It's a lovely day here in Denver. I set my office up over the weekend. I cranked out some changes for the Austin Grill website this morning. I am very close to finishing up that project. I have another website that is being programmed for a farm located in Asheville, NC. I have a couple of logo projects I am set to start working on tomorrow.
Meg just put the finishing touches on Antonio's carolina blue room this morning. I spoke to Antonio today and he is so fired up about getting out here. He will be here in one week! It's unbelievable we are so close to being together daily as a family. It's very exciting and a little overwhelming to think of being full time parents. We are doing a lot of talking about the everyday workings of our household. We have a pretty good plan for how things are gong to work around here.
Mambo the cat ventured outside for the first time yesterday. He did a lot of smelling everything. Then when I bought him back inside he did not want to stay in! This morning he wanted to go out first thing. He is loving it here in Denver. We couldn't be happier about how well he is doing. In the past, he has not done very well with moving, so it was a lovely surprise, during a pretty stressful time.
We are mostly settled in. We are still finishing up a few house projects. There is a tree guy that will be taking down a tree tomorrow. It's a wild cherry tree and they break easily. It's also interfering with our ability to get high def satellite. That is not working for us at all!! We had to watch the NBA finals in standard def. Wow, can you say super fuzzy? Watching basketball in high def is the only way to go.
We are having the back door replaced. It's glass and it's ugly so that won't do! Our new handy man is here now, measuring and getting together a materials list. The new door goes up tomorrow.
I am still loving the new kitchen. I am cooking daily and loving all the room I have to spread out and make a mess like a true chef! We shopped at Sun Flower Market for the first time today and it was a great experience. They have loads of gluten free food options.
I am following up on some job leads this afternoon. There are a lot of great job options here, so I know there is a perfect job out there for me. Happy Monday!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Denver livin'!
We have been in the new house for 6 1/2 days and there has been a lot going on!
We have unpacked quite a bit. We are in the midst of having a number of things done. There is a new roof going on the new garage. We had a gas line installed yesterday for the new gas dryer. The washer and dryer got installed today. We are having built ins built put into the office. We have a tree that needs to be cut down. We need to prune the main tree of the yard, right over the deck. We had direct TV hooked up. The internet folks stopped by today and got the internets rolling, Thank god! We can't live without the internet around here, especially, with all the many things we need to figure out.
We are currently painting our bathroom an amazing martha stewart 1950's pink with chartreuse accents. Meg got THE UNC tarheel carolina blue paint for Antonio's room today. That is the color he wanted so we are hooking up our sweet boy. We will knock out his room's makeover this weekend.
Our new couch arrived today! It's awesome. It's a light grey corduroy that is super soft, it's comfy & a good looking couch. We are currently enjoying it's plushness right now!
The kitchen is the most organized so far. This is not a surprise to anyone around here. The new kitchen has 7 1/2 times the amount of counter space and about 3 times the cabinet space as the board street house in Asheville. Don't get me wrong. the kitchen worked just fine, but the new kitchen digs are amazing. We have a GE profile fridge and a gas range, and a killer mod stainless hood (leslie huntley style).
For some reason we didn't have any plates, bowls, glasses or coffee cups. I have no idea what happened to the mismatched things we have been using forever, but we were ready for an upgrade there any way. Can you say Target? We got the cutest green mod plastic plates, some new white glass coffee cups, new sliver ware and a nice set of real glasses.
Everyone is doing pretty well considering the chaos that we are all living in. Mambo the cat is doing the best for sure. He just sleeps all day, eats dinner and looks out the window each evening. He did tap on the window a little bit last night, as he is starting to be interested in going outside. The yard is totally fenced in and only has a couple gaps in the fence that I need to work on before he can go out.
We are so looking forward to getting Antonio here and going to do some serious exploring in our new city!
We have unpacked quite a bit. We are in the midst of having a number of things done. There is a new roof going on the new garage. We had a gas line installed yesterday for the new gas dryer. The washer and dryer got installed today. We are having built ins built put into the office. We have a tree that needs to be cut down. We need to prune the main tree of the yard, right over the deck. We had direct TV hooked up. The internet folks stopped by today and got the internets rolling, Thank god! We can't live without the internet around here, especially, with all the many things we need to figure out.
We are currently painting our bathroom an amazing martha stewart 1950's pink with chartreuse accents. Meg got THE UNC tarheel carolina blue paint for Antonio's room today. That is the color he wanted so we are hooking up our sweet boy. We will knock out his room's makeover this weekend.
