On The Brighter Side

Hey Hey!!

First off, if you look to the right you can see a new email subscriber! If you enter your email address, every time I post something new it will be sent to your email. Easy peasy.

So after reading my last two posts I realized that you are all probably thinking I'm super depressed, hating my life, and wishing I was in the -35 degree weather of Minnesota. Who wouldn't right?

WRONG!? We do miss our family and friends but we are having so much fun getting settled here, exploring everything Dallas has to offer, and enjoying the Spring (yes it is already considered Spring here) weather!

So instead of reminiscing about what we are missing, this post will not only have a "brighter" perspective (thank goodness), but I'll share about what we did last weekend in the beautiful sunshiny weather. There was tons of bright sunshine that filled our souls and got us exploring a local park/lake. No more Betsy boo hoo here. Oh...boy....

ONWARD!

So since Andy moved down here in early January he (and now Lincoln and I too) have been staying in a one bedroom apartment in Uptown Dallas in temporary, furnished housing. First off Uptown is what the locals call "uppity," "swanky," "hip," "hoytie toytie" (no idea how to spell that), you get my drift! It is the happening place for all 20-somethings that have lots of money (not us).  The first weekend we were here in January we heard bar traffic out our window from 11pm-3am. We never realized there was a club across the street. We saw tons of people driving around in their swanky cars (literally Porsches, Lamberginis, Audis, etc and ladies in stilettos and mini dresses ready to drop a fine dime and bust a move. That really wasn't our scene and at first we thought it was going to be a long 2 months stay here until we found a more permanent living situation. After exploring a bit we have really come to like it and we have loved many parts of living here temporarily.
Here is what we have loved about living in Uptown Dallas.
Walkability:
The apartment was chosen because it was within walking distance of Andy's office and it currently takes him a grand total of 8 minutes to walk to his office. Amazing! He absolutely loves it and most days he can go for a run with Lincoln before work because he is so close and doesn't have a longer commute. You can walk EVERYWHERE. You can walk 5 minutes in any direction and find at least 10 rockin' outdoor patios (that allow dogs too!) with amazing food and local beers. These are not swanky bars with fancy cocktails, but normal people in jeans drinking beer at picnic tables who bring their dogs with them. Yes, that is our kind of crowd!! We have learned our favorite places with the most amazing tacos and beers. I can walk to a Walgreens, grocery store, shopping, restaurants, bars, Andy's office, banks, running trials, parks, everything. It is not a bunch of skyscrapers or high rises either, it kinda feels like the Minneapolis Uptown with lower buildings and older homes as businesses, but definitely not as hipster. The weather is nice too so walking to dinner is totally doable with a light jacket or sometimes just a scarf and sweater....LOVE IT! Here is Lincoln and I at dinner last weekend on the patio of Social House. He did so well!

Dog Friendly: 
Almost everywhere that has a patio that you can access from the streeet allows dogs. They don't even have a sign, you just walk in with them. No big deal! Even MN which is super dog friendly has stricter rules about that. That's probably a good thing now that I think about it.  They may be more sanitary but Dallas is definitely more fun to explore if you can bring your pooch too! Also, everyone has dogs. If I wasn't a dog person, I would probably hate living here because dogs are everywhere. Thank goodness we're not. One thing that is annoying though is that since it is so dog friendly the city PROVIDES poop bags and trash bins to pick up and throw away your dogs poop like the picture below. Amazing right? Well even though it convenient and free, people still don't pick up after their dogs. You definitely have to watch your step at all times.

Katy Trail: 
The Katy Trail is like the Greenway. It is an old railroad track that was converted into a 3.5 mile long running, walking, and biking trail right through Uptown. There is an access gate to the trail about 200 feet from our apartment door.....yes loving that! We love going for runs on the trail with Lincoln or even for just a quick walk that doesn't have to go through the street intersections, deal with sidewalk traffic, or walk by buses. We also discovered a few fun, outdoor bars (yes they are outdoor ALL YEAR LONG) with yard games, picnic tables, lawn chairs, and accessible right from the trial. Our kind of place.

