life is either a great adventure, or nothing.

Ryan found out about the job here in Athens back in June.

He was pretty determined, so we packed up on July 4th weekend,

thew the dog in the backseat and drove 7 hours for him to have an interview.

He'd never been to Georgia before,

so we found an Ingles and got him the quintessential southern meal.

They let us stay in a trailer with animal hair all over the sheets, bugs in the windows,

wasps outside the door, and an A/C that didn't adjust very well and kept us shivering all night, all in a teeny tiny town with nothing more than a dollar store, a gas station,

and a grocery store that looked like it was straight out of a horror movie.

I kept trying to see the adventure in it all - and even though I can laugh at it now,

I cried a lot while it was happening. Boohoo.

I took this picture after he told me we could stay in a hotel.

I think that was the fastest I've ever gotten ready... 5 minutes, tops.

So, as much as we appreciated their kindness and free night,

it goes without saying that we did stay in a hotel the next night.

We spent most of the day sitting in bed watching TV

and only ventured out to get some high class subway.

We drove up 2 weeks later to figure out the whole house thing.

We moved up 2 weeks later.

(Yes, we drove to Georgia 3 times in one month)

And, the rest is history!

30DTD1.

On 20SB, I saw someone mention "30 Days of Truth." I'd never heard of it and it sounded interesting so I Googled it. After reading about it - I decided I wanted to do it because it's a good way to get to know yourself. I know how lame that sounds, trust me... but I avoid things, intensely. If I wanted to, I could go through an entire day without having one serious thought... and some of these questions are pretty serious, so I think this is going to be good for me.

Day 01 - Something you hate about yourself.

First... I'm going to state how odd I think it is that this is the very first question. Depressing.

I hate that I'm afraid of failure. It's always been a fear of mine... for as long as I can remember. When I was little, I quit taking piano lessons when it got too hard because I didn't want to feel incapable of learning. I quit playing basketball when I was a junior in high school because they wanted to move me up to Varsity, and I was terrified that I would either 1) never get to play or 2) make a fool out of myself in front of the entire school if I did get to play. I quit dancing when I was young, because I had a good memory and all the little girls in my class would watch me and do what I did, and I was afraid I'd let them down during a performance(yes, I could process that at that age) and I also quit again when I was a senior in high school because I didn't want people to expect me to go to college and try to continue with dancing - even though that's what I wanted. I was good at my studio, but I was afraid I wouldn't be good enough at a college. I never went to college, because I was afraid I'd fail. I don't try to make friends because I'm afraid people won't like me... which is failure in my book. This fear has always held me back from doing things that I've wanted to do... and I hate it.

(PS - the rest of the questions are on the 30DT link to the right)

it's time to grow the up.

Since we moved, I've felt like a completely different person. A person I don't even know. Back home, I was home. I knew too many people because it's where I grew up. I knew all the back roads to get places so I could stay off the highway. I worked jobs that I was good at, and I was comfortable because there was always someone there that I knew.

Then we got here and I realized that I had been hiding behind comfort for far too long. This place scares me. There is no one here that I know. I haven't driven a car since at least July 31st. I'm not a big fan of traffic, and there is plenty of it here to persuade me into the passenger seat. I don't have a job because I'm blessed enough to not have to, but lately I've been wondering how happy I am being only a housewife.

The other night, we laid in bed and he let me "cry it out" until 6am. At the time, I felt like I had lost my identity and the only identity I had here was "Ryan's wife." But the more I've thought about it since, I realized that I never really had an identity. If you asked anyone who has ever known me what defines me, I can assure you that they wouldn't be able to answer the question. The best they could come up with would be Ryan and honestly, that doesn't bother me, because to know that people think of my husband when they think of me makes me feel like I'm doing right in my marriage.

But I want something else. I want a hobby. I want a passion. I want something that is mine. For the first time in my life, I have the opportunity to do anything I want, and I've spent the last 2 months sitting inside my house cooking, and cleaning, watching tv shows, and ultimately hiding from my fear of getting to know new people, and my fear of failure. I think I needed that time to myself and I'm thankful for it, but now it's time to put my big girl panties on and get out there and do something with my free time. Something I enjoy. Something I love.

Now, where the heck do I start?!

welcome to georgia, ya'll!

Heyyy. I'm back again(for the umpteenth time) -

I'm going to give this thing another go. Let's play ketchup though...

Ryan got a job as a motorcycle tech in Georgia right out of school.

Actually, while he was still in school because he's that cool. (;

We moved here from Florida on August 1st, but not without much difficulty.

I wish I had blogged through the whole move because from the outside looking in,

I'm sure it would have been so very entertaining. Alas, I did not.

We found ourselves a cute little 2 story house built in the 1980s.

It sits on a small creek that flows into a much bigger creek about 3 minutes down the road.

We're still in the process of making this house feel like our home, but we really like the area. However, we're not in love with it. Which is kind of exciting,

Because who knows where we'll be this time next year.

This job is giving him all the experience he needs to get any job he wants down the road.

It hasn't been easy - it's actually been stressful because we're still paying rent at our old apartment - but that ends this month, thank goodness gracious!