Our new couch arrived today! It's awesome. It's a light grey corduroy that is super soft, it's comfy & a good looking couch. We are currently enjoying it's plushness right now!
The kitchen is the most organized so far. This is not a surprise to anyone around here. The new kitchen has 7 1/2 times the amount of counter space and about 3 times the cabinet space as the board street house in Asheville. Don't get me wrong. the kitchen worked just fine, but the new kitchen digs are amazing. We have a GE profile fridge and a gas range, and a killer mod stainless hood (leslie huntley style).
For some reason we didn't have any plates, bowls, glasses or coffee cups. I have no idea what happened to the mismatched things we have been using forever, but we were ready for an upgrade there any way. Can you say Target? We got the cutest green mod plastic plates, some new white glass coffee cups, new sliver ware and a nice set of real glasses.
Everyone is doing pretty well considering the chaos that we are all living in. Mambo the cat is doing the best for sure. He just sleeps all day, eats dinner and looks out the window each evening. He did tap on the window a little bit last night, as he is starting to be interested in going outside. The yard is totally fenced in and only has a couple gaps in the fence that I need to work on before he can go out.
We are so looking forward to getting Antonio here and going to do some serious exploring in our new city!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Day 3 & 4! We are in Denver Baby!
Thursday, we drove from Hayes, KS into Denver. We arrived in our 26 foot moving truck that was hauling our car at around 12:30. We drove right over to the new house! It was crazy driving the truck in the city. It was a tight squeeze but we just drove slow and made our way.
Somehow, we scored a parking spot for said moving truck right in front of the house. We got some help from some construction workers across the street parking the big truck and moving the car dolly into the garage so no one would steal it, before we could return it on Friday afternoon. We met about 5 different neighbors that first day. Everyone was super nice and happy to see someone moving into our house. She had been empty for a while.
When we walked up to the front door we had a homemade sign that said "welcome home y'all" with loads of purple and gold ribbons on it. Thanks Jules & Babs. What sweet family we have!
We did the walk through with the realtor and met her at the title company to sign some legal docs. By 3:00 the new house was all ours!!!!
We celebrated being in a new city, in a new house, with some amazing thai food, from one of my favorite Denver eats, Swing Thai. Then we all had a 4 hour nap. Then we had left over thai food and went back to sleep.
The drive took about 23 hours total, which was not bad considering the size of the truck (26 ft diesel plus a car dolly with our kia soul on the back)! It was not a bad gig actually driving the truck. It was even fun a lot of the time. Getting off the interstate and parking the truck was pretty tricky. You can't really back up in a truck with that sort of trailer. It can be quite problematic (see Asheville to St. Louis post) but we figured out how to manage parking & getting gas and keep moving as best we could, without really stopping. I think Mambo the cat had the best deal for the ride out. He slept almost two of the three days of the drive. He did really well. We ate out of a cooler for three days, so you can imagine how amazing the hot thai food dish was Thursday afternoon.
The movers arrived at about 8:30 am on Friday to unpack the big truck. The moving guys were great. They had everything unloaded by 11:30 and drove the monster truck to get gas and back to the moving company for us, as I had had enough of driving the truck in the city on Thursday.
So far the people here are very nice and extremely responsible. We had our Satellite T.V. hooked up yesterday but we have to take a tree down to get HD. It's a signal issue. The tree is in bad shape so we would likely take it down anyway.
We are still internet less which has been pretty tough but we need a phone jack to make it work and I can't seem to find one anywhere, especially in the current state of the house. I am betting my brother in law Moe can walk me through this.
Everyone is settling in to the new house really well. We unpacked enough yesterday to set up the kitchen (somewhat), our bed (hooray) and the tv with a couple of comfy spots for some tv watching after a long day of packing. It seems like it will take a week or two to unpack. Mambo is doing great. Sleeping, eating and overall mostly his normal self which is quite usual for him in past moves. His mamas are very happy about this. Meg is missing the internet and wants to do everything right now, and she is powering it out, but I make her rest a lot too. I am just so dang happy to be on this side of things!
Antonio is still back in Asheville with one of his best friends. He has school for a few more days, then he is going camping with his buddy Trevor. He flies to Denver on June 20th. Needless to say we can't wait to get him here, but have plenty to do in the meantime to prepare for his arrival.
Denver is Awseome!! Loving it. We can't wait to settle in to the house, so we can go exploring!!
Somehow, we scored a parking spot for said moving truck right in front of the house. We got some help from some construction workers across the street parking the big truck and moving the car dolly into the garage so no one would steal it, before we could return it on Friday afternoon. We met about 5 different neighbors that first day. Everyone was super nice and happy to see someone moving into our house. She had been empty for a while.
