12 hours later...

My mom, sister, and I made the "11" hour drive from Dallas to St. Louis on Tuesday. Please keep in mind that I had already driven 3.5 hours from College Station to Dallas before embarking on this little journey. Let's just say I'm not too anxious to get into a car for an extended period of time.

The drive itself was rather entertaining. Oklahoma was pretty boring, but once we hit Missouri (and the portion of our trip that was along old Route 66) things got a little more interesting.

Just after crossing the border, we decided that a detour through Joplin, MO was necessary in order to observe the horrible damage done by the tornado in May. It was sobering to see entire neighborhoods stripped of everything and trees that only had their strongest branches. Worst of all was seeing the occasional partial home where you could see inside. We saw one that still had three shirts hanging in the closet...so that brings up the question: why hasn't that person come back to reclaim his/her possessions? Because they aren't allowed to? Because they can't emotionally handle it? Or perhaps because they are no longer with us. My heart and prayers go out to all who were affected by this tragedy.

On a lighter note, we saw one home that had painting "Missing Cat" on the front presumably right after the tornado. Fortunately, right above it was written "Found Cat" dated only a few days later. :)

Joplin was about 5 hours away from our endpoint in St. Louis, so the rest of the trip was spent listening to podcasts and going on random hunts for Sonic for diet cherry limeade. We arrived safely at our hotel a mere 12 hours after we left Dallas.

First thing in the morning, I signed the rest of my paperwork and paid the rest of my bills and got the keys to my apartment! I am only the second person to rent/live in this particular unit, so it's basically brand new. You know how when you visit something and you try to remember what it's like, but when you come back it's always a little bit different from how you have been imagining in your head? Well, my apartment was bigger, nicer, and prettier than I remembered! I'm so excited for the potential that it has.

Since the movers will come on Friday, we decided to paint the loft now before all of my belongings arrive. The hard part about painting, though, is that most of the ceilings are way too high for a standard ladder (and I do not own a ladder). So, we decided to paint accent walls in order to liven it up a little.  For the hallway, I had originally planned to find a maroon (I'll give you two guesses why), but with the colors of the rest of the loft I felt a blue would fit better. The guest room is yellow and my room is green.

Since it only took us a few hours to paint these walls, we are considering painting both bathrooms as well.

It amazes me how many things a person needs in order to live alone in an apartment. I felt like I was back in College Station, picking out items for my dorm when we went to Walmart on our first of many trips. Trash can, trash bags, cooking items, step stool, hooks, water bottles, ziplocs, dishwasher soap....... and on and on and on. I do already own a lot of things that are on their way to Missouri, but I have always shared kitchen and living room items and therefore need to fill in quite a few gaps. Good thing I've got help here this week.

In other news, I got my first piece of mail! Thanks, Darren :)

More updates to come!

Love and blessings,
Brooke