The Last Bit of Dallas Fun

With less than a week still in Dallas, I'm packing in as much fun as I can. 

Giant Jenga! They have this at a lot of different bars.

Hanging out at one of our favorites- The Truck Yard. Different food trucks park on one side and there's tons of outdoor seating and a bar inside. Very relaxed atmosphere. 

Getting pedicures with friends! All of our significant others work for the same company and we all moved to Dallas recently for that company. It's nice to know other ladies who can truly relate to and understand the crazy journey I've been on. I am really going to miss them. :(

And of course, we had one last night to two stepping. A lot of my Californian friends get a good giggle out of hearing that we go two stepping, but I really love it! Plus my husband has become quite the dancer!

Have you been to Texas?

Forget Moving! I'm Going to Disney World!

I finally have some updates! We are moving back to CA- and very soon! My husband got transferred to a new team and with that came an "accelerated schedule" to get out to CA. All in all, from the day we found out, we will be moving in 2 weeks. 

Lucky for us, this move is covered by my husband's work. A moving company is coming to handle everything. At first I was really anxious about moving, probably because my move to Texas was such a train wreck. 

But... it turns out my husband will be handling the move while I am enjoying Disney World and running this:

YAY! It still makes me nervous, but there's nothing I can do, so I'm channeling Elsa and letting it go. *cough* bad joke *cough* I couldn't resist. ;)

I'll meet my husband in CA for a couple days and then it's off to Disneyland for this:

It's going to be one heck of a crazy month, but I am really looking forward to being home in CA and enjoying Thanksgiving with family. 

Enjoying the Texas Life

Now that I've spent about a week in Dallas, it's starting to feel more like home instead of just a weekend trip. I thought I'd be super bored with nothing to do since I don't have a 9-5 job, but I've been keeping busy. 

I've been embracing the housewife life and going grocery shopping. Our Whole Foods has a wine/cheese/beer bar in it!

I can see it now...

Husband: "What were you doing at Whole Foods for 4 hours?"

Me: "Oh, you know... Grocery shopping..."

Spending time at the pool...

We went to a lake. The water was wonderful and not freezing like the Pacific Ocean.

We saw a double feature at the Drive-In Theater (Ninja Turtles & Hercules- both pretty bad). We took a truck and made a comfy area in the bed of the truck. A fun experience!

And in true Texan fashion, we went two stepping!

Honestly, it was not what I expected. First, it's darkly lit, like a club. Second, the music is so loud, my insides are still vibrating from the sound. Third, it's super fun! It was my first time ever two stepping, so I wasn't great, but I had a blast. Every once in a while, they'll give the live band a break and play more club-like music. They shot confetti in the air and played this song (the good part is about 24 secs in, pardon the language). A nice intro if you ask me. ;)

Have you ever been to Texas? Did you like it?

Greetings from my new home: Texas!

I'm blogging from my new home in Texas! We survived the move and crazy 30 hr drive! I'm about halfway unpacked, but the rest of it will have to wait for later this week. 

I had anticipated embarking on the drive on Saturday, since my husband was flying in from Texas on Friday night. But he had different plans and surprised me Wednesday evening at work! I'll save his surprise for another post. ;) 

The 30 Hour Drive...

We ended up leaving on Friday afternoon, around 3pm. 

Car all packed and ready to go. Bikes strapped to the back. Roof Bag (i.e. a giant duffle bag) strapped to the top of the car. I wasn't so sure about this Roof Bag holding up since I don't have a roof rack and unfortunately we had to pack it full of my clothes. Like all my clothes except for shoes and my nicer dresses. I was keeping an eye on it incessantly during the entire trip. Happy to say it stayed on!

Central California

Arizona sunrise

Somewhere in New Mexico

Where are the signs for Radiator Springs?

We stopped for lunch at this yummy salad place, Vinaigrette, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Highly recommended if you find yourself in the area!

YAY! We made it! With 6 more hours to drive...

Texan sunset.

Oh, yes, we stopped for Chick-fil-A on the way home. Pretty tasty!

We arrived in Dallas moments before midnight. So happy to be home!

We did the drive from Santa Cruz, CA to Dallas, TX in about 30 hours. We drove non-stop, aside from a few meals and to stretch, etc. My husband drove the bulk of the trip and I'm amazed he was able to stay awake. He did this same drive just 6 months ago when he moved out to Dallas and he swore he would never do it again. Oops... The things we do for love? 

It will definitely be interesting living together again. I can already tell we've developed our own habits living separately for 6 months. But we're both just glad to be back together. :) 

Cupcake ATM?! Yes, Please!

I like cupcakes. A lot. Kind of hard to resist cute mini cakes, right? 

I'm sure a lot of you have heard of Sprinkles Cupcakes. In fact, the #runnerslove meet-up in D.C. was held at a Sprinkles Cupcakes location.

I discovered last night there is a Sprinkles Cupcake ATM just a few miles away from my future home in Texas. 

And I may have squealed. Just a little. ;) 

I told my husband about it and he said he didn't think he could wait for me to check it out. I foresee a lot of late night ATM runs. :)

Do you like cupcakes? Would you try out a cupcake ATM?

Getting Sick at the Worst Possible Time....

I can't remember the last time I was sick. It had to have been at least last year. Possibly even last summer or even spring. I credit working at a bank and handling dirty money to my awesome immune system. Or at least until now. 

