Field Trip!

So, what a great diversion it was from the looming task of unpacking, to go on our first field trip into the big city of Tucson! Sure we needed to go to the grocery store for food, but first lets feed that shopaholics addiction to "Stuff"! Immediately I thought of the perfect place, "The Grey House" located on Grant and Country Club Road.

I know now what a meth addict must feel like, itching for a hit because after being smothered by my own stuff back at the house I needed something, anything to be a catalyst of inspiration to perpetuate me through my own design dilemmas.

Hurry, park the car I am dieing to get out and explore! LOVE IT already!!!! At the front door we are greeted with a spectacular re purposed old gold frame revamped into a chalkboard! Hmmmm...... I know I have a similar chalkboard back at the house (where I do not know) but I think that this is the beginning of the creative spark I was looking for to get me through the unpacking process. When I find mine, I will hang in near the kitchen door to greet all my new friends! Yes, I am aware I have none so far, but perhaps my dear friends back home in NC will come for a visit! Soon!

Heaven! Love it all and I have not even stepped inside the front door yet! I am still on the front porch!!!! Okay, I spy with my creative eye that precious antique frenchy scale down there on the floor! Do you see it? It is sitting on the basket. How wonderful it would be to have it on my kitchen table for Christmas with one side loaded with small wrapped packages labeled "NICE" and the other side loaded down with coal (like the fake chocolate kind you put in children's stockings) and wrap it with "NAUGHTY"!!! I have Christmas retail on the brain!

One step inside and it is simply celestial! The 40 something inch tall Santos figurine is TO DIE FOR!!!! How hip is Tucson I ask you? The prices here are soooooooo reasonable!

One look around and I want to ditch everything (well maybe the words should be re purpose everything) and start all over! Maybe since it is a new beginning for me I should change the look of my house altogether? Not drastically, but just a little different, a bit altered, just something fresh and new!

Okay, can I just say that this place is best described as follows: Ballard Design magazine and Charles Faudree (my favorite French inspired interior designer) had a child and its name is "The Grey House"!

Everything here is so chic! I LOVE these frenchy chairs and yes........ they are covered in a lavender velvet zebra print! Yikes they are so hip and on par with the lavender trend this season. They would be oh so fabulous in a bedroom or bathroom!!! Maybe even mixed in with the seating at your dining table! Maybe my dining table? Ymmmmm!

Oh ...... my goodness......... that Italian chandelier lamp is spectacular! How wonderful would it be in my living room!!!!!!!

The punches just keep on rolling! I could have spent hours here, especially had Shane not been sitting in the car. I think I left the engine running and the windows rolled down for him so he should be good to go for a few more minutes of browsing.

Wow, what a fabulous place! The ladies that are the owners were so nice and welcoming, Stacey, Lynn and Wendy thank you for a much needed inspirational day out and thank you for your smiling new faces!

The Grey House Antiques and Home Decor

Mon - Sat 10am - 5pm

2301 N. Country Club Road

(520) 325-0400

Anxioius........then Overwhelmed!

What a breathtaking morning to be moving into my new home! Oh where, oh where is the moving van loaded with all my goodies? I look to the North........

....then, to the South................................................................................................then........

BOOM!!! Kablam! Zonk! WHAM, (a few expletives later)........and in a matter of minuets, all of my precious worldly possessions (I have been hoarding for all of these years) are delivered in the blink of an eye!!!! Oh my goodness! Wait! This is supposed to take much longer, isn't it? I thought it was called "moving day?" Instead it was as if some Indy Pit Crew assumed the roll of my movers and before I could blink the whole thing was all said and done! I was so excited and anxious for the BIG arrival, but now What? Where do I begin? and where does all this crap end?

What in the world was I thinking? I thought this adventure was going to be just that, a fun and exciting adventure in a new place!?! Yikes! I am beginning to have second thoughts! My visions of grandeur are becoming lost (or maybe blocked by the giant barricade of boxes growing in my garage).

First things first, once we unpacked the fifteen something antiques, What are we to do with these enormous crates? Well, that's simple, rent a storage unit of course! Yep, that is me poised inside of the chandelier crate! I know, it is a little on the large side, but good news it all arrived completely intact! Totally worth it!

I think I am starting to go crazy with the whole unpacking process, so I had to let loose and strike a quick pose! Okay, enough foolishness...I have a home to create!

Heading West

First, I must apologize for not documenting the first half of our journey West, but I think I was still in shock that it was all happening. Was I really leaving everything and everyone that I knew for a strange uncharted land I knew nothing about?


