Anxiety for a reason!

If any of you guys know me, you know the fear and anxiety I have towards DMV & the long lines, issues with getting your license/plates, etc.   After doing research online and having Ryan do lots of research on what is needed and where to go, I decided today would finally be the day to suck it up and get it all done.

I first had to go to the VIN Inspection Station.  Apparently in the 80's, Kansas was a big dumping ground for stolen vehicles.  Because of this, they made it law to have your VIN and your car inspected to ensure it's everything you say it is.  There wasn't really a wait and the guy who helped me was super nice.

After that, I had to go to the DMV to get my title & registration changed to Kansas.  I thought I could get my license done there too, but that wasn't the case.  The DMV looked insanely nice, and as soon as I got my electronic number (no line), my name was called.  Again, the lady there was incredibly nice and I was able to get my title & registration done in no time.

Proof of the insanely nice DMV:

I then had to drive to the Driver's License location.  Apparently I picked a bad week to do this since kids are out of school and everyone and their brother went to get their Learner's Permits and Licenses.  I had to wait outside for 10 minutes because the line was so long, and another 1 and a half inside.  Yet again, I had another super nice lady helping me, but she threw a grenade at me.

Even though I legally changed my name and it says so on my new Social Security card and my MD License, she told me I couldn't change my maiden name to my middle name unless I go to the court and request a name change.  The DL lady explained it's because of some new law that's supposed to be completely implemented by 2012.  I was annoyed, and now I don't even know my full name.

I called the Johnson County Court to see what they said, and they let me know that I needed to fill out a form, pay $173.50 for "start up" and then see the judge to see if he or she will let me change my middle name.  If the judge chooses, he/she can have me publish my name change in the paper, and I would be responsible for those fees as well.

So, I need your help.  What do you think I should do?  Should I drop my maiden name and keep my middle name so I don't have to go through the painful process & spend lots of money?  Is it really worth doing to just keep my maiden name?

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a nice holiday break!! I can't believe Christmas is over already :(

I flew home to Richmond on Monday and Ryan was able to join me on Christmas Eve.

We were forced to cut our trip to Richmond short after snow in Richmond and horrible weather with our layover in Atlanta.  Ryan has to work tomorrow, so we ended up catching a flight to Kansas City yesterday afternoon.

I haven't uploaded pictures yet, but I will DEF post some soon.  I had a packed week in Richmond, and being there just confirmed that I think I have the best friends and family ever!  I really really miss them!

Also, I've learned I'm pretty horrible at updating this blog.  To be continued....tomorrow. :)

Spoiled

A couple pics of this spoiled dog of ours:

Can you spot Zoe?  We were snuggling on the couch watching a movie, and all of a sudden she decided she wanted to be the big spoon and lay behind me.  My hair must be a nice blanket! 

Before we go on a walk in this cold weather, she has to get her jacket on!  Her Auntie Paige got this for her a few years ago.   It's about 2 sizes too small (notice the velcro not together around her chest), but it keeps her warm & she feels pretty!  Thanks Auntie Paige! 

Jack came to visit!

This past weekend Ryan's fraternity brother, Jack, came to visit us from Texas.  He flew in Friday night and we went to Stroud's for our second time (Jack's first).  Since you probably aren't familiar with Stroud's, I suggest you check out this clip from Man Vs. Food:

http://www.stroudsrestaurant.com/mvf.html

It was delicious, yet again, and Jack gave the thumb's up.  We were in a food coma after leaving, so we just hung out until we passed out.

On Saturday, Ryan insisted that Jack tries his new favorite doughnut place, John's Space Age Donuts.  We saw Unstoppable later that afternoon, then went to Oklahoma Joe's for an early dinner.  That night, we checked out Kansas City's Power & Light District.  We really liked it and had fun!  Even though it was downtown, everything was super clean and so CUTE! We first went to a dualing piano bar and then checked out another bar that had women dancing on bars in Santa outfits.  I was a little skeptical, but this bar only played awesome Christmas music & boy bands! Heaven!! I'm talking Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" and "Backstreet's Back".  I loved every second of it.

