Until next time,
Jamie out
Adventures come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it is camping, hiking and exploring the great state of Arizona every weekend. Usually it is more of an everyday moment that turns into a great story. For us, our November was exciting and eventful, sad and overwhelming, and definitely a period of growth.
We closed on our house, refurnished almost our entire house due to our storage unit flood, replaced my totaled car, and got a puppy. We also sprinkled in some babysitting of my nephew, my getting back on the worship team at our church, and starting new jobs.
We closed on our new house at the beginning of the month and were super grateful to get the keys the same day. (You can read all about buying our first house here) The very next day, our family and friends came out to help us move items from our storage unit to our house. Unfortunately our unit flooded in Hurricane Florence and we lost almost all of our furniture due to water damage and mold. We are still working through the insurance claims process. That blog post is linked here.
Within a couple days of moving in, the microwave handle broke off, which was not surprising since it had been glued back together. Despite all of the stress from no furniture, chaos in boxes strewn throughout the house, starting back at work, and replacing everything that had been irreparably damaged, we were still very grateful to be in our own home with a roof over our heads. The first few nights felt like a dream. An air mattress padded dream.
A few days after we closed on the house we bought a new (to us) car. If you haven’t read about my car being totaled on our move out to North Carolina, that is linked here.
If you didn’t know, you canNOT finance a car while you are under contract for a house because it will seriously mess up your mortgage process and you could lose the whole thing. Thankfully we were scheduled to close very shortly after returning home so we only had to wait about a week before we could replace my car.
My dream car is a 1996 4Runner, and while financially that is attainable for us, I wasn’t excited for the upkeep of an older vehicle with a lot of miles. While I may be drooling over the new 4Runners, we decided to be more financially responsible and get an all wheel drive RAV4 four our adventuring. I am super pumped! I love all of the bells and whistles that my little Mazda2 was lacking. Cruise control, bluetooth, and a sunroof? This girl is a happy camper.
While we had to replace a lot of things that were damaged, we also got to indulge a little on things we didn’t have before. We have a bonus room over our garage and our intent is to turn it into a cozy and fun movie room with a game corner and space for me to work out. We got this super beautiful sectional from Ashley Furniture and we are in love. It is so nice to unwind at the end of a long work day by watching some Brooklyn Nine-Nine in our nice little get away.
We ALSO got a washer and dryer and I am over the moon, even though I am doing laundry almost every day. I have never had my own washer and dryer and having them in my house feels like such a luxury. What do you mean, I can do laundry whenever I want?!
Our new dish set survived the #GreatFlood of 2018. We love them! We got them as wedding gifts and they are from the Ellen collection. I personally think that pizza looks very good on them, but I suppose all of the other healthy meals we have been having look just as good.
I also began reading Eragon (not for the first time, don’t worry) but it has been hard to find time to read while we are SO very busy.
My family lives in Fayetteville and every Sunday we all get together for dinner and quality family time. My nine month old nephew has grown six teeth since we saw him in June and is basically walking. He also ADORES music and he plays the piano with just one finger and gets frustrated when he can’t play as well as me or my mom.
I don’t think I have ever mentioned EyeBuyDirect on here but I LOVE them. You can get prescription glasses for a fraction of the price that you would spend somewhere else. You can also invest in more trendy frames if you’re feeling it. I spent less than $50 on these two pairs! Click here for $10 off your own pair.
Being back at church is amazing. We love all of our friends, the culture, and the events that Manna has. We arrived back in Fayetteville just in time for their yearly missions event called The ROC. Last year I played with the band through the event, which ended up being a huge time commitment but I had a blast. It was nice to just be an attender this year and not commit to serving. I did hop back on the worship band the Sunday before Thanksgiving, though, and I sure have missed it.
We celebrated both Halloween and Thanksgiving since my last monthly round up. We had just arrived in North Carolina when Halloween rolled around so we were very “chill” with our costumes and dressed up as “Netflix and Chill.” You have my permission to steal this costume idea, because we sure did.
My nephew was an adorable lumberjack and at this point he was still pretty unsure about us. A couple weeks later he was giving me hugs and sloppy kisses though, so I’d say he has warmed up to us.
