Good Times...

I got to spend this past weekend with some long time friends from college who are all very special to me -- Amber, Emily & Sherry. We all met up in San Antonio to eat us up some Beth Moore Bible teachin' & some good 'ol South Texas Mexican food!! We went to one of Beth's Living Proof conferences & stayed at the Marriott right on the river and attached to the mall! No, we didn't even go shopping! (Amazing, I know!) Beth delivered a great message about the inheritance that we will receive as children of God. She had us all in tears of joy & of laughter! She definitely has a God given gift of teaching & speaking with lots of humor mixed in. Not only did I enjoy hearing Beth speak, but so enjoyed the time that my college friends and I got to spend together. It is the most time that just the four of us have gotten to spend together in quite some time. We ate at Mi Tierra

(famous in SA) after the session on Friday night and don't think we were headed out of there until about midnight! Good thing they stay open all night! There was still a wait to get a table when we were leaving! Crazy! The conference was over on Saturday at noon and we hadn't had our fill of Mexican food just yet so we took a stroll down the river to eat at another Mexican food restaurant for lunch! When in South Texas, do as the South Texans do!

Welcome to Centex Austin...

I had a wonderful pick-me-up arrive at our doorstep on Tuesday, fresh flowers! The delivery lady said they were to Jarrod Gaither and I'm thinking..."Jarrod must have another admirer besides me!" ;) LOL Really, they were addressed to the Gaither Family and were from his new Centex Austin family welcoming us to the area! It was such a thoughtful thing to do & we are really enjoying them! They smell even more wonderful than they look too! I stroll by them just a little slower when I am on my way to the kitchen so I can get a longer wiff of them. ;) Fresh flowers are just so refreshing!

Grocery Store Scare!

With all the chaos & busyness of the move weekend, it is not a wonder that I lost my mind by the end of the weekend! I shouldn't tell this on myself, but I figure it was a good wake up call to me and could be to many others to pay more attention to your purse when at the grocery store! Anyway, Mom left on Sunday evening & I decided to make a run to the store for some groceries. I was about middle of the shopping trip when I looked down and realized my purse was gone & my stomach just dropped! I immediately ran frantic with my basket to the front of the store and grabbed a manager on my way who (I'm happy to say) dropped everything and ran with me. He made some calls on his CB as we were headed to the front. I parked my basket and headed out the front doors and into the parking lot asking all of the basket guys if they had seen any suspicious behaviour to which no one had. So, hoping that I had just left my purse in the truck, I ran over to it and took a look inside, but no purse. I went back inside to where I had left my basket and described my purse to the manager and where I had been in the store. He told me that they could look at the security cameras & I'm thinking "this could be a long night full of police reports & closing down credit cards, cell phone, etc. & also what a great way to start off our experience in Austin!" So as I am explaining where I had been in the store, I was pointing to the basket at items I had picked up there when I realized that half the stuff in the basket was not mine & some of the stuff I had picked up was missing & still it did not click, but it evidently did with the manager. We began retracing my steps in the store to find a basket sitting nicely in front of the bagged lettuce refrigerator with a black purse that looked EXACTLY like mine just minding its own business! If you are a woman, you know what a feeling of relief came across me at that moment! My life is in that purse! My digital camera, new cell phone, wallet with all credit cards & any and every necessity that a girl needs! Anyway, let this be a reminder to all of you ladies, NEVER take your eyes off of your purse when in the grocery store!! I knew I had & really thought someone had snatched it just when I wasn't looking. i know purse theft is real (click on the link & pay close attention to tip #3 b/c I literally felt stranded) & it would have been so easy for someone to do b/c I really wasn't paying attention. I will now!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Well, since my last post, I've been to San Francisco & Chicago on work trips, returned back to Austin, mom came to visit to help with the move, movers arrived & so did a ton of boxes & stuff!!! I didn't know we had so much stuff! They just kept bringing it out of the truck. I wish I had a picture of the gigantic truck that they barely fit our stuff into. (I need to get better about taking pictures again now that I am a blogger!) Anyway, 6 hours later, all of our furniture was in place & all billion of the boxes awaited our attention! It'll be 1 week tomorrow that we've been in the house, and I think we only have about 8-10 boxes to go, but that's nothing! We are definitely on the down hill slope. Take a look at our new house -----

Also, the day after we moved in (last Saturday), a good friend of mine (my tennis double partner--district champs baby!) from high school got married here in Austin (thankfully we didn't have to drive far!) so mom & I did a brunch for her and the bridal party and then went to Erin's wedding at Chateau Bellevue in downtown Austin that night. I would put a link to Erin's blog here, but she doesn't have one YET! (wink, wink, Erin) It was a wonderful outdoor wedding in a quaint courtyard & the rain held off just long enough for the pastor to say "you may kiss your bride".

It's official!

