Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Chapter 7
Woo! Two posts in one day? WHAT!!??? It's MADNESS!!!
Sullivan was just over 10 months old, and he was just starting to really walk well. He made it through the 1-2 hours of trick or treating around the neighborhood and of course, in classic Sullivan style, he was adored by everyone who was out and about. He's so darn cute. I'm sad that I'll be missing his Trick or Treating route this year. I hope he gets lots of candy and is good for his mama!
Sullivan, walking like a champ!
So, Halloween is coming up, in like, 4 weeks. I'm curious as to what will be going on this year for it down here in TX. I hate to think about what I'll be missing up in MI. Last year was my nephew Sullivan's 1st Halloween. The weather was a really nice 60ish degrees and it was a clear night. It was PERFECT trick or treating weather! I hope it's nice for them this year!
Sullivan & Aunt M
Sullivan & Aunt MSullivan was just over 10 months old, and he was just starting to really walk well. He made it through the 1-2 hours of trick or treating around the neighborhood and of course, in classic Sullivan style, he was adored by everyone who was out and about. He's so darn cute. I'm sad that I'll be missing his Trick or Treating route this year. I hope he gets lots of candy and is good for his mama!
Sullivan, walking like a champ!Also this year is my goddaughter, Ava's, 1st Halloween. She was born a few days after Halloween last year, so this is her big first outing. Her mama said she's going to be a lion, so hopefully I can link to some adorable pics of little AvaLion! :-)
So partially out of my boredness here in TX and partially out of my creativeness that exists all the time, I decided to make handmade Halloween cards! So the way I took these pictures is so that the top of each image is the front of the card, and the bottom of each image is the inside of the card. Check em out:
this last one's my favorite!
So partially out of my boredness here in TX and partially out of my creativeness that exists all the time, I decided to make handmade Halloween cards! So the way I took these pictures is so that the top of each image is the front of the card, and the bottom of each image is the inside of the card. Check em out:
this last one's my favorite!Also, in honor of Halloween, I've painted my nails black for the first time in a LOOOOONG time. I dig it. I might keep it for awhile. We'll see.
Today I took a really unnecessary nap. I've been doing that a lot lately, and I know some of you are going, "M, stop complaining that you have all this free time and so you get to take unnecessary naps, you ungrateful b!" (I'm trying to not swear so much, just for you, MOM!) But seriously folks, I have so much time on my hands, that I sleep for upwards of like, 14 hours a day. It's ridiculous. I'm not even tired! I just do it because my new job doesn't start until Oct. 6th, so it's like, free time galore until then! I HATELOATHEDESPISE it. I do so much better when I have a thousand things going on. This whole, free time thing, is really quite a downer, to be honest.
I was thinking that once we got down here, we'd start working right away and we'd be so busy we wouldn't have time to miss everyone in MI and think about how poor we are all the time. WELL, my bubble has burst! ALL I DO is miss everyone in MI and think about how poor we are, oh yeah, AND SLEEP FOR RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF TIME.
ugh. just....ugh.
Today I took a really unnecessary nap. I've been doing that a lot lately, and I know some of you are going, "M, stop complaining that you have all this free time and so you get to take unnecessary naps, you ungrateful b!" (I'm trying to not swear so much, just for you, MOM!) But seriously folks, I have so much time on my hands, that I sleep for upwards of like, 14 hours a day. It's ridiculous. I'm not even tired! I just do it because my new job doesn't start until Oct. 6th, so it's like, free time galore until then! I HATELOATHEDESPISE it. I do so much better when I have a thousand things going on. This whole, free time thing, is really quite a downer, to be honest.
I was thinking that once we got down here, we'd start working right away and we'd be so busy we wouldn't have time to miss everyone in MI and think about how poor we are all the time. WELL, my bubble has burst! ALL I DO is miss everyone in MI and think about how poor we are, oh yeah, AND SLEEP FOR RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF TIME.
ugh. just....ugh.
chapter 6
I can't wait to see my wedding photos! Just a few more days! Expect some of em to be posted here. :-)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Chapter 5
I would've updated last night but I spent most of the evening writing thank you letters and some "hey how's it going" letters, in fact, I wrote 13. So my hand hurt and I didn't feel like typing up a storm.
