Showing Up For Yourself

When you move over 5,000 miles away from Family and Friends, you need to put in extra effort to make sure the Holiday season is just as memorable as the Holidays you had back home. This year we waited until the last minute to put up our Christmas tree. With a newly walking baby in the house, we had to childproof the tree and refrained from hanging up ornaments. So, we opted for some tinsel and homemade felt ornaments. We also hung up our lights on Christmas Eve. This was going to be our first white Christmas or so we thought. The forecast week the week of the 25th showed a slight chance of snow. When it didn't snow, I hoped on the inter-webs and looked for some Christmassy things we could do in the Triad. THE POLAR EXPRESS™ 2022 was the reopening of the Polar Express train ride since Covid closure in 2020. "The 1¼ hour round-trip passenger excursion comes to life as the train departs the Bryson City depot for a journey through the quiet wilderness for a special visi

We've been unofficial official North Carolinians for almost 6 months now. What makes us unofficial is our lack of true commitment. I mean, I still have my California plates on my car, we don't have North Carolina Drivers Licenses and my mail is being forwarded to my mom’s home. And whenever we talk about California, we always refer to it as Home. I hate that for us. Nevertheless, as we continue to ease into this transition, I want to highlight some of the good and not so good things we've experienced so far living in North Carolina. NORTH CAROLINA 1. Finances 💸💸💸 In my previous post, I briefly mentioned the details of our move but there was a lot that I left out. Since we decided to bring most of our possessions across country, we had a hefty bill to pay getting here. Flights, shipping vehicles, shipping our furniture, and buying everything we would need for our new place easily cost well over $8k. If I had to do it again, I would get rid of our larger ite