I haven't blogged since January, in which time we successfully moved house and we're settling nicely into the new place. I have vowed to never live upstairs again after the ordeal or bring everything down from the last place! The new house is smaller, but somehow feels more like home. I really like it :)
Not long after moving we had the big snow, I mean serious snow, especially for Texas! 12.5 inches in 24 hours which led to many broken trees and our power went out the first day and was out for 3 days. It was cold and we had no choice but to go and stay with friends because with electric everything there's not much you can do! It was almost a record breaker, but not quite and even with another snow fall in March we didn't quite beat the '77/'78 record of 17.6 inches. Pretty spectacular though for my first winter here! I think I broke Texas!In January I was also eagerly awaiting my work authorisation and a travel document so I could visit Scotland before I started work. These came right before we moved house and were to tide me over while I waited for my permanent residency, which can supposedly take some time, anything up to a year which would have put me at November. Not in this case, it came about a week after the other stuff! So I am now a green card holder, I used it to travel back from Scotland and got to join Chris in the short queue at immigration at the airport which was really nice!
And of course, the Scotland trip, an extravagance, yes, but I also knew that if I didn't do it now I
wouldn't have the time off to do it later once I'm working. I was ready to see my homeland and back home people again. I also managed to coincide my trip so I got to see Heidi, who was over visiting from Sweden. I had a couple of nights in Edinburgh after arriving, catching up with Burton, Heidi and Rich and also getting a little surprise visit from Claire which was great (just sorry she had to endure the BNP supporters on the train)! Then to Glasgow to visit Ross and Emma with my folks and then onward up north to spend a couple of weeks with them. They had snow, lots of snow and after arrived more snow came. More snow than I've seen since I was a kid! It made for a lot of not going anywhere, but it was great to spend time with them, just chilling out (and of course working on my resume for when I got back here). This being the first time Chris and I have been apart since I moved to Dallas, it was hard being away from each other for 2 whole weeks,
but we eased ourselves back into the Skype thing which was strangely familiar and did us ok until he joined me in Scotland. I was super excited to see him, and to see how he took to the snow and the prospect of sticking on wellies and pushing his suitcase down a snowy, icy farm track in a wheelbarrow. Always a trouper, he wellied up no problem and even had the pleasure of helping push a car out a snowdrift.We also took the opportunity to take him up to the west coast to see
the island, admittedly for only one night but we had a good couple of days. It was cold, but the sun shone the whole time. Chris got a whistle stop tour of the island, got to have a few in the pub, stand out and look at the amazing stars, a boat trip round the island and a good big walk to Far Red Point the day we left. Brilliant weather, brilliant scenery and brilliant company.Next stop was Glasgow again to see my brother and Emma. A nice couple of evenings with them, drinks in the pub, a meal at my aunt and uncle's house too. The day Chris and I had to pootle around Glasgow was spent wandering around in the sun and we went to the Kelvingrove and treated ourselves to a fantastic chippy. Then to Edinburgh for a lunch with some of my old work folks who I miss a ton. Great to see everyone, just sorry it was so short. Pottering about Edinburgh, a catch up
with Burton (where we stayed the first night) and then see Clairey and wee Martha on Friday (who was kind enough to have us to stay for a couple of nights) after a jaunt up Arthur's Seat. On Saturday we got a last catch up with Burton and Keith after seeing my cousin's exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery and then back to Claire's for some more quality time her and the wee one. Seriously, what an utterly sweet little girl, just like her mama :D A joy to spend time with. Saturday night was a quiet one in with Claire, Martha and Lauren came to visit too before our early early flight the next morning.It was sad to leave of course, but so nice to be travelling with Chris, we've both always done these trips alone, one of us always has to leave, but not this time. I miss Scotland, but I know why I do this.
Now that I'm back, it's full on into the job search. I can't say it's fun, there's really not much around and I need to be working weeks ago! Hopefully soon...
I'm also trying to shift a bit of the marriage/Texas weight by getting
on a bit of a no carb health kick. It's going pretty well so far, not as hard as I thought, though I'd kill for some Haribo right now! We went for a lovely 9 mile walk round the lake on Sunday which I really enjoyed and although I can't say I've totally ditched the booze, I have switched the wine for gin and slimline tonic (this is actually ok by a later phase of this diet so ok by me for now!).I should add too that I am very excited about the fact that my parents have booked flights to visit for two weeks at Christmas! It's going to be brilliant and I'm so glad they're coming over :D
Love
Jenna
