The Big Move

So we are here! In Houston, Texas. We've been here for about 2 weeks and have spent a lot of time unpacking, settling, and finding where important places are (grocery stores, Chick-fil-a, etc.). It also ended up that we had to find a car shop, because at the end of our first full week we were out running errands and Gerrit's car started making some awful noises. We were pretty far away from our apartment, and so we had to pull in a Lowe's parking lot and call the insurance company. They sent a tow truck to pick us up, which took us to a local garage. It was a bit of a stressful day, but we were very glad that the husband and wife who worked at the garage offered to drive us home. Also luckily we did not have to replace the whole transmission. Just a part of it was broken (although I could not tell you what exactly that was).

Another major event (also having to do with cars) was going to get our registrations and driver's licenses. Now, I'm not really sure why, but you can not do these things at the same location. First we went to the driver's license office, thinking we could do both things. But it's a good thing Gerrit went up and asked before we waited in line for hours! So we had to turn around and go to the tax office to get our car registrations. Then after lunch we went back for our licenses. We got there at 12:30, and we did not leave until 4:00. Seriously. First we waited in line for about 45 minutes for someone to give us a number, make sure we had our paperwork, and conduct our vision test. Then we sat in a huge block of chairs and waiting for 2 hours. Then our number was called, and we waited in another line for awhile. It was not very fun, but I am glad that we got it done.

Other than that we have just been doing general things...grocery shopping, getting settled, doing some furniture shopping (we got pretty new bookshelves!), and watching a lot of 30 Rock. Tomorrow is Gerrit's first day of work, so we will finally get in to our real routine!

Wow.

We have had an absolutely crazy and exciting time the last 3-ish weeks. We have gotten married, gone on our honeymoon, packed up all of our stuff and sent it to Houston (ok, actually the movers did this), and now we are getting ready to leave! Here are some highlights (in list form, of course).

1) The week before the wedding was pretty crazy. There were a lot of last minute details to finish, but it was so much better having Gerrit in town to help. Towards the end of the week we both had family come in to town, and we had a lot of fun catching up with them. The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner was on Friday night before the wedding, and it was so wonderful to see all sides of our family and friends come together and have a great time!



2) The wedding day was amazing. Everything went so smoothly, with the exception of a few small things that didn’t turn out quite right. But honestly, I didn’t care. We had a fantastic time, were in disbelief that we were actually getting married, and made so many lovely memories of the day.


3) We went on our honeymoon in Asheville, NC. We stayed in a cute little cabin up on a mountain with a view overlooking the city. So relaxing! We spent the week going to lots of delicious restaurants, hiking, touring the Biltmore, shopping, and relaxing.


4) Now we are in Huntsville and have had quite the time moving. The movers came on Monday and packed up our stuff. We were supposed to find out then when it would get there, but no. We have spent from Monday to Wednesday trying to get an answer as to when our belongings would arrive in Houston, and finally today we got a call that they could drop it off at 2:00 this afternoon. Uhm…problem, we are 12 hours away. So now we are leaving on Monday and they are going to deliver it on Tuesday. Craziness!

I guess the next post will be from our new apartment in Houston!

Final Weekend in Starkville

This past weekend, Erin and her family, along with my Dad and brother, came down to Starkville to help me haul some my larger possessions back home. Erin and her family came down on Friday night and we went to Mugshots (our favorite hamburger place) and Bop's (our favorite frozen custard place) and I took them on a tour of campus.

The next morning we had breakfast at The Little Dooey, then went to pick up a uHaul trailer we could fit my stuff in.

While Mr. Bruce and I tried in vain to get the tail-lights working on the trailer, my Dad and brother arrived and started helping get things organized. Eventually, we loaded up my bookshelves, table, mattress, boxspring, and futon into the trailer. Because of the limited room I'll have in the jeep when I head home on Thursday, we went ahead and loaded my TV up into Dad's car.

Now, my apartment is essentially bare, with a few essentials like an air mattress, clothes, and a loaf of bread.

Fortunately, I only have to live like this for a couple more days before coming home :)

11 days till the wedding!

Are We There Yet?

