We are goign to have a BBQ on the Fourth of July to celebrate us selling our house and Jessica is coming back for it. I have not seen Jessica for over a month now. It has been extremely difficult to be separated that long, but the Lord has answered our prayers. I am only weeks away now from moving to Texas for good.
It will be nice for her to get to see the house (and the dishwasher that I installed) one last time. Hopefully many of our friends and family can make it.
Good food, good friends, and plenty of reason to celebrate on this anniversary of our great country's declaration of independence.
The reunion is near. I have exciting news. Jessica and I have accepted an offer on our house in Minnesota. We are so happy that our prayers have been answered. Finally after months of waiting for the housing market to pick up, we were presented with an offer and we accepted. We did not have much bargaining leverage, but the terms were acceptable enough to make it work.
Coincidentally, I had given my formal notice to resign at work the day before. I was going to move to Texas in three weeks, and I still do not have a job yet and we had not sold our house. It was going to be a stressful situation, as you can imagine, with trying to pay a mortgage and rent on just Jessica's salary. But then the Lord answered our prayers and helped a nice young couple find our house and fall in love with it enough to want to buy it.
The inspection still has to pass (which it should). The closing is scheduled for July 28. My last day at Thomson is going to be July 11th. The movers are coming July 14-16 to pack and move all of our things. It is supposed to take up to a week to get the items down to Dallas. I have driven it in 14 hours, I am a bit confused on that one, but I will not worry about it right now.
I am praying that nothing happens to prevent the closing, but it seems like I am on my way to Dallas. I am so excited to be reunited with my wife, Jessica, and my puppy, Murphy!
One of the things I love about Texas is the fact that along the side of the roads in neighborhoods and office parks, you can see ranch life blended with the city life.
Jessica works for J.C. Penney's which is located near Legacy Drive in Plano, TX. You have these huge companies with their corporate headquarters situated on beautiful acres of land. On these acres of land you also have horses and cattle. Yes, horses and cattle. The reason we have been told for this is because then the companies get to claim agricultural land use for tax purposes.
Here are a couple shots of some Texas longhorns across the street from JCP:
Awesome.
During Jessica's birthday weekend, Jessica, myself, and Jessica's parents went to the small town of Grapevine, TX. Grapevine is located just west of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.
It was a fun little town that is home to several wineries. There are only a couple wineries that actually grow the grapes in Texas. Most of them actually import the grapes from California and then ferment the wine locally. We tasted some of the local vintage and had fun walking the streets of the small town, despite the heat.
Here is a picture of Barb, Jessica and me at one of the wineries.
It was a fun excursion. Jessica and I have not had much of a chance to explore the culture or local attractions yet. Jessica has had the time, but she is waiting to go together with me.
It had been four days since I had last seen my beautiful wife, but I was heading back to the Big D to celebrate her 30th birthday. Jessica's parents', Rick and Barb, also came down to visit. It was a great weekend and great for Jessica to be able to see her mom and dad.
I decorated the apartment so that she would be surprised when she got home from work at noon. I put up some banners and streamers and had about 25-30 balloons inflated. I also bought her a "birthday girl" ribbon that she was supposed to wear all weekend, but it only stayed on about 15 minutes. I guess I really cannot blame her...
Rick and Barb bought her a bottle of sparkly (Jessica wants to save it for when I move down for good) and ordered her a big birthday cake.
Jessica and I went to Rick and Barb’s hotel one of the afternoons and laid out by the pool. Here you can see Jessica and I in the pool.
Jessica on her balcony enjoying some chardonnay before going out to dinner for her birthday.
Jessica and me on the balcony. We tend to take quite a few pictures of us on the balcony. It is not very big and the view is not that great, but it is still fun. Most of the shots in her apartment are done with the timer feature of our camera and balancing it on top of the tv, so the shots are not ideal, but Jessica is so cute that she always looks good.
Jessica and I outside the hotel.
Jessica and her parents outside the hotel before dinner.
Here we are at dinner. We went to a nice steakhouse named Jasper’s . I would highly recommend Jasper’s . The food was delicious and the service was great. My only complaint is that we had to wait a half an hour after our reservation to be seated. This can be expected however, at many fine dining establishments.
I also finally tried Tito’s Handmade Vodka. I have to say that Tito’s vodka is awesome. I love vodka and will definitely be ordering Tito’s again whenever I can. My dry martini was delicious and so smooth. Tito’s vodka is the first and only distillery in Texas. It is distilled in Austin and they have done a top-notch job of producing a quality vodka. I have had some very good vodka, but for the price- scratch that- even with the low price, Tito’s is better than almost any European vodka that I have had.
Jessica and I had to celebrate our 3-year wedding anniversary apart. It was May 21st. It was hard to be apart. I sent Jessica 100 blooms of lillies to her office on our anniversary and then did get to go down to Dallas the next weekend. I did not get a picture of the flowers, but they did not look like they did online. Jessica still loved them and was surprised, so I guess it was the thought that counts?
Here are some pics of the weekend, May 24th, when we got the chance to finally celebrate together:
I have the most beautiful wife! Doesn't she look great for thirty? I am the luckiest
Here I am on the balcony of Jessica's apartment enjoying a margarita out of a coconut. Jessica decorated the apartment to recreate our Hawaiian honeymoon. It was lots of fun.
Jessica and I went out to dinner that night to Mi Cocina. It is one of my favorite Mexican restaraunts in Dallas. There are several in the area. The food is really good. The service is great, the portions are "Texas-sized," and the atmostphere is just really fun.I have been there three times though I think and I always get the same thing. I need to try some other menu items, but the sampler platter I always order is just so good, and I get to try a bunch of different items.
It was also nice because Monday was Memorial Day, so I got to spend an extra long weekend with Jessica and Murphy. It was hard to go back to Minnesota, but I had plans to come down the next weekend, so it would not be long before I was back.
I have been derelict in my duties as a blogger for the last month. I will be posting the updates now. So much has happened. Texas is so close, I can almost feel the 100 degree heat now...
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