Well, It's Official.

I know that you have been waiting with the greatest anticipation for the big news I'm going to share today! (haha - okay, well at least Jen has.)

I'M MOVING OUT and GETTING AN APARTMENT!!!!!!!!

WHOOO HOOOOO!!!! Okay, so to some, this may seem minor, but let me give you a little history.

I've lived in the same house since I was 4 wks. old (September 13th started the 23rd year we've lived there). I moved out my freshman year to live with my roomies in New Village for 2 years. I had a scholarship to school, so the money was used to pay for all of tuition and most of housing, but one day it just hit me that if I moved back home, they would write me a check every semester with the extra money! WHAT A DEAL! So my junior year, I basically got paid (a good chunk of money) to live at home and go to school.

Well, in May I graduated and in July I got my first "big girl job" at Chattem. I decided that it was time to move out, and seriously that day went straight home to my dad and told him all the reasons I needed to move. All this, and I hadn't started my job yet. Needless to say (well, needless if you know my dad), he said no. An emphatic no. (Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I posted about this traumatizing experience.)

So that was then. A couple weeks ago, the thoughts of moving out starting filling my mind again. I looked around and found an apartment complex that was quite a bit less expensive (try $300+/mo. less!!) and just as nice. I mustered up the courage to say these few words to my dad:
"Hey, uh, dad? Do you think at some point maybe we could talk about the possibility of me maybe moving out into an apartment, maybe? Sometime?"

I'm so smooth. Anyway, he said, "Sure." Oh, really? Well, then okay. "Go ahead and go look at that place and get all the information you can, and we'll talk." (I tried not to squeal.) Okay, dad, thanks.

So Bourke went with me--scratch that-- Mrs. Geyer went with me to check out an apt. at the complex and really liked it, but didn't love the location. It was closer to the front/the road, so there was another one that became available to look at last week that's at the back, waaay away from the road. Mom and I went to look at it Friday, I bought a couch and loveseat Saturday, and I signed the lease today!!! WHOO HOOOO!!!

And I'm taking this guy with me: