Squad Brunch

One of my huge goals in Dallas was to really make life-long girlfriends, this was before Taylor Swift started calling her girls the Girl Squad. I am so thankful for all of the girls that I met in Dallas and I made a point to spend time with many of them before I headed East. I am so blessed by my friends.

The Invite

I will admit that I didn't really want to have a going away party, it makes everything so final. I have also found that planning a huge shindig and then no one attending doesn't make me feel all that great. So after much deliberation I decided to invite my gals to brunch. So in the true digital age spirit I sent out a group text! We opted to hit up Nick and Sam's in Uptown (one of my favorite places). I decided to wear one of my favorite dresses to brunch and my new fancy lipstick. 

We got a table upstairs and it was so fancy. It was also pretty quiet, so we were able to hear each other. I loved the chance to share my friends with one another. Many of my friends are from different parts of my life: work, college, church, junior league, and a few cases of friend stealing (you know that one girl that you are friends with through someone else and then the two of you are better friends). This was a great chance for all of them to really say hello to someone they had heard of but maybe never met. I am getting a little emotional just thinking about this.

I think that we as women often underestimate the impact that our girlfriends have on our life until you look back at a period of time. I had friends that I had known only 2 years at the table with girls I met when I was 19, so we have been friends for 12 years. I love that each of these girls brings little something special to my life: they are my fashion icons, a great representation of parenting, a constant companion, basically people with whom I want to share my life with. I love that we celebrate one another and spend time just being together. Friendships formed later in life and so different than the ones when we are in school, we have chosen these women from the vast circle around us and make the point to just hangout together. Many of these girls are people whom I have been to the store with or to the dog park, they are people with whom I do life. My life is richer for the time we spent together and since we are friends by choice I know that we will be there for one another regardless of time. The formation of a girl squad is something that as I have gotten older has become more and more important to me. I am so thankful to these women for the things they have taught me and their celebration of my new adventure even if it means I am leaving the great Texas. I am excited to see what the next few years bring as we all move on to new adventures.

My squad! I love these girls (I flat out refused to sit in the chair, thanks for taking that seat Holls)

I cannot imagine not having a chance to hang with these girls, it was so great to be able to spend time together and celebrate my new job. These gals were supportive when I botched a few interviews, when I got the job offer, and when I packed my bags to move to Florida. There really aren't enough words to say how much they mean to me.

Hello New Apartment

So I have been in Florida almost two weeks, I cannot believe it has been that long and it feels like just yesterday I was hanging out with my friends in Dallas. Lily and I are adjusting to the beach life pretty well, I will admit we haven't been to the beach yet (hopefully soon... maybe). I know you are anxious to see my new space and hear all about Florida. So here is the first installment, the before photos. These are from before the movers brought all of the stuff in and it was just me and Lily. My folks stayed at the hotel until after I signed all of the paperwork.

From the front door

The kitchen

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Part of the Living Room

Study/Library/office 

Guest Bath (and yours truly)

Lily wants to know what is this place and where are my things!

It was like coming home when I walked in the front door, I am so excited to be here and to get to work. I cannot wait to show you what it looks like with my stuff everywhere, it was hard to know exactly how things were going to work before my stuff got in here, but it looks good! I am going to give you a little heads up that it will be at least a week until the pics of the apartment with my stuff in it are up, I am in the middle of repainting my bedroom furniture so yeah it looks like a mess in all of my rooms. But I hope to have it up in a few weeks... Life is hard.

The move that never ended

I will admit that this move about did me in, it was as if the drive would never ever end. Now, I did a few things really right on this move but OMG it was a very long week. Here is a little insight into my final days in Dallas and then an eternal drive:


Sunday: I managed to get every last thing in boxes. I was truly amazed that everything was done, I think my parents were when they got there on Monday. My BFF Elysa came over to help, which was amazing.

Nothing left here

To Arlington! Lily is super confused at this point

Monday: I picked up the truck and ran errands before the movers got there. They were late, which made me crazy. However, they were relatively efficient and it was nice to not have to carry any boxes. From my apartment I headed to Arlington to spend one last night with my Grandparents.

My girl watched me most of the drive

Tuesday: We left Dallas pretty early and drove down to Lafayette, it was great to be able to hang out with my niece and nephews. My folks had a few things to do around the house and I worked on getting a few other things together. Also my dog got a bath.

My view for some of the drive

Hello Florida!

