Weekender: Tom in Tucson/ Me in Charleston

We are having our first full weekend living in two states. Tom went to a local Mexican (surprise! surprise!) restaurant and had dinner and a beer and met some local people. He said the food was good and he told me his dish had shrimp that really tasted like shrimp! (On our house hunting visit I had shrimp that if blindfolded I would never have guessed it was shrimp that I was eating!)

On this side of the country, I went to a Kris Kristofferson concert. We had bought the tickets with a couple we are friends with 7 or so months ago and as it turns out, she is not in Charleston at the time and, of course, Tom's ticket had to be subbed out. We both ended up asking 2 other friends from when we had all worked together in a restaurant many (many) years ago. It was a high end steak restaurant called Le Chateau. There are a core group of us that have remained friends over all these years. So we had a mini Chateau reunion with our friend Andy coming in from Columbia. So it was really nice for me to have an opportunity to see all of them together before I leave. And that was just a bonus to a great concert. Our seats were 6 rows back and Kris sang for over two hours and played all the songs that you remember as his biggest. He was also very humble and humorous. His tempo was a bit slower than in years past and he joked that when the audience was clapping in time with the music that if it seemed a bit off that it wasn't us, it was him.

Today was one of my least favorite days in Charleston as far as the weather goes, for it was in the low 40s and raining most all day. I spent the afternoon with my mom and my sister out to lunch and a little bit of shopping- as I need to have more things for the movers to pack! Tom spent his day with his cousin Kate checking out some more houses for us and doing a bit of bird watching.

So just one more day of this weekend living apart...

And so it goes...

So Tom and I have just about made it through our first "bi-country" week. I think we are both exhausted- he with his new job and me trying to accomplish so much. I also worked at both of the galleries that I am in this week. I got the house listed and I believe it went on MLS yesterday. The realtor is great and was set up for us through the relocation service. She has even posted our house on you tube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21PsSUDrj6o So aren't we social mediazed? (word?)So keep your fingers crossed that there is a nice family out there just looking for our house!
Tom is loving his new job so far. It has already been challenging and he has already had to do some crisis management. His hours have been long and he doesn't have his office yet so he is in a cubicle in the meantime. So this corporate environment is a whole new world for Tom. They have given him a Blackberry that I think is going to become my enemy because last night they were still e-mailing him work up to 10:30! I don't think I'll be crazy about Tom being that "connected" to his work! Hopefully, that won't be the rule but I will let you know as time goes on. One really, really good thing is that he is off every other Friday (unless something comes up). So that will be really nice to be able to have longer weekends to explore more of the area. So many of the places we want to visit are about 6 hours away and with that extra day that makes that more feasible for a weekend trip. So this being Tom's first Friday off he is going house hunting tomorrow. Hopefully, he finds us some good choices.

Tom has started "the adventure" ahead of me. He is experiencing his first day of living in Arizona being tired (he got in about 12:30AM our time) and a bit bummed as his NY Jets lost in the playoffs to Indianapolis. They have had an amazing post season anyway.

So I spent my afternoon with my sister Vicky and we went to the Charleston Tea Farm Plantation, the only tea grown in America. It's one of those places you always say you're going to and never get there. Friends of mine live at the original tea farm in Summerville so I had learned a lot of the history from them and had even seen some of the photos from when this had been Lipton property. The tea plants at the Wadamalaw island location had originally come from the Summerville property.So because of the connection I had always wanted to go. It is now also co-owned by Bigelow which is a major importer of teas. But the tea you buy from here, which is the American Classic tea, is all American grown at Wadamalaw. I do not know if you can still find it in the grocery stores but I used to buy that tea all the time and I would recommend it. Anyway, it was an interesting visit although we weren't able to cover all of the territory due to the mud.

I am going to try to do some more of those cool things around Charleston that you take for granted and do not get out to do them. I am just glad I have the opportunity to get some more of those "under my belt" before I depart this beautiful city. Lesson to all- get out and go enjoy all that surrounds you!

