Moving is exhausting!

Soooo... its my third night in my new apartment, and none of my stuff is here yet :( Thank you Corrigan Moving Co. for this wonderful inconvenience. Don't get me wrong, I know how lucky I am to have a job that will pay for my relocation and whatnot; however, since they packaged up my goods one week ago Thursday, I think that has been ample time to get it all down here to Atlanta. Its only 11 hours away afterall.

Whats the point of telling me to get my happy ass down here by Monday when your full intentions were not to deliver my all of my belongings until the dead last day possible on the contract :/ turds.

Anyway, I have found ways to keep my mom and myself busy so far. I have redecorated both of my bathrooms, bought some truly beautiful throw pillows, bought/put together two bar stools and even bought a new mattress set! We also spent the majority of today going to at least 7 different furniture stores in the quest to find the perfect new bed set for my room. All of close calls, but wouldn't you know that when we got home, my mom suggested I just google "bed" and see what pops up-- BINGO! I found the set that I truly love and there's a store that carries it only 3 miles from me! You all know what I will be doing tomorrow :)

Alright, well its time to crash on my deflating air mattress... wait Jen, I thought you bought a new actual mattress... yes, I did in fact. However, and god knows I love her more than life itself, but my mom could literally suck the entire apartment in with her snoring and its either toss and turn all night next to her or camp out on the other side of the apartment in my deflating air mattress.

Good night!

Atlanta's great but the traffic is horrible

That is probably the most common and over-used phrase I've heard since I found out I was moving to Atlanta. It's not that I was in disbelief about this epic traffic I'd heard of, but I did have to question how bad it really was. I mean southeastern Michigan, while not known for their traffic, has ridiculous amounts of construction. I kid you not, I really thought there might have been a conspiracy against me trying to get the to places I needed to go using the easiest way because every time I moved the construction followed me!

Anyway, I got stuck in the epic traffic today at the worse time possible. My wonderful neighbor friends, specifically the lady friend, had invited me to go to the cardio class our apartment complex was putting on and I was all amped to go. Now, I have actually gotten very accustomed to the drive between my hotel and my new apartment and it takes max... 10 minutes. Well, little did I realize that the entire working population surround the Perimeter area works the 9-6 schedule... FML. I would have been right on time even early if I had fallen victim to the cluster-fuck that was the traffic situation from the parking structure of my hotel through the main road I had to use to get there.

Well, I actually managed to get there right on time. But I was talking to my mom on my cell and missed the text from my friend correcting the location of the class. Well again, would have been fine, I have no shame in showing up late... but apparently in my rush to get on the road I neglected to snatch my access card so I couldn't even get into any of the work-out centers even if I wanted to.

Conclusion: I'm awesome.

My new place :)

I signed on my new apartment on Friday. And I am very lucky to have two awesome and very close friends as neighbors in my new abode that are only two buildings away.

Here are some pics of it!

The living room

Dining area and kitchen

The kitchen

I can't wait to get all of my stuff moved in and decorate. I'll definitely be adding more photos once I do!

Cheers!

Some people make lemonade out of lemons... but I'm gonna make sangria out of peaches

One month ago today, I was offered a position in Atlanta, GA. As a native Midwestern lady I was shocked and overwhelmed.

Wait... does this mean I have to like country music now? (By the way, I've never cared much for that genre save for about 30 songs that cross over into pop- and I have already found my favorite non-country stations in the area.)

So I did the really mature and professional thing... and started crying. Now, I know this seems crazy, especially the fact that when I joined this company I knew I'd have to travel extensively/move at some point in my career. Nonetheless, I cried. I had never been to Atlanta before and it has never topped my list of "places to live". I had no idea what to expect and had poked fun at one of my closest friends when she moved to Kentucky for college a few years ago and started to adapt to the native lingo/accent.

Luckily, I was given the chance to visit the ATL before I had to commit to any decision, so I did... and color me crazy, but I actually really liked it and felt at home immediately. (This could have had something to do with the fact that as I walked through the airport upon my arrival my anthem, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" by Ms. Whitney Houston, was blaring over the speakers... just saying.)

Also luckily, a very close friend of mine already lives in ATL and offered to show me the ropes and invited me to dinner my first night there. So I visited all of the local hotspots I was told to check out over that first 48-hr period that I was there. I even found an apartment!

So I accepted the position here in Atlanta (technically Alpharetta) and have tried to embrace all things Atlanta since then. When I first thought about starting my blog I really thought I would basically be turning lemons into lemonade while I was here. But I can already see how great this new chapter in my life will be. Yes, of course I am sad to leave the mitten, but I also know you can't fully appreciate something until you loose it and I certainly hope that is how it works in the end. And the best results are often yielded when forced outside of your comfort zone... okay, okay enough with the cliches!

So watch out Atlanta, here I come!