So this post I've decided to dedicate to some of my favorite music. My friend Tony Hell and I were talking about this the other night and I thought it would make a great blog post. So I'll be writing about music, music that I consider amazing because it changed me, or my perspective on something. It's gonna be a loooong one, so settle in, and listen to the clips I post. :)
Ok, let's start from the beginning.
When I was a kid, I was a huge huge huge fan of pop music. From Paula Abdul to New Kids on the Block, then as I got older, it was even more into the Boy Bands (NSYNC especially...) Once I hit 14 years old, I moved onto the nu-metal stage of my music tastes. I briefly dated a boy who was into it and he gave me the System of a Down album (it was self-titled) and the song "Sugar" changed me. If you've never heard it, it's a very strange song with really goofy lyrics and pitches. You should listen to it: here
It's the first song I heard where I was like, laughing but still wanted to hit something and dance around. I think when I was 14, my enjoyment of this song started merely out of trying to impress that boy I was dating, but then I realized something, this song also kind of described how I was feeling. I was angry and angsty and wanted an outlet for that.
That morphed into me getting into Slipknot and many many other nu-metal bands, most of which will go unnamed for my embarrassments' sake. haha. Slipknot, however, I do not feel embarrassed about. Slipknot got me through a lot of trying times when I was 15-16ish and most of which I'll never speak about to anyone, because it's unnecessary, so don't ask. I just know that I felt misunderstood and angry and I mean, come on, what 15 year old girl doesn't feel that way? So Slipknot I gave a lot of credit because I had never heard anything so heavy and I had never felt so powerful when I listened to it. One of my favorite songs of theirs: I highly recommend pretending you're an angsty 15 year old girl with something to prove. haha...
I liked Slipknot because they were an entity. They had this crazy personality, they wore masks, they wore jumpsuits, they had 9 members in their bands, 3 of which were the drummers, and they embodied how powerful I wanted to feel.
I also loved music like Incubus at this time. They embodied the more romantic, less angsty me. Plus their music is just straight up amazing. Watch "Warning" (one of my favorites) here This song still gives me chills.
My enjoyment of nu-metal led to my first concert. I was 15, I was dating a new guy, Jason, who ended up having a great influence on the music I grew to love. But let's not talk about that, I was 15, and J and our friend Ryan wanted to go to Ozzfest. I was STOKED. My first show, I would get to see not just one or two, but like 15 of my favorite bands, and my parents said I could go!
Ozzfest was amazing. I had a great time, I got to see live music for the first time in my life, and I got to be one of like 45 women who were there amongst hundreds, maybe a few thousand, men. I felt like a badass because I could hack it with these tough people and wasn't scared.
My nu-metal stage continued until I was 17ish, when I graduated high school. There began my hardcore music stage. I cannot remember my first hardcore show, probably because over the next 3-4 years I would go to easily 200+ hardcore shows. I can say that the band that made the transition to hardcore for me was Glassjaw. Yet another really angry band but had really beautiful musical elements to some of their songs. When I listen to them now, I still enjoy it, but it embarrasses me quite a bit to see that I loved a band so much who so obviously hated women. At least, their music made it seem that way. But at the time, I didn't care.
Glassjaw was awesome because it brought together all of my friends at the time, even the girls. I remember going to a Glassjaw show in Grand Rapids, MI, at the Intersection (which isn't the Intersection that's there now, I'm talking about the old one) and all of my closest friends went. It was a phenomenal show and we were right at the front, screaming all of the lyrics along with them. This is a video of one of there more mellow songs: I will warn ya though, Daryl's voice is really strange and goofy at first. It took me a long time to get used to it.
In combination with my hardcore phase came my indie phase. Cursive was a band that definitely changed my way of looking at music. The singer is an ex-coke addict who is far far far from perfect, but it's like, his perfections showed through his music. Their live show was always amazing, this video isn't the best. But being there, at their shows, would make you feel like you were having an outer-body experience.
