Aloha, aloha, I'm crawling out of hibernation, folks, and there's a LOT to catch up on.

For starters, before I began writing this post, I scrolled through the last handful of posts to see where I had left off and it dawned on me that I had never really discussed the fact that Joey and I moved to Mississippi!?!... (insert slap to the forehead).  Yeah, we've lived in Mississippi for a year now.  How I missed that little tidbit of our lives, I'm not sure, but I will indeed shed some light on it because it plays a pretty major role in our everyday lives, as well as our future adventures.

So, around this time last year, we were living in an AWESOME duplex in midtown Memphis that we LOVED...


However, Joey's job situation was looking kind of bleak and there was the possibility that the bookstore would be sold to liquidators resulting in the loss of over 50 employee jobs, including Joey's.  There was also a little seed, an idea and an anticipation, of moving to a brand new city that had begun to grow in Joey and I's minds and we began to budget and make plans for a new leap in our lives together.  So, with these two challenges ahead of us, we weighed the pros and cons of having a cheaper rent to be able to save more money, and we decided to move... to Olive Branch, Mississippi.

This is the house of my grandparents, Annie and BB.  It has played an enormous role in my childhood and is very near and dear to my heart.  Last year, my family and I lost both Annie (to Alzheimer's) and BB (to pneumonia), leaving an enormous hole in our hearts, but also leaving us with the magnificent gifts of their spirits and the memories of their love.

The family wasn't quite ready to sell the house and there was also the amount of work needed to clean, organize, and get the house ready to sell or rent to tackle.  So, Joey and I decided to move in, allowing more time to work on fixing the house up, and stalling a decision as to what to do with the house (rent or sell).  And with that, we trimmed our rent, allowing for a cushion in the event that the bookstore went under, and helping us to save for our nomadic dreams as well.  As it turns out, in a dramatic turn of events, the bookstore was bought back from the liquidators from it's former owner and the bookstore has had a happy journey ever since (Hooray!).  Joey kept his job and with the security of two incomes, we've aimed to live somewhat frugally so as to reach our traveling goals/dreams.

It's been an interesting year living next door to TN and it has presented it's own set of challenges and obstacles, as well as plenty of opportunities for growth.  However, I will write more on that later and I will also give you a tour (before and afters) of the house because it's always fun to take a peek inside of every house's nooks and crannies!

To stay on the task of catching up, though, allow me to let you in on our moving plan....... Brooklyn, NY.  Let me say that again, and with a little more enthusiasm .... BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, wHaT, WHAT!!!

We are REALLY excited about this plan, but there's a LOT that's going into preparing for moving to the Big Apple before we can make it official.  So, keep your fingers and your toes crossed for our success in this journey! This is a *whole* other animal that I'm going to catch you up on.  There are lots of ins and outs of our intricate plans to construct this dream into a reality and I'll definitely let you in on our journey and I would love to receive feedback from you along the way!  I'm excited and eager to get back on track with the blog and to begin sharing our goals and holding ourselves accountable for them with you!