Roadtrip

We went out of town on Thursday last week. We drove back to Houston for Romi and Rian's wedding. I'll do a separate post about that. We left around 2:30 on Thursday afternoon and made it to The Woodlands around 9:30 or so. Since we have the GPS now, we decided to go the route it told us instead of going through Dallas. We figured we might be hitting some major traffic since Dallas is about 4 hours from Tulsa. The GPS told us to take these 2 (some 4) lane roads around Dallas. We really enjoyed the drive as it took us through these small Texas towns...like Paris, Canton, Sulfer Springs, Athens, etc. The best of all was Canton. I've always wanted to go there for their First Monday...while we weren't there for the big market stuff, it was cool just to find out where it is. Plus on the way back I convinced Tony to stop at the Paul Michael store. Just a bit of background, Paul Michael is our favorite vendor at Nutcracker Market, lots of home stuff that's reasonably priced. We have tons of Paul Michael stuff in our house...I think my Mom has more though! Anyways, we enjoyed our drive through East Texas. Of course with Tony driving there were some interesting car passing going on, on these 2 lane roads, but that didn't surprise me. :)

While we were in The Woodlands, we got to have a nice hot run on Friday morning and a haircut for each of us after that. We haven't found a place in Tulsa yet. Since Romi and Rian's wedding was in the west part of Houston (outside the Beltway), it didn't make sense for us to drive and hour each way and stay in The Woodlands, so we stayed with my good friend Alyssa and her fiance, Dave, in their new townhouse in Houston. They have a great new place in a little, quite area off of Westheimer. We got to hang out with them a little during the weekend, of course I wish we could have been around more to see them, but Alyssa just started her residency and is working a crazy schedule. She was at least around on Friday afternoon. We also got to see Janet on Saturday before the wedding and her new apartment. She has a really cute one bedroom about 15 min from the Galleria area, where she works. We are so excited for her to be settled in and getting used to working and living on her own. She's doing great. We just caught up with her and watched Stacy's round on TV. So we did the rehearsal dinner and wedding thing, and then we went back to The Woodlands on Sunday to have Black Walnut with my Mom. We love Black Walnut! My Mom and I used to go once a week after pilates. We also had to get the rest of the boxes that I had at my parents house from my classroom. The car was packed up and off we went back to Oklahoma.

Adventures in Pilates Classes

My Mom and I started doing pilates back in February of this year. Well, technically my Mom started classes with Stacy and when she left, I took her place. Anyways, we have had an awesome experience with the place in The Woodlands, so I wanted to continue in Tulsa. I was excited because when we signed our papers for our house, the girl working there told me about a pilates studio that she loved. I didn't want to miss a week of class because it's not fun when you get back into it, plus I really like how it gets me stretched out and actually giving me some muscles that aren't bulky like swimming. Anyways, I signed up for a class online at this place, got a new client deal, and showed up for class. Without getting into all the details for those who don't really know about pilates, it was WAY different than the other classes I had been going to. The philosophy of the studio just wasn't what I was looking for. I went to 2 classes last week, one mat class and one reformer/tower class. There was one other studio that I found online that I wanted to try because I really didn't want to give up on finding a place that I liked already. I went to this place for a mat class today and really enjoyed it. I think it's going to be a good fit for me. The scheduling isn't as convenient, but the people were so nice and I got a lot out of the class. There was an older lady (like my grandma's age :)) who said she'd been coming there for 9 years and loves it! So that has to say something!

It's not the same as going to pilates with my Mom, but I gotta keep in shape so when I go visit she doesn't kick my butt if we get to go to a class together! It's a little weird for me to just show up for a class, not knowing anyone or what to expect, but I did it and I hope it's going to work out for the long run.

New Additions to the Casa

We spend Sunday painting the 2nd bathroom. This is our last adventure in painting before my Dad comes...hopefully we won't have to wait too long for that. We decided on this green color, and we think it turned out pretty good. We also got some towel bars. The round one is hung up, but we haven't done the one for the bath towels yet. We have to do a toilet paper holder too, but are worried because the only place to put one is on the side of the cabinet. We're not too sure how to do that or if we even should put it there. Anyways, we'll figure it out sooner or later.


We got a sale rug from Pottery Barn that got delivered the house last week. We didn't have such a large entry way in our old house, so we didn't have any big rugs. Tony wanted something that didn't look like we were "old people", so I think this one did the trick.