When we walked up to the front door we had a homemade sign that said "welcome home y'all" with loads of purple and gold ribbons on it. Thanks Jules & Babs. What sweet family we have!
We did the walk through with the realtor and met her at the title company to sign some legal docs. By 3:00 the new house was all ours!!!!
We celebrated being in a new city, in a new house, with some amazing thai food, from one of my favorite Denver eats, Swing Thai. Then we all had a 4 hour nap. Then we had left over thai food and went back to sleep.
The drive took about 23 hours total, which was not bad considering the size of the truck (26 ft diesel plus a car dolly with our kia soul on the back)! It was not a bad gig actually driving the truck. It was even fun a lot of the time. Getting off the interstate and parking the truck was pretty tricky. You can't really back up in a truck with that sort of trailer. It can be quite problematic (see Asheville to St. Louis post) but we figured out how to manage parking & getting gas and keep moving as best we could, without really stopping. I think Mambo the cat had the best deal for the ride out. He slept almost two of the three days of the drive. He did really well. We ate out of a cooler for three days, so you can imagine how amazing the hot thai food dish was Thursday afternoon.
The movers arrived at about 8:30 am on Friday to unpack the big truck. The moving guys were great. They had everything unloaded by 11:30 and drove the monster truck to get gas and back to the moving company for us, as I had had enough of driving the truck in the city on Thursday.
So far the people here are very nice and extremely responsible. We had our Satellite T.V. hooked up yesterday but we have to take a tree down to get HD. It's a signal issue. The tree is in bad shape so we would likely take it down anyway.
We are still internet less which has been pretty tough but we need a phone jack to make it work and I can't seem to find one anywhere, especially in the current state of the house. I am betting my brother in law Moe can walk me through this.
Everyone is settling in to the new house really well. We unpacked enough yesterday to set up the kitchen (somewhat), our bed (hooray) and the tv with a couple of comfy spots for some tv watching after a long day of packing. It seems like it will take a week or two to unpack. Mambo is doing great. Sleeping, eating and overall mostly his normal self which is quite usual for him in past moves. His mamas are very happy about this. Meg is missing the internet and wants to do everything right now, and she is powering it out, but I make her rest a lot too. I am just so dang happy to be on this side of things!
Antonio is still back in Asheville with one of his best friends. He has school for a few more days, then he is going camping with his buddy Trevor. He flies to Denver on June 20th. Needless to say we can't wait to get him here, but have plenty to do in the meantime to prepare for his arrival.
Denver is Awseome!! Loving it. We can't wait to settle in to the house, so we can go exploring!!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Day #2 St. Louis to Hayes, KS.
Today was a great day on the road. We made great time, it was a beautiful drive from St. Louis to Hayes, KS. We are camped out at a Best Western, resting and having a rare, hot meal. Smoked Gouda cheese nachos, with guacamole. It was delicious and gluten free. Tomorrow we drive to Denver, CO. We are headed right to my favorite Denver eats, green curry from swing thai. Then we do our final walk though of the new house, and get the keys! Woot! We will be taking loads of photos over the weekend. (If we can ever find Meg's camera battery charger!) Antonio is flying to Denver on June 20th. We can't wait to be together as a family! Stay tuned!
Day #1 Asheville to St. Louis!
We are on the road to Denver. We are currently in the hotel, right outside of St. Louis. Day #1 was eventful to say the least. We left Asheville at around 1 yesterday and the drive was bumpy and a tad loud, but we laughed, talked and overall enjoyed just sitting there, relaxing and driving our stuff. We arrived at the hotel on the far side of St. Louis at around 12 o'clock central standard time.
We checked in and then I tried to park the big truck. I tried to turn around in a big parking lot, but did not make the turn. We ultimately had to call a tow service to bail us out. A nice fellow from Triple A helped us get turned around without hurting our beloved 2011 KIA SOUL, zippy louise!
After going to bed at around three we are up, making a plan for the day. I will write again this evening with an update of our location.
We checked in and then I tried to park the big truck. I tried to turn around in a big parking lot, but did not make the turn. We ultimately had to call a tow service to bail us out. A nice fellow from Triple A helped us get turned around without hurting our beloved 2011 KIA SOUL, zippy louise!
After going to bed at around three we are up, making a plan for the day. I will write again this evening with an update of our location.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
It's Go Time!
