Houston: A vignette of sorts

The first full day James and I were in Houston together as newlyweds we had to drop off our rental car at a Hertz location about 3-4 miles away from our apartment. I couldn't drive the rental car back because I was only 24 and for strange reasons and laws I can't understand you must be 25 to drive a rental car or pay like $50/day extra...anyway...and the car James had in Houston was a stick shift which I didn't know how to drive. So we decided to both ride over in the rental car, drop it off, and run home. It was pouring rain and we got absolutely drenched as we ran up Main Street past Target and Kroger and eventually back to Almeda where our apartment was....all of which would become familiar to me in the coming months.When we got back to our complex we warmed up with the free hot chocolate in the leasing office and sat down to watch some HGTV.

We spent our first week in Houston unpacking boxes, researching, purchasing, and setting up a flat screen (first piece of furniture we bought together...oh yeah) and building and IKEA TV stand. The next week James flew to Michigan for a work project that would last all summer long, only returning on weekends and I started my internship which involved driving myself there in James' nice manual Mazda that I barely knew how to drive. That made both of us nervous. And thus started our newly-wedded days of bliss in Houston.

But they really were blissful days, because we crammed in so much stinking fun in our year there. Allow me to reminisce a moment on our first year of marriage and most likely our only year in Houston. Also allow me to paint to a picture of it all so I don't have to stick one in for every memory I mention. And most of these pictures are in previous blog posts anyway, if you so care.

We crammed in several sporting events, including a Dynamo soccer game, a Rockets basketball game, an Astros baseball game, and an unforgettable University of Houston versus BYU football game.

We agreed to at least one adventure per month and we so dutifully held to that, spending the 4th of July in Corpus Christi, Thanksgiving in San Antonio, a weekend with Brian Regan, family, and friends in Dallas, and an anniversary celebration in Austin.

And that only includes Texas.

I realized I traveled every. single. month. of our first year of marriage. James obviously traveled much more and to some cooler places, but I'm not the consultant here, so I was surprised at how often I found myself packing a suitcase. 

May: Orlando, FL for the honeymoon and the Colorado Springs, CO for the reception
June: SLC, UT for Laura and Mason's wedding
July: Corpus Christi, TX as I mentioned for 4th of July
August: Colorado Springs, CO for....fun of course!
September: UT also for fun...continuation of my trip to CO
October: Scottsdale, AZ for a sweet work retreat with James
November: Cincinnati, OH to see Jon, Tricia, and Henry!
December: SLC, UT and ID for a LONG Christmas vaca
January: SLC, UT...continuation of Christmas break and then Dallas, TX for Brian Regan, Billy, Christie, Cole, Jimmy, Charina, and Tyler!
February: UT and ID for both our grandma's funerals (sad :( )
March: NYC, NY because I just HAD to go and James was on a project there
April: SLC, UT for conference and house hunting and James' bday and because we apparently can't stay away from Utah
May: Austin, TX for anniversary and oh yeah...we MOVED to Utah to stay!

I familiarized myself with several schools as I took proctored exams at University of Houston, University St. Thomas, and a physics class at Houston Community College. I went to physical therapy at Texas Children's Hospital, did my internship at Halliburton's Wellzone Fitness Center, and taught piano lessons at Blackburn Music School. I also benefited from free Zumba and photography classes put on by awesome members in the ward.

We also kept busy in the ward having the sisters over every month (sorry to all the elders who passed through our ward who obviously aren't reading this...but I am a bit biased to sisters) for meals and going out to teach with them, James taught Sunday school, I roughed it up with the sweet cubby scouts (although not really, since we carved bars of soap instead of camping), I "coached" our ward RS vball team (even though basically everyone else was better than me), fell in love with the ward's book club, and tutored a teenage girl from Liberia and an adorable little 6-yr old. We had a ward chili cook-off in which I won 1st place for the apple crisp I made (my mission comp's recipe) and dressed up like giant grapes for the trunk or treat. Such an awesome ward!

We made time for the Houston Zoo, several nights (symphony, movies, plays) at the Miller Outdoor Theater (where in July even the summer evenings are suffocating because of the humidity), the Museum of Natural Science, the Space Center, the Houston Rodeo, and the beach at Surfside (sorry Galveston, everyone said your waters were the ickiest). We also squeezed in an Imagine Dragons concert in the Woodlands and a Joshua Radin/Matt Nathanson concert downtown at House of Blues. We found some tennis courts we loved, had picnics at several parks, went to many a full-price movie (because we get too excited to wait) and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful Houston temple....although not always the traffic we had to fight to get there.