We had the Chiefs/Broncos game to go to on Sunday.  We were hoping it would warm up, but we were dead wrong.  Our seats were in the shade and facing the wind.  Add those two factors with an already 20 degree day and that does not equal fun.  We had fun at the game, but by the end of the 3rd quarter we were so miserable we had to leave.  I did get some good pictures:

At the dueling piano bar, Howl at the Moon

This guy thought it would be cute to propose to his girlfriend at the bar.  His proposal "We've been through a lot, babe, through the years.  I never had the chance to have a formal proposal, so will you marry me?" Ryan, I'm glad you didn't propose to me like this guy :) 

Huge cowgirls & cowboys in front of the KC skyline.  Coolest thing ever!

Freezing our booties off before the game.  

Arrowhead Stadium! KC has some hard core fans!

Jack, we had a lot of fun with you and hope we can see you again soon!  

On a side note, Ryan and I booked our flights to Richmond this morning! :) Since I won't start working until January, I'm going to be there an entire week.  Ryan has to work til the 23rd, so he's only going to be there for 2 days.  I'm glad we found the same flight back on Monday the 26th! I can't wait to spend Christmas in Richmond and see everyone I miss so much!! 

It feels like home...

Alright, I know I've been saying for a while I would post pics of the apartment.  I finally took the time to break out the camera so you guys can get a better idea of Home Sweet Home!  There's a lot of things I'd want to do with decorating, but since this isn't permanent, we'd rather save the money on decorating on a place that's ours! Without further ado, our humble abode:

The front door!  Once you walk in, there's an inside staircase that takes you upstairs to our apartment.

The living room. I can't wait to get rid of our mismatched furniture!

If you take a step away from the living room, you'll see this leads you directly into the dining room.  Hi Christmas tree & Zoe! 

Guest bathroom

Bad picture of the guest bedroom.  Yes, we desperately need a bedskirt. And a headboard/footboard :) 

Our little kitchen. The door next to the clock is the laundry room. Yes, those are sugar cookies cooling because I'm a good little stay at home wifey ;) To be honest, I get bored to death so baking kills the time! 

One side of our bedroom

Our closet was so big we put the dresser inside...holler

Our bathroom.  Yes, it desperately needs more color :)

The other side of our bedroom (closet & BR)

Our apartment building!  Don't be fooled - not everyone in the midwest is nice! Our neighbors are not friendly. Please note Miss Nellie (my car) at the bottom of this pic.  I can't wait to get a job and get rid of her.  Sorry, Miss Nellie!

So, there you have it.  Our Better Homes & Garden apartment isn't so Better Homes & Garden :)  It's definitely built nice, has really nice fixtures, and the apartment workers are by far the nicest & most reliable people we've ever worked with.  However, it's definitely a very small apartment and we don't see ourselves living here for more than a year.  After that, hopefully we'll have a HOUSE!  Zoe wants a backyard to do all of the squirrel and badger hunting she dreams about :) 

Thankful.

I know Thanksgiving is over, but that doesn't mean we should forget about what we're thankful for.

This is the forth Thanksgiving that Ryan and I have been together, but for some reason we've never been to his parents house.  We decided to take the 10 hr drive to TN for Thanksgiving this year, and we're definitely glad that we did!  We had a good time and since I'm currently home by myself during the day with no one around, I was very happy to see some familiar faces.

I was warned to come prepared if I hadn't experienced a Kim Hibbard Thanksgiving.  Kim (Ryan's mom) is a big believer that everything should be home made and she doesn't take cooking lightly.  We had multiple courses, 2 turkeys, and lots of dessert.  I wish I took pictures but I completely forgot!! It was  all soooo good!

Anyway, I few things that I'm thankful for this year:

