It's go time!

It's been a great Christmas.. but also a very hectic one!

We flew home the weekend before Christmas to do an "early" celebration with our families. Carly was graduating from UNCW so we wanted to fit that into our trip back east. We started out in Hillsborough Friday-Sunday for the Tuck Christmas and Graduation celebration.. and then headed to Salisbury Sunday-Tuesday for the Tinsley Christmas. Overall, it was a great visit.

Thomas and I spent Christmas here in Austin with the dogs and it was really nice. We went to our Christmas Eve service, came home and watched Polar Express (a tradition of ours), and then got up and made a big breakfast before opening presents. We also had dinner with some friends of ours that were also in town for Christmas. Since our apartment is in shambles and pulled apart due to all the packing, they agreed to host us at their apartment. And it was delicious!

After Christmas, we did a couple days of packing.. and then headed east again for Meredith and Ben's wedding. We decided to drive this trip so that Thomas could stay in Georgia after the wedding and would also have a car. We stopped in New Orleans along the way and had a night out on Bourbon Street. And then also stayed a night in our home in GA before making the last leg to NC. We were able to fit in dinner with our good friends Kalee and Matt. And also breakfast with the Smith Family (that I used to nanny for). The wedding was awesome and we had a fabulous time! It was a great way to bring in the New Year.

After the wedding, we stayed a night in Salisbury so that we could get to the airport more quickly this morning (Monday). I had to be there at 6 (eek). Thomas was able to drop me at the airport and continue the drive to GA.

I'll be here for 3 weeks. This first week back will be incredibly busy because the movers are coming to pack up our things on Saturday. So I'll be here to help organize that and Thomas will be in GA to receive the stuff. For the last 2 weeks, I'll be here with minimal stuff so I'll definitely need to find some things to do to pass the time! Hopefully I'll get lots of running in.. and a little soul searching as well on what to do with my life once we get back to Georgia!

That's it for now. I'm pooped from a long day in the airport. Wendy was a very nice travel companion today.. but she's a little on the heavy side :)

Goodnight everyone!

Taking on.... Georgia?

So I've been holding off on this blog until we had some definite answers... And now that we do, my husband has given me the "ok" to blog about it!

Our lives have been turned upside down over the past month. Basically, Thomas found out that come December 31st, his job here in Austin would be going away. Apparently, Italy decided to do some company "restructuring". We were assured it was nothing performance related.. But, as I'm sure you can imagine, we went into panic mode! Thomas immediately started job hunting ( within and outside of his company). His option within the same company would allow us to move back to the east coast and back into our home in Lawrenceville. However, we knew there would be a lot of travel and responsibility involved. Thomas' other option was to take a position with a different company that's located in Dallas. This would be a travel- free job.. However we were having trouble thinking of living in the Dallas area.
After much thought (and a whole lot of praying!) we've decided to move to Georgia! We're very excited. Although we've only been in Austin 5 months, we do miss our home.. And it'll certainly be nice to free up some money. Paying double bills can put a bit of a hold up on your social agenda!
We' re very sad to leave the friends that we've gained since moving to Austin.. But we're excited about the next part of this journey.

We'll continue to keep everyone posted on details! As of now, Thomas will be starting his job January 3rd and will be moving to Georgia right before the New Year. I'll be in Austin for a few more weeks to finish up my job and will probably be in Georgia closer to the end of the month.

More to come on our Christmas week. For now, I need to run before my free in-flight wireless runs out! :)

I love you. I love you. I looovvveeeeeee you.

I'm currently watching Elf (hince the title of this post).  It is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies.. however, Polar Express and Christmas Vacation are a close tie as well! I guess I just love Christmas movies PERIOD. I think Thomas rolls his eyes every time he notices that I've recorded another christmas movie. But I cant help it. Just call me Buddy. I love Christmas. 

It ended up being a really nice weekend. On Friday night, we went out to dinner with our Kentucky friends and some of their extended family. We went to Home Slice and it was very yummy! 

On Saturday, we woke up early for our day trip to McKinney. It took about 3.5 hours to get there. We went to Frisco first and took the dogs to a local dog park. From there, we went into downtown McKinney and had lunch at a local italian restaurant called Sauce. It was really cute! After lunch, we drove around, did some shopping, had In-N-Out for dinner, and then headed back! 

In-N-Out was really the highlight of the trip. Sadly, that was kind of a deciding factor for this day trip. They've just recently opened a couple of In-N-Out burgers near Dallas. And we love it! The menu is minimal (burgers, shakes, and fries).. but they do have a "secret menu" online that gives you additional info on things to order. 

http://www.badmouth.net/in-n-outs-secret-menu/ (check it out if your interested). I prefer my fries "Animal Style"! :)

This morning, we got up and met our Kentucky friends for Brunch at Z' Tejas. It's a local "tex mex" restaurant. We actually decided to take the dogs with us so that we could head to Zilker park straight after. As I've mentioned before, its our favorite park.. and its huge. So its definitely a good place to wear the dogs out. They've basically been sleeping the rest of the afternoon (and I may or may not have taken a little nap with them). 

Thomas will be out of town this week and my birthday is on Wednesday.. so we celebrated my birthday a little early today! He cooked me a yummy spaghetti dinner and let me open my presents early. I got a Under Armor Shirt and a nice pair of Under Armor running gloves!

I got a package in the mail this week from my mom as well. It contained a cute outfit, some running pants, and a couple gifts from my brother and sister in law (cookie cook book, spice bowls, and a icing decorater kit). I was very excited to have lots of fun new stuff! And I've been in a cookie baking frenzy :) Tis the season right?

Time to run! I'm trying to write and watch Elf at the same time and I'm missing some of my favorite parts. Completely unacceptable! :)

Hope everyone has a good week!