Oh my goodness! Where do I even begin! The month of September was a crazy month full of tons of excitement and life changes! I guess I will start from the beginning.
On September 10th Cheryl and I attempted to run our first 5K race! It was called Heels for Hope and it benefits ovarian cancer research. I must say it was pretty intimidating setting off to actually run the race. I was quite nervous when we started and by the end of it I just wanted to finish! It felt great though. I really enjoyed the race and we are going to do another one this weekend, the Race for the Cure. I wish I could find one 5K a month to run in, in order to keep my running momentum up! My goal is to continue to run/jog 3 times a week. I have kept up maybe twice, but have gotten really busy! The day of the race my mom and TJ came to cheer us on! I will say it makes a huge difference knowing that the people who love you are there to support you!
The day after we ran our race TJ and I made an offer on this cute little blue and white house that sat on 7.5 acres. This house had everything we hoped for. It was on land, it had a large garage that could be converted into a man cave, three bedroom, two baths, you can't hear the train AT ALL, and most importantly a porch!!! After we made the offer we found out that another couple and put in an offer on the house as well, so it was up to the seller. I had to leave for our work retreat that same day and left it all to go float down the river and get some work done! While I was gone we found out they accepted our offer and we had to finalize our loan paperwork, get a home inspection, well and septic inspection, appraisal, and get it all done before the 1st so we could tell our landlord we were moving out! But I am getting ahead of myself.
The weekend after the retreat Kaytie and I went to see Katy Perry in Tulsa! It was soooo fun! I love going to concerts with my sister! We always have a blast! Katy Perry puts on an amazing show and we sang practically the whole concert! I adore my sister even though I know I annoy her and vice versa. I think the saddest part about moving to the country is that I had to move farther away from her. I found a journal I had written my senior year of high school and I talk about how she was my best friend and a no one could take her place. I am glad somethings never change!
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| Before the Concert! |
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| So it has become a tradition to eat at this Mexican Restaurant two blocks from the BOK Center when we see concerts! |
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| That tradition also include the yummy tiki man margaritas! |
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| and this table is where we have set both times! |
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| lol! We bought cotton candy in honor of Katy Perry's obsession with candy! |
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| It was raining when we left so we made a mad dash for the car! |
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| Silly heels! |
The week after Katy Perry, I had to hop on a plane and head to Colorado Springs for four days for work! In case anyone has forgotten we are still attempting to buy a house in all of this! Colorado was great! We had several meetings and went to a really cool dinner where we heard Bob Costas speak. While he was really awesome to listen to, an Olympian from the 1936 Games in Berlin stole the show. He was living history. His name is Adolf Kiefer and he was a simmer for the USA. He talked about how they had to take a boat 5 days to get from the US to Europe. He also met Adolf Hitler! It must have been a scary place to be in Nazi Germany all those years ago. It was crazy to think about the world coming together for the Olympics, an event to unify the world in peace for two weeks, in a place where so many horrible things were happening that the rest of the world had yet to find out about. I could have listened to him all night.
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You can't really tell, but this is Olympic Gold Medalist Evan Lysacek!
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So we get back from Colorado and get all the things moving with the house. We finally get a closing date for October 7th. I call our landlord and let them know that October is our last month and start to pack. Mom and I had decided to have a garage sale the weekend before we close and move. I got rid of three truck loads of stuff! Who knew I had so much stuff! I will admit I did sell almost all my house decor. I want our new home to be ours not "Leigha's". Luckily, we made $479 during our two day sale and were able to put that money towards a new couch!
In the middle of all of this I have my first Leadership UCO class. This is a group of UCO employees that are selected from applicants across campus. This group meets once a month and allows employees from a wide variety of areas to learn and develop leadership skills and get to know each other better in order to work better together. Well our first class was the Challenge Course on the Thursday before we close on our house. Pretty much I am stressed to the max and now I am going to climb up a pole and hope a rope holds me in case I fall. Awesome! Well I made it up the pole and to the ropes that you had to walk across while holding another rope above your head. Me + zero upper body strength= a daring rescue by one of the facilitators! I would say I fell off the ropes, more like set down on them when my legs gave out from under me! So here I am swinging from a rope and harness waiting for my rescue! Once I was pulled to the next section of the Challenge Course I proceeded to finish with out incident! I must say this for all those who might be nervous doing this....it is very safe! So if you can just remember that your harness will hold you, it really isn't that scary. Even if you need to be rescued! LOL!
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| LOL! Hanging out waiting to be rescued! |
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| Woo Hoo! I finished! |
After surviving the Challenge Course I head home to finish packing! Turn out I was too tired and ended up finishing packing on Friday! LOL! TJ and I went to closing on Friday and signed our life away. It was such a relief to sign those papers and know the house was really ours. We met the previous owner and closing and he was so nice. He wanted to make sure we would be nice to Morgan, the neighbors dog who likes to sleep on the back porch and be loved on! He even left us some treats for him! After the paperwork was signed we came out to our new home and we were just totally and completely happy. The previous owners left us a list with all the number to call and set up everything so I called the electric (which is a coop...we are really in the country!), the internet, the trash, ADT, and Direct TV. Then we headed to Mathis Brothers where we picked out our new couch and KING SIZE mattress! Needless to say we were worn out by the time we got back to Edmond and still needed to pack a few more things.
Saturday morning came and we loaded up the UHaul with the help of my family and unloaded with the help of both our families! It was a crazy day and my family was impressed I didn't have a nervous break down or yell at anyone! LOL! My wonderful mom helped get my kitchen together before she had to head back to her house which was a miracle! Sunday our bed and coffee table was delivered, but no couch. Currently, we are sitting in camping chairs in the living room. I took Monday off to get everything put away and be here for the cable and internet people since TJ couldn't. While he was gone I managed to get the rest of the house squared away for the most part and start making my list of things to update! :) The bathroom needs paint and we would like to put down new flooring in the bathrooms and kitchen.
To sum up this really long post, living out here is going to be an adventure. It is amazing how happy we are right now. Moving out of that rent house into a home that is ours is the most wonderful feeling. TJ can hunt in his backyard and I can sit on the back porch and read my book. We have our own little piece of the American Dream and I am so thankful and grateful for it. Hey, it even came with a dog! It's perfect for us and this next chapter in our lives.
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| Home Sweet Home |
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| Our new best friend! |
Oh in case anyone was wondering! I have lost 38.2 lbs! I can't wait to get to -40 lbs!!
Talk to you sooner than later!
Leigha