Then this singer had another band called The Good Life, which was more chill and less rock-y. I went all the way to Omaha, Nebraska, to see this band live, and it was worth it. This is one of my favorite songs of theirs, ignore the video, but listen to the song.
Also during this time, I thoroughly enjoyed Bright Eyes:
That phase ended relatively quickly. I mean, I still enjoy this music, but I haven't really listened to it in years. Like I said earlier, I was into this indie-phase while also being in the hardcore phase. Well, folks, the hardcore phase never really ended. I was still going to crazy hardcore shows with friends usually 2-3 times a month, maybe more.
I used to see bands called Terror, Walls of Jericho (who I'll get to in a minute), Poison the Well (before they sucked) and so many many more, but most importantly: Every Time I Die.
ETID was something different in a sea of the same hardcore songs.
I've seen them probably nearly 20 times. If you're my friend, I've made you listen to them at some point or another. Here ya go:
Their newest single, "Wanderlust", which I will tell you is much easier to listen to then their older stuff, which I'll post below this:
"Ebolorama"
Ok, so I said I'd talk about Walls of Jericho. They are a Detroit-based band with one of the most tough, most brutal singers in hardcore music, oh, and did I mention this? She's a fucking girl.
This chick, Candace, is phenomenal. She's in a scene that's 99.9999999% male-dominated, and she comes in with this powerful voice and presence and just kills it.
So, at this point in my music timeline, I'm about 20 years old. That is when I started dating Jim, my Hubby. He immediately turned me on to HIM. It was what only could be described as Love Metal (which oddly enough, is one of their album's names). Their music helped chill me out and at the time, I was falling crazy in love with Jim, so their Love Metal helped nurture our budding relationhip (awwwww). You can see one of our favorites here.
OK, so this post is a million years long. I'm gonna break it up into two blog posts I think. Next post will be from 20-25 years old. :-)
Hope you enjoyed it.
p.s: I don't know why the last 1/5 of this post is so frickin' big. It just is. I tried to fix it, it didn't work. sorry.
So this post I've decided to dedicate to some of my favorite music. My friend Tony Hell and I were talking about this the other night and I thought it would make a great blog post. So I'll be writing about music, music that I consider amazing because it changed me, or my perspective on something. It's gonna be a loooong one, so settle in, and listen to the clips I post. :)
Ok, let's start from the beginning.
When I was a kid, I was a huge huge huge fan of pop music. From Paula Abdul to New Kids on the Block, then as I got older, it was even more into the Boy Bands (NSYNC especially...) Once I hit 14 years old, I moved onto the nu-metal stage of my music tastes. I briefly dated a boy who was into it and he gave me the System of a Down album (it was self-titled) and the song "Sugar" changed me. If you've never heard it, it's a very strange song with really goofy lyrics and pitches. You should listen to it: here
It's the first song I heard where I was like, laughing but still wanted to hit something and dance around. I think when I was 14, my enjoyment of this song started merely out of trying to impress that boy I was dating, but then I realized something, this song also kind of described how I was feeling. I was angry and angsty and wanted an outlet for that.
That morphed into me getting into Slipknot and many many other nu-metal bands, most of which will go unnamed for my embarrassments' sake. haha. Slipknot, however, I do not feel embarrassed about. Slipknot got me through a lot of trying times when I was 15-16ish and most of which I'll never speak about to anyone, because it's unnecessary, so don't ask. I just know that I felt misunderstood and angry and I mean, come on, what 15 year old girl doesn't feel that way? So Slipknot I gave a lot of credit because I had never heard anything so heavy and I had never felt so powerful when I listened to it. One of my favorite songs of theirs: I highly recommend pretending you're an angsty 15 year old girl with something to prove. haha...
I liked Slipknot because they were an entity. They had this crazy personality, they wore masks, they wore jumpsuits, they had 9 members in their bands, 3 of which were the drummers, and they embodied how powerful I wanted to feel.
I also loved music like Incubus at this time. They embodied the more romantic, less angsty me. Plus their music is just straight up amazing. Watch "Warning" (one of my favorites) here This song still gives me chills.
