Back in the States for the Blink of an Eye

Hello everyone and I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated my blog.  As you know, I was in the US for about 2 months closing down our family home and catching up with friends and family.  It was a whirlwind journey and I still cannot believe how much was accomplished in such a short window of time.  Allow me to provide you with the abridged version of my stateside adventures. 

Rob and I touched down in Atlanta on June 6th where we were met by the one and only Wendy who helped us throw our luggage into the car and immediately whisked us off to a delicious and much anticipated Mexican dinner.  Arriba!!!  After shoving our faces full of as much food as possible we returned to our family home to begin the extremely emotional and labor intensive task of getting the house cleared of 30 years of Lindsley family stuff.  Ugh! 

As I mentioned before, I had been dreading the return to Atlanta because I knew it was going to rip my heart out, but being back in the house actually felt great.  Of course it was terribly sad to enter the house and not be greeted by mom’s beautiful and smiling face, but her presence was definitely there and the house looked great.  In fact, there were even a few improvements that made the house just about perfect.  Thanks, Drew, for all your hard work in our absence.  Mom would be thrilled with the new deck and immaculate backyard. 

The next morning Rob and I, in true Lindsley fashion, began assembling lists of the various things that needed to be accomplished by the June 30th move out date so that we could be as organized and efficient as possible, especially since we’d be doing all of this while simultaneously babysitting our highly mobile and extremely energetic 9 month old niece, Abigail, so that Drew and Maggie could take a much needed vacation. 

Rob and I headed up to Cincinnati the following day and had a great long weekend with Drew & Maggie…(yep, Rob and I totally hooked them up with their very own face masks)

and Abigail.  It was wonderful to be reunited with our kin and get to know Abbey who is the most adorable little girl and so much fun! 

Her christening was a few days later and she was on perfect behavior.  Mom would have been so proud of her granddaughter. 

OK, I know I promised you that this would be an abridged version so I’ll speed things up a bit. 

• we interviewed several estate sale companies and were shocked to discover how many people do this as more of a hobby than a career.  I’m sorry, but “I I really like furniture” doesn’t cut it.  Thankfully we met 2 lovely ladies who were fabulous and exactly the right women for the job.  One major item checked off the list.
• Mom’s house is not baby proofed so during her waking hours Rob and I were prisoners in this one tiny room that was one of the few places that was not a disaster zone.  Of course a 9 month old wants to climb on, touch, rip up, and put everything little thing in her mouth…

so Rob and I were constantly watching her to make sure that nothing bad happened while she was in our care. 

• We hired a babysitter to watch Abbey on 2 of the days so we could get stuff done during the day and when we picked her up on the second day she had a big bruise on her head from bashing it into the corner of a table while she was pulling up.  OMG!!!!  Rob and I had been hyper vigilant about her care and were beside ourselves that she was now sporting a bruise on her head.  Now seasoned pros, Drew and Maggie took the news all in stride.  Rob and I were still a wreck, but within 2 days the bruise was totally gone.  Whew!!!
• One day while holding Abigail and trying to pick something up off the ground, I heard an audible crack in my back, followed by intense pain. Awesome!

Sandy, thank you so much for recommending Dr. Kim’s acupuncture. He was a lifesaver.

• After selling almost everything in the estate sale, we ran into a bit of a problem while trying to get some of the larger pieces of furniture down the stairwell.  Two of the beds just didn’t fit and the only way to get them out was to cut into some drywall and make some room.  Of course we really didn’t want to do this for obvious reasons, but we were convinced by “those in the know” that chopping into the drywall was very minor and significantly cheaper than walking away from these furniture sales.  You can imagine our surprise and subsequent elation when we discovered that the drywall that we had just cut into was actually covering a load-bearing wall.  Amazing!  So now we had to walk away from the furniture sale and get this massive hole in the wall fixed in the 2 days that we remained the owners of this house. 

