What is it that binds us to this place?

What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. Or the crisp October nights or the memory of dogwoods blooming... No, our love for this place is based on the fact that it is, as it was meant to be, the University of the people.” -Charles Kuralt, 1993 UNC bicentennial

Well John and I are about to find out because we're headed back to Chapel Hill on Saturday for the first time since we moved in August.

We're headed back for a little of this...

  Images via UNC Basketball

 And a little of this...

 The eggnog is representative of our friends' holiday party- ha!

And a lot of this...

I'm probably going to eat at Med Deli five times even though we'll only be in town for three meals.

I'm so excited to be going back to Chapel Hill!  It's so hard to image that it's been almost five years since I moved to town sight unseen on a strangely warm January day. Through some combination of coincidence, providence, and good fortune, my six month, 20 hour a week job turned into an incredible experience where I found my professional passion, the love of my life, new friends, old friends, and a lot of maturity. A lot of life, both joyful and sorrowful, happened in those five years.

Thankfully, I will get to experience this homecoming with the best thing I found in Chapel Hill.

Bona Fide

A few weeks ago, we celebrate John’s official swearing in to the Mecklenburg County Bar, the final step in making him a bona fide attorney.  After a long three years of school, a stressful summer studying for the bar, and a seemingly endless 5-week wait until the “Congratulations!  You passed” letter arrived, we were sure glad for this day to serve as the culmination of all that hard work.

Even though the Mecklenburg bar is very large (about 250 people were sworn in that day), each new potential admittee is introduced by a current member of the bar. The member tells a little bit of background about the person and where they are working (or hoping to work in about 50% of the cases- yikes!).  I thought this was a nice touch given how much time and effort each person put into getting to that point.  Many stories were ordinary, but some were so remarkable.  The one that stands out to me is the high school graduate who started twenty years ago as an assistant at the firm, got her associate’s degree at night, graduate magna cum laude with her bachelor’s, graduate with honors from law school and, as her mentor said, “in about 10 minutes was going to be his new partner.”

The judge John is working for introduced him to the bar, which was really special because all of the local, state, and federal judges from the Charlotte area and district preside over the swearing in ceremony too.  No one else had a judge introduce them to the bar and the audience was duly impressed (as they should have been!). The judge said some really nice things about John and the job he’s doing for him. And I was glad to finally meet him!

John and his parents…

and the happy couple!

Crafty Spurt, Part 1

In our bedroom, the bed it centered on the largest wall, which leaves the largest amount of wall space above it.  Since this glaring expanse called out to me each day, I started looking for a high impact, but low cost solution to fill it up. Even if I didn’t get it at first, I’ve completely fallen down the Pinterest hole now, so I knew that would be a good place to start looking for inspiration. 

I first spotted these large geometric prints in minimalist frames back when we went to the registering party at Crate and Barrel.


And then, when these pictures kept popping up on Pinterest, I knew I had found my solution.

    Source                                                  Source

Using the directions from Frugal Life Project (right picture), I set off in search of my supplies:

• 9 sheets of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper from Michaels- $4.00 total
• 14 12 x 12 canvases from Michaels- $18.00 total (I got so lucky with these!  Normally, a two-pack sells for $8.00, but they were running a one-day sale on the 7-packs for $10.00 each, plus an additional 20% off your entire purchase)
• 2 packs of Command picture hooks- $10.00
• Already owned: craft glue, Gildden paint sample, and foam brushes

I knew I wanted the scrapbook paper to be in shades of blue and green and I tried to chose some that were bolder and some that were subtle for contrast.

I started by painting the edges of the canvases with the deep navy Gildden paint sample that I got for free at Wal-Mart a while back.  I love navy and I thought since you would be seeing so little of it that it would act like a neutral while complementing the blues and greens in the papers.


I forgot to take a picture of the next steps, but I added the craft paint to the canvases and then smoothed out any bubbles with my old Wake County library card.  I should have thought to thin out the paint with some water so it would be easier to apply, but I didn’t.

