Going away party.

I couldn't ask for more amazing friends n family. I just want to start today's blog by saying thank you to everyone who came out last night. It was great to spend one last time in NJ celebrating our new beginning and our big move.
The afternoon started out with a few unexpected surprises. I never in a million years would have expected my little brother B n his sweet girlfriend Alex to show up n be 2 of the 1st ones to get here. Surprise #2. Was our friend Nate coming down from mass for the party. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, n our many many friends made the night.
The night was filled with great food, amazing people, 50/50's, good music,Laughs, n yummy drinks.
At one point we even had live music around a fire.
Words can't describe how thankful I am to be blessed with such a great family n friends here in Nj.
I just realized I can't load pics to my blog when posting thru my phone so expect a second post later tonight of tons of pictures. There are too many people to individually name and thank here but you all know who you are.
But I do have to add a HUGE thank you to my mom and stan for throwing us the party at their house and working so hard to make it a special day for Brian n I.
I'm off to get some rest before the big drive Monday.

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Last day in Roselle.

Woke up later than expected due to there being no alarm clock in our room. time to run errands n do last minute thing such as get eye brows waxed buy brake pads return some clothes that didn't fit and so on.

Spent most of the day relaxing just soaking up our last day in Roselle. My awesome friend Janis stopped by for a lil baking of some yummy cookies n we ordered the largest pizza we could find. Ps Brians favorite food is pizza. If I'm correct it was a 2 foot pizza. Then a lil rest n relaxing while munching on cookies n watching tv. We went to bed early n go figure we woke early too.

This morning was a lil strange. Coffee with nan and leaving her a list of emergency numbers filling out last min papers. Then we cleaned up what's left of our room that we are leaving behind. Packed up the rest of the car and said our good byes. It almost brought a tear to my eye saying good bye to her. In the past 2 1/2 years that I've been married to Brian I have become close to her. I have been thru alot with Brians family.

Brian took one more stroll around and said good bye to his childhood home. And off we went. Good bye 822 Amsterdam it's been fun but it's time for us to fly away n try our luck at life on our own.

Now off to pick up a few friends n head to moms for a night full of friends, family, and alot of fun.

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Nothing like starting the day out at DMV. So upon droping bags off at moms I discovered some very important papers went MIA. So I woke up jumped out of bed bright n early to beat the masses at DMV. Only to discover I have to make a million phone calls to get a lien lifted. Fun. I decided I had no time for that cause a convoy of trucks should be waiting at my House for moving day. So I ran to the bagel store to get breakfast for everyone n rushed home. 

Yummm,

I'm still in disbelief that Our Stuff fit in 2 pick up trucks an a Toyota matrix. 

Thank you Chris for letting us use your truck.  Look at Brian in the pic below looking so proud of loading the truck. And I'm proud I survived driving a F150 in Newark 

 also thank you Courtney for coming up with your truck n helping us load n palletize

and last but not least a cute snap shot of the lil matrix. And a big thank you to my daddy for helping us load the trucks n palletizing oh and for being extra careful driving my car 

it was an interesting drive to the dock my dads gps nicknamed "Maggie" took us in a few circles. But we made it there to meet the awesome crew who is shipping our stuff west. Time to load the pallets. 

It amazed me that our stuff fit on 3 pallets. When I moved back from cali 2 1/2 years ago by myself I had 6 or more pallets of stuff and I guess I down sized to the point that now both our  lives equal 3 pallets.

Ok pallets r loaded and paper work is filled out. now back to DMV . Hoping things go smooth after a few phone calls. I got to DMV to discover no long lines so weird in Nj. I walked up n the lady remembered me and everything went smooth. $60 later I had my important papers. Score one for me. 

Then Brian decided to go meet up with friends for a goodbye drink and some chicken fingers. 

After that it turned into a night of good byes. We headed to our friends house for some of the best veggie tacos ever. Adrienne I need that recipe that was so Yummy. Then we got to hang out for a Bit N  say bye to 2 of the most amazing kids I know. We love these two. It makes me sad to not be around to see them grow up but take my word when we come home for holidays we will make it our business to come visit them. 

Isnt she adorable.

Before going to visit we stopped at the store to get them both early bday gifts. It was so cute watching Brian try to buy the whole store for the kids. 

Dear faith n Ariana we will miss you more then you know and expect lots of post cards. 

After the cutest yet sad goodbye we had to leave. 

We decided to stop by dads to give hugs n kisses to dad n fran. A small see you later cause dad said he won't say bye just see u at Christmas. 

Then one more stop before home and that was our great friend and neighbor chris who Brian has been friends with since they were both children. This good bye was filled with lots of fun memories and laughter. 

One more day left at Brians childhood home with his grandmother n uncle then it's off to moms for a fun fun fun Saturday filled with great people, food, and fun. Our big last hurrah. 

Time for bed n a long day of last minute running around on Friday 

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The Waiting Game and too many Thoughts

Enjoyed Some drinks with friends last night and got to say good bye to our local pub Hamiltons Tavern.

Woke this morning and closed out old bank accounts that werent being used.