• One of our neighbors (new neighbors who didn’t live there while we were there) bought mom’s bedroom furniture and when we called them to tell them the bad news and offer them a full refund, absolutely freaked out and began screaming at us that this was not there problem and that they wanted to come over and speak with our workmen to see just how expensive and labor intensive it would be to insert support beams under the wall to free their furniture.  Um…are you kidding me?  Rob calmly, yet firmly let them know that this was non-negotiable and that we’d be putting their voided check in their mailbox.  Of course they continued to call us and rant like maniacs a few more times so we put our estate sale ladies on it and they got it sorted out. 
• The new owners were thrilled to inherit this incredibly nice furniture and had already purchased all the linens and some of the smaller pieces in the estate sale so mom’s room was going to be almost the same as it had been when she lived there.  I was with my mother 4 days before her accident for Mother’s Day and during that visit she told me that everyday she woke up in her room she felt like a princess.  Mom had just refinished the entire home and her bedroom was definitely her favorite.  She’d be thrilled to know that this room was being preserved.   
• Miraculously we got the drywall fixed, the moving vans filled, and the house cleaned by the June 30th move date.  It was an odyssee, but we got it done. 

On our last night in the house, Drew, Rob, and I went out to mom’s favorite steakhouse and had a delicious meal.  We returned to the house and spent the next few hours walking through all of the now empty rooms telling stories from our childhood, laughing, and of course shedding a few tears.  i am so glad that we were able to have this thoughtful time to walk the space and say a proper goodbye. 

Drew got up at the crack of dawn to start his journey up to Cincinnati, while Rob and I headed over to Kip and Wendy’s house for a BBQ. We had already put in a request for Wendy’s legendary sliders. YUMMY!!!!

It was wonderful to have our last night in ATL be so relaxed and stress free.

A huge thank you to Kip and Wendy for everything they did to help our family. I love you and miss you already!

Early the next day Rob and I headed for DC to move our things into storage before heading off to SLC to visit our Utah kin. Aw shucks!

When we arrived in DC we were greeted by the smiling face of Sandy who was kind enough to let us crash at her house. She was the cutest and made us one of my favorite home cooked meals….drum roll please….TACOS!!! Woo Hoo! There are very few Western foods that I missed while being away, but Mexican food was definitely one of them. I am going to eat as much Mexican food as possible while in the States. Bring it on!

Rob and I headed over to the storage unit to meet our movers the next day and sat there for 2 hours until they decided to show up. Wow! This is not off to a great start.  Little did I know just how bad it was going to get. Within minutes of their arrival, we heard a large crash and were horrified to discover that the one heirloom piece of furniture we took now looked like this….

I had a difficult time keeping my cool so I removed myself from the situation and went inside to see how the rest of the move was progressing. You can imagine my horror when I discovered that this was what was going on inside.

Um, I’m sorry, but what about this is acceptable? I have never seen anything this preposterous in my life! Ok, obviously I’ve seen things worse than this before, but this is pretty egregious. Just for the record, NEVER use Henry’s Moving Services.  Give me a break you guys! 

Obviously we made the guys shift some things around so that heavy items weren’t teetering on flimsy pieces and within about 35 seconds another table came flying down to the ground with the leg ripping off and shooting across the floor.

Wow! Out of 5 pieces of furniture these dudes managed to break 2 of them. Fascinating! The move finally concluded and Rob and I hightailed it out of there to get a tasty meal and a few cold beverages.

I met up with my girls the next evening at, you‘ve probably guessed it, our favorite Mexican restaurant and had the best time. It was so WONDERFUL to see my posse. Of course we didn’t have everyone in attendance, but we had a large group and it was fabulous. We were screaming and laughing our faces off all night and I loved every second of it. I am so lucky to have such wonderful girlfriends. I love you girls and Andy and have missed you so much! What a fabulous night. I can’t wait to have more just like it!

Rob and I headed out the next day to visit out Utah kin! You remember this guy!

Hello Uncle Wally! Sadly I was a huge loser and didn’t take many pics when I was in Utah so I don’t have many images to share, but I do have some great stories. Wally had just moved into a new house so it was great to see the new digs and meet his adorable puppy, Charlie! We are total dog people in my family so we couldn’t get enough of this little guy. We also got to meet Wally’s girlfriend, Tawni, in person too. How fun!

Wally and Tawni made us some scrumptious meals and took us to some great SLC restaurants. SLC is a great city and absolutely stunning in the summer. Rob and I were pumped to go on some hikes and be outside in nature as much as possible. Of course my back was still jacked up so I had to take it easy and walk around like a geriatric patient, constantly grabbing my side to ease the knife-like pain shooting up my side, but I hobbled myself all around town and had a great time. Who is young and fun?

One night we went up to Park City and hiked around and had the most amazing food and wine. Wally and Tawni introduced me to several new wines, which were insanely delicious and will become new staples in my refrigerator…that is when I have a refrigerator again.

