The Great Southern Adventure

So I have finally returned from my adventure, recovered, washed all my clothes, gone grocery shopping, and returned to my little routine, which is much appreciated.  After 12 nights of being away, I was so happy to sleep in my own bed and cuddle up to my hubby!  BUT, I had the most fabulous time on my trip.  I traveled a total of 1,645 miles (more or less) and visited what feels like almost everyone I know or have known! HA!

I kicked off the weekend with my 10 year High School Reunion, which was a blast!!! It was awesome to see everyone. In some ways, it made me feel younger to be around all the people I grew up with, and in other ways, it made me feel older to see us  married, and lots of them with children! One of the neatest things was the "Memory" table we had, where everyone brought their old pictures to share. They were hilarious. Here are a couple of mine that I am reluctant to share, but they are too funny not to. Everybody had an awkward, ugly stage right??? Try to play Where's Waldo.

This is my 5th Grade class picture. Check out bottom far right. Yes, that is KT. Even my mom said:  "Aww...look how homely you look!"

9th Grade Cheerleader Pic. Far Left. Love the braces.

We laughed at our old memories and danced the night away! Even hubby had a great time with the other husbands! 

The cheerleaders are all grown up!

My very first [kindergarten] boyfriend!  Ryan Channel! We tried to make our respective spouses jealous, but they didn't seem too concerned!!!  Hahahaha....

The rest of my week in Petal/Hattiesburg was spent visiting with my parents, grandparents, and other family & friends.  It was so nice to spend  time with them and not be in a rush.  Mom & I managed to "squeeze" in a trip or 2 (or 4) to all the surrounding Hudson's, which only South MS folks can appreciate. And of course a highlight was getting to see my GROWING nephew, which just filled my heart.  I arrived at the PERFECT time when Mama Cate was helping Lauren with work, Jeremie was napping, & Papa Mitch was somewhere. This meant I got 3 full hours of Judah all to myself. He napped on me, I fed him, and chased him around, as he is now crawling like a bandit! And bath time is always entertaining.

Is it me, or does my Mother-In-Law look like she's 30?  : ) 

Next, I headed north to Meridian and visited my roommate from MSU, Kelly.  In true South MS style, we spent the day by the creek catching up and old times and new. : ) I totally forgot a bathing suit, so  I dug one out at my parents' house that was from 9th grade! I was proud that it even fit...not the same...but hey, I technically could get it on my body.

The next day, I kept heading north and made a stop in Starkville to get my hair done by my FAVORITE hairdresser of all time, and had the Blue Plate Special at the Veranda with Amy. Another one of my besties, Meg, picked me up in Starkville and like a tornado, we headed off to Huntsville, AL to visit our third counterpart, Mary. Our girls reunion was absolutely fabulous. The three of us have not been together  in 2 years, so we had much catching up to do. We agreed that we laughed until we cried and cried until we laughed. If an outsider heard some of our conversations and ridiculous cackling, they would question our sanity. Mary's hubby Stan cooked for us and catered to us like we were queens. We also managed to squeeze in a trip to the Melting Pot. Mary hosted a Thirty-One Party on Saturday and it went great.....so I think I need to take another "business trip" to Huntsville again soon. 

LOVE these girls.

Meg and I headed back to Starvkille on Sunday where I spent the last two nights of my big trip.  Sunday happened to be my 28th birthday, so Amy & I celebrated at Old Venice, one of my Starkville favorites! The first birthday I celebrated at Old Venice was my 20TH! So I definitely felt a little older!  

Amy had a chocolate cake for me which we enjoyed in our pajamas! Wild night, huh?

The next day we be-bopped around campus, which never gets old.  I could make laps around the place and still not get enough! Just love me some MSU! Another trip to Hudson's scored Amy some outdoor chairs which would NOT fit in her car. A lady saw us "struggling" (her words exactly) and showed us how we could fit them in the trunk and tie them down. Again, in true South MS style, our trip home looked like this: 

The rest of our night was spent watching our guilty pleasure, The Bachelorette, and doing some arts and crafts. It was great to spend some quality time with my sister-no one really gets you like your sister, right? 

So after many nights away from the family, I picked up some Shipley's donuts & coffee and hit the road for my 8.5 hour drive to Texas!  Thank goodness for books on CD!  It was (and still is) wonderful to be home.  It was an awesome trip, and one that I feel like was a rare opportunity! God has blessed me with wonderful family & friends! 

The Wells Weekly

So I don't really have an exciting title or event to blog about. Most of this is totally random/uninteresting, but every day can't be a circus, right? So here's what I got:

1. Manny's LOVES small, hidden places, but his all time favorite place in this house is behind the door of our little toilet room in the Master Bathroom. This house is much larger than our last place, so one day when I was frantically looking for him, I spy this......

