A Fall Saturday

Today was a truly lovely day. When I woke up this morning, it was chilly outside…and I knew it was going to finally be one of those gorgeous, sunny, breezy fall days with a not-so-high-as-it-has-been temperature!

Fall is my favorite season and always has been. I love the wind, the falling leaves, the football, and of course…fall fashion!

A few (well…12) of my favorite fall things:

- Pumpkin, Spice, and Apple scented candles

- Making soup

- Going for a walk

- Sweaters

- Coats/Jackets

- Scarves

- Boots

- Fall/Winter materials (houndstooth, tweed, and cashmere…)

- Football

- The anticipation of Thanksgiving Day

- Crunching leaves

- Planning for the holidays

So because the first day of fall came and went without me noticing, thanks to a particularly tough work schedule at the time…I decided to celebrate fall today! Aside from taking Muggsy to the vet, I cleaned the house, shopped for fall goodies, rummaged through my cookbooks for fall recipes, looked at fall fashion online, read up on fall fashion trends in my magazines, and took a walk with the dog. As a result…my house smells like a spiced pumpkin candle, I have yummy recipes to make tomorrow, my summer wardrobe is packed under the bed, and I have begun to create my fall fashion wish list!

If I had unlimited means, I would purchase the following items right away: (Christmas shoppers...feel free to take note...hehehe...)

This…

These…

This…

These...

This...

This...

and This…

Isn't wishful thinking so fun?!? Happy fall! :)

Health, Wealth, Happiness

Health:

Today I inadvertently (when Muggsy had an accident in the living room) discovered that our dog needed to be taken to the vet right away. I won't go in to the particulars, but let's just say that I detected a small creature that had obviously found its way into and through our poor little dog! So, Jarrod and Muggsy went to a brand new vet and received an unpleasant diagnosis that indicated the presence of a tape worm. Yes, ewww. Fortunately that issue can be resolved by two pills that will zap it and make it disappear. Anyway, big adventure for Muggsy. The bad news is that he somehow got a tape worm and we're all disgusted by that. The good news is that we have a new vet and M is now parasite-free.

Wealth:

Ok, well I wouldn't really say "wealth", but to us it is absolutely huge that I FINALLY got a job. I won't spill the details on my blog but rest assured that it is a fabulous position with a fabulous company and if you want to know about it I will be happy to tell you over email or the phone! In short, I got the job that I really wanted and after having just completed my 5th day I can honestly say that I love it. Anyway, the point is...paychecks coming soon. Phew!

Happiness:

Since my last post we have met new friends, seen new places, tasted new food and settled in to our daily routine. So far, so good. The weather was absolutely gorgeous today and we came home from work and were able to open the doors and windows to let the breeze blow through our apartment. There seems to always be a breeze here and they say that it comes off the ocean (which seems weird seeing as how the gulf is a few hours away, but whatever). Most days it is warm, but today we got a little taste of fall!

Last Friday we attended our first "First Friday". This San Antonio tradition happens on the ...you guessed it...first friday...of every month. We spent the evening with friends at the Blue Star Brewery and surrounding art galleries eating food, sipping beer, touring gallery exhibits (all the galleries stay open and let you walk through with your beer!), and listening to live music. It was tons of fun! If anyone visits us on a first friday weekend, they can rest assured we will be exposing them to this fun tradition!

Also, last week I ventured over to the Central Market for the first time. Oh. My. Gosh. That is the nicest grocery store I've ever been in! Tons of fresh produce (including the exciting, rare-ish things like pomegranates, white asparagus, and purple potatoes!), lots of organic food and specialty ethnic foods, a huge wine and beer selection, ready-made meals for two (that are fantastic!) and much much more. I spent nearly 2 hours walking around and taking it all in. Yes, I realize that the store is not that big and that this makes me somewhat of a dork...but I had a blast!

Last but not least, we now have a digital camera! As soon as I have the time, I will post some pics of the new place. :)

Tidbits from a San Antonio Newbie

So I am still unemployed, although hopefully not for long, and I though I would spend a little time blogging about some of the fun things we’ve discovered about San Antonio.

The grocery shopping is about a million times better here. There is no tax on groceries, which is a luxury we didn’t enjoy in Georgia. Also - a lot of the produce comes from nearby farms or from nearby Mexico so it is cheap and very fresh…also a luxury we didn’t enjoy at our local grocery store in Georgia.

The Mexican food is plentiful and delicious. You can’t walk a block without bumping into at least one, if not two or three, authentic Mexican dining establishments. Some are a little more upscale, and some are complete hole-in-the-wall types of places…but so far we’ve discovered that most of it is good. Last week we went to Mi Tierra, the oldest Mexican restaurant in the city, and it is open 24 hours! Needless to say, this place is very famous and is thus overrun by tourists most of the time…so I don’t know how often we’ll go there, but it was a fun experience. One of the best in the city is rumored to be Paloma Blanca’s , and we plan to visit soon.

When we’re not in the mood for Tex-Mex, there seem to be plenty of other yummy choices as well. Today for lunch we had Chris Madrid’s …and it was heavenly. A better atmosphere and better burger than Fuddruckers any day of the week. And I love Fuddruckers!

Some new friends let us borrow a very cool book of theirs, called Walking Tour of San Antonio. This book literally leads you on numerous walking tours through the historical neighborhoods, the missions, the riverwalk/downtown, the parks, etc. I learned tons of history after just browsing through the pages…and it was especially fun to read little historical tidbits about some of the homes in our surrounding neighborhood!

