Dallas and the weekend

We had a fabulous weekend! We went to Dallas on Saturday for a little day trip. We first stopped at REI and Levi got himself a pair of vibram five-finger shoes. We then went to Chipotle and the Zoo! We really like going to the zoo. Generally it's pretty cheap and hours of entertainment. It was raining so we only really got to see the reptile house. We also saw the otters and the tiger. After getting down-poured on on the way back to the Jeep we decided to swing past Whole Foods Market. We had a fun time walking the rows of food. Who knew food was so interesting?

Sunday I had a sad morning thinking of everyone I was going to miss once we moved... We bummed around town and then went to petsmart. Sometimes we'll go to petsmart to visit the cats up for adoption. There was a cute cat that looked just like Harriet! We felt very sad. One thing turned into another and I had complied what felt like an enormous list of things I missed about our home. Anny, Harriet, our coffee pot, the bamboo floors, waking up in Kensington on saturday morning and making coffee, letting Anny out, and making breakfast in my kitchen that had everything I needed.

Bonus! It was a three day weekend! Always nice to have an extra day to relax and hang out.

Running report: taking an easy week, mostly just going to the gym. Healing a few injuries. Looking into more minimalist running. I'm not sure if my feet will handle it but I'd like to give it a shot.

Reading report: Still reading Born to Run, busy week last week and didn't get it finished.

Also, I've been watching Downton Abbey. So. Good. I highly recommend it! But really, has PBS ever let us down? We also started watch Prison Break on Netflix. I like it but some parts are a little scary!

Running

Levi and I have been training for a half marathon. I feel like a fake saying that. I've never been much of a runner, biking has usually been my strength. Running intimidates me. I even backed out of a 5k at the last minute last summer and made my little brother take my place. That's how much I try to avoid running. Usually at the end of runs my feet are in pain, my lungs feel like they have all but collapsed, and I usually have a headache. My feet have issues. In college there would be mornings I would get up, after having soccer practice or going on a 1-2 mile run the night before, and literally hobble all the way to class my feet hurt so bad. Not an enjoyable experience! Which lead to my avoidance of running.

While Levi was gone at BMT I started running a little (helped with stress and kept me occupied), not paying attention to time or distance and toyed with the idea of a half marathon. When I moved down to Mississippi I kept up the running and then Levi and I started running together in the evenings. I'm pretty slow but Levi has been such an encouragement. He doesn't complain about the slow pace and always cheers me on. What a great guy! So then when we moved to Texas we started following Hal Higdon's training plan. By follow a training plan I mean we usually run 3-4 times a week and go to the gym twice, in no particular order. We treat the training plan as a guideline. 

My feet haven't had a really bad day yet (knock on wood). Sometimes they're a little sore but nothing serious. My breathing has gotten better, I've noticed that somedays my breathing is fine and other days I'm choking to death on phlegm. I'm going to do research on that. I'm also going to do more research on feet and running health. Levi has started doing research on minimalist running so we'll see where that takes us! 

Germany and Texas

We're moving to Germany! We have practically no details yet but they will come sooner or later. I've been doing a fair amount of researching in the past week since we found out. Here are a few things we've discovered. Houses/apartments in Germany rarely have carpet!! This is exciting for me as I'm not a fan of carpet. I'm super excited to buy a cute pair of house shoes to wear in my carpet-less house or apartment. Most houses/apartments come with a balcony or patio/backyard. Can we say cute breakfast area!? I currently have no idea (besides USAjobs.com) how to get a job in germany. I decided (after an afternoon of frustration) that I'll just wait until we get to Germany to worry about it (there will be access to more resources).

Texas has gotten better. Well, the state hasn't gotten better but my attitude has. I've finally settled into a routine and have begun to like my weeks. Mondays and wednesdays are library/school days, tuesdays are cleaning/organizing/craft days, thursdays I usually go to a friends house to chat and play with her two cute kiddos, and fridays are for errands and then pick up Levi. Obviously there are variations each week but that's the gist of it. The library here is great! 80% of the books I want to read are in the library. And the corner of the library is perfect for doing homework. Lots of math. Every assignment has either been on math or statistics, which I'm really liking.

I've also been catching up on my reading list. Last week I read the book Boundaries in Marriage by Townsend/Cloud (highly recommend). This week I'm reading Born to Run by McDougall.

Driving in Wichita Falls TX

I got a new phone so I can't upload pictures as easily but I have taken lots of pictures and I will post them when I figure how to get them from my phone to here. :)

It's been one of those days. I went to bed crabby, woke up crabby, can't figure out how to do my homework, blah, blah, blah. Sigh. Wichita Falls is hard to navigate. Even with a gps. The roads here make NO sense. So today I needed to renew a prescription. I called the dr's office to have it sent to the walmart across the street from me because of course the target (where I usually go for pharmacy needs and could have easily transfered my prescription) here doesn't have a pharmacy... Apparently the pharmacy at walmart phone has been disconnected. So the dr's office calls me back and the lady picks a random cvs pharmacy and I say fine. So I gps the cvs and it's on the other side of town!! WHAT!? So I embark on my 20 min drive across town (only taking one wrong turn). I get there and hand the lady my military id and wait for her to get my info in their database. 10 minutes later she says she needs Levi's SSN which of course I don't know (shame on me)..... So I thanked her and said I'll be back tomorrow...