Found him.

And other times Manny is not so shy.....

2. Our neighborhood does have a community pool, but it's always super crowded and I'm pretty sure the teenage residents have given the code to ALL of their friends. And personally, I hate toting all my stuff down there and having to use a community bathroom. So I made my own oasis in the privacy of our backyard.

3. I have been working out hard lately and really enjoying it!  This may or may not be motivated by my upcoming 10 Year High School Reunion, but nevertheless, I've lost weight,  feel better, and met lots of friends. J is also doing The Biggest Loser at work, so he's trying to lose a few pounds too.  This has lead to healthier eating, and this has been my best creation so far:  Strawberry Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken. YUM. 

4. One of those said friends at the gym is a woman after my own heart: She loves antiques and took me on a "field trip" to a place called the Frisco Mercantile. It was an endless maze of booths full of vintage antiques and adorable crafts. I came home with an adorable pig painting. Laugh if you want to, but I have a love for pigs after raising them for years, and just couldn't resist it.  It perfectly matched the deep coral & blue pillows that I've already bought for our Master Bedroom when we buy a house. (Going for a funky Southwestern theme.) Call me crazy, but I thought the pigs were smiling, and sure enough, the name of the painting is "Happy Pigs." Oink, oink baby.

5. Not to kill the pig theme, but a few weeks earlier, I had bought a cute iron pig for our porch. Although J loves both purchases, he told me no more pigs. I think he's worried I will start a weird collection and was envisioning a China cabinet full of porcelain pigs, wooden pigs, Santa pigs, you get the point. So we are on a pig freeze right now.

6. My Thirty-One business is going great! My two online parties, the Texas party order, some stuff my Director sent me, and a company incentive all came in within two days of each other, so it was like Christmas over here this week! I loved looking at all the orders and some new products I've never seen before! I've pretty much made back the money I spent to get into it, so quite happy about that!  And I've got a couple more parties booked that I'm really excited about!  

7. I'm so excited about this week coming up: HS Reunion, spending a few nights with the parents, then headed north to visit Amy & several of my fabulous college friends!!! I won't bore with itinerary details, but I will be blogging about my entire trip when I return! 

8. The Big D House Hunt has officially commenced!  J and I looked at 5 houses this weekend, and really liked one of them. Another one smelled really funky and another had 5-foot cement gargoyles in the front. It definitely helped us see which areas we like the most, so hopefully we'll find the perfect one soon! House hunting is tiresome and definitely not as glamorous as HGTV makes it look.  

9. I posted this on FB, but must document on my blog, too.  I was at Hobby Lobby the other day and they have an entire aisle dedicated to Homecoming corsage materials. I saw an episode about this on Big Rich Texas, but honestly thought it was probably scripted to be funny/stereotypical Dallas.  But apparently, it's a for real tradition. Some of the ribbons were as tall as me! I guess I will have to add this to my Texas Mom duties.  

Happy Trails!  

Update from the Lonestar State

Oh, how behind I am on blogging!  Jeremie and I have been enjoying many of the "amenities" that Dallas has to offer.  The day of the Kentucky Derby we went to Lonestar Park to view some horse racing Texas style. It was a good time. Jeremie & I always like to pick opposite teams (in this case horses) to cheer for so there is a little friendly competition. Does this surprise anyone?  

                                              

   

Go Baby Go!

The next weekend was our THIRD Anniversary, which I still cannot believe. Being married is still SO much fun and I love waking up to my best friend every day.  I know I already posted a sappy anniversary blog, but I found this the other day and LOVED IT. 

Anyway, we celebrated our anniversary the entire weekend starting with a fabulous dinner at Rick's Chophouse in McKinney.  It was DELISH and we even got free dessert. 

The next day we headed to Downtown Grapevine which is ADORABLE and reminded me a lot of Thomasville, FL.  It is very historic complete with a Vintage Train & blacksmith.  

                                           

                                           

This past weekend we attended the Byron Nelson golf tournament where we got to follow Phil Mickelson and see our first hole in one! The course was GORGEOUS and in true Dallas style, it was a total fashion show.  I thought I was totally golfed out in my collared shirt and pink Taylor Made hat, but was completely out done by the chicks in their maxi dresses and wedges. I think they were trying to scope out some rich golf hubbys who in turn were more interested in watching Phil's backswing. 

                                  

I snagged this picture right before being disciplined by an official in red pants!

