The Twilight Saga...

I can't believe it has been a week already since our last post (nice job sweetie!), but I thought I would start by dedicating this blog to the new book series I am reading...and LOVE! So, I finally finished Friday Night Knitting Club last Friday, which I've been half-heartedly reading since November due to all the other crazy things going on in my life. Then on Saturday decided to start reading Twilight a new book that Mara & Tyler got me for Christmas. I had given Mara a very hard time about getting so enthralled with some book that I had heard was about "vampires"... sounded stupid. Ha ha, so she bought it for me anyways. ;) So, I started the book and could hardly put it down it was SO good. So, by Wednesday morning I was finished. Mara and my sister, Lauren, had both volunteered the rest of the series to me to borrow, but since I won't be in Fort Worth until Monday, I decided I just couldn't wait.

On Wednesday evening I went to the grocery store before picking Mike up from work and there it was... taunting me New Moon AND 25% off! (I also love HEB) So, I of course justified picking up the book and decided it would keep me busy probably until Monday since we are having company in town and I won't really spend much time reading this weekend. Wrong again. Thursday we had horrible thunderstorms in San Antonio, so I spent almost the entire day cuddled on the couch with Toby reading the book. By dinner time there were probably 5 chapters left in the book. I think I read 400 pages just yesterday. (Not normal for me) As you can imagine, I had to finish the book today, which I did at about 10:30 this morning. Now I just have to wait until I get to Fort Worth to start on number 3- Eclipse then Breaking Dawn.

So, until then my day is filled with laundry, dusting, and other cleaning measures as we prepare for my brother and sister-in-law to come stay with us this weekend. We are very excited about their visit. I will be sure to post next week about what all we did since we're still not too sure just yet. Also, this week I went up to Austin, TX on Tuesday to visit my friend Meg and see her cute town home on the north side of Austin. We got to pick up her wedding dress (which she looked BEAUTIFUL in) and got caught up on regular girl-chat time. We don't get to spend enough time together, so it was good to spend even just a few hours hanging out like good old times and talking about her wedding planning. :)

Also, PRAISE THE LORD (PTL) Mike got his go-ahead from HR at AT&T about his move to Dallas and he is set to start June 1st up there. Therefore, on Monday I will be headed back to FW with Matt and Vivian and will be doing some house hunting with my Mom and our realtor. I am also hoping to catch up with a few friends since I will be in town for a week. Also, on the job front- Merck posted an opening this week in South Dallas and I am hoping to get an interview and be considered for the position. I'm not sure if I got the job when they would want me to start up there, so that could be stressful, but I am hopeful that God has a plan! I also have some good leads on openings in Plano and Garland, TX which of course are the North side of Dallas, with Novartis and UCB Pharma respectively. This could potentially change our house search area, but we will wait till after next week to make that decision. Until next time, I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! Hooray for Friday :) I still love those even when I'm not working. :)

~Emily

I'm taking the wheel

So I thought I would take a shot at this blogging thing, and since my name is in the blog, I feel like this is sanctioned behavior! Emily has been doing a great job keeping everyone (myself included!) up to date on the going ons in our lives these days, but hopefully I can add a little something something to the mix.
So as you probably know by now we are getting closer and closer to making it back to the DFW area. Emily and I are both excited about this prospect, but with that excitement comes some apprehension and uncertainty. Lots to take into account: area we want to live, type of house we want to buy, how much house we want to buy (both size and money) etc etc.
Its not like we haven't been in a similar situation before, just different decisions (and more expensive!) this time around. Everytime we have been in them though God has been right there with us, letting us know that he won't abandon us, or forget about us. And so far, no complaints on our end! So we will try not to sweat too much about all this and know that He has our best interest in mind and that we will be ok.
All that to say, we are excited to move back closer to family and friends! We have had a great time in San Antonio and enjoyed our "isolation" and some great friends that we have met down here, but the timing feels right to go back "home."
Emily and I are going to enjoy a nice quiet weekend at home (first time in what feels like months!) doing errands, and just enjoying the beautiful start to Spring we are having. Sometimes the best weekends are the ones where nothing really exciting happens. I have to mow the lawn, yuck!, Emily will probably tidy up the house a little because my brother and Sister in law are coming next Saturday to stay with us for a few days! Yay! We do like having visitors, and are looking forward to their visit. We are fans of the show Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives on the Food Network so when they come to visit we are going to try a BBQ joint about 35 minutes away that we saw on the show, so that should be fun. They are going to stay till lunchtime on Monday and then they are stealing Emily to take her up to DFW to start house hunting for the week. So Toby and I will hold down the fort here in SA, maybe throw a couple poker games, not shower for days, walk around in our underwear, the list of possibilities is endless.... But then Emily is catching a flight back on the 4th, so at least she isn't gone TOO long, although it will feel like too long I'm sure :)
Alright, well I think I'm done rambling. I'll post it and then I'll let Emily run through it and point out all my typos, run on sentences, punctuation mistakes etc. :)
Have a great weekend! I'll update you again soon (if my name stays on the blog after this!)
Mike

