there. I really love having a husband who enjoys doing laundry. It's such a luxury for me and a redefinition of "women's work," haha. 
We anxiously awaited the moving truck the Saturday morning it was scheduled to arrive. The moving truck arrived just a little later than expected but, like the fantastic crew in Houston, the Charlotte crew was incredibly efficient, nice, and careful with our things. We definitely tipped the movers in Houston, who worked a full day,
and got a nice lunch for the moving crew who moved us in in North
Carolina, who were here half a day -- just a small gesture of
appreciation. United was awesome! We were very happy with the job they did for us. : )
While we waited for the moving truck, I made a video tour of the empty house. I came across a gorgeously perfect spider web near the side of the house and we had our first snake sighting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Al was pleasantly surprised with how well I reacted to the snake sighting, but had Mike (our land lease guy) not told us that black snakes are common in this area and good for keeping rodents out, I am sure I would have died out of fear at the sight of that HUGE at least 3-4 feet snake slithering around in our backyard! Al noticed that the snake was moving slowly but was aware of our presence because s/he seemed to slither away more quickly the closer he got to snap a picture. My theory is that s/he had just eaten a nice rodent breakfast and was on her/his way back to where s/he came from to rest and let it digest.
Al couldn't resist doing his first load of laundry the first night we were there. I really love having a husband who enjoys doing laundry. It's such a luxury for me and a redefinition of "women's work," haha. 
We anxiously awaited the moving truck the Saturday morning it was scheduled to arrive. The moving truck arrived just a little later than expected but, like the fantastic crew in Houston, the Charlotte crew was incredibly efficient, nice, and careful with our things. We definitely tipped the movers in Houston, who worked a full day,
and got a nice lunch for the moving crew who moved us in in North
Carolina, who were here half a day -- just a small gesture of
appreciation. United was awesome! We were very happy with the job they did for us. : )
While we waited for the moving truck, I made a video tour of the empty house. I came across a gorgeously perfect spider web near the side of the house and we had our first snake sighting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Al was pleasantly surprised with how well I reacted to the snake sighting, but had Mike (our land lease guy) not told us that black snakes are common in this area and good for keeping rodents out, I am sure I would have died out of fear at the sight of that HUGE at least 3-4 feet snake slithering around in our backyard! Al noticed that the snake was moving slowly but was aware of our presence because s/he seemed to slither away more quickly the closer he got to snap a picture. My theory is that s/he had just eaten a nice rodent breakfast and was on her/his way back to where s/he came from to rest and let it digest.