Cashed in our Jars of change

Bought some much needed new wipers and car stuff.

Also got an Oil Change and the mechanic said my lil matrix looks good for the trip.

Earlier today We decided to enjoy things that we will miss that the west coast doesnt have.

Dunkin Donuts coffee will be missed alot

Yummy East coast bagels. i swear the water makes them so good

Brian is going to miss pizza alot.

Pizza is by far his favorite food.

And i know its not as good out west

even tho we dont eat them often I know White Castle is going to be missed

Im going to miss the Sandwich stop down the way. Sub STop Thank you for the amazing Subs

Oh and dont let me forget to mention

IM GOING TO MISS TAYLOR HAM

Now that we have full bellies and lots of coffee its time to get to work

We have alot to do still and way to little time.

I was hoping our friends would be able to help us out with a truck or two but that is seeming like its not gonna happen. Ive been looking into uhaul and realized they arent as cheap as i thought.

Decisions gggrrr.

Only one day till we have to get our boxes to the dock and all i have is a toyota matrix. this so isnt going to work. Time to figure something out.

In the mean time i guess we may as well pack the car full of everything that is riding along with us such as clothing into the car and bring it to moms so its ready monday morning.

Ive been wanting to get this Nat Geo Road Atlas

Im hoping to get to the store either tomorrow or friday.

This is a must have to our adventure.

for now im relaxing and Blogging till traffic dies down for this drive north to moms.

My brain is overloaded with news of insanity

What is it with the 4th of August so much seems to be going on that day

Just found out Brians grandmother needs to have some Procedure with her Heart that day

Along with so many other events.

I think Tomorrow is going to be our last day at the Roselle House.

We are going to miss Nan and Mickey But its time for the baby birds to leave the nest

and try our luck at Life on our own.

I hear Brian Beckoning Me to help him load the car so That is all for now.

I will update tomorrow.

Thank you for following along

Count down till we Leave NJ on an adventure of a life time.

Stay Tuned AUGUST 1st

Tieing up Loose Ends & Routing our Trip

Last night had a Great Goodbye Dinner with Dad and Fran at

Im going to miss them both. I even gave them back my House key.

So far today

I have been tieing up loose ends, Putting in change of adress forms all over the place.

I stopped by my previous temp job to say goodbye to the 2 wonderful ladies i worked with there.

 I found a new home for my loved aloe plant that i cant take with me.

Ps Thank You Adrienne for taking my favorite plant.

Besides all that fun stuff listed above

we have been doing the very last of our packing its scary that the picture below is what our life boils down to.

A Tent, some hiking stuff  a bunch of boxes and  my husband.

all we have left to pack is a fan 2 lamps and our comforter.

Its crazy to think we only have 2 days till our stuff gets loaded onto a truck and heads west to meet us out there in California.

                        Next on the list to do is to figure out how to kidnap courtney and take her with us.
                          13 years of her going MIA from my life and im scared of that happening again.
                                Shes like the sister i always wanted. And i just got her  back in my life.
Ps shes going to kill me for using this picture of her hiking. But i like it cause she looks like she belongs
                                                                         on survivor.

Now to map out Our route From NJ to Cali before we Pack up the giant map on our wall.

So far its seeming like I-80 is the main road that will get us out of Jersey The fastest.

Ah how i dread I-80

For those of you who dont know these are the states I-80 will take us thru. We both have done this drive too many times. I think we may need some side adventures to keep everyone including ourselves intrested in both this blog and the road trip.

I think since we have to go thru IOWA a pit stop to visit Shorts is in order.

For those of you who dont know who shorts is here is a lil insight.

While brian was hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in 2010

He met many many many amazing people. Shorts was one of them.

On our last road trip of the I-80 to I-90 loop we made a pit stop to see shorts and offically became the 1st of the AT people he met to come visit. We were informed that we will not be the 1st AT friends to making a returning visit but shorts is still awesome and i cant wait to see him.

After visiting shorts We are considering a Stop and some hiking at The Rocky Mountain National Park which im sure will be followed by an overload of pictures.

After Rocky Mt National Park we were thinking a day of hiking at Arches National Park in Utah.

I have been told Arches is a Must see so why not.

After arches I think Yosemite would be an awesome stop since i have seen the salt flats and Brian and i went to Antelope island in salt lake last year.

Brian swears he is getting me to climb half dome but we shall see.

And im guessing that after Yosemite we will be beat from hiking and finally head to see our new home. Im guessing with in the 1st week of being in California we will go see the golden gate bridge and Alcatraz too.

Now that our trip is planned the boxes are packed and my belly is full.

I believe some relaxing is in order and maybe a few Goodbye Drinks with friends Later tonight.

Let the Count Down Begin

August 1st We hit the road.

Counting down time

The day is getting closer. The room is becoming bare. The pile of boxes keeps getting bigger. And the butterflies have moved into my belly. The keys on my key chain disappear one by one till just a car key remains. 2 more days of packing till we load most of our life on a truck n send it on it's way. I can't help but wonder what the future has in store for us but I can't wait to find out.