Changed Laynes

One year ago today we pulled into the great (big) state of Texas. I think my first question was, "Is there always this much construction? Is it like this where we are going to live?" To my delight, we were still a couple of hours from Dallas and although we live in a lively area and there is construction surrounding us, I feel more settled than I thought I would a year later as I asked those questions.

A year has gone by so quickly! I have been thinking about this post for a couple of weeks . . . wondering if I should write about what I've learned (if anything) in a year, or sharing comedic stories of life in a big city. I'm sorry to say that I didn't really land on a direction. This past year has been filled with so many highs and a few lows of course. Over the past 12 months I've spent quite a few hours crying over family I miss but at the same time praising God for bringing us here so Chris and I can start a life together. I'm thankful for the friends I've started to make along the way and pray the Lord only deepens relationships in the years to come.

Our marriage has grown of course, too! We celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary with a trip to San Antonio's (forgive me for not posting about that!) River Walk and Sea World and we are approaching the year and a half mark in a couple of months. I can definitely say circumstances have pushed us into understanding one another better and growing as people, spouses, and children of God. I remember I was excited to get to Texas and have the long move over with, but it took me several hours in the car to get to that point! I don't think I spoke to Chris for the first three hours of our car trip (other than answering questions of if I needed to stop for a bathroom break). I wasn't angry at him! Just soaking it all in.

My sisters (thank you SO much Bita and Rachel!!!!) had put together little packages and cards to open at very specified times throughout the trip. I can't say how wonderful this was! Not only did it help the drive go a little bit faster, but I think it helped me ease my way out of home and into something new. It was reassuring to know that even though I wouldn't be able to see my sisters, brother-in-law, niece, and parents on a regular basis, I was still loved and not forgotten!
Here is a snapshot of Chris and I well into the drive. Since I'm smiling, I can assume I had a little bit of sleep, the "silent treatment" was over and I had opened a few cards.

I'm looking forward to year two in Dallas and excited to see what God has planned! I feel a little more secure, a little more settled, and although I might say something different in a moment of weakness, a lot more sure of God's leading us here.

Just as a before and after, here is a picture of Chris and I from a couple of weeks ago. We were at a Rangers game and despite the 104 degrees we were sitting in, we had a lot of fun! One year from today, I'll be sure to post a new picture. I could start a timeline!

Before ending this post, I just have to give an update of how I (we) are doing on our "List of Things Not Allowed to do Once Moved to Texas!" In the Scrapbook my sisters made Chris and I before leaving, there is a list with this title. I'm happy to say I have held strong to my Hoosier roots so far and not strayed!

"When you move to Texas, don't.... "
1. Say "Y'all" - have not said this yet!
2. Start rooting for the Cowboys over the Colts - safe on this point
3. Wear cowboy hats - nope
4. Make fun of Hoosiers - never!
5. Go line dancing - came close
6. Wear cowboy boots - I do secretly want some, but only a little bit
7. Use the chili pepper as decorating inspiration - haha
8. Wear a belt that has a buckle bigger than a credit card - the suburbs have saved me from this!

And there you have it :)

Return to NOLA

Almost exactly one week ago, Chris and I got back from our very quick trip to New Orleans (otherwise known as NOLA)! We left early Friday morning and returned Sunday evening; it was a total of about 19-20 hours altogether. Needless to say, we were quite exhausted! The reason for the weekend get-away you ask? A friend of Chris' from seminary was getting married and he was a groomsman. Congratulations Ashlee and Aaron! They had a lovely wedding with a fun and very upbeat reception, we just wish we hadn't been so exhausted!

