Empty Walls

Tonight, we started packing up our apartment. We have to be completely out in ten days. Still don't know where we're moving to yet. Still anxiously awaiting news.

The walls are now empty. BTW, we have so much wall art. So many frames and posters and canvases and candles. A whole lot. I'm sure there will be plenty more rants about how much other stuff we have. That tends to happen when you move - you find out just how much junk you have.

It'll be tough to say goodbye to our first home together. I can already tell I will be devoting an entire post to leaving our first place. It's good to look back on the memories but sad to let them go into the past. Bittersweet. More on that later.

Does anyone have any boxes and/or paper we can use to move??

Bring Your Husband to Work Day

Last night, Phillip came with me to help screen at Trimble Tech high school in Fort Worth. It was a baseball game honoring a special senior who survived sudden cardiac arrest. I was interviewed by the paper. See article below.

Notice they call him my "colleague." Hahaha, they never asked who he was so they assumed. So I guess I should change the title to "Bring Your Colleague to Work Day".

It's been great getting to spend so much time with him this weekend - and we're not even through yet. He has today AND tomorrow off in addition to yesterday. Three days in a row with him!? Life is too good.

Heading to Southlake arts festival soon.

Link to Newspaper Story

The Apple and the Tree

Everyone knows my mom is a phenomenal cook. I mean, she is probably the best cook I know. She can whip things up from scratch or from a package with the same speed and ease. She alters even the simplest of recipes to suit her/our needs and makes it taste better. She has cooked dinner almost every day of my childhood, even after a long day of (and drive home from) work.

This brings up a great question... Does the apple fall far from the tree?

I'd like to think I'm getting to be a good cook. I am to the point now where I can follow just about any recipe and can even create some of the more complex dishes you see in cookbooks and online. But I'm not to my mom's caliber yet. I am just now starting to dabble in creating my own concoctions and with altering recipes.

Tonight, I made New York Strip steak (sans outdoor grill since we live in an apartment), macaroni and cheese, and homemade french fries. It was pretty good considering the obstacles! The steak took way longer than online forums suggested - cooking steak inside is always a challenge. Then I burned my hand on the skillet. Yeah, you shouldn't really grab a hot skillet by the metal handle. The lessons about avoiding burns are lessons I have yet to learn. I seem to burn my hand all the time.

I'm pretty proud of myself for tonight too. Phillip usually helps me cook because he really enjoys it. And I do too except when he speaks in a foreign accent and calls himself chef Felipe. But when I cook all by myself, I feel the most proud.

Basically, I deserve a trophy or a cookie or an appletini with a bubble bath or something.

Did you see what I did there? The apple theme in the post? Yep, tying it all back in. Apparently, I'm pretty good at being clever as well.

This Time Last Year

I love having friends that make me reflect on things. I had another great breakfast date with Christine this morning. We got to talking and I got to comparing where I am now to where I thought I'd be at this point.

Things have changed in the past year. I think for the better. I've had relationships grow and relationships die. I'm closer to my family - and husband - than I ever imagined I could be. My friends who have stuck around during my low points are pretty much my best friends and I am forever grateful for them. I have a job I love that I didn't even know was an option a year ago. I am in a great place in my life.

Sometimes things remind me of how much has changed. And with those, I am reminded that no one likes the idea of change, but the actual changing I'm okay with. I like who I am and who I will grow to be.

I am forever grateful for everyone's patience and for sticking with me. Thank you for being genuine and true friends.

Nearing the End of April

Tonight has been a rather relaxing night so far. Phillip made us dinner (what a great husband) and I got to watch Glee in real time for the first time in quite a while. Now we're watching the Rangers game and later we might head to the Pluckers in Arlington for Wingo. It would give us something to do and since I haven't been sleeping well lately, I could use a few late nights / early mornings to get me back on track.

Still no word on the moving situation yet. Every time the phone rings, our hearts race. Getting kind of anxious. Ok, more like really anxious. And I really need to start packing. Oh and I hate packing with a passion.

In other news, Heather moves back to my parents in about 3 weeks. I get my twin back! I sure have missed her and I'm ready to have my best friend in the same area as me again.

This weekend will be really uneventful (unless we end up moving - which is definitely a hope of ours) besides a screening Friday night and Saturday morning. Then next week is one screening, followed by two huge screenings next Saturday. Then work will fly by. Two graduations to go to this next month as well. May will be pretty busy for us.

Now to go wait around until Wingo.

Backyard Fun

So let's talk about something other than the impending moving process to a currently unknown location...

This might be more difficult than I thought. Seems to be all we can think and talk about lately. We need a break from reality. ASAP. Any suggestions?

Being the planner I am, I have already decided on things we will buy for our new backyard. I have never had one all to myself to overhaul. And one of the places we're looking into would literally give us free reign to do whatever we want in the HUGE space.

Here's a photo montage of all that I have planned. Of course, this is assuming we have tons of money to pour into a backyard fund. Hahaha. I imagine it'll be a more gradual process instead of instant wow factor.

In Limbo

Ok bloggers, it's time for a real confession here. It's hard to admit but they say that's the first step...