My enjoyment of nu-metal led to my first concert. I was 15, I was dating a new guy, Jason, who ended up having a great influence on the music I grew to love. But let's not talk about that, I was 15, and J and our friend Ryan wanted to go to Ozzfest. I was STOKED. My first show, I would get to see not just one or two, but like 15 of my favorite bands, and my parents said I could go!
Ozzfest was amazing. I had a great time, I got to see live music for the first time in my life, and I got to be one of like 45 women who were there amongst hundreds, maybe a few thousand, men. I felt like a badass because I could hack it with these tough people and wasn't scared.
My nu-metal stage continued until I was 17ish, when I graduated high school. There began my hardcore music stage. I cannot remember my first hardcore show, probably because over the next 3-4 years I would go to easily 200+ hardcore shows. I can say that the band that made the transition to hardcore for me was Glassjaw. Yet another really angry band but had really beautiful musical elements to some of their songs. When I listen to them now, I still enjoy it, but it embarrasses me quite a bit to see that I loved a band so much who so obviously hated women. At least, their music made it seem that way. But at the time, I didn't care.
Glassjaw was awesome because it brought together all of my friends at the time, even the girls. I remember going to a Glassjaw show in Grand Rapids, MI, at the Intersection (which isn't the Intersection that's there now, I'm talking about the old one) and all of my closest friends went. It was a phenomenal show and we were right at the front, screaming all of the lyrics along with them. This is a video of one of there more mellow songs: I will warn ya though, Daryl's voice is really strange and goofy at first. It took me a long time to get used to it.
In combination with my hardcore phase came my indie phase. Cursive was a band that definitely changed my way of looking at music. The singer is an ex-coke addict who is far far far from perfect, but it's like, his perfections showed through his music. Their live show was always amazing, this video isn't the best. But being there, at their shows, would make you feel like you were having an outer-body experience.
Then this singer had another band called The Good Life, which was more chill and less rock-y. I went all the way to Omaha, Nebraska, to see this band live, and it was worth it. This is one of my favorite songs of theirs, ignore the video, but listen to the song.
Also during this time, I thoroughly enjoyed Bright Eyes:
That phase ended relatively quickly. I mean, I still enjoy this music, but I haven't really listened to it in years. Like I said earlier, I was into this indie-phase while also being in the hardcore phase. Well, folks, the hardcore phase never really ended. I was still going to crazy hardcore shows with friends usually 2-3 times a month, maybe more.
I used to see bands called Terror, Walls of Jericho (who I'll get to in a minute), Poison the Well (before they sucked) and so many many more, but most importantly: Every Time I Die.
ETID was something different in a sea of the same hardcore songs.
I've seen them probably nearly 20 times. If you're my friend, I've made you listen to them at some point or another. Here ya go:
Their newest single, "Wanderlust", which I will tell you is much easier to listen to then their older stuff, which I'll post below this:
"Ebolorama"
Ok, so I said I'd talk about Walls of Jericho. They are a Detroit-based band with one of the most tough, most brutal singers in hardcore music, oh, and did I mention this? She's a fucking girl.
This chick, Candace, is phenomenal. She's in a scene that's 99.9999999% male-dominated, and she comes in with this powerful voice and presence and just kills it.
So, at this point in my music timeline, I'm about 20 years old. That is when I started dating Jim, my Hubby. He immediately turned me on to HIM. It was what only could be described as Love Metal (which oddly enough, is one of their album's names). Their music helped chill me out and at the time, I was falling crazy in love with Jim, so their Love Metal helped nurture our budding relationhip (awwwww). You can see one of our favorites here.
OK, so this post is a million years long. I'm gonna break it up into two blog posts I think. Next post will be from 20-25 years old. :-)
Hope you enjoyed it.
p.s: I don't know why the last 1/5 of this post is so frickin' big. It just is. I tried to fix it, it didn't work. sorry.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
chapter 4
So I've been lazy and haven't updated in a few days. Sorry!