"Everything is Fine" - Josh Turner

Mike and I were excited to join our friends, Kristin & James Hamon, at the Houston Rodeo this past Saturday. We enjoyed a fabulous concert by Josh Turner, hence the title for this blog. His music is really wonderful and I believe he has made it obvious through his music that he is a Christian man. I look forward to buying his CD or getting it through i-Tunes for my iPod to support the work that he is doing. At the rodeo we thoroughly enjoyed "mutton busting"- little kids 4-6 yrs old riding on the back of sheep, barrel racing, and the wagon races. I have to admit the rest of the activities made me rather nervous that someone was going to get seriously injured. Unfortunately, one of the horses broke its leg during a competition which was so sad and horrible to watch. :( In the Stock show section we got to see newborn piglets & sheep in the birthing section which were so cute! We shopped around a little bit and saw some nice jewelry, paintings, and purses. I was good and didn't buy anything even though I was tempted. We did try some wonderful toffee although, I still believe my mother-in-law makes the best toffee, so why buy it from someone else?? Other than that, we went to church on Sunday at Friendswood UMC and out to lunch with James' parents, then headed home for a long drive battling traffic. :( I came home and woke up Monday with a sore throat and the beginnings of a cold, so I have been pretty lazy the past few days taking medicine, drinking lots of water, sucking on chloraseptic lozenges, and trying to catch up on some sleep. I am hoping to get back to my workout routine on Wednesday or Thursday. Toby just hopped up on my lap and so I figure he wants to say hello as well. He has been so glad to have us home for awhile and reminds me what a spoiled little kitty he is. He is so lovable though and enjoys cuddling with his Mommy. Well, that's it from me today. Here are a few pictures from the rodeo:

Love, Emily

Florida Vacation- Mike turns 27

Beautiful Sunset from our Hotel

We had such a wonderful trip to Florida that I wanted to get a few pictures up for everyone to enjoy. We spent time with Mike's grandparents as well as beach time on Fort Myers beach, and Sanibel's Bowman's beach. I wish the trip would've lasted longer, but nonetheless it was great while it lasted. The weather stayed sunny and in the high 80's for the duration of our trip. We were able to visit several of the places where Mike used to go growing up since they spent many summers in Fort Myers with his grandparents. It was neat to see the places he remembered and visit with his sweet grandparents each day. We stayed at Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa and celebrated Mike's birthday with a day at the beach, lunch at the Bubble Room & dinner at The Veranda. On our trip we also visited Lakes Park and saw an alligator while paddle boating around the lake. I tried to steer clear, but Mike wanted to get up close for a good look. Yikes! We also played a little Jungle Golf (basically a Putt Putt). I will also post a picture of the amazing car that we got to drive during our week in Florida. Enjoy! :)

Happy Birthday Mike!! :)


After brunch at Fiddlesticks CC

Relaxing with our feet up at Lakes Park


Our fabulous car for the week- Mercedes SL500

Dinner at Bonefish

Dinner at The Veranda

Our last day on the Pier at the Hotel

Celebrations: Mike's Birthday, Great Vacation in Florida, House Hunting!

Prayer Requests: Our friend Kristy's brother's speedy recovery after serious accident :(

Psalms 84:4 "Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you"

We're going to move back home to DFW!! Mike got an offer to work for his current team at the Dallas office, so we are definitely taking this opportunity. He doesn't actually have to commit to this particular position until May so we will still be open to other opportunities in Dallas that would pay to relocate us. For now, we are planning to pay the moving costs ourselves because we just want to get back to DFW! Let me explain, since Mike would be working on the same team he could do the job from anywhere, so they wouldn't pay a relocation. However, if another team has an opening that he is interested in that would not be offered in San Antonio, then AT&T would pay.

As you can imagine I am just thrilled!! The past two days we have started trying to narrow down areas, etc. Mike would like to take the DART into Dallas instead of driving the whole way, so we've had to keep in mind all of the DART maps and schedules as well as trying to be semi-convenient to being able to visit Mike's parents in Plano, and my parents in Fort Worth. So, for now we have settled on Grand Prairie, zip codes 75052, 75054 although we are still open to other options. I am REALLY excited about this area right now because there seem to be some nice homes for not ridiculously high prices. The commute to the Westmoreland DART station would be about ten minutes for Mike, which is not bad at all. We were also excited to hear that Hwy 161-George Bush Turnpike is scheduled to open the rest of the way down to I-20 soon, and would end up near the area we are looking for easy access up to the Campbells in Plano. There are lots of shopping opportunities and it seems to be a very convenient location.

