Spirit of Nashville

Today is the one year anniversary of the floods. Thinking about it still makes me cry, but what a wonderful year it's been since! I know I'm not only speaking for myself when I say that it's molded me in a stronger person and it's put a lot of things into perspective. Spirit of Nashville released a new limited edition print to commemorate the anniversary and I was quick to snatch it up. I also purchased one of the two original prints from last year. They're a nice, big 18" x 24" so I can't wait to go pick them up and frame them for our new home. I love my city and the artwork is truly stunning. I think they symbolize the most beautiful part of Nashville.

As I said, they're limited-edition so if you're interested in purchasing your own, visit Spirit of Nashville and order! $30 of the $35 price goes to flood relief so it's supporting a good cause! Even if you're not interested in the flood prints, Spirit of Nashville has oh so many other things! Mugs, tees, postcards galore! From the Bluebird Cafe to the Opry. If you know a Nashville fan, I urge you to check it out!

The Weekend...

I apologize for my brief stint of only posting "Daily Photos"... I suppose I've just been a bit down in the dumps this weekend. It was so nice to come home on Friday evening after work and just rest. I was relaxing for the entire evening, watching several episodes of The L Word, and I managed to sleep in, too! Then yesterday I decided to venture uptown to Times Square where the new flagship Forever 21 store opened on Friday. I didn't feel up to it Friday and Liz and I had said we'd go at some point this week, but I was bored and itching to check it out so on the train I went. Times Square was of course packed, being that it was Saturday, but oh my gosh. You cannot believe how monstrous the Forever 21 is! 4 GIANT floors... it's the size of the Manhattan Mall in Herald Square! I had always thought that nothing could beat the huge 3 story Forever 21 in San Francisco, but it has met it's match for sure. I was in there for hours. Getting lost, finding amazing dresses, getting lost some more. I ended up coming out with a few really really great buys. The only thing I hate about Forever 21 is the sizing! Ugh! I left with a dress in an XS, S, M, AND L! I just don't get it! I have to try on every single thing because nothing fits the same. So frustrating! I'm wearing the dress I bought in an XS today and it fits like a glove. I'm so so very in love with it! So cute! (It's actually coral... not orange like it appears in the photos. Crap lighting!)

dress: forever 21, tights: walmart, flats: kmart.

I came home and again, just relaxed for a bit. I dyed my hair and talked to Mike. Finished season 3 of The L Word, then I took a nap. A glorious nap! Mike and I Skype'd for a bit and then went to sleep. But not before he could tell me the bad news. Seems like my excitement for FEMA to "right a wrong" was a bit premature and they have denied us assistance, yet again. I cried for a while (for a whilllleee) and then I tried to go to sleep. It's just a scary situation to be in. So rather than worry myself too terribly much, I took some of what I have for my NYC Fund and transferred it over to my savings immediately. That means I'll be living on very little in NYC but at the same time, maybe it's a life lesson I need, ya know? It WILL work out. It has to. It always does. This will test my ability to really pinch pennies and make the most of what I've got. Mike also transferred over the same amount as I did and we're going to just start really watching every penny. I've been doing really well thus far... not spending extravagantly or anything (obviously, since we just paid off the couch and Georgia's surgery) but I'm not a person who likes to be in debt. I don't have a penny against my name and I don't intend on starting now. I have credit cards, but the balances are all at $0.00 and if my mom taught me one thing, it's "DONT RUIN YOUR CREDIT!" haha I'm proud of the fact I haven't let credit cards take over my life, but I suppose I'm only 22 so there's still time. Must keep on top of it! 

I'm very bummed out that FEMA continues to overlook us, while TWO of our roommates received aid. They had told Mike we were seriously overlooked so they would try and fix the situation. The case worker went over our application and apparently the first roommate that applied must have claimed some of the same things (being they had pots and pans in the kitchen so they claimed the kitchen, but all the appliances and 90% of the dishes in there were mine) so we were denied. It's unfortunate but rather than dwell on disaster, Mike and I just need to pick up where they left off and try to make the best of it. It's teaching us that: 1) Life isn't always fair. 2) The only place to go from the bottom is up! 3) To live in a way that we can afford. As much as I may feel that this is a curse, I also feel that it is a blessing. Rather than being handed a large sum of money to "make our worries disappear," we're having to push through it together and really tackle the situation. This will prove incredibly rewarding in the future. I have faith that everything will be just fine.