It was French Quarter Fest in New Orleans that weekend with live jazz in the evenings and a lot of art vendors, etc in Jackson Square during the day. Apparently though, we were a week early for the show Nicholas Cage supposedly put on the following weekend, this weekend. Perhaps if he was there when we were, we could have warned him about his bad choices. It was so great to be back in that city! I spent almost 3 months in 2007 in New Orleans as a Project Leader with Adventures in Missions. Together with my team, we led youth groups from around the country in helping to rebuild the city after Katrina. The hotel Chris and I stayed in was nearly in the French Quarter and not far from the house I lived in, in 2007! Unfortunately, we did not have time to swing by it and visit that cozy little place on Polymnia. Hopefully we can go back and visit some other, less busy, time and spend a little more time walking around than we were able to on that weekend. Here are some pictures of our weekend! We weren't able to have many of just the two of us, I wasn't that trusting to ask strangers to do it for us. Maybe next time.

Venturing out Saturday morning before wedding commitments. Beautiful weather!

This picture and the four below are all in Jackson Square in the French Quarter. There
were a lot of artists with their work set out, fortune tellers, performers, etc.

Looks like a normal little motorized vehicle maybe?

Think again! It was a transformer! This 14 year old kid was taking donations for this very impressive act! It's hard to see in this picture, but he was wearing the top of the car on his back, and then folded to the ground with the four wheels he had on his hands/arms and his feet. Pretty cool!

A silver painted man! He did robotic moves to techno music. It was pretty funny!

Ashlee and Aaron's reception at a Jazz hall. These girls were Ashlee's friend and are standing around the cake. They did a "Cake Pull" which I guess is a tradition of sorts but each girl held onto a string outside of the cake and pulled, revealing a little trinket on the other end. I think it was a game but couldn't get a good view.

They hired a jazz band that paraded around the room, led by the bride and groom toting bedazzled black and white umbrellas! Very unique, very cultural!

We had fun celebrating with them while remembering our own wedding that was almost one year ago! It's so hard to believe we've almost been married a year! But, that'll be a post for later...

I Got My Project Fix

I tend to get very distracted when I blog. Maybe that's why I do it so infrequently. Take this instance for example. I signed on over an hour and a half ago to post about my recent home-deco projects I'm pretty excited about. But then I looked at my blog design, which of course I haven't looked at in 2 months (as that was my last post), and realized it looked very Fall-ish. Now it's March, I'm enjoying 60-70 degree days and Fall is long gone (although, my class of 3-year olds are quite confused on the season and month). This aforementioned realization stumbled me into an (apparently) hour-long search for a new template. Being the woman that I am and many of you may be, I changed my mind several times and, of course, ultimately landed on my first choice (hmmm... sounds suspiciously similar to the process for deciding on an outfit in the morning times.). That brings us to what I was intending to have done and be done with a multitude of minutes ago. My most recent project! When we moved into our apartment, we had requested they paint the accent wall this gray color. Unfortunately, next to our brown couch, it looked much to green and I just needed to change it. So, six months and one lease-renewal later, I had the opportunity to repaint the eye-sore. Our wonderful maintenance crew obliged me by coming to paint a 1ft. x 3ft. sample of a Marigold paint color on the wall to see if I would like it. It had way too much yellow in it. (The apartment office gave us very few choices and the Marigold looked more tan on paper. . . should have seen it coming.) To make a long story short, I requested to have another sample painted called Granite Peak, and although it had more of a blue-tint to the gray overtones than I would have expected, I asked for the wall to be painted that Granite Peak! Day one with the wall was a shocker but the color has set in more and now, I absolutely love it! Even though there is more blue tones than I expected, it gives the room a calming feel and compliments decorations in the room I had already.
Here is a picture of that gray/green color that lived on my wall one week ago. Sorry for that light shadow, it's not bad painting, but weird light. Also notice the pictures. Now, this wall is pretty big and as much as I liked having our engagement picture collage (thank you Amber for the pics and Tabitha for the frames!) hung there, it was too small for the space. It looks a lot smaller in the picture than it actually did. And here is the beautiful new color! I think in person it looks slightly more blue than this picture, but both are good I think. I debated if I liked it with the brown couch, but decided it wasn't too bad. And yes.. no more engagement pictures. They found a new home to make room for the shelves I've been anxious to put up, along with the leaf-sconces. Both Target purchases that I LOVE! Here is the start of my project:

Measure twice, "cut" (or nail) once is how it goes. For me: Measure 17 times, nail 3 (per hanging).Almost there! I was laughing that my wall had a face! It reminded me of those commercials where they find happy faces in every day objects.

