So I have been in my new home for a week now. (Hence my song title post.) I love it :). On Friday night, I opened a bunch of boxes -- some of which hadn't been opened in 7 years. I haven't gotten to any of the not-opened-for-8-years boxes yet. But that will come. Preferably once I have all my furniture in, since I know those boxes generally contain a lot of little ceramics that I used to collect and I will need my pretty curio cabinet for that :). So amongst my stuff, I found several pages of old magazines. Like 1980s old. See, back in the day, Donna had brought her old Southern Living magazines to work. They were from the 80s. So they had all these awesomely awesome 80s ads for 80s toys, etc. Way too radically awesome for this 80s-loving Nilla Wafer! So in addition to tearing out several recipes to try, I also tore out 80s ads ;). So I came across those, and decided there was no point in toting around such things for the rest of my life, but I still wanted to memorialize them, because I do love the 80s. And so I followed an idea I got from my dear Alabama friends Stacy and Becky: You just take pictures! And oila! Several sheets of paper become one digital picture that you can zoom in on and view :). Coolness. So take a peek and see if you are flashed-back to your awesomely 80s childhood :). I know I was! (But I don't recall that owning a She-Ra doll put wings on my imagination... That made me laugh!).
So my first order of business was to take a self-portrait. Because I do that, you know. I haven't done it as much lately. But this new place was a good opportunity :). So here I am on my $38 couch (I'm telling you -- I cleaned that thing up -- unstuffed all the batting and washed it in pillowcases, washed the covers of the cushions, febreezed it...) and that was $38 well spent! Currently it serves as my bed as well as my couch. I have my air mattress, but my bedroom is full of boxes (as you will see shortly), so I haven't bothered with the air mattress yet. Oh, and notice my UA quilt. And my pillow I got for my 30th birthday from Donna last year. (Holy cow! I'm going to be 31 in like 2 weeks!). Anyway, that UA quilt was a gift from Becky when I left Alabama 3 years ago. I have been waiting 3 years to use that :). Saving it for when I had my own place :). It's nice to have things that surround me that remind me of people near and dear to my heart. What treasures. Oh, and see the little pillow on the left with the two stuffed bears? I don't know (remember) the story behind the white bear, so I might get rid of that one. But the pillow and the other teddy bear are things my mom made for me. The bear I got when I was 11 and the pillow I was even younger. And just for the sake of recording the memories somewhere, I will do so here. The pillow was a Christmas present one year. And the only thing I remember is I was going downstairs one day and Brad and his friend Robert said, "Hila's coming!" They were talking to my mom. Well, she'd told them to be on the lookout for me, because she was working on it and didn't want me to see my Christmas present. She had already heard me coming, so she'd put it away. But I heard Brad and Robert say that and wanted to know why. I never got an answer, though. Until Christmas ;). And the bear? The bear's name is Lacy (I named it and still remember...). My mom had gone to Young Women Girls' Camp when I was 11. I wasn't old enough to go at that time. Part of what the leaders did was sew a bunch of those bears, because the theme was "Bear One Another's Burdens." So even though I didn't get to go, my mom made one for me and my sister. But anyway, there I am snuggled up on my new couch in my new home with a couple "new" things and some "old" things that bring back warm happy fuzzy thoughts :).
And this is looking from my front door to the back window. Now, in front of that window is a little round table and two chairs that Jeremy's mom is lending until... Jeremy and I enjoyed roast, mashed potatoes, tomatoes (trying to use my crop!) and biscuits at that table on Monday. My first home-cooked meal in my new home :). I love all the memories I'm making. And some that we're making.
Oh, another shot of my couch. In the living room. With some of the stuff I unpacked. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm going to move my couch and rearrange it. I'm thinking of putting it on the left there in front of that other window. 
And this is the bedroom. Excuse the mess, of course. It doesn't look much better than this a week later. Except that all the boxes are now open ;). I love going through the clothes, because it's like I've gotten a whole new wardrobe! I'm also deciding to part with some stuff, and that's always a good thing.
And here's a sort of sideways look at my bathroom. Yep, it's pretty small and cozy. And the shower is definitely tiny. But it works. And it's mine :). That's the best part ;). 
So other than spending my new week in my new home, life is otherwise the usual. I went with Jeremy and his family to their family get-together. It was quite a nice day both literally and figuratively. The weather turned out quite perfect (it's been pretty chilly here now).
