My trip back home.

Well, I'm back from Nashville! My trip was so crazy busy, and it definitely didn't feel like I was there a whole week! I did so much running around and was going non-stop, that it's all just one big blur. Thank goodness I checked into places and took instagram pictures so I can remember what all I did!

♥ SATURDAY:
I never went to bed to be completely sure I didn't oversleep and miss the flight, and Matt's new work buddy Charlie picked us up and had us at the airport around 6am. We flew all day, and I played games on the iPad the entire time. We made it to Nashville around 4pm, and my mom was so excited to see us! We took Matt to his house, and I got to hug his mom and sister. Then Mom and I went to the grocery to get food for the week. I know it's ridiculous, but I was sooo excited for Mom to take me to Wal-Mart. I haven't been to one since my last trip home, and we used to go together all the dang time. Don't judge me!

I felt like such a little kid, but I saw this Hello Kitty candy keychain in the check out line, and Mom saw me eyeing it. So she got it for me!





Then I got to go home and see my Cupcake! She's gotten so big, I almost didn't recognize her. After playing for awhile, I eventually passed out in Mom's recliner because I was so exhausted from the flight!

Here's my Cuppybutt being a big, wooly baby. I was so happy to see her.




♥ SUNDAY:
I spent the majority of the day hanging out with Mom, eating fruit roll-ups, and hugging Cupcake a bunch. We ran to Marshall's and Target, but we spent most of the day at the house talking about stuff. She's having a hard time deciding on which house to live in and which to sell. After the flood hit, we moved to Granny's and she had to rebuild everything at our house. So I helped her weigh the pros and cons of each house, and I think she's leaning toward going back to Granny's house. That was my vote, too, since it's higher up and away from water and in such a nice little community. (It's a stressful decision, because I know she loves how pretty she's made our home, but I just worry about her safety.)

Then I asked her take me to Matt's mom's so we could watch The Walking Dead with her, his sister, and his sister's best friend and boyfriend. (My mom was grossed out when I explained the show to her, so obviously she didn't stay. She had Army Wives to watch anyway!)

♥ MONDAY:
I spent the day with Matt and his mom and Nana. We all went thrifting together at a few different Goodwills and ate lunch at Baja Burrito. We had a lot of fun! I found a giant clothespin, and it immediately made me think of The Secret World of Arrietty!



Then we met up with Matt's dad and Nanny to celebrate his birthday at Uncle Bud's, and we had cake and ice cream back at his dad's house. Then we watched silly videos on youtube! Typical Dad stuff, you know. My Dad's the same way! I love it!

♥ TUESDAY:
Mom took me out to Murfreesboro to The Avenue to do a little bit of shopping. We ran into Ulta, and one of my managers from Old Navy, Tabby, had just started working there! I was so excited to see her! It was such a nice surprise.

I didn't want to go crazy in Ulta (but I very easily could have), so I just got my foundation powder, an eyebrow pencil, and a pink NYC eyeshadow. Then mom took me to a cute little store called Charming Charlie, and I loved their pink section so much!



Oh, and this was my date with mom day outfit. She isn't too crazy about tattoos, so thank goodness it was cool enough to cover up this trip! Last time, it was miserable!



My good friend, Ashlee, lives about 5 minutes from that area, so while Mom looked around another store, Ashlee swung by and picked me up to show me her apartment and get some yummy ice cream at Baskin Robbins! It was a super short visit, but she understood that I really wanted to spend time with my mom, which made me so happy. (I had a friend or two treat me really badly that I didn't have time or transportation to come to them, and it made me so sad.)


♥ WEDNESDAY:
I was supposed to see my Uncle Rick in the morning, but he wasn't feeling too well. He just started chemo, and he was having a rough day. So I ran a few errands with my mom instead, and then Dad came over and spent a few hours talking and hanging out with me and Mom. I was really happy that they got along so well, because that doesn't always work out, ifyaknowwhatimsayin. :| But no one died, and all was well!

Then my longest friend ever, Susan, (I've known her since I was 2 years old) came to pick me up to take me to McNamara's for a few beers. It was so much fun seeing her! We always have an awesome time together, so I was so excited to get to drink and be silly and just talk about girly things. Then she took me to see a few other ladies, Kira and Michelle and Sarah, and we had a super silly time just talking and catching up. It was nice to get a little bit of friendly hangout in there since I knew it was mainly going to be a family trip! And it was so sweet of them to all make time for me on my hectic schedule!

