Tuesday, May 17, 2011

An Ode to Carroll Blvd.

We are moving at the end of May.

Evan has a fab new job down the road a bit in Keller. We are crazy blessed to have an amazing deal at the Watervue apartments down there... so we're packing up our lives, just short of one year of marriage, downsizing a bit, and making the change.

Of course, I'm nervous-slash-excited. All my emotions have slashes... I'm never just one thing.

I am sad to leave the first house of our married lives, but I'm excited to see Evan thrive in his new job. It has been such a gift to get to live in this little square home for the past year.

I miss Carroll-house and her quirks.

I will miss the roar of the traffic as people speed down Carroll. (It's 40 mph, people, not 60!)

 I will miss people parking in our front yard and in our backyard during home group and getting to see the ruts from their tires the rest of the week... it has kept me mindful of our good friends.

I will miss all the great moments, tough conversations, laughter, and tears Evan and I shared in this house. This house was like a third member of our marriage...when she had issues, we had issues. (Naturally the house was bumped to fourth with the addition of Marin.)

The quirks it brought to our relationship will be treasured. The falling toilet seat. The backwards light/fan switches. The almost-frozen pipe fiasco. Running across six lanes of traffic to go on a "peaceful" evening walk. The slightly creepy "Happy 21st Birthday Love Ya, Patty" message that appears after you shower and WILL NOT come off the bathroom mirror, try as I may.

We've seen some crazy things in this house!

And you may think I'm being sarcastic. I'm not. I genuinely love this stuff about where we live. It seems so "us" at this point. I'm wondering how our new home will match up. Granted, the complex has a dog park, pool, sidewalks, and a (apartment-sized) fenced in backyard... but will it be "us" like good old Carroll?

Not the best first impression.
Looking back, this was not the house I initially wanted to live in. Isn't that funny? I thought I knew better.... silly me.

We looked at several other places around Denton and the Lord continued to be very clear that the Carroll house was it. I must say, after our intense work day and overhaul by Habern Landscape, it became a much more welcoming idea.

Scroll back to the picture above  if you need a reminder of the jungle! 

Here are a few before and afters because I've been wanting to do this for a while....
Kitchen... so much potential. Once that curtain was gone. 


Evan graciously agreed to let me paint the kitchen what I call "Menton, France shutter-green." It makes me happy everyday. Add in the curtains Blanche helped me sew and our garage sale bargain table... and it's the perfect place.

Very dark maroon in the office. My red raider wouldn't let that stay. And the 2%er in me hated it too.
This angle doesn't do the office justice, but the yellow is much happier and Marin is a camera hog.

Cute little empty living room. I had no idea when I took this "scouting" pic just how much time I'd be spending here.
This is the current state of the living room. No promises that it will look like this next week.
Very tiny master bedroom....
that amazingly fit all our stuff just right.
A year can go by so fast.
Life can collect so many objects.
I can let go of "stuff" but I desperately want to hang onto all of the memories.

Carroll-house, this is what I want to say to you:

You've been great. We will miss you and your wonderful cabinets. Thanks for everything (except the ants).
From now on, we will honk at you when we drive by. Please try to keep the neighbors from growing anything illegal and I'm sorry I never planted flowers. Please be good to your next residents.

Yours Truly,
Sarah

4 comments:

  1. This post makes me sad/excited (there are those slashes again!)

    I never would have guessed that you and Evan would become two of our very best friends, but I'm so glad that you did! We will miss just stopping into the Carroll house when we see both of your cars, but I know that a mere 40 minutes between us will not hinder our friendship.

    I know I'm not in any condition to help you move, but I would LOVE to help you come set up your new place! (Not that you need it!)

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  2. Awesome post. I laughed pretty hard about the creepy mirror message. Hey - I understand about the moving within one year of marriage thing - because Ryan and I will be moving in a month, on our 6-mo anniversary. To Fort Worth! We will be "neighbors" - yes!

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  3. Anna- I never could have guessed it either, but our lives would be incomplete with out you two. I'm pretty confident our friendship can overcome 35W and the distance between us. And please come help me!!

    Leesh-Love that our lives continue to stay on the same pace. Happy for you guys and glad we're going to be closer! :)

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  4. It was fun to see a few pictures of where you've been living and I suppressed multiple laughs about the mirror message (it's almost midnight here! can't be waking everyone up...)! I'll be praying for you and Evan as you move into this next season of life!

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