A lot of my time though has been spent working on my new Thirty-One venture! Thirty-One was created by a lady who envisioned a company that women could pursue a career, but also have the flexibility of making their own schedule that would work around their family. (Love that!) The name Thirty-One was inspired by Proverbs 31 (love that!) and the products are adorable organizing bags and purses (love them!). I paid $99 for a big pink box full of adorable bags and start up supplies.

                                        

Yes, I understand that I have an Agricultural Economics degree, and I never though I would be selling purses  and bags.  BUT, the closer we get to starting a family, the thought of being able to do something from home is priceless. I already love that I have the freedom to work out & grocery shop during the day so I can be done when J gets home from work!  

That being said, last night was my first party, and it was so fun! We did a "Boots and Bags" theme; perfect for Texas.  Our Texas theme included Pigs-N-a-Blanket, bacon wrapped crackers, Haystacks, and Cowtails. (Which I will single-handedly finish off myself.) 

The other news flash is that we are starting the house hunt, and have our eye on this:  

HAHAHAHA....JUST KIDDING of course!  I passed by this house and just had to take a pic hanging out my window like a typical Mississippi redneck! HA!  

Happy Trails!

THREE Years Ago Today...

Another year of marriage has flown by! And what a year it's been...but having J to go through this life with is such a blessing.  He is everything and more than I could hope for.  I could try to put it into words, but the card I found him this year says it better than I ever could, so I'm just gonna steal that:

What we have is a beautiful partnership.
We're a team, you and I.
The kind of love and friendship we share doesn't come from just wishing.
It comes from being together 365 days a year, through good times and bad and everything in between.
You are my closet friend, my partner in life...
The one I can count on and who can count on me.
Today and every day, I love having you in my life and in my heart.

A Texas-Sized Post: Part 2

Now that I've covered our "physcial" moving in, I'll move on to what life in Texas has been like so far.  Let's just say that J and I did a complete flip-flop in our every day schedules. When J wasn't traveling in Florida, he would work from home, and I was commuting every day to work. Now J is the one who has to crawl out of bed before the sun comes up so he can beat the Dallas traffic. (One car on the side of the tollway with a flat tire can cause a straight up deadlock.)  I did milk my morning freedom for a week or so and slept late, but now I'm trying to get up around 7:00 to get the day started. And yes, there have even been a couple mornings that I've ironed J's shirt and packed his lunch.  How Cleaver family is that?  

I have to admit, the first couple weeks of staying home and playing housewife kind of freaked me out.  From piano teacher, to pooper-scooper, to cotton-picker, to Loan Officer, to Project Manager, I've had a job since high school.  My inferiority complex got the best of me when my friend Lauren and I were shopping at a little dog boutique and the owner said they hired out the stay-at-home moms to hand cut their homemade dog treats. That afternoon, when J walked in the door I just burst into tears and told him that I was now one of those stay-at-home wives who people hired to cut dog treats. I also felt like I didn't have any exciting conversations anymore, because I no longer had work stories to tell him.  AND, after my 4.5 year education and 5 year career, that I was back to doing what I did in Jr. College:  scooping poop.  (When I take Manny on walks in our neighborhood, we of course have to bag up his poop.) Thinking back, J was probably holding back laughing hysterically, but true to form, he sat me in his lap and let me cry it out.  He also encouraged me that I would get busier as we get involved with things and if I really felt like I needed a job, I was more than welcome to look for one.   

I think the suddenness of ALL the changes just got the best of me.  The last couple of weeks have been much better.  I joined a gym, which I really enjoy, and have met lots of nice ladies.  I also have been able to do some organizing that should have been done years ago, and keep busy running errands during the day.  I have to admit, it is nice to have ALL the grocery shopping and cleaning done by the time J gets home.  And I actually have the energy to cook dinner at night and clean up afterwards.  ; ) 

For those of you wondering if I AM going to get a job-no-I am not planning to seek out a full time job.  If we are thinking of starting a family within the next year or two, I hope to be able to stay home with the baby! I AM looking forward to a new venture though as a Thirty-One Consultant, that I hope to be starting soon! This would be a part time job that I could do from home.  More on that as it progresses.  