Wednesday (the day with no end): We left early again, like 8AM, and headed east. Google Maps suggested that the drive should take about 10 hours, and they were wrong. There was traffic in Baton Rouge, Mobile, and I kid you not the state of Florida is eternal. We made a few mistakes along the way: we took way to long for lunch, we often got separated which lead to someone having to wait (dad) for the rest to catch up (me and mom), and poor communication about bathroom breaks. We stopped at one of our favorite places for lunch and it was an epic disaster (I don't know what I have ever really considered leaving a table after ordering but we almost did). It seemed like my dad would leave a few minutes early and breeze through places with no trouble and by the time mom and I got there it would be stopped (this happened twice). And Florida, I think it is just a long state. I will say that the frequency of the rest areas was awesome! It took us 15 hours to get here and I think if we hadn't made hotel reservations, that we couldn't change we might not have driven all the way in. Oh well, live and learn.

A new home!

Thursday: We woke up in the hotel and it looked like zombies were in our bodies. But a little caffeine in us and we got after it. I got to the apartment complex around 10 and was in the apartment shortly there after. Mom ran to the store to grab a few groceries so that we wouldn't have to go out for food. The movers took about 2 hours to get everything in the apartment. Then we unpacked.

6 Six Month Goals

I'm not going to lie, life is about to get crazy. I am moving to a whole new world where I don't know that many people and I am going to be a professor (crazy). So I thought that I would give you an insight into some of my general six month goals.

1- Plan ahead
This is going to be a crazy semester and I know that, but that doesn't mean that no one else will have an event in those months. I am trying to write a list at the beginning of the month of the  upcoming birthday's, events, or just random things so that I can send cards or gifts to arrive before the date comes.

2- Pay off the debt
This move is going to be very expensive, which is ok I am going to live my dream. But I would like to pay this off and be all good by the end of the year. I also would like to have started getting things together to start a Roth IRA in January.

3- Make the phone calls and let the rest go
I go through phases where I don't really know how to keep in touch with people, so I am going to try and call my friends (and keep calling when I can't get a hold of them). I want to be a good friend but at the same time I am also going to allow myself to not feel guilty about a lack of contact when they never call back. This includes making my friends Skype or FaceTime, sometimes you just need to see her face.

4- Find time for myself
Many of the blogs and articles about how to be really good at your job or how to feel fulfilled in your life mention taking time for yourself in whatever manner that is. I would like to make it a priority to see as many of the Texas A&m football games this fall, I love this and find it refreshing. I also want to make a point to allow myself to just do the one thing, just watch the game not watch the game, plan a lesson, cook for the week, and who knows what else.

5- Be active in the Jacksonville Junior League
Spending time not on myself is important and helps me gain perspective.

6- Don't be afraid to say No
I am terrible at saying no to anything, it is pretty terrible. I am going to work on saying no and meaning it and not feeling as if I need to explain my reasons. In order to be successful in the next few months I am going to work at protecting the time I need to do my job well. It is hard to be new at anything and I want to be able to give it my best.

What are your goals, do you have anything big coming up? I look forward to sharing with you how this went in a few months.

Hello Florida!

This has been a long week, but we are here in our new apartment. Lily and I are so glad to be here, we are trying to get used to the humidity. I had much more to say but my phone ate the first version of this post... So here are a few pics. I hope to write more soon, hopefully Internet tomorrow. 

It was moving day and she was so scared. 

First night in the bed. 

George W. Bush Presidential Library: Checking it off the Texas Bucket List

One of the last items on my Texas Bucket List was the George W Bush Presidential Library. A few days ago one of my college friends and I decided to sneak away from work and check it out. The library is on the SMU campus and getting there reminded me of Texas A&M. Bush Sr's library is at A&M and I know that I went several different times with different people and every time it was a great story. So I was excited to check out Ws library.

We started with the special exhibit, Presidents and Baseball. I was pretty underwhelmed by this, however I do not love baseball. I would go as far as to say that it is one of my least favorite sports. But it was well put together and worth the visit if you happen to go in Dallas before the exhibit closes in October (I think).

From there we headed into the main portion, it starts with the declaration of running for president and then the whole hanging chad debacle (oh 2000, you were so long ago it seems). I found this part very interesting and it was interesting to read about his plans for his presidency and how his family shaped his life. There is a ton of influence by Laura Bush, I think she is amazing.

Eventually, we get to September 11, 2001. Even now days later I don't know what I can write about this part, it was breathtaking and a perspective that I was not prepared for. This is not for the faint of heart but I could have spent the whole time in this portion. For this alone you should hit up the library.

After this portion, there isn't much left or what was left was slightly underwhelming. I did take a chance to sit in the Oval Office, this could be the future? I like it, it looks good on me.

