Turning into Texans?

Not too much has been going on here in Texas. Grant started teaching last week and I have been working at the dental office. We seem to be getting back into somewhat of a normal routine. Sunday, Grant and I went to a local western store called Cavender's Boot City. And let me tell you. . that is exactly what it is! This place has more boots than you could even imagine!! Rows and rows of boots. All different styles, sizes and colors. They even have boots for babies (which are the absolute CUTEST thing I have ever seen!!)  Cheryl, you will die when you see these little boots!!  Anyway, this was just one row in the store.

Grant had his eye on a pair and finally decided to try them them on. I believe it was love at first sight!!

BUT. . if you know Grant, you know he has to think long and hard about anything before he buys it or he will have a severe case of buyers remorse, so we left the store without any boots. I also had my eye on a pair and am sure that I will be back soon to get them :-)

The house hunting is still going on. . . Because we want to live in a certain neighborhood, there are not a lot of houses for sale for us to choose from. As of right now, we have narrowed it down to two homes. One is a new construction house that is still being built. We haven't seen the finished product of course, but we love it so far. It is a little over our price range and because the builder is selling it, we don't think there will be much negotiating room. We sure love it though!! Our friends Alex and Christine live on the street directly behind this house so that would be kind of fun.

The other house is really nice too. The couple that lives there now is moving to Florida this week so we think we could get them to come down a good bit. Their style is very Southwestern so every room in the house needs to be painted. . Something to consider. We really like it and it is definitely one of our top choices right now.  (that's our realtor at the front door. Love her!!)

On another note, for the first two weeks we were here without our things, we ate pretty unhealthy because I couldn't cook. We ate out a good bit which is something that Grant and I don't do. I think I gained a good bit of weight our first month here so I am trying to get back to cooking really healthy and working out again. I am trying to think of yummy healthy options to fix. These were the ingredients for dinner one night last week.

Last night I was on Skype with Erica and Caroline and Caroline was telling me all about how she had gymnastics tomorrow night and she was so excited. She said, "Aunt Jess, you gonna be there to watch me?" Let me tell you. THIS.BROKE.MY.HEART!!!!! I cried after  talked to her. I think this was the first time that I really felt homesick. I have done pretty well this past month, but that just about did me in. So sad :-(

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Wordless Wednesday

This and That

We have been pretty busy this week! Grant had orientation Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, met with the IT guys at Baylor to get all of his computers set up and installed this morning and had several meetings this afternoon. He has a full day of meetings tomorrow. I got a call from a dentist office last Friday asking me if I wanted to work this week while one of their girls was on vacation. I was very excited to have something to do! I have worked every day this week and it has been nice getting up and going to work again. I know. . . that's something that you don't expect to hear someone say, but after a month of being off work, I was really ready! I like the office where I am working. It is a new office and the building is beautiful. It is less than five minutes from our house so that's nice too. It is a VERY laid back office and not very busy. This is MUCH different that what I am used to. I even worked by myself two days this week. Yes. They knew me for less than a day and left me in charge of their practice all alone :-) They really want me to work part time right now because they are not busy enough to hire me full time, but I am hoping that after a little while it might work out for me to work full time. We will see. In the mean time, I am enjoying it! I spent all day yesterday working on some marketing for them putting together toothbrushes and pamphlets and taking them to different places in town.

On Tuesday night, Grant and I went to a dinner at Baylor for all new faculty. It was very nice and I got to meet some of the people that Grant will be working with along with several other people that I think we will be friends with. Ironically enough, Grant has met several people from Clemson, Columbia and USC. Small world. We are having dinner with two other couples next Saturday night that are from SC. One of the guys actually graduated from Clemson the same year as Grant and they seem to have a lot in common. I met his wife who is the Chief of Staff to the Provost and she was so nice! I am looking forward to that dinner and making new friends :-) At the dinner, we won the centerpiece on our table. I thought the flowers were pretty. 

This week I also got my sewing supplies and machines out. Thankfully, we were able to find most of it in the room of boxes :-) It was so fun to sew again. I can finally catch up on some overdue baby gifts!! 

Mom told me that the weather in Greenville was really nice this week and she could feel fall coming! Well, I'll have you know that here in Texas, we are having a cold front coming through!! 

Yes. This is what they are calling a cold front. It has been 100 degrees or hotter for the past 46 days so I guess you can call 93 degrees a cold front. I am so ready for fall! 

There is only one Target in Waco. I know. Sad, right?? BUT. Have you ever heard of Target Greatland?? That's how we roll in Waco! It's HUGE! 

I know this post is random but I just wanted to catch you all up on what's been going on with us. We are finally feeling like we are getting settled (minus having a house) and are really liking it here. We miss our friends and family so much, but are looking forward to having them come and visit soon!! (hint hint!!!)

