Dear Blog, I'm sorry for ignoring you,

but I have a good excuse...here's what we've been up to (starting with most recent):

1. Amelia's first trip to Texas: It was an excellent adventure. See pics below- she got to see Hamilton Pool (which I'd never seen), kayaking on Town Lake, and froze her butt off at Deep Eddy (oldest spring fed pool in Texas). A visit from the H-town girls overlapped w/ Amelia's visit- that involved a lot less swimming and a lot more drinking.

2. Pump Track Nation had its ground breaking party. All the Austin bike dudes (who all have Toyota pick ups) were here digging up the backyard, and riding around on bob cats. If you don't know what a pump track is, google it. It's a kind of bike track that gives you momentum w/out any peddling. I suck at explaining it, so I defer to Google.

3. Surfing on Lake Granger with T & T (Tim & Tracy). We went out for Tracy's 30th Bday. Surfing behind the WetSounds boat (not me, but Rob rocked, of course.)

4. Went to beautiful Beaumont, TX for my grandmother's bday. Good times- Ruby got to come with us, and we had burgers n tots from Sonic (as requested by G-ma) and drank wine from a box. yuuuummmm.

So with all this fun stuff, not much has changed on the house, and that's why there's no pictures of it. I'll save that for the next post.

k, enough writing...here are the pics: i'll post more pics later this week.

Sacrifice to the Moving Gods

I've now looked through every box: we only had to sacrifice one white wine glass to the moving gods (i'm not counting the coffee mug Amanda broke between Mesa Verde and the house). Happy only one thing broke, but not thrilled that it was one of our GOOD glasses- as opposed to the set of 24 for 8 bucks from IKEA. So, we're patting ourselves on the back for being excellent packers. yeah.

Also, we now have internet- so we're officially plugged in. This also means Rob and I hang out in completely seperate parts of the house. Me in the living room/ kitchen and him out in Step Tech Headquarters (aka- above the garage). We text or IM to communicate. Is that sad? Maybe, but its kinda fun.

George Update: she's adjusted OK to the house, but I think now she's a tortured kitty- all she wants to do is go outside. And since we don't have a fence yet- that ain't gonna happen. So, she just sits at the windows that face the courtyard and whines. The one time she did get out, she ate some of the weeds in the yard, came back inside....and puked. Good times- thank god for concrete floors.

OK, that's it for now. I promise next time I'll have visual aids with the post. All text and no posts make for a boring Blog.

Closing in Texas

We did it! We closed on Monday, and the last 3 days have been spent moving, packing, unpacking, cleaning, driving all over town....typical moving in stuff.

All that business is sooo worth it- the house is amazing. Pretty surreal being in a place you've been dreaming about for a year and a half. Neighbors are cool- but we already knew that. A few of them stopped by for a beer on the deck and the sunset. All agreed that we have the best view in Agave.

Our punch list is pretty short- nothing major to fix or adjust. A few of the outlets in the kitchen don't work, and the fence needs to be completed. The contractor is still coming out to the house to water the yard- the grass gets yellow quick w/ all this sun.

A few things that I would guess are unique to Texas in a real estate closing:

1. Your property is called your HOMESTEAD.

2. There's a whole section of documents on SQUATTER'S RIGHTS. they actually asked if we noticed anyone campin out on our "homestead".

3. We do not have the rights to the "minerals" that may or may not be present on our property. Translation: If it turns out there is oil on our property, we do not have the right to drill it. We had to sign something that stated we promise NOT TO DRILL FOR OIL.

Only in Texas. (but please correct me if I'm wrong).

Moral of the story: The house rocks and it was well worth the wait. You're all invited anytime, doesn't matter if you have to fly, drive or walk- just get here! We'll be on the balcony with a glass of wine.

Are Y'all Ready For This?????

WE HAVE A CLOSING DATE!!!!

JUNE 3OTH: Exactly 548 Days or 78 Weeks and 2 Days since we signed a contract and put down earnest money.

I guess they missed their completion date of October 2007 by a day or two....

Random Interior Shots

In order from top to bottom: Master shower with channel set glass panel, kitchen cabs and stove (5 burner), kitchen sink faucet, Rob in the living room, and the 2 steps leading up to the ground floor bedrooms (that unfinished concrete edge will be covered with a black steel angle.) I'll ask again- How cool is this????

Fresh Dirt & Stair Railings!

