Life after Austin.

It has been nearly eight months since my last blog!!  Wow! It has been a while, so I suppose I better get you up to speed.  At the time of my first attempt at blogging, only two months had passed since we moved to Palo Alto.  I was not working, but I was furiously applying to jobs and sending out my resume.  It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be to find work.  I was getting almost no response and I was actually starting to worry!  This was a shocker, since my dad has always called me the "what, me worry?" kid.

I finally landed a sweet gig as a sales associate at Macy's selling women's coats and suits.  When I say "sweet gig," I mean it was the easiest job I have ever had.  It was also the lowest paying position I have ever had, if you don't include the two weeks I worked at Taco Bell as a high school student.  I have a bachelor's degree and I did three years of full time study after college graduation, yet I was making $9 per hour.  I was stooping to new lows, but that was okay!  I was living in an amazing place with my fantastic fiance!  The mountains were close by for skiing, the ocean was even closer, and the wine country was just waiting for me to visit.

Even thought I was enjoying life, I did know that "sales associate" was not the job for me, so I kept looking for something better and brighter.  I was still getting no response from the numerous resumes and cover letters I sent out, so I figured "better and brighter" could at least mean "more money".  Hence, my return to the restaurant industry.  Waiting tables normally means fewer hours and more pay, so I got a job as a server in a well-known restaurant.  I was working half as many hours as I was at Macy's and I was making twice as much money.  Too bad I hate waiting tables...

Finally, I got a position in my field at a HUGE firm in San Francisco.  It was my dream job and I could not have been happier!!  The next day, they called and said they made a mistake.  The job would only be temporary with the chance of one day becoming permanent.  So, my work life remains in limbo.  I still don't have a permanent job, but I am still extremely optimistic. Things will work out...eventually.

When I am not looking for a job, I am taking care of my dog, my house, and my fiance.  Since Luis is a Stanford University graduate student, he does not have much time to take care of anything except for his schoolwork.  That means I am very busy!! Not to mention trying to maintain a social life.  Oh, did I mention I am also planning our wedding?  Blog #3 = Wedding!!!

so much to catch up on!

I should have started this blog a while ago.  Actually, I should have started this on February 14, 2010.  This was the day of our engagement.  This was the day that changed everything.  Eight months have passed and so much has happened since then.  I don't know how to begin and I don't know how to condense this all for you or for me.

I guess I will just start.  Luis and I were engaged on Valentine's Day.  He was a graduating senior at the University of Texas at Austin and I was working for an engineering firm (and enjoying my work).  After the engagement, Luis soon found out that he was accepted to graduate school at MIT in Boston, at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, and at the University of Texas in Austin.  After much thought and discussion, Luis chose Stanford University and I decided to go with him.

So, we were engaged and we were moving to California, but wait a second, it was not quite that simple! First, we had to tell our family and friends (and in my case my boss and coworkers).  Wow, was that hard.  Of course everyone already knew about the engagement and some had an idea that we might move, but it was still a shock for everyone to hear that we were actually leaving and that we may not ever move back.

Now that everyone was aware that we were moving, it was time to throw a graduation party for Luis!  He had family fly in for the event and it was fun and exciting for us both.  Unfortunately, I got into a bad car wreck the day his family arrived and essentially totaled my car, so that put a damper on things (and extra stress on me).  Thankfully, I was not injured, so life went on and a new car was purchased.

The rest of the summer passed by with Luis working at an internship and me finishing up my last few months at work.  I went on vacation to Turkey for a week with my family, which was amazing, but poor Luis never really got a break. After I returned, we began work on the big move.  We started by going to California to find a place to live.  Since we have a small dog and rent is insanely high in Palo Alto (it is the 5th most expensive city in the U.S.), we knew it would not be easy.  In fact, it was unbelievably difficult and I wish I was blogging then, as I had a lot of stress and anxiety and could have used an outlet for it!  After we got back, we had a garage sale, we had numerous going away dinners, we took care of all of the mundane aspects of moving, and I began to deal with the emotional side of a long distance move.

I am not sure that I even want to delve into that yet.  I still feel guilty about moving and the stress of leaving my best friends still haunts me.  I left behind great friends, a great job, and my wonderful parents to go to a new town where I would have no friends, no job, and no family (except Luis and Duncan, of course).  Was I nuts??  Trust me, I will go into that in another blog.

So, we said goodbye to Austin and drove off in our moving truck with our car in tow.

I suppose that sums up the big move to California, but it sure is weird to see a condensed version of it (yes, that was condensed!).  It was stressful, time consuming, and beyond difficult, but it was a life experience.  Isn't that what we should be doing?  Experiencing life?

All of us in the truck on the way to California. 

If anyone cares how life has turned out during our first two months in California, I will fill you in at a later time.  Oh, and if you want to know about the wedding plans, I will probably blog on that as well ;).  Most likely no one is reading and I am just writing to myself, but that's okay.  They say that only crazy people talk to themselves, so I figure I will write to myself instead. That is probably only half-crazy.  I'm all right with that. :)