Stationed on the console of the car, Roscoe, our copilot, did not miss one bump in the road.

Look! Viva la Mexico! Yes, that is Mexico just to the left of the interstate. Border? What border? I cannot discern where it begins and ends.

We are going to be in our new home by noon today! Don't look so excited boys. Wake up!

Literally, piles of furdom cover the entire rear end of the car. After three long days of traveling across the country and sleeping back there with the dogs, the clothing we wore began to resemble a giant lent roller. The extreme dry weather and static cling did not seem to help with the fur situation.

Taking in the sunshine and snoozing on Daddy's pillow.....Precious!

It is getting hilly, we must be close! The terrain truly is beautiful.

The boulders do not even look real. It is like we are driving by some sort of "Planet of the Apes" movie set at Warner Brothers Studio!

Finally, home! One nights rest before the moving van arrives with my years of hoarding stowed deep in its bowels!

Moving Day!

The BIG day has finally arrived..... Am I ready? I have no idea what to expect. My life just went from a moderate puttering around speed of about 30 maybe 35 mph to a NASCAR 250 mph! Where the hell is the pace car to slow it all down? I hope I do not blow my engine before it is all said and done!

My packers/ movers were with Highland Moving and Storage located in Goldsboro, NC. I cannot give them the proper accolades and praises that make them worthy. I have never seen four more professional, hard working and caring men in my life! Alex, Charles, Terry and Cedric were my saving grace! They literally saved me from the brink of a nervous breakdown!

While loading the moving van, the truck from the warehouse arrived with my crated armoire. Thank you guys for being so careful with all my stuff.

Okay, just roll me up the ramp and pack me away. I am about done! We all looked on with great scepticism that there is a possibility that it may not all fit. Our driver Corey assured us it would but I am beginning to have my doubts. They haven't even loaded my concrete statues, and we sure are not leaving that behind!

Higher and higher it went. It was quite impressive to see such a delicate juggling act to make it all fit perfectly. It was like watching some sort of freakish Cirque du Soleil performance the way they balanced off that ladder with those heavy boxes cantilevered off in their arms. What true acrobatics, they make it look effortless. Now, what will they do for a dismount? Possibly a double somersault back flip from one of those straps and land on the dolly below? A drum roll please...

Okay, take a deep breath, suck it in, cinch it up, tie it down, and...................................................

think light thoughts because we are being charged by the pound!

with fingers crossed......

Phew..........What a relief! It all fits! All except the driver's ladder, which had to be strapped to the outside of the vehicle.

Going.......

going........

still going.......

Gone!!! Bye guys, see you in Tucson!

A final goodbye from friends wishing us a safe journey! We love and miss you too!

Thankful for all the memories

I certainly did not foresee this being the first of my posts while we settle into our new home. Unfortunately, late last night on the eve of Thanksgiving we made the difficult decision to have our sweet eldest dog Vergel put to sleep. Words cannot begin to explain how painful and heart wrenching a choice it is to finally make, but in the end all is done and we are at peace.I have had my Vergel for what seems like an eternity. He has not been just "man's best friend" but my best friend. What is it about our pets that make them love us unconditionally? If we love them, scold them, or praise them, no matter what they always lead with the emotion of love. Love is what comes first in their heart, it is what comes naturally. The love they contain in their heart is unmeasurable. It is like our preacher said a while back, we (man) are their "god" and they are the servant. It is funny how they are always thirsting for more, love that is. Shouldn't we approach all in life with the same love? After all, dog is "God" spelled backward. Maybe we should all learn a valuable lesson from the relationship we have with our pets or maybe it is the relationship they have with us...... I believe it is this; we should all love one another, regardless of any past indiscretions and only see the good and love that one has to share.

Vergel loved, although maybe the word should technically be "lovingly tolerated" his little brother.

Vergel loved a good romp in the dirt on a hot summer day.

Vergel loved to lie around the house on the cool hardwood floors.

Vergel loved to go to the store and was always my protector and companion on those long winter nights, working late at Elizabelles.

Vergel loved a freshly fallen snow... that is when he saw it for the first time in North Carolina.

Vergel loved Christmas at Mimi's house, because he knew with all the commotion and distractions he could somehow swipe a quick bite to eat!

My Vergel loved life and loved our family. Because our pets remind us of unconditional love, when they are gone it hurts, and our heart breaks. That little piece of love is missing but never forgotten.