Taste of Fall

I had already started to lament that the summer was winding down when I recently noticed that when I put little G down to bed the sunlight through her window was disappearing more and more, but last weekend made me more painfully aware that the inevitable fall season is really closer than I thought.
Almost every parking space near our apartment building is under or close to a tree and last weekend I happened to park the car under the only tree that decided to lose its leaves like crazy.  I hardly use the car on the weekends and didn't go out on Monday, so by Tuesday the car was covered with leaves.  Also, it began to rain on Saturday evening and continued practically non-stop until Thursday, bringing with it 60 degree temperatures.
Now, we are back to normal with possible 90 degree temps on Sunday or Monday.  The cool weather was nice, but not enjoyable with the depressing rain.  It made me appreciate the little bit of summer that I have left and I definitely started to think about my fall wardrobe!

Pool time!

The summer has long begun and one thing I've learned about New Englanders and summer is that they love their pools!  I noticed it last year when we moved here in August.  There was a story on the news that the weather was "hot", but the local pool was closed.  It was a big deal to these people!  Since going through a winter here I now appreciate or understand where they are coming from.  But that doesn't change me as a person that really doesn't care to go to a pool very much.  I lived in Houston for about 5 years in several apartments and went to the pool probably a handful of times.  It seems alien to people here when I mention that to them.  I still have only been in a pool once here this whole summer... and I had to buy a new swimsuit because the other ones were over five years old and didn't fit me!  I know I might go at least one more time for the sake of my daughter, which is what motivated me to get in the first time.  Anything (well, almost) for my little girl.  :)

Back from Houston--Sorry I took so long!

It's now July.  No, we didn't stay in Houston for several months.  I don't know what it was--I guess the interruption of what was beginning to be everyday normal life, but I just lost interest to blog for a while.  Sorry!  Anyway, it's been so long that I sort of have forgotten the Houston trip.  I do remember some, which I will call the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. 
The Good, of course, was getting to see family, friends AND eating Mexican and all other food that isn't in Massachusetts!!  We stayed with family so they got to spend time with little G.  I was able to see old friends from college and catch up with them, too.  And one of the main purposes of us going that particular month was that two friends of ours were getting married on the same day so we traveled from one side of the city and back to make it to both.
What I call the Bad really sucked for me.  Background:  I've had back issues before so I am familiar with having to see a chiropractor.  Well, for some particular reason, in the beginning of the trip my back started hurting.  I blame the car I rode in (which used to be my old car before moving to Boston), how I sat it in it (pretty twisted since I sat in the back of a tiny car with a tall man driving so I had no leg room) and how big the city of Houston is, which could have us driving sometimes an hour just to get somewhere.  Combine all that and you get an unhappy back.  It was so bad that I had to see a chiropractor.  I had seen the doc about a couple of times when I hurt my back again by trying to pick up my little girl.  So, I was in Houston for about a week and a half and I ended up seeing the chiropractor at least five times!  Does that give you an idea of how bad it was?  I was in pain!
As painful as my bad back situation was, I wouldn't even call it the Ugly.  That was the hubby getting food poisoning.  One night, he was putting our girl to bed when all I heard was him in the hallway and the sound of a HUGE splatter.  That hallway is at least ten feet long and his vomit was all across it.  That was just the beginning.  I'll spare you the gory details, but it got so bad that he went to the emergency room.
Man, our trip to Houston was kinda tough on us.  That is probably another reason why I haven't posted on here.  Anyway, we are back home and I think back to normalcy.  I should be blogging more consistently now.

Looking forward to our first trip back to Houston

Me and my family are flying to Houston next week.  It will be our first time back.  I wonder how different I will see it--if I do at all.  I've experienced this feeling before when I went away to college and would come back to visit my hometown.  I don't know if it happened on my first visit or after I'd been in college a while.  I do miss a lot of things about Houston and I also have begun to appreciate some things with living here in the Boston area that I took for granted in Texas.  I definitely appreciate the sun more since the weather been warming up from our first long, cold, snowy New England winter.  Anyway, I'll update you all when I get back!

It's happening!

It really is starting to feel like spring weather is here.  When I opened the car door today I was pleasantly surprised to have the inside of the car feel warm!  Ok, I know you Texans are probably thinking I must be out of my mind, but when you've had 5 months of winter you will appreciate that when it happens.  The locals here have warned me, though, not to get too excited because it could possibly still snow here up until April, but I'm enjoying the bit of warm temperatures that have slowly crept up and looking forward to the forecasted 59 degrees this Friday!  

First trip back to Texas

My mom was missing me and (let's be honest) her little granddaughter more so she bought us a flight to go visit her in the Rio Grande Valley.  Miss G is 14 months now and the last time Grandma saw her is when she was about 7 months.  Now Grandma could enjoy G's walking and "talking" and getting things she's not supposed to and G could enjoy her dog.  Little G LOVES dogs!  Needless to say, she was ecstatic to visit Grandma again.  What I enjoyed was the Mexican food!!  I had a mental list of restaurants I wanted to go to during my visit.  Unfortunately, I didn't get around to all of them, but I got to most.  The highlight, though, was my Grandmother's cooking.  Boy, had I forgotten how good it is!  Of course, I also enjoyed seeing family and friends.  There is never enough time to see them all, but there is always the next visit. :)

You mean snow doesn't melt, like, the next day?

I have lived in Massachusetts long enough to have experienced quite a bit of snowfalls up until now so I already know the answer to this question.  With seeing snow only about two or three times in my life before in Texas where our winters are very mild I had never seen snow stick around longer than maybe a day.  We hardly had very much accumulation (not anywhere close to the 8 to 12 inches I've seen here) and the warm temperature the next day would just melt it away.  With all this said I hope you see now why when after the first snowfall here where there is a real winter I thought that by the next snowfall which was forcasted at week's end it would all be gone.  Nope.  Some maybe does melt, but with the cold temperature that stays pretty constant that isn't usually the case.  I now have come to accept that it is all part of the winter season here in New England.  Don't get me wrong it is beautiful, but when we hit 40 degree temps here and most of it did melt away I was happy--both for the little nuisance gone and the little bit of "warm" weather!