We quickly figured out where all the necessities are located, although a funny thing happened when Jarrod tried to go to the nearby pharmacy to buy some Advil. He walked in and realized that the Olmos Pharmacy did not in fact sell medicine any more, but rather it is an old pharmacy that still serves malts! Ha!

Soon we plan to visit the following places:

San Pedro Park: The second oldest municipal park (second only to Boston Commons) in the United States. It is supposed to be really gorgeous with a spring-fed swimming pool.

Central Market: The best HEB grocery store in town with TONS of fresh food, organic produce, and delicious meals.

And of course, we’ll plan a trip to float the Guadalupe or Comal Rivers soon!

Texans at last...

Hi everyone!

Long time no blogging, huh? Well, we're here in San Antonio, and so far...life is good...very good.

There are a couple reasons I haven't posted yet, and here they are:

1. We have no camera yet and therefore have not been able to take pics of our completely fabulous apartment to post.

2. I haven't taken a job...yet. Don't want to post on this until it is all settled, which will likely be very soon.

So there you have it...I promise a post is coming soon, and hopefully pictures too.

In the meantime I can tell you that Jarrod is all settled in his office and starts teaching tomorrow. He has been working long hours every day trying to get ready for classes and the debate season. Muggsy and I have been holding down the fort at the apartment, but I have quickly discovered that I would make a terrible "homemaker". I am going nuts. It has been over 3 weeks since I worked and while the break has been nice...I am now completely stir crazy. Now you may think to yourself, "why wouldn't Becca just keep busy by decorating the new apartment, working on projects, etc.?"...but the problem my dear friends, is that we found out last week that Jarrod doesn't get paid until September 25th!!! Yes, that is more than a month away. SO...all decorating projects, new furniture purchases, etc. are on hold for about a month...and hence, my state of boredom and stir-craziness.

The one thing I have done is interview, interview, interview. I have one more (hopefully final) interview today and then I have a big decision to make. So, stay tuned! Also - we are getting a digital camera in the mail any day now, so I promise to take lots of pictures ASAP and post them very soon!

No blogging until....sometime hopefully sooner rather than later!

So today is Wednesday, August 1st. On Tuesday, August 7th, one VW Jetta, one Ford Explorer and one 26 foot Penske truck will pull into San Antonio carrying 2 Eatons, 3 Atchisons (yes - Muggsy counts) and a lot of stuff. Thankfully as of today, we finally have a place to actually pull in to. Yes folks - Jarrod is obtaining a money order as we speak to send in our deposit on an apartment - we have an address - finally. We were beginning to think we would have to live out of the truck!

No, we haven't seen it yet (a little scary), we are blindly trusting our agent to have picked us a nice place (also a little scary) and it doesn't have a washer or dryer connection (very scary). But...it is in a good neighborhood very near Trinity and it is twice the size of the loft we've been living in, with a new kitchen and bathroom...so...we'll take it. If you're ever in San Antonio and want to see us, you might just try popping into a couple laundromats because chances are I'll be there.

Alright, enough sarcasm. Seriously...this is good. We have a place to live and it is only a 6 month lease so we aren't tied to it for a whole year and will be able to buy a house as soon as we sell the loft. We'll post pics after we get there!

Which brings me to my actual point of this post...we're moving, so I won't be on the internet until...well...until we have internet in San Antonio. But next time I'm back I'll undoubtedly have some stories, some pictures and some desire to share details of all the adventures that we are about to embark on.

Alright...back to packing...we're almost done! (Mom - you said you didn't believe we would be done by Friday, but you are SO wrong!)

A Sad Day

Something has just happened that puts all of life in perspective. Skip Prosser, beloved basketball coach and member of the Wake Forest family, has died suddenly after collapsing while he was jogging. It has only been less than twenty minutes since I found out but I feel like I've been hit by a mac truck.

He was a truly amazing person. After he first came to Wake and we all realized how incredible Wake basketball was going to become, I happened to bump into him on the quad on the way to the post office. Like a giddy little girl I said "Hi Coach!" and he waved at me and gave me the biggest most sincere ear to ear grin. Ever since then I just knew that he was a rare find in college athletics...someone who is genuine and cares about other people above all, but who manages to win and win big! He was someone we all trusted, admired, and respected and he was as loyal to his fans as we were to him. He will truly be missed.

So as I sit here and cry silently in my office at UGA, a place where nobody around me seems to understand how devastating this is (and wouldn't unless we were talking about Mark Richt) a lot is sinking in.

Life comes at you so fast and there just isn't time to sweat the small stuff. So we don't have a place to live in San Antonio yet, so we haven't sold our loft yet, so I don't have a job yet...who cares. I have my health, my family, and I'm grateful for everything that I have in this moment.

We love you Skip - may God be with your family...

Fun Pics!

So, no update on the real estate front yet, but in the meantime...here are a few pics from my recent trip to Connecticut to visit my fabulous cousin/best friend/sister I never had...Starley! :)



All serious and happy...
We were going to go to a real wine tasting...but then we figured the wine tasting offered by the sales rep in the liquor store would suffice. We bought a couple bottles. One good glass of red wine will certainly loosen you up!

Killing time on the pier...looking out over Long Island Sound...

Driving to the beach, and jamming out to something (knowing us it was prob. Justin Timberlake or Def Leopard). Ahhh, let the good times roll...

A photo pose gone terribly wrong...

That's better...


The end...