sarah smile

This weekend Janette, Ryan, Rachael and I went to see “Sex and the City: The Movie.”  We had a great time at the show at the Angelika in downtown Dallas, and at Balcony Club after the movie for drinks.  And I think we all looked pretty great, too!

I’m excited about the weekend… Ryan, Rachael and I are heading to Janette’s for a laid-back couple of days so we can see Sex and the City: The Movie on Saturday night.  It’s been kind of a crazy week; Ryan is on the road right now, nearly to Austin, so that he can interview with the news director at my station tomorrow morning.  (Prayers!!!)  Then tomorrow afternoon, Rachael will meet us in Austin, and the three of us will caravan in two cars up to Dallas to meet Janette so that we can start the fun!

In a week, I’ll be heading up to Dallas again to meet Janette and Ryan, and we’ll be getting on a plane a week from tomorrow to fly to Portland.  In Portland, we’ll meet up with my cousin Sean to road-trip to Montana for the family reunion.  We’ve made a “local beer only” pact for the week that we’re there, which is perfect because there’s a microbrewery in Polson, the town where my grandparents live, and at least a couple more down in Missoula, about an hour away.  There’s already talk about growlers and pony-kegs!  Oh my!

It’s been a hectic few weeks of traveling, but I’m mostly excited about it all because I have been keeping a handle on my health.  I’ve been eating well, and drinking my water like I should.  I’ve made plans to attend a Weight Watchers meeting with my aunt while we’re in Montana, and I’ll be getting in a lot of walking that week, I’m sure.  I’m actually excited to get on the plane next week, because I know that it’s going to be so much easier to buckle that seat belt than it was last time I was on a plane (which was what… I guess when we went to New York back in April).  I even traded in my 10% keychain that broke for a new one at my Weight Watchers meeting this week, no questions asked!

It’s nice to have these things to look forward to when our living situation is in such turmoil.  I’m looking forward to having a whole week to spend with Ryan - and on vacation, no less.  It’ll be a nice break from reality.

2nd Anniversary

Originally uploaded by sarahsmileTX

Today Ryan and I are celebrating our second anniversary! But unfortunately, this year we are spending it a couple of hundred miles apart, as I am in Austin and he’s up in Sherman. He sent me some beautiful flowers that are making me smile and feel all those butterflies in my stomach every time I look at them.

There’s not a lot to say here that I haven’t said to Ryan already. Happy Anniversary, baby!

I started my new job in Austin yesterday, and I really like it a lot.  The station is cool, I really like everyone in my department, and the work is challenging, but not so hard that I feel like I am going to flounder.  I have been trying to keep close contact up with Ryan, since he’s still back in Sherman remotely looking for a job and occupying the house while we’re trying to sell it.

I’m staying with my old friend from way-back-in-high-school, Sara.  She’s got a cool condo about 10 minutes away from the station, and has generously let me stay in her guest room while I learn the ropes at work and try to find an apartment that will do for Ryan and I for a while.  I haven’t seen a lot of her this week since I came in on Monday, because I’m working nightside this week and she’s usually in bed or almost in bed by the time I get here.

It’s kind of hard to immerse myself in life here in Austin right now, though.  I’m eager to explore the city but I don’t want to do too much until Ryan comes down here for good, so that we can make it our home together.  I feel a little like really enjoying my job is sort of betraying my life back in Sherman, although this is my job now, and the reality is that I do enjoy it a lot.  I am a little more invested in it every day, and I know that I’m going to love it at my new station.

But I have left a big piece of my life behind - as long as Ryan is still back home, the transition won’t be complete.  I’ve only gone to work, HEB, and a Weight Watchers meeting since I’ve been here.  But there honestly isn’t a lot that I want to do without Ryan around.  I want to be able to enjoy and explore new things with him here… I want to save the good stuff for doing with him!

So, for now, I just remember why I’m down here at all… to go to work at my new job.  Which I do like a whole lot.  I just feel like everything’s in limbo right now.

After a whirlwind courtship, I have been offered - and have accepted - a job at KVUE in Austin.  I’m excited to get back under the Belo umbrella, and also to work as part of a larger department in a more focused role.  I think that the job opportunity is incredible, and I’m also excited that Ryan and I will get to return to Central Texas and live closer to some of our dear friends.

