Friday Favorites: The RE-Resurrection!

We finally made it to Friday.  Hall-e-lu-yer! And what better way to start our Friday than with a little Friday Faves action?

Up first is my most favorite and only favorite from the week: I FINALLY GOT ALL OF MY BELONGINGS FROM DALLAS!  (And then moved them into my Vegas apartment.) Double yay. 

Have I ever mention that I have the best Mom in the history of Moms? I'll tell you why. She flew from Raleigh, NC (where she lives) to Dallas to pick up a moving truck that I reserved from Penske. Then she and my brother proceeded to load it with all of my boxes, furniture, etc.  

Moving truck halfway packed.

Then ... are you ready for this? She drove that 16 foot truck from Dallas to Las Vegas all by herself. That's a 20 hour drive with a moving truck by herself.  Mom of the year, I know. Wouldn't you agree?

I'm not even close to being done unpacking, but I hope to be by the end of this weekend.  To tide you over, here are a few photos of the view from the balcony of my new place:

I suppose I could show you my front door:

Any inside pictures will have to wait because I still have a lot of boxes to unload and things to put away. I've actually finished my kitchen and dining room, but I want to wait to do one big post of pictures from the interior.  MMM K?

So I'd say that is a pretty big Friday Favorite so I rest my case. I have nothing else to trump it. Now you tell me what your favorites are from the week and link-up below!

The Bargain Blonde is back bishes!

Did you miss me? Because I've missed all of you terribly! My life has just not been complete without blogging. Not only have I obviously not been writing blog posts, but I also have not read any of your blogs either. Three weeks was a long time to be blog world MIA but the time away was much needed. You know, since I moved 3 states away and started a new job (which I LOVE by the way).

I don't really even know where to begin. I kind of feel like I'm going to need more than one post to catch all of you up, so I guess I'll just get to it and start at the beginning.

Last you heard from me, I was in Albuquerque halfway through my drive from Dallas to Las Vegas. Well, I'm sure you gathered that I made it here in one piece. The 20 hour drive was not as bad as you might imagine. I listened to a lot of Miranda Lambert and Zac Brown Band, which made the time go by a lot faster. This was my favorite song from the trip. It really resonated with me and all the emotions I was digesting. 

I got in town on a Friday night and my first day at my new job was the following Monday. I didn't do much that weekend but unpack my clothes at my BFFs house (where I'm staying until the end of October) and obvi shop for my first day of work outfit! It seriously felt like the first day of school. I was scared to be the "new girl" but I had nothing to be scared about. Everyone I work with has been so welcoming, which has made this transition a smooth one. 

I've only had one really hard day, which was last Monday. I probably cried for five hours straight. It was my nephew Reese's fifth birthday and I was just so upset that I had to miss it. I will post more about Reesey and my last few weeks before i moved in a separate post because I want to keep this post upbeat.

Other than Reese's birthday, I've been absolutely loving my job, my new coworkers, the city and playing roomie with Kristina (the gracious BFF who is letting me shack up in their guest room). Hi Kristina! In fact, we just got done watching Breaking Amish, a new show on TLC. Super fascinating and I highly suggest you watch. Also, we watched certified cray Teresa Guidice and gang on the RHNJ finale. Goodness gracious, I can't wait for that reunion ... It looks like a real doozy. God bless Andy Cohen and the rest of the masterminds over at Bravo for turning out some seriously amazeballs television.

Speaking of TV, like blogging, I've had zero time to watch my outrageous amount of shows. Again, so much to get caught up on. I did get an iPad, which is what I'm typing this blog post on (can't figure out how to add photos). I got Hulu+ on here too, but it doesn't have most of my favorite shows. It does, however, have a Korean Drama TV category. Annoying. I need American reality. Heeellllloooo. 

OK, I've rambled on for long enough. I am so happy to be back blogging and I cant wait to get caught up with you ladies. I feel like I'm probably leaving a lot of important things off this post, so leave any questions in the comments. We've got this whole week to play catch-up! Also, someone please let me know how to add photos to a blog post using an iPad. I don't want to read a blog post without pictures so I know you don't want to. Help meeeeee.

My 8 Road Trip Essentials

In T-Minus seven days, I embark on the 20 hour drive from Dallas to Las Vegas. Yes, 20 hour drive. When I graduated college, I drove 24 hours from Lubbock, Texas to Raleigh, North Carolina so this ain't my first rodeo.  And when I moved to Dallas a few months later, I drove the 19 hours from Raleigh to Dallas. Me and my ass are not really looking forward to being in a car that long, but I am kind of excited about having that time to clear my mind and just think by myself. 

I started thinking yesterday about what I needed for the trip, so naturally, I made a blog post out of it. Here are my eight road trip essentials:

And my essentials explained:

I leave you with two questions:

1. Did I leave anything crucial off my list?

And more importantly,

2. What songs should I put on my playlist? ♪♪

Packing, movies and my "modeling" days

I literally only left my house this weekend three times: once for packing supplies, once for Starbucks and once for Buffalo Wild Wings. Throughout the course of packing, I watched a lot of movies: American Reunion, Hangover 2, Bridesmaids, Crazy Stupid Love, What's Your Number and The Change Up.

Thank you HBO for  making packing a little more bearable. I liked all of the movies, but Crazy Stupid Love was definitely my favorite of the bunch. Hello shirtless Ryan Gosling. Can anyone explain to me why Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds were not cast in Magic Mike? I'd like to speak with the casting director about this.

Bear wants to come with me.  Bear is technically my nephew's dog, so he will be staying in Texas.
Who wants to help me puppy shop in Las Vegas? 

Taking a break during Crazy Stupid Love

I wish I had more exciting weekend shenanigans to share with you, but I don't. I'm done packing my living room and kitchen. Hallelu-jer! However the the garage and my bedroom (i.e. closet) are going to be the hardest to pack and that is what I shall tackle this week. I should have taken a picture of my garage so you can see its hoarders status. I'm seriously petrified of a rat scurrying out from behind something. Lord help my heart if that happens.

My BFF Liz came over Friday night to help me pack, but we ended up ordering pizza, watching movies and digging through old middle school and high school pictures. It wouldn't be right if I didn't share these two gems with you, so you are welcome.

work it

Rocking my Tommy Hilfiger tankini 

I know. I don't have words either.

Kristina (the BFF in Vegas), Liz and I met in middle school and have been BFFs since. One of our favorite pastimes was to have "modeling shoots" at the neighborhood pool and/or our bedrooms (paging Chris Hansen) with our trusty disposable cameras. I can't make this shit up. Oh, to be 13 again.

Linking up with the Sami, Dana and Leeann! 

And then there were two ...

Two regions left!   It's not Chi-town as many of you guessed.  Tomorrow I will mark off the last region and reveal where I'm moving and what I'll be doing at this dream job of mine!

Now, all it comes down to this:

West vs. East

While I am so so so so (did I say so?) excited for my new job, I'm not excited about moving.  There is nothing I hate more than packing and moving and unpacking.  Kill. Me. Now.

I moved last October and I have not recovered from that yet.  In fact, our garage looks like an episode of hoarders.  Not only do I get to pack up my house, I have to unpack what I just threw in our garage when we moved in.  Andddd, I have a week and a half to get it all done.  No big deal.

I found these free downloadable packing labels via pinterest that I thought I would share with you ladies in case any of you are also moving.

via

I am going to use them to label the contents of my boxes.  Wish me luck!  Any packing/moving tips are greatly appreciated.  I know some of you have recently made a big move.  I need all the help I can get.

See you ladies back here tomorrow for Friday Faves/My big reveal!