WE HAVE NO CLUE WHERE WE WILL BE LIVING IN 2 WEEKS

That's right. This girl sitting before you who plans every little detail in her life is absolutely clueless when it comes to the living situation in two weeks. Our apartment leases will be up and we don't even know the area we'll be moving to. If we don't find out in two weeks, we will be living in a POD and Phillip's parents' guest room until we find some place.

I hate this. I really do. I have never had to make such a fast-paced living decision. I have always taken my time finding the perfect place and now I feel rushed. Ugh. To be at the mercy of someone else's decisions. (I'll explain later, once we get the situation figured out.)

I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate being stuck in limbo with no clue where things are headed.

And what I hate even more than all of this - packing. I hate packing. Anyone who knows me knows that my way of packing actually includes throwing stuff away. Yep. I'd rather throw it all away than pack it in boxes. So frustrating.

Date Night

We started a date jar this week. It's our way of making sure we have great date nights at least once a week. Every week we pull from our date jar we created. For that night, we leave technology and TV behind to enjoy quality time together.

We each wrote down ten date ideas on paper and folded them up for secrecy. Neither of us knows what the other wrote for ideas - that adds to the excitement of the evening. We draw one out and unfold it to see what we will be doing that evening. Last night Phillip drew for our inaugural date jar date night.

Picasso and Wine night!

We started by heading to Hobby Lobby to buy a canvas for each of us. Then to buy a bottle of wine. Final stop before heading home was to get takeout italian food. Then home to start our evening.

After eating yummy food and starting on the bottle of wine, we sat down to recreate a Picasso piece Phillip chose online. We "competed" to see which of us did a better job. By the end of the night, we had tons of laughs and two wonderful paintings. It was definitely successful.

Our Inspiration Piece

Working hard on creating a masterpiece.

The final products. Which is better? Mine is on the left and Phillip's is on the right. Didn't we do such a good job!?

Silently (and impatiently) Waiting

We are currently playing the waiting game. Waiting to see where we are moving to and what the house will be like. I can't reveal much detail yet, but basically we are in a not-so-cool holding pattern.

We're looking at options and viewing a bunch of super nice places we want to live. And a lot of it hinges on two very important things. Again, I will fill you in soon - hopefully. Rather, I'll fill you in as soon as we know something.

So that's why I haven't been updating much. It's been a lot of waiting around and I'm not liking this one bit. All I do know for sure is that a big move is in our future and work is getting crazy right now.

Lots of waiting. Lots of uncertainty. Lots of wandering around aimlessly.

Normalish Week Ahead

It was a pretty successful weekend in the little Long family. Relaxed at the cabin. Wore Murphy out. Came back safely in time to have dinner with the Galloway side.

This week starts the "screening season" for work. Wednesday I drive down to New Braunfels for the first one. From then on out, it'll get busy. So, I apologize ahead of time if I don't post as often as I should.

We're getting on top of eating healthier - or at least trying. I'm trying to get creative with cooking and trying to find easy, inexpensive, healthier recipes that my darling husband will eat. He has the pallet of a 5 year old, you know...

This week's recipes include: lemon garlic chicken, homemade french fries, homemade chicken tenders (made with a sweet potato puree), applesauce muffins, chocolate banana "ice cream," healthy rice crispy treats, and more.

The Cabin

This weekend is our first easter as a married couple. These "first" holidays make me nervous. Basically because it sets the tone for the next ones. At least that's what everyone says. I'm more along for the ride.

So this year, we will be spending Easter in east Texas at the cabin. I'm growing more fond of the cabin the more time I spend out there. It's a growing process but last time wasn't so bad so I'm thinking this time will be relaxing. We're taking Murphy and it'll be a lot of good relaxation time with no cell phone service. Glorious.

I need to recharge before my crazy work season starts on Wednesday.

Night of the Twisters

Last night, a massive storm system swept across the metroplex. Scary stuff guys. Scary. So far they have confirmed 6 tornados touched down yesterday, while as many as 9 more are needing confirmation. The area was pretty much on lockdown for 2 hours straight.

I was in Frisco for a meeting, which is right down the street (literally) from the FC Dallas stadium. So, when the weather started getting bad near home, I decided to ride it out at the store with Phillip. I would have driven straight through it, otherwise.

Then the tornados headed toward Frisco. Specifically, the one that supposedly touched down in Addison was headed in our direction. The whole stadium was sent underground to take cover. So there we were, under tons of feet of cement, with the coach, waiting out the storm. For two hours.

Luckily, no major injuries or deaths have been reported. And our houses and cars had no damage - storms barely missed us. Thanks for your concern, readers.

Number Crunching

This is what I have been doing a lot of lately. Moving to Frisco will require some serious penny-pinching since the prices are much higher than here. Is it a beautiful area still? Absolutely. Worth it? Duh.

I feel like I can recite all of our bills and income off the top of my head. So many numbers. So many different configurations. I like to consider myself good at budgeting, but there are still some holes in my methods.

For instance, how do you really budget for food/entertainment? How do you tell yourself you can only spend so much and still allow for the sudden urge to grab some dinner at a to-go joint? It's relatively easier at a higher income. However, if you are truly on a budget, how do you weigh frugality with reality?

Fruga-reality (noun):
1. To be frugal with spending money, while still allowing room for bonehead impulse buys.
2. An unachievable state of financial equilibrium in which you have a set budget for expenses, while purposely leaving extra money at the end of each month in case you are unable to exercise self-control.