Tennessee has welcomed me with open arms

I finally made it to my new home and I am happy to say that Knoxville,

unlike Albuquerque,

has yelled my name, ran to me with a big smile, given me a giant bear hug, and yelled "Welcome home!"

That's how I feel anyway.

My soul seemed to take a big sigh of relief when I drove into town. The city seems to be a combination of all the things I love.

Green plants. Everywhere. I think I stated at one point that it looked like the jolly green giant threw up all over everything. It amazes me that a city as large as Knoxville could be so covered in such lusciousness.

I also love big cities, which this is. I read somewhere that Knoxville was around 100,000 people but it seems larger so I'll have to get that figured out. All I know is there is much to be discovered and many adventures to be had.

I love heat. And that's something else that is perfect (at least so far). The warmth is just perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, juuuust right. I could be Goldilocks. Actually, literally, I could be Goldilocks. The humidity has done wonders for my wavy/curly hair. An instant volumizer.

So, as I do feel that I am still in the honeymoon period of this move, I will tentatively say that I really like (and am on the verge of falling head over heals in love with) Knoxville.

Now I must say that I am still in denial. So with all of this wonderfulness that is Knoxville and the adventures to be had, I feel like I am in the New Mexico mountains for a little vacay and will be headed home back to Albuquerque soon. I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that I. have. moved.

Permanently.

Until further notice.

No going back.

No siree. I guess it will start sinking in sooner or later but for now, I am just enjoying the denial so I can continue unpacking and not get all weepy or anything inconvenient like that. Hopefully that will never happen but I think it is inevitable.

I will start missing my friends. And I will wish that I knew where the heck I was going (even though I'm very happy to say, I am the new owner of Samantha, my GPS. She's great.) But I will start missing normalcy. (I know that's not a word but I'm making it one and have been for the last 10 years or so.) I will miss just feeling like I belong. But I hope the fact that having a consistent job and having DJ will help all that. I'll keep you posted.

Also I will soon have pictures! Get ready for lots and lots of pictures!