In my life of 28 (almost 29) years, I have called 17 various houses and apartments “home”. That is an average of 1.78 homes per year! But, as you can see from the chart above, I have lived in most of these homes in the past ten years!

So, when I decided to join in on Pin It Forward, a blogosphere ring-around-the-rosie collaboration between sfgirlbybay and Pinterest asking 300 bloggers to blog about “What Home means to Me” through words and images, my first thoughts were about my literal homes and the people I have shared them with.

8 Homes in Tennessee (2 in Hendersonville, 1 in Collierville, 5 in Knoxville), 1 Home in Denmark, 4 Homes in Oregon, 1 Home in Thailand, 1 Home in China and 2 Homes in California. The square footage has ranged from 200sf to 3000sf. They have been on three continents. I have shared 4 with family, 7 with roommates, 2 with no one and 4 with the love of my life. Five have been in enormous apartment complexes. One was extremely decadent. One was over 300 years old.  Seven have been within walking distance to a grocery store. Two of them were on campus. And I do not know who is living in any of them any more (except my current home, of course)!

Hendersonville, Tennessee : At Christmas

Collierville, Tennessee : At Christmas

Hendersonville, Tennessee : The house I grew up in

The University of Tennessee: My side of the dorm room

The ladies that made living in the dorms better than I ever expected

We shared some good times in our first off-campus apartments

Copenhagen, Denmark : Our flat in Christianshavn

My Partner in Crime throughout Europe

Knoxville, Tennessee : The house we called our own

And these were the ladies I shared it with

Beaverton, Oregon : My Uncle's bachelor pad that I crashed!

I'm sure he never imagined I would move in with him 23 years after this photo was taken!

Portland, Oregon : The first apartment I had all to myself

Portland, Oregon : The apartment I never dreamed I would live in

And she is the one that shared it with me.

Portland, Oregon : Perhaps the last apartment I will ever have all to myself

Chiang Mai, Thailand : Our first apartment together

We spent a lot of time at that table!!

Shanghai, China : Another apartment I never dreamed I would live in

San Francisco, CA : The one that gave us time to settle in

San Francisco, California : Finally, our very own Home Sweet Home

Many of the Pin It Forward bloggers are designers, and have filled their Pinterest Pin Boards with the most amazing eye candy!! In addition to the above photos, I have filled mine with a little bit of my own. So, if you haven’t already heard of Pinterest, be sure to take a gander. It is the best bookmarking site I have found for inspiration images, and I recommend that you give it a try. The boards that have been created will amaze you, and you will then want to have an account of your own.

Screen Capture of my Pinterest Boards

The final piece of Pin It Forward is that I would like to literally, Pin it Forward (and backwards!)

Yesterday, Casey Keasler of the K.I.D. Collective posted a great little story about how she came to call Denver home, and how Portland will soon be her new home. The funny thing about Casey is that she also went to the University of Tennessee AND she was in my sister’s interior design class. I reconnected with her via Pin It Forward, and her design blog is now one of my favorites.

Tomorrow, Kate and Jack of the Union Jack Creative will be posting about what home means to them. They have a wonderful eye for photography, design and all things whitty, so check it out!

To see the entire schedule of all 300 Bloggers, click the icon below!!

Tennessee Sunrise

When I arrived home last Tuesday, my mom, dad and I had one day to prepare the house and our sanity for the rush of family and friends for the feast. We cleaned the house, went to the grocery store, baked pies, boiled cranberries, hung lights and enjoyed the stillness of a house of three.

Hay-bale Turkey

Then over the next two days, our family members joined us a hand full at a time. First my brother and sister-in-law flew in from Colorado with their 1-year-old and new-born in tow. Next, my sister and brother-in-law drove down from Kentucky with their two little girls. The next day, the Nashville crew arrived in batches of 2-5. We had dinner in my father’s shop and used his workbench as the buffet table. It was the perfect dining hall for 30, and unfortunately I didn’t take nearly enough photos.

The dinner table

After the big dinner, there were plenty of leftovers to feed my parents, siblings, nieces, nephew and I for four days…and that is exactly what we ate. In fact, my brother ate the last serving of dressing five minutes before his family left for the airport four days after Thanksgiving!

We also spent an afternoon taking photos in my parents backyard. We used to go to a park to take family photos, but now that they live in the country, we just have to walk out side! I have a feeling that this will be a tradition that we keep up for a very long time.

The Family

Aubrey

Reagan

Daddy & Daughter

Me and my big sister

It is amazing how as soon as there are kids in the family, the attention shifts and family becomes even more crucial than ever before. My brother, sister and I have become much more nostalgic and we keep asking Mom and Dad, “Did we do that when we were their age?” My nieces and nephew are just so wonderful, but perhaps I am a little biased.

My favorite shot of the little ones

My thoughts are with my family today in Tennessee

The wind chime that used to hang on my grandfather's back porch, but now hangs on my parents'. It has the best ring and does so at the tiniest gust. I love it.

Hay bails at the farm next door.

It is supposed to be 5˚F today in Tennessee, but I don't think we're going to make it since it's 50˚F right now. Regardless, the water from heavy rains last week is still frozen and make it look cold!

Do you ever wonder if a double wide could be cool? I think they could.

The Sweetgum seed pod, nature's version of the Christmas ornament.

It kind-of looks like that could be a normal size house, but it's not. It's more the size of a large bird house.

Americana at its best.

Another house, this one has a old rusted plow in the front. I love these little bits of the country in moderation.

I think this is an old canning shed...or bomb shelter.

A lot of tobacco is grown in Tennessee, and this is the side of a barn used to fire-cure the tobacco leaves which produces pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff. Fire Curing is a process that dries tobacco by hanging it in a large barn, and then a low hardwood fire is kept burning continuously for up to 10 weeks. I was here a couple years ago during the curing time, and it was amazing. As we drove down Hwy 25 we would smell the hardwood fire first, then we would see these huge red barns covered with green ivy smoking to the high heavens. I am not a fan of tobacco smoking or chewing, but the curing process is pretty phenomenal.

This is my childhood dog, Copper (Fox and the Hound reference), brought back to life. She sneaks up on me every time I walk down her road and simply nudges my hand begging for recognition.

Horse fences

A fallen log that happens to be the perfect bridge over a small stream.

And of course, the Cows. There are probably 30 cows that graze in the land across the street from my parents' house, and when I was behind the trees they were all sitting in the shade on the other side. When they heard me, every single one of them stood up and ran away to a more comfortable distance, then they watched in fear as I took their photo. I guess they're not as used to pedestrians as the ones in India.

So this is how I’ve been spending my days. Pretty nice.