The Alamo

No, not that Alamo, the Alamo movie theater that is apparently a Texas staple. We actually ventured out of our little bubble last night and went to check out the new Will Ferrell flick, Step Brothers last night. And because I'm lame and never have a camera, words will have to suffice - there aren't even decent pictures to steal from the web.

While the movie was your typical Will Ferrell fare, this is not the point. The Alamo is awesome, I don't know why this concept is not more popular. You enter the theater, find a seat, and write down your food and drink order. A server comes by, takes your order and you have food and drinks while you watch a movie. Genius, I say. The extensive menu is pretty decent and includes a huge beer/wine selection - bonus. I had the Turkey & Red Pepper Sub, Steven ordered the Grilled Chicken Club, and we shared a pitcher of Hefeweizen.

Although there is a steady stream of servers running around during the movie, it wasn't overly obnoxious in my opinion. Steven had mentioned, however, that he wouldn't want to watch a serious movie at the Alamo since he was distracted. I guess we won't be seeing many serious movies in the near future?

RIP, Pink Razr

You've served me well over the past 2.5 years (scratches and all) but with your recent shenanigans, I've had to retire you. I did not appreciate the random numbers being dialed without my consent, nor did I enjoy the keypad not working at all. Not sure if you were punishing me for moving you out of California into this horrific Texan heat, but I get it.


May you have better times elsewhere, hopefully you can aid a nice person who needs you more than me - after you get fixed, of course.


Sadly, I cannot afford your posh cousin the iphone at the moment so I've had to settle for your step-sister, the MOTO (yes, in purple. don't mock).







And your step-sister had better arrive tomorrow as promised. Not having a cell phone feels like I've lost a limb.

It's only 2 years, right?

Or that's what Steven promised me, we'd be back in California in 24 months. Or 730 days. Not that I'm counting or anything.

Our drive to our new home was interesting, to say the least. We had family friends who recently made the trek from SoCal to Austin and it took them 28 hours so at least we knew what to expect (sort of). It took us 29-ish hours, I will be happy to never do that drive again!

All of our precious belongings fit into this, a 26 foot Penske truck.

Steven drove the truck for most of the way while I followed behind in my car. His brother helped us along the way so we could take breaks. Thank god for XM radio, I don't know if I would have survived without it, especially since cell phone service was shotty at best for most of the drive through Texas. Don't even want to know what the radio selection is like.

Somewhere in Arizona - the lady in the gas station said it had been 116 degrees the day before:/

Meanwhile, crossing into New Mexico, we drove through this madness. It just started pouring with a crazy thunder storm.

This is just, um, interesting. I should get used to it since there are churches just about on every block in this state. They don't call the south "the Bible Belt" for nothing. The truck reads "Jesus Christ is Lord, Not a Swear Word."

Welcome to Texas! Just below the sign reads "Drive Friendly - The Texas Way." Um, we're from Southern California. Have you seen the 405 during rush hour? We don't drive "friendly."

I lost it about two hours from our destination...between the exhaustion and the stress, it was all very overwhelming. I have to remind myself that it's not California - it's normal for men to be wearing tight pants with cowboy boots/hats. It's normal to see a taxidermist office (is that what it's even called?). It's normal to be called ma'am, although I'm not sure if I'm going to get used to that one.

And our new, but temporary, home. It needs quite a bit of work, but a fresh coat of paint and some new carpet will make it 1,000 times better. I have to remind myself to breathe, eventually everything will be finished. Pictures of the inside will come later when things have actually been unpacked/painted/etc.

We have great neighbors, almost everyone came over to say hello the first day - the lady next door even came over with her 6 yr old son and gave us cold lemonade. So nice!

Now back to unpacking...