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!

Beachy Keen Jelly Bean

For our new bedroom Jarrod and I (read: I suggested it and like a good husband Jarrod agreed) decided to go with a "beach" theme.  Not like a actual beach scene persea, but more of how you might feel if you lived in a beach house on the cape or such.  It's very difficult to achieve this with a rust colored wall and no white wooden furniture, but the effort is there.

This weekend I decided to add a few things to spruce the bedroom up more before Jarrod comes to visit.  I purchases burlap for drapes and a see-through fabric for the ceiling to make it feel more homey.  Thanks to my handy dandy staple gun I was able to hang all the fabric with minimal hardware, aka none, and I think it doesn't look half bad... could be better, but not bad...

I wish the ceiling fan was further back so I could do another low dip with the fabric, but alas it is not my place and when I own my own home I can put the fan wherever I want!



















I then went to a store called Hobby Lobby, which is a mega crafting store.  I wanted some art work to hang up as well as supplies to create some art.  Perhaps I watch a little too much HGTV but I figured I could make something rather than purchase pre-made stuff.  I didn't want anything toooo obvious, like a picture of white sand and the blue ocean, so I settled on a trilogy of waves.  I then bought canvas, some sea shells and some paint to go for a more modern piece.  They're kinda small for the wall, but it's a start.

We're hoping to not be in this apartment very long (for a multitude of reasons, some of which I've listed in previous posts) so I don't think I'll do much else to the room.  For now it seems pretty relaxing and beachy... if you don't count the gianormous dog crate on the corner :)

To continue my craftiness I am going to take on a quilt... stay tuned for how that project turns out!

Hello Whirlwind Called School

I know it has been a while since I wrote last but school has begun and it has been extremely busy on many fronts.  I will try to touch base on a few things, but I apologize ahead of time if I leave something out... feel free to ask follow up questions if needed :)

DOG: Ok so as many know I have had some really hard times with our new pup Portland.  We wanted desperately to keep him in the kitchen all day while I was away at school so as to have more space but still being contained.  Due to his wonder dog traits this plan was not working and so I had to break down and buy a crate :(  I did not want to do this, however with the trusty support of my facebook friends and family I went to Pet Smart and found one... on sale!  I was able to buy a bigger one for the price of the medium sized one so that made me feel better about him being detained.  The first day I left him in his crate I was certain I would find Houdini in the living room when I got home.  True it's form, the crate kept him inside all day and he seemed quite ok about it! Thank goodness!

SCHOOL:  School with students began on Monday and it has been a crazy tornado of reading, planning, teaching and coaching, with the days flying by.  I am teaching 4 sections of World Geography, 1 section of World History and 2 "sections" of Cross Country.  It's really nice that we coach during the day so there is nothing extra once school is over by 4pm.  We do meet at 6:30 am for the xc team to get a run in while it's "cooler", which needless to say has been tough in terms of getting enough sleep to stay energized through the school day.  So far my classes seem ok, mostly freshmen, with one class of sophomores, but really it's just getting used to them all being so tall!  Man do they grow from middle school to high school!!!  My one gripe at this point, at least the one worth typing about, is that I don't have my own classroom.  It would be great to have a place to meet the xc team when needed, and to have a place I feel settled.  However on the flip side I do really enjoy having other new teachers around in our floaters office, so it's not horrible.

COACHING: I am coaching cross country right now as I mentioned above and so far it's pretty great.  Most of the girls are really dedicated and that's nice to see when you're dragging your butt out of bed at 5:30 for them.  We also have track girls during the day when we meet for "XC Class" and that gets tough because they're not really in the training mode yet since their season technically starts in the spring.  So we have a lot of girls who do not really want to be there when we meet, but the ones that do work really hard and it's nice to see.  I've been running with many of the girls on their daily runs and it's been great to get a work out in before school.  The only problem is that the coaching office's shower does not have hot water!!! Luckily I'm at about 100* when Im done running and I can't even tell :)

JARROD: Jarrod has an interview!!!  It's very exciting because there are actually 2 of the same positions that need to be filled and so far Jarrod is the only one (he thinks) that is being interviewed.  The chances seem pretty good.  The only down side is it's not the greatest job in the world.  It's shift work that does not pay well.  He'd have a crazy schedule and we'd barely see each other, but at least he'd be HERE.  Once he's living here it will be much easier to find the right job.

At this point that's really all my life entails... somewhat sad I know, but busy is a good place to be when you're alone... Hopefully not for long!!!