- Ryan.  When our friend Jessica Williams said she wanted to introduce us at a party in 2007, we both took it pretty lightly.  Little did we know that after the first night we met, we would be married a little over 2 years later.  He's my biggest supporter, my best friend, and my life is much better with him in it.  I love you!
- Family.  This starts with my parents.  Since my brothers and I were born, they've sacrificed so, SO much to give us the best lives possible.  I've learned so much from them and I'm so thankful for everything they've done for me.  The same goes with my brothers.  Chris and I have always been very close and he always supports me with my decisions.  I'm also thankful he chose Emily as his wife & mother to his soon to be daughter :) Brandon has taught me a lot about life and I'm so glad he's in such a good spot in his life right now.  He has a loving wife and 2 beautiful kids that I don't get to see enough of!
- Friends.  Nikki and I have been close friends since we were little little bitties.  I always forget how long, but it's been more than 20 years and for this, I'm so thankful.  Her family is like my second family and we've been through SO much together, I know that I can count on her for anything and I hope she feels the same about me still.  I broke both of her hips and she's still by my side!  Also, I have so many other close friends that mean so much to me.  Ya'll know who you are, but just know I thank my lucky stars you're in my life.
- Zoe.  I love my little doggie and she makes Ryan and I so happy!  She's a b*tch to anybody else, including dogs (except Roxie!), but we love her! She has unconditional love.
- In laws.   I realize when you fall in love with someone and decide to spend the rest of your life with that person, you don't get to pick who they're related to.  Lucky for me, I have the best in laws.  Ron & Kim have welcomed me into their family as soon as I met them, and for this I'm so thankful.  Also, Randy & Alysa (Ryan's bro & sister in law) are awesome and have produced 2 of the cutest kids I've ever seen. Ryan's Aunts, Uncles & Grandparents are all so friendly & supportive, and I'm thankful for them, too!
- A break from work.  Even though staying at home all day by myself has been hard for me, I'm thankful I've had a break from work.  My last job had me away from home about 60 hours a week (including the commute) and my job before that took away a lot of my work/life balance.  The time off has allowed me to catch up on sleep and really remind me that I DO like to work and I don't feel as accomplished when I'm not doing something.  Because of this, I'm ready to enter the workforce again and I can't wait to get a job!!
- TV & Reading.  If I didn't have these 2 things right now, I would be one miserable soul.
- Blogger & Facebook.  Where would I be without it?
- Cooking & Baking.  Again, where would I be without it?

On a lighter note, I did manage to take a few pics while at my in laws house:

Randy and Charlotte, the pretty pretty princess

Ryan and Grandpa Levi

Isabella likes to feed her sister Char Char (notice hands on the hip)

Ryan and Ron

Ron's excellent camera work

Inside Opryland.  HUGE & SO beautiful for Christmas.

Family Christmas pic :) Zoe wasn't allowed inside :(

The Good & The Bad

I feel like Ryan and I haven't been in Kansas for long, but we've definitely already seen & experienced some of the good the bad of KC.

The Good 

1. Cost of living.  Enough said!

2. People are friendly.  AND they do their jobs.  One of the first nights we were here, we went to dinner where the server tried up-selling us.  Also, the lady who helped us with our apartment has been so incredibly nice since we got here and has gone above & beyond with EVERYTHING.

3. Food & Shopping EVERYWHERE!  Convenience is definitely a plus about living here too.  Living in MD, I would have to plan at least an hour just to take a trip to Michael's.  Here, we have a movie theater, Walgreen's and food less than a mile away.  If we need a mall to go to, there's an indoor mall about 5 minutes away.

4.  Drive Thru's EVERYWHERE.  Have you ever seen a China Panda drive thru before?  Yeah, we hadn't either.  Amazing!

5. Family friendly.  We aren't ready for kids yet, but if we do decide to settle down here and buy a house, this is definitely a great place to raise kids when we're ready.

6.  Everything is easy to find.  For Ryan and I, this is big.  We tend to get lost even using TomTom & Garmin (our GPS' - Ryan won't admit to this).   All of the streets here are in a grid lock, so it's easy to know if you're going the right way or not.

7.  Clean. And peaceful.  You can tell that everybody here just really takes care of their stuff, and all of the houses and businesses are well maintained.  We were at the bank and it looked so new, I asked the lady who was helping us when they opened.  She let me know they had been open for 10 YEARS.  Seriously?

8. Super Targets.  Everywhere. I could spend my life in a Super Target, even though I've already spent about 3 years of my life in a Target store working.  Love. Them.

The Bad

1. The obvious: No family and friends around.  We didn't have a lot of family and friends around us in Maryland, but we had enough to keep us comfortable and entertained (ahem:: Chris & Emily, Jim & Shannon, Justin & Amanda ::ahem). I had the convenience of driving 2 hours to see most of my friends & family, and I'm already really, really missing that convenience.

2. No squirrels.  Well, I lie.  I've spotted 2 since we've been here.  For Zoe, that's not nearly enough for her squirrel chasing lifestyle.

