Travis and I left for Plano, TX last Thursday morning and had an amazing time. It was a bit overwhelming the first two days and the weather was really gray and rainy the first two days, but Saturday was nice and we got into a routine of being out there, getting a bit more familiar with the town and so on. Of course, once we were more comfortable getting around we came home Sunday morning, but overall things went well, and unless something changes we will most likely be relocating to Plano at the beginning of August, so I’m praying that we will sell the house well before then too!
Thank goodness for the GPS though because one thing about Texas, they are not kidding when they say everything is bigger!
The hotel we stayed at was very nice – Aloft in Plano – very trendy, but really nice as well.
http://www.aloftplano.com/
The first day we just picked up the car, went to the hotel, and then to dinner at Rockfish Grill. It was a great seafood grill, very laid back.
http://www.rockfishseafood.com/
Then, that night we met up with the other couple that were out there at the same time we were, Shane and Christen at The Shops at Legacy and sat outside having some Cold Stone Ice Cream. We finally got back to the hotel around 11pm that night and prepared Travis for his big meet and greet tomorrow morning.
Okay, let me explain the situation a bit concerning his job…basically, Travis’ job merged with another company last year out of Carson City, Nevada and both companies became managed by a group called Castenea. When the group hired a new president out of Plano, TX, it was decided that the company of Health Resources and VRP – Cullman and Carson City – relocate the marketing and direct mail divisions of the company to Plano. At the time, we did not know if this even meant he still had a job because he had to essentially re-apply for his position and wait to see if an offer was given. Luckily, for Travis, it was given. Hence, the trip last weekend. We are unsure as to how many are relocating still as we still have one more from Travis’ group going out this week for her meet and greet. From Travis’ web marketing side in Cullman there are only 4 that are considering the move, including us in that 4. Two more from the direct mail side in the Cullman office are moving this weekend. Confused yet?
That’s only a small taste of the amount of information we have been trying to digest since March.
Back to the meet and greet…it went really well for Travis. He liked the people and we liked the area. Still some unknowns, but overall it was a positive experience for him with the actual company and potential new job, which is essentially the same job he does now, his 4 years with the company will also transfer with him, which is also a plus.
After his interview, I thought I was going to be met and introduced, but that ended up not happening, so Travis and I went to lunch at Boston Market, which was really good.
Then we began our touring of apartments. While Travis was at the interview that morning, I went to 4 apartments by myself and again fell in love with the GPS.
The first two apartments were not going to work, because they would not allow Chance. Yes, my poor 11 year old mixed breed Shepherd looking dog was not going to be allowed to live in apartment complex. Now, nevermind the fact that the top dogs most likely to bite/aggressive are as follows:
1. Dachsund
2. Chihuahua
3. Beagle
4. Jack Russell
5. Australian Cattle Dog
6. Cocker Spaniel
7. Border Collie
8. Pit Bull
9. Great Dane
10. English Springer Spaniel…
German Shepherd was not even in the top 10 for 2010!
Not to mention Rottweiler was not in the list, Husky, Malamute, Dalmatian, Boxer, Akita, etc., etc. but according to most apartment complexes the aggressive breeds are as follows:
Pit Bull, Rottweiler, Presar Canario, German Shepherd, Dalmatian, Doberman, Chow Chow, Husky, Boxer, Great Dane, Malamute
Notice how none of the smaller, higher strung dogs that actually are highly known to bite are listed???
I digress…back to the apartment search. I went to 4 complexes, the first 2 would not allow Chance, so I changed my tactic. Since Chance is a mixed breed I literally started telling them that he was a mixed breed and no one questioned me from there on out for the most part. One complex I ended up really liking, it was a bit older, but very spacious and the people there were very nice. It, however, was not in my top school choice. The next one was in my top school choice, but was not my favorite in terms of the apartment complex itself. It was large and crowded but is still on the possible list…
Travis began tours with me after lunch and we only saw one more that we actually liked which may or may not have any available for the time frame we are thinking of moving. It was called Bell Preston. http://bellpreston.com/
Then, we decided to just have some fun the rest of the day. We went to a place called Fireside Pies for dinner and it was wonderful. Probably some of the best pizza ever!
http://www.firesidepies.com/
We also went to Barnes and Noble, a mall, and the Verizon Wireless store on Friday. We stayed out ALL day, leaving the hotel at 845am that morning and not returning until well past 10pm. We met up again with the other couple that night and had a couple of drinks at the bar in the hotel then chatted about the days events.
