All Dressed Up...

Friday night Jerry and I attended an anniversary dinner for some of Jerry's employees. The event was held at the Hotel Roanoke, one of the most beautiful buildings in the city.

At Christmastime, the hotel fills the lobby and hallways with dozens of trees decorated by local businesses, and they were spectacular! It helped us get into the Christmas spirit since our house doesn't have too many decorations this year. (We've held off since we are having sheet rock put up over the next couple of weeks.)

Little Turkeys

The week of Thanksgiving, I got to stay with my friends Katherine and Jim for a few days. These are pictures of their two little boys - Jacob (3 yrs.) and Luke (almost 10 mos.) - two of my favorite little turkeys! Jacob and Luke, your Aunt Amanda loves you!

First Snow

Jerry and I woke up this morning to find Jack Frost nipping at our noses. We have a temperature of 28º and our first snow of the season. The first picture is of the park in our neighborhood and the second is of our neighbor's tree in all of its fall glory.

Restoring the Ancient Ruins

Thought it might be fun to share some before and after pictures of Mirabelle. (Mirabelle is the name my mom gave the house because she said "she's so pretty to look at." Those are kind words given her current condition, but I must agree that once we give her a little - make that a lot - of TLC, she's going to be beautiful.)

Mirabelle when we first arrived.


Here's the entry and living room before we did any work. If you look closely you can see candle smoke stains on the walls above the mantle, and you can also see where the knots in the wood on the trim show through on the entry into the dining room.



Here's the same space after we primed the walls and painted the ceiling, walls, and trim.





Here are before and afters of one of the guest bedrooms as well. We only had to paint the walls in this room.



I have to give a big shout out to my mom for all of her help on the house for the last week. If it hadn't been for her, you would probably only be seeing the "before" pictures today! THANK YOU, MOM! You're the best!

In addition to the work we did in this space, we've had a hot water heater replaced and had to call a heating man to come out and fix the boiler because our cable guy cut the wire on the boiler when he set up our phone line. We're also having some pipes replaced in the house today because the corrosion has caused problems with the water pressure in one of the bathrooms.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Mom, Jerry, and I took a ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway last weekend. We drove for about an hour or so to the Peaks of Otter and had lunch at a great little place that overlooked a pond and the mountains. Here are some pics from the drive.

The Road Trip

The movers came and packed all of our things in Frisco. After they pulled away, I took one last walk through the house, locked the door, and said goodbye to our first home. It was a sad moment. I loved all of the memories we made there.

Mom helped me load her Tahoe with a week's worth of clothes to last until the movers made it to Roanoke and a basket full of cleaning supplies so that we could tackle the mess left for us in the new house. And then we headed east.

It was late when we left Dallas, so we stayed in Tyler the first night. The next morning, we got up and hit the road. We traveled up through Arkansas and passed by the Maybelline/Loreal factory.


After we crossed the border into Tennessee, we pulled over on the east side Memphis to grab a bite to eat and to put gas in the car. As we were getting gas, we noticed the tires were low. And as we were putting air in the tires, we noticed that there were cracks in the sidewalls. So we stopped at the Firestone station for them to put four new tires on the car. While we were bummed about the hour and a half delay, we were grateful that we hadn't had a blowout and were able to get the car fixed pretty quickly.

We set out again and made it to Nashville before we had to stop for the night. We stayed at Hotel Indigo - which I highly recommend to anyone who is planning to stay in Nashville - and ate the next morning at The Pancake Pantry - another don't miss.


After breakfast we traveled up through Knoxville and crossed the Virginia state line - the home stretch.


We rolled into Roanoke late Saturday afternoon to be welcomed by Jerry at the new house. It was a happy moment. I look forward to all of the great memories that will be made there.

Ancient Ruins

I like it when God spells out exactly where He wants to lead us. I'll admit that I'm not always so good at being able to see the path that He's set. That's why when Jerry and I prayed about where we are supposed to live in Roanoke, we asked God to make it very clear. And this is how He answered our prayer.

"They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated..."
Isaiah 61:4

I knew immediately that this meant we were going to buy a house that would require some TLC. I just didn't know which house until a few days later. And then it hit me - there was this one little diamond in the rough that we have been eyeing since we first started our search. It has been one of our favorites all along, but we've been intimidated by the amount of work that needed to be done. While it still seems a little daunting at times, we know that she's "the one," and we're excited about all the potential. We know it won't be long before this house becomes home sweet home.

Making a Move

As you all know by now, big change is coming our way. Jerry and I are making a move to Roanoke, Virginia, and we decided to start a blog to capture some of our adventures. We've never blogged about anything before, but we thought it might be a fun way to keep in touch with family and friends. You know - help close the gap a little bit for the miles that will be between us.

I did a little homework on the city so that I would know more about what we're getting ourselves into, and I thought I'd share some of the interesting things I learned.
• Population 94,911
• Average high temp in the summer 87º (July)
• Average low temp in the winter 26º (January)
• Roanoke came from the Indian word, "Raw-re-nock," for shell beads that were worn by the Indians and used for trade
• The Roanoke Weiner Stand is the oldest restaurant in the city - a gem, I'm sure. (Please note: we will be developing a "must-see/experience" list for those of you planning to visit us. This will likely be at the top of the list.)
• The Mill Mountain Star (aka The Roanoke Star) is the most notable landmark in the city. It is the world's largest illuminated man-made standing star, sure to make those of us from Texas proud. Another "can't miss" (literally) for our guests.

Yep, with a historic weiner stand and a neon star to remind us of home, I think we're in for a grand adventure. We look forward to sharing it with you.