Have Yourself a Blue Bell Country Day

Week one in Texas... Check!!! Here are some random gems from the last 7 days of my life. Ps.. this is long.. I'm not sure why I'm so wordy....

Its been fun to so far. I have gotten to play a lot with Carolyn and Benjamin and it is a blast. And I was a little nervous that I would become a little lazy when I got here... and I'll be honest I have (Hi its Saturday and I haven't done my hair or make-up since Monday when I had a job interview) but luckily one thing is keeping me on a "normal schedule." I got myself a state of the art alarm clock.

Benjamin = my newmate (Nephew + roommate). When I thought that in my head, I totally thought nephew was spelled NEWPHEW. So it would work. Yeah its not, but I'm keeping it anyway. He didn't like me at first but now we're good friends and thanks to him and I still go to sleep and arise at a decent hour instead of sleeping until some crazy time in the day.

In other news Thursday we went on a little adventure. Carolyn wanted a little table for her living room like she had when she was asian, so we went to little Korea and found exactly what she was looking for. Bryan decided he wanted to just get it then instead of coming back. But the trunk of her car was a couple inches too short. Soo, it came in the back seat with me and the little man.

It took up where your feet would go, So I was sitting Indian style while trying to keep Benjamin happy who happened to be throwing up at the time. It was definitely an experience. Later it was Carolyn's turn.. The worst part about it was not the fact that you couldn't put your feet down, but the fact that it was 200 degrees outside and the darn box blocked the air conditioner and caused you to melt to death. I felt bad for her.

Last but not least... Boot Camp. I sort of lost myself this summer and gained a few lbs... so I put it to my mind before I got here that while I wasn't working, It would be boot camp and I would get myself back into gear. Luckily Carolyn has been game for that. Let me just say this.. it sucks. Every single day when Benjamin goes down for his nap we will do a little video of something. We just finished the Crunch-Fat Burning Dance Routine. It sucked. After a zippy little 45 minutes, we are sweating like a couple of pigs. It sucks. I hate it. Then a couple of time this week we have also both gone to the treadmill and done a bit on there after our video. But I'll be honest, yesterday after doing yoga or pilates or whatever it was where you support yourself with your arms, and then you do lunches for who knows how long, I had a hard time running so I only

lasted for a couple of minutes. But I'm doing better.. eventually maybe I won't hate this as much. Oh but one good thing, Bryan wasn't here the other night cause he was at church, and we made these AWESOME chicken taco salads. They were outstanding.

Blue Bell: The Most Heavenly Ice Cream On The Planet. We had to run to the grocery store last night for milk and I saw this and I almost died. Now I wouldn't let myself get any cause of boot camp, but just knowing that it was there brought me some sort of weird joy. For any of you who haven't visited the great state of Texas and don't know about Blue Bell, I'm sorry that you are not yet living. However, for the rest of you, you know what I"m talking about. When I saw it.. it was like on a cartoon or something when the whole things lights up and music plays. It was awesome. One day Blue Bell... One day....

Texas our Texas! so wonderful so great!

Well the road trip to Texas has come and gone. I'll say this, 25 hours in the car or whatever it was is enough to put anyone in a mental institution. However, the drive actually went so stinking well. I can't believe how fast it went. I Honestly believe I could have made that trip alone, but I'm grateful that dad was with me so that I didn't have to.

We started out a little before 6:00 on Friday Morning. I think we pulled out at 5:45, but we had to stop for gas. And we just hit the road running. We made it all the way to Shiprock, NM before we stopped for the first time. It was probably between 5 and 6 hours and 350 miles. Thats pretty awesome. We stopped for a bit.. got some gas and some lunch.. and thats when it was my turn. We didn't stop again for another 400 miles. And I really can't believe it, but I swear it flew by for me. I just had my iPod a going and was totally in the zone. We stopped in Tucumcari, NM and then dad took us another 2 hours or so to Amarillo, where we stayed for the night. I'm definitely glad we made that stop instead of attempting to go straight through. It wouldn't have been pretty.

Saturday was pretty much the same song-second verse. Out before 6:00, only stopped once. We got to Carolyn's around noon, Dropped off some stuff and then the final two hours to Gilmer. It was so nice to finally be here and to have that trip behind me. I had been dreading it for weeks. Sunday night after church, I came back to McKinney and have sort of settled in.

Carolyn and Bryan are basically awesome to put me up while I'm job hunting. But I'm gonna do my best to make sure I'm not in their hair for long. I had my first job interview today with this real estate company. I don't think it went well. The guy was a total weirdo. He kept asking me questions about what kind of databases I have used... I don't even know what to say to that. He quizzed me to make sure I know all the shortcut keys of how to cut and paste... and when I forgot that cut was "Control-X" I think that might have been the end of the interview right there. He was completely awkward, kind of a creeper and looked a little like an alien. Lets just say if I don't get that job I won't be heartbroken!!! So the hunt it still on, hopefully something shows up soon.. I'm a little nervous about this, but it was only day one and I'm still pretty optimistic about the whole thing!!! I'm giving myself this one week to be kind of lazy and not attend singles ward stuff and then on Sunday, the real fun begins with my first singles ward in Texas... and all that comes with that. I don't really have a desire to, but I know I need to make myself be social and get out there, so I'm sure there will be plenty of stories to tell there!!! I'm excited!!!