We finally got A GRILL! We've only been talking about getting one for over a year now since we moved into our first house. We never got around to buying one in Houston, and we were at Lowe's the other day, they were having a Father's Day Sale on the grills. We couldn't pass up another good deal. They put it together for us and Tony's friend from work picked it up yesterday in his truck. I know, I know, I let Tony get an OU grill cover. Haha! He was pretty excited about that, and I know how long he's been wanting a grill. So anything to make my honey happy. :) We even used it for the first time last night. Grilled some chicken and mixed it in with some pasta. Delicious!

Another Room Painted

This is the office that we painted this week. We decided to do it a darker shade from the color strip from the rest of the house. This is our first room to completely paint by ourselves, and I think it turned out ok. My Mom told me that my Dad thought it was not a good idea to do the walls before the ceiling, but we were careful not to get any ceiling paint on the walls...from what we can tell we didn't get any on the wall. We are happy with how it turned out. Now we have to get some furniture in there. All we have is an Ikea book case that we don't like that much. We'd like to do a desk and a seating area and some book cases.

The last of our moving boxes were actually just taken away today! YAY! That means everything is finally unpacked and mostly put away. We just have to decide where we want to hang some things. It's definitely coming together. We also should have our kitchen table and 2 barstools coming in about 2 weeks. I think that will really make it feel like home when we get that in.

That's the house update for today. We still have 5 rooms to paint, but we're hoping my Dad will make it up here again this summer to help us out. We're waiting for him to set a date. :)

We Love Cookies

My sweet little sis, Janet, got Tony and I a cookie bouquet. It arrived on Tuesday, and I think we've eaten almost all of the cookies. They were so good and right up our alley. They were packaged too cute, but we had to eat them up!

4 and a Half Months

That's how long it's been since Beth and I have lived together. It's hard to believe that the last time we lived together, it was the middle of Winter, I was working shift work, and we were living in our first house together in Spring, TX.

Needless to say, a lot has happened since then. And Beth and I are officially moving back in together on Sunday. And when we do, things will be a lot different. Instead of temperatures in the forties, they'll be in the nineties. Instead of me working shift work, I'll be working 8a-5p Monday through Friday. And instead of our first home together, we'll be living in our second home together. This time in Broken Arrow, OK with 800 more square feet and a lot of empty rooms.

I'm in Houston right now helping Beth get her stuff together and saying bye to some people that we may not see for a while. It's somewhat bittersweet. I can't wait for what our lives will be like in Tulsa and I can't wait to feel like we're married again. But I will also miss Houston. Just not the humidity and the traffic.

So the new adventure begins on Sunday and I can't wait!

Blog Changes

So I decided to change the background on the blog...still waiting for Tony to notice because I'm not sure he's going to like it because it may be too "girlie" for him. We'll see! Plus he liked the little signature thing he made under the posts and now it's hard to see. So if it gets changed back, you'll know who was responsible. :)

Another School Year Down

I can't believe that my second year of teaching has come and gone. Tomorrow is our last day of the year. This week has been basically glorified babysitting if you will. We had field day on Monday and the 6th grade fun day on Tuesday. Both days we were basically outside the whole day and the kids were doing activities and games. I think the kids really enjoyed themselves. They got to spend the whole day with their friends in other classes and just play. Us teachers like it because we get to hang out and talk too. We were really proud of how well behaved the kids were...a few slight slip ups by a few, but nothing major.

I have to say that this end of the year has been bittersweet. Last year I could not wait for the last day of school, and this year I'm kind of sad. I have had only 2 classes the whole year since I've been teaching 2 subjects, so I feel like I have gotten to know them really well. They are really great kids for the most part, and I'm sad that my best classes are moving on and now I have to get a new group. I just feel more attached to this group than last years. The other part of it is that I am sad to leave the people that I work with this year, especially my switch teacher. That's what we call the other teacher that my kids have. She and I are about the same age and have a very similar approach to dealing with our kids and teaching. She was like the perfect partner for me, and she and I have become really good friends this year. I hope that we stay in touch with the move because I will really miss her.

This year has been so much different than last year. Mostly because of the school that I am at, but I also feel like I am becoming a better teacher and better at managing all the things (aka paperwork) that go along with it. I hope that next year goes even better in that respect. Also, teaching science was a new challenge this year that with the help of Tori (another science teacher that I've known since middle school) I learned to manage that at math at the same time. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise that really helped me get my new job in Tulsa which is also a math/science position. Two subjects was overwhelming at first, but I finally got the hang of it. It will really make next year a much more smooth transition though.

I hope I can make it through tomorrow without being too sad...maybe the kids will be too wound up and I'll be ready for them to go. But they have been bringing me thank you cards for being their teacher and that is just so sweet...so I'll have to see how it goes. 2nd year of teaching has come and gone. Now on to new adventures in my 3rd year in a new school again and a new state!