3. No Rio Grande Cafe.   That place has the best fajitas ever known to man, and the closest one is in TX.  Not okay.

4. Jobs for me. It's only been a couple of weeks, and even though I'm trying to enjoy my time to sleep in, do everything on my own schedule and allow my sweet husband to be my employer, it's very frustrating.  I'm trying to enter the nonprofit industry and find a job in animal welfare where I can really feel like I'm making a difference in something I'm passionate about, but there are NO jobs!  I spend hours scouring website after website and hardly anything new opens up.  I'm hoping this gets better after the New Year. Ryan and I want friends here, but that's hard to do when I spend almost all of my day in the house!  I'm starting to volunteer and making attempts to attend any networking opps I have, so I'm staying positive and hoping something will pop up sooner than later!  Until then, Ellen & Oprah are my best friends and I'm okay with that!!!

Sorry, I know this post is pretty boring.  I'm going to put pics up of our apartment next week, once I get all of the Christmas decorations up. :) :)

Just say NO

Victory Van Lines, thank you for making Ryan and I's life a whole lot harder the last 2 weeks.

I won't ramble about the things that they did wrong since the time we booked them as our movers.

Instead, I'll make this a positive post so if anyone else thinks about booking movers, they'll know what to look for.

When we found out that we would be moving, Ryan started doing a LOT of research.  He's a very analytical guy, so it wasn't unlike Ryan to search all moving websites, look at complaints and comments on the Better Business Bureau website, and ask colleagues about who to go with.  SO, needless to say, we were very surprised that we had so many issues with Victory Van Lines.

So, some genuine advice:

1)  There is a federal law that says you shouldn't expect to pay more than 10% of what the on-site estimate is.  Our on-site estimate was 4500 lbs.  After they weighed the truck, we were told that our actual weight was 7000 lbs.  Shady, huh?

2)  This leads me to my next point.  If you book your movers, do not sign anything that is blank.  We signed something assuming it was for the on-site estimate weight, which we found out later was not the case.  They took the paper we signed and filled in the truck weight 3 days after they told us they would have the truck weighed.  Shady?  We thought so too.

3) Stay with the crew who is packing your stuff.  If you let them out of site, they will not wrap any of your fragile items.  Instead, they would throw ALL of your stuff in one huge box.  When you are around, they will wrap everything carefully and place about 2 items in a box that could hold a Smart Car. Can we say sketchy?

4) Hold the movers to the date they tell you are going to deliver your items.  When you're told by your movers that "it is what it is" when it comes to the weight of the truck, the very same phrase can be held to the movers when you're told that the truck broke down and no longer have a delivery date for you. Weird? Yes.  Unlucky? Absolutely.  Unreasonable?  YUP.

5) Don't accept a discount of $125 when your items are delivered 4 days after the very latest day you were told your items would be delivered.  When the delivery crew refuses to give you your items because you haven't paid the full amount, call the cops. Is it sketchy that a delivery would be refused?  Undeniably yes.

6) When your main contact at the moving company doesn't call you when he says he will and starts screening your calls, keep calling.  Use *67.  Call the office every 5 minutes every day.  Email him until you get the response you want. A respectable company will not screen your calls days on end, and then pretend not to get your voicemail's when you finally do in touch with him.  Can I get a S? a H? an A? a D? and a Y? What does that spell? SHADY.

So, kiddos, what did we learn tonight??

JUST SAY NO

TO

It's the right thing to do.  ;)


By the way, it's a very special lady's birthday today.  Happy Birthday, Marian.  Miss you all the time <3 

We have our stuff....

...but it didn't come easy!

The movers finally showed up on Sunday - 4 days after the very latest they said they would arrive. I'm still not ready to talk about all of the issues we had with them because there's too much anger to be blogging about it right now, but that post will still come soon. :P

We were living like this for almost 2 weeks:

An air mattress is not at all fun to sleep on, and it's even better when your air mattress gets a hole in it!! There's nothing like waking up every couple of hours to inflate your bed again!