I got to eat three glorious Thanksgiving meals this year. Everyone brought their A game. Our Friendsgiving was probably the best ever, with our traditional southern fried turkey, sweet potato casserole, and my huge bowl of mashed potatoes. The spread at my mom’s was just as delicious and I made two dishes I have never made before. They both turned out great! I am so glad that we live here so that I don’t have to brave making my own turkey yet.
Fayetteville had a fantastic Harry Potter themed event downtown the weekend before Thanksgiving. There was a horcrux scavenger hunt that involved riddles and we explored all of downtown while freezing our buns off. We stopped in at The Coffee Cup for some delicious Harry Potter inspired drinks (mine was a golden snitch coffee).
What would have qualified as an adventure in Arizona came in short number this month, but we have a LOT going on! Hopefully in the new year we will be able to get out of town a little and explore more of the east coast. For now we are content to work on the house and play with our puppy.
Yep, we got a puppy. Also on the weekend before Thanksgiving we drove up to Virginia to pick up our girl Blue (read her blog post here).
We brought her home when she was 8 weeks old and weighing in at a little over 10 pounds. She was unsure and timid the first couple days but we worked hard to help her feel safe and loved with her new forever family. She is a Golden Retriever (my favorite dog breed in the world) and is super sassy, but also super snuggly.
Her first night here was the one and only night that she could fit under this couch. She almost immediately grew too big and if she tries to jam herself under there now, she just gets stuck. It’s super adorable.
We are making sure to have her meet a lot of people, men, kids, and other dogs while she is this age to get her nicely socialized. My nephew loved her when they first met and my sister’s dog got super excited! We were careful about those two meeting. Our friend also just got a puppy who is a month older than her and they had a great play date.
These were taken on her first few days with us. She is already so much bigger! I can’t wait to compare photos of her side by side. We think she is super adorable, a LOT of work, and are excited to help her become a good girl with great manners who loves hiking and exploring with us!
I hope you enjoyed this monthly round up! My goal is to do this on the last Friday of every month, so stay tuned for some glorious iPhone photos from December in a few weeks.
Hoping you all had an amazing month. Share your top three favorite things from your November in the comments below! If you enjoyed this post, please give it a like and don’t forget to subscribe and join our family if you haven’t already.
Until next time,
Jamie out
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Last month
This year we are living in a hotel in the desert, so carving pumpkins and buying all of the decorations is not in the cards for us. This is our slightly revised but still autumnal bucket list for #theSuiteLifeofWillandJamie.
Until next time,
Jamie out
Will and I have been in Arizona for a little over a month now, and let me tell you—the adventuring is real. In this month we have tried three churches and settled on one. We have visited three neighboring towns and road tripped to Utah. We have climbed a couple mountains, watched some 4th of July fireworks in a park while munching on shave ice, started a Bible study group going through Colossians, and explored local staples like the farmer’s market and La Casitas Mexican restaurant.
We have met a lot of new people, through work and through the community, and have found that this temporary home is pretty great. We have been put up in a hotel for the four months we anticipate being in Arizona, and while there have been some sacrifices made for hotel life, it isn’t all bad.
The rooms were first come, first serve, so we arrived a few days early and were able to snag a suite. We have a tiny kitchenette, but unlike other rooms, we actually have a stove top, large working desk, a couple couches, and a separate bedroom with in-suite bathroom. As I spend many of the week days at home, I’m grateful for the extra room.
Not only am I grateful to not have to use the communal kitchen, but I am also grateful for coffee and tea in the lobby, complimentary breakfasts every morning, and the sweet staff who clean our room and supply me with anything we need. Even though the laundry is upstairs, most people here work during the day, so I don’t have any issues with snagging a washer or dryer during the week. I could get used to this!
Among other highlights, I got to take a quick visit to urgent care early on to talk to a doctor about fluid that has been hanging out behind my eardrum. We also arrived in Arizona just in time for monsoon season. The rain and lightning storms are intense, and as a girl who loves to watch the wind whip through the trees, I’m all about it.