With that being said, I scoured the internet looking for apartments yesterday. Much to my dismay, no one wants to give us a 5 month lease. Obviously. And if they did, our rent would be so high for the two of us, it wouldn't be worth it. Plus the several hundred dollars for Georgia's pet fee. This morning I started looking on Craigslist for rooms for rent, etc. Thinking this may be a better bet since we'll have a dog, need to have a short-term lease, and we have no furniture. We found a really really nice house in Spring Hill (about 15 minutes from my school) and Mike is going to look at it tonight. We don't know the size of the room available but it's a darling house with a pool, etc. Not that that really matters to us but the price is nice and he's willing to let us leave in mid-to-late December. Things will work out.

I just got home from a quick trip to KMart at Astor Place. I picked up a few odds and ends and I'm going to start writing back my penpals today. I received a lovely letter from Tamara all the way from Germany! That's 3 Germany things this week! Apparently we're loved over there! (I love Germany, too! Such a gorgeous place to visit!). If you're expecting a return letter/package from me, it will be sent later next weekend. Mike gets into town on Thursday and we're going to scour the city for great little odds and ends to put in the packages and what not! I like to make one big ol trip to the post office! 

Also, I have a couple SMALL ads available still for the month of July! Just $15 for the entire month. If you'd rather have a large ad, shoot me an email and let's talk!

Here are a few screenshots of Georgia being adorable the other night on Skype! She kept stepping all over Mike to try and get to the computer. It was the sweetest thing in the world. I miss her so much!

xoxo

A Mid-Day Post

(I feel like this little girl right now.)

A Mid-Day, Mid-Week post from yours truly. How out of character! I'm sitting at my desk at work (BUST) and I just finished editing a batch of photo and illustrations by non other than that amazingly talented MIKE PERRY. It's silly how tedious and mundane a simple task such as resizing and changing color modes can seem, but when you're working with some of the most fantastic illustrations, you really just don't seem to mind. My computer gave me the lovely Beach Ball O' Doom for most of the time, but seeing how effortless he makes it look (but knowing that it's far from), is just inspiring. Erin and I had a little chat about that. I went on to play around in Photoshop for a bit for a slightly-in-the-style-of-mike-perry album art for a fun little mid-week surprise coming up! Erin also sent me a super cute typeface to go along so while I'm sans-project I'm just trying to be productive.

I didn't have a legit update last night because I wasn't feeling my best after work. I watched a bit of Little Rascals and went to sleep. I'm happy to report I'm feeling much much better today. Aside from a very annoying contact lens.

Also, today I received AMAZING news from Mike. Apparently his FEMA inspector (from last month) received much scrutiny on his end and almost all of his "clients" appealed their rulings due to not receiving enough aid. Basically, the gist was that Mike and I filed separately because we're not married... however, his inspector overruled my inspector and basically put that ALL FIVE OF US LIVED IN ONE ROOM! Plus, with another roommate filing and not telling us what she claimed etc, I was then found ineligible for assistance. A big blow to my already sinking ship of excitement. So much went wrong with our FEMA deal and it's like an amazing answer to so many prayers and Mike had a re-inspection of our house this morning at 10:30am in Franklin. The new inspector took note of everything his old inspector didn't. (Basically ALL of our furniture, our clothing, etc etc etc). All of this came out of nowhere. Like an absolutely totally mind-blowing miracle. I'm living fine in New York City, but at the same time I'm constantly worried about when I go back to Nashville because we basically have to find a place to live within 4-7 days because I get home RIGHT as my last semester of school starts. And with so many people being displaced thanks to the same flood that threw us out, it's hard to say if there will be any apartments available. Not only that, but we're only wanting to stay in Franklin for roughly 4 or 5 months. I graduate the first week of December, and to be quite honest, I'd like to leave then (mainly because Franklin is a very very expensive town). So you can imagine my frustration and my absolute fear about returning home at the end of summer because moving into our own place alone is going to have an astronomical price tag associated with it. Deposits, applications, renters insurance, setting up all of our utilities, etc. Not to mention we don't even own a single piece of furniture (except the sort-of-salvaged couch). Gah!

