Probably our last view of the Utah mountains. The one thing I will miss most...
Before we moved, we stayed in Texas to go apartment hunting during the last week of April. It was my first time ever in Texas. The first thing I noticed was just how green it was in Austin. I honestly expected Texas to look like a desert, but that is certainly not the case for Austin. We looked at so many different apartments while there. It was almost hard to choose. Eventually, we found one that is maybe a little above our price range, but it is only a mile away from Collin's job! After much thinking and praying, we decided to take the apartment. We took the first floor which made moving very smooth.
During our first night living in Austin, we stayed at a hotel until it was time to check into our apartment the next day. I'll admit, the flight to Texas was a little rough. We felt very nauseous on the plane, so it was nice to stay somewhere we can get rest. Slowly but surely, we were getting everything settled into our apartment. I'm so glad we now call this place our home.
From our first visit in Texas. We stopped by General Motors where Collin will be working. It's a beauty!
You always see the Texas star (which you see on the Texas state flag) and the longhorn wherever you go. People use the two logos as home decorations, on buildings, in restaurants, on their car doors, etc. All I can say is, Texans really know how show their Texas pride. Someday, I may decorate our home with the star and longhorn. :)
I now know what they mean by southern hospitality. The people from Texas are very nice, friendly, and down-to-earth. It felt like everywhere we went, people were just willing to help you or be polite. You can even recognize the southern accents and you hear people say "y'all" or "yes'm" almost all the time. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we start developing southern accents. Haha. When we went to our new ward, the people there were really welcoming and had a good sense of humor. We now go to a family ward, which is kind of a transition from a student ward.
We hope to get know more people and the area a little bit better. We like our new home in Austin so far. More to come about our adventures in Austin in the near future. :)
During our first night living in Austin, we stayed at a hotel until it was time to check into our apartment the next day. I'll admit, the flight to Texas was a little rough. We felt very nauseous on the plane, so it was nice to stay somewhere we can get rest. Slowly but surely, we were getting everything settled into our apartment. I'm so glad we now call this place our home.
Our plane descending into Austin. You can see just how green it is!
Collin's job at GM hired a moving company to help us box our stuff and take it from Utah to Texas. They carried everything inside our new apartment. We barely had to do anything. That was super nice! I like GM. :)
Probably not even half the boxes that they moved down. We had a lot of stuff!
The moving process wasn't over quite yet. We had to unpack all of our stuff (which we still need to do today.) Haha. We also hardly had any furniture when we moved. We went from going to a furnished to an unfurnished apartment. The only furniture we possessed was a mattress and bed spring, a coffee table, and a TV.
During our first few weeks of Texas, we were furniture shopping and organizing our stuff. When you become an independent adult, you grow fond of furniture shopping. I absolutely love shopping for your own furniture. I honestly never knew it would be so much fun to decorate your own place. We got a lot of our furniture from Ikea and a few