Lone Star State of Mind

We’re baaaccckk!

For all of our loyal readers out there, don’t fear!  Even though David and I have moved back to the US, we are still going to keep up the blog.  These past few months have proven that there is plenty to write about from Texas!

As you can imagine, it’s been quite a busy summer for us!  Since we last blogged, we have moved overseas from London to Austin, purchased our first home, and even had time to continue travelling!

We absolutely love our new house and are working hard to make it a home!  It’s everything we wanted – plenty of space to grow, lots of extra bedrooms for guests, an office so I can continue to work from home, and a big backyard complete with a pool.  But going from a two-bedroom flat to a four-bedroom Texas-sized house is a ton of work

Everyone warned us that it takes forever to get a house together, so our expectations were set before we even began.  Truthfully, it’s a lot of fun and I have no idea what we’re going to do when every room is finished.  

First order of business was tearing up the green carpet in our bedroom, closet, the dining room, and office.  We purchased eco-friendly bamboo flooring and had it installed after a couple of weeks of acclimating.  The entire process took a little over a month, with Karen and Laura visiting from England the weekend of installation.  It was a bit hectic, but it came together really nicely.

All of the furniture from the bedroom, office, and dining rooms had to be moved into the living room while the contractors put down the bamboo.  Luckily, at this time, we didn’t have that much furniture… 

The Before of our Bedroom

And the After of the Master

The Before of our Office

And the After Office 

(The only thing left in this room is the desk chair, 

which is due to arrive next week)

And the After Dining Room 

(We’ll stain the china cabinet and purchase some chairs for our new dining room table eventually… but for now, we eat in the kitchen nook)

Second, we decided to clean out the garage and get organized before everything we moved from England and took out of storage had a chance to take over that space!

After moving the cars out to the driveway, and our boxes and tools to the backyard or inside the house, David cleaned the floor and began to paint.  I sprinkled flakes onto the wet paint to add texture and a pop of color.  As you can see, I went a bit crazy with the sprinkles at first…

David had to repaint this top section so it wouldn't look like the Wolf of Wall Street threw a party inside our garage.

I soon figured it out, though.  Once finished, the floor looked so much better, and cleaner!  And everything that was in the garage now has its place. 

Lastly, we've started purchasing new furniture.  The backyard is currently the only part of the house that’s complete.  But being in Texas with a pool, we live outside, so we are really happy with our outdoor oasis.  My favorite part of the week is after work on a Friday afternoon, with the whole weekend ahead of me, reading on one of the chaise lounges in the sun while Kirby swims in the pool.

We've hosted a couple of pool parties already, and our friends and their kids have so much fun!  David grills (and makes a mean potato salad) while you can usually find me hanging out in the see-saw.

David’s Famous Potato Salad

I love our see-saw!  When Laura was in town, we created a fun obstacle course in the pool by flipping it over and creating an American Ninja Warrior-type ladder (okay, not quite that tough...)

Everyone else seems to love the see-saw too!

Speaking of sisters, it is so nice to be close to so many of our siblings!  Amy and Ross, Jeff, and Elizabeth all moved to Austin while we were in the UK (good timing, guys…).

Amy, Laura, Jeff, and David during Laura’s summertime visit to Texas

Elizabeth moved back to Austin in August for her second year at UT.  Mom and Dad came to move her in, and this time, they didn't need to stay at a hotel.  It was great to host them, and we look forward to Parent’s Weekend in October when they’ll be back to experience their first UT football game (hopefully we don’t suck it up like we have been)!

Dad and David feeling very proud of themselves for putting together that white bookcase

Ready to start her sophomore year!

Between all of our visits with family, we managed to make it down to Houston twice to visit my girlfriends from college. The first was for 4th of July at Katie's and Dave's house.

This past 4th of July was the first Independence Day David and I had celebrated together in the US in five years!  We didn’t realize until then how much we’d missed the barbeques and pool time and fireworks.

The Woodlands put on a dual fireworks display at the Waterway, which is similar to San Antonio’s Riverwalk in that it has a ton of restaurants, bars, and shopping centered around the small river.  During the 4th, the synchronized fireworks were shot off from each end of the waterway.