So anyway, enough rambling. The guy told Mike that we should be receiving some federal aid and I'm at that point to where I could just cry. It honestly could not have come at a better time and I'm so so so grateful of this amazing-perfect-fantastic happening, and the fact all of you have been SO supportive throughout this whole thing. We don't know how much (if even much at all) we'll be awarded, but at this point, anything is better than nothing, right? I'm just grateful that a wrong was righted and we can hopefully move on from this with the least bitter attitude possible (although there's still that one thing... but at this point too, I can't be bothered with childish behavior).

I just had to share the fantastic news. I feel like I've been lifted from my rut (as I've felt sick the past day) and hopefully this can put a little bit of pep in my step and we can start looking for a new home in Franklin.

I'm putting together a few things to be posted over the next few days, and this weekend there will even be a giveaway from a sponsor. Keep your eyes peeled! And above all, have a fantastic Wednesday (even if you're just working for the weekend!).

xoxo

A Recap of the Past Few Days...

This weekend, we had Toby and it was Mike's Dad's birthday so we loaded up and headed down to Lawrenceburg Saturday morning. We had a lovely little lunch with his immediate family and grandparents, etc. We spent the day blowing bubbles (or at least watching the kids blow bubbles) and eating cake. We lazed around and then Mike's brother Ryan, sister Lanie, her friend, Mike's neice Kaitlyn, Mike, Toby and myself went for dinner at the Brass Lantern (if you're at all familiar with Lawrenceburg you'll know it's one of the only places to eat and it's pretty much a staple there). Mike and I ordered Pasta Primavera and I asked for marinara on top of mine but much to my dismay, they brought it to the table and it was a little bit of red sauce mixed with SO MUCH beef! Ugh! I was 30 minutes late for work because we had to wait for them to bring me another dish :( Either way, the food was good and the company, too.

(my roots are SO bad! ugh!)

I rushed to work (it's about a 45 minute drive) and it was just work, ya know? Not too busy but not dead either. It was my last night so they wrote things on the glass and Rick, the DJ, kept announcing it and yadda yadda yadda. I didnt leave until after 2am so I didn't walk into his parents' house until 3am. phew! I was exhausted. We woke up at 10am for breakfast and then at 11:30 we were sneaky and went back to bed for 2 hours. DREAMY! Our room had no windows so it was pitch black. So so good! Mike did some housework for his parents before we left and then at 3pm, we headed towards Franklin with Toby in tow. We grabbed some lunch at Blue Coast and ran some errands. Sarah was a bit late picking him up but we didn't mind spending more time with him.

We came home and watched Knocked Up before bed. Much to Mike's surprise, he didn't have to work Monday so we had to go BACK to Franklin to meet with the FEMA inspector for his claim. Here are some photos of the house...

After that, in typical Franklin fashion, we went for lunch at Genghis Grill and then ran a lot of errands. We spent a good portion of the day just shopping around for stuff and getting me things for NYC. I can't believe I leave next week! I'm not ready! Gah! We worked up an appetite before leaving that night so we went to Blue Coast Burrito (its one of the only places we can eat 100% vegan so we eat there a lot haha). On our way home we stopped in Spring Hill and went to several stores and got Mike new shoes and all that jazz.

We came home and watched Cirque Du Soleil (Mike had never seen a performance, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cirque!) We watched "Dralion" and then went to bed.

Yesterday I woke up as he left for work and I stayed in my jammies all day. But I was SO productive! I wrote out schedule for myself and I stuck to it! For two hours, between 1 and 3pm, I did nothing but crafts for my new Etsy (more about that later). From 3pm til 5pm I worked on some freelance designs for Knitcole.com, and then from 5pm until 8pm (but really 11pm), I crafted yet again and worked on penpal packages.