Even the new top soil coordinates with the house colors. We went by the house yesterday to find the yards being graded with top soil. I have to say, the yard really cleans up good. We also found the metal stair railings in place. Now all they have to do is paint them and add the acryllic panels. We gave the builder a sketch showing how we want the front yard landscaped- we'll see if they actually follow it. Also note- the garage door is stained and it matches the wood plaque for the house numbers.

I am no longer a Total Bum...

....because I am now officially employed! I start working at Peel Paulson Design Studio this Thursday. So, my days as a stay at home, non-Mom are numbered. PPDS is near Zilker Park, and they have what I know as "summer hours" all year. Summer hours = 8-6 M-Th, and 8-noon on Fridays. Yippee!

So, now we just have to get the Austin division of Step Technologies Inc. rollin. Anybody out there need a one-stop-shopping IT guy? Unlike typical IT guys, he's funny and not bad to look at.

1 More Month To Go! (but keep your fingers crossed)

The steel trellis is finally painted! (see top pic) We decided to do a sandy color rather than the same red that is on the rest of the metal work- we figured it would be too much of the red. And we were right! The trellis is almost the same color as the roof- which looks cool when you're looking down from the 2nd floor balcony. We got appliances last week (don't worry, I'll spare everyone the excitement of looking at pictures of dishwashers), lights are in, plumbing...they even had the A/C turned on last Friday. BTW- the bottom pic is of me and my friend Staci, and her little dude, Aiden. Pic taken from the balcony above the garage. All future pics will have the sunset directly behind us (and we'll more than likely have a little more drinks, and a little less baby- sorry Aiden!).

The main thing left to do is the landscaping, garage doors, and the gutters. For gutters, we're going to install a chain link down spout off the corner of the garage. The other 2 downspouts will be on the back of the house. Other than that, it's a boat load of little things to do before we close.

Tonight, we're going to have a little Sex in the City....and I do mean....THE MOVIE. We're seeing it with a group at the Alamo Drafthouse....complete with specialty cosmos. http://www.originalalamo.com/
For those of you not in Texas, the Drafthouse is a series of theaters that serves awesome food and drinks- in the theater, complete w/ waiters. Going to movies is way more appealing when there's food and alcohol involved- otherwise, we go to the 2nd best theater called Netflix. ;)

This is NOT the Charles River

It's Memorial Day Weekend on Lake Travis, Devil's Cove to be exact. AKA- "Spring Break 2008".

OMG- I've never seen so many boats with so many LOUD speakers. On Sunday, we went out w/ step brother Tim, on his boat for Wet Sounds (his company that makes gigantic speakers for wake boarding boats). The top picture shows how about 30 boats link themselves together. And this is just one string- there were easily 300 boats out there. And the music- it will blow your bathing suit off. Temps were in the upper 90s and the water temp was in the low 80s- sunny blue skies, perfect day for being on a boat w/ cold Tecate beer. The second picture shows part of the group we were with- for the few minutes that we weren't in the water. (note the 2 whities on the left).

As of this post, it's been 24 hours since we got off the boat....and my ears are still ringing. Those are some pretty kick ass speakers.

www.wetsounds.com

Biking on Mars....

Biking on Moab's Slick Rock Trails: Most ridiculous/scary/breath taking Ride of my life (I can't speak for Rob). I'm at a loss for words to describe it, so this will be a short post. We get back to Austin on Monday, so I'll post more pics and videos when we get back.

One thing I will say, whether you're into biking or not, it doesn't matter- put Moab, Utah on your list of places in the world to see before you die.

Back to the House

We've been at the house several times since being in Austin- 3 or 4 times now, I think. Metal work is done- sprial stair and this awesome steel trellis. The trellis is made out of 1 x 1 and 4 x 4 steel tubes. You could practically park a car on it. All of the metal will be painted. When we went out yesterday, we saw light fixtures, ceiling fans, and a toilet! woohoo!

What we didn't expect to see were the 2 guys chiseling out some of the cinder block at the garage. There are several discolored and stained blocks that they've been trying to fix for several weeks. I think a few were even cracked. I didn't think it would come to this, but I guess the only option left is to remove the bad blocks and replace w/ new. I hope what comes back doesn't look worse than it did before. If you care to see how it looked before the block destruction, go back to an older post titled "We're Getting Closer!".

Still no completion date other than, "Sometime in June...". So until then, we're livin it up at the pool at Mesa Verde.

Someone's Relaxing....

Aaaahhhh....a beer on the roof deck at Maggie Mae's on 6th. This is the best way to view 6th street- above it all. We went down for the Old Pecan Street Festival- aka Festival of Junk and Fat Food. It was good to see, but I think we'll be finding something better to do this time next year.