Saturday we slept in a little and then decided what to do. We really considered going to Six Flags in Texas, but the weather was still questionable and Travis didn’t bring his ankle brace, so we decided to forego that decision and spend the day playing again. We started out going to Ikea, which was really neat. I loved the furniture there and we enjoyed touring the enormous store! That took almost 2 hours in itself!
We had heard they were opening an IN & OUT in Frisco and Allen, and having lived in Vegas where IN & OUT is common, we thought that would make a good lunch. We were wrong! The line to get in to the new IN & OUT was over two hours long! They had police directing traffic! It was truly crazy! So, instead we ate at Cheddars and I got my all time favorite sandwich ever – The Monte Cristo! Yummy! Its turkey, ham, two kinds of cheeses, deep fried with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and you dip it in raspberry preserves! Its truly delicious!
Travis got Country Fried Steak which he also loved!
We then went to look at a couple of new houses for kicks and two more apartment complexes, another one became a high contender for us.
That night we went to Saltgrass Steakhouse, had to eat at least one steak while in Texas, and then we to the AMC 24 in Frisco and saw Source Code, it was good, but a bit sad too.
Then, Sunday was time to leave…I was ready to get home to my girls, but really loved being with Travis!
Okay, so the big news was obviously the EF4 tornado that hit Cullman. It literally hit a block from Travis’ office and Travis literally left 10 minutes before it ripped through downtown Cullman. His building was fine and probably would have been safer than our house because the building is more than 18 inches thick of solid concrete. One of the oldest buildings in Cullman it was a Post Office built in 1912 that apparently used to hold gold as well as it has a huge vault in the basement too. Back to the tornadoes though…Travis got home and called for me to come to the playroom where we saw the tail of one of the about 8 tornadoes that rampaged through Cullman County on April 27th. The sirens started going off at 530am that morning and I counted a total of 14 times they went off that day! It got scary at night because of course we had no power and when there’s no light of any kind anywhere it gets darker than dark out here! We spent a good 3 hours in our closet that night. Our house came out fine and so did we, thank the Lord. That night I did suffer from a bee or bug of some kind attacking my left eye though and when I went to the doc this past Tuesday my eye was infected and the doc said he could count at least 3 stings and I had a swollen lymph node as a reaction near my ear as well. I’m on antibiotics now and healing nicely. Its interesting having scabs on your eyelid though. We spent the 5 days we did not have power down in Prattville with my Mom and Dad. It was a nice mini vacation for Travis and the girls enjoyed getting spoiled. I enjoyed being around my parents and taking Chance for walks through their neighborhood. Sidewalks are really nice. I like them I’ve decided.
Still looking like we will be moving to Plano and while I hate to uproot Anya from her school, and I really dislike having to sell my first house, and I will miss being closer to my parents…I think its obvious that God wants us to move. So, I’m trying to be positive and praying that the house will still sell soon. I’m sure we’ll have more details about the move as time goes on, but my guess is that we will have to move before August 1st.
Anya’s only played one t-ball game this season so I hope she gets to play in a few more games and that they will continue the season.
I have been researching some things in Plano and I’m excited that they have nice library programs and a nice Gymnastics facility. I think Arwen is going to do well in gymnastics and it will be nice for her to be exposed to some diversity as well. I hope we will be able to rent a house, but we may end up in an apartment out there for a while. Still a lot of unknowns with the move.
Anya had a great time with her friend Katie a few weeks ago when we ventured out to the Great Pumpkin Patch Easter Egg Hunt! They got to ride a covered wagon and pick 10 eggs each. Arwen picked about 29 eggs and then she decided she’d had enough. Katie has a younger brother, Colton, that is Arwen’s age…so we really had a great time that day.
I’ve attached some of the photos I took from the tornado damage in Cullman and some Easter shots and some cute photos I took of the girls today!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful Mom friends I have and especially to my Mom! I love you Mom!
Oh, and here’s a photo of my frankeneye!