Future President? I hope so

I will say that regardless of your opinion of W as a president you should check this out, it reminds you that the office of president is not always for everyone. It is also a reminder that sometimes the best laid plans fall apart for reasons out of your control, no president plans for a terrorist attack. I loved the reminder that his main plan before that was education (my personal favorite cause) and he was able to lead us through a very dark time.

I am so glad that I took the time to check this out before I move out of the area. I am pretty sure that hitting up presidential libraries is now part of my travel bucket list, they may not all be this cool but so far I am enjoying them. I hope you get a chance to check this out, it is one of my Dallas must sees!

June Recap and July goals

June was so fast, I cannot believe that it is already over. I also can't believe that I move next week. 

June Recap
1- Manuscripts: 
Meh, this was Ok. It got rejected twice in June (I think), but it is back out. 


2- Hire movers and truck:
Done!
3-Fitness: 
hahaha, this was a struggle to find the time. 
4- Schedule: 
I didn't travel at all but I have made a point to see people here.
5-Lily: 
We did get lots of long walks in, but not as much dog park time as I wanted.
6- Packing: 
this went well, I got lots of things in boxes. (Shout out to my friend E who makes me put things in boxes)
7- Say no to things that I don't want to attend. 
I did pretty well with this. 
8- Read the textbook: 
I read a few chapters, only 3, but it is a good start.

9- Look into finding a new planner for the school year.
I found it... I can't wait to share it with you.

June went slightly better than I originally thought it might have, but it still feels like there should be a few days left in the month...

July Goals

1- Move to Florida: 

2- Be ready for work on day one: I want to have the car done, anything set up like cable and all of that. I want to be able to get to work and go on the first day. 

3- Run more. I don't know how much more but I would love to get 10-12 runs in this month

4- The Review.... I still have to finish writing my part... oops

5- Order the planner (it comes out in July, yes I am buying a fancy one)

6- Enjoy the two weeks in Florida with no work, I am afraid that I will feel bad about not doing anything. I scheduled this in this way so that I would be able to really rest before school starts. I want to read and bake and just spend time with Lily. 

This seems like an easy month but moving over 1000 miles away is going to take it out of me. I am so excited to be in Florida. I cannot wait to be Professor Malcolm... crazy!

I would totally have written more but I am tired from the packing and shark week and work and everything. Hopefully long posts are returning soon!

The most amazing lipstick

So I a few weeks ago I saw this blog post and realized that I needed this LipStick. I went to Target a few days later and snagged it up, it was about $5. In the last few months I realized that I love make up, I remember playing with it when I was younger and not really knowing what to do but now I know what looks good and what looks bad. I am also experimenting with things that are on-trend and fuchsia lip color is so on-trend.

Revlon's Super Lustrous Fuchsia Fusion 

I have been wearing this everyday and this lip stays on all day. For instance, today I put it on before I left for work and it was there and looked fab all day long and it was even there after I went for a run. It does loose some of its vibrance by the end of the day but it still looks good.

I am calling this the princess chemist look, I am learning that I love fashion and science and that while those two things don't always go together they don't have to be two different parts of my life. I am a chemist and I love to look nice and wear makeup. I am finding that this lipstick reminds me of that when I see it in the mirror.

Smart and pretty

I cannot wait to start my new job wearing this, it might be a little different but you know what this is me! Hello fancy!

Kaboom Town: Checking it off the Texas Bucket List

I will admit that I don't really love July 4th, it wasn't a huge deal growing up and when I was small the loud noises scared me. So I haven't really done anything for July 4th in years (probably many many, but seriously who is counting). This weekend was dedicated to packing and trying to make sure that I am able to get things done at the house and the like. So I wasn't super sad when nothing was planned but when a chance to watch one of the top 10 firework shows nationwide arose, I took it. My friend Elysa and I packed all day and then headed over to her house to hang out and watch the show.

Kaboom Town, is in Addison Texas, and I hear that parking is a nightmare. So I haven't really been interested in waiting to park and then sweating to death to see a few fireworks. However, after seeing these from her house a few miles away I should have made that a priority. 

It was amazing. I was so impressed, I tried to take a few photos but really who needs to see blurry photos that are lame. I mostly just sat there and enjoyed the show. It is about 30 minutes long, put to some pretty good music. I can't usually focus that long on things I'm not obsessed with, that wasn't happening. If you get a chance to check this out, you totally should. I hear that you should get there early so that you can get a spot and see everything. 

Did you have a wonderful 4th? I spend the actually day doing more packing before I watch the 3rd place world cup match. It was a great way to spend the day with the pup and being productive. I did take Sunday off, a trip to the dog park and then an afternoon with my brother and sis-in-law was just the thing I needed.

Happy Birthday America, you don't look a day over 225!!!