Today, we're celebrating Cinco de Mayo.... by getting our internet hooked up- Ariba! Ariba! For real though- tonight we're having dinner at Manuel's on Congress and seeing Lyle Lovett (and others) at the Paramount Theater. Gotta cram in as much fun as possible before going back to being employeed. I'll post pics of all that and the progress on the house tomorrow.

Road Trip, Day 7: End of the Road!

Can y'all believe it? We made it- all in one piece- we're fine, the kitty is great, and all our stuff is still with us (for better or for worse). We drove through Dallas this morning, and arrived in Austin around 3 pm. Got set up in our apartment, went to dinner, and then collapsed on the mattress we have lying in the middle of the living room.

What a trip. It took us 7 days to drive what I thought would take 4-5 days. We totally forgot to take into account how much weight we'd be pulling and how hilly the eastern half of the country is. So here are the stats (roughly): we pulled 4,000+ lbs. across 2,100 miles and used 240+ gallons of gas. OMG. We had a blast, but it was also very stressful. We're both very glad to have this trip behind us. And, I of course, am so thankful to back in TEXAS. I don't think Rob realizes yet where he is. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees the house for the first time. I'll try to get a picture of that for y'all. Seems like every pic I take lately is judged on whether it is blog-worthy or not.

Another thing I want to say about our trek across the easten half of the US is how disappointing it is to see that all these major highways are peppered with the same businesses. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Target. Burget King, Subway, Wendy's, Dairy Queen, Taco Bell, McDonald's. Best Western, La Quinta, Comfort Inn, Red Roof Inn, Holiday Inn. More billboards than you can count for all of the above. If it wasn't for the scenery constantly changing, you'd think you were driving in circles. It all looks the same. This country sure would look alot better w/out all this crap. I think I've seen enough of all this in the last week to last a life time. That, and individually wrapped tiny bars of soap. Don't need to see anymore of those either.

To explain the pictures above: Top: the road map of the trip, 2nd: the first road sign we saw to Austin, 3rd: Rob on the deck at the Hula Hut on Lake Austin, and 4th, a view of of our apt- we're on the 2nd floor. We're loving the central A/C and my feet love the cushy carpet.

One last thing- cheers to Rob for driving the entire trip. He drove like he was born to do it. Through the tight, winding roads of New England, up all the hills in Virginia and Tennesse, and across the flat, extremely windy highways of Texas. All without complaining or even appearing to be stressed about it.

Goodnight from Texas, Y'all

Raod Trip Day 6: The "penultimate" day of our Road Trip

You can't pass through Memphis without seeing Graceland. So that's what we did at 9 am this morning. Somehow we were the first people on the shuttle to the mansion, and I have to say the youngest. It was great though, there weren't tons of lines or chaos like I was imagining. I'd say the tour we did was "Graceland-light". We skipped out on the tour of all Elvis's cars and airplanes. Seeing the house was a good enough dose of The King- he had some extravegent interior decorating themes - there's the yellow and blue lightening bolt TV room, the pool room, jungle room (complete w/ green shag carpet on the floor AND ceiling). Maybe I can steal some of his ideas for the new Austin house. I thing green shag and lightening bolts would fit in just fine at Agave. OK, so the top picture is a portrait of Big E that hangs in the living room. The second pic from the top is his racquetball court that has been converted to a showcase for some of his gold records and Vegas suits. glitzy glitzy glitzy.

After Graceland, we high-tailed it out of Tennessee. Crossed the Mississippi River and into Arkansas. And that marked the end of the hills. The east side of the state is flat and pretty wet. The west side of Little Rock gets a little more hilly. Lots of religious billboards. We didn't stop to smell the roses in Arkansas at all- it's business time now. We just want to get to Texas. And we did, hence the last picture. We hit Texarkana, and I was disappointed when we didn't see a "Welcome to Texas" sign. That was the one sign I really wanted to see! We thought we could make it to Dallas, but we couldn't find a pet-friendly hotel, so we bailed on the Big D, and stopped short in Sulphur Springs, TX. And what do you know...it's a DRY county. No more "big ass beer glasses" for us.

So, now we're just sittin pretty in the middle of nowhere. We're 80 miles east of Dallas. And Austin is 179 miles South of Dallas. We should be in Austin by the end of the day Wednesday. I hope George is enjoying her last night as a hotel kitty.