I will leave you with a few pictures of my two loves. Hope you all have a great weekend!

My new favorite!!!!!!!! Love these two :-)

Cancer Sucks

I hate cancer. You know how they say that in your life, someone you know will have cancer? Well, unfortunately I have known too many. Too many people that are close to me. My mom was the first and she fought it twice and fought it hard. She won her battle but it wasn't easy. I am so thankful that I still have my mom, but my heart is breaking for two very special people right now. For thirty years, Grant and I lived in South Carolina. In the three weeks that we have been gone, both of our best friends have lost their moms. It has been hard for us not being able to be there for them physically, but I hope they know that we are always here for them.

I remember the day in May so clearly. I had just gotten home from work and was walking inside when my phone rang. It was Jill. One of my oldest and dearest friends. After talking for a few moments, I knew something was wrong. I asked her if she was ok and she said,"No. Mom was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer." My heart dropped into my stomach. I tried to offer her words of encouragement and told her I knew what she was feeling and what she was going through as I had gone through the same feelings when I found out that my mom had cancer. After we hung up, I called my mom and just cried and cried. My heart was just broken for Jill.  Jan fought hard. For two months she fought hard and Jill was by her side every single day. Jill was so strong and so brave and I admire her so much for all that she did for her mom (and for her dad too). On July 20th, Jan lost her fight. She is no longer suffering.

Jill, I know you are reading this and I want you to know how much I admire you. You are so strong and did more than most people would have been able to. You are an amazing person and I know your mom is so proud of you. I feel honored that I got the chance to know her.  I love you and I am always here for you!

Grant's long time best friend is John. John's mom Gloria was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago. She has fought long and she has fought hard. Yesterday we received the call that Gloria had lost her fight. In three weeks, both of our best friends have lost their moms. It just doesn't seem right.

                  Be thankful for every day that you have with your friends and family.

This and That

To not be working, I have been pretty busy this week! I had lunch with a new friend on Wednesday at a neat little place downtown called Cafe Cappuccino.

 When we first got to town, we met with our State Farm agent to get all of our insurance switched over to Texas. After talking with him for a bit and telling him that I was looking for a job, he said he would be happy to try and help me. Well, he has been super helpful and put me in contact with many people. I have met with him several times and he said he had a few things that I could help him with to make a little spending money while I looked for a job. Today, I drove around downtown to different businesses dropping  off marketing materials about his company. It was kind of fun! He and his wife took Grant and me out to dinner on Wednesday night to a local place and although it was probably the most unhealthy meal I have eaten in a really long time, it was so much fun!

I had an interview at Baylor yesterday in the Psychology and Neuroscience department. I received a call today that I was not selected for the position but I am not discouraged. Just got to freshen up on my interviewing skills :-)

I also spoke with a dental office earlier this week (I was given the dentist's wife's name from a realtor we spoke with) and she and I spoke earlier this week and she asked if I would be interested in doing something similar, going around town and getting their name out there. I was planning to meet with her next week but she called me today and asked if I wanted to work four days in their office next week while someone was on vacation. I am excited to actually have something to do next week!

Grant had his first of four orientations on Wednesday. He came home on information overload. This was the HR portion so they talked about insurance, benefits, 401k, etc. He also found out this week that he has his own graduate student so he met with him yesterday. He is pretty excited about that. He said it felt a little strange because for so long he has been the student, and now he has students of his own. His classes start in about two weeks and I think that he is ready to get things going. We are going to a dinner next week for all new faculty so we are hoping to meet some people that we can be friends with.

We have also met with our realtor several times this week and looked at a bunch of houses. We found one that we loved yesterday but found out the the huge corn field behind the house is zoned commercial and for sale so that was the deal killer for us.  This was the kitchen in one of the houses that we both loved! I am in love with this kitchen. You can't see the whole kitchen in this picture but trust me, it is fabulous!!

In other news, it is still HOT HOT HOT here! We got a little bit of rain Wednesday but that is the only time that it has rained since we got to Texas. I miss the South Carolina summer thunder storms :-(    Here is our weather for the next few days. . . 

Grant before dinner last Friday :-)

I will leave you with a picture of our sweet girl. I think she is really liking having us both home most of the time lately. I'm just glad she isn't spoiled ;-)

Have a good weekend!! 

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

                                                       
                                           
                                                          We got some rain today!!!!!!!

Over apartment living!

