Change
Story Of My Life: A Fresh Start
Page 2
I can finally say that I have been a new Nashville resident for 6 days. It would have been longer but due to the fact that we had a 3 day drive instead of a 2 day drive due to a blizzard that lasted us all the way from Park City to Wyoming. We went a fast and steady 40 miles per hour that whole gap, (people probably thought my mom was elderly by the way she was driving). The first day we were trying to do anything to stay awake. As a gift, we received a whole bag of cookies from one of my cute friends and her family; on the first day my mom and I both had ten. TEN. They tasted so great the first day as they did the days after, (by the third day of driving... They were all gone). We made our first REAL food stop in Sidney, Wyoming at a place called "Runza". Yes, it was as gross as it sounds. Just as I was about to take my first bite of a what they call a "Runza Sandwich"... There was a black hair. At that moment, I definitely lost my appetite and decided to have ice cream for dinner instead. My mom and I both didn't sleep at all that day, so by the time we settled into our first hotel of the trip... EVERYTHING was funny to us. We laughed until we cried and then laughed again until we fell asleep.
The next day we woke up bright and early and got out on the road again. Today, we had another 15 hour drive. We were both so exhausted. I tried so hard to stay awake through my mom's new audio book, but there was just no way. I ended up taking three naps through this drive. After my third nap, we made a stop to stretch our legs in a place that gave me a taste of home again, "Cracker Barrel". Walking in brought back memories from when my dad would take my siblings and I here growing up every time after we would pick him up or he would pick us up from the airport after a long trip. Everything in this restaurant reminds me of him, and if you know my dad ... You know he loves a good country meal. Without my dad, literally none of this would be possible. He has always encouraged me and helped me follow my dream. I am so lucky and so grateful to have my dad in my life. He has never once questioned or complained about the sacrifices we have made in order to make this move possible. I wish he was here with my mom and I to experience it first hand! Regardless of the distance, I will always be a daddy's girl!
Finally, on Tuesday the 14th of January; we arrived in Nashville! Yay! As we pulled up the apartment complex, I had a large pit in my stomach. Not because I was nervous, but because I was so anxious. Pulling up to this apartment made everything so real again. I had to pinch myself! Is this even my life? Am I really pulling up to my apartment? Am I really about to open the door to a fresh start? When we walked up the three flights of stairs (which is the top floor of the apartment complex), I was so excited and eager to put the key in the knob, turn it, and open the door to see what I have seen in pictures for the last few weeks. When I walked in and saw my cute new home, it hit me again. This is my new home. This is where I am going to be living. This is where I am going to be learning how to cook (well, try not to burn my food). This is where I am going to be making my new memories. I get a fresh start in a new town. I get to redecorate and give this place a splash of who I am. To get to the point of having everything done, will take some time. So for now, I will have to try to make the bare, tan walls as cute as I possibly can. Now it was time to unpack and try to make this new place...My home. Although our van was completely packed up to the ceiling, we really didn't have much. We only had a few little things to start us off in each room of the house. From the beginning, our plan was to buy most of our big furniture and most other house decor out here in Nashville...Well, we decided that AFTER we really realized just how many clothes I had! We couldn't even put them into boxes because then we really wouldn't have enough room to pack them away! So we ended up putting them in plastic garbage bags. We also figured that it would make it easier to carry into my apartment...We were VERY wrong. Never...and I mean NEVER, underestimate the heaviness that 3 or 4 or 12 bags filled with shoes and clothes are. You will definitely work up a sweat like we did! After a few days of sleeping on the floor, we finally got a mattress too! The only problem was trying to have two girls, (my mom and I), carry it up three flights of stairs into our apartment! I have never wished for an elevator more in my entire life than in that very moment. After finally unpacking everything it was time for the day I dreaded most... Cleaning day.
If you know me, you know that I am somewhat of a germaphobe. I can't even share a drink with my mom! My friends all tease me because I kiss boys and they say that is worse than taking a sip out of their cup of soda... But I just can't do it! When we woke up on what we planned as our "cleaning day"... I knew I was in for a long day! Even though our apartment complex had provided a professional cleaning service before we came.. I still couldn't stand the thought that I hadn't cleaned it yet... Sounds a little bit insane right?... But it couldn't hurt to go clean everything over one more time JUST IN CASE! We cleaned literally from morning to night... but when we were done, I have never seen anything more shiny! It had a certain sparkle to it! Seeing everything completely spotless made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning! Obviously after I was starving... (Well, I am always hungry), and I went to go open my fridge to get something to eat and realized we have NO FOOD. Not a stitch. Then I remembered that we had lived off of pizza and cheeseburgers the past few days and that we hadn't actually gone grocery shopping. Which brings me to my next adventure...