So, I spoke on the phone with our new realtor today and I LOVE HER!! She answered all the questions I had (and then some) and asked me all the right questions to be able to help us find the perfect house. She seems to be a very nice woman and has been living in Grand Prairie for the past 15 yrs so she knows a lot about it. I am excited to be working with her the next few months.

So, I am probably rambling about all this house hunting stuff, but I just wanted to update everyone on what is going on right now. The Lord is so good and I am amazed at how often and how quickly he blesses us in time of need. Starting to gear up my job search as well so send any great opportunities my way. As for now we're off to Florida in the morning for a wonderful beach vacation! :)

Love,
Emily

Running...

So, since I was laid off last week I have decided to start running again. Trust me, it has been quite some time and I honestly was never very good at it to begin with. However, I realized in the gym awhile back that it is a problem that I can never seem to run more than 2-3 minutes without having to stop and walk. Also, I have so many good friends that run regularly and are in really good shape. Therefore, I decided since I could use to lose a handful of pounds that I gained with my job and definitely could use the cardio, that running is how I would accomplish that.

The first few days were tough, but by Friday I was so pleased that I could run from our cul de sac all the way to the end of the street and halfway back up before walking for a bit to catch my breath. You'd have to see the street to really understand I think, but that in itself is a personal accomplishment. So, Monday I did Wii Yoga and Strength Training instead and then took Tuesday off. Today I got right back to it with the running. Yikes! I don't know if I pushed myself too fast down the big hill or what, but I was seriously hurting breathing and making it back up the big hill felt like it took forever. I wouldn't think that after a weekend off and then two days that I would regress that much. Well, just goes to show this is going to be a slow work in progress, but I really want to be consistent in doing this each morning.

Initially I was run/walking about 15-20 minutes, but now I feel pretty good doing about 45 minutes a day. It would be nicer to have someone to run/walk with, or a dog, but since I don't know anyone who lives close by that would be willing to workout with me and we've decided a dog is not a good idea until we figure out all the possible moving stuff, I will just have to wait for a workout buddy.

Other things today, Toby had his annual vet appt and updated his rabbies shot. He got a new tag for his collar which is blue and cute, but I liked the state of TX one that he had before. He did really well for the technicians and they commented on how nice it was to have a sweet kitty in the office.

I have been doing a few loads of laundry and packing for our trip to Florida. We leave on Saturday and I am very excited! Other than that, my day has consisted of cleaning dishes, cleaning kitchen, vacuuming, and watching a little TV. I think I will head out to look for a birthday gift for my husband, Michael, who will be turning 27 on our vacation this next week. :) Happy "Early" Birthday, Sweetheart!!!

Love, Emily

March is here!

Mike and Emily @ Rehearsal Dinner

Wow! Is this year flying by already or what? It is hard to believe that we started the month of March yesterday. Only 8 days until Mike's birthday, so I have to start shopping soon! We will be celebrating his birthday in Fort Myers, Florida with a nice relaxing beach vacation as well as the opportunity to see his sweet grandparents who live there.

We spent this weekend in Dallas celebrating the marriage of my good friend Kate Babcock to her new husband, Nick Box. They were married at Park Cities Baptist Church, which is definitely the largest church I have ever been in. It was so beautiful and we enjoyed being able to share that special day with Kate and Nick. We also got to stay in Plano with the Campbells and my parents came over for dinner Saturday night since the wedding was Saturday morning/early afternoon.


On Sunday we went to church with the Campbells at St. Andrews United Methodist which is walking distance from their house, so we did just that, walked to church! The wind gusts were a little chilly because of a cold front that came in this weekend, but it was fun being able to walk there. After church we met up with the Leshan family, who used to live here in San Antonio near Mike and me, but were moved to Dallas with the AT&T relocation around Christmas. It was great to see their kids who have already grown so much in just a few months, the twins will be 6 in just 3 weeks, so hard to believe! We also got to see their lovely new home in Richardson and talk to them a little bit about different areas around Dallas where we might be interested in looking for a home.


Well, my "To Do" list this week includes cleaning, unpacking, laundry, re-packing, Toby's vet appt, and getting all my Merck stuff ready for close-out. I think I will plan a massage for Tuesday for a little something for myself. :) Here are a few pictures from this weekend, enjoy!


Emily, Kate, and Elizabeth

Rachel, Emily, Kate, Elizabeth, and Merrell