My Hubby Got Skillssss

While Jarrod was here he had an interview with the company Praxair.  They run a hydrogen pipe line (yeah I didn't know we had pipelines for Hydrogen either) here in Houston and while it didn't seem like the best job at first, it was a chance to practice his interview skills and learn more.  Since I was at school the day of his interview I ask Jarrod to take some photos of himself all gussied up :)  Here's what I got...

Full view...

Close up... Not bad aye? :)














Maybe it was his suit, maybe it was his charm, but whatever it was the interview went extremely well and Jarrod was offered a job this past Thursday!  Can you hear the choir singing HALLELUJAH?! The job turned out to be pretty good and a great place to start here in Houston.  The hours will be a little funny, but we'll make it work since after all it gets us in the same place.

Thanks to everyone who sent all the positive thoughts our way, it has been a long tough month and we're glad the search is over.  Jarrod and his mom will be driving down in 2 weeks with the last bit of our stuff and then Ellen will fly home on the following Tuesday.  Hope these 2 weeks fly by so I can see my hubby again :)  Can't wait for him to finally be home!

Here Comes the Fried Asparagus Part...

Sorry, I got a little ahead of myself with the title of the last post.  While Jarrod was in town we were lucky that Houston extended their restaurant week and we got to try two really awesome restaurants for only $35 bucks per person for 4 courses!  AMAZING!

Saturday night was the Hearsay Gastro Lounge.  Americana type food, very yummy, and a really cool location and atmosphere.  Jarrod began with a crab dip and I had... FRIED asparagus!  It was really good, though a little strange when you got to the end of each grit.  Here is Jarrod after the first course... 

Of course one good photo deserves another...

2nd course was a salad for me and a tortilla soup for Jarrod.  He then had the fish and I had the lamb chops.  Each of our dishes came with risotto...MMMmmm Risotto!  We both love it so much!  Last but not least was dessert.  Jarrod had his favorite Creme Broulee

And I had a frozen soufflé... divine! 

The next night we went to a restaurant called the Melting Pot.  They have them all over the place and it's basically a fondue party for two..or three...or.. well you get the picture :)  Quite amazing food followed by probably the best dessert I have ever had in my life.  The atmosphere was quite romantic with low lighting and small private booths and the wine we had was wonderful.  Probably one of the best meals we have had in some time!

 the pot

 Thanks Waitress!  

 Always like taking our own though...

 artsy fartsy while we wait...

 Mmm Wisconsin Cheddar!

 Fonduing...

 In heaven with the dark chocolate fondue 

 hahahaha

Fabric, Furniture and Fried Asparagus... OH MY!

After the cross country meet was over, Jarrod and I took Portland to the dog park for a bit so he would ware himself out and thus sleep while Jarrod and I ran around doing things that afternoon.

Our first stop was a store called High Fashion Home Goods...LOVE IT! Check it out on the web  It is quite the store with home fabric and furniture.  Most of the things there are way out of our price range, but they are wonderful to drool over and imagine having one day when we both make it rich and famous.  Here is one find in particular that we both loved...


(I apologize for these being sideways, not sure how to get them to flip, they're not flipped anywhere else on the computer...suggestions??)

Though it's technically a piece of patio furniture, very large patio clearly, we thought it would make a really cool bed :)  How fun?!  The only problems would be the very thin mattress, Jarrod's long legs, and the cat climbing the sides.  But other than that it would be awesome!




After perusing so possible apartments to move to and checking out the area they were in, we got really hungry and decided to get some wings!  They were clearly not as good as the ones in Buffalo, NY, but they were tasty, the beer was cold, college football was on and we got to take home the glasses :)

Go Longhorns!














When we got home from our adventures we were greeted by this fella... craziest squirrel I have ever seen... Oh Texas!

And I'm Back!