After letting the canvases dry for a few minutes, we got busy trying to arrange and space the prints using the leftover craft paper from painting the edges- another handy Pinterest trick.


Check out my handyman!  If you use this trick, don’t be like me and actually cut even 12 x 12 squares to accurately gauge the correct proportions. And now for the finished product!


Overall, I think it turned out really well.  It definitely fills up the room and adds some visual interest.  The Command hangers made it super easy to reposition the canvases if they were looking a little crooked.  Eventually I might replace some of the pieces of paper with ones I like more, but for now I really like it.

Oh, wait, there’s just one little thing missing… our bed would never actually look like that.  And, no, I don’t mean because it’s made.  This is how it actually looks!


Hello Sleepy Bear!  Wave hello to the good folks, Sleepy!


Sleepy is just eight months younger than me, and though John keeps trying to send him to the bear retirement home in Florida, he’s too smart for that ol’ trick.  Sleepy is most definitely Real and probably the first thing I would grab in the hypothetical fire.

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real. "…You become. It takes a long time… Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
– The Velveteen Rabbit

It's Back!

I think the conversion to a born and bred Tar Heel is just about finished.  I've watched less than one quarter of UGA football this year (and that was just because it was on in a restaurant during dinner), but I'm giddy for the opening of basketball season!

Late Night with Roy tips off tonight with a team that is arguably deeper and more talented than both the 2005 and 2009 national championship teams.

And then in about a month we take on Michigan State at the coolest venue ever- the desk of the USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier that burried Osama bin Laden at sea.  There will be one very special Tar Heel in attendance, too!

After some chemistry problems were taken care (eh hem, Larry Drew), last year's team came together, played hard, and lived up to the Carolina Way.  I'm glad to cheer for a team that the biggest off-season story is about pick up games and 5-star recruits, instead of arrests.

No wonder we've been setting the standard for 102 years!

A Little Vanity Project

Our new apartment has a master bedroom, but we chose the other bedroom because we are such generous hosts the layout works better for our furniture and the master’s bathroom is teeny tiny. We figured it made more sense for us to use the larger bathroom instead of squeezing into the smaller one, which would leave no one in a good mood before the coffee was poured.

The shower curtain from my last apartment was too short, so we moved it to the now-guest bathroom.  We picked this curtain up from Wally World because it’s fun, but not super-girly and still matched our towels.



The bathroom is long and narrow with a long counter, which works well for us during the madness of getting ready on weekdays. While the space is great, the counter also had a cut-out for a vanity stool.  And, let’s be honest, I’m never going to be doing any sort of make-up routine that requires me to sit down.



This gapping hole is also the view you have from the hallway. I had the idea of making a curtain to cover the space, so we could use it as storage.  But since I don’t even know how to sew on a button I knew it would have to be a very easy project.

Luckily, the Taj Mahal of fabric stores, Mary Jo’s, is four miles from my office, so I stopped by one day to scope it out and strategize.  After getting lost for a few hours, my honing senses led me to the sale section, where I found a great piece of fabric marked down to $6.99 a yard.  After picking up some hemming tape and a tension rod, I was set.  Or so I thought.



I thought the fabric was a fun variation on the shower curtain. I also think it’s upholstery fabric, which I thought would be nice for the thickness and body, but it really meant that the hem tape I bought didn’t work a darn.  It seriously didn’t begin to melt or bond even when I left the iron on it for like a minute.
I also thought hem tape was the thickness of Velcro, hence the three rolls when about 20% of one roll would have worked. Remember, can’t sew a button… I have a lot of learn.

So, the Stick Witchery was out and I picked up a single roll {see, I’m learning} of Heat N Bond Ultrahold, which actually worked!


Did you hear the angels singing just then?  I measured the fabric and got to ironing.  A short while later, I strung up my very first curtain.



But I’m going to let you in on a little secret, it looks seriously wonky from the back. Yet, more than two weeks later, it’s still holding strong.

Overall, I think this was a great $13 solution because it’s much more fun to look at and gives us more storage room.

