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
Thursday, July 28, 2011
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!
~ Some of my favorite & fun French foods ~ I bet you can’t say that 5 times real fast :) ~
Crepes
Escargot
Raclette
~ Good time with friends… dinner parties and more dinner parties…and some (…wait for it…) Sing Star ~
Our friends have the sweetest kids!!!
Yummy food!
…and some serious Sing Star!
~ Now Just of the Two of us!!! ~
MT!
Even when we weren’t sightseeing we couldn’t help but run into beautiful Parisian/Egyptian monuments!
Just hanging out at a street fair…
I love this man!
Having fun!
The top of the tower!
Thanks to our friends who let us claim this as our home for a week!
~ Some of my favorite & fun French foods ~ I bet you can’t say that 5 times real fast :) ~
Crepes
Escargot
Raclette
~ Good time with friends… dinner parties and more dinner parties…and some (…wait for it…) Sing Star ~
Our friends have the sweetest kids!!!
Yummy food!
…and some serious Sing Star!
~ Now Just of the Two of us!!! ~
MT!
Even when we weren’t sightseeing we couldn’t help but run into beautiful Parisian/Egyptian monuments!
Just hanging out at a street fair…
I love this man!
Having fun!
The top of the tower!
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.
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
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
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Month 9: My thoughts on moving to Houston!
WE ARE MOVING TO HOUSTON! On our first date MT (my husband) told me that he wanted to move to Houston one day. Somewhere between that date and our wedding his dream of moving to Houston became my dream too. The Friday before this past Friday MT was offered a great position in Houston, so our dream has come true and we are MOVING TO HOUSTON!!! You may ask, why Houston? There are so many reasons! We live in NYC one of the most expensive cities in the world. We love this city, but we are spending so much money to live here. Given the cost of living in NYC, you would expect that the education system and the housing would offer a fair trade back, but, unfortunately this is not the case. So we are now moving to a state where there is no state income tax, a relatively stable economy, low cost of living and where a large part of his family is located.
Logically, it is the best possible move for our family, but emotionally I’m dying. This is the most painful move I have ever had to make. My family and I moved to NYC from St. Lucia when I was 3 years old. I have no memories of living in St. Lucia, so NYC is the only home I know. This is where my father taught me how to ride a bike, where my father taught me how to skip rocks in the Hudson River, were my family took long drives down 5th Avenue to see the store windows light up at night, where I went to my school dances, where I bathed in fire hydrants on hot summer days, where I had my first job, where my entire family became American citizens, where my parents voted in American elections, where my mother learned she had cancer and became a survivor, and where I learned that my father past away. I can go on and on, but basically this city has been everything to me and I love it. I will miss NYC dearly. I will mourn my departure from New York like the loss of a close family member. Thank you New York, I love you!
Logically, it is the best possible move for our family, but emotionally I’m dying. This is the most painful move I have ever had to make. My family and I moved to NYC from St. Lucia when I was 3 years old. I have no memories of living in St. Lucia, so NYC is the only home I know. This is where my father taught me how to ride a bike, where my father taught me how to skip rocks in the Hudson River, were my family took long drives down 5th Avenue to see the store windows light up at night, where I went to my school dances, where I bathed in fire hydrants on hot summer days, where I had my first job, where my entire family became American citizens, where my parents voted in American elections, where my mother learned she had cancer and became a survivor, and where I learned that my father past away. I can go on and on, but basically this city has been everything to me and I love it. I will miss NYC dearly. I will mourn my departure from New York like the loss of a close family member. Thank you New York, I love you!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Month 9
What did you do for Memorial Day?
We went camping!!! It was my first time sleeping out in the wild in a tent. It wasn’t that wild since we were at a campsite that had the basic amenities. My husband married his total opposite. He is an athlete, I run into walls (and I don’t care). He loves camping and being outside; I dropped out of day camp (and I don’t care) and can be described as a homebody,
but one thing we do have in common is our love for trying new things, so even though I had never been camping, he knew that I would be willing to give it a try and I did! We invited another couple to go with us and on Friday, May 27, 2011 he picked me up from work and we all headed north to Lake George, NY. Lake George is about a 3.5 hour drive from New York City and is definitely worth the trip. Lake George is beautiful, sweet and the campsite administrators were very organized. The camp site looked a bit like a suburban subdivision, but with tons of trees and no houses. We had a bare plot of land surrounded by trees, a cooking pit, a picnic table and one tap of running water. The campsite did have bathrooms and showers on site but you had to walk a short distance to get to them.