♥ THURSDAY:
I was so exhausted from staying up so late the night before, I just couldn't get going. (No it wasn't a hangover! :P I was just extra sleepy) Mom and I did some laundry and just kind of hung out and talked about house stuff and things that needed to be done. And Matt came over to take me out to eat since he and I actually had a few minutes to ourselves before I had to be at my tattoo appointment. So we had a nice little lunch date at Sakura, which was our favorite place to go before we moved.



Then Matt and his mom took me to get one of my tattoo outlines colored in. Then I passed right back out when we got home! I was so exhausted all day, so it was definitely my sleepy, lazy jet lag day since I didn't really have one when I first got to Nashville. I guess my poor body needed to catch up a bit!

♥ FRIDAY:
Dad and I went to see Grandmom for a bit, and then we headed over to Uncle Rick's since he was feeling more up to having company. My mom got this awesome machine that converts VHS tapes to DVDs. So I asked Matt to convert an old tape of me when I was a few months old because there was a lot of footage of Uncle Rick holding me as a teensy baby. I thought it might cheer him up a bit and make him feel a little better, and he really seemed to enjoy it. He's lost so much weight, but he seems to be doing okay. And the cancer has stopped growing, so that's wonderful. It was so nice to spend time with him since I haven't seen him in over a year.

After Dad dropped me off at home, Mom and I headed over to Granny's house so I could go through some of my stuff upstairs, and I realized how much there was to do there. I really wish I could've stayed to help her clean up that house and get it remodeled and nice if she does decide to live there. I kind of feel like I left her at such a crappy time, and I feel so bad that she has to do so much alone. I know she understands and that she's really great at handling things, but I still wish I were there for her.

Mom wanted to run to Rivergate to grab some food, so while we were out there, she ran me down to the two stores I worked at before I moved so I could see a few people really quick. I was only able to run in and spend like a minute or so in each, but I got to see one of my favorite managers, Tracie at Old Navy, and then John and Daniel at CD Warehouse. I gave them all hugs and ran out since I still had to pack!

I had a really good trip and got to spend lots of quality time with my mom. I just wish I could've seen more friends. A few people seemed really disappointed that I couldn't see them, and I felt so bad that I was always busy doing something. I tried my best to explain how much I had to do and how difficult it was for me to get around without having a car. I just couldn't ask my mom to drag me all over town. She took the entire week off to spend with me! Most people seemed to genuinely understand and were super sweet about my lack of time, like Ciara, Thomas, and Ariana, a few wonderful friends of mine! But I still got some pretty extreme guilt trips from a few others. :( Maybe next time I'll have more time to see everyone. But it really made me realize how hard it is to please everyone, and how it just won't work every time. I still feel bad, though, but that's just how I am. But the people that were super understanding made me feel much better and kept me from being too upset on the trip, and I love them for it!

♥ SATURDAY:
I woke up at 3am to make sure I was ready to go at 4:30. My mom cried a bunch, and I had to keep myself from doing the same. I already missed her before I walked into the airport. I got so used to seeing her every day, it just broke my heart to leave. :(

Matt and I got home around 12, and Peaches was so excited! While we were gone, she tore up a bunch of stuff, like one of my cloth boots (which I had to trash), my entire 100 count box of crayons, the back panel of Matt's GameCube, a bunny slipper, and a toy helicopter. I was upset, but so happy that that's all she did. Mom and I used to have a dog that would chew woodwork and rip up carpet! D: So I'm proud of how well she did while we were gone. And Justin, Matt's best friend that was taking care of her, didn't seem to have a problem with her at all! What a good pup.

♥ SUNDAY:
I started noticing some really sore areas on my leg Friday night, and they were looking kind of scary and making it almost unbearable to walk, so Matt took me to the E.R. to get everything checked out. I was terrified that I had a staph infection, but the doctor said it's contact dermatitis, so something that was against my skin just irritated it really badly. But it looks and feels rough!

I'll make this picture little and clickable for a large image just for those with sensitive tummies!



I was looking so forward to going back to work and seeing everyone, but the pain was just too much this morning, and anything up against my leg felt horrible. So since I kinda have to walk and wear pants to work, I ending up just having to stay home. I've had some horrible luck lately, I swear. I was so nervous about work being mad at me because I was sick that entire week, then I worked a week, then I went home for a week, and now this! It was all just one after another. Geez Louise.

But I'm happy to be back home, even though I miss everyone and everything in Nashville! Peaches has been following me around to every room. I guess she just wants to make sure that I don't disappear for a week again! Sorry for the extremely long post, but there was so much to catch up on!

