Intro to Starkville and A Little Recap...

If ya'll are anything like I was this time last year, you're probably not even sure where exactly Starkville, Mississippi is...


We are not too far from the Alabama line (about 45 miles maybe). Two hours from Birmingham, two hours from Jackson, 3.5 hours from Memphis, 5.5 hours from Nashville, 4 hours from New Orleans, 3 hours from Lexa, Arkansas (Grady's parents), 4.5 hours from Lookout Mountain, Georgia (my parents), and only 4.5 hours from the beach (this makes us very happy)!

Population: 25,000 (approx.)
Average Temperature: 61.6 F

Being a college town, Starkville feels young and ever changing, with lots of fun restaurants, bars, and a several great little boutiques. We have found that prices here are quite a bit lower than Nashville for most things (which is great). We find ourselves laughing a lot about the drink specials in particular (as much as I loved a $7.50 mimosa at Jacksons, the $1.50 ones at the Veranda are just as delicious and obviously much easier on the wallet, just as an example).

Grady lives within walking distance to the football stadium so we walked a lot this fall, and even closer to the Cotton District, a fun area that I'll post on later, but is made up of coastal looking building with apartments, restaurants, and bars (the latest addition being a cigar store which made Grady very happy). I live about 1/4 of a mile from him if you could walk in a straight line, but the roads make it a little farther. I have one side of a duplex, two bedrooms one bath, and most importantly a fenced in back yard for Layla and Lorelei.

Grady is working for Mississippi State and studying for the Mississippi Bar Exam (unfortunately Tennessee doesn't transfer). He is doing a little bit of accounting as well as using his legal knowledge to review and process contracts and requests from various departments on campus for research funding. I am working for Starkville Flooring and Interiors, doing a little bit of everything, including small design projects, retail, and commercial flooring projects working primarily with General Contractors. I am learning the ropes around this business in Starkville, which has been GREAT experience.

I thought I'd catch you up on what we've been up to over the past months too...

1. Bristol, TN in August - The Bristol Night Race is a big Nascar event - I know some of you are already surprised to see me at a Nascar race so brace yourselves for the next part...we camped and had a blast!
2. We made several trips to Auburn - this one was for the Auburn vs. MSU game with Molls and Bo. Fortunately Grady is a big fan of Auburn Offensive Coordinator, so it wasn't too brutal.
3. Mom and Dad were lucky (or not, you'd have to check with them...haha) to have all four of us home for Christmas. We had a fun, relaxing few days with the fam.
4. Weddings - Grady was honored to be in three weddings this fall for fraternity brothers from MSU. We had a great time, and I really enjoyed getting to know all of the guys and their wonderful wives. We had a great time and can't wait to see everyone again soon!

Lastly, we went on a cruise right after Christmas with some folks from Starkville. I didn't do a good job of taking pics, so here is one of the few...

We had a good time hanging out and seeing the beautiful turquoise water, but we were glad to be back on solid ground.

I'm hoping this will inspire me to take more pics so I'll have more to share from our next big event.

Happy Wednesday!!