Sorry to those of you who are actually following this, waiting for the next episode of Amy (and sometimes Jarrod) take Texas, I have not had 2 minutes to sit and blog over the last few weeks.  School has kept me quite busy and when I get home it's grading and attention to the pup.  There hadn't been anything to really blog about prior to Labor Day weekend anyway, so you didn't miss anything :)

The Friday of Labor Day weekend was a great day however... Jarrod came for a visit!  Thanks to Bill who received free miles from a friend and couldn't use them in time, Jarrod got a free flight to come visit and go on an interview (more on that later).  Though we were extremely excited to see each other after about a month apart, all we did Friday night was head home and crash.  I had to be at a cross country meet in the am and like the amazing husband he is, Jarrod was getting up early to come with me.

While we were at the meet, Jarrod ventured to the near by dog park so Portland could run free and meet other dogs.  Everyone at the meet loved Portland, but with all the teens running around he was far too excited to relax.  While at the dog park Jarrod and Portland met a very large dog!

Meet Bear... note that the man next to him is not a small man either, thus Bear is huge!

He and Portland got a long swimmingly.  However their time was cut short when a less than well behaved dog showed up.  Jarrod decided it was time to leave and they said their goodbyes to Bear.

The two boys then made their way back to our area to watch the end of the JV race.  When asked what our dog's name was, most replied to the answer with, "Oh, I thought it would be spot..."  Sorry to disappoint and not go the obvious route everyone!

I Just Did What?!

Tonight is the eve of 2 weeks down as a high school teacher at Lamar High School, Houston Tx.  WOW!  What a whirlwind these past two weeks have been.  I can not believe two whole weeks have gone by with students.  Coaching has definitely made it feel less stressful because I always end my days with my team.  It's really nice to start the day and end the day that way.  The girls work really hard and I am glad so many show up at 6:30am! It makes getting up at 5:30 worth it...mostly :)

My classes are fairly large, 36 being the largest I believe.  Never had I seen classes this big in Maine, but some how it seems to work.  Perhaps it's because they're freshmen mostly and so they still care a wee bit about what the teacher says and thinks.  Not much, but perhaps a bit.  My toughest class is definitely my sophomores.  They are SO chatty!  And many of the girls are at this stage where being "dumb" is cute.  I know even after only 2 weeks that they are very smart and capable, they just don't want to appear as such apparently.  And they guys are in the "I'm too cool for school" mode.  FUN.  I'm hoping I break through to this group eventually because the content is really interesting to me and could spark some really good conversations, you know, if it was actually cool to talk to your teacher :P

The staff at school is really pretty great!  It's very large, but everyone is friendly and willing to answer questions.  This is especially good for me since I bounce from room to room.  Floating is definitely not my favorite part of the job, however meeting up in the floater's office at the end of the day is quite nice.  We can all compare notes on the day or just complain when needed :)

In terms of life outside of school, things are equally as busy.  It seems like my days are gone before I can begin them and I rarely see the sun except for when it's beating down on me as I run with my girls.  In eight days I will have been married 2 months and yet have only seen my husband for about 2 weeks.  It's a very odd feeling to be married and yet not with the person I'm married to.  As if there is some unwritten rule you're not suppose to do that.  On a much more positive note, Jarrod arrives tomorrow at 8pm!  He took an earlier flight to avoid any Earl mess and it actually works out wonderfully since we have to get up early for a cross country meet!  Ah the duties of a coach never end!  After the meet, Jarrod and I have tons of things planned.  I want to share all I have learned so far while he's been gone and I doubt we'll get through all of it.  We're going to enjoy the end of Houston's Restaurant Week and do some fabric shopping for a wedding quilt I am going to attempt.  We're going to check out the neighborhood we think we'd like to move to and do some shopping here and there.  He will be here until Wednesday because he has an interview on Tuesday!!!  Please keep your fingers crossed that when he leaves on Wednesday, it's only for 2 weeks :)

Stay tuned for pictures from our super fun long weekend... Woo!