The grocery store and I have always been best friends due to my love affair with the food inside. I have always gone grocery shopping with my mom and dad, but I never really payed attention to anything other than making sure that my mom ALWAYS had Diet Coke and bananas in the shopping cart. Now, I really had to pay attention. I had a budget. I didn't ever really understand how hard maintaining a budget was until I was put on one this past week. I wasn't eased into it how most people are by getting an allowance every week and then getting their first job, etc...I was thrown into it! I guess I just never realized how much money everything cost. At first, I was just throwing everything from my favorite things, to the things that I wish I would eat but they would go bad before I did. I mean, who wouldn't want to eat the Twinkies and Salt and Vinegar Chips before the avocados and grapes? When I was going crazy grabbing everything off the shelves, my mom was grabbing more bathroom supplies. When our carts met up, she looked at me as if I had lost my mind. She said "How do you expect to pay for all of this? How many REAL meals are you going to be making out of this food?" . I didn't realize what she was saying until she suggested we take every item out of the cart and add it up. It was way above and beyond the budget that I had! This is when I learned a valuable lesson... I shouldn't spend money more on what I wan't than what I need. After some arguments and some struggles... We walked out of Wal-Mart with a pantry and fridge filled with healthy, meal-worthy food.
Change - "To make or become different"
That is what I am doing. I am changing what I do every single day to chase a dream. Some people look at change as a negative thing. Others don't necessarily look at it as a negative thing; they are just more comfortable in the pattern that they live. Change, can be hard; but it can also be for the better. I am grateful for the change that I have made in my life. I DO hope that the change I have made changes me. However, not in the way you would think. I will never change who I am at heart... I hope to change into a better me. I hope this change allows me to grow in different ways than I could have grown in Utah.
"How can you know what you are capable of unless you embrace the unknown?"
-Esmerelda Santiago
Until next time...
Page 2
I can finally say that I have been a new Nashville resident for 6 days. It would have been longer but due to the fact that we had a 3 day drive instead of a 2 day drive due to a blizzard that lasted us all the way from Park City to Wyoming. We went a fast and steady 40 miles per hour that whole gap, (people probably thought my mom was elderly by the way she was driving). The first day we were trying to do anything to stay awake. As a gift, we received a whole bag of cookies from one of my cute friends and her family; on the first day my mom and I both had ten. TEN. They tasted so great the first day as they did the days after, (by the third day of driving... They were all gone). We made our first REAL food stop in Sidney, Wyoming at a place called "Runza". Yes, it was as gross as it sounds. Just as I was about to take my first bite of a what they call a "Runza Sandwich"... There was a black hair. At that moment, I definitely lost my appetite and decided to have ice cream for dinner instead. My mom and I both didn't sleep at all that day, so by the time we settled into our first hotel of the trip... EVERYTHING was funny to us. We laughed until we cried and then laughed again until we fell asleep.
The next day we woke up bright and early and got out on the road again. Today, we had another 15 hour drive. We were both so exhausted. I tried so hard to stay awake through my mom's new audio book, but there was just no way. I ended up taking three naps through this drive. After my third nap, we made a stop to stretch our legs in a place that gave me a taste of home again, "Cracker Barrel". Walking in brought back memories from when my dad would take my siblings and I here growing up every time after we would pick him up or he would pick us up from the airport after a long trip. Everything in this restaurant reminds me of him, and if you know my dad ... You know he loves a good country meal. Without my dad, literally none of this would be possible. He has always encouraged me and helped me follow my dream. I am so lucky and so grateful to have my dad in my life. He has never once questioned or complained about the sacrifices we have made in order to make this move possible. I wish he was here with my mom and I to experience it first hand! Regardless of the distance, I will always be a daddy's girl!
