Moving Woes

I haven't posted in forever because I have been busy working at my new job and trying to track down my things.

Question of the day: What do you do when your moving company steals everything you own?

This is what has happened to me because of American Van Lines.  
http://www.americanvanlinesrelo.com/

My stuff got picked up in Houston on August 25. They guaranteed it would be in Charleston by September 7. We had some contact with them, but they said it wouldn't make it by September 7 because of the hurricane. We couldn't do much about that excuse.

They called us back and said it will be there September 12. My parents drove 17 hours to Charleston to help with the move. They never showed up. We haven't really heard from them since then. It is September 17 and we have no idea where my stuff is. American Van Lines will not answer the phone nor will they return our calls.

We now have an attorney, a move rescue company working with us, a state representative calling people for us, and several other officials. Police were supposed to get called today. I haven't followed up with the attorney yet to see what the status is.

I have been living out of a suitcase for a month now, sleeping on an air mattress, eating out every night, etc. I am sure my work is tired of seeing me in the same clothes every week. I am tired of doing laundry every other day. I am tired of sleeping on the floor for about 4 hours a night.

How do you replace EVERY single thing you own unless you are a millionaire?? I will never ever be able to list all the things that are missing...clothes...kitchen stuff....furniture....towels...bathroom stuff... The list could go on. I had 80 boxes packed and an apartment full of new furniture.

I talked to someone today that used American Van Lines and he FINALLY got his stuff back but it was all damaged- the furniture was ruined, the TV was ruined, the boxes were smashed or empty.

I don't even know what to do at this point. I can only wait for the authorities to do something because it is out of my hands. I am giving it to them and to God. Please pray that this gets worked out and the authorities can get my stuff back to me. At this point, even if I do get my stuff back, it will probably be ruined.

American Van Lines was not even authorized to move anything out of Houston. They outsourced some guy off the street basically. The guy is the one that moved my stuff and who knows where he has it.

If you ever need to move, ask me for advice. I can give you a list of things to find out before you hire a mover. Lesson learned big time.

Photo Phone Fun

Hopefully some day I will get back to regular blogging. This past month has been one of the most hectic months of my life. I made the 18 hour drive to Houston to pack up all of my stuff. Let me tell you how fun that was....the drive..the packing..none of it was fun!

I did get to go to some of my favorite restaurants and see some of my favorite people in Houston though. I ended up staying in Houston a little bit longer than I had expected. Packing took forever and I wanted to hang out with my friends a little bit longer. 

I really have no idea where I am going to put all of this stuff in Charleston. I am going from a huge apartment to a TINY apartment. Well the apartment isn't TOO small, but the living room is. The bedrooms are huge though so I guess it all evens out. 

After hanging out in Houston for awhile, I went to spend some time in Louisiana to hang out with these 2 cuties before I left. I am definitely sad that I will probably not see them again until Christmas. I never really went home for Thanksgiving when I was 3 hours away so I doubt I will now.

I finally made it back to Charleston and let's just say that my first Saturday back did not disappoint! 

There was a pub crawl that was so much fun. I met lots of new friends and had a blast!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves. We were on a "scavenger hunt" so that's why we took so many random pictures. 

This was our first stop- Market Street Saloon. 

Our next clue lead us to NV lounge where we had to take a picture on the elephant. 

I think this bar was Mad River, but I am not sure. We had to take a creative pic. We opted for shots of water in case we spilled. :-)

This was at an Irish Pub. 

oysters at Pearlz

Vendue rooftop bar

Let me tell you about this chick- Cah-raaa-zzzz!! So fun!! Throughout the night, we had various tasks that we had to do and this girl did them all! I am talking about dancing on the bar, riding the bull, you name it- she did it! She was all about getting us the points! She had some serious bruises the next day from this bull! 

I am now back at work. School starts officially on Wednesday. The kids come tomorrow, but only for an hour. Things are so different at a private school than public. The thing that amazes me the most is the cafeteria food. I mean look at this breakfast. This is an average breakfast at this school. There was so much more too that obviously couldn't fit on my plate. 

