Welcome to Our Blog!

I have decided to start a blog to keep our friends and family posted on our upcoming move to Austin, TX and to record our adventures when we get there. Over the next few months, I'll let you know how our plans unfold and share our "farewell tour" of Eau Claire/Minneapolis.

So here's the current situation- I've been accepted to the Foreign Language Education doctoral program at UT and we will be moving in early August. Beyond that, we are still considering what we want to do about Austin's job, housing, etc. We are currently working to downsize our personal possessions; it's amazing what you accumulate over three years in 2200 square feet! I am gathering some items for a garage sale and others I have "freecycled" through a great website that allows you to give things away in an effort to promote reusing and recycling. The nice thing is that people come to you to get the items so it's very easy (as long as you don't mind someone knowing where you live).

We also added an item to our list for the farewell tour- Cajun Pasta at Stella Blue's. We were married at that Cajun/Creole restaurant and went there on Friday night. Austin ordered the Cajun Pasta, a dish from our wedding dinner menu, and we reveled in the creamy, smoky, spicy richness of it. My Shrimp Etouffee was also wonderful. We'll definitely miss that little gem in downtown EC.

Today we ran errands, did a little cleaning, and Austin was thrilled to put the summer tires back on his WRX. Today is also the first day we've had multiple windows open in the house and it feels great. We have another busy week ahead of us; Austin's department is (still) working through numerous projects and I'll be taking on the course of a colleague who is going on medical leave so I'll now be teaching 20 credits until the end of the semester- that's a lot! A happy hour tomorrow night with another couple should take the edge of Monday a little, though.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my new blog. I'll try to post at least once a week if not more often so check back again.