Well there you have it folks, our breakdown after living in Uptown Dallas for two months! It's been fun but but the most exciting part is that now we are moved/moving into our new town house and can't wait to be somewhere bigger, quieter, and with our own things. I have definitely missed quality knives, a garlic press, and more than 4 bowls. Our moving truck arrived on Monday and I have been spending my days unpacking, organizing, and figuring out where all our crap belongings will go! Stay tuned for a post with pictures of our new place after we are more or less settled.

I will leave you with a few pictures from last weekend when we visited the White Rock Lake (nearest lake to our town house - about 3 miles away) and walked around a bit. The sun felt amazing at 75 degrees and it was so soul-filling and peaceful to walk around a lake and take in the beautiful scenery. We are definitely finding the peace here now. :)

Lincoln refuses to sit in the backseat whenever we are in the car. He finds his way to my lap EVERY TIME and enjoys the windows down and soaking up the sun as much as we do! :)

We got to the lake and Lincoln immediately spotted birds....and that was the end of it! He couldn't keep his eyes off of them and wanted to jump right in the water and catch them. 

 We found a large area of the park that was pretty vacant and open so we sent him off leash so he could explore on his own! This dog is not an uptown, apartment-living dog but a hunting, field dog! He was so happy here so we'll definitely be back.

Thanks for reading this LONG post and I hope you have all been staying warm, well, and loved. :) 

Love, 

Betsy, Andy, and Lincoln 

Adios St. Paul, Gone To Texas!

GTT! Our belongings are packed up on a moving truck and we have officially moved out of our sweet home in St. Paul. It has been a great house for us and is definitely going to be missed. We hope it gives the next family a special place to share memories as well.  Now we have only lived in one house since we got married but to me it seems like there is something special about that first place you share together. You learn how to share the cooking, cleaning, figure out how two people share one small bathroom. We brought Lincoln home in this house and we have hosted numerous parties with friends and family; not to mention both of our bachelor and bachelorette parties! :)

When we bought the house we were over the top excited to renovate and make it our own. Our first priority: tear down the hideous pink, flowery wallpaper in the upstairs hallway. We closed on the house and on the next day we put our working clothes on and got to work on the wallpaper upstairs. We opened the refrigerator just to check stuff out and what did we find? A huge bottle of Cook's champagne! What a nice gift from the prior owners! Our first meal in the house was frozen pizza cooked in the oven and champagne served in cheap champagne glasses we got at Target. No pizza cutter? Just rip it with your fingers! The champagne cork flew hitting the kitchen ceiling and we giggled and cheered with delight at the idea of our OWN SPACE to do whatever we wanted to! (Note: No we did not finish the bottle....that day). ;)

On our last night in our house before the movers came on Monday (3 years to the day), Andy and I shared another bottle of Cook's champagne and rehashed all the memories over the last three years in this house.

Here are some of our favorite memories:

• Bachelor/Bachelorette parties
• our first Christmas
• bringing Lincoln home 
• Renovating the kitchen and bathroom (maybe not our favorite but exciting times!) 
• Pizza parties before Brad Paisley concerts
• the first Thanksgiving party 
• NYE 
• girls night dinners and potlucks
• coming home after our honeymoon to a huge banner on our fireplace, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and breakfast items prepared by Mollie, Mark, Luke, and Natalie. :) 
• going on runs down the river to train for the Twin Cities Marathon 
• learning how to live together in the same house and loving married life

There are so many more memories that we are happy to have had over the years and I'm sure I am forgetting some as well. All in all it has been a great house but it has been just that....a house. There will be more owners and people to enjoy it in the future. We feel blessed to have been able to live in it for 3 of its' 90 year reign. 

But we move on--WE ARE GONE TO TEXAS! (Historical Sidenote- GTT is a reference to when pioneers left other states to go to seek better life in Texas, they would carve the initials "GTT" in abandoned houses to let everyone know they had "gone to Texas.") 