I've been painting more and more lately. I'm working on an "Emma" painting for my friend Kathryn and her hubby who are expecting little Emma sometime next month! :-)
I'm also working on a Red Wing's painting for Jim. It's kinda grungy and messy looking so far, but I'm just on the background, and I haven't started on the logo part of it yet. I love finger painting. It's nice to feel the sticky paint and seeing how the curves of your fingers can manipulate it on the canvas. It makes me feel like I'm more a part of the creative process.
I also got a book on acrylic painting techniques from the half-price bookstore (which I might be getting a job at! eep!!) so I'm excited to try some of them out! perhaps I'll post some of my attempts on here. :-)
I need to say this, just because it's taking over my mind and making me feel like I need to shout it from the rooftops. You, yes YOU, need to listen to the new Muse album. In fact, you need to listen to EVERY Muse album. They are epic. They are profound. They make me feel mesmerized and in love and happy and overwhelmed all at the same time. And when you listen to it, you need to turn it up as loud as you can and really embrace the music and his voice. Just close your eyes and open your mind up to the incredible universe that Muse occupies. You won't regret it, I promise you that.
Today was another one of our teacher classes. We learned how to build lesson plans today, which I think was really helpful to Jim. :-) I had done some lesson plans in my curriculum class at EMU so I kind of already knew most of it, but it was nice to have a detailed refresher and the facilitator gave some great ideas. I think by the end of this, both Jim and I will be able and ready to be effective teachers. At least I hope so!
I've been painting more and more lately. I'm working on an "Emma" painting for my friend Kathryn and her hubby who are expecting little Emma sometime next month! :-)
I'm also working on a Red Wing's painting for Jim. It's kinda grungy and messy looking so far, but I'm just on the background, and I haven't started on the logo part of it yet. I love finger painting. It's nice to feel the sticky paint and seeing how the curves of your fingers can manipulate it on the canvas. It makes me feel like I'm more a part of the creative process.
I also got a book on acrylic painting techniques from the half-price bookstore (which I might be getting a job at! eep!!) so I'm excited to try some of them out! perhaps I'll post some of my attempts on here. :-)
I need to say this, just because it's taking over my mind and making me feel like I need to shout it from the rooftops. You, yes YOU, need to listen to the new Muse album. In fact, you need to listen to EVERY Muse album. They are epic. They are profound. They make me feel mesmerized and in love and happy and overwhelmed all at the same time. And when you listen to it, you need to turn it up as loud as you can and really embrace the music and his voice. Just close your eyes and open your mind up to the incredible universe that Muse occupies. You won't regret it, I promise you that.
Today was another one of our teacher classes. We learned how to build lesson plans today, which I think was really helpful to Jim. :-) I had done some lesson plans in my curriculum class at EMU so I kind of already knew most of it, but it was nice to have a detailed refresher and the facilitator gave some great ideas. I think by the end of this, both Jim and I will be able and ready to be effective teachers. At least I hope so!
By the way, I know some people are reading this and aren't really "following" it or whatever. Please feel free to comment! I'm a total comment whore and
lovelovelove getting comments.
Plus it's nice to hear from my Michiganders who I miss!
lovelovelove getting comments.
Plus it's nice to hear from my Michiganders who I miss!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
chapter 3
Every day I think about the people I miss. My mom and dad, my "in-laws" (although I don't consider them that, they are amazing people who I consider to be my second parents), my closest friends: Mik, D-I-E, Ultimate C, 80's Abby, Dirty Dave or Jorge as he prefers, Tony Hell, The Immortal Lori, and so many many more! I hate thinking about how I'm so far away from all of your lives. I hate that I have to see how you are all doing via facebook. It feels so impersonal. It feels like I'm a fly on your wall, your facebook wall.
It's amazing how our lives are documented via facebook. I take part in it because in some ways I feel it's the only way to really stay connected to everyone. I look at it for a ridiculous amount of time every day because, well, I'm unemployed and have that kind of time, but also because I feel so uninvolved now that I'm so far away! This means I need more peektures from ALL of you!