I would like to attempt some more projects, so I’ve been looking at getting a sewing machine. Amazon offers some nice models for decent prices. So we’ll see what the Paycheck Gods or Santa Clause have in store.

Hello From Charlotte!

Hi friends, remember me? After a whirlwind month, we're settled in Charlotte and enjoying our new jobs and exploring our new city.

Fifteen months after moving to Raleigh on a steamy May morning...

....we waved goodbye on a steamy August morning from our big yellow Penske truck.

Well, John waved goodbye because there is no way I could move that thing two feet, and he's an incredible moving truck driver.  I mean it's really a resume-level skill.

After this move, John and I have decide that the ability to afford to hire movers is one of the clearest signs of achieving the American Dream.

We enjoyed a last meal at one of our favorite restaurants, the State Farmer's Market Restaurant, to thank our friends, Bo and Julie, and brother, Jacob, for helping us move (notice all the ginormous water cups).

Is there anything better during a Southern Summer than a veggie plate?  I already miss their fried green tomatoes and cat head biscuits.  

Side note: we knew my Yankee father was fully converted the day he asked for "a big ol' cat head biscuit" for breakfast. Well done, Mom!

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 Unfortunately, we arrived in Charlotte to a nasty surprise. 

My beloved, less-than-a-year-old car had been vandalized!  After signing our lease in Charlotte on Friday, we left my car there while we went back to Raleigh for the rest of our stuff.

Some hoodlum took a landscaping stone and tried to break the window.  But, being an awesome Super Car, her window didn't break, so they broke the window of the 4-Runner next to me.  Sadly, being an awesome Super Car, it took $1,500 and a week to repair her damage and the 4-Runner's broken window was replaced in two hours.

There was no worse feeling than pulling up to our yet-to-be-moved-in home in Charlotte after 10 hours of moving already and find this surprise.  Thankfully, John and my parents pulled up right after me and the police, Geico, and the body shop couldn't have been nicer and more accommodating.  My girl is all fixed now and as pretty as ever.

With the help of my parents, we finished moving into the new apartment at 10:30, 14 hours after we started moving in Raleigh.  We enjoyed a cold Corona and plate of Lexington barbecue on the floor surrounded by boxes and furniture, and promptly passed out.

The damage to my car is one of the risks of living Uptown (downtown in all cities less concerned with downtown revitalization).  But we're choosing to focus on the positive ones, like John being able to walk to work, so I could drive his car while mine was being repaired, and a view like this from our porch.

Obviously, that's not our real view of the skyline, but once the trees lose their leaves, it will be pretty close.

We've already had some fun adventures in Charlotte and I have a lot more to share with you soon!

Forty-Four

Here's the follow-up to the "awesome news" teaser I left you with last week...

That's the number of jobs I have applied to in Charlotte since April.  Forty-four jobs that I met the education and experience requirements for- not the senior vice president of Bank of America or the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, even though both of those might have been easier to come by.

Of those forty-four jobs, I received rejections from seven, interviews from two, and deafening silence from thirty-five. 

And one job offer that I accepted last Friday!

I knew it was going to be a very difficult year to find a job in the public or education sectors after years of major budget cuts and the first Republican-led budget in 130 years starting in July, but it's still humbling to feel you've done everything "right" to set yourself up for a career in a field you're passionate about and get seemingly stonewalled.

New York Times articles about rising unemployment rates served as little comfort when I felt like it was my fault we were going to be eating beans and rice for the next year, instead of enjoying our first big adventure together in the big city.

I will be working at a local community college in a data and policy analyst position related to increasing the rate of student retention and success.  It's a great fit for my skills, and it gets me back in the higher education world, particularly the college access and success world, which is my true interest. I am most excited about how enthusiastic and welcoming the college is in letting me expand the position beyond a narrow "number cruncher" job description and into a broader policy and program role.  I think there is potential for great things for myself professionally and the college.

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So, as you can see now, the silence on the blog sure doesn't mean I haven't been writing this spring and summer.