Of course, I am sad to leave Sherman and my folks, but it’s still closer than Seguin, Joplin, or San Antonio.  I will miss getting together with them at Cellarman’s and seeing them at church.  But I think, after living back here for nearly a year and a half, that I am past the Sherman time in my life.  It was nice to reconnect with my hometown and have Ryan get to know my family better.

Now, we are getting into the time in our lives when we’re thinking about our long-term future.  We’re thinking about starting a family (not immediately, but not too far into the future), and about where we want to be for the foreseeable future.  Austin is a great place for us, geographically, because it’s right in the middle of all of the people we love.  It’s close to TLU, so maybe instead of opening those alumni emails with a little twinge of sadness, we can actually participate in a few of the events that happen on campus.

Living in Austin will also be a totally new experience for me.  I’ve never lived there, and I have only visited (as opposed to driven through) a few times.  I am not impressed with I-35, but I know that there’s more to the city than that.  The people I know who live there or who have lived there really love it, and I know that we will love it there, too.

My first day at work will be May 27th, which is coming up really, really quick.  I basically had just enough time after accepting the job Friday morning to give my current employer two weeks’ notice.  It’s been a fast decision, but even with all of the listmaking and overthinking, it came down to going with our guts and just trusting that this is going to be a wonderful opportunity for both of us.  Keep us both in your prayers as we try to find a place to live and sell our current house, and as Ryan continues to search for a new job!

This was part of the short, intense hailstorm that we had last night around 6:15. It was over in about 5 minutes.

from www.vimeo.com posted with vodpod

I woke up this morning and decided to take a walk.  It was as simple as that.  Hailey had been barking and woke me up at 7:05, and instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, I decided to just get up, get dressed, put on my walking shoes, and hit the road.

I had gotten about a block when I realized that I wasn’t alone.  A little dog started following me, and for the first couple of blocks he stayed mostly behind me.  I wasn’t even sure that he was still there for a while, but then I would look over my shoulder, and there he was, trotting along right behind me.

He was a smart little guy… when a car would come along, he would get off the road and walk on the grass next to me.  When the car had passed, he would go back to walking behind me, in front of me, or next to me in the road.  He sniffed the occasional rock, peed on the occasional tree, but for the most part he just scampered along with me.

I had originally planned on doing the Couch to 5K week 2 workout, which was the last running workout I did, but after three intervals (out of six) I was worn out.  I decided to just cut my losses and make it a good walking workout, so I switched to a different podcast and kept walking.  Just because I didn’t feel like running didn’t mean I had to completely abandon the workout.

I walked along, noticing things like the honeysuckle growing on the side of the road, and how the light was hitting it as the sun rose higher in the sky.  I noticed how the wind was blowing me along on the first half of the walk, and blowing my loose windpants against my legs on the second half.  I noticed now much warmer it got - or I got - as I kept going.

The dog kept up with me, and I realized that he was in much better shape than I am.  He was running along with me and meandering off the path to check things out, and never got behind.  And his legs were much, much shorter.  We passed by the concrete yard art place on First Street and the dog there started barking.  He went to say hello, and then caught up with me.  We passed by a machine shop, and for a minute I thought he was going to go right in and check out the guys in the shop, but he kept up with me.

I kept walking, past a Speed Limit 30 sign that made me laugh.  I had no trouble minding the sign this morning.  I kept walking, rejoining the neighborhood and noticing where the curbs started up again.  I looked around at the buttercups lining the railroad tracks.  I passed the block where my little walking buddy joined me, and he stayed right next to me.  I walked all the way up the steps to the house, and he stopped on one of the steps.  I went inside; he didn’t follow me in.

It was a nice walk, and after I mapped it, it turns out that it was 1.75 miles.  I’m proud of myself for going, and I kind of wonder where that little dog went.

A lot’s happened since last week, around this time, when I last wrote.  Well, not to me… but around me.

My brother was released from prison last Tuesday, as I mentioned, and I drove down with Haley and Dad to pick him up.  It was good to see him again, and when we picked him up it still didn’t seem like being outside had really sunk in for him.  We had a party at our house on Saturday to celebrate his release, and - as I told Dad - to show him how much fun you can really have being “boring.”

