Moving Day

Yep, yesterday was the big day... MOVING DAY!

& I know my readers are just dying to hear the horrible, exhausting details.

& know how sore I am  today...

That's right, my calves, neck and arms want me dead.

All of our moving plans changed last minute (but, for the better, thank goodness). Turns out we would not be renting a Uhaul because Jeremy's best friend, Pate, could come to town and has a horse trailer that's much larger than what we would have rented.

Anyway, we got the keys on Thursday, so we loaded my car up pretty good Wednesday evening.

This is what we managed that first trip.

[I was pretty impressed with Ruby!]

Friday morning, we woke up very early to get started.

This was Ruby's first load on Friday: 

[Continued]

[& more]

I took a picture of the light in the dining room because I really, really like it.

This was the condo after two loads with Ruby, two loads with the horse trailer & one load in Pate's mom's car.

[Continued] 

 [& more]

 [etc.]

 We left the bedrooms mostly empty so that we would have some space to work with.

 This was my fiance after a crazy busy day of moving.

 Believe it or not, there is actually a washer and dryer under that pile of clothes.

 Ironic moment of the day:

Once we were loaded up with the final items, we stopped to eat at Railhead BBQ in Fort Worth (so that traffic could die down & because we hadn't eaten all day). The boys got souvenir cups. This is the back of them:

Finally, just before we headed to sleep for the first time at our new condo, I set up my temporary command station. This is definitely not its final resting place, but I needed something quick.

Coming soon (probably tomorrow):

Any guesses?

Window Pains

Alrighty guys, we're getting down to the wire here.

Tomorrow, we get the keys from our new landlord and begin the moving process.

Friday, we move the big stuff.

I'm. so. EXCITED. 

Anyway... I had forgotten from the two times I saw the condo what the master bedroom window was like. But, because we're anxious and goofy, we did a little drive by action this past weekend. 

Turns out, our window is about the size of my hand. Okay, not really.

But it is tiny... about the same size as the window in Jacob's room. 

So... this is where you come im, my readers. 

What in the world can I do to make the window 
in our bedroom not look so... puny? 

Psst... only 10 days until GRADUATION!

Saying Goodbye to Fort Worth

Well, it's official. This is the last week in Fort Worth.

I know saying goodbye won't be easy. I've already been getting sad almost every day.

I'll miss the people,

TCU (yes, seriously),

Sundance Square,

the Stockyards,

the zoo,

Joe T. Garcia's,

the atmosphere,

the trees

&, of course, friends.

I really hope that Jeremy and I are able to come back regularly and visit considering we'll be less than an hour away.

I also hope our friends might make the trek to Dallas now and then.

I'm sad to leave, but thrilled about what's to come next in this crazy life of mine.


The to-do list:
two finals this afternoon
a quiz & a final Wednesday
one extremely intimidating paper due Friday
moving on Friday
two finals next week
GRADUATION

Fort Worth Zoo

Have I mentioned how much I love Fort Worth? Oh, I have? Sorry.
Have I mentioned how sad I am to be leaving Fort Worth? Again, sorry.

Yes. If you've spoken with me in the last month, you know how conflicted I am about moving.

Every time I'm in Dallas, I remember how much I love it and the move isn't so bad.

Fort Worth, after all, is just a hop, skip and a jump away.

But then I come home. And I'm driving through Fort Worth.

And I become very, very sad. More on that later.

Where I'm going with this is... the Fort Worth Zoo is FABULOUS.

About a year ago, Jeremy, Jacob and I became zoo members (which means unlimited access). So, on pretty days, it's definitely our go-to spot for easy four-year-old entertainment (okay, okay, maybe we're entertained, too).

Ironically, our membership expires this month.

Sadly, since we'll be in Dallas, we won't be renewing.

Thanks for the fun, zoo membership. We all loved it.

Inspiration: The Bedroom

You see that picture above? I found all of those shells in Knokke, Belgium when we went last month.

They are the beginning inspiration for our bedroom at the new place. I started with the shells.

Next, I found this bed. I am loving this headboard and footboard.

I can't wait to put my fiance to work building them!

Lastly...

Because we weren't able to find a place with a third bedroom, I'm wanting to have an area in our (very large) master bedroom for my crafts. The problem: my crafts are very cluttered & I do not like like a cluttered bedroom.

A recent idea I had was to make our own screen of some type... but I didn't want the typical screen. I want it to mesh. I thought of this... what about something that looks like a nice fence?

I've got more exploring to do with this idea... but that's where I'm at with the bedroom currently.

Please feel free to share any other suggestions!

P.S. - We get the keys two weeks from today

Taco... Pasta?

Two food posts in a row... I'm trying to make y'all hungry!

A few months ago, I created a Word document filled with links called "Recipes to Try." Now, when I'm thinking, what should I make for dinner tonight?, I go to that document and see what looks good. 

One recipe that intrigued me to begin with, which is how it got on the list, looked interesting last week.

[Taco Pasta]

Here are the ingredients... I used bow-tie pasta because it's what I had, those are black beans I accidentally opened the other day and didn't use in the tupperware. I skipped the green chiles because I'm a baby. 

Also... I didn't have tomato sauce (or my tomato sauce maker - Jeremy), so I just used one can of diced tomatoes and another of tomato sauce.

Anyway, after browning some ground beef, I threw in the taco seasoning, drained corn and black beans.

Then, I mixed in the diced tomatoes and tomato paste.

And threw it all in some cooked bow-tie pasta.

I spread it around a casserole dish,

covered it in cheese,

added the chips and more cheese... creating nachos on top of my casserole.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product until we had already dug into it.

We both really liked it... but I agreed with one of the comments on the Tasty Kitchen post. The pasta was just kind of... awkward. It seemed out of place.

Jeremy added sour cream and didn't speak until his plate was clean.

I plan on trying it again soon with rice in the place of pasta. I'll let ya know how that comes out!

Enchiladas

Sorry for the major slow down in blogging... life has been hectic, but in a great way. I started the new job on Thursday, which, other than the commute, has been really great! I stay very busy and the days go by super fast. I'll be working three days a week until May 9th, then I'll be full time.

Anyway... how about some food?!

If you hadn't noticed, we love us some Mexican food down here in Texas. I tried my hand at homemade Enchiladas recently. They turned out a little spicier than I usually prefer, but they were delicious.

My inspiration came from this recipe on Tasty Kitchen, but I adapted it quite a bit with some help from Leslie.

Anyway, I started by seasoning a pound of ground beef with a little Lawry's Taco Seasoning.

Meanwhile, I spread cream cheese over four tortillas (these were some store bought flour tortillas we had in the freezer, next time I'll probably make them).

Once the tortillas and beef were ready, I spread some beef and cheddar cheese onto each tortilla and rolled them up.

In an 8x8, I poured a little enchilada sauce and then put the filled and rolled-up tortillas inside.

I ended up with quite a bit of seasoned beef left over, so I spread that over the enchiladas.

As well as some more enchilada sauce.

Then, lots of cheese. Have I mentioned I love cheese?

I baked them at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or so.

Like I said, they were really good, but pretty spicy. I'm not sure if it was the enchilada sauce, the taco seasoning or the combination, but there's no way we could eat this when we have Jacob.

Alas, the fiance approved in a big way.