It's beautiful up here!

I'm usually oblivious to my surroundings so I'm not surprised that it's taken me this long to realize that it is so beautiful here.  There are so many trees!  My husband one day pointed out to me that they make up the horizon on our way home.  Anyway, one way I finally saw how nice it is here is when I was driving back from my first trip to Target here.  I went through an actual nice neighborhood where the houses where big, spaced out  with big yards and well kept like right out of a magazine.  This is when I first told myself that I really need to start taking pictures.  Another time was when I was driving back from another shopping trip and I saw this cute small beach with a playground.  Most of the way had nice houses and scenery also.  I wish I was able to describe how different it is here.  Anyway, I like driving down that street to go home.  I've taken some pics of the lakes around here which are almost as abundant as the trees.  They don't do this place justice, but it is so you can begin to get an idea.

DQ is that you?

One Saturday we headed out to go to shopping and realized we were hungry so we looked for somewhere to stop and eat on the way. I was sooo excited to see a Dairy Queen because I did not think there would be one here. We stopped. It was funny because for some reason my husband made a point to stress that they probably would not have the same selection on the menu like they do in Texas. He was preparing me... As he was giving me this lecture I was looking at the menu they had posted on their window and saw only desserts on it. I told him, "I think they only sell ice cream." He looked at the menu, then got out of the car to check "inside." I took a closer look and saw that there was not even any sitting room--no tables, no chairs. All I saw was one employee dispensing food from one wall of materials. There wasn't even a drive-thru. I finally realized that everyone that was coming to eat was getting out of their car and congregating to a walk up window. He came back to tell me what I had already figured out: Yup, they only sold ice cream! Man, and I was already looking forward to their food! Well, we had to move on. We drove to our first destination--Marshalls (they do not have Ross stores in this state and I'm still sad about it) in hopes of finding another burger place we would like to eat at. None. They have a whole lot of pizza selection here for some reason, though. Anyway, I had to wait to get through looking at the store for us to drive all the way back to our place so we could get some Wendy's! Oh, the hunger, and the irony.

My little girl's own space

Since my baby girl was born we had been living in a one bedroom apartment in Houston so I never had the joy of decorating a room for her. Well, now that we've moved she has her own room and we needed to buy furniture for her to put her clothes in. She already had a crib that her grandparents bought her so we just need to buy furniture in the matching color--white. We really didn't know where to begin since we are in a completely new city and state and there are not the same stores here that we would have gone to in Houston. We tried Burlington's and they had quite a bit of a selection that I was actually surprised about, but not in the color that we were looking for. Then we went to Babies 'R Us and I was very disappointed that they did not even sell baby furniture. I know they do in Houston. Anyway, as a last ditch effort we went to some furniture store that was by BRU and it was a reasonably priced place. They didn't have nursury furniture, but they did have children's furniture. I don't know if we were just tired of looking (I wouldn't have known where else to go honestly) or desperate because we just went ahead and bought her a white dresser with mirror and a chest. Now that it is in her room it actually looks nice and coordinated :) I haven't finished all the decorating, but this is what one of pieces looks like. My little girl has her own space!

I got a GPS and I'm using it!

So I used my GPS that my lovely husband was kind enough to purchase for me for the first time recently. He took his car in to the dealership for repair and I knew he would probably be there for a good while so I volunteered to go pick him up. I hadn't the faintest idea where he was. In fact, I hadn't driven around the area at all myself yet so I had to use the GPS. It wasn't super easy to use and I turned into the wrong street once or twice (it doesn't tell me the name of the street to turn on), but it got me there. I complained to him about it and he finally gave me a little lesson on how to use and read the darn thing. Then, he suggested we go to Wal-Mart (aren't we there all the time?!) and had me find it in the gadget and drive there all on my own. I didn't go to the nearest one (something we needed to fix on it), but at least I learned that to get to the nice further one I don't have to pay any tolls. The way he made it sound about driving around here you would have to pay a toll on every road. I realized that the main one I would pay a toll on is the highway that takes me into the city.

Checking out another one

No, not another man. I'm talking about visiting another Wal-Mart. By this time I have visited the second one around here and this one was a little better. It seemed more updated. It looks like a nice house from the outside with its roof, little windows and panel siding. But again, no groceries :( Also, it seems that the Wal-Marts around here have Subways instead of McDonald's. Weird, but I guess it's fine with me. I never ate much at the McDonald's inside the store anyway. This location might be the preferred one to go to since there are a lot of other shopping stores around it--it's even called Shopper's World for goodness sakes, but it is somewhat of a drive. When you sometimes have a screaming baby in her carseat you just try to get somewhere quick!

Holy driving, Batman!

My brother just began attending Harvard this summer for his master's so it is pretty cool that we are now living in the same city! I am still learning about the transportation around here so I will not have any specific names, but all that I know is that one day my brother and his wife took a train to meet up with us about halfway. We live about 30-45 minutes apart. We picked them up in Framingham. This was the first time that I saw this city/town and also the way people drive around here. I must say, it is scary! I mean, first of all, I have to tell you that they do NOT have middle lanes up here in the east coast so you have to be very agressive if you need to get acrss the road! Second of all, some of these roads do not have lines painted on them so the drivers just make their own lanes!! It's not this bad in our town, but I guess in the bigger cities or the closer you get to Boston it gets this crazy. Anyway, we ate at a restaurant that my husband says is a must to go to if you are visiting Boston--Legal Seafood. After dinner we drove my brother and his wife back to Cambridge so I got to see some of the Harvard campus (and more of the bad driving)! I was able to see their apartment/loft and we walked a little to get there after parking so I got to experience some of the area. I didn't get to walk around the campus, but I plan to do that soon! :)

I made it! Now, where my stores at?

Ok, I made it a week ago, but I have been a little behind in my posts. Sorry! I have been taking notes, though, on what I plan to blog about. I do want to point out that we as a family driving up here did not pan out so I do not have stories or pictures of how beautiful the country is, but hopefully one day that drive will happen. Anyway, I'm starting from my first experiences of being here... Well, the area around my place is decent, but it seems that I've landed in a small town! Argh. Case in point: my husband and I went to the nearest Wal-Mart. This is when I knew. It was an old, small store that you Texans might remember back in the 80's. They even still put sticker prices on every item in the store. Now that takes me back decades--lol! Needless to say, it was not a Super Wal-Mart! No groceries? I really was in shock! Where would we go?? Fortunately, right down the street from us is a store and it will now be where we buy our food. Hannaford is my new friend (begrudgingly). I mean, it's not the biggest store and the prices are high (like a Randall's or maybe a Kroger). Also, the Hispanic population is not as prominent here so I will not readily find chorizo or a tortilleria in the store. Sigh.

Talk about out of touch!

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted! Well, with my Mom visiting I got a LOT of packing done! Then, unfortunately, when I was in my hometown I had limited internet access (my Mother has dial-up(!) AND there were issues with the computer--Grrr!). Needless to say, I felt out of touch with everything. But the reason I was there was to spend time with my family and my daughter and I had a good time. She went to the beach for the first time:) Then, when I got back to Houston I ended up staying with my In-Laws for about two and a half weeks. I didn't know that was the plan, but it did make sense since everything was packed up and there was no food in our apartment. The only thing the apt had that my In-Laws didn't was internet! Arrgghh! After over a month living out of a suitcase I was sooo anxious just to get to Boston and get settled...