We are officially moved in to our new place in Hardeeville, SC. Jenny had her first short commute this morning, and I am anxious to find out how it felt not having to drive for an hour to get to and from work. My commute will come soon, I will be leaving here at 2:00 and seeing how long it will take me to get in. We had movers help us this time. I could not have handled moving out all of our stuff and moving into a third floor apartment unless I had a crew of 10 helping me. I had enough trouble moving us in going up 1 flight of stairs in Georgetown with Charles, Mom, Jenny, Terry, and Connie. It was definitely worth the price this time. They got to our place at 9:15 on Friday and were done at 2:00. That left us only the unpacking and the cleaning of the old place, which would have taken us a lot longer without the help of great cleaners Connie and Terry.
The new place already feels like home. We have done a lot of unpacking already. The kitchen is done and our bedroom is close. I have hung curtains in our room and we have started putting things on the walls throughout the house. We still have a lot of unpacking and re-arranging to do, but we feel settled pretty well already. This new place is huge! It is two bedrooms like the last place we were in, but we now have two bathrooms (which means decorating another bathroom and cleaning another bathroom). But where our other place was 800 square feet, this one is 1200! And there are 9 foot ceilings. So we are adding 400 square feet of space and 4400 cubic feet of volume. And I can definitely feel it. Unfortunately our camera is broken right now, so we can't show pictures right now. But as soon as we are able, we will be taking some and posting for everyone to see. That way everyone can see the before pictures (our place in Georgetown) and the after pictures (our place in Hardeeville). We can't wait to have people come visit us here and relax in our big apartment with us!
Showing posts with label Moving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moving. Show all posts
Monday, September 13, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Missing Savannah Already
On a positive note, I really do like the town we are moving to. Our address will be Hardeeville, but if you spit you could reach Sun City and Bluffton SC. Both of these small towns sit right on the water and are before the bridges that reach Hilton Head Island. They are much smaller than Savannah (which is smaller than Greensboro!) so I feel like I keep going down in town size. It is the type of place where you only have one movie theatre option and you are lucky if it has stadium seating. I will probably also start running into some of my students which I have always tried to avoid, but it sure beats the hour commute. However, everything in Bluffton is new with nice grocery stores like Publix, nice eateries, and thank goodness there is still a Target, Barnes and Noble, and a brand spanking new Wally World.
Overall however, I am still in love with Savannah. We are coming up on my favoritee time of year down here (and yes, I do know because Jason moved down here LAST October!). Summer lingers here well into October but the humidity lessens and you can wear dresses or jeans and a short-sleeved top well into "fall." Our new apartment that we move into on Sept. 10th will have a screened porch that we can not wait to use! The nights are especially comfortable outside and I am getting very excited for all of the festivals on River Street. We are missing a big one this Labor Day weekend to come home, but we are looking forward to Oktoberfest, PirateFest, and officially going to our first UGA game in Athens in November with our friends Rebecca and Jenn.
I honestly can not believe how easily we settled into our new city and jobs. Last year was so hard with Jason and I being 5 hours apart and we couldn't wait to be back together and really start a married life together. Well, it has been almost 2 and half months and it has been both extremely trying and exciting! Many people say that moving to a new city as a married couple strengthens you because you have to rely on each other so much and I do think that it is true.... but maybe it is because Jason works second shift and I work first that we have also had to rely on ourselves. We have each made our own friends and really found happiness in our careers and interests outside of our relationship as well. I won't say that I don't eagerly await the weekends so I can spend time with my hubby, but I am very thrilled with the new people I have met here in Savannah and how much fun I can have even when Jason is at work!!
I am very happy we have signed a year's lease at Courtney Bend apartments and as much as I would love to move back to NC, I actually hope we do not have to break this lease before next September.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Rainy Days
Well it does not feel like Fall is creeping in yet in the Savannah-Hilton Head area, but I can tell the seasons are changing because it is raining more and it is getting darker earlier. I can not wait for cooler weather!