Well, we have been here for almost three weeks now and are already over this apartment. Don't get me wrong, this is a great apartment, but it's still an apartment. We have been living out of boxes for five months now. It's hard not knowing where any of your things are! Sunday night I cooked fish and didn't have any of my seasonings or spices so Grant had to go on a hunt in the "box room" and find the spices box. Needless to say, we are ready to be settled in a new home and have all of our things in their permanent place :-)

For the first ten days we were in Texas, we spent a lot of time driving around learning the area and looking at houses. We were already pretty sure of the area where we wanted to live, but after spending hours of driving around looking, we now know.  I called our realtor on Sunday to let her know we were ready to start looking. We met with her last night and saw a few homes. Of course, every house has things that you like and things you don't, but right now we have a house that we both love. We are going again this week to look at other homes, because we don't want to rush into this, especially since we don't have to. I can't begin to tell you how many hours I have spent on Realtor.com, Zillow and Trulia. I have also had some help looking for homes :-)

There are some really beautiful homes here. Homes that we will probably never be able to afford! Here is a video {that I am going to attempt to upload} of a house that we found one night. The whole neighborhood was full of mansions, probably old oil money or something :-) 

 

 But luckily, there are also some beautiful homes that we can {hopefully} afford as well.

Here are two of the homes that we saw:

Anyway, it is fun to house hunt and see lots of houses :-) I will say that the decorating taste here in Texas is, well, pretty terrible!!! Maybe I can bring a Southern flare to Waco??

On another note, I am missing this sweet girl terribly today :-(

She started gymnastics today! I wish I could be there to watch her but so thankful for technology. I love you sweet girl! 

Grant is going up to work today so I am off to try and find something to do to entertain myself. This not working thing is for the birds! I am SO READY to have a job!!! 

Have a good day :-)

Hot, Hot, Hot!!!

It has been really hot here in Texas and doesn't look like it's going to cool down any time soon :-(

Needless to say, Bella is not too happy about it!! 

Happy Saturday!! 

The first week in Texas

After 16 hours of driving, an overnight stop in Mississippi with friends, and many stops along the way, we finally made it to Texas on July 21st. We were so sad to leave our families and friends, but so excited to get here and get settled. The movers gave us a window of 4-14 days of when they would be here with our things so we had to be here in case they showed up. After several calls from the driver saying he was "delayed" and ten nights of sleeping on the floor, our things FINALLY showed up on Tuesday. We were so excited to see our things and have our bed to sleep in!! This is what our apartment looked like for almost 2 weeks!

While we waited for our things to arrive, we explored the city and got familiar with the area. We also got lots of things done including registering our cars and getting our new Texas license plates and drivers licenses.

We also had to return our SC plates to the DMV and that was a little sad :-(

While exploring Waco, I took several pictures to share with you. I think I have sent most of these to our families already, but wanted to document them on the blog as well. 

This is Pat Neff Hall. This is one of the main buildings on Baylor's campus. When Baylor wins a game, the top of this building (which you can't see in the picture) lights up green. 

This is me with Judge Baylor, the founder of Baylor University.

They just built a new Science building which is AMAZING and huge. This is the clock tower on that building

This past Sunday, we went up to Cameron Park, a local park here in Waco. It is really beautiful and has lots of biking and hiking trails. The Brazos River flows through Cameron Park. Here are a few pictures from our day.

After we left Cameron Park, we went back over to Baylor to walk around. The campus was like a ghost town but that will all change in a couple of weeks when students are back! The Brazos River also flows through Baylor's campus and this picture was taken from over by the baseball stadium.

Dad, I took these pictures for you :-) This is the baseball stadium. We are hoping to get tickets to the games when you come and visit!!

Dad, this one is also for you. I hope you like Chuy's as much as we do because we sure have talked it up! 

You know how everyone says everything is bigger in Texas? I am really starting to believe that is true! Everything just seems bigger here. Everyone drives a truck or SUV, The stores are bigger (The Target here is called Target Greatland!!), the sky is bigger and football is REALLY big here in Texas! There is even a magazine specifically for Texas football

This is a MIDDLE SCHOOL stadium! Yes, middle school. 

Big flags :-)

All in all, we are doing really well and we really like it here in Texas. While we are really missing our family and friends, we are making new friends here and are excited about all of the new adventures that we are going to have here. Grant starts at Baylor in a couple of weeks and he is very excited about that. There is a new faculty dinner in a couple of weeks and we are excited to go and hopefully meet some people who are in the same situation that we are in. Although I have enjoyed this time off of work,  I am very anxious to start working again. I have applied for several jobs at Baylor and have made several contacts here in town for other possible job opportunities. Last but certainly not least, Bella is doing really well. She is happy and seems to be adjusting well. She is such a trooper :-) 

Things are new. Things are exciting. Life is good.  We miss South Carolina dearly but are adjusting well to our new home :-)