Then I stopped at Starbucks (I didn't want to make a 20 minute drive for nothing) and decide I should go to the library and finish up some homework and email the prof the question I'm struggling with. While at the library I decide to print off my resume and cover letter for a job opening here. After waiting for an eternity for the slow library computer to get to my email and paying for the print job this is how my resume and cover letter look:

This girl is ready to be done for the day...

Week in review

It's been another wonderful Friday morning! I sewed two sets of placemats for our future cute breakfast table and finished a few other craft projects that were in progress! I think I'm going to make coasters this afternoon out of my scraps...

On Wednesday next week we're flying back to the great state of Minnesota! I have a whole new level of appreciation for Minnesota after living somewhere else, even just for a short time. Minnesota, you are one happening state. What I miss most about MN: the numerous state parks, MPR, community learning classes, people waving at you, emphasis on local foods/agriculture. There are a ton of things I miss about MN. I would be happy moving back to MN someday, maybe not the Alexandria area, but somewhere in MN. 

We went to New Orleans last weekend. We stopped at this fun spice and tea shop in the French Quarter. My thoughtful husband picked out a pumpkin spice blend for me! I made a homemade pumpkin pie with it the other night and it turned out fabulous! 

I've also spent a lot of time thinking about kitchens. Here's what I've come up with. I want my future kitchen to be a nice mix of cottage kitchen meets cafe kitchen with some southwestern flare. Very earthy. Lots of natural light. 

Another thing that has been on my mind: travel. After being on the gulf coast, I think I like the ocean more than I thought I did. But the top two places to visit on my list are still the Himalayas and Patagonia. After that I might add an ocean place?? Haha.

Only 9 days until Christmas! Hope you are eating lots of cookies!

 

Moving across the country in a jeep

I thought I would compile a list of things I would bring with me if I had to move across the country in a jeep again. Well, it will probably happen so this list will be good to look back on. This is what I would bring if we were moving for a short period.

Kitchen items: Everything on the list should fit in one box so we can call it 'kitchen in a box'

2 pots (one large one small)

cookie sheet

pizza pan

good knife

paring knife

mixing bowl

a measuring cup

small skillet

mixing spoon

pancake flipper thing (what's it called?)

two plates 

two bowls

9x9 or 9x13 pan

small coffee pot

dawn dish soap

green scrubbies

kitchen towel

any spice you use on a regular basis 

Bathroom items:

two sets of towels

hand soap

toiletries

toilet paper

Other items:

Mr. Clean

laundry soap

laundry basket

clothes hangers

backpack

one tub of clothes

alarm clock

bedding

rags for cleaning

I'm sure I'll keep adding to the list. Mostly you want everything in plastic tubs and it to fit snugly in your vehicle. I didn't do a very good job packing to be honest. I brought my bike with me and I didn't know how to pack around it so there was more room in the jeep than it looked like because the bike took up more space than in had to. Lesson learned. And there were things I didn't bring that I wish I had. Like a skillet. I made pancakes this morning in the bottom of a kettle and flipped them with a plastic fork. no. joke. 

Have a happy week!

Yesterday was my first 'real' day here. Levi had class all day and I was left to entertain myself! I went for a run along the beach on the boardwalk, worked on settling into my apartment more, and went and had coffee with an Air Force wife from Alexandria that was down here for her husbands graduation! It was super fun and I was glad to hear she felt the same as I did about many things (water moccasins, bugs, the bx, etc...) it was VERY fun. 

After that I went and bought a shower curtain at the bx all on my own!! Now, for those that don't know what the bx is, it's kinda like walmart. It has everything you would need (except apparently a cheap plastic mixing bowl.... grrrr) and is on base. Now for those who wonder why it's a big deal that I bought a shower curtain all on my own: on base... it feels like you're going to get yelled at. So I have these horrible thoughts that I'm going to get to the check out and the lady is going to grab all my items yell at me and throw them on the ground... So I'm taking my time at the bx, walking slow, pretending I need sheets, towels, coffee makers, anything to delay getting to the checkout. Finally I get the the checkout. The lady says hello, asks to see my id, swipes my card, and tells me to have a good day. What?? Seriously? It was that easy? I hurry out of the bx incase she changes her mind and comes after me. Then I went to the library!

The library was really nice. Very quiet. I thought I would include a pic of my apt too. I hope no one super creepy decides to show up here because I posted a picture... I'll take the chance.

Yay, there it is! What have I been doing in my spare time you may ask?

Working on my crochet!! It's coming along. I'm not super good yet but hopefully soon I'll be good enough to crochet whatever I want. I found a table on craigslist this afternoon for 30$ that looked like it was in really good shape. Hopefully we can pick it up tonight and I can get out my sewing too! Boredom, they say, is for people who have no imagination or creativity. So true. Well, I'm off to find the public library (they're supposed to have book club there on wednesdays...) and hit up the commissary (on-base grocery store) for pecan pie items (and maybe chocolate chip cookie items too!)