Finally, on Tuesday the 14th of January; we arrived in Nashville! Yay! As we pulled up the apartment complex, I had a large pit in my stomach. Not because I was nervous, but because I was so anxious. Pulling up to this apartment made everything so real again. I had to pinch myself! Is this even my life? Am I really pulling up to my apartment? Am I really about to open the door to a fresh start? When we walked up the three flights of stairs (which is the top floor of the apartment complex), I was so excited and eager to put the key in the knob, turn it, and open the door to see what I have seen in pictures for the last few weeks. When I walked in and saw my cute new home, it hit me again. This is my new home. This is where I am going to be living. This is where I am going to be learning how to cook (well, try not to burn my food). This is where I am going to be making my new memories. I get a fresh start in a new town. I get to redecorate and give this place a splash of who I am. To get to the point of having everything done, will take some time. So for now, I will have to try to make the bare, tan walls as cute as I possibly can. Now it was time to unpack and try to make this new place...My home. Although our van was completely packed up to the ceiling, we really didn't have much. We only had a few little things to start us off in each room of the house. From the beginning, our plan was to buy most of our big furniture and most other house decor out here in Nashville...Well, we decided that AFTER we really realized just how many clothes I had! We couldn't even put them into boxes because then we really wouldn't have enough room to pack them away! So we ended up putting them in plastic garbage bags. We also figured that it would make it easier to carry into my apartment...We were VERY wrong. Never...and I mean NEVER, underestimate the heaviness that 3 or 4 or 12 bags filled with shoes and clothes are. You will definitely work up a sweat like we did! After a few days of sleeping on the floor, we finally got a mattress too! The only problem was trying to have two girls, (my mom and I), carry it up three flights of stairs into our apartment! I have never wished for an elevator more in my entire life than in that very moment. After finally unpacking everything it was time for the day I dreaded most... Cleaning day.
If you know me, you know that I am somewhat of a germaphobe. I can't even share a drink with my mom! My friends all tease me because I kiss boys and they say that is worse than taking a sip out of their cup of soda... But I just can't do it! When we woke up on what we planned as our "cleaning day"... I knew I was in for a long day! Even though our apartment complex had provided a professional cleaning service before we came.. I still couldn't stand the thought that I hadn't cleaned it yet... Sounds a little bit insane right?... But it couldn't hurt to go clean everything over one more time JUST IN CASE! We cleaned literally from morning to night... but when we were done, I have never seen anything more shiny! It had a certain sparkle to it! Seeing everything completely spotless made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning! Obviously after I was starving... (Well, I am always hungry), and I went to go open my fridge to get something to eat and realized we have NO FOOD. Not a stitch. Then I remembered that we had lived off of pizza and cheeseburgers the past few days and that we hadn't actually gone grocery shopping. Which brings me to my next adventure...
The grocery store and I have always been best friends due to my love affair with the food inside. I have always gone grocery shopping with my mom and dad, but I never really payed attention to anything other than making sure that my mom ALWAYS had Diet Coke and bananas in the shopping cart. Now, I really had to pay attention. I had a budget. I didn't ever really understand how hard maintaining a budget was until I was put on one this past week. I wasn't eased into it how most people are by getting an allowance every week and then getting their first job, etc...I was thrown into it! I guess I just never realized how much money everything cost. At first, I was just throwing everything from my favorite things, to the things that I wish I would eat but they would go bad before I did. I mean, who wouldn't want to eat the Twinkies and Salt and Vinegar Chips before the avocados and grapes? When I was going crazy grabbing everything off the shelves, my mom was grabbing more bathroom supplies. When our carts met up, she looked at me as if I had lost my mind. She said "How do you expect to pay for all of this? How many REAL meals are you going to be making out of this food?" . I didn't realize what she was saying until she suggested we take every item out of the cart and add it up. It was way above and beyond the budget that I had! This is when I learned a valuable lesson... I shouldn't spend money more on what I wan't than what I need. After some arguments and some struggles... We walked out of Wal-Mart with a pantry and fridge filled with healthy, meal-worthy food.
Change - "To make or become different"
That is what I am doing. I am changing what I do every single day to chase a dream. Some people look at change as a negative thing. Others don't necessarily look at it as a negative thing; they are just more comfortable in the pattern that they live. Change, can be hard; but it can also be for the better. I am grateful for the change that I have made in my life. I DO hope that the change I have made changes me. However, not in the way you would think. I will never change who I am at heart... I hope to change into a better me. I hope this change allows me to grow in different ways than I could have grown in Utah.
"How can you know what you are capable of unless you embrace the unknown?"
-Esmerelda Santiago
Until next time...