Thursday, July 28, 2011

Month 11! A letter to my preschool students in NYC!!!

Dear Purple Penguins,

I’m just writing a short note to say hello and to tell you that I miss you very much. How are my Purple Penguins doing? What exciting things have you done this summer at *****? Things are going well for me and my husband in Texas. We are very happy. We live in a city called Houston which is very different from New York City. Most people in Houston live in houses and not in apartment buildings. It’s also warm all year round. There are no subways in Texas so right now I am learning how to drive. I’m also busy meeting new people and making new friends. Just like many of you will be doing this fall in kindergarten. I know a lot of you will be going to new schools and I’m very proud of you. I am also very proud of those of you who are staying at ***** because I know you will make the new students feel very welcomed. Do you know how to make friends feel welcome? You make them feel welcome by making sure they always have someone to play with. Okay friends, I won’t keep you any longer, I cannot wait to hear back from you.

All My love,
Ms. Breanne

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Month 10: PARIS!

Somewhere between saying goodbye to New York and saying hello to Houston we were able to sneak in a quick trip to Paris, France! This was not our first trip to France, but we had never been there together. Since we were not pressed to go sightseeing we spent most of the time relaxing, having fun with friends and just spending time with each other eating and walking through the streets of Paris. Unfortunately, on our first day I broke the camera, so most of the pictures below were taken with my IPhone. Since I am new to blogging, I still haven’t gotten a full handle on posting pictures, so below are just a few shots that I thought you might enjoy.

Thanks to our friends who let us claim this as our home for a week!

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~ Some of my favorite & fun French foods ~ I bet you can’t say that 5 times real fast :) ~

Crepes
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Escargot
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Raclette
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~ Good time with friends… dinner parties and more dinner parties…and some (…wait for it…) Sing Star ~

Our friends have the sweetest kids!!!
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Yummy food!
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…and some serious Sing Star!
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~ Now Just of the Two of us!!! ~

MT!
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Even when we weren’t sightseeing we couldn’t help but run into beautiful Parisian/Egyptian monuments!
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Just hanging out at a street fair…
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I love this man!
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Having fun!
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The top of the tower!
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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Month 10: About that apartment! WE GOT IT!!!

Here is a sneak peek of our new place… I’m so excited!!!

BTW our things have not arrived from NYC yet so we will be camping at my in-laws until then.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Month 10: My first Week in Houston, TX

My first week in TX was full of ups and downs. First, I am happy that MT, the cats and I all got here safely. We have two cats that had to fly cargo. MT and I were both very nervous about having our cats fly cargo but it was the only way we were able to transport them. Ultimately they survived after a short period of adjustment. One cat hid under the bed for a couple of days, but now he is out and up to his old shenanigans. Both cats now seem to be adjusting well in TX.

Right, now we are living with MT’s parents until we find an apartment. Our goal is to live in an apartment for 9-12mos while we explore and research different neighborhoods where we will buy our first home. Finding an apartment shouldn’t be hard because you can just drive up to an apartment complex during business hours and ask to see a place. In NYC this process would be much more complicated because you have to make appointments with real estate agents to see apartments. We saw 5 apartments last Sunday and I fell in love with one apartment complex because it's a beautiful new building. Most apartments in TX are garden apartments like in Melrose place. I want a NYC style building and this one reminds me of a new high end apartment building in NYC but for a third of the rental rate. Additionally, unlike most NYC apartment’s buildings (even the high end ones) this building has a real gym and a beautiful swimming pool with BBQ pits. When we visited they had a lot of tenants using it so it will be a good place for us to make new friends. Oh and I can see MT’s office building from the corner. I think this apartment building would be a great transition for me instead of renting a house. I've lived in New York most of my life, so I feel more comfortable in a building then a house.

I know everyone who has lived in a house or suburbs takes certain things for granted but I’m very much out of my element in the suburban setting. I realized this not only from my own feelings but from people’s reactions when I tell them this is my first time using a dishwasher, home security system, garbage disposal, etc. The big kicker is that I am still learning how to drive. Lucky for me I have my driver's license, but I've never really needed it before now. The last time I drove on a highway was 10years ago. Basically, I’m still a new driver and driving on the big roads of TX scares me. The side roads and avenues are so large out here that they are comparable in size to freeways in NYC. I drove us to dinner Monday night which was 10 minutes away from the house and for me, that was 10 minutes of hell! I had to merge into different lanes with on-coming traffic and that freaked me out. I nearly caused and accident and just wanted to give up and cry. After that incident, MT started taking me to an empty parking lot at a nearby high school to practice driving after he gets home from work each day and each day my driving improves. Yesterday I drove on the freeway by myself! I was following MT who was in the car directly in front of me and we were on speaker phone the whole time just in case. I was so proud of myself.

P.S. Unfortunately, MT’s parents internet has been going in and out so I’m not able to upload pictures