We also got to see our cousin, Tyler, and Aunt Miriam! Yeah! Miriam has also moved into a new house so we were psyched to check out the new digs. She was so sweet and made us our mom’s famous leg of lamb recipe. How thoughtful! It was finger licking good and I know mom was looking down us that night with a huge smile on her face! Thanks, Miriam, for adding such a sweet, personal touch.

On our last night in SLC Wally was having a fund raiser at his house for one of the district attorneys running for election. He had a huge mobile BBQ pit delivered to the yard, but the piece de resistance was the fire dancer performance. Of course, I found a front row seat! These girls were amazing throwing fire batons and balls all around within inches of their faces. One renegade baton actually flew out of her hands and landed in my lap. Even with my jacked up back I was able to leap up in seconds to get the burning baton off!! Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe sitting in the front row wasn’t such a good idea. Hahaha! The fund raiser was a huge success! What a great way to cap off our visit out west.

Wally, thank you for everything you have done to help the Lindsley kids since mom’s passing. I don’t know what we would have done without you! You have been so great every step of the way and please know how much we appreciate everything you have done and continue to do.

I said my goodbye to Rob in SLC as well. Sad! I have spent the last 2 months with Rob and am going to miss his smiling face and quick wit. Rob, safe travels to New Zealand and best of luck writing your dissertation. I am going to miss you and can’t wait until we hang again!

Now it’s back to DC for some more fun with my girls and the rest of my DC crew. Woo Hoo!

Our first thing to celebrate was LuLu’s bday! Yippie! I love our girls’ bday celebrations. We decided to go to the O Street Mansion, which I highly recommend. The spread is insanely comprehensive and delicious, and after shoving your faces full of food, you can walk through the mansion, which is filled with secret rooms and hidden spaces. It was awesome. Here’s a pic of the girls in one of the bedrooms. Happy Bday, Lu!

Of course we couldn’t let the party stop after brunch, as it was the World Cup final match and we had some more celebrating to do. Fun!

My DC crew is so fabulous and rolled out the red carpet big time. My friend, Greg, made me one of the most spectacular meals of my life, including the star attraction, a tres leches cake. I am not sure if I have ever tasted something more delicious in my life. It was insane and Greg is definitely the host with the most!

Carlos was also in attendance and made the evening even more fun!

I don’t think we stopped laughing for even 1 second that night. It was so much fun! Man, what a fabulous night! I love you guys!

I also got to see my old department from work. Lakisha hosts a crab feast at her house every year to thank the team for our hard work so I crashed the party and was so thrilled to see everyone! Torrie greeted me at the door with a huge bear hug and within seconds I was embraced by the rest of the team. I love you gals and miss you! Of course I know I don’t need to tell you that I shoved my face full of Lakisha’s gourmet spread. Thanks for letting me crash the party!

I met up with Lakisha and some of the Jagerbomb Posse a few days later and had the most fun. Of course we went to our favorite bartender, Soup’s, place and screamed and laughed our faces off all night long. We even squeezed in some dancing to our favorite booty rap songs as well. Steph, thanks for requesting my fave songs of the moment! Too much fun!!!

I also got to see my friend, Stephanie, in her new and fabulous house. Steph is also a great cook and made me the best meal. We stayed up until the wee hours of the night swapping stories and giggling like school girls. I love you, Steph, and have missed you so much!

My old neighbor, Andy, lives in an amazing house and hosted a BBQ the next day! I love all this time with my peeps. So fun!!!

Of course, Pig, who hates photos is hiding in this shot.  Bad Piggie! 

Col and Dan brought Sadie

so you know we all had to take turns with her. So adorable!

I love these chubby, little legs! 

Sadly I didn’t have my camera with me on all my nights out on the town so you don’t get to see the smiling faces of Kara, Paul, Sylvia, Irvin or Sandy’s mom, but they are fabulous and it was so great to see them. I seriously don’t think I stopped smiling for the entire time in DC. Thank you all for making my time in DC so memorable and fun. I miss you all so much and cannot wait until we hang again.  For those of you who I missed on this brief visit home, I’ll definitely see you next time. 

A huge thanks to Sandy and her family for opening their homes to me and my stuff! I am so grateful and cannot thank you enough.

It’s time to hit the road again, folks, and the first stop on my journey is to Malaysia and Borneo! Woo Hoo! It was wonderful being in the US and I leave my country feeling renewed, loved and full of gratitude and appreciation. Thank you all. I love you!