Monday, March 23, 2009

I *heart* Mbellishments

I would like to issue a retraction to my last post. Namely, my comment about there being a lack of shopping in San Saba. To clarify, by "shopping" I meant mainly clothing. In no way did I intend to imply that there is a lack of home decor and gift shopping. In fact, my Mom and her friend Kathy own a fabulous shop on the square called Mbellishments. If you are ever in the thriving metropolis of San Saba, I recommend stopping by. It really is such a cute shop, and my Mom never ceases to amaze me with her creative ability to design beautiful displays. They do a great job keeping the store stocked with beautiful home decor - from simple, elegant styles to the latest trends. They also have jewelry and CUTE gift items. Okay, I'm sounding a little too much like a commercial now so I'll stop. Anyway Mom, I hope you can rest a little easier now that I have acknowledged that fabulous shopping DOES exist in San Saba. ;)

Friday, March 20, 2009

home sweet home

I'm calling my parents' house in San Saba "home" for now while we're in transition and Sean is still in San Diego finishing up his time in the Navy, and it really is great to be home. It's so nice to come back to San Saba (my old stomping grounds in jr. high and high school) and live the laid-back lifestyle for awhile. Due to the lack of restaurants and shopping, I don't think I could live here permanently, but it sure is a nice place to visit so I'm really glad my Mom and Dad live here. I think there's also just something special about being "home" no matter where your family lives, whether it be in the city or country. It's just nice to be back in familiar surroundings with some of the people you love the most and have known the longest. Kami is coming into town for the weekend, and we're planning on playing some golf, 42, laying out by the pool with pina coladas, maybe watch a movie, etc. It'll be lots of fun :)

Sean's job search is going pretty well considering this bad economy - nothing totally solid yet, but he has a few "irons in the fire", so we're thankful for that. I'm just ready to find out where we're going to live so I can start my job search and we can find a house! School districts should be starting their hiring process right around this time, so hopefully I'll find out what city I need to apply in very soon. On that note, I passed my teacher certification test a week or two ago so I can check that off the list, yay for that!

Well, I'm off to eat dinner. Have a great weekend everyone!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Bittersweet Endings and New Beginnings

This past week has been crazy, but good. Last Monday the movers came to pack up our house, and then on Tuesday they came back and moved everything to storage (until we have a new place in TX for it to go to). It was crazy to see our house empty. It reminded me of when we moved in a little over a year and a half ago. We spent the first week or so unpacking boxes and setting the place up to our liking. We each had our separate "jobs"...I was in charge of the kitchen--unpacking boxes, washing dishes, organizing cabinets, etc.--and arranging home decor. Sean was in charge of unpacking and organizing the office and garage (which he did a great job at - I'm so lucky I married such an organized person). We pretty much shared the responsibility for all the other duties. It was a lot of work, but in the end everything turned out so nice. We loved our house - it was a perfect set-up for us, and we had a great neighborhood and surrounding area. So it was really weird to see the house bare again. It was kind of a bummer to be "undoing" all of our work. On the other hand, it was kind of nice to go through everything and get rid of stuff we don't need....that's one of the good things about moving, it's a great opportunity to get organized.

Anyway, after spending Tuesday night on an air mattress, on Wednesday morning we said a bittersweet goodbye to our home on 377 Callesita Mariola, completed some last-minute errands, and headed East. We made it to Las Cruces, NM that night and Lexi enjoyed her first stay in a real hotel. I'd love to know what she was thinking throughout this whole process - she probably thinks her mom and dad are a little crazy. The next day when she was looking out the window as we made the long drive through the desolate land of west Texas, Sean and I joked that she was probably thinking that leaving San Diego was a pretty bad mistake on our part. We finally made it to the beautiful Hill Country, though, and I think she has already returned to her roots as a true Texas girl. :) Thursday night, we had a delicious dinner of steak and potatoes with Mom and Dad and then played some good ol' 42. My Dad and I beat my Mom and Sean pretty handily so that was fun, but I owe the credit to my Dad's uncanny knack for winning that game.

On Friday we headed to San Antonio for our precious friend Evonne and Brannon's rehearsal dinner and wedding. My friend Adria and I did a couple readings for the ceremony. Bonny was a gorgeous bride and it was a beautiful wedding. We stayed at La Cantera resort that night, which I love. I almost forgot how much I adore San Antonio - I would love to live there again someday...maybe Sean will get a job there. :) Anyway, we had a great weekend with wonderful friends. I would put some pictures up, but I don't think I have the camera cord here with me.

Sean flew out of San Antonio yesterday to head back to San Diego. He is not actually out of the Navy until May, but he has so many leave days to use between now and then that he will be spending about 10 days of March with me in Texas (doing interviews, hiring conferences, etc.) and he will actually be finished and ready to move back for good at the beginning of April. I will be heading out there at the end of this month to spend the last week or 2 in San Diego with him and then we will make the drive back to TX again, in his truck this time. It is a crazy time right now with so much change, and so many things up in the air, but it is also very exciting. We are so thrilled to be moving back to our home state, closer to our family which are of course the people that matter to us the most. Also, it is during transitions like this that I am reminded how great of a team Sean and I are. I love him so much, and I'm so blessed to have him as my companion through all of life's joys and challenges.

Anyway, back to the original topic at hand, I still don't think it has settled in yet that we don't live in that house anymore. It will probably hit me soon, and I will get all sentimental thinking of all the memories we have there...little moments with just the two of us and Lexi where we just enjoyed each other's company and grew in our relationship together...lonely times when he was on deployment...joyous times when he got back...all the fun times and memories we made with several visits from friends and family...ok so I guess it's hitting me now. But life goes on and more memories will be made, and I am so excited to see where this new chapter in life takes us.

To be continued...
<3