My favorite part of camping:
1. Sleeping in a tent rocks! I don’t know why but I slept like a baby. It rained both nights and it didn’t bother me. In fact, I found the rain drops hitting the tent soothing.
2. The showers - Yes it was a pain in the butt to walk to the showers and a bit awkward for me to share showers… but the water that fell from those pipes did amazing things for my hair, which really helped make up for the fact that I looked like s*&t! Getting dressed in a tent is not for me, but I will discuss that more in the “not like” section below.
3. The food- We only had 3 seasonings with us: olive oil; salt; and black pepper. We cooked so simply and healthy and everything tasted great. Something about using wood for grilling food made everything taste much better.
Things I did not like about camping:
1. I really missed having a dresser. Something about having to sort out my clothes on a floor in small tent was too much for me.
2. Cold Rain. A lot of cold rain during the daytime sucks anywhere you are, but especially when camping. It rained on and off for most of the weekend. You can’t cook outside if it is raining too hard which means you can’t eat. Lucky for us the rain did break every so often, so we didn’t starve to death. The rain also limited us from doing some outdoor activities like jogging because if all of our clothes got wet would have no place to dry them. That was a bit disappointing because I really wanted see what it feels like to jog on soil as opposed to the streets on New York.
Overall it was good couples’ weekend and I can see why my husband loves it… So yes, we will camp again!!!
We went camping!!! It was my first time sleeping out in the wild in a tent. It wasn’t that wild since we were at a campsite that had the basic amenities. My husband married his total opposite. He is an athlete, I run into walls (and I don’t care). He loves camping and being outside; I dropped out of day camp (and I don’t care) and can be described as a homebody,
but one thing we do have in common is our love for trying new things, so even though I had never been camping, he knew that I would be willing to give it a try and I did! We invited another couple to go with us and on Friday, May 27, 2011 he picked me up from work and we all headed north to Lake George, NY. Lake George is about a 3.5 hour drive from New York City and is definitely worth the trip. Lake George is beautiful, sweet and the campsite administrators were very organized. The camp site looked a bit like a suburban subdivision, but with tons of trees and no houses. We had a bare plot of land surrounded by trees, a cooking pit, a picnic table and one tap of running water. The campsite did have bathrooms and showers on site but you had to walk a short distance to get to them.
My favorite part of camping:
1. Sleeping in a tent rocks! I don’t know why but I slept like a baby. It rained both nights and it didn’t bother me. In fact, I found the rain drops hitting the tent soothing.
2. The showers - Yes it was a pain in the butt to walk to the showers and a bit awkward for me to share showers… but the water that fell from those pipes did amazing things for my hair, which really helped make up for the fact that I looked like s*&t! Getting dressed in a tent is not for me, but I will discuss that more in the “not like” section below.
3. The food- We only had 3 seasonings with us: olive oil; salt; and black pepper. We cooked so simply and healthy and everything tasted great. Something about using wood for grilling food made everything taste much better.
Things I did not like about camping:
1. I really missed having a dresser. Something about having to sort out my clothes on a floor in small tent was too much for me.
2. Cold Rain. A lot of cold rain during the daytime sucks anywhere you are, but especially when camping. It rained on and off for most of the weekend. You can’t cook outside if it is raining too hard which means you can’t eat. Lucky for us the rain did break every so often, so we didn’t starve to death. The rain also limited us from doing some outdoor activities like jogging because if all of our clothes got wet would have no place to dry them. That was a bit disappointing because I really wanted see what it feels like to jog on soil as opposed to the streets on New York.
Overall it was good couples’ weekend and I can see why my husband loves it… So yes, we will camp again!!!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
I’m back!!! Month 4-8
Hi guys I’m back! [Sorry I have been away for so long, but there have been several developments that have required me to make some adjustments.] Yes, I’m still married and still madly in love. I’m also still cooking but I don’t have as much free time as I used to because…. I GOT JOB!!!! I was working part-time as a bookkeeper when I started this blog and on January 2 I started a new job as a pre-school teacher! I have been really enjoying my new career but I also promised my bookkeeping client that I would still work until he found a replacement, so from January to April I had been working 6 or 7 days a week! I have never worked this much in my life, so my new work schedule coupled with married life significantly reduced my free time, so during the period I was not able to write my blog. Now, I’m finally back and I’ve missed you guys!!! More to come soon…I promise.
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