We are super excited to move into our new townhouse (hopefully the moving truck arrives this weekend) and make that our new home for now. :) Stay tuned for an update and pictures from our new place in the coming week! :) 

We love you and miss you all very much, 

Betsy, Andy, and Lincoln :)

Seek the Peace

Well here we are living it up in Dallas, TX! Yeehaw! We never thought this would be part of God's plan for our married life together, but here we are. Minnesota has been our home. We grew up there, we met there, we married there, and we bought our first home there and in all honestly we had no plans for leaving and moving somewhere else. We imagined starting a family there and, maybe someday move, but had no plans or reasons to. We weren't opposed to it, but why change what's comfortable, right? Well just when things were getting comfortable God knew we were ready for a change. What's life without being uncomfortable? 

Andy loved his job but was feeling like he needed a change, a challenge in his career but wasn't actively looking elsewhere. He waited patiently for something to come to him. When he first told me that he got a call from a company in Dallas, my first reaction was, "Dallas?? as in TEXAS?" I was not thrilled with the idea of moving that far away and neither was Andy, but we both said, "Well it doesn't hurt to interview and see what they have to say, right?" Fast forward a few months after numerous phone interviews, work samples, and even an 8 hour in-person interview, Andy NAILED the job! In all honestly it's a job that he was hoping to get in maybe 10 years, and here God opened the door now! How amazing! I am so incredibly proud of Andy and how hard he works. We were ecstatic!! We were super excited at the idea of moving to a new city....all the adventures to be had! 

As we got closer to moving, feelings from excitement stayed but new feelings like anxiety crept in.  I was nervous for how our new home would be different, foreign, and uncomfortable. Minnesota is comfort is every way with our family, our friends, our first beautiful St. Paul home, our jobs, the food, the woods, the lakes, everything. I've always loved exploring the world, trying new things, and approaching new situations with, "What do I have to lose!" But something about the finality of moving our belongings, selling our house, and saying goodbye to family and friends brought more hardship than I was anticipating. 

Would I find a new job that I liked? Would we find the right place to live in a good neighborhood? Do we rent or buy? Will we make friends? Will I like the people I work with? Will we be bored or lonely?

Lincoln and I have only been down here for about a week and already so many things have changed! Last week I struggled knowing what to do all day. I had been used to a busy work day with lots of friends to catch up with, kids to teach, house to clean, meals to cook, etc. Now I would sit at the computer in our nice but foreign apartment (corporate housing) plugging away at our "to-do list." I researched new doctors in the area, electricity companies to hire, renter's insurance for our new townhouse, and spent countless hours reading vet clinic reviews on Yelp for our dear Lincoln. I would look at the clock and say, "It's only 2! Andy doesn't come to home for five hours! :(" I struggled finding my role and what to do with my time (sorry, sitting at a computer all day is not joyful for me). I was restless, bored, and getting depressed. 

After a lovely phone call with my sister, this week I have taken her advice by storm. She said to me, "You need to find something else to do during your day, besides work, that brings you joy." Now I see the clock and I am excited I have so much more of the day to do things and explore in this beautiful city! I have been working out almost every day, exploring neighborhoods, sitting in the sun on the warmer days (which would bring joy to anyone during this long winter) and planning how we will decorate our new place! :) 

I will eventually find a new job which will fill a different part of my life, but right now I am taking my time to find joy in this big and exciting city with Andy. We have already found some great restaurants with the BEST Mexican food you could every think of and one incredible grocery store called Central Market. We are creating a list of places to explore together on the weekends like the Dallas Farmers Market, the Arboretum, and walking from one outdoor, dog-friendly patio to another to try local brews! Here we are at the Katy Trail Icehouse with Lincoln on there outdoor yard filled with dogs, beer, fire pits, lawn chairs, and yard games. :) 

Andy received a beautiful daily devotional bible from his sister and brother in law for his birthday last fall. This was shortly after breaking the news to our families that we would be moving and we were struggling knowing how to process it. The first verse that he opened to that day was, 
"Seek the peace and prosperity of the city in which I have carried you.....Pray to the Lord for it." - Jeremiah 29:7 

We are slowly finding peace and we will find prosperity here but we know it will take time. Visitors are ALWAYS welcome and we are excited to share our journey with you through this blog. 

Betsy