Getting out of the hotel often looks like a run to the grocery store or Target. Maybe a dash to the gas station Red Box. We’ve already seen at least three movies in theaters. These are all great things, but my favorite thing we have started making a habit of is going on evening walks together. Will works all day, and I’m at home a lot, so getting outside and moving our bodies is super healthy. We also get to climb mountains, explore the area, and learn more about one another. It isn’t exactly date night, but I’m not knocking it—I really enjoy it!
On the 4th of July, Will had the day off from work. We drove up to Tucson for the day where we hit the mall and took advantage of holiday sales.
Really we were just there to get our annual festive shirts from Old Navy, but ended up discovering a universal truth—there will always be great sales on or around holidays and to pass up $4 shirts and $10 jeans is just lunacy.
After purchasing more than the intended 4th of July tank tops, we found ourselves at (aka intentionally headed for) REI, which is an outdoors recreational equipment and clothing store. From water filtration systems to maps of all the areas one could possibly adventure to in the great outdoors, we wandered around drooling over Osprey backpacking packs and Yeti coolers. We marveled at a map comparing the west coast to the east coast (#westcoastbestcoast) and how many parks and trails we haven’t seen yet.
I then explained to Will that everyone in my family loves their Yeti Rambler Tumblers and that they brag about their Yetis to me all the time. I mean, they all bought each other the Yetis as gifts. So one might say, “Jamie, if your family bought each other Yetis as gifts, you must have one as well!” Aha, that’s where you would be wrong. As my family brags about their coffee never getting cold or their iced tea never getting warm, I sit in sorrow as my run-of-the-mill tumblers just can’t measure up. And no, I am not bitter at all that they gifted each other Yetis.
I gifted my own dang self a Yeti while we were at REI.
The biggest reason we drove to Tucson, believe it or not, was not for Old Navy tank tops or REI adventures. It was, in fact, to reunite these two West Coast lovers with a staple that we pine over while living our lives in the east. It is none other than the delectable delights of one In-N-Out Burger.
No visit is complete without an animal style burger and a chocolate shake, in my opinion. If you have ever seen the drive-through line at a North Carolina Chick-Fil-A, then you know exactly the kind of love and dedication that we are talking about here. The double lanes at the drive-through, the efficiency of the workers, and at peak hours, the brave souls who stand outside to take everyone’s orders because it’s just that much faster. That is what In-N-Out on the west coast is like. It is LIFE.
And side note, I also picked up a 49ers hat at the mall because no fan apparel life is complete without a ball cap on game day. #49ersFaithful
We came, we saw, we devoured our burgers, and then drove home to change into our new appropriately festive Independence Day attire. We headed to a park in town to meet up with some new friends who had been whiling away the afternoon by playing Spike Ball (it’s legit, follow this link to find it on Amazon). After Will and I BARELY lost, we headed over to peruse the food truck selection and chose to cool off with some authentic Hawaiian shave ice.
Pineapple, blue raspberry, and mango. It was a monstrosity, and super soul satisfying. You can tell because Will appears to be having a great time. Just look at that smile.
Will and I were the old farts who remembered to bring camp chairs to the shindig. We set up on a grassy spot by a tree, but then discovered we couldn’t see a thing so we all moved to the other side of the tree. The fireworks got going… or so we thought. We’re not sure just what happened but the show seemed to be missing a middle, so we spent most of the evening talking to people instead of watching fireworks. Meh—you win some, you lose some.
The rest of the month we spent adventuring, or I spent holed up in our room constructing this blog. I picked up a side gig to be a Digital Marketing Manager and will be doing that part time. I have also been disciplining myself to get serious about fitness. My main goal is to reach a level of fitness that allows for hiking and other active exploits on the weekends with Will.
Will, who works out for more than an hour most days. Will, who runs a 6 minute mile. Will, who could crush me with his pinky.
Yo, I’m just trying not to huff and puff in his wake as we climb a simple mountain trail. So I’m dedicated to making it through 80 Day Obsession (a Beach Body program) while we’re in Arizona. I am doing great! I just finished phase one this week and started on phase two. Booty day is my favorite day!
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In an effort not to inundate you with information about our lives, I will end Part I here and instead treat you to some bonus posts this month. If you liked this post, let me know by liking or commenting, and don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already!
Until next time,
Jamie out
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