How Was Your Weekend? Staying Cozy?
3 hours ago
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Since graduation we have had some major life changes. First at the end of July we moved to Washington State again! We decided to make the move mainly because James has more business contacts here in the Portland area. We ended up leaving Austin a day late, had to rent an extra trailer, left a driveway full of our belongings, 4 long days of driving 12-ish hours a day, blowing a trailer tire and having to wait two hours on the side of the road to get it fixed, convincing Lucy that the U-haul wasn't that scary and just flat out drugging Fandango, we finally made it to Oregon/Washington! We truly love Austin and miss it but we are excited for all the great outdoor activities that are here too. If we ever get rich we have decided to winter in Austin and summer in the Pacific Northwest! Unfortunately Nicole decided to stay behind in Austin. She has been working as a salon receptionist, living with a roommate that she found on Craigslist, playing soccer and hanging out with her boyfriend and their dog. And yet she is still bored! We miss her terribly but skype her daily...sometimes hourly... I hate that she is so far away from us and sometimes dream of kidnapping her and bringing her home.
BTW, that is James driving the U-haul pulling a trailer in front of me. I drove the suburban pulling another trailer. All were stuffed beyond capacity! (Sorry about all the bugs on the windshield ~ yuck!!)
We rented a house in the same town we lived in 5 years ago (Camas, WA) and have been trying to settle back into life in the PNW.
First things first ~ I begged/hounded James until he built me a garden box. So far we have had lettuce, radishes, chives, and arugula. The carrots, peas, cabbage and onions have not matured but we are still hopeful!
We took Emma, Brandt and Chelsea to Canon Beach, OR to spend the day and eat good clam chowder (this is what I had to replace Tex-Mex with). Jordan decided to spend the day with his buddies jumping off 30 foot cliffs instead of the beach. I would take a rainy beach over heights any day!
To our good fortune, Chelsea turned down her other school offers and chose to go to college in Seattle at UW. Yay us!! James took her up there for orientation and spent two days getting to know the college a little. Then we both got to move her up to her dorm. This was actually quite traumatic for us! (It was different when Nicole went to college because she went to a school
right in town so it didn't seem like such a big transition for me.) Seattle is about 3 hours away, with a train that runs back and forth easily, so at least we will get to see her on holidays.
Chelsea took a suburban full of stuff plus her bike to school. After seeing her room she has decided that half her stuff needs to come back home =) I think that she has been so brave moving to a strange city and not knowing a soul there. Yes, I realize that college kids do this all the time, but I don't even like to go to the grocery store by myself! She has been diving right in and attending lots of freshman orientation activities. Chelsea took up yoga, is trying out for intramural soccer, has been going to football games, riding the city bus and signed up to be a
tour guide at her dorms haunted house this week. Yes she is amazing!!
At the beginning of October we got to fly back to Austin for ACL (Austin City Limits). We spent three days attending the music festival hearing 130 bands with only one day of sunshine and beautiful grass. Day two it poured and day three we just stood in muck! But it was still so worth it. We also got to spend time with Nicole, eat out with Grandma Harris, eat at several of our favorite places and enjoyed staying with Angela, Bryan, Gus and Bella.
We also got to take the kids to the pumpkin patch.
I love the fall here so much!! I love the fall air, the gorgeous colors and the incredible harvest! I feel like I am on vacation. (I know, I know, in a few months when I am suffering through the rain, there will be no vacation-y feelings.) But keep your fingers crossed that I will remember to blog through it all this time =)
Friday, March 27, 2009
What a wonderful time of year it is to live in Austin! Everyone is out running, biking, dog walking and playing in the parks. The weather has been wonderful (70's and 80's), the oak pollen is down and there is lots to do and lots to eat. For anyone who has never been here, not only is the TexMex worth waiting in line for, but also the Vietnamese sandwiches made with all fresh ingredients; the Crepes that are a meal all unto themselves: the Thai food so spicy that tears roll down your face: the Sushi places that the waiters no you by name; SnoBeach (the best snow cones around); and we haven't even talked about the BBQ for you meat lovers. The absolute best places are the trailers in an empty lot. Some times you can wait an hour for your food because they are so popular but the weather is so nice this time of year that nosone is complaining about getting to sit outside. I love it!
This was also our kids spring break but Chelsea had soccer practice everyday so that limited her ability to leave town ~ not great for a senior! SXSW (south by southwest) was the same week and all the out of towners took over the city. Every where you went there were crowds of people in $500 jeans and $400 sunglasses (Austin is the home of the hippie so these other people really stand out). Metallica, K'annan, Cold War Kids and Kenya were just some of the artists that were here. Chelsea was able to attend the Cold War Kids concert, the Austin Music Awards where she got to see her friends The Fire Ants ( link below) perform with Bob Schneider (link below), and a private taping by MTV of several of what they thought were the best SXSW bands this year. Chelsea and her friends also flew kites in the park, had BBQs and shopped; so all in all she had a pretty good break from school.
Jordan spent a week in Telluride CO snowboarding with 4 of his buddies one of which owns a vacation home there. The exciting part for us was that Jordan managed not to hurt himself or anyone else and catch all his flights. Our little boy is growing up! He kept telling me that all would be well as "he knew his limits". Apparently hitting a tree on a 4wheeler enlightened him as to where those limits were! He had a great time and even met some girls from St. Andrews (a private Austin school) that he has been keeping in touch with. Tonight he is going to dinner with two of them ~ maybe this will motivate him to get his license since the other option is to share the girls with a driving friend.
I had two wonderful shoots ~ one with James' cousin's son Gus and one with a friend of mine for a school assignment. James was sweet enough to come be my assistant on both of them. He is so great a carrying all the heavy things, navigating traffic and fixing any technical issue that I might have. If I ever start a business he will have to quit his job to follow me around!
I love this picture I found on a website. I dream of a home/furniture like this in a location like that ~ think my ship will ever come in?? The warm light in this picture makes me want to curl up on the white sand that I know is right outside that door and just be still, enjoying the ocean... well, maybe the still part would get boring quick. It just sounds good because I stayed up too late last night watching Spurs basketball and talking to James.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-8OmasBkI
www.bobschneidermusic.com
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