So...we are down to about 3.5 weeks. Which is CRAZY. Sometimes this throws me in to a bit of a panic because I have about a gazillion things constantly running through my head that need to be done. At this point we mostly have just little details left to take care of, figuring out the scheduling, etc. Although we do still have to make the wedding programs, buy some candles (which I guess is a little detail), and things such as that. Also, buying a pen for the guest book. Why is it so difficult to find simple (non-frilly) wedding items? And the fact that we have not finished the wedding programs yet is a bit funny because about 2 months ago I had a dream that it was the wedding day and we were getting ready for the ceremony and we didn't have the programs and so I made Gerrit go home and get his computer so that we could make them at the church. Then in my dream I realized it was a dream (which was awesome) and I was very relieved.

As much as I am looking forward to it, really and truly I am ready for this chaos to be over. I am ready to have everything done and it to be the day of the rehearsal and all I have to do is enjoy it. But it will get here eventually! (And sometimes it seems almost too quickly).

Almost even crazier than the wedding being in 3.5 weeks is that us moving to Houston will occur in about 5 weeks. So at the same time that we have all of the wedding things going on, we are also trying to get things straight with the whole moving situation: talking to the moving company (we will need to set a for sure moving date); figuring TV, internet, electricity, and insurance; and of course, packing. The packing part is really crazy. We are collecting everything at Gerrit's parents' house to move from there. So far almost all of my stuff from Auburn is there and a good amount of Gerrit's stuff from Starkville is there. But I still have A LOT of stuff to clean out and pack up from my room at home, Gerrit still has some major items from his apartment in Starkville, and we have some old family furniture pieces to move in there from my great-aunt's house. And the whole 5 weeks until moving almost doesn't matter with all of that because we must have most of it done before the wedding!

If you know me well at all, you know that I like to be on a routine. So needless to say, I am so excited for it to be about the end of August and we will be married, moved, and settling into our apartment in Houston!

Coming into focus...

The past month has been quite exciting. I’ve been in touch with various people from Exxon and their relocation sub-contractors getting the ball rolling on our move.

We’ve been in touch with the relocation consultant, the moving company, and a realtor for the Houston area. We’ve researched apartments, weighed pro’s and con’s of different neighborhoods, and mostly just been simultaneously ecstatic and terrified ;)

Also in that time, I’ve talked with my future supervisor at Exxon to get a better feel for what my job is going to be like. My official title is “Knowledge Management Analyst”, and I’ll be working on a team that makes sure all of the Information Technology Department at Exxon is keeping their data organized and is making progress on upgrading to new systems. My supervisor seems like a great guy, and the position sounds far better than what I expected for an entry level IT job.

Next week Erin and I will actually head out to Houston to meet with the Realtor and look at some of the apartments.

It's Official! We're Moving to Houston

I finally got the phone call I've been waiting for today...

When I went to Houston last Fall for my interview with Exxon, they told us that there were several locations throughout the country where I might end up being assigned. They said that Houston was by far the most common assignment, but there was that little possibility of something else that was keeping Erin and I from being able to make concrete plans.

Today I finally heard from the lady in charge of my recruiting division with my assignment. After months of wondering and waiting, I finally know some general information assignment... including the fact that Erin and I will officially be moving to Houston after the wedding. :)

The plan is that Erin and I will go down in May to look for a place to live. I'm waiting to hear back from HR about specifics. I've been a bit more reluctant to do my research than Erin has, but now that I know we're going to be in Houston I'm looking forward to looking at all our options before we get there.

I don't really have too much information at the moment about my specific job, other than that I'll be working in SAP application development. To me, that means it's time to go book shopping so I don't show up on day one needing a syntax lesson.

I'll know more about exactly what my job will entail, as well as what part of Houston I'll be working in (Exxon has facilities throughout the city) hopefully sometime next week. My future supervisor is supposed to give me a call sometime...

I'll keep you posted as I get more info :)

All Settled In...

As some of you may already know, I moved into a new apartment when I started this semester. I had been considering an apartment for some time, and the fact that I was going to be making enough money to pay for one with my internship provided the perfect opportunity. After a series of unfortunate circumstances that resulted in me sleeping on a buddy's couch for a week, I got some friends together to move me in.

I didn't realize I had so much stuff...

It took 2 cars, 2 trucks, and an SUV to move all of my stuff from my old house into the new apartment.

Now that I've had a chance to get all my stuff all moved in, I am SO happy with it. It's so nice to have my own space! Most importantly, I'm really enjoying having highspeed internet again so that Erin and I can skype :)

In addition to moving into my new apartment, I've been settling into my internship. Having an 8-5 job is certainly an adjustment, and my job doesn't really fit into my area of expertise, but it's really not that bad... I'm certainly enjoying getting those paychecks :)