I have been talking about moving to Denver so long, it's almost like it was never going to happen. Well, it is really happening, like soon, like real soon. We are leaving Asheville May 31st, right after we hand over our house keys to the new owner of 88 Broad Street.
We are in the final stages of buying a new house in Denver. It's been an on going process, but I have been too stressed to talk about it very much.
Meg & I are headed out with Mambo the cat to get the nest all settled on the 31st, then Mr. Antonio is going to fly to Denver in a couple of weeks. He is finishing up school in North Carolina, then he is going to spend a little last minute time with friends.
We are hitting the road in a big moving truck, to drive the 22 hours to our new home in Denver, CO. We close on our new home in Denver on June 2nd. Our new house is at 264 S. Pearl Street. We are in love with her. It's an amazing 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1905 craftsmen bungalow. There is a huge fenced in yard, a 2 car garage, a big deck, an killer kitchen, and a nice big front porch. There is plenty of room for our boys. Antonio has his own suite. It's a big room with lots of windows and his own bathroom. We have a lovely bedroom. To say that this kitchen is the nicest I will have ever had is a serious understatement. There is an extra bedroom where Meg is going to have her new office. The kitchen, dining room and living room are one big room. It's going to be great to hang out as a family in our new space.
We are so grateful to the help we have had from friends and family to make this move possible. It's unbelievable the amount of love and support we have from our friends and family right now. WE COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!!
I am in the process of designing a new website for Antonio so you can hear more about his new life directly from the young man himself. He is so very excited about moving. It is amazing to watch him grow and change in these crazy times. He amazes me daily.
We are all very excited to be in the new house in Devner and be together as a family. It's going to be a wonderful day when we are all finally together. It's been four years in the making. I could not have dreamed up a more perfect family. Stay tuned for photos of the new pad!
We are in the final stages of buying a new house in Denver. It's been an on going process, but I have been too stressed to talk about it very much.
Meg & I are headed out with Mambo the cat to get the nest all settled on the 31st, then Mr. Antonio is going to fly to Denver in a couple of weeks. He is finishing up school in North Carolina, then he is going to spend a little last minute time with friends.
We are hitting the road in a big moving truck, to drive the 22 hours to our new home in Denver, CO. We close on our new home in Denver on June 2nd. Our new house is at 264 S. Pearl Street. We are in love with her. It's an amazing 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1905 craftsmen bungalow. There is a huge fenced in yard, a 2 car garage, a big deck, an killer kitchen, and a nice big front porch. There is plenty of room for our boys. Antonio has his own suite. It's a big room with lots of windows and his own bathroom. We have a lovely bedroom. To say that this kitchen is the nicest I will have ever had is a serious understatement. There is an extra bedroom where Meg is going to have her new office. The kitchen, dining room and living room are one big room. It's going to be great to hang out as a family in our new space.
We are so grateful to the help we have had from friends and family to make this move possible. It's unbelievable the amount of love and support we have from our friends and family right now. WE COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!!
I am in the process of designing a new website for Antonio so you can hear more about his new life directly from the young man himself. He is so very excited about moving. It is amazing to watch him grow and change in these crazy times. He amazes me daily.
We are all very excited to be in the new house in Devner and be together as a family. It's going to be a wonderful day when we are all finally together. It's been four years in the making. I could not have dreamed up a more perfect family. Stay tuned for photos of the new pad!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Bitter Sweet Memories!
So, I have been so dang busy since my last post, I haven't had time to be inspired! I have been to Denver since the last time I wrote and loads of things are shaping up to get finished up before we need to scoot out of town in mid June.
Our sweet little home in Asheville is under contact. The lady who is buying our Broad Street house is very sweet and extremely fair. She is also very excited about living in Asheville. She moved here from Washington, D.C. We are happy our home is going to some one who will love her the way we did.
We have narrowed Antonio's school choices down to two GREAT options. The schools are both great. One is Arrupe Jesuit High School, the other is J.K. Mullen High School.
We found a couple of house options we really like. The most recent pick is in Park Hill neighborhood. We are still looking other house options in case there is something better out there. We do have to decide rather quickly, as we need to get there, and fast. We are just waiting for Antonio to finish up the 8th grade and our house sale in Asheville to be finalized. If things go as planned we are homeless as of May 31st, so that's not a lot of time to find a new pad in Denver.
Meg's mama made a good point the other day, "well everything else is working out, so why won't the right house in Denver and a good job for Alisa work out?" I like the way Barb thinks. She is a smart lady so I am going to listen to her.