For lunch- there is a salad bar, sandwich bar with at least 10 choices of bread, panini machine, etc. Then there is hot food- usually multiple choices. So far there has been a taco bar, salmon, baked chicken, catfish, brisket, bbq chicken, lots of steamed or roasted veggies, and so much more. Desserts daily too- key lime pie, brownies, cookies, etc.  It is so good!! I am in heaven with all this good breakfast and lunch food. It's free too!!! I will save lots of $$ on groceries!! I am going to have eat from the salad bar pretty much every day or I will gain 10 lbs!!

Well I am exhausted from going back to work. I move in my apartment next week so hopefully once I am settled, I will get back to a regular blogging schedule! 

Changes

So my blog has changed a little bit! What do y'all think?? I love it!!!

Everything else is changing in my life so why not my blog too, right?
I loved working with Jenn. She made sure that I got everything that I wanted! 

In other news, I am currently in Houston packing up all of my belongings. I have so much stuff for a young single person. I have no idea where I am going to put all my kitchen stuff in a tiny downtown apartment! 
In other news- I have a place to live! I have not seen it yet so that kind of freaks me out. I am just trusting my roommate! It will not be ready until September 1, so my dogs and I will be homeless for about 2 weeks! Working on that at the moment......
Well I gotta go pack! I am hoping to finish up at my apartment today so that I can head to my old school to pack everything there tomorrow. I am hoping to have a fun day on Friday with friends! I have a fun evening planned on Thursday if anyone else wants to join me and some other Htown bloggers!

Update on Life

I have done a terrible job keeping up with the blog since the beginning of July. Multiple reasons to blame for that..visitors being a huge one. The other reason is that I have been CONSTANTLY job hunting and looking for places to live in Charleston. 

Towards the middle of July, I decided that I was going to move to Charleston no matter what- job or no job. Bold move right? I kept going back and forth on the decision. Whatever the decision was going to be, it needed to be made fast. July was quickly ending, and I did not want to put my principal (back in Houston) in a bind, scrambling to find someone in August. 

After I went home for my brother's wedding, I pretty much made up my mind and had my family's support to make the big move. I got back to Charleston, called my principal and quit my job. 

As of July 24, I was officially unemployed with no hope of finding a new job. 

Since that day, I have been job hunting endlessly as well as looking for a place to live. As of this morning, I officially have a job until November working at a school in town- a great school actually. It's only temporary, but could possibly turn into a long term position. It's actually one of the best schools in town so I could not turn it down because this will get my name into their system in case a long term position does open up. I also have an interview tomorrow morning for a part time position that would help out until I have a full time teaching position. 

.

So I have a paycheck at this point. I am still homeless. I have found a roommate. She's super sweet and thought she was going to be here temporarily. Like me, she fell in love with the city and wants to stay. We have been searching craigslist 24 times an hour hoping to find a place downtown. The problem is that the college is located downtown and starts soon so all of the places are already rented. 

For now, I am leaving to go to Houston on Thursday morning. I will pack up all of my stuff, see some friends, go to my old school to get stuff, and then head back to Charleston by August 16 to start working. I have a place to stay in Charleston until September. I have hope that between now and September 1- something will open up downtown. If not, I guess we will look in James Island or Mount Pleasant. 

I have been very nervous about the decision and even last night, there were some tears about whether or not this was the right decision to make. After today, I feel confident that I am making the right decision. In the end, it's only a year. If I don't like it- I can always go back or somewhere new. I have made some great friends in Charleston already, and hope to form many more great relationships once  I get back. 

So Houston friends- I will be in town next week. Let's meet up!

Charleston friends- See ya in 2 weeks!!

Get ready for a huge birthday/college football celebration on September 1!!!

The best present you could give me is a place to live!!

I am moving to Charleston!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday's Letters

Dear College Friends, I am so glad that I get to spend time with several of you over the next week. We always have such a great time together, and our friendship cannot be replaced! This weekend will be great in Charleston and so will next week in Houston/Louisiana. Getting to spend the summer with my best friend from kindergarten has been the greatest of all! I will miss her dearly once she leaves me! 

