It's been awhile!

Wow, has it really been this long since I posted last?? To be honest, I kind of forgot about the ol' blog for awhile. I guess it's just because after the move from San Diego I was in a totally different place and a totally different routine....actually I'm not in much of a routine at all....it has been something different pretty much every day for the last couple months...

I guess my biggest news to report since my last post is that, 2 or 3 weeks ago, I got a job teaching 4th grade language arts at a GREAT school in Katy ISD. It really is SUCH an answered prayer. I had been praying about it quite a bit every day. There were times that I felt so discouraged...As a matter of fact, the night before I found out I got the job was probably the most down I had felt in my whole job search. But lo and behold, the very next day God came through as He always does. Honestly, if I could have picked any teaching position I wanted, I would have picked 4th grade language arts. I think it's such a great age, and I love spelling, grammar, reading, writing, etc. I will also be teaching social studies to my homeroom...I love social studies, so I'm really excited about that too. I know that preparing my students for the TAKS test will be stressful at times, but I welcome the challenge. I think life would be boring if we never had anything to really challenge us.

Another big happening in our lives is that we signed a 6-month lease on an apartment in Katy, and we will be moving in in a couple weeks. We had originally planned to buy a house right away and skip the apartment thing, but we need to be all moved in somewhere before August (since that is going to be such a busy time for me with school starting and everything), and we decided we didn't want to rush the whole home-buying process. Sooo, we will be in an apartment for 6 months, and we will have plenty of time to find our "dream home" with as little stress as possible. Having a dog, it is going to be tough going from townhouse life with a backyard back to apartment life with no backyard, but I think we can handle it for 6 months. And our apartment has a garage so that will help to make the transition a little smoother.

In other news, I met my team yesterday (the 9 other 4th grade teachers I will be teaching with - yes, NINE...it's a big school!), and they are all so sweet and fun! I can tell it's going to be a great year! I'm so excited and ready for school to start, but I don't want to rush it too much because I know the rest of the summer is going to FLY by. I have several trainings and professional learning things I am going to be attending over the next few weeks, in addition to moving into our apartment. I think this afternoon I'm going to go to one of the teacher supply stores and start picking up a few things for my classroom...little by little, I'll get it all put together. The entire 4th grade is in portables, so that makes it a little more challenging to make my room look cute, but I'm determined to make it as nice as it can possibly be...it just might require a few more posters, etc. to cover up those lovely 70's-style brown paneled walls. ;)

Well I guess that's about all I have to report for now, but I promise to post a lot more frequently than once-every-2 months from here on out :)

So long San Diego!

Well this is it....today is the day we start the final journey (in Sean's truck this time) from San Diego back to TEXAS. It's bittersweet because we'll miss living in California, but we're so excited to be going back to our wonderful home state of Texas where we will be surrounded by family and friends. The past 11 or 12 days I've spent here in California have been busy and fun. We went to LA for both of the weekends, and I must say...I love LA. If we were to ever live in California again (which I'll admit is unlikely, but ya never know!) I would definitely want to live in LA. Not that San Diego isn't great... I just feel like I've had my fill of it now and could definitely move on to bigger and better things :). Anyway, we got to go to the Jimmy Kimmel show the first weekend we were there and then Jay Leno this past weekend. We got to sit in the front row at both shows and then had a fun-filled 3-second-long tv appearance sitting in the Mercedes convertible during the Miley Cyrus concert for the "Mercedes Outdoor Concert Series" on Jay Leno (I don't know how we got chosen to do that, just lucky I guess, but it was pretty fun!). We also went to Universal Studios, got to visit Chris (Sean's high school friend who lives in LA now) who took us on a tour of Warner Brothers (which is where he works), and we went out with my precious friend Olivia whom I absolutely love and will greatly miss my trips to LA to visit her. We also got to dine with several great friends here in San Diego while we were here. All in all, it was a great finale for our time in CA. Now it's time to pack up and head on to TX....we'll be spending the night in Las Cruces, NM tonight and then driving the rest of the way to San Saba tomorrow. Can't wait to see all of our loved ones in the Lone Star State. Texas, we're coming home! :)

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. ;)

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!

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

Valentine Pics

Natalie went home yesterday after a really fun weekend. Other than going wine-tasting in Temecula on Friday (which was super fun as usual), we didn't really do anything big - just hung out and relaxed all weekend, which was really nice. We did a little shopping, went to see a movie (Taken - it was really good), ate way too much food, and that's about it! Sadly I forgot to bring my camera to Temecula, so no pictures from that, but I did manage to snap a few on Valentine's Day.

Roses from my sweetie :)












Cookies & Chocolate-Covered Strawberries









Natalie sippin' on a little bubbly








Sean cooking yummy steaks

And last but not least...
little Lexi girl :)

Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

I'm taking a break from some "iteachTexas" reading to give a quick update on the happenings here in the life of the Stewarts. Today is a pretty good day so far (other than the fact that I'm feeling the beginnings of a headache after doing all this reading)....I had a dentist appt. at 8am and got a good report - they said I have a "great set of teeth and excellent oral hygiene." I was very happy to hear this because, between you and me, I haven't been flossing nearly as often as I should....I mean probably like once every couple weeks if that....very bad, I know, and I'm trying to get better about that, but the dentist didn't give me much motivation today. At least I'm really thorough when I brush my teeth - I guess that's what saves me. Anyway, now I'm doing some iteachTexas work and then I'm going to vacuum, sweep, mop and dust....woohoo. At least I did all the bathrooms yesterday since that's my least favorite part of cleaning. THEN, I'm going to make Valentine cookies - YAY :)! Then Sean and I are going out for an early Valentine's dinner. Tomorrow at 11:30 Natalie (Sean's sister) is coming since she has a 4-day weekend...I'm so excited - we have lots of fun together and she has become like a real sister (not just "sister-in-law") to me. We're going to go to Temecula to visit the wineries that we joined the wine clubs at when we went together this past Summer. Going to Temecula is one of my absolute favorite things to do, wine tasting is so fun and all the wineries have such a fun atmosphere. Well I guess that's about all that's going on around here for now. I'll post pictures from the weekend in a few days. Happy Valentine's Day!!! XOXO