Hello blog, sorry to have neglected you for so long. Haha, my last post is kinda humorous because I remember how sick I was, and every time I'd start to sit up and think about moving, a wave of sick would wash over me and I'd collapse back into the bed. Looks like I didn't get very far in that update.
I haven't written much since we moved into our new place, which is weird since I feel like we've been here for quite some time. Why don't I give you a tour? Close your eyes - no wait, don't. If you close your eyes you can't read anymore... but go ahead and try to envision my home tour. Pull up into my driveway and exit the driver's side door. Stop briefly as you walk by my garden of random herbs, flowers and texas sage bushes to notice my pride and joy - my cherry tomato plant. I currently have two very green cherry tomatoes that seem to get larger by the day but somehow, to date they have not begun to change color. I thought cherry tomatoes were supposed to get ripe while they are still small, so with an optimist's attitude I'm looking forward to a feast of two cherry tomatoes any day now.
Try to avert your eyes from the beat-up screen door, and open the faded blue front door. Say hi to Miss Sandy, our 48 year-old neighbor, if she's out on the front porch having a ciggy. As you enter our living room, try not to be distracted by the racetrack hallway that extends all the way to the back of the house, through the bathroom door and to the shower window. Instead, take in the whopping 3 by 4 foot space (okay, I'm exaggerating, it's about 7' x 9') where we have our blue IKEA couch, white bookshelf, and tv stand. To complete the look, we've added a dark brown storage/sitting bench in front of the window. This is my favorite room.
Begin your journey down the racetrak hallway and your first stop is the guest room, which we've affectionately begun to call "Sarah's room" since my sister was visiting for Memorial Day. A tiny room, this could easily be someone's closet and with the futon pulled out for sleeping, there's little room for anything else. But when the futon is in it's loveseat form, it's a very cute sitting room or quiet study area. If it were bigger and uncarpeted, it would most definitely have become my art studio. But I suppose that will have to wait until we move into a larger place.
A few more steps down the hallway will bring you to the bedroom door. If you're visiting, this door is most likely shut - somehow we can't control our clothes. Our King-sized bed (an overheating 6'4" husband necessitates this monstrosity) has made this into the Bed-Room, as opposed to a simple Bedroom. Let me explain. This is the room-of-bed. If you're a good jumper, you could probably hop from the doorway directly onto the bed, which is pushed into the back corner of the room already. Good thing we don't need room for a crib in here! *knock on wood*
The second to last stop in the house is our bathroom, previously referenced as the end of the hallway - painted a sage green with brightly colored candles, I tried to achieve a sort of Garden spa feeling - if you can imagine the green walls as an outdoor scene and the yellow and fuschia candles as flowers... I guess the white patterned shower curtain is a cloud... Pretty nice place to take a bath.
Finally, if you take a right at the end of the hallway, you enter our square little kitchen. We've got a tiny table on the right side for dining, an L-shaped kitchen to the left side, bookended by our stove and refidgerator, and a Door to the backyard. There you go, there's more than you ever needed to know about our house. I really like it here - I only wish I had more people to invite over.
I'm sad today because today is the official marker of 1 year away from Virginia. We packed up our belongings and headed down the road sometime in the afternoon on May 31st of last year. With two dogs, 1 U-Haul, and tearful goodbyes, I left the place I love most in order to be with the person I love most. Kelly had gotten a job teaching here in Irving, and I believed I had prepared myself for the move, but still a year later I feel like I've served my time abroad and any day now I'll be released from my sentence so I can go home.
My opinion of Texas so far is that it really forces itself upon you. People here are so proud of their state and so protective of that pride that they will go to great lengths to prove their superiority. It doesn't help that most Texans have never been to Virginia and honestly believe it to be somewhere around the same location as New York and Canada.. You know, somewhere in there. Here are the most common ignorant comments that seem to never die - "How can you be cold here? This is Texas, aren't you from Virginia?" - yet another reference to Virginia's location in or around the Arctic Circle.
"Virginia? Ooh, you're a Yankee." - One can only assume that the speaker has never opened a history book or for that matter, an atlas.
"You don't know what fill-in-the-blank-random-Texas-or-Dallas-Area-thing is???" Everything from local golf tournaments and festivals to state parks, lakes, highways, vegetation, etc. - people in Texas think that everyone in the country knows what it is. This is because they have never lived anywhere else.
Griffin: Are you from here?
Texan: "Oh no, I'm from DFW-area locale that is between 30 and 50 minutes away from here." Persons who are from Denton, went to school in Arlington, and now live in Dallas often fancy themselves world travelers. If you're from the Metroplex, I'm sorry, you're from HERE.
And finally, my personal Favorite Texas oddity - Texans LOVE to brag about their state - sometimes with good reason... For example, Texas has the best barbeque/chili/chicken-fried steak/mexican food..." these are debatable but definitely feasible. But my favorites are when people fight so brutally for their state, they don't realize that they're actually describing a hellish place. "Texas is so hot" "Texas Weather is so severe" "Texas humidity is the worst (ha!)" "The bugs/cockroaches/mosquitoes/ticks/fleas are the worst in the country." "Everyone develops allergies when they move to Texas." ... Any time that Texans can use a superlative to describe their state, they don't care if it's the worst or the best, so long as it stands apart from everyone else.
Whew! that was a great rant. Finally good to get some of those pet peeves down on paper.
Maybe I've entered the stage of life where your birthday actually makes you more upset than excited... I didn't think I'd get there at 23, but so far, this birthday season is leaving me feeling unpopular, uncomfortable in my surroundings, and in all honesty, un-special in general. And I wish I could still say I was 22, because 23 sounds so much older. I guess I still can say that I'm 22 for about 11 more hours...
More updates to come, I promise they'll be more positive later on. Birthday ranting might just be something I needed to get out of my system. Thanks!