Dear brother and future sister-in-law, See you next week at YOUR WEDDING! I cannot wait to spend time with all of my family that I haven't seen in awhile. Some of them I havent seen in a couple of years, while others it has been a couple of months. Can't wait to "get jiggy" with ya on the dance floor! 

Dear nephews, You will be the absolute cutest little things at the wedding! I can't wait until I get home to see you! I can't wait to see "Baby Luke's" precious smile! I wish I could see you more often! I guess I need to go shopping this weekend for a present to bring home to you, Mr. Big Man! 

Dear Sophie, I love you for being so well behaved. You are absolutely the best dog I have ever seen. People tell me all the time how lucky I am for having a dog that is so calm and listens so well. I would like to believe that I had something to do with it. I am sorry that you might feel a little left out because your sister hogs all of the attention. 

Dear Maggie, I love how you tilt your head for every picture. You make me realize that I am not the dog whisperer like I thought I was. You might be the most hyper dog I have ever met. I love your hyper ways though. I love how obsessed you are with me. You are not happy unless you are attached to my hip (literally) at all times. There are nights when I would like a little room to move in the bed though. Maybe you don't need to get so close. 

Dear Charleston, I will miss you terribly while I am gone. When I get back, I will only have 2 weeks left on your beautiful beaches. I intend to not waste a single minute of my time left here. I cannot believe the summer has gone by so fast. Maybe by some miracle, I will get a job in the next three weeks so I never have to leave. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Chs, Wedding Randomness, and a note to Htownbloggers

Today's post is just a few pictures around Charleston, the city I have fallen in love with!

This is a really bad picture of me. I went straight from Folly Beach to downtown to meet up with friends. This was my first time meeting up with Ashley. We have met up several times since then. She has big plans for me! :-) 

She is also here for the summer. It was so strange how much we had in common. She wanted to get away for the summer and found a sublease here just like me! Now we are both trying to find a way to stay here and never leave! 

I went for a walk in the Waterfront Park. It is so beautiful out there! The houses are gorgeous and so is the view. 

I may have posted this picture already. I can't remember. Oh well, here it is again! 

Last weekend, we visited the USS Yorktown. 

I have many pictures from our tour, but will save those for another post. 

It was super cool to see how they lived though! 

I definitely plan on walking around on E. Bay to get more pictures pretty soon. This weekend might work since it is supposed to be a little cooler!

My friend from Louisiana gets here today. We were in the same sorority in college, and I know we will have a blast! Tonight starts out with happy hour with some girls I have met from twitter, and from there, who knows! 

Maybe this check in on foursquare will give you some idea of where the night will lead us. Oops!! 

In my defense, we went to King Street Grille ONLY for salads. No drinks at all!

For the other 8 weeks, I doubt I can say the same! :-)

In other news, I found a dress for my brother's wedding! This picture is absolutely terrible. The color of the dress is coral. 

I got it at the BCBG outlet  here in Charleston. 

Thoughts?

Now I need to find jewelry, shoes, etc.

I also need to decide on a hair style! 

I am thinking something like this...

half up, poof at the top with curls

Well now that this post is way longer than intended, I will stop boring you with details of my boring life! Any advice on hair, jewelry, etc is appreciated! 

P.S. Htownbloggers, I will be in Houston on Tuesday. Happy hour is in the works! Hope you can make it! 

Fishing in Chs

Last Friday, we went fishing! It was my first time to go fishing in at least 15-20 years. I didn't think I would like it, but I had so much fun! 

Booze + boat = my idea of a good day

Getting up early..not so much!

Of course I caught the biggest fish and the most!

I think I caught 6, and he caught 3-4. 

After fishing, we spent the afternoon relaxing on Sullivan's Island. 

Awesome day!

If I have to leave this city, I sure am going to miss the outdoor activities. 

So........

who wants to take me fishing again???