The party was a lot of fun… it was the most people we’ve had over here since our end-of-February-sweeps party.  It’s amazing how many people NINE is when they’re all in your kitchen.  We put some Christmas lights in the tree and the umbrella in the back yard, which lit things up nicely, and made s’mores and had steak and grilled veggies and a few beers.  And Steven brought Boone’s, and drank it.  That’s all I can say about that.

I realize this entry is really out of order, but I’m just typing it as it comes to me.

Backing up a little, I had to work a full day on Saturday to do scoreboards for a golf tournament.  It was kind of a drag having to work on my day off, but I know it’s going to be good for the ol’ bottom line on Friday.  This weekend I have to work Saturday and Sunday for yet another golf tournament, which means I’ll miss church on Sunday, which is Pentecost and Mother’s Day, and I know this is a terrible run-on and I’m whining.  But it’s my blog, and I’ll do as I please with it.  I will probably take next Monday off or work a half-day or something, because only having one day off this past weekend was rougher than I thought.

Sunday, the one day I did have off, was good.  I taught the last Sunday school class of the spring, and Jake and Haley were there, and we did an interview of sorts with the former pastor of the church for the Generations Dinner that Ryan is organizing.  After the interview, we went to lunch with Janette at Olive Garden, then went home and changed.  We decided to go for a hike at Herman Baker Park.

The trail around the lake at the park is about a mile and a half, and it was actually fairly easy for me.  I remember having a tough time with it a few years ago… this time I didn’t get tired at all until we were on the last stretch going up some hills.  And even then, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t manage.  I did decline to go around the trail a second time.

After our hike, the three of us sat down on a bench next to the lake and talked about the Montana trip.  We’re all getting really excited about it, and I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of relatives that I haven’t seen in years… plus a couple I’ve never met.  Two of my cousins have gotten married and had kids, and I’ll get to meet them all!  I’m also excited for the rest of my family to meet Ryan, and I know that he’s excited, too.

I wish I had a picture or something to post, but I don’t… so I’ll just close this up.  Good night, blog!

The yard is all neat and tidy, thanks to Ryan’s hard work!  He was really busy today, mowing the lawn, getting the weedeater fixed, running the weedeater, trimming branches that threatened to take out my head in the front yard (and I’m short), etc.  I helped a little… I swept the sidewalks and the patio and pointed at branches that needed to be trimmed.  After all of the yard work, we ate dinner, watched “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother,” and then went in the back yard to have some wine.

We had a nice chat on the swing, sitting by the chiminea and talking about the future.  We talked about plans for the house, and how much we love our house, and about how the studio/shed/garage in the back yard would be the coolest slumber party site ever.  It was just a nice way to wind down the day and relax together.

Now I’m chilling out in the den, watching Craig Ferguson and thinking about how I need to take the garbage out and hit the hay, and how I need not get sucked into the rest of the show… but it’s so darned hard, because CF is my favorite talk show host!  I even watched CSPAN to see his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night.  I’m a big nerd.

My family got some good news this week!  As some of you may know, my brother has been in prison for several months for a probation violation.  He’s getting out today… well, later today.  I’m excited for him to start the next phase of his life and to get back to his wife.  But he’d better not have kids before Ryan and I do. 

It’s storming tonight, and Barker is laying on the couch here in the den, trying to ignore the thunder and lightning.  I closed the back door, drew the curtain in the den, and tried to block things out a little bit.  He’s kind of dozing off right now, but we’ll see how long that lasts.

This week has brought an interesting turn of events.  I’ve had my eyes opened to a new opportunity that would really change life for Ryan and me.  It’s too early to tell if things will be changing, and I don’t really want to open up discussion about it here on the blog.  But if praying is your thing, please pray that we will have the path made known to us, and that we’ll follow where God leads us.

I don’t have a lot more to say tonight, other than the backyard continues to bloom… rosebushes are exploding, all of the irises are filling out, and the peonies are like big puffy pink clouds.  It’s really pretty back there, and I’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment from walking around the backyard before and after work, just to see what new things are happening.