(yes, Charlie, the Bichon, DOES have a mohawk. Ha, I know)

Mike came home and made some yummy dinner (Whole Wheat Pasta + Squash & Broccoli!). It was so so good! He's a dreamy cook! And we caught up on some Community and Office before heading to bed. Phew!

So here I am once more... going to try to be productive today. I'm going to try and maybe dye my hair (with a YouTube video since I get asked exactly *how* I do it) and I'm going to take photos of new Etsy things to sell. 100% of my Etsy earnings will go directly to Georgia's double-eye surgery which she's about to have. It's going to be super expensive thanks to the anesthesia but she needs it so we'll make it happen. If you're interested in buying a headband, barrette, pin or brooch, stay tuned!

xoxo

Friday Friday!

Here's a quick recap of the happenings from Thursday and Friday (I'm about to have to leave for work!)...

Thursday: Woke up early and got ready to go to Franklin. Loaded Georgia up in the car because she needed to go to the vet and I high-tailed it to Franklin (a grueling 1.5 hour drive basically). I had to meet the FEMA inspector at the house at 11am and I was falling asleep the whole way. I finally got to the house and there was a Disaster Relief group from a church in Florida working on the house... 3 women and 2 men. The FEMA guy shows up and we go through the paperwork and he starts to inspect the house. I wish I would've taken photos because you would NOT believe what was happening. All the walls had been torn out, all of the flooring (like 7 layers) had been torn up, and the entire place was just gutted. Nothing remained. As we walked through the house to asses what I had lost, I started crying. I just bawled like a baby. The church group was so kind and sincere, but I just lost it. After the inspector took photos and toured the house, he went around to get the square footage and the church group asked if they could pray for/with me. I was touched at their kindness but I still couldn't help but cry.

I feel like I've done a decent job of holding it all together throughout this whole ordeal, but when you're forced to really really LOOK at it and relive it once more, it hurts. Some days are better than others, but I'm just happy that there are people willing to help. (So thank you so so much to everyone who has reached out to me, be it wonderful and heartfelt packages, cards, letters, emails or words. They mean so incredibly much to me, you can't even begin to understand.)

After that, I headed up to the vet in Brentwood and had G checked out. Two things were wrong... she had all sorts of tummy problems and her hairloss has gotten progressively worse. After many tests and thoughts it was her thyroid, we ruled that out with a good test result. Turns out she just had a tummy bug and the hairloss is a result of a really awful allergy. A lot of bulldogs have skin allergies so it's nothing out of the ordinary, but it still sucks. Not to mention she has to have surgery on each of her eyes again (for a separate reason). Her eyelids roll as she grows and they roll inward so her hair scratches her corneas... thus resulting in constant wet eyes. Another thing that is just common in a lot of breeds. Caitlin said her sister's lab just had surgery for this. I'm more than positive everything will go well.

Someone made mention in my formspring about the possibility that she is from a store or a pet mill basically, but I can assure you that she's not. Georgia came from a single-family that had the momma and this was their first and only litter. They aren't breeders of any sort so I'm not worried about anything like that. However, that is something that I think EVERYONE should take into consideration when adopting a pet. So many animals are being generated out of pet mills... cats, dogs, etc. Breeders who aren't worried about incest and possible genetic deformities as a result. It's heartbreaking because the people who adopt have no idea what kind of medical future these animals face. And the poor poor animals suffer. So please, research before you adopt! A lot of people want a purebred, but you may be surprised at how many problems that animal has down the line. I knew going into this with Georgia that English Bulldogs have a plethora of medical problems... there are so many things that could, and usually do, go wrong with them and they are very high-maintenance.... but my love for Georgia outweighs any of it and I'm just blessed to have her in my life.

Speaking of adorable G... here are a few photos from yesterday in the car...

Afterwards we headed to REI to meet up with Mike and go for lunch at Q'doba (nothing beats Blue Coast... gah!). Then G and I went back to Franklin after switching cars and ran some errands. Then it was the long drive home. I sang along to NFG's "Sticks and Stones" album to keep me awake.

