Sunday, January 4, 2009

WE MADE IT!


Hi everyone! Tommy and I made it to Tucson! It is amazingly beautiful out here! The following is a recap our crazy, yet exciting, December :)

In the beginning of December, I was stressed to the max about completing my masters program before leaving town. I found out 1 week prior to graduation that I did NOT have to complete my internship requirement before I could graduate. Previously, I was required to complete 4 months of "internship" (my job in Tucson) before I could received my masters. This meant paying for 3 hours of tuition too. With that said, I officially received my Master of Science on December 13th! YAY! Because I found out one week before the graduation ceremony, I did not get to walk though.

Immediately following my graduation excitement, Tommy and I had to focus on packing! An empty ABF trailer was dropped off at our place in Knoxville. We packed the front of the trailer, using as little space as possible and then put up a partition (we only used 10 feet of the trailer length!). It was incredible how well Tommy tied everything down!

So, the truck was completely packed on Friday, December 19th and an ABF driver came to pick it up while we drove the dependable Camry to Atlanta for Christmas. :) It was VERY convenient!


While in Atlanta, we had a BLAST!! On Sunday the 21st, Tommy's sisters threw us an AMAZING engagement party! It was held in a completely renovated community center in There were delicious snacks, a fire place, wine, champagne toasts... it was so much fun!! We had so many wonderful friends and family come!














On Sunday, we went to Aunt Sarah's for her annual Christmas brunch. It was delicious! It is always nice to catch up with his family because they unfailingly have great stories and they love to laugh! I think their chattering volume rivals my family's! We ate so much scrumptious food during our week in Atlanta that we could have hibernated through the rest of winter! On Christmas Eve, Tommy's mom made perrogies from scratch and Aunt Annie brought over a salmon loaf and cookies! The butter I ate at that meal helped to lubricate my joints :) Then we went to a midnight mass at a monastery outside of Atlanta. It was so different from what I am used to! I really enjoyed observing and taking part in all of the Catholic rituals and traditions.

On Christmas day we went to Tommy's dad's house and cooked up ANOTHER feast! :) We had prime rib, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, green bean almondine, yorkshire pudding... Sport, the new puppy, had a BLAST at Christmas too! He and Willow became acquaintances over the week we were in Atlanta... but not quite friends :)

On December 27th, we left for Tucson on a new uneventful drive. We drove through New Orleans into Baton Rouge the first night. We then met up with my parents, Josh, Sarah, and Dom in San Antonio on the 28th. It was a random rondevous where we were all in San Antonio for very different reasons :) Sarah and Dom were there to visit friends and Dom's son Aiden. My parents and Josh were there for the Mizzou Alamo Bowl game, and Tommy and I were there on our way across the country. We then travelled into Las Cruces, New Mexico the next evening and then into Tucson the next day.

We finally got to see our new home in person, and we were VERY impressed! :) We LOVE it here! The city is completely surrounded by mountains, which we can see from our townhouse. We are only 14 miles away from a state park with amazing trails through the Catalina Mountains. It is very surreal. We equated it to being on the moon because the landscape is SSOOO different from what we are used to. Here are some pictures of our place through a progression. When we finish unpacking, we'll take pictures of the final product.


















Well, I'm off to bed because my first day of work is tomorrow! Have a good week and we miss everyone dearly! :)

Love,
Emily

1 comment:

  1. heck yeah, you guys are getting settled right in. congrats on the Masters, and keep this blog updated- we all love hearing about y'alls adventures out west :)

    be safe, have fun and take care of my tommy!!!
    LOL

    Tavolini.blogspot.com

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