Tom is on his way. He called a bit ago to tell me his first leg of the journey was done. He said his flight was rough although the weather didn't look too bad between here and Dallas. I'm glad I wasn't on that flight as I am not crazy about flying these days. Unfortunately so many places I want to go require a plane flight!
A few nights will be okay with Tom in Arizona then I will be ready for a visit from him. It will take some getting used to doing things like eating by myself and even watching TV. A lot of people watch TV when they are by themselves but I really only like to watch when I have someone to "share" it with. When I lived in my little beach cottage I had a television in my room that I probably turned on a hand full of times. I only liked to watch in the main room when others were around! Maybe this will help me work on some of those projects I was always going to get around to.
So I finally had some down time to look up some things about the Tuscon area regarding things we can do when I get there. There seemed to be a good bit of state parks in the south of Arizona but as I simultaneously went through them I discovered that about half of them will be closing in the next two to three months due to government cuts. What a disappointment! I am excited to see there are several hot air balloon companies. I tried that up in the mountains of NC and loved it so much that I feel like I have to try it again.
Okay, time to look up some more cool things to do in Arizona...

The countdown for leaving Charleston is on for Tom. He flies out tomorrow at 4:00. My car left this morning for its journey. A little more reality! Busy day ahead being sure Tom has all his loose ends tied up and getting all his things to take in order. He is very excited and very nervous at the same time! This job puts him in a better position than he has been before and is actually just what he would like to be doing. The hardest part has probably been the swift speed of everything moving along. And then we don't know how long it will be before we're together again and we've only spent several days apart at a time before.
Kate, Tom's cousin in Tucson, said it has been raining and the rivers are running but she thinks it may be dried up by the time gets there. Rain is quite the event out there!
Anyway, off to helping Tom...

We are busy getting everything ready for Tom to leave. Tom is taking my car out there and I am keeping the truck just in case I need to move things. My car is being picked up tomorrow morning to be transported to Arizona. It will take it 12 days to arrive. I wish I could put a camcorder on it to see my cars adventures across the country! My sister is also here from Orlando at my mom's house. My mom has sold her house here and is moving back to her house in Hendersonville, NC year round. My sister is helping her sort through things and pack up. So many wonderful years of all of us getting together here at the beach at my parents house on the Isle of Palms. So many changes in a year's time. It is all so very emotional for all of us. But there is no time to be emotional. Too much to do. Get Tom off on Saturday, get our house ready to put on the market, many trips to Goodwill, and helping my mom get packed up. Until later...

Back in the beautiful city of Charleston! We just can't help it, we love it here! We think one of the things that makes it a bit more challenging for us to move to the Southwest is that we are leaving one of the most beautiful cities in the country! How many other cities are there that people visit, go home, sell their house, and move to here? Now if we were moving from some place like Sumter or Florence (no offense to anyone) we don't think it would be such a stark contrast! Not that Tucson doesn't have its beauty. Those mountains with the sun setting on them or the silhouettes of the cacti at dusk is stunning! We just miss our water. Now they have what they label as "rivers" out there but they only become rivers during the monsoon season. (yes, the MONSOON season!) So you go across these bridges that are just dry, very dry, gulches. And if you have prickly pears ( a type of cactus that we have here too) you should watch for pack rat nests. And you don't want too many rats around because that attracts more snakes! Arizona has more poisonous snakes than any other state but it is said that you have a better chance of being killed by your spouse than by a venomous snake! (What in the world does that mean??? Tom?)

And they have these wild pigs called javelinas that wander around. We were told they are just dangerous when they have babies! I do believe it's all just a way of life and creatures that you get used to. I must say when I lived out at the beach I saw my share of copperheads, swam with the sharks and jellyfish and got pinched by crabs on my feet. And even my own yard is dangerous here with all the fire ants! So just a new set of "ominous" creatures to adjust to that just become a part of everyday life. It is a very friendly city overall and always helps with the adjustment. Now if we could just find a house we like!

The pictures today are from our flight out of Tucson.

