A Few of My Favorite Things

We just wrapped up our last weekend in Nashville. As excited as we are about heading to Calgary, there are moments that made us stop and reflect on all the things we'll miss - friends, family, the gorgeous weather, little local spots and East Nashville, which we have made our home for almost five years.

We made sure to enjoy some of our favorites over the weekend, starting with dinner Friday night at OMBI, a cozy little French-fusion restaurant on Elliston. A bottle of red, some amazing potato gnocci and a quiet table gave us the chance to catch our breaths after a crazy couple of months, and t0 recharge for the week ahead!

Saturday brought on more packing. It never ends. We have almost filled a storage unit with boxes, and it turns out we'll fill one more before this is all over. It's horrifying to discover how much two people can accumulate in a matter of just a few years. Never again!!

I should mention that we decided to take NOTHING with us to Calgary. We'll pack up our car with clothes and necessities, and hit the road with plans of buying all new furniture once we're up there (thanks for the moving stipend, KPMG!). I'm looking forward to having a blank slate and decorating a new place from scratch. Having in Ikea store in Calgary doesn't hurt, either. We'll feel like pioneers cruising north with hardly any material items - who needs lots of stuff bogging you down, anyway?

After Saturday's packing frenzy and a "NotDog" for lunch at my very favorite weenie vendor, I Dream of Weenie in East Nash, we had a fun night of dinner and bowling with Jenny, Ally and Conor. How I'll miss all those guys!

We are cramming in all the social time we can before heading off. Liz and I spent yesterday hanging out and shopping (the huge Forever 21 store in Murfreesboro pretty much rocked my world), and I'm looking forward to all the plans for lunches and nights out this week!

In between, we'll be doing mundane things like getting our driving records, changing our address, figuring out how to do absentee ballots (very important!), etc., etc. Phew, what a busy few days we have :)

The Road to Calgary - Literally

We finally mapped out a course for the drive up north, and it is a long one! Neither Ben or I have ever been into the Midwest, and are looking forward to cruising through the corn and potato fields of the US. Our goal is to make the trip in 3 nights and 4 days, with just a bit of wiggle room for exploring!

First stop: Omaha, NE, home of the country's most golf courses per capita. Bet you didn't know that bit of trivia! We'll probably get here late-night after an 11-hour drive from Nashville, and take off again first thing in the morning.

From Omaha, we head to Keystone, SD, where we'll get to check out Mount Rushmore and the gorgeous Black Hills. We're hoping to stay in a lodge or camp out to keep things authentic!


Next it's onward to Billings, MT. The Battle of Little Bighorn happened here, so we'll get educated on the ways of the western frontier before making the final push to Calgary. Only nine hours to go at this point!


And finally, the end of the road and our home for the next 19 months!

The Road to Calgary - by the Numbers

Ben and I are so close to the beginning of our big adventure in Calgary! It's hard to believe we have finally made it here. Here's how we got to this point, by the numbers:

8 Months spent filling out forms, applying to positions, getting turned down, and reapplying to KPMG locations all over the world.
9 Number of offices we applied to
2 Months ago when we first got confirmation that the Calgary office had accepted our transfer request
4 Weeks we spent painting, sweating and renovating the house - with SO much help from our families
3 Weeks since we listed our house for sale and have been holding our breath waiting for an offer
1 Hours ago we found out where we'll be living for our first two weeks in Calgary - a swanky high-rise apartment in the heart of downtown
8 Days until we get in our car and start the 4-day, 30-hour drive to Canada