This past weekend Jason and I tried to go to our home opener football game but it got stormed out :( We did however meet up at the "Hurricane Bar" with another new teacher Heather and her husband for a few drinks at the marina on the island before heading over the Gene and Nancy's to stay for the night. Saturday Jason and I spent the day at the beach on Hilton Head and we LOVED their public access, especially compared to Tybee Island in Savannah. HH was less crowded and had much nicer facilities such as showers and bathrooms (and parking!). For those of you who do not know much about HHI, it was only developed in the 1960's by a man who wanted to create a community that could exist with nature. The original community was called Sea Pines and then neighborhoods spread from there. Because of his original vision, HHI has very strict building codes. There are no neon signs, billboards, or any bright paint colors. As Gene says it takes an act of Congress to cut down a tree limb. The entire island is very wooded with tons of birds, animals and bike paths (oh, and golf courses!). You will be driving along and then--- "oops, I think I just passed the grocery store!" You can not see anything from the roads because of the trees. The beach itself was wide and had clean water but very few waves so it felt more like a lake than an ocean. But it is a very nice beach with far fewer rescues like Tybee!
Classes are still going good this week and I am already approaching Thursday! Today was picture day and of course I forgot, so I will be featured in the yearbook this year rocking a ponytail. SWEET.
I have my other bookclub this Friday and the featured book is called The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It is a memoir about a woman who grew up in poverty because her parents chose to roam from place to place in the west instead of providing for their children. It is painful to still watch as the children adore their parents despite the wrongful things they do to them and the amazing ways they can survive and find food. I have found the book so far and enjoyable to read because Walls simply tells the stories- she doesn't give emotional commentary. It is also interesting to see the development between the siblings and how they will all turn into successful productive adults in big cities like New York while their parents are still homeless in the same city. It really is a fascinating and heartbreaking story. It has made me enter my classrooms with a little different attitude because I now wonder how many of my students feed themselves or live without basic amenities like AC, heat, or even indoor plumbing. Worse than those lack of physical conditions, the children in the book also lacked emotional care, which I definitely see everyday. Sometimes I wish people would just not have children when they can not be responsible enough to care for them.
Anywho- almost another weekend! We are collecting boxes for our next move to Jasper County, SC. I guess we will have to get new driver licenses and I will have to rename the blog to the Smiths Take on the GA/SC State Line. Ha.
This past weekend Jason and I tried to go to our home opener football game but it got stormed out :( We did however meet up at the "Hurricane Bar" with another new teacher Heather and her husband for a few drinks at the marina on the island before heading over the Gene and Nancy's to stay for the night. Saturday Jason and I spent the day at the beach on Hilton Head and we LOVED their public access, especially compared to Tybee Island in Savannah. HH was less crowded and had much nicer facilities such as showers and bathrooms (and parking!). For those of you who do not know much about HHI, it was only developed in the 1960's by a man who wanted to create a community that could exist with nature. The original community was called Sea Pines and then neighborhoods spread from there. Because of his original vision, HHI has very strict building codes. There are no neon signs, billboards, or any bright paint colors. As Gene says it takes an act of Congress to cut down a tree limb. The entire island is very wooded with tons of birds, animals and bike paths (oh, and golf courses!). You will be driving along and then--- "oops, I think I just passed the grocery store!" You can not see anything from the roads because of the trees. The beach itself was wide and had clean water but very few waves so it felt more like a lake than an ocean. But it is a very nice beach with far fewer rescues like Tybee!
Classes are still going good this week and I am already approaching Thursday! Today was picture day and of course I forgot, so I will be featured in the yearbook this year rocking a ponytail. SWEET.