Last night here. We are headed back to Charleston tommorrow. I can't say I'm not glad. We are missing our green!
House hunting again today. It is just so overwhelming all the houses we have looked at. We have several that could be good choices but we have not seen one that we say we love and this must be it. Tucson is very spread out and we have been in every direction. Unlike Charleston, we can't find an area that seems to be better or particularly worse than any of the others. So that does not help us to look in a specified area. We have 6 houses in the running at this point. But there are pluses and minuses to all of them. One that we like is in a "green community". All of the houses and businesses are built to green standards. That is very appealing to us but we're not sure about living in such an extreme close environment where your house just about butts up next to the ones on either sides. And then there are major power lines nearby which I thought are not supposed to be "safe" to live near but they seem to be everywhere around here. Another favorite is a Santa Fe style house that is pretty cool but it is in short sale which can be a real pain in the arse. In addition, they took one wall down between bedrooms and added floral carpet and stripped light fixtures, etc. but it could probably be a really neat house after these obstacles are overcome. And so it goes with all of the houses- some possibilities but no clear choices.
Okay, back to Charleston to put our house on the market and then To has to be back here Saturday. (poor Tom at this sped up time line! From what we understand here it is very unusual for Raytheon to move so quickly so they must really want my hubby!)
See you on the East coast...

Another day...more houses!

Okay, another day of house hunting. Today we went to Vail in the southeast of Tucson. We were actually prepared to not like it as well but actually liked that it is under developed on the way out to the area. I would rather live in the north as that is closer to almost everywhere else we would want to go. (The south is just closer to Mexico!) We found one possible house today that I will post some photos that show abit of the outside. We were disappointed to find that one of the houses that I posted photos of yesterday got a contract today. That would be the 2 story one that overlooked the golf course. I loved the views from the bedroom balcony overlooking the mountains. And if we overlooked the golf course maybe seeing all that green might help us adjusting to the desert scene. The other one we are afraid will go quickly too as it is such a nice house with the great outdoor area.

We did have a fun eating "experience" last night. Tom has a cousin Kate that lives her and she took us to an Ethiopian restaurant. It was fantastic! You eat with your fingers and all of you at the table share the food. It is all piled on a big platter and you use this starchy flat bread to pick it up. we even had spicy collard greens which, being the southerner that I am, I loved! And was surprised to get those out west! Ironically, the people that worked there were quite skinny!

Anyway, more house hunting tomorrow..... Stay tuned!

Yesterday=house hunting=disaster! Nothing, no good houses. Tom and I depressed! Today=house hunting=success. we found an area we loved in the Northwest. Beautful mountain views and nice drive. Much nicer area of Tucson. There are 2 ways we can go with houses here. Newer housing with less updating and repairs but with NO land or older 60's and 70's houses with an acre + of land, bigger pools, but lots of work to be done. We are leaning towards the newer house as we do not have long term plans to stay here for years (at this juncture) so we do not want to spend so much time/effort/money working on our house. So I am posting pictures of two different styles of houses that we liked today. One is Santa Fe style and the other is california contemporary. Any thoughts anyone?

WE MADE IT!!! Great flights! Tom has always wanted to go to the moon and I told him upon flying in that this landscape looks about as close as he can get to being on the moon. I have been to New Mexico before and thought this would look alot like that but it seems quite different to me. we have not had a chance to explore yet but thought I would share some photos from the plane. They were just taken with my point and shoot and the lighting was not the greatest but it definitely gives you an idea of what the area looks like.

On to Tucson...

At least we're warming up here in Charleston! Well, we are off in the morning for Tucson. The only problem with Tucson from Charleston is that it is an all day flying affair. We could be in Europe for that same amount of time! Ah, to live in Atlanta or Charlotte and fly direct! We will be on a house hunting marathon. I love looking at houses but I think this may even be a bit much for me! When I get a chance, I will let you know my impressions of Tucson and the houses.

WHIRLWIND!!!

We are one step closer to the big move. We are booked for a house hunting trip this Thursday and to return to Charleston on Tuesday. Then just a few days until Tom is there permanently. He will be there January 23. Everything has been on hold because of the holidays and it has just taken this long to get through all the red tape to move and now it is as if we are on "speed move". We are feeling excited and anxious all at the same time. It is just a host of emotions. One of the toughest things for us is to be leaving our little nephews, Greyson and Peyton and one on the way behind. They are at that age that brings such joy to us.And it is not easy to be leaving both of our parents as on both sides they are getting up in age. Maybe we should just kidnap all of them! Anyway, we will be letting everyone know how our Tucson trip is going and will hopefully see some houses we like. Hopefully, I will have time to take lots of pics!