Introducing Minnie Callaghan! And other ramblings

Here she is- Minnie! She is a Maltese puppy and was born on January 1st 2008. She weighs about 1 lb (I'm trying to get her to gain weight!) but she is tiny. She was the runt of her litter but is a little daredevil. She has no fear about anything, which is scary sometimes considering she has an open fontanel (soft spot in her head) and could seriously injure herself easily!

Luckily Molly is sweet to her.

On another note, I did a painting last night. It is acrylic on illustration board. The subject should look familiar :-)

I am trying to figure out how I can go back to college and get a art/ graphic design degree. I realize that I would be a lot happier doing something with my art ...so we'll see.

One Year Anniversary!

I can't believe it's already been a year since we were married! It is kind of overwhelming to think of everything that we have done within this year!

we graduated from TU, moved to LA, Glenn started law school,I interviewed for jobs, I found a job, quit my job, found a MUCH better job, learned how to get around LA, Glenn quit law school, got 2 job offers in TX, accepted the one in Houston, we packed up all of our stuff, drove back from LA to Lake Jackson, we now are in the process of moving into our new apartment in Pearland...whew!

We are happy to be back in a familiar place and to have our little Molly back. We are also thrilled to have a washer and dryer and a garage! yay!

The Hotel California...Apparently you can check out and you can also leave

My last day of work is this coming Tuesday (Mar. 4th), the movers come Wednesday, and we are on the road Thursday morning. It is kind of surreal, but at this point I just want everything to be done and over with. Especially the drive! I wish I could just wiggle my nose and skip the next few days and be in TX, but alas I can't.

With Glenn's moving bonus we are able to have movers come and box our stuff up and load it on the truck and the whole nine yards. This is a very odd feeling for me though b/c I just want to be doing something. I feel like I should be packing boxes and looking around at everything makes me anxious. I have been cleaning, sorting, taking the pictures off the wall, spackling nail holes, etc, but until our stuff is boxed and ready to go I think I will be a little unsettled!

We have an apartment reserved in Pearland and the best part is that we will have an attached garage AND...drumroll please...a WASHER & DRYER!!!!! I haven't had my own washer and dryer since I lived with my parents. Community laundry rooms and laundromats have gotten very old over the past few years.

Also I am ready for some good food. My favorite restaurants are in TX. I haven't found any seafood, barbeque or Mexican restaurants anywhere that can hold a candle to those in Texas. It is a good thing that my apartment has a workout room b/c I will most likely need it after stuffing my face.

Molly's brief reunion with Glenn

When Glenn was in Houston interviewing with Centerpoint Energy, he stayed at my parents house of course. This was the first time he and Molly have seen each other since August! She couldn't believe her eyes when he walked in the door. Here are a few cute pics that my mom took.
Needless to say I was very jealous that he got to see her and I didn't, but we will be back with her for good soon.

Update!

“They say California's the big burrito; Texas is a big taco right now."- Dan Rather

We are definitely moving to Houston! Glenn got an offer yesterday evening from Centerpoint Energy! AND we get a moving bonus so we can hire movers! whoo hoo!

The above Dan Rather quote sums up how I feel about now and is especially fitting considering my love for Mexican food!

It's Over...I'm goin home

Glenn has made the decision that law school isn't for him and he would rather be an engineer. SO this means that we must be out of our campus owned apartment by March 6th (2 weeks) and we are moving back to Texas. It's still up in the air exactly where we will move to, but Glenn has 1 offer in Dallas and hopefully will have one in Houston in the next couple of days. We will know for sure by this Friday!

Things I will miss about Los Angeles:

• my job


• looking at the ocean all day at work


• beautiful scenery in general


• wonderful weather


• great concerts


• never-ending fun places to visit


• Trader Joe's


• always having healthy options at restaurants


• amazing shopping


• Palm trees everywhere


• recognizing that tv shows are filmed where you take your lunch break every day


• It never rains


• dogs are alloud everywhere (except my apt)

Things I WILL NOT miss about LA:

• HORRIBLY insane traffic


• lack of parking nearly everywhere


• expensive rent


• not allowed to have Molly in our apts


• expensive groceries


• everything is more expensive...


• lack of friends and family


• no good Mexican food (up to my standards anyway)


• no good barbeque


• the ocean is too cold to swim in w/o a wetsuit


• too many pedesetrians to avoid while driving


• motorcycles drive between the lanes of traffic...scary


• being so far away from family and friends

San Diego Wild Animal Park

The San Diego Wild Animal Park is a center for the preservation and display of endangered species. It covers 1,800 acres (730 hectares) in the San Pasqual Valley north of San Diego. The Zoological Society of San Diego, which also administers the San Diego Zoo, opened the park in 1972 to increase public awareness about the need for animal conservation.

This place is indcredible! I can't believe that families don't travel across the country for vacations to see this in the same way they do DisneyWorld/Land! I have never seen such happy and visible animals who seem to have no idea they aren't in their natural habitat! I took so many pictures and video/slideshow but now I am too tired to edit the video tonight after all that walking. I will post a few of my best pictures.

We went on the special "Cheetah Run Safari where a small group of people got up close with a cheetah and watched him run! The Cheetah was so relaxed and purring that they let us take a picture with him!

We were able to feed Lorikeets with little cups of nectar. They loved it and I had one jump on my hand to drink it.

The other tour we went on was the "Journey into Africa" tour which brought drove us throughout a huge area that is made to be very close to the natural habitat in Africa. There was a litter of lion cubs and they were passed out from playing later in the day in an old land rover that was set up in their area.

If you ever get a chance to go to this park DO IT!

Slideshow/video to come...