Mike brought Toby down for the weekend. We had some yummy pizza for dinner and we watched Because I Said So before bed.

Today: We woke up and cleaned for a while and played with Toby. We made cinnamon rolls and before long it was 4pm. Mike and I put Toby down for a nap and we crawled into bed for one of our own. We slept for a glorious 1 hour and 45 minutes. Win!

Now I'm getting ready for work and I hope tonight flies.

Tomorrow we have to be in Lawrenceburg by noon for Mike's Dad's birthday lunch. We're going to stay the night so I'll drive to work from there and then drive back at like 3am. It'll be a nice change of pace staying with his parents. It'll be nice.

Off to work I go now! I'm totally going to be late!

I'll leave you with a funny screencap of a text from my best friend Casey (he put extensions in his hair to freak out his girlfriend hahahaha).

xoxo

PS; for anyone who didn't see this on twitter yesterday... Sorry if this is taste-less of me, but I just had to post this. Absolutely ludicrous what people think they can say! Apparently I have an Anon-Accountant. What the crap?! haha

So It Begins Again...

Quite possibly my dream home... sans the snow. If you know me at all, you'll know that I'm not really the cold-weather-friendly type gal. Give me sunshine and bare feet over frigid temps any day! This house is rather large but oh my stars, the color, the detail! I need matching white rockers for both Mike and myself. Something to aspire to!

In light of the flood and the loss of most of our belongings, I can finally say I've found peace. I've started to come to terms with what has happened to, not only us, but thousands of families across the mid-state area. Mother Nature showed her fury this weekend and she followed it with some bittersweet sunshine and the most gorgeous of days.

While I still remain heartbroken to have lost so many things with so much sentimental value, I can now chalk it up to Mother Nature doing my spring cleaning for me. You may recall several of my posts during finals week saying how I couldn't wait until Monday rolled around and I could start organizing EVERYTHING. Well, following Saturday's catastrophes, everything is much easier to organize now. I'm trying to have a light heart about it. But the silver lining is always there and it's there in more ways than one.

For instance:

• Mike and I can now start acquiring items for a cohesive home together. Everything will have a rhyme and reason. No sense in buying something simply because it's cheap or it will "get the job done for now"... No sir! Everything will have a purpose. Simplicity. Cohesion. Theme.
• The lease on our current (or, old?) house is broken. The landlord and I have agreed to break the lease so that we, as well as our other 3 roommates, may find other arrangements seeing as the house will not be livable for months (if EVER!). We surely loved our home, so so very much, but this has also been an answer to a prayer of ours for quite some time. Just not in the way we had envisioned.
• Petty arguments and scuffles were thrown out the window, or at least put on the backburner, so that we may fight this tragic event as friends and family. I'm happy to report that I have my best friend, Bryan, back and things with us are always better when we're not living together.
• I no longer have a plethora of things to pack and move, followed by unpacking and organizing and finding homes for them all. Now it's down to the basics.
• Once Mike and I find another home, it will be our home. He and I. No one else to answer to. No one to get upset with when they don't take out the trash. No one to leave passive aggressive notes on the fridge with. Just us. Our home. Our family.

Until then, Mike and I will be living with my parents. It's unfortunate that it is an 80+ mile drive to work for him, each way, in Brentwood, but while living here, we are responsible for no rent or utilities (what a God send!), and it gives us (and Toby) time with my wonderful parents. I'm scheduled to leave for NYC on Saturday, May 22nd, and arrive on the 23rd, but these events my hinder my plans just a little. I may leave 2 weeks later. It's of no real matter, as Erin & BUST have said to just come when I can, and my rent has been paid from May until August 7th so I can set my schedule.

However, I'll be deeply saddened to miss both the BUST Craftacular and The Renegade Craft Fairs in Brooklyn. But duty calls and I must do what I need to do. Nothing is set in stone yet, but we shall see.

