On the Road With the Roses: 01/01/2011

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Lake Somerville, part deaux

We went back out to Lake Somerville last weekend, this time to celebrate Joel's birthday! We couldn't get there until Saturday, so we only spent one night, but it was worth it and very nice to see everybody. Also, we got to try out our new awning! Thanks Jason and Kay!

And we got to see Holly and Joel's new pop-up.

They call her "Mac." She's ENORMOUS. The Tiger could fit inside her with room to spare.

But, it closes up nice and tight.

Good thing Mac was there, because it was frigid that night. Holly and Joel were nice enough to invite us all inside so we could eat without getting frostbite. Here's Holly doing her best to stay warm before dinner......

..........while the guys cooked up some MEAT!

Yum. You really work up an appetite out in nature!

It was a short little jaunt, but we had a good time. On the way home, we checked out our next Texas adventure, Bastrop State Park. It's super close and very pretty. It's a completely different landscape than the rest of Texas. A looooooong time ago, a glacier brought a bunch of earth from Colorado and deposited it near what is now Bastrop. So the land around there looks more like Colorado.

The park is really cool. It was done back in the 30's and there are all these cute little stone cabins built into the hills. Of course, we won't be staying in one of those. But they sure are neat!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

.....and the countdown begins........

....but not before the craziness ensues!

We moved.

Why oh why would we do such a silly and stressful thing when we're leaving in 6 months? Well, it's quite simple: one side of our duplex (rental property we own) was going to be available January 1 and we still didn't have any takers by mid-December. We decided to see what would happen if we tried to rent our house. Shamalamadingdong! It rented FAST so once all our holiday visitors cleared out on December 27th, we started packing.....

(Even after all our purging, we still have so much STUFF!!!!!)

.....played at Club DeVille on Jan 2........

(CD Release on Feb 5th at the ND!)

http://www.candiandthestrangers.com/

.....and moved on Jan 3.

(Capital Movers was great. Thanks Capital Movers!)

Our house is rented short term to a nice family who are looking for a house to buy in the neighborhood. We did a 3-month lease with an option to go month to month for 2 additional months, which means we could be moving again in 3 to 5 months. But we left the utilities on and didn't even change our address (we'll just go by and check the mail occasionally), so it's a little easier than a full-on move.

It sure is........empty!

Man, were we sad to leave our little house!! It was quite emotional which caught us (well, me anyway) by surprise. But it will be worth it because a month of vacancy would have gouged our trip money (a BIG no no!). The sudden move has also been an opportunity to do another major purge and to get the duplex back in shape for new tenants. 2 dudes and a dog have lived there for 2 years so it was quite the "Man Cave". It wasn't showing well at all, so no surprise it didn't rent. We're already elbow deep in getting the duplex back in tip top shape and it's lookin' good!

BTW, Kipper, Slink, and LeTigre are adjusting to the move quite well. We tried to find a home for Slink before we moved so she wouldn't have to move twice, but to no avail. She's still looking for another family that will love her as much as her present one does!!

DAYS TO GO: 169

P.S. Happy birthday Joel!!

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2011 everyone!!

(We're much more excited about this year than Kipper looks.)

I don't put too much stock in this, but it's interesting to note that 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit, which supposedly is a lucky sign.

Obviously, this year is going to be full of adventure for us, but I've noticed that there are big changes in store for almost all our friends and family too....everyone's got new jobs, new relationships, new babies, new options. So, because this is a "lucky year," all these new changes and adventures will be GOOD changes and adventures!

It's also nice to know that the Year of the Rabbit is best for people born in the Year of the Dog,

which just happens to be Greg. Yay us!

(Clearly, I choose to believe in astrology when it behooves me.)

We haven't posted in a while, but that doesn't mean we weren't busy!! And even though we haven't been camping since our Pedernales trip, Le Tigre hasn't been idle. One of our neighbors borrowed it for his sister and significant other to stay in while they were visiting from Tulsa. It was pretty funny seeing our future home all popped up and parked down the street, knowing someone was in there! And of course they all loved it, what's not to love?

The end of 2010 was crazy for us, as I'm sure it was for y'all too. We had the first of four overnight family visitors the Friday before Christmas and it was non-stop from there.

But Amy and I still had time to go horseback riding!

That's Amy. She's a natural.

That's me on the left, with my freakishly small and honery, but awesome, little horse.

It was great to see all our family over the holidays, plus it gave us of opportunity to show off Le Tigre. Every time a new person arrived, we all trooped out to our little camper and popped it up and hung out in it. Everyone was duly impressed, or at least faked it very well!

All of our out-of-town visitors were gone by New Year's Eve, so we spent it with good friends at the SWOOP House.