Texas to Illinois
City Girl moves to Country Village
It winded down to one day. Waking up before the sun shone, to load the last minute items into my truck, pack snacks and drinks, wake up every sleepy eye to move from the house to the car, grab the pups and make sure to use the restroom because there was a long day ahead. Moving from my beloved San Antonio, TX to small "town" (village) Camp Point, IL, seemed a surreal concept as the action slowly unfolded in the day. Never fully realizing or reacting with familiar emotion, it seemed as if we were taking a simple family roadtrip, going on vacation. We just so happened to have packed every single (well, almost) item or possession of mine into a Uhaul truck. No big deal. With an estimated 17 hours of road ahead, I had made it clear that everyone was to ration food and drink, for we were not going to be making extra potty stops. With Zach and Shelby leading our way in the Uhaul and Cindy, Stella, Noah, Indie, Paislee and I snuggled into home girl Stella's Rendezvous, the race to make good timing began. Unknown to us, we would be leaving San Antonio, TX around 4:45am to arrive in Palmyra, MO around 2:00am. Needless to say, our "estimation" of time was a bit off the mark, even with rationing food and drink, making the minimum amount of pit stops possible and pushing that 20' Uhaul to its "best" performance. We crashed (into our beds) as soon as we had arrived. The next couple of days were dedicated to unpacking the Uhaul and taking an entirely empty house and turning it into a box hoarder's paradise. Now, 6 weeks after bringing in the first box into the house, we are slowly beginning to see our home take form.
With the opportunity at hand, my family and I decided to take a two day trip to Chicago! We accomplished quite a bit in the Windy City. Deep dish pizzas, a Cubs game, Portillos hot dogs, seeing "the bean", marveling over the architecture on a boat tour and Ghiradellis. With camera in hand, I couldn't resist taking photographs of the beautiful skylines and architecture. The beautiful contrast between the building and the gloomy sky intrigued me the most.
I absolutely love the photograph below. Stella, my beautiful and amazing grandmother, has quite the sweet tooth. Mention of chocolate and she is there! As her and I walked back to our hotel, I happened to clue her in to the fact that we would be passing Ghiradellis. A simple mutter of the word and immediate thought of how delicious the first round from the previous day was, her eyes lit up with joy. There was no question or "ifs" about it, we were going to make an ice cream stop. Entering into the cool building, we made our way to the second floor. We studied the menu, contemplating whether a small, simple ice cream was the way to go. However, we quickly dismissed that thought and opted for a lush and lavish ice cream sundae! We waited patiently at a table, perfectly lit with alluring natural light. As it approached, I could see her eyes grow in amazement of how large the sundae was. She realized her eyes had been bigger than her stomach. Before she could dig in, I insisted on a photo opt. "Homie Gee, smile, say cheese!" With this statement I was able to snap this photograph of my home girl staring at her sundae with pure delight, spoon ready for the first scoop and looking quite adorable as well. We did not finish the ice cream, as both of our tummies were quite full after each finishing a scoop. Her focusing on the pineapple side and I on the chocolate side, meeting in the middle to try our hand at the strawberry center. It was quite a wonderful treat, not only eating this delicious sundae but spending some one-on-one time with this young lady. Knowing that she would miss me most of all, getting to create a moment with her in a new city was what life is all about. Magic!
My family stayed with me for about a week, helping to unpack and managing to rid our house of the clutter of boxes. Thursday rolled around quite quickly, acting as their cue to depart. Tears were shed, hugs were arranged, words of wisdom passed along and, most importantly, love was shared. Without their love, I would not have had the confidence to move, explore and build myself a life in a new, unknown place. Simply knowing that they are always in San Antonio for me, whenever I need them, is comforting and empowering. Now, it is up to Ryan and I to complete the unpacking and arrange our house into the home that we want it to be.
Welcome to our humble abode. Imagine, garden beds surround the house with full foilage and color, a porch swing sways in the cool breeze with serving trays of lemonade and tea close by, welcoming chairs for guests to join us in sitting on the porch watching the train pass by ... peeking from behind the house, a giant sunflower garden, a small meadow of poppies with prancing yorkies, turn the corner and you see our veggie garden, the simple, soft hum of bees jumping from flower to flower and from the open window, you can smell the cooking of some sweet, delicious treat! Inside a museum of textures, warmly painted walls accompanied by a pallet wall, brick kitchen and beam ceilings. An open floorplan, the house welcomes our guests to explore from room to room leading to the kitchen in all its glory. We hope to accomplish making this house into our home, bringing to life all our goals for it. Expanding, building, creating, consistently making it into our own. We are very excited to see what we can do with this wonderful canvas of ours.
“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become - because He made us. He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. . .It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”
― C.S. Lewis
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. If you are new to reading, please explore past posts. If you are a vet to reading, THANK YOU as always for following along. I hope to update more often with the growth and evolution of our home as well as my explorations of Illinois. There is some new content under the Personal Works and Portraits in the Galleries. Thanks again! Leave a Comment or shoot me a message. Love feedback!