Moving

So all of last week I either packed up or threw away everything that I owned. I am honestly AMAZED at how much stuff I fit into my little Honda. Talk about a supercar!!! But it was kind of sad when we pulled out on Friday just how lonely my little room looked.

As an anonymous androgynous misogynist; A fool for your cool

Only in Provo....

Tuesday night Renae came over to see me and Megan one last time before we left. Right as we all sat down to chit chat the door knocks and we just kind of yell come in and this boy with a guitar walks right in. He says that he goes around playing music for people and asks if we want to hear a song. Right as I'm gearing up to be like "we're in the middle of something and don't have time," Megan and Renae had already been like "sure, come in!!" So Derk Olthof pulled up a kitchen chair and started singing us some tunes.

Now I'll say this, Derk can sing. He's got a nice voice. But its hard to concentrate on that when all you can focus on is how strange and awkward this boy is. He likes to sit with his legs crossed all tight like a girl. He closes his eyes all squinty when he sings. Hes maybe one of the more socially awkward people I've had a privelage of meeting recently and when he finishes his song, he kind of purses his lips and looks at you and says "Would you like to hear another one?!?" What a weirdo.The best part of this experience was when he couldn't find his pick... he says, "uh oh, this could get awkward." Immediately Renae goes, "well it already is." I died. It was so funny to me. Just another day in Provo... I'm willing to bet these kind of things won't happen to me once I'm in Texas... Shoot!!!

Just let me lay here in the sun.. Until my dream is done....

So most nights, I do not dream... and if I do I can NEVER remember what they are about. Ever.

But last night/this morning, I was having this dream that I was in Jail. Only it was house-arrest jail. So it was like this house that had a pool I could use, but you had to sleep in a cell. Then once a week you got to go to dinner at either Bodacious BBQ or Outback but you had to wear hand cuffs while you went. And we got in this argument about whether the jail would pay for our dinner or we had to pay for our own dinners. And Twitch and Jose from So You Think You Can Dance were in the house prison too. And I was in prison because I got in a car wreck... and because it was my fault.. I got 4 years in the big house. But luckily in my dream, I was only 20 and thats when I graduated college, so I figured... If i served 2 years of my sentence (which is more than Lindsay Lohan did) and then got released for good behavior.. I would only be 22... which is when most people graduate college, and I wouldn't be behind at all. So anyway, as I'm in my dream analyzing all of this, I just went right ahead and turned off my alarm in real life and kept sleeping until......

I got a text from Megan at 8:24 that says "are you awake?" Awesome. We left for work at like 8:40 or something. And i think this is the first time I've come here without a single particle of make up done and my hair is like nasty crimped and wavy from sleeping on it. At least I'm leaving them with the best image of me possible!!!

Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again

So on Wednesday we had a 40% chance of rain. In my head, that is the weather man's way of saying, "If you happen to remember your umbrella... GREAT... If not, you'll totally be fine.. there is a 60% chance that you're gonna make it inside dry.... NOT!!!!!" Here's how our afternoon went...

4:30: Left the Office... No Rain

4:40: Went into Bank... Light Sprinkles

4:50: Exited Bank... Sprinkles

5:10: Leave apartment for CostCo... Sprinkles (If you hurried to the car, you'd totally be fine)
5:20: Arrive at CostCo... TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR!!!!!

Megan and I shared an umbrella walking into CostCo. In the length of time it took us to walk into the store, my ENTIRE ride side was completely soaked. I'm not talking about a few drops on my shirt.. I'm talking about if this had been spring break and we were in Miami, we could have had a wet t-shirt contest... because we were completely soaked. Megan's backside got the worst of it for her, it was also completely wet. The best part of it though, was that I was having a hard time walk-running because the sandals I wore to work that day were slipping off and my toes were getting messed up. And Meg and I were laughing so hard that I was having a hard time walking and I think I was laughing my eyes shut which is dangerous when its raining cats and dogs in the parking lot. But it was by far the funniest thing that has happened to me in a while and made for a fun unexpected adventure on a Wednesday evening.

But just so we're clear... I am LOVING the thunderstorms that have been here the past day or two. It was still dark and thundery when I left for work this morning and I could not have been any happier about it. I wish it would stay like this for the rest of my time here. Too bad I can see the sun starting to shine....,.

Its the FINAL COUNTDOWN

My last day of work is 10 days away!!!!! By then I will have....

Packed up everything I own into my car

Welcomed my dad into Provo to get ready for the drive

Hopefully taught everything I know about real estate to Megan

Bid Farewell to the 4M's from Texas (for now... we'll never be separated for real)

Somehow this list doesn't make it sound as intimidating as it really is to me. The next 10 days are going to be CRAZY!!!!!! I hope I can get through them alive. Hopefully I make it to Texas in one piece.