Kidding... I just have a cold. ;)

With just 3 weeks before my big more, I have come down with an annoying cold! A little cough I can handle, even congestion and a stuffy/runny nose. But this cold has also come with loss of appetite (okay, I suppose this could be a good thing), but it's also made me super tired. Like wake-up-in-the-morning-feeling-like-I-have-the-worst-hangover tired. And get home from work with just enough energy to crawl into bed and sleep. I apologize for the total lack of posts last week.

Needless to say, aside from work, I have not been doing anything. Just when I was getting into a solid rhythm in my marathon training schedule, too! I haven't run in over a week and it doesn't help that my husband keeps telling me about all the pool parties/boating trips (i.e. bikini attire- ugh) we'll be taking once I get to Texas. I really can't wait to be rid of this cold so I can get back to running!

Packing has also fallen to the wayside. I may or may not have had a minor freak out this weekend when I realized how little time I have left. I did some cleaning in the kitchen and tackled a big chunk of the packing, but I still feel like there is so much to do.

I've been making lists and checking tasks off, so at least I *feel* like I have a good plan in place.

Have you ever gotten sick at an inconvenient time?

Purging, Packing, & Fitting my Life into my Car...

Once upon a time ago (okay, really like 8 years ago), I moved while I was in college and was able to fit all my belongings into my car. I didn't have any furniture back then and it worked out pretty well. 

Since then things have definitely changed. I've lived with my husband for about 7 years and we have a pretty well stocked apartment. After deciding to move to Texas from California (announced in this blog post), I had to figure out how moving would go. 

I looked into Pods and U-Pack Relocubes (cheaper than Pods), but those were all super expensive- $1700+ for one container! 

I'm selling all my furniture, which is probably a good thing. Most are Craigslist finds or hand-me-downs that are on their last leg anyway. The only thing I'm sad about is the dresser I just bought. Still, I'm having to pair down a lot of things since I am only taking what will fit in my car. And when I say car, I don't mean an SUV or truck, I mean a good old compact Civic. I've never been jealous of Hummer owners until now. But thank goodness I at least have a 4-door Civic!

Do you have any packing/moving tips?

Funny Craigslist Experiences

My big move halfway across the country is in about 5 weeks and I'm not planning on taking any furniture. Pretty much if it doesn't fit in my car, I'm not keeping it. This means I have the joy of selling all my furniture. Craigslist is a great resource for this and so far it's worked out wonderfully. Maybe a bit too quickly though, since now I have no dresser and my clothes are in little piles everywhere. ;)

But sometimes I question the common sense of the folks buying the furniture.

The guy buying my dresser and shoe cabinet showed up in his little Prius... Come on, man. Really? A Prius?!

I will give him credit though. He got the dresser in his Prius! Had to make a second trip to get the shoe cabinet though.

Another lady came to get this bookcase. It's pretty big- 5 ft tall and heavy. When she arrived we had a moment of "uh, do you think we can lift this together?" Luckily we could. And she brought a big SUV.

And last but not least, my favorite- an older lady wanted this desk. It's a big heavy desk and the top hutch part did not detach. She said she would bring a truck and a guy to help her. Great, right? Except the guy she brought, bless his heart, was not in any physical condition to heave this desk around. The three of us got it out of my apartment, but couldn't lift it onto her truck. We had to flag down a couple of surfers (nice perk of living by the beach is that there is an endless supply of buff men walking around) to assist us.

I'm just happy to be rid of all this furniture- one less thing to worry about over the next month! :)

Do you have any funny Craigslist experiences?

Big Life Changes!

I've thought a while about how to start this post, but I suppose just getting it out is easier for all of us. :)

I quit my job and I'm moving to Texas.

It may not come as a surprise to most of you who know that my husband is in Texas for work; apparently both my boss and landlord expected it, just not this soon.

It's a huge change: I've worked at my current company for 5 years now and I've worked my way up through about 4 promotions. I'm definitely not the best of the best, but I do my job pretty well (or so I've been told), and for the most part I really enjoy it. I work at a bank handling peoples' money, so I've had my fair share of angry folks, but overall it's great. It's hard to give up a career I've worked 5 years on, but I'm grateful for the experience I've gained. Most of all, I really enjoy working with my team. A few I've grown as close to as family and I'm really sad to leave. They've been very supportive and are a big part of how I've been able to live away from my husband for so long.

But I know it's for the best. It's been over 4 months since my husband moved and I won't lie; it's been hard. Really hard. I thought as time went on, it would be easier to be apart, but to be honest, neither of us are happy with the situation. I found myself drinking more wine, sleeping a lot more, then having insomnia, and running a lot less- a slippery slope that I know can lead to depression. Financially speaking, it's not optimal as well. Double rent, double living expenses, travel costs to see each other, etc.

So while leaving a perfectly good job (and income stream) is a scary prospect, my current side jobs will keep me busy and help to offset leaving my job. I'm pretty sure my husband's exact words were "anything you make can go into your Disney fund." Hello, motivation! ;)
He's also been super supportive and keeps encouraging me to pursue my dreams and other career possibilities.

So that's my big secret and why my blogging has been very sporadic lately. It was a difficult decision to make, but I'm excited for the new adventure. I didn't immediately share the news on here because my boss and I agreed that we would wait to tell our team until we had a plan/my replacement in place. Moving won't be for a while though- I'm aiming for the end of July.

In the meantime, I get to enjoy lots of purging and packing.

Have you ever made any huge life changes?