My job search is really starting to shape up. I met up with a few graphic design contacts last week in Denver. The response to my work was great and everyone was certain I would find a good job once I make the move to Denver. There are so many options for work for me there. I am very excited to up my graphic design game.
I have started to get a little sad, every time I go into our back yard, or take a good look around our sweet home. We have really loved it here. This house has really been a home for us. We got married in the back yard. We have done countless hours of math homework with Antonio here. We have had numerous wonderful chats with amazing friends here. We have had all sorts of house guests here.
Some of my favorite visits were : Babs & Jules (Meg's sister & niece) came to Asheville in the midst of a lovely summer. We ate out a bunch, rented scooters & rode all around dowtown, and in general hung out and enjoyed being together!
April & Jay (Meg's nephew & sweet girlfriend) slept on our floor while they searched for a house when they first moved to Asheville a few years ago. We loved having them here. We bonded in those couple of week and have all been close ever since.
Our good friends, Amy and Nikki visited one summer. They drove down from New York with two small kids and we all piled into our tiny house for a week. We tubed, we walked to the 4th of July fireworks downtown, and again, just hung out and enjoyed Asheville. It's easy to do. Asheville is an awesome place to live. I have never lived anywhere where the community really cares about you like Asheville does. We have had so much incredible support for our family here.
It's going to be bittersweet to leave little Asheville, but alas Denver holds many adventures and opportunities for me, Meg and Antonio. We are flying to Denver tomorrow on a moments notice to check out a house we are interested in. Wish us luck!
These are crazy days, crazy days, filled with excitement, sadness, and happiness rolled into the space of about five seconds. Stay tuned!
--
alisa carswell : lucky design 7
owner : designer : brains
full service print and web design
reduce :: reuse :: rethink :: recycle
828.777.4932 : www.luckydesign7.com
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>It's Your Lucky Day!
Our sweet little home in Asheville is under contact. The lady who is buying our Broad Street house is very sweet and extremely fair. She is also very excited about living in Asheville. She moved here from Washington, D.C. We are happy our home is going to some one who will love her the way we did.
We have narrowed Antonio's school choices down to two GREAT options. The schools are both great. One is Arrupe Jesuit High School, the other is J.K. Mullen High School.
We found a couple of house options we really like. The most recent pick is in Park Hill neighborhood. We are still looking other house options in case there is something better out there. We do have to decide rather quickly, as we need to get there, and fast. We are just waiting for Antonio to finish up the 8th grade and our house sale in Asheville to be finalized. If things go as planned we are homeless as of May 31st, so that's not a lot of time to find a new pad in Denver.
Meg's mama made a good point the other day, "well everything else is working out, so why won't the right house in Denver and a good job for Alisa work out?" I like the way Barb thinks. She is a smart lady so I am going to listen to her.
My job search is really starting to shape up. I met up with a few graphic design contacts last week in Denver. The response to my work was great and everyone was certain I would find a good job once I make the move to Denver. There are so many options for work for me there. I am very excited to up my graphic design game.
I have started to get a little sad, every time I go into our back yard, or take a good look around our sweet home. We have really loved it here. This house has really been a home for us. We got married in the back yard. We have done countless hours of math homework with Antonio here. We have had numerous wonderful chats with amazing friends here. We have had all sorts of house guests here.
Some of my favorite visits were : Babs & Jules (Meg's sister & niece) came to Asheville in the midst of a lovely summer. We ate out a bunch, rented scooters & rode all around dowtown, and in general hung out and enjoyed being together!
April & Jay (Meg's nephew & sweet girlfriend) slept on our floor while they searched for a house when they first moved to Asheville a few years ago. We loved having them here. We bonded in those couple of week and have all been close ever since.
Our good friends, Amy and Nikki visited one summer. They drove down from New York with two small kids and we all piled into our tiny house for a week. We tubed, we walked to the 4th of July fireworks downtown, and again, just hung out and enjoyed Asheville. It's easy to do. Asheville is an awesome place to live. I have never lived anywhere where the community really cares about you like Asheville does. We have had so much incredible support for our family here.
It's going to be bittersweet to leave little Asheville, but alas Denver holds many adventures and opportunities for me, Meg and Antonio. We are flying to Denver tomorrow on a moments notice to check out a house we are interested in. Wish us luck!
These are crazy days, crazy days, filled with excitement, sadness, and happiness rolled into the space of about five seconds. Stay tuned!
--
alisa carswell : lucky design 7
owner : designer : brains
full service print and web design
reduce :: reuse :: rethink :: recycle
828.777.4932 : www.luckydesign7.com
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>It's Your Lucky Day!
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