The Southern Belle's Road to New England

When my Massachusetts sweetheart and I relocated back to his stomping grounds after we lived in Alabama for five years (I am originally from Florida), I was excited but also had no idea what I would be getting myself into. Since being with Shane, I thought I knew all there was to know about New England life before even moving here; I thought it would be a smooth transition and I would fit right in (mostly). Move-in day! Little did I know, I would often feel like a foreign exchange student in need of a pocket dictionary and language guide. I'm sure I often displayed a befuddled expression as I attempted to converse with the locals, as I am sure they also thought my "y'all" and slight drawl (at least as far as Alabamians are concerned!) was otherworldly. Now that we have successfully relocated and have been enjoying New England life for 10 months, I have picked up some local words and phrases. Caution: when attempting to understand the meaning of a word or p...

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I celebrate as long as I can possibly get away with and look forward to it for the rest of the year. Since we moved into our new home just a few weeks before Christmas, and it would be many weeks after that before we had furniture and paint on the walls, I had to keep my Christmas decorating to a minimum this year. Nevertheless, my Christmas cheer came in full capacity! I was so excited to experience my first holiday as a New England Belle , but I was most excited that for the first time in our entire relationship, Shane and I would be waking up in our own home on Christmas morning. There really was nothing like it. Because of this, Shane and I vowed to have a quiet Christmas morning together with no alarm clock. We soaked it all in by stayed in our pajamas, opening our stockings, and enjoying an easy breakfast. We spent the rest of the day opening gifts, spending time with family, and staying true to a few of our favorite Christm...

My husband and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary on May 1. When a dream Ireland trip fell through, we still wanted to go somewhere we've never been to celebrate in style. Since Colorado has always been on my bucket list and we have good friends who used to live there and were gracious with suggestions, we flew into Denver and then spent a few beautiful days in Vail.  When we arrived and picked up our rental car, I noticed a strange object on the front seat. I picked up the long black item curiously, studying it for it's intended purpose. I thought the previous car renters may have left their beloved what's-it behind. Shane caught sight of my confused expression, looked down at what I was holding, and burst into laughter. Echo Lake near Mt. Evans "You've never seen one of those before, have you?" he asked me. "Oh, you are in for a treat if we ever move to the North." My friends, it was a snow scraper/brush and it is true that...

When my husband and I  moved to Rhode Island , we sold the home where our marriage began in Southern Alabama and drove miles and miles to a whole new world in the Northeast. Since his new job covers a fairly large area, we decided it would be wise to rent for a while in Rhode Island while we explored the area and decided where it would be best to settle down. That time came sooner rather than later and we are excited to now be two weeks in our lovely new abode. One caveat: we bought a house in...wait for it... Massachusetts! (Hence the blog name change! This Southern Belle's road continued on a few miles over state lines.) Thanks in huge part to Kristy Oliveira of Remax for helping  us get into our meant-to-be home! We are so excited to settle into this beautiful home and create many wonderful memories over the next several years. Naturally, we traded our southern chalet for a beautifully classic New England Colonial and we couldn't feel more blessed and right at...