It's amazing how our lives are documented via facebook. I take part in it because in some ways I feel it's the only way to really stay connected to everyone. I look at it for a ridiculous amount of time every day because, well, I'm unemployed and have that kind of time, but also because I feel so uninvolved now that I'm so far away! This means I need more peektures from ALL of you!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
chapter 2
Is this not the cutest thing ever or what?
This is my goddaughter, Ava. A week ago was my 25th birthday and I got this lovely little picture from her mama, Abby. It melted my heart and really made my day. Being down here for my birthday was hard because usually I see lots of people on my birthday and this year it was just Hubby and I. Not that it's bad, I'm just saying, this was the first year I didn't go out to celebrate or anything. This picture made me smile though, and it's just what I needed. I made it my desktop background because it makes me smile whenever I look at it.I worked a bit more on developing my story line for my novel today. Worked out some character names and some ideas of how things will go down. I still have a ton of work to do on it, not even including actually writing it. So we'll see how it goes...
This week I've done a lot of painting, which is always good for me. It's like, no matter what's going on in my life, if I'm painting, I'm happy.
Jim said that he wanted me to do a painting of one of his first tattoos, which is conveniently one of his that I love. So of course I obliged and came up with this:
I dig it. He digs it. And now it's in our "dining room" which I guess for now is actually just our computer area since we have no dining room table/chairs etc...I've also done a really cool creepy Marie Antoinette painting for my friend Amanda's birthday next month. I'll post pics after I give it to her so she can't see it until then!
I'm gonna try to work on my story line some more....wish me luck!
Monday, September 14, 2009
chapter 1
So we've been in TX for almost two weeks now. It's hard to believe that it hasn't been longer than that. The last fortnight has seemed to drag. Each day dripping by slowly without an inkling of when they'll pick up. I think that having no job probably has a lot to do with this feeling. I've been trying to keep busy with painting. I only have so much canvas on hand though and I can't afford more until I start getting a paycheck.
I'd keep busy unpacking but the thing is, we barely brought anything with us, so there's nothing to unpack. It's hard to look at our empty, oversized apartment and not want to go back to a month ago and be at home, in Michigan.
I'm trying really hard to feel grateful. I'm trying not to think about how much I miss my family and friends constantly. It's an empty sort of feeling, when you leave everyone you know. I've been trying really hard not to think about them because when I do, I want to crawl into bed, wrap my arms around my legs and cry for hours. It's been hard, but I'm trying to remain calm about it. Trying to keep a smile on my face.
I know that being here is something I should be grateful for. My husband has done so much to make this major change possible. And it's what I wanted. I wanted to come to Texas to pursue a teaching career. I do not regret that because it's my dream. I just hate that this opportunity had to be so far away from the place I've known as my home my entire life.
It's also been hard because we need jobs NOW. We need some little jobs to keep our bills paid until we can get teaching jobs. It's depressing, applying at places that I would work at if I was 18 and didn't have a Bachelor's degree. But, it's what I need to do to get where I want to be.
Baby steps, right?
Right now it feels like there's so much that needs to be done. But I don't even know where to begin. All I keep thinking about is that we need shelves so we can put up our pictures. That we need a couch so we can have somewhere to sit besides folding chairs. That I wish our front window didn't look directly across into our neighbors' front window. That I wish we could afford to go out for a drink with our friends. That the walls look so empty and I want to paint them. That we aren't pregnant yet. It never ends.
I'm so distracted and I feel like my mind is being pulled in 50 different directions.
I've been thinking about writing a novel. I have a mediocre idea that I'm playing around with in my head. But we shall see if anything actually pans out or not. I'm the worst at starting things like that and then never doing anything with them. I have countless notebooks from my childhood with the beginnings of possible stories, with character names, what they'd look like, and an outline for the general plot. It never went anywhere. So we'll see where this goes....probably nowhere.
So, as a born-and-bred Michigander, there are some things I'd like to say about just how different Texas is.
1. They serve beer bread at a lot of restaurants instead of just rolls. Which is AMAZING, but probably not very good for me. It's got a spongy texture to it, so it just kinda seems fattening. Who knows.