Super sad wreck post. :(

Sooo much stuff has been going on since my last post. There's been some good stuff, but for now, I need to get the yucky stuff out in the open and out of my brain. So let's start with that and get the negativity out of the way first.

I stayed home from work last Wednesday since I wasn't feeling too well. I was leaving my house to run an errand and was sitting at the intersection to leave my subdivision. It was dark and raining, which already makes me uncomfy to drive in, and traffic was kind of bad. A line of cars had stopped, and the lady in the furthest lane from me left a gap and waved me out. So I checked to make sure no one was coming in the other lanes, and as I pulled out, someone ran right into my side. :( I guess the other lane driver came up around the curve and didn't know that traffic was stopped and someone had let me out, and the girl got me right in the driver's side, crushing my car door closed. I immediately freaked out, pulled off the road, and tried not to cry. She got out, and we made sure neither one of us was hurt and exchanged info. And thankfully, she had no damage on her car at all. But mine was pretty rough looking. So I got home and called my mom, bawling my eyes out. I love my little car. My granny bought me my car right before she passed away because she was proud of me for moving back home and starting college. It's a reminder of how lucky and blessed I am/was for having such an amazing granny, and seeing it all crushed on the side honestly made my tummy hurt.

Here's my silly drawing to show what happened:


I've never been in a wreck in my own car before or alone, for that matter, so I was terrified. The only wreck I've ever been in was one that totaled my ex-best friend's car a few years ago. I was taken to the e.r. to make sure stuff was okay because my neck was really sore after impact, and my back's been all crazy ever since that one. But thankfully this one was super minor, and I wasn't hurt or anything, just scared to death and worried about my insurance situation. I just recently had my car switched over to my name, and my mom and I both were under the impression that my car/I would continue to be covered under the insurance that we've been using. But my mom's insurance person doesn't think I'll be covered. So I immediately went and signed up for my own with Geico as soon as the wreck happened, just to be safe. From what her insurance person told her, Mom's pretty positive I won't be covered, but we seriously both thought I'd continue to be covered under her insurance since it was on the same car. :/

So yesterday I went to get a few estimates, and it was waaay more than I expected. The first place quoted me almost $5,000, and then two more were right around $4,000. I was devastated, because my mom and I both didn't expect it to be near that much. Apparently they have to not only replace a door, but the entire side panel as well, which has to be welded and all kinds of stuff involving lots of labor hours. So I called her to tell her how outrageous it was going to be, and had honestly just planned on not getting it fixed. I can't open my driver's side door since it's crushed shut, so I have to climb over the seats and crawl out of the other side. But I didn't think it was a huge deal. But my mom ended up telling me to stay at Maaco, leave my car there, and that she was going to cover the entire thing for me. I never, ever expected that at all. I know she really can't afford to do that since she's paying for bills and a house note at both her house and my granny's house that we were living in after the flood.

I know she's really not in any position to be doing anything so expensive. She's already helped me so much. So as soon as I start getting checks from my new job, I plan on sending her a big chunk every two weeks until I pay her back. I feel like the worst kid ever for having such awful luck, because I know she feels obligated to help me out. I mean, usually, things go decently well for me, but it never lasts too long! I just have some crappy luck at times, and inevitable things happen over which I have no control. I keep my chin up and try my best not to let things affect me very much. But every once in awhile, something stressful happens that I just don't quite know how to handle. (Especially those that involve super large sums of money!) So I am super, suuuper fortunate that my mom continues to help me out, even as an adult. <3

Surprise birthday package!

I know I juuuust made a post this morning, but I felt like another one was in order after receiving this wonderful early birthday box in the mail from my mom!


She told me that she was going to grab me a few art supplies because she had a Hobby Lobby coupon and knew I wanted to start painting again, but I didn't expect all of this fun stuff!

She sent me:
• two canvases
• two tablets of watercolor paper
• a tablet of acrylic paper
• a Desperate Housewives cookbook
• two paint palettes
• a do it yourself magazine
• a set of watercolors
• a set of gouache
• two packs of hello kitty socks
• philosophy orange jelly bean lip gloss
• philosophy vanilla birthday cake lip gloss
• a sweet cupcake card
• a visa gift card

And she ordered me a set of Harajuku girls perfume that will be here sometime this week! How stinkin' nice of her to do all of that. And it's not even my birthday yet! I swear, my mom loves me fifty times more now that I've moved away. It's too late to call and say thank you since it's two hours later there, but first thing tomorrow, I'm calling her and giving her so many phone hugs. <3