Okay-so enough of the personal stuff--let's get to the fun stuff.  Dallas totally meets some of the stereotypes  it is acclaimed. Here is a totally RANDOM checklist of some of the good, the bad and the ugly observations of our life here:  

1. We receive a different church flyer in the mail about every other day. 
2.  I am 20 minutes away from a Premium Outlet.  
3. The land is flat as a flitter. If we get on a bridge, I think I can see my parent's house in Mississippi.
4. Quite the opposite from Tallahassee-there are not many trees at all.  In fact, I don't think I've seen a pine tree since we left Mississippi.
5.  Most of the stores here have front parking spaces for Expecting Mothers. I asked J if I could go ahead and use them because I DO "expect" to be a mother ONE day, but he told me NO.
6.  Everyone-EVERYONE has some type of Texas Star paraphernalia in their yard. Except us. That will change soon. 
7. Did I mentioned TEXAS PRIDE?
8. We just thought we knew how to rock big hair in MS---everything IS bigger in Texas.
9. I was passing by a school the other day and the moms picking up their kids had football jerseys on....no joke. I won't lie, I will be one of those mothers. My jersey might even say: "Wells Mom". 
10. One of the ladies in my gym class thought it was atrocious that I was going grocery shopping in my  work out clothes after class.  I put a cap & hoodie on and didn't give it a second thought. 
11. Handmade tortillas are quite popular here, and we are very happy about that. 

More Texas fun:  our fabulous Realtor sent us a welcome package the other day that included some typical "Texas sayings".  Here were a few of my favorites that had me rolling:  

• "Big hat, no cattle" (Means all talk and no show) 
• "It's so dry the trees are bribin' the dogs" (Means we could really use some rain)
• "They ate supper before they said grace" (Means living in sin)
• "Time to paint your butt white and run with the antelope" (Stop complaining and do what you're told) 
• "You can put your boots in the oven but that doesn't make them biscuits" (You can't make something it's not) 

So I'll end the post with a couple pics of our trip to Downtown Dallas a couple weekends ago. It was really fun and I look forward to going back to explore the aquarium, museums, etc.  

A Texas-Sized Post: Part 1

Well, howdy folks. Life has finally slowed down now that we are settled in, and I feel like I'm way behind in blogging.  Mostly because I feel like I didn't do this big move justice so I'm going to rewind about 3 weeks.....

Departing Tally was REALLY tough.  The weekend before we moved was heart-wrenching. A group of our friends threw a St. Patrick's Day party which also served as a going away party.  We were showered with cards, a beautiful bromeliad, and tears.  : (  These were some of our first friends in Tallahassee, so they are quite special.  Miss this crew SO MUCH.

The waterworks continued the next day at our last Sunday to attend at Celebration.  I just couldn't control myself during the worship time.  Afterwards, we said goodbye to our pastor, who prayed over us, and our Sunday school class did the same.  Oh my gosh, I cried a river. Celebration has meant so much to us and helped us grow in so many ways in the last 3 years.  There are just no words to describe it; the relationships and experiences there will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Sunday afternoon is actually when I started getting sick, so the stomach virus kept my mind off the move for a good 48 hours. Then Wednesday, the packers showed up and our house turned into a maze of boxes.

The next day was quite emotional. The dreaded moving truck showed up to pack all those boxes, making our house feel so empty!  

I left the chaos and had a fabulous good-bye lunch some of my best girls-these ladies have been my rock the last couple of years.  LOVE YOU GIRLS.

I was hoping that while I was at lunch I missed the moving truck actually pulling away......well, I ALMOST did...but unfortunately I passed the truck coming out of our driveway and just lost it.  Luckily, J was still standing outside to intercede....bless him.  As worn out as we were, we decided to stay one more night in our empty house, so we ordered pizza, took one last walk around the pond, and got a good night's sleep. 

Fast forward our arrival in Dallas. As I wrote in an earlier post, we lived the hotel life for a few days until the first half of our stuff arrived. Although we were quite thankful for getting even half our stuff, this half lacked any of our couches, chairs, or summer clothes.  So we tailgated for about a week and went through the first half of the boxes.  About the time we got through the first set of boxes, the second set arrived several days later. I have never seen so much packing paper in my life.....I could've body surfed on it...

I have to put a plug in for our movers though.  They made what would typically be a miserable task so much fun.  One of them was married to Beyonce's cousin, and the other two were a married dynamic duo that actually filmed for a reality show called "Mother Trucker", which is about life on the road as a truck driver.  They were absolutely amazing AND hilarious. We told them they have to plan to come back through Dallas next time we move. 

There are still some lingering things to do, but hey, it's livable. And since we only have a 6 month lease on this house, we aren't fully decorating.  In fact, we kept all the boxes and packing paper for our next move...they are strategically stacked in what we call "The Room of Boxes."

So....after SEVERAL days of unpacking, I am HAPPY to post the "after" pics. 

My personal favorite part of the house...the Master Bath...separate sinks and a HUGE tub.

I still can't post any pictures of the front because we have some yardwork to do.  : )  

I admit, even though we aren't living on 500+ acres anymore, we got lucky and still have some great views from our dining room window.  : )