Double fireworks all the way across the sky

On Saturday, Terri and Meike came over to the Vollmar house to swim, and we finally got to meet Max!

Max hanging out on the Vollmar’s tanning shelf.  

That shelf is perfect for kids – it’s like their personal wading pool.    

Last time we saw Meike and Felipe, Meike was pregnant, so it was kind of surreal to see her with a baby.  Max is the happiest child, and even when we tried to get him to cry (by ‘mooing’ because he’s terrified of cows), he would just pucker up and make the saddest face but never actually cry.

Kirby had so much fun playing with Max 

that he agreed to give him a ride on his back!

About a month later, I was back in Houston for the One Direction concert.  I know, I can’t believe I waited until moving back to America to see Britain’s biggest boy band, either!  (Not surprisingly, David was not interested in coming back to Houston with me that weekend…)

Terri, Meike, Anna, and I were the second oldest women at the concert without children (after the “Cougar Den” women being interviewed on the local news), but we didn’t care.  We had a blast singing and dancing along to ‘Best Song Ever,’ and all of 1D’s other hits!

We don't understand the obsession with Harry...  Zayn is our favorite!

Back in Austin, David and I celebrated many birthdays this summer, including Claire Gristy’s first!  Jill has become quite the photographer while we've been away.  Her shots of Claire are absolutely beautiful!

We also started some new traditions with Cristy and Jon Simon.  We are thrilled that they have moved back to Austin from Dallas, and are just down the road from us!  Their media room is complete (unlike ours) so we found ourselves at the Simon Theatre every Sunday night watching Game of Thrones.  When the season ended, we switched our weekly hangouts to Wednesdays.

During the summer, Austin hosts a huge array of free activities on Wednesday nights.  We stargazed through a huge telescope at the UT Astronomy Department, then watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind at the Long Center’s movie in the park, and also made it to Zilker Park for Blues on the Green, a free summer concert series.

Instead of popcorn at our movie in the park, we ate lobster rolls from Garbo's food truck

Coincidentally, Cristy works with Chaz, one of my friends from high school in El Paso.  We’ve managed to meet up a couple of times for GOT and Blues on the Green – just like old times!

Beautiful sunset in Zilker Park with 

Cristy, David, Jeff, and his girlfriend, Jacque.

To end the summer right, David and I went to the Ice Cream Festival in downtown Austin. We brought along Kirby, who cooled off with a ‘pupsicle’ and a dip in Town Lake.

Kirby loved his pupsicle, made with frozen chicken broth, and a rawhide as the stick.  Genius!

The next weekend, when I headed to Houston for the 1D concert and stayed with Katie, I convinced / forced her to use her ice cream maker for the first time, and we made a delicious copy-cat version of Ben ‘n Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.  Yum!!

To make your own Cherry Garcia, start by whisking 2 large eggs in a mixing bowl for 2 minutes.  Whisk in 3/4 cup of sugar until completely blended.  Pour in 2 cups of heavy cream and 1 cup of milk, and continue whisking.  

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer's instructions

2 minutes before the ice cream maker is finished mixing and freezing, add 1/4 cup of semisweet chocolate, finely chopped... 

... and1/4 cup of bing cherries, halved and pitted.  

(Obviously four cherries was not going to cut it, so we doubled both the chocolate and cherries.) 

Let the ice cream continue to thicken in the freezer for a few hours, and then enjoy!

While David and I aren't spending our weekends away, our everyday lives consist of church on Sundays, David’s softball games on Wednesday nights, biweekly book clubs, monthly Bunco with the neighborhood women, and volunteering with the Junior League of Austin. I've recently started my transfer class from the London league and I’m looking forward to making time to get involved in the community and do some good!

Mani-pedis with Austin friends

So many books, so little time

We definitely miss London, but staying busy has helped us adjust to life back in the states, and given us so much to look forward to.  This is just the first of many fun blogs around Austin.  Thank you to everyone who has welcomed us back with open arms.  We’re happy to be home!