And let's not forget the food. I don't EVER forget the food. We LOVED the tacos and guacamole at Torchy's Tacos (take notes in case you ever go), the tres leches red velvet cake swimming in what looks like Pepto Bismol at Guadalajaras, Sushi Wabi, Gatlin's BBQ, need I go on? Oh yes, so there is a restaurant in Houston (and maybe all of Texas) called Luby's and James and I both independently decided that the name is just gross. Haha. So we didn't want to eat there. But the more time went by and the more Luby's we saw EVERYWHERE we agreed that we just had to try it once before we moved...just to say we went. So the night before we moved to Utah we went over to the Luby's right next to our apartment, stood in line, looked at what the food was and both agreed we'd rather have a greasy burger at Fuddrucker's next store. So we never tried Luby's, and we have no qualms about it.

It would be amiss of me not to paint an accurate portrayal of Houston for you though. Actually, it would just be positive of me, but how can I leave out the HUMIDITY, SIRENS, and TRAFFIC which will forever come to the forefront of my mind when I remember my year there? So to be honest, the humidity was worst in July, and most of the time I was in an air conditioned car, apartment, or building. It's wasn't as bad as people made it out to be...except probably in July. The sirens...well, that's our fault for living by the med center. I swear I heard ten each day, which seriously annoyed me and then I realized sirens mean something bad is happening to someone else so that is sad. But still annoying, I'm sorry. And the traffic....I told James that Houston gave me daily road rage...because it did. He saw why from time to time but he was not only traveling most of the time but he is everlastingly more calm and patient than I am. And then my dear friend Charina posted the following to my facebook wall which totally validated my road rage.

https://autos.yahoo.com/news/5-cities-with-the-worst-road-rage--and-5-of-the-most-generous-214302918.html


See? So it's not just me.

We had lovely visits from Sarah and Jared Christian (mission comp and her husband), my parents and Steph, Charina, Jimmy and Tyler a couple of times, and possibly others...I apologize if I have forgotten you. All of them were privileged enough to sleep on an air mattress in the living room. Woot woot. We had good times.

For those of you who didn't live in Houston with us or weren't fortunate enough to ever come visit I will post some super low quality pictures I snapped of our apartment right before we packed everything up. Please admire the kitchen in particular. I'm currently having withdrawals and James' is wishing he hadn't spoiled me with so much counter and cupboard space from the get-go.

Behold the beauty

Behold my minimal decorating

Loved the arch

Rethinking these colors, but it was a nice first try. And an inexpensive one too.

The bathroom that basically shook like an earthquake from day one...from the air conditioning below us

Even less decorating. Also, I finished my college degree in that chair. 

When we left Houston it was that time of year where the humidity was rolling in and puttin' it on THICK so we felt so sneaky and clever about how well-timed the move was. And then we stopped in Colorado Springs on our way to Utah to see my family and we were met with a blizzard...and we wanted to go back to Houston. But after too hot and too cold, we arrived to a sunny and comfortable Draper that is just right.

So, we are now living in Draper as of one week ago. We're still waiting for our stuff to arrive so we're "roughing it" with an air mattress, card table (thank you in-laws), and frozen burritos. But hey, we're close to family, close to James' new job, close to every store and restaurant we will ever need, and every time we look out our window or go outside we are met with those breathtakingly beautiful mountains that we missed so much while in Houston, so we are HAPPY.

Thanks, Houston, for treating us to a memorable first year of marriage! Now onto new adventures.....

At home in Draper

This past weekend James and I were in Utah and we found a place in Draper that we will soon call home! It was my goal/project for the week to find housing and while we haven't officially decided on the unit we'll rent (apt or townhome) we know the property we like.

On Friday Diane and I put in a full day of "house hunting," and it wore me out. I can't imagine how draining actual HOUSE hunting must be. And that goes on for months or longer. We met some very interesting characters who gave us walk-throughs of very interesting units...units with green bamboo shoots painted in the master bedroom that can't be painted over, others with Harry Potter-like cupboards under the stairs covered in Winnie the Pooh murals, and more. I obviously did a real nice job selecting where to look. Haha. We really did find some good places though, and the one we settled on won me over because they had bowls of Werther's and free Cokes in their model units...two things that obviously don't come with the apartment. Oh I'm a slave to sugar.

