Who just happen to be myself and (e:Uncutsaniflush). Yes folks, it has been a whole year since we moved to Buffalo.

We arrived at about 4pm a year ago today, afer a 2 days in the car (i don't drive, so (e:Uncutsaniflush) broke it up into a 2 day drive) from Knoxville, TN. In our little Toyota Prius were all the possesions we could cram into it; things we thought we may need in the coming and unknown days, weeks or months.

Our house in Knoxville sold really quickly. We geared up for it for a long time. With a brief break in early 2004 due to some dental problems and tramas for me [inlink]leetee,24[/inlink] we worked for about a year getting things ready. We painted and repaired things. I got into those decorating shows telling people how help sell a house with careful placement of plants and removal of clutter. We had our agent over once before we started to tell us what would be important to do and again after we had done a bunch of things. She listed our house on September 24, 2004, and the following weekend, we were off to my cousin Krista's wedding in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

When we returned home, we found a couple of messages on our answering machine. It seemed there had been a problem with one of the keys in our lock box thingie. Someone had wanted to see our house while we were away but wasn't able to. Could they come soon? Yeah, ok, we cleaned up, unpacked a bit and left so they could see the house. Then see it again soon afterwards. The second time we went home and they were still there, so we drove around our neighbourhood for a while. We thought it was a good sign. And it was. They made an offer on the house.

There was some confusion about decisions and i felt a lot of pressure to move on their time frame and get things done in the house they were asking for (like fixing a toilet that had nothing wrong with it) and i broke into tears in our agent's office. Eventually, things got sorted out. There was a bad day in which we had to pay way too much money to have someone backhoe our backyard looking for our septic tank on the same day we had to have poor Diamond put to sleep [inlink]leetee,15[/inlink] that i somehow managed to survive. It was a stressful time. We managed though.The moving guys were really good... and the people that bought our house bought some of the stuff in it, too.

Our last night in Knoxville, we had dinner with friends at our favorite mexican place, El Charro. Little did we know we would find 2 places here that had a connection to East Tennessee. We joked that we needed to convince someone to move to Buffalo from Knoxville and we had no idea that someone would. Check out El Caporal on Union... they have good food. OK, where was i???

Dinner Knoxville. We stayed in a hotel our last night in Knoxville, too. Poor (e:Uncutsaniflush) wasn't feeling well after celebrating too much with margaritas and didn't even have the comfort of his own toilet to puke into.

We drove to our house the next morning to load up our car and give the keys to the people who bought our house. I cried as we pulled away from the house. We were married on the deck of that house...

Two days later we were here. We have been trying to remember where we ate our first meal as Buffalonians... and we think it was either the Towne or New York Pizza on Allen as a take away.... We think we want to eat at that place today.

Thank you, all (e:Peeps) for welcoming us. Thank you so very much (e:Paul) for creating and maintaining this space for us to get to know our new city and some pretty damn cool people in it. We learned a lot about Buffalo through here. I know there are people i have met through this space that i will cherish always.

Today was a very nice day outside. I do love this time of year... and the wind just seems to add to it all. It was a blustery day. We went to the zoo. I even remembered to take a couple of pictures...

... in the basement doing laundry. But i have news. News that means oh so very much to me. Some of you guys might not care, but i have been waiting years and years for this.

Kate Bush is releasing a new album. A double cd. It is due out in the US on the 7th (or the 8th, depending on the source). It's called Aerial. I am so excited i am freaked. She was my first ever crush.... and i just adore her still.

Just yesterday on the car ride home, (e:Uncutsaniflush) and i were talking about the ongoing and constant rumours that Kate Bush is releasing a new album and i am so not holding my breath... that if i beleived all the rumours, i would be at the record store every other week. But now, from a tiny bit in Rollingstone i read last night, i see the news and check out her official site and find that OMG, it is true!!! Yay!!!

I was in a rare mood to go for a hike today. The weather seemed good for it... it was sunny and warm, but windy. By the time i showered and got ready, it was threatening a thunderstorm. It was really windy at Tffit, but we didn't get rained on. Thanks to (e:Paul) and (e:Matthew), i felt inspired to take pics...

Tomorrow morning, we are off to Knoxville. I am very much looking forward to it.

Seeing good friends. I am already obligated to do 1 haircut... I am charging my clippers as i write this, Christopher! Our friend, Linda had a new furry addition to her family that i am looking forward to meeting almost as much as i am looking forward to seeing Linda again! Expect pics of that, (e:peeps)! I am happy we have been able to keep in contact with some friends, but sadened that there is one we have lost... of not fault of anyone's, really, but just how life goes.

Eating at yummy places i miss. Great mexican in Knoxville! El Charro, here we come. And the tofu on the Mandarin House lunch buffet is sooo good. And Kaya (Korean) has some great tofu, too. I miss the waitress there, she is such a sweetheart. She told us not to move up here... "too much snow". Turned out she lived in upstate New York for years before moving to Knoxville.

I really want to visit the Knoxville Zoo this time. Last time, we didn't have the chance. This time, for sure!

Happy Trails to us.....