Road Trip, Day 5: Virginia was the prettiest, but Tennesse is way Cooler

What history is to Boston, country and blues music is to Nashville and Memphis. The bottom picture is a guitar on lower Broadway in Nashville painted w/ the faces of country music legends. The picture above that is the Country Music Hall of Fame. We took a tour this morning- got to see the diamond plated Elvis Cadillac (complete with 24K interior and mini bar). This was the real "Pimp My Ride". The museum also had an installation on the Hank Williams family called Family Tradition.

The top two pictures are of us in Memphis. It was so tough to find a decent hotel that we almost skipped this city all together. We had to cross the border into Mississippi to find a hotel that would accept U-hauls and Georgies. Good thing we found it. We went into downtown Memphis and found Beale street which is said to be the birthplace of the blues and rock n roll: http://www.bealestreet.com/home.html

It reminds me of a cleaner French Quarter- there is music pouring out of every club and the street is closed off to traffic and they let you walk around w/ a "Big Ass Beer Glass". We ate dinner at Rum Boogie Cafe (top pic) and had Memphis ribs and red beans and rice....oh yah, and Gator Gumbo for an app. I swear, there really was alligator in there. Rob's gonna be a fan of cajun food and country music by the end of this trip - who woulda thought?

On to see the big "E" tomorrow morning.

Road Trip, Day 4: Tennessee...Tennessee...

We made it out of Virginia after all the hills, and into Tennessee this morning. Tennessee is more hills, but not as steep, so we made way better time today- 438 miles! We drove mostly through rain, which added more to the fun....and helped me (and George) fall asleep. We drove straight through Knoxville, and landed in Nashville. Haven't seen much yet, but tomorrow we plan to hit downtown (we're staying at a hotel in the city) and see as much as we can in a few hours. First on the list is the Country Music Hall of Fame. After Nashville, we're onto Memphis.....and you know what that means.....E-L-V-I-S.

Road Trip, Day 3: "Virginia is For Lovers"

I guess the saying, "Virginia is For Lovers" is true, because we can't seem to bring ourselves to leave the state. It's still very slow moving b/c we're traveling through the Shenendoah Valley....which is really all mountains. Big Ones.

So, we began the day at Arlington National Cemetary. The top picture doesn't do the cemetary justice, or show at all how many headstones there are. They go on forever. To quote my mom, "this is a grim reminder of why war is hell". The second picture is Rob and me in front of The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We watched the changing of the guards- which they do every hour (and sometimes 1/2 hour) 24 hours/ day, 365 days a year. I can't say enough about this place, you have to see it for yourself.

After the cemetary, we tried to see how far we could get in VA. Not far. We got as far as Roanoke. There we ended the day with some fab-o Mexican food. I know, I had my doubts- we are still in Virginia. But I could tell from the amount of good Mexican beers on the menu that we'd be OK. For the Houstonians reading this- it was very "Los Tios". Yummy. So, on that note, I'm ending this post w/ this- Virginia wins the "Pertiest State and Best Mexican Food" Contest. But that's only because we're not in Texas yet. hehehe

Road Trip, Day 2: 5 States, 10 hours

We left Fishkill, NY this morning (@10 am) with sunny skies, and a mediocre breakfast. The breakfast was free, so who cares. We made it through Pennsylvania w/out stopping once- and that state didn't get pretty until we were almost out of it. I think we drove through Amish country- Rob swears he spotted buggies. After PA, came a tiny corner of Delaware (no pics), then West Virginia with the trip ending in Virginia. Manassas Virginia to be exact. We're here b/c the goal is to get up early tomorrow morning and drive the Tacoma into Arlington to see Arlington National Cemetary. Otherwise, y'all aren't missin anything by not being in Manassas. Just picture any typical Suburban town in America and you got Manassas. We couldn't find a single non-chain restaurant. So far, our dining experiences haven't been too exciting- Cracker Barrel and Friday's. I'm holdin out for something cool in Tennesse.

So, I just googled our trip route- Fishkill to Manassas is 325 miles, estimated time 5 hours, 36 mins. It took us almost 10 hours. Goin up hill haulin all the stuff we have is still a little slow goin- we were going as slow as 40 mph through the hills of PA. Hopefully, our speed will pick up as the country flattens out. If that's true, Texas should be a breeze. Here's hoping....

PS- look closely at the rear view image in the 2nd picture- that's a piece of a rainbow we saw in Virginia after a good rain storm. There were 2 rainbows at once, but I didn't get the camera out in time to catch them.