I have my other bookclub this Friday and the featured book is called The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It is a memoir about a woman who grew up in poverty because her parents chose to roam from place to place in the west instead of providing for their children. It is painful to still watch as the children adore their parents despite the wrongful things they do to them and the amazing ways they can survive and find food. I have found the book so far and enjoyable to read because Walls simply tells the stories- she doesn't give emotional commentary. It is also interesting to see the development between the siblings and how they will all turn into successful productive adults in big cities like New York while their parents are still homeless in the same city. It really is a fascinating and heartbreaking story. It has made me enter my classrooms with a little different attitude because I now wonder how many of my students feed themselves or live without basic amenities like AC, heat, or even indoor plumbing. Worse than those lack of physical conditions, the children in the book also lacked emotional care, which I definitely see everyday. Sometimes I wish people would just not have children when they can not be responsible enough to care for them.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Smiths Invade Savannah and Bring the Heat...
So we are here! I have not written in so long with the end of my school year, moving out of Kim's house, packing and preparing for the wedding and honeymoon consuming all my time. Jason and I had a magical few weeks together and are now happily married and together in an apartment in Savannah, GA! It feels nice to finally slow things down some and be home together although that home is strewn with boxes and we are already making plans to come home for birthday celebrations, and go out of town for Labor Day etc. I guess some things never change!
Our wedding was our dream come true- the weather was perfect, the setting was just as we had imagined, and our family and friends all meshed and danced the night away. When we look over our pictures we are both so happy at how everything turned out and how happy EVERYone looks! Thank you to all our family and friends for making it such an amazing day for us!
The honeymoon was also a great adventure and relaxing time for both of us. It was the longest time that Jason and I had spent together since Christmas break and we really enjoyed spending a full week together doing our favorites things.... reading, swimming in the ocean, eating, sightseeing, and eating some more! We loved our resort and how relaxed we could be and how beautiful the water was. We can't wait to go on more trips together!
Moving has been a big ole pain in the rear. We spend one week moving and cleaning Jason's old apartment here in Savannah, and then breezed back into NC for Meredith and John's wedding (which of course was both beautiful, fun, and great to see all our friends), and then packed up 4 cars and a 17 foot trailer to head back down to Savannah. Several scares later, me, Jason, Audrey, Charles, Connie, and Big Terry finally made it to our new home on July 4th! Many many sweaty trips up a flight of stairs later we had unloaded! Thanks to both sets of parents for helping out your kids, because we could never have done it alone! We love you! Here are some pics of the move and some sightseeing the next day! We had to take Big T to see Paula Deen's restaurant Lady and Sons- he already has big plans on how we are going to get reservations the next time he comes. We also found one of the beautiful squares that is dedicated to Nathaniel Green of which Greensboro is named after... small world after all.
Our wedding was our dream come true- the weather was perfect, the setting was just as we had imagined, and our family and friends all meshed and danced the night away. When we look over our pictures we are both so happy at how everything turned out and how happy EVERYone looks! Thank you to all our family and friends for making it such an amazing day for us!
The honeymoon was also a great adventure and relaxing time for both of us. It was the longest time that Jason and I had spent together since Christmas break and we really enjoyed spending a full week together doing our favorites things.... reading, swimming in the ocean, eating, sightseeing, and eating some more! We loved our resort and how relaxed we could be and how beautiful the water was. We can't wait to go on more trips together!
Moving has been a big ole pain in the rear. We spend one week moving and cleaning Jason's old apartment here in Savannah, and then breezed back into NC for Meredith and John's wedding (which of course was both beautiful, fun, and great to see all our friends), and then packed up 4 cars and a 17 foot trailer to head back down to Savannah. Several scares later, me, Jason, Audrey, Charles, Connie, and Big Terry finally made it to our new home on July 4th! Many many sweaty trips up a flight of stairs later we had unloaded! Thanks to both sets of parents for helping out your kids, because we could never have done it alone! We love you! Here are some pics of the move and some sightseeing the next day! We had to take Big T to see Paula Deen's restaurant Lady and Sons- he already has big plans on how we are going to get reservations the next time he comes. We also found one of the beautiful squares that is dedicated to Nathaniel Green of which Greensboro is named after... small world after all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)