Regardless, we survived. The movers showed up with a LOT more boxes than we thought that we had. This is what I'll be unpacking all of this week:

I spent all day today just working on the kitchen. We kept all of our old stuff and brought all of our new wedding gifts. If you mix old AND new stuff with a kitchen about the half of the size as your old kitchen, you get a kitchen with NO SPACE! I'm still struggling with where to put stuff, but I guess that's not a bad problem to have!

We've only been here for a couple of weeks now, but there is one thing we have learned about the area that we're living in. Overland Park, KS LOVES their soccer. We live right across the street from a huge soccer complex. 12 fields, lighted, heated, concessions, everything. There are a couple of soccer fields right across the street. See for yourself:

My dreams about being a soccer coach are crushed. With soccer being this intense, there's no way there are teams that are looking for a coach!! I'll write more about our new home & moving troubles later. :)

We made it!!

We're here!! :)

It's been a loooooong week, so we're glad we're finally somewhat "settled". By settled, I mean living on an air mattress and by eating basic staple food (chicken, hot dogs, cereal, etc). The movers won't have our stuff to us until next week (fingers crossed) so this will do for now!

We left our home in Rockville, MD on Saturday after the movers packed up everything and left. Chris, Emily & Monkey came over to entertain us and bought us lunch @ Quizno's. I can't believe how much Emily is starting to show!! Can't wait to meet their little girl in March :)

Monkey, Emily & Chris

We were on the road by about 3PM, and it was ONLY appropriate that we hit about an hour of traffic leaving. Because it was already such a long day and it was going to take 10 hours to get to the in laws house in Gallatin, TN, we stayed in a hotel in Bristol, VA (half way point). Because we had Zoe, the hotel hit us with an extra $50 pet fee. Needless to say, Zoe looooved her Queen bed all to herself:

We woke up at 5AM CST and hit to road and got to TN around 3 on Sunday. A lot of Ryan's family took the time to have dinner with us. It was definitely nice to be able to see everyone again and actually get to have conversations this time (meaning we saw everyone at our wedding, but hardly got to talk). Alysa & Randy came over with Isabella & Charlotte, Ryan's Uncle Randy & Joni, and his Grandma Judy & Grandpa Ralph were able to come by too. I hadn't met his Grandma & Grandpa yet because they just recently moved to TN and are able to get out of the house a little easier now. I'm glad I got to meet them, and it's good to know it made Kim (Ryan's mom) so happy for everyone to be together again.

We laid low most of the few days we were there. Ron's (Ryan's dad) dealership fixed our cars, we saw The Social Network, and went out to dinner. We were on the road to see our new apartment in Overland Park, KS by 5am CST on Wednesday.

The drive sucked. Nothing but cornfields. Kim gave me a bunch of CDs since I went through all of my songs on my ipod, and that totally saved me. I think I counted 10 dead deer on the side of the road by 1PM. Poor things. St Louis, MO doesn't look like the friendliest city either. I was very excited to spot the arch, though! :)

When we got to our new home, Villas at Carrington Square, we were pleasantly surprised. Our place is very nice, very clean, and this entire area is just very welcoming. I'll have a whole new post about that in a bit!

Our family picture on the last day in Rockville, MD:

KCMO, Here we come! :)

I can't believe we're doing this!

Ever since we moved to Maryland, Ryan and I knew that we didn't want to stay here. We're big on quality of life, which doesn't mean spending 2 hours of your day commuting, paying rent that's more than a mortgage payment, and traffic that causes you to add atleast 30 minutes to your time, even if your destination is 10 miles away.

We just aren't city people. Dinner out and a movie will entertain us. Even though I wish something a little more artsy entertained us, it just doesn't at this point in our lives.

So, we're so blessed that Ryan has had an awesome job opportunity with Midwest Research Institute as a Chemist. I'm so proud of Ryan of having this job opportunity, and I'm so excited to see what's in our near future!

Obviously this job is in Kansas City, MO. Since we won't know a single soul, I want to make sure I keep the people we love updated on our day to day life in our big new city!

This is where this blog comes in :) I promise I'm going to try to my best to update this once a week! Somebody please make sure I keep up with this promise!!

BUT, Ryan and I are both working up until this Friday, then moving out on Saturday and driving 10 hours to stay in TN for a few days with the in laws. Because of this, it might be more than a week before I get on here again :)

Wish us luck with all of the and traveling!!! Oh yeah, and wish us luck on finding a place to live!! :P