On Saturday I brought James back to the "free Werther's and Cokes" property and what do you know they had a plate of chocolate chip cookies sitting out up for grabs in the leasing office! They sure know how to sell the place! That's probably what sold James, but we are also very happy with the the quality of the apartments and townhomes, the reviews, and the location (near his work, a chapel, a grocery store, a movie theater, and a huge new shopping center with Cafe Rio, Zupas, and In N Out...all the MUST HAVES of course). We're so excited to be real close to James' family and closer to my family, who live in CO but have some reason to be in UT almost every month it seems. We've been sad about leaving Houston, but the beautiful blue snow-capped mountains that we'll see out our windows made us both feel back at home and excited for our new adventure!

In addition to house-hunting we had a wonderful weekend watching General Conference, going to my mission reunion, celebrating James' birthday, and spending time with family. (Insert: I know many of you reading this are big foodies like unto myself, so you'll appreciate the details of our meals this weekend which included homemade cinammon rolls, my grandma's chicken and kielbasa jambalaya recipe, and brownies/ice cream/hot fudge/caramel/oreos for James' birthday dessert.)

Also my brother Morgan, sister-in-law Eliza, and niece Eva Kate came up to SLC to join us at the McKeans and I completely hogged adorable little Eva the whole day. Then on Monday on my way back to Houston I had a 3-hr layover in Denver. My lovely mom drove up to the airport and treated me to to lunch nearby...fish tacos and DOUGHNUTS. Mm mm mm...

My wonderful comps Sarah and Cami :)

My delightful sushi at Happy Sumo w/the girls during priesthood session

My cutest niece ever.

And again.

Such an awesome weekend.

So, I think for this week's project I want to hone my baking skills and try my hand at either a few new recipes or revisit a few things I haven't made in a very long while, like homemade bread perhaps. Yummy pictures (hopefully) to come next week.

A bit o' spring cleaning.

Oh dang, my project this past week proved to be very time consuming. Also, I LOVED IT! I love to clean and organize. This week I sorted through:

-all the clothes hanging in my closet
-all the clothes in boxes or suitcases in my closet
-all the clothes in my drawers
-everything in the bathroom (make up, medicine, jewelry, you name it)
-our game/coat closet
-our bookshelf

Once I get started it's hard to shut me down. It's funny though, because James was all excited about "purging" his closet of the things he never wears and condensing the number of things we have to pack when we move. First of all, James is somewhat of a minimalist to begin with. Secondly, his purging lasted all of 10 minutes. I asked him if I could look through all the clothes he was getting rid of before he bagged them so that I could either 1) beg him to keep it and wear it if I loved it, 2) wear it myself (like his T-shirts that have sentimental value) or 3)"sew it into the T-shirt quilt I'm making" that is actually just in scraps in a basket and has been for months. I then asked James if he wanted to look through the clothes I was getting rid of (ya know, in case he places some sentimental value on one of my shirts). He said no.

Haha.... men and women.

I spent hours pulling things off hangers and out of drawers like "yeah, let's DO THIS! I don't need this. I haven't worn it in years. It's falling apart. I've had this since my senior year of high school." That attitude often quickly morphed into "well maybe when the weather changes I will want to wear it sometime. And maybe my feet will grow one size one day when I'm pregnant and then these boots will fit right." You can see why it took me so long. I will admit, I am a bit of a pack rat and extremely nostalgic and sentimental. I've written over two dozen journals....so there's this inherent "save this just because....." tendency within me...about EVERYTHING. But, as any of my roommates or husbands will attest, I am also a very organized person. My closet is and always has been color coordinated. Yay me. Woot.

Needless to say, I got rid of many things in those few hours, but I hung a few things back up.  I should have taken some "before" pictures but instead I just took a few of the "afters," and here's what you get:

"Super cool picture of black trash bags, Aleisha. So glad I'm reading this exciting blog."

This is kind of a big deal.

You can especially tell by this pic that I'm learning absolutely nothing in the lil photography class I'm in right now. (No fault of of the teachers, however.)

So it felt really nice to get my stuffs in order this past week. Ridding myself of expired medicines and free make up from my mission really made me feel like a new person. Haha. It was SUPER HIGH TIME.

This week my project is to FIND US A NEW HOME IN UTAH! Not sure why I'm yelling everything in this post. Must be from the excitement of organizing our whole apartment.

No, James and I are not buying when we move to Utah; we'll be renting for the next 4 years at least. But, we've narrowed down our preferences for town homes (mostly in the Draper area) and this week I'll set up appointments with the peeps who own them, fly to Utah, and my lovely mother-in-law will accompany me all day Friday as I try shoot for decisiveness rather than ambivalence in my quest for a nice kitchen (my "must") and a location on the east side of the freeway (James's "must"). Tally ho!