2. Not everyone has a Texan accent. A lot of people who live here aren't from here, *thanks crappy economy!* So it's like, not only a melting pot of people of different races from the south, but of tons of people from ALL OVER the US. It's a neat little jumble of people which makes for trying to find cool places to go a little difficult, because none of us are from here, so we dunno what to do.
3. You never really know what kind of an area you're in. By that I mean, I went to school in a crappy town in MI and I knew that it was crappy because of the area and how it looked (run down, abandoned, etc...) and here it's like, there are some abandoned buildings then multi-million dollar mansions. It's strange....
4. There are no Meijers. This is weird for me. I've always had the 24 hour store with everything. Ok, now I have a 24 hour Kroger, but sorry folks, Kroger is NO Meijer.
I'm sure I will come up with more MI-TX differences, but for now that's it.
I'm hoping that this blog can be a way for our family and friends up in the mitten to follow our lives and whatnot. Please read it. :-)
I'd keep busy unpacking but the thing is, we barely brought anything with us, so there's nothing to unpack. It's hard to look at our empty, oversized apartment and not want to go back to a month ago and be at home, in Michigan.
I'm trying really hard to feel grateful. I'm trying not to think about how much I miss my family and friends constantly. It's an empty sort of feeling, when you leave everyone you know. I've been trying really hard not to think about them because when I do, I want to crawl into bed, wrap my arms around my legs and cry for hours. It's been hard, but I'm trying to remain calm about it. Trying to keep a smile on my face.
I know that being here is something I should be grateful for. My husband has done so much to make this major change possible. And it's what I wanted. I wanted to come to Texas to pursue a teaching career. I do not regret that because it's my dream. I just hate that this opportunity had to be so far away from the place I've known as my home my entire life.
It's also been hard because we need jobs NOW. We need some little jobs to keep our bills paid until we can get teaching jobs. It's depressing, applying at places that I would work at if I was 18 and didn't have a Bachelor's degree. But, it's what I need to do to get where I want to be.
Baby steps, right?
Right now it feels like there's so much that needs to be done. But I don't even know where to begin. All I keep thinking about is that we need shelves so we can put up our pictures. That we need a couch so we can have somewhere to sit besides folding chairs. That I wish our front window didn't look directly across into our neighbors' front window. That I wish we could afford to go out for a drink with our friends. That the walls look so empty and I want to paint them. That we aren't pregnant yet. It never ends.
I'm so distracted and I feel like my mind is being pulled in 50 different directions.
I've been thinking about writing a novel. I have a mediocre idea that I'm playing around with in my head. But we shall see if anything actually pans out or not. I'm the worst at starting things like that and then never doing anything with them. I have countless notebooks from my childhood with the beginnings of possible stories, with character names, what they'd look like, and an outline for the general plot. It never went anywhere. So we'll see where this goes....probably nowhere.
So, as a born-and-bred Michigander, there are some things I'd like to say about just how different Texas is.
1. They serve beer bread at a lot of restaurants instead of just rolls. Which is AMAZING, but probably not very good for me. It's got a spongy texture to it, so it just kinda seems fattening. Who knows.
2. Not everyone has a Texan accent. A lot of people who live here aren't from here, *thanks crappy economy!* So it's like, not only a melting pot of people of different races from the south, but of tons of people from ALL OVER the US. It's a neat little jumble of people which makes for trying to find cool places to go a little difficult, because none of us are from here, so we dunno what to do.
3. You never really know what kind of an area you're in. By that I mean, I went to school in a crappy town in MI and I knew that it was crappy because of the area and how it looked (run down, abandoned, etc...) and here it's like, there are some abandoned buildings then multi-million dollar mansions. It's strange....
4. There are no Meijers. This is weird for me. I've always had the 24 hour store with everything. Ok, now I have a 24 hour Kroger, but sorry folks, Kroger is NO Meijer.
I'm sure I will come up with more MI-TX differences, but for now that's it.
I'm hoping that this blog can be a way for our family and friends up in the mitten to follow our lives and whatnot. Please read it. :-)
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