Happy 2009!

This past year has been a blur. I can't believe 2008 has come and gone. A lot has happened in our little lives: got my masters, CPA and MCAT punishments, moved twice (into Chris's and out of Chris's), left our home town, new experiences, new jobs, lots of blogging, and a new place to call home.

We rang in the new year at the Skye Lounge in D.C. Loud music, laughter, and excitement filled the air. It was a memorable experience in more ways than one. Cooley resolutions: Count to 10. Make Virginia home. Be more organized. Live life to the fullest. Read more...

Survival Skills

We made it!
7 weeks in Chris’s basement living out of boxes, 50 condo walk-thru’s, 2 offers, 1 month waiting to move in, 100's of hours of studying between the two of us, and 1 trip to Pittsburgh to suffer the MCAT…we are finally here! Now we have 2 ecstatic people starting their new journey with a blank canvas. Signed the papers at 2 o'clock and started moving instantly after! Can you tell we are a little eager?

Verizon Fios can’t come for another week or two so we will see how we survive with zero internet. We’ll try to keep you all updated on our progress. Read more...

Look ma, no hands

We had so much fun this weekend. I am so glad my mom & Courte got to make it out to see our new home. Well I guess we don't have a place to call home quite yet. But we are lucky that Chris has so generously offered up his basement for us to crash. There has been a lot going on and I haven't posted for a while. Here is a quick recap...

My parents and I went to the Logan rodeo on Thursday...it was pouring rain but that didn't stop us from having a good time (especially because we had a giant umbrella). The rodeo was an experience to say the least. I had never been to a full-on rodeo. The only thing that I didn't like was when the chased the baby cows and tied up their feet and head...I felt bad.

Logan is b-e-a-utiful

These cowboys must be knee-deep in chiropratic bills.

My last day in Utah I decided to spill water on my cell phone. So I spent the morning trying to deal with that. Losing my info and dealing with that was fun....not. So, I bought a go phone and off we went! My mom and I flew out with the pups and it was pretty good besides the fact that Jack decided to puke right when someone swerved in front of us and Jack and I ended up getting covered in disgust on the way to the airport. Oh, and I also had an annoying tween crush that started petting my pups while I was on the phone and wouldn't leave us alone in the terminal. And as we walked onto the plane guess where our seats were? Right in front of them. Need I say more?

We had the great privilege of being filmed while moving into's house Saturday morning.There are some people interested in making a reality tv show about Chris, Christy, Tanner, and I so a film company is putting together something to shop to tv stations...Crazy I know. But the guy putting it together thinks it will be a good pitch. It is all very exciting, I really hope things go well with the demo.

Saturday night my mom & Courte got to go to their first Redskins game against the Bills. I think they had fun but unfortuately it was a pre-season game and honestly not super exciting. I think we ended up having the most fun stuck in the long concession lines. But we won so that made it awesome.

I loved this pic of Jack in his redskins jersey I had to post it!Courte and her water bottle balancing act "look ma, no hands"Tanner, Courte, my mom and I tried to go to D.C. for two days but things just kept us from making it there. Either because we were busy unpacking neverending boxes from the U-haul, or we woke up late, or what-have-you. We almost made it Sunday but the girls ended up at Tyson's mall. Which was not very touristy but it was fun.

Chris has a '68 Camaro and my mom had been eyeing it since the moment she arrived. She finally decided to ask Chris if she could drive it. My mom had the time of her life driving it I haven't seen her that happy in a long time. It was great.

The past 3 days we have spent the bulk of our time searching for condos. We have walked through about 40+ condos. Talk about tiring. But we have found about five that are amazing thanks to our realtor Mrs. Jefferson. She is a hoot and very good at her job. I am sure there will be many stories to tell about our house-hunting experiences but something that I will never forget is how she described an immaculate and indescribable condo to Chris in her cute little accent..."Sweetie when you walk into that place it makes you want to pee in your pants."

I will try to update more often so I don't have to force you all to read a novel ever again...this is honestly ridiculous! Read more...

Fiasco-ville

Moving sucks! Who knew? People kept asking us, "so are you all packed?" Wondering why they asked such a question we replied "About halfway." We thought, we have plenty of time (this was on Sunday). Apparently our house hides things well because our goods just seemed to keep flowing out of the nooks and crannies. From Monday morning to Wednesday afternoon it was the never-ending story. Many emotions and events were intermingled with runs to Wally for more bubble wrap and errands that just needed to be done before leaving the state. It even came to Tanner saying he was about to commit mover's suicide.

Tuesday morning we stopped off at U-haul to pick up our monster truck. They brought the truck around the corner and let's just say it wasn't even close to "monster." My eyes got big and I told Tanner that I thought we would never fit our life in that tiny truck. He looked a little weary but told me that you can always squish more into these moving trucks than it seems. So, off we went to begin the heavy lifting (well Tanner anyway). Thank goodness Tanner has such good friends because I am of no use when it comes to heavy lifting. These muscles are purely for looks. Ryan & Derek came over to help and it went pretty smooth until they began to doubt that the truck was going to allow everything to enter. Before I knew it Tanner started pulling me outside to ask me if I could part with our couches...our spare beds...all the while the truck was becoming eerily full and boxes were still being filled inside the house. Let's just say that it got to the point where I was coming to terms with leaving anything and everything just so Tanner could get on the road.

It started getting dark and Tanner was sending everyone home. Saying that the two of us would just continue packing the innards and everyone could come back in the morning and yeah...that's where we didn't know what in the world we were going to do...we had a full truck that took hours of work but a bunch of stuff still left in the house and garage. After we saw the tail-lights of the last person fade into the distance Tanner took some initiative and decided that we must have a bigger truck and began unloading. He came inside pouring sweat while I was busy trying to cut tape with my teeth and said he was done. What the? He unloaded the entire 14 foot truck by himself? It turns out the neighbor saw him struggling and came over to help. And that was that.

We went to sleep and woke up to Groundhog's day. Trial and error taught us that we needed a much larger truck. Tanner's friends and my parents came over to relive the previous day (thank goodness). I don't think Tanner will ever acknowledge that this event ever happened so this may be the only record.

My mom wondered why we were so calm during all of this...it was because we were so naive to the whole ordeal. Let's just say I never want to pack, move, or buy another item again!

Well the journey continues...I am sure Tanner will have many stories to tell from his long cross-country voyage in a giant U-haul towing the Civ. I am still in HATU having good times and will fly out with the pups and my madre Friday afternoon...so I am sure I will have plenty of drama to come. It is nice that I am still here to wrap up all of our loose ends. I am learning that Tanner seems to have a lot of knick knacks rolling around in more ways than one.

p.s. thanks Jess for bringing me and my poor house movers subway sandwiches and for helping me clean up the house after everyone was gone.

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