Spontaneous NYC Adventure

It's not ideal that James has to travel basically every week, but when his company pays for me to fly out to him instead of him flying home to me...and he's in NYC...that is a purty sweet dealio.

James is currently working in The Big Apple and on Thursday during my physics class I got a text from him saying "pack your bags baby, you're flying to New York tomorrow." Needless to say, I have no idea what else my professor said after that. Something about a Broadway musical I think....

My mom was a nanny in New York and I have often heard her talk about how much she loved the feel of the big, bustling city. When my parents met it was because my dad went out to New York to meet my mom (they were set up by my great aunt and uncle), so that's one reason I've always wanted to go.  I'd never been before, and after serving my mission in another BIG city (Buenos Aires, Argentina) I wanted to see a comparable city in the US.

All that being said, I was so excited looking out the plane window as we landed that I almost cried. I jabbered and jabbered with my cab driver about all I wanted to see and do and eat and asked for his suggestions. And I snapped lots of not-so-bueno pictures out the windows:

I met James at his office and we walked to our hotel. It smelled just like Buenos Aires; sweet roasted nuts, perfume, and cigarette smoke permeated the air. It looked like Buenos Aires; skyscrapers on all sides, honking cabs and buses making up the majority of  lane-disrespecting traffic, crowded sidewalks, restaurants and stores everywhere calling you in with their music, lights, and fashionable manicans.  I got totally mission-sick in the most wonderful way. It helped me realize that my mission was real and not just a dream. I used to live in a city like this. I felt like I was supposed to stop and contact everyone and quit gawking at everything.

We ate at Shake Shack, the burger joint suggested by my cab driver and most everyone on yelp and HELLO it was so delicious! My dessert was a concrete chocolate custard with marshmallow cream, peanut butter, and chocolate-covered pretzels.

Then we walked through Times Square, which I'll admit is NOT just like Buenos Aires....it's a totally amazing sensory overload bomb!! No picture does Time Square justice, but of course I took a million anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday we got lunch at a delicious halal food stand that had a bigger line than anywhere else. $6 for a HUGE dish of bright orange rice, chicken, lamb, salad, pita bread, and yummy white sauce and hot sauce.We walked all around Central Park and then like another 30 blocks to our Broadway Musical experience with NEWSIES.

 

 

Bet you've never seen a picture like this before.

I love to kiss my husband, especially after several failed attempts at a good picture of my face head-on.

After much eye rollage when James turns on Newsies at home, I am now hooked.

I know it looks like NY pizza, and technically it was made there, but this is definitely not the pizza people rave about. Guess we'll have to go back and find the rul dul.

Now's probably an appropriate time to tell you that I lost my phone in New York City, since I realized I didn't have it right after I ate this pizza. I definitely stressed out about it and James of course was calm and patient as always. The next day after church we called Nederlander Theater where we watched NEWSIES and it was there so we just picked it up. And that was a happy moment.

On Sunday we went to church in the chapel that shares the Manhattan Temple and that was awesome. :) We took a subway to Brooklyn and then crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. And then we ordered room service to finish off the night.

About 1/3 of the ward was visiting at church.

 

You can see the new World Trade Center in this pic.

Manhattan Bridge...I believe

Statue of Liberty....I'm sure.

 

 

This Argentine flag made me happy.

As did Uncle Jack's, which is a steak house owned by the most annoying guy with the greatest NY accent on the Food Network Channel.

Totes yum.

This morning James and I didn't want the fun to end, but we flagged down a taxi and I left just as quickly as I came. And lucky James gets to stay for the week.

I'm Mildly Pinteresting

I think a spontaneous trip to NYC is a pretty good excuse for not finishing the two projects I planned to do this week. Also, I ran out of money in my "project budget" for the month. Basically it was just a little overly-ambitious of me to think I'd finish two crafty projects in one week when I don't really consider myself a very crafty person.

I did make my spring wreath, and here is what I came up with for $20 (wreath, flowers, flower wire, ribbon, wooden letter, paint, and door hanger):

$3 flower bundles at Walmart versus $16 flower bundles at Hobby Lobby. Wowza.

This week's project, which will not require any money is to start in on the moving preparations since it's a month and a half away. I plan to sort through all my clothes, bathroom hoopla, books, etc. and bag the stuff I really don't use. Hopefully that makes packing just a cinch easier, and it absolutely needs to be done.