a place to call home

In the ever-continuing spirit of documenting the good with bad pictures:

After almost three long months of living out of boxes, we finally have a real, permanent, all-ours, ready to move in to home.

Since starting to pack at the beginning of May, we've been living simply. When I say simply, I mean One-Pot-One-Pan-Three-Forks-and-Some-Ziploc-Baggies simply. An odd number of forks was poor planning, as there is an even number of us, but you get the idea. We wanted to pack it all up, get it down here, and leave it packed up until we got into our real place so the work would be kept to a minimum. You guys know how I don't like to work. The real place has been in the process of being built, as it's the residence hall that I was hired for, so they've put us up in a student apartment until it was ready. The apartment's been nice [lots of light, a dishwasher, and a front patio kind of nice], but let's be real. I'm ready to settle.

The new building is ready enough for occupancy, so says the great state of Texas. We move our stuff over on Thursday with the help of the maintenance team and a free day I get off of work [thank you, bargaining skills] and unpacking will begin PRONTO. That brand new apartment will be turned into our home in the blink of an eye. Really all it takes is a sweaty sports bra left on a doorknob [me] and some nerdy magazines on the back of the toilet [Ben], but still. Those boxes are getting emptied and thrown out of the windows. The smell of cardboard will no longer invade my nostrils. 

Thanks to the shitty job our moving company did, we have a big claims check coming our way, so I foresee many IKEA and Target trips in our future. I also see many DIY and decorating posts in this blog's future because I need someone to brag to. Thanks for forever being my audience.

August bold intentions

It's August. Somewhere in the flurry of packing-driving down & across the country-visiting family-getting to a new city-starting a new job-celebrating our first year of marriage-writing a thesis-etc, late spring and much of summer has flown by. And while the cliches are...cliche, they're true for a reason. Time goes so quickly as I get older!

I have big plans for this August. This month is going to bring about a lot of change in our already-very-different-lives and I'm excited for it all. I'm going to be bold and intentional about my August and I already started today.

inspired by Elise

1) Write my thesis & write it hard. I'm getting there. Slowly, but surely, I'm turning on my classical piano Pandora station, sitting on my couch/at my desk/on the floor and writing. I hate getting into it, but once I'm in, I love it. [This is sitting on my coffee table for inspiration]. This weekend, I will finish my rough draft, submit it to my advisor, edit it all next week, and submit it for good on August 11. And then I'm DONE. My diploma will be mailed August 31 and I'll have my Master's degree. Holy shit.

2) Cram summer into the rest of summer. As I've mentioned, we haven't had much time for summery things. Once the paper is done, I'm kicking it into high gear. We'll go for late night walks, play some more catch, make s'mores, go swimming, etc. I'm glad that it stays hot here until oh, November, because we've got some catching up to do. I want carefree days and long, lazy nights. August 2013: the month of the Quigley summer.

3) Look up. I'm doing better already with putting my phone away. As I mentioned a while ago, I deleted social media apps off of my phone in an effort to focus on what's happening in front of me. But you guys, it's actually an addiction. Since Ben's been gone [on his base in New York], I've gotten Instagram back because it's pretty, and I check Facebook and Twitter through my web browser on the phone. I still put it down and work, write, read, bike ride, etc., but it keeps me company as I go to sleep and sit around. Once Ben is home though and it's not so lonely around here, that thing is gone. I want to make people [especially my husband] feel loved, and spending all my time looking at my phone DOES NOT DO THAT.

4) Make friends. No one really warned me about how hard/weird it is to make friends as an adult. There are all of these social norms and already established groups and just all around different things about being a grown up looking for friends. However, I'm making baby steps. I like the people at work and they like me back [I think], there are some cool women at kickboxing, and we may have found a church that we like enough to get involved in. Also, I know I said no more social media, but I might be going to a blogging brunch here in Dallas hosted by some friends I met on Twitter. There are prospects on the friend front and I need to put myself out there and make things happen. I want friends. Girl friends, guy friends, couple friends, all of them. Hey, you live in Dallas and you're not lame? Let's be friends.

That's it. I have four goals this month. Let's do this.