Ashley’s Journal – The Weekend that Made Me a Cary Citizen

Cary, NC — What do you get when you combine a 26-foot Penske truck, some sizzling bacon, a few keys, all the family you can think of and a bunch of elbow grease? My new home.

That’s right friends, I’m your new neighbor as of this past Saturday and I am so glad to be in downtown Cary!

The Breakfast Scheme

Part of the moving crew enjoying breakfast. From left: Belen Kouba, my best friend since childhood, my older sister, Amanda Travis and her husband, Daniel Travis and my partner, Brittany Anderson.

Starting off the moving weekend right, I decided to make a country-style breakfast of pancakes, crispy potatoes, scrambled eggs and of course some hot-off-the-pan bacon for everyone who came to help out. The reasoning behind this was two-fold; on one hand it was a thank-you meal to everyone who decided to wake up early on a Saturday to help me, and on the other, it was a strategy to provide sustenance to ensure everyone would be fueled and ready to lift a bunch of furniture and random boxes into the massive truck.

This was genius. Pure genius. I highly recommend this to anyone who has a group over to help you move or do any heavy-duty work.

With the help of my partner, Brittany, her parents and uncle, my sister and brother-in-law and my best friend, we had a 3 bedroom house’s worth of stuff strapped down in the truck in just under an hour. For my fellow people who cringe at the overwhelming process of moving, this was a welcome miracle. The drive then began from my parent’s house in High Point, where their garage and basement have served as a free storage unit for several months, to downtown Cary.

The Turn-Key Moment

Being the first to arrive in my car created a neat and memorable moment for me. I beat the rest of the cars and the big truck there by about 10 minutes (lead foot I guess). I took my new keys and turned the bolt; and with the thudding sound, a huge smile came across my face. There was a sense that it all became real in that second. I was really moving to Cary. I was really a working and living member of the Cary community. I was proud. It was a bit of a rough journey that led me to the turn-key moment, which made it all the more gratifying.

I went inside to take moment for myself in the silence and emptiness of the rooms. Taking a look around, I started visualizing where the piles would go and took a few photos since it would be the last time it was empty until we later move out one day. Thankfully, our awesome landlord took great care of re-painting the walls, installing a few new appliances and making the inside much more appealing from its original state than we were expecting from when we first toured the place.

Quickly the moment was over as I saw the 26-footer approaching the fairly slim driveway.

The Unload

The moving crew of family and friends, which grew by two more people when we arrived in Cary with the packed up truck.

One thing I’ve always admired about my partner is her sense of motivation and urgency when it comes to getting tasks done. In this move especially, I came to understand that this trait is a direct reflection of her father. He swung open the lift gate around back and was ready to rock n’ roll. Before I knew it, bed frames, dressers and lamps were all heading through the back door and into their rooms. He even went into our attic, vacuumed the dust and put down blankets for our storage items to go on. Without a doubt, he was the driving force of this move and we could not have done it all as quickly without him.

The project that I became pretty proud of was the re-working of the backyard shed. It wasn’t an organized or clean space, so I had some sweeping, bug removal and consolidation to do before it was usable and I had about 45 minutes to do it before some rain was forecasted to hit. By the time all was said and done we had all our camping equipment, lawn care equipment and planting tools and pots in there — and all before it rained. I was happy with my small accomplishment and it was a nice little break before returning to the house full of scattered boxes. I assume other people can relate to the moment I had looking at all our piles of stuff where I thought, “Oh yeah, we’re having a yard sale ASAP!”

Pretty soon the crew realized we needed a few crucial things like beer, snacks, toilet paper and paper towels — in that order.

So, with hardly any space to put grocery store bags in my car, I headed out to a Food Lion that was less than a mile away. Amazing! I am so glad to have such close-by options for everything now. Previously living in Hayesville, NC, there was only one real grocery store option in town unless you wanted to drive 20 minutes to the “local” Walmart or to a different grocery store in northern Georgia. This town has it good. Real good.

I came back with the goods and the unboxing really kicked in before we soon all started to really grow tired. It was dinner time and we all headed for a meal at Tribecca Tavern, a spot I had never been before. The food was good and the whiskey was especially appreciated after such a long day.

Welcome Home

The typical, “we did it” photo of myself on the left and my better half, Brittany, on the right.

The second day, Sunday was really our “let it sink in” day. We did a fair amount of work in the morning, getting the attic situated and working to make the kitchen a functioning space. Then we took a break to check out the Downtown Cary Food & Flea. The sun came out and it was a great afternoon of checking out local art, food trucks, live music and let’s be honest, the Girl Scout Cookies.

We made our way back home, just a few blocks away and worked until we had to get out of the craziness for a walk to the downtown area. Stumbling upon one of the best smells ever, we made a break for the food truck called Sadie’s Fresh Cut fries that was right outside Cotton House Craft Brewers. This was a biased decision because our dog’s name is Sadie, but we came to find out that it was a great decision after sharing their BBQ pork topped fries. YUM!

We each sat in a rocking chair on the front porch as we ate with the last colors of the sunset making an appearance. We sat and talked about the craziness of the move in and above all, how happy we were that we found Cary, or perhaps, how Cary found us. Regardless, this is such a wonderful spot for us and we can’t wait to continue discovering great spots to eat, to walk and to enjoy events all throughout Cary.

Have any Cary recommendations for me or any stories of when you moved to Cary? Share in the comments below!