It's all up! Now for the decorations. I'm sure I'll change them out as I find better things. What I chose to put on the shelves was just what I had around the house. The two frames came with the shelves though! I decided I wanted to put scrapbook paper in them to pull in colors from the living room (our throw pillows, other pictures, etc.).

Not sure about the paper in the frames yet. I had trouble getting a good picture of this to make it not look smaller than it really was and not to look slanted (this wall is angled high so it's tricky in pictures.) Another look:


And finally, a look at both changes of the day! You can see I moved the engagement pictures to the wall on the right. It's right next to our dining room table/kitchen and fits so much better in that space!

One coffee table move later and my project for the day is complete! I love accomplishing a task.

Hello There, 2011

Happy New Year!!
Dear 2010,
2011 came so fast, I don't think I had the chance to appropriately say goodbye to you. It seems like so many things happened over your last 12 months. I was a little sad at 11:59 last night as we were running up the stairs, champagne in hand, to catch the last 30 seconds of the countdown with friends, welcoming your successor. I will remember you fondly as the year of my marriage and the year which took me to Texas, along with a thousand other big and little memories. You will be missed.
Love, Sarah

This past year was definitely filled with a lot of happiness, but was not without a lot of tears through the tough transitions from Indiana to Texas. As difficult as it was sometimes (and still is, it was very hard leaving Indiana after Christmas) I can see God's hands all over 2010. Chris and I are SO excited to see what the Lord will do in 2011 and how He will reveal Himself to us even more. We woke up this morning with smiles on our faces knowing the next part of our lives was here. Together as a couple we have a lot of goals for this year, but of course I have my own set of personal resolutions.

Awww, yes. There it is. Resolutions. The word more associated with this first day of January than any other day of the year. Dare we even open that can of worms. YES!! What else did you expect? So, I'm going to stretch just a little bit and share with you my "11 Resolutions in 2011" Sound like a bit much maybe? Maybe. We'll see. Some will be little. But it just sounds right. Let's get going:

1. Pray for at least 5 minutes a day. This sounds so small but I was challenged when I read a blog post another day from a guy my husband follows. (Read the post here.) God has really blessed me in my prayer life more and has given me a desire to be more intentional in this way.
2. Email intentionally. I have a couple of friends abroad who are often on my mind but I am not very good about emailing consistently. I want to be. You know who you are!
3. Put laundry away. I'm notorious for doing laundry, laying the "wrinkle-ables" over the edge of the basket, then leaving the basket in the bedroom for 24+ hours. (Now you know my dirty laundry.)
4. Eat more fruits and veggies.
5. Use the gym membership we've paid for. Come on, you knew it'd make the list.
6. Read more. I love reading! 2010 was so busy I didn't read as much as I wanted to. Bring me the books!
7. Study hard. I am enrolled in a program to get my teaching certification. This is hopefully not a year-long resolution, but one for the first half of the year as I study to pass the tests I need to take in order to be hired in a school.
8. Break my worst habit. I pick at my hangnails constantly and it's horrible! It must stop! I'm tired of it, but do it subconsciously so this will be hard to break. My thumbs will thank me though.
9. Study a book of the Bible I have not given much attention. Long one or short one? I just want to know my God more.
10. File the mail in a timely fashion. Counters be clear!
11. Continue my love affair with Reese's Peanut Butter cups!

And there you have it! And this is the last year for so many resolutions. Chris thinks I'm being a little over the top and he's probably right. We'll check back in, in a couple of months.

Happy New Year and good luck to you and all of your resolutions.


*Apologizes for my wordless last post! I had typed a good bit then entered pictures but the text got deleted and I was really not happy with the idea of re-typing it. What you see.. the lazy approach! Christmas was absolutely fantastic! We had such a good time being back in Indiana with my family and those were only a fraction of the pictures. One of these days, more will be put on Facebook. Now back to your regularly scheduled program....