2012 has been nonstop! i can’t believe all the places we’ve been this year. it was fun for me to put together a timeline – this has been one of those years i’ll never forget. warning: there are lots of photos and hyperlinks!
over mlk weekend, will & i took a relaxing weekend away at cloudland canyon as our christmas gift to each other. in march we visited new york city for the first time and spent easter in toronto, trying to decide where we should move.
at the end of april we finally decided where we were moving and threw a cheeky “reveal party.” our closest friends brought drinks that corresponded to where they thought we should move. i drank canadian beer, manhattans and a pimm’s cup – but the pimm’s won – we told everyone we were taking a big jump across the pond and moving to london in september.
we went to the beach with our best friends to celebrate graduations (from law school & div school) and wish them well on their move to DC.
we came back, celebrated will’s birthday and his graduation. i took one last look at my ginormous, beautiful apartment and took lots of photos (see my full home tour here).
three weeks later we went back to the beach with will’s family for memorial day. we cooked together in a big kitchen, got sunburned and stared at the ocean. we came home and started planning our move. we decided to sell most of our belongings (except sentimental things & wedding gifts). i had a huge house & home sale in june. we packed and packed. sold furniture on craigslist and whittled our life down to two cars.
i said goodbye to my day job at belmont (i was an admin assistant for the PT school – such a lovely opportunity). around this time, i found out i got the pandora ad and we decided that i would try music full-time in london. such a big risk but i was ready.
on the way home from the beach in may, i had the crazy idea to put together a covers EP with a few friends who inspired me and made up the community that i knew i’d really miss. alva leigh in nashville was such a fun project – i released it the week after i moved to london. (it’s also still available for free download on noisetrade)
i finally left nashville – i think i ate my way out of the city. i started compiling lists of the things i’d miss the most and the places i’d miss the most. i gave lots of tearful hugs goodbye and packed my element for one last trip to mississippi. we unloaded our stuff into will’s dad’s attic (thanks, doug!) and got on a plane to DC to visit claire & nathaniel. it was one of those perfect weekends where your face hurts from smiling – i have never been more content sitting around, listening to music and making each other laugh. this picture from the nat’l cathedral still makes me laugh.
after DC, i spent the majority of august in my hometown, gulfport, mississippi with my mom. we cooked dinner together, walked on the beach and drank wine. i took my niece to lunch, got to know my sister’s new husband. i really benefitted from the time to decompress before the big move. we celebrated thanksgiving and found out that we were going to have a little nephew in april! i am so thankful that we had time with our families before we left.
my brother and i met up in new orleans for a final hurrah (and to celebrate our birthdays). we ate at cochon, drank beer on bourbon and stayed at the roosevelt! it was a hilarious and perfect 36 hours together. he’s my favorite so we could have been anywhere and it would have been perfect.
about three weeks before we were scheduled to leave, my visa was denied. i took a deep breath and self-medicated. we expedited the next one and pushed our flights back a week. we used a relocation service to find a flat – they were absolutely wonderful and eased all of my worries about finding the perfect place. throughout august, we had several conference calls with them and they really helped us stay in our budget and find the perfect neighborhood. in the meantime, we took a fast trip to nashville to attend a wedding. i celebrated my 25th birthday there!
i was scheduled to leave gulfport a week before our departure date and join will in jackson. he was there with his family, and we still had to pack and inventory what we were leaving behind. but of course, it’s not august in mississippi without a hurricane. i packed in a hurry, afraid that if it was bad, i wouldn’t be able to get back in again. my mom went to jackson with me and we rode out the storm.
we figured out how we would pack and celebrated our last nights in the states with good meals and lots of calories of course. my brother & sister-in-law drove down at the last minute to tell us bye – i still get teary thinking about that. i couldn’t believe it. we were really doing it… moving to london.
I really really enjoyed your post. I can just see your smiling, excited face….Love ya…