I cannot wait to pick out dinnerware and paint colors with Mike. Eventually. I mean, we don't have a new place yet, but when we do! Right now the priority is on Toby and his belongings. We sadly lost all of his toys, some of his clothes, all of his diapers, etc etc etc, in the flood. We managed to save his red high-top Converse shoes though! We have him this weekend and he's being such a doll. We picked him up today and we will have him tun Saturday evening so he can spend Mothers Day with Sarah. Mike and I are going to Camden with my family to celebrate Mother's Day.

This has gotten long and I apologize. I just want to say once again, thank you so much for the kind words, comments, emails, tweets, etc. They mean so so much to me but please don't worry yourselves... we are just fine and we're confident that we will remain so. This is only a minor setback to a wonderful array of plans we have envisioned for ourselves. Everyone's gotta have a few bumps in the road, right? Morale is high, here, have no doubt about it!

Here are a few eye-candy home-interior shots found via SweetHomeStyle! (Mike is very mid-century-modern and I'm very old-world-feminine! It'll be interesting to see how our home turns out!)

What are some of your favorite home/interior-design blogs or websites?!

xoxo

PS; Mike's 21st Birthday was yesterday! On Cinco De Mayo! We met Merissa & JT for dinner at Mellow Mushroom, followed by beers at The Pond, since beer and pizza are two of Mike's favorites! Pop on over to his blog and tell him HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! (CLICK HERE to go to his blog!)

Nashville Flood 2010

Today we went back to Franklin with the Jeep and trailer so that we could potentially salvage some of our belongings. Mike's dad accompanied us. The water in the house, at it's height, was up to my shoulders. Luckily it had receded to about my stomach by the time we arrived. It went down another 6-8 inches in these pictures right before we left. I was able to get some clothes from my closet, a few books and movies. We also got the dishes.

However, everything we had just bought 1 day or 2 prior to the flood, was gone. Including all of our new bedding. We lost all 4 beds in the house, most likely our brand new couch, my Wacom tablet, some Apple stuff, and this and that. I think what hurt me the most was the dresser and mirror in our bedroom that my mother had bought me for moving out of the house. It had collapsed in our bedroom and was fully submerged. Our bedroom was the worst of everyones. Barely anything could be taken from it.

Elle's dad brought his boat from Murfreesboro and we were able to hand things out the window and he brought them to the Jeep. (Yes, the water was still that high.)

Our shed tipped over and our bikes were all inside. It hurts a lot to know we lost those, too. Mike and I worked on that sweet yellow bike for a while. It's just hard to see your life reduced down to a small pile of things.

Granted, I KNOW they're only materialistic things. I know they can be replaced. And believe me, we're counting our lucky stars that we're alive and well, and we have a cozy roof over our head and fresh meals being prepared by my wonderful parents. But it's so so so hard, still.

I bawled like a baby on the front porch before even going in. And tonight after we had returned to Hohenwald, I was crying in the yard as we were unloading things while someone campaigning came up. He said we should just be grateful that we're okay... and we are. SO grateful. But hearing that fifteen hundred times a day from people who haven't experienced it doesn't settle our spirits. I'm in no way trying to be selfish... it's just that we have lost EVERYTHING. Like so many people in our town and Nashville. and it's just unfathomable to think about where to start.

However, I remain 100% confident that we WILL get through this. We are ready to start a fresh, new life. We are ready to make this merely a memory. We're trying to not dwell on disaster.

There are more photos at my FLICKR. Click HERE to see the set. We're going to try to go back tomorrow if the water has gone down and I'll have more photos then, too.

Please continue to pray for our neighbors. It's such a scary thing to experience.

All of your emails have been what has gotten me through the days. You're all so so so incredibly sweet and I'm so humbled by all of this. You guys are keeping me strong.

I've been asked about penpals and things of that nature... my PO Box is fully intact... I think.. But I won't be able to check it for days/weeks at a time. I will be permanently residing at my parents' house until NYC so if you'd like to be penpals or anything, just send them to:

Kaelah Bee

649 Thomas Avenue

Hohenwald, TN 38462

USA

Thank you all again. So much. This hasn't been easy but you're making it so much more bearable.

xoxo