We closed on our new house today!! Ironically, it is on the 2 year anniversary of when we were engaged on August 4, 2006. Kinda crazy! Must be a good date for us! This is our first house to purchase together so it was an exciting experience. I had never been through a house purchase before & never knew my signature could be so important! We must have signed over 100 documents! Anyhow, the previous owner is leasing back the house from us until Sunday, then we are taking the week to do some things to the house before moving in on August 15! More details to come about our new house!

Our First Visitor...

My brother came to visit us this weekend & we toured him around Austin. Friday night we introduced him to our favorite sushi place here called Tomo Sushi. This was also Jim's first time to try any sushi that wasn't at least partially cooked. I was glad that he embraced the experience! We had a great time! Saturday, I went and picked up donuts from Roundrock's World Famous Donut shop so Jim could try them. http://www.roundrockdonuts.com/ We live just a few blocks from it, but Jarrod & I don't really get what the fuss is about. The donuts are a little different b/c they have an orange based batter, but we aren't that impressed. However, typically the line is out the door! After having our donuts & laying around a bit, we headed out to drive around the city, to the area where we will be living & on down to the lake before making our way to have some small town, good eatin' Texas BBQ in Lockhart, Texas. We went to a place called Smitty's that has been filmed and shown on Food Network.

There was an open fire at the end of the pit where they were smoking the BBQ right there where you placed your order.

We (the boys) ordered a total of like 5 lbs of meat!! We did at least have a few left overs, but we definitely did not need dinner that night!

On our way back into Austin we drove by Barton Springs area where Town Lake is & there were a ton of people out swimming, canoing, kayaking, etc. It looks like a fun area that we'll definitely have to go back to. We brought our suits, but the line to get into the swimming hole was way too long! So we headed back toward Round Rock, but we didn't get too far before Jarrod spotted a snow cone stand & I knew we would be stopping & finding some room in our tummy's. Jarrod tried to get out of standing in the hot sun by saying he would watch the car to which I quickly responded, "oh, I'll be glad to watch the car". So he & Jim braved the heat for some unbelievable snow cones! Thanks guys! The cones were yummy & definitley worth the stop!

After church on Sunday we went and ate at Z Tejas in the Arboretum area. Another of our faves! What a great view! And it was such a pleasant day to sit outside on the deck.

It was a great visit! Glad you got to come Jim!

Keeping Austin Weird

This week was my first full week in Austin and working in my new job out of the house (actually apartment for now). It was a good week, but really ready to be in our house b/c staring at the blank, white walls in this tiny apartment all day & working from our kitchen table is already wearing on me. Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful that we have this temp apartment that Jarrod's company has provided us. Anyhow, this week at work was mainly getting organized and familiar with what I'll be doing. And, of course, as always when you join a new team, the email went out to the new department that I am working in to announce my joining the team and tell about my background. At the end of the announcement, it read "Mikalah is a graduate of Texas A&M University and lives in Austin, TX. " Well, one of my former Aggie co-workers also rolls up into this same department and received the email announcement. He emailed me immediately and said "Boy, that last line looks like a typo, doesn’t it?" A&M and Austin, TX just don't seem to go together in the same sentence. It was funny too because I even took a double take when I read that line! LOL Oh, well – guess I am just part of “keeping Austin weird” as they say here. So this Aggie will fit right in! (I think their definition of weird is probly a little different than mine though ;)

1st Weekend in Austin

After about a 2 month process of putting our house on the market, selling our house in Dallas (in 1 week I might add!!), house hunting in Austin & Jarrod & I living separately while I finished my job out in Dallas, this past weekend was our first as official Austinites! It was great to both be in one place & be in Austin without every minute taken up searching for a house. House hunting was fun, but mentally exhausting! Anyway, we had a great weekend. On Saturday, after unloading all of my stuff in the temporary apartment in Roundrock, we headed out to explore the city. We did some shopping, drove by our future house which we love & headed down to the lake. We ate at a place on the lake called Cafe Blue that Stacey suggested we try b/c one of her co-workers owns it. http://www.cafebluetx.com All seating is outdoors on this huge deck overlooking the lake with a marina right next door. So we ate and enjoyed watching all the boats go by & the sun glistening off of the lake. The food was pretty good, but the atmosphere is really what makes the place! It was a relaxing end to our day. We are really looking forward to enjoying the outdoor nature of this city! So why wait -- the next day we tried out a new church, ate lunch, relaxed and headed out to the Brushy Creek park trails to go for a walk. It is worth noting that we must be nuts b/c I looked at the temp gauge on my car on the way there and it read 104 degrees!! Anyhow, we walked about 4 miles on some trails that wind around a creek, some streams and a really cool park area. Actually it didn't feel too hot b/c there was quite a breeze so we really enjoyed ourselves. There were walkers, runners, bikers, canoers, & picnicers (is that a word?) all around. We can't wait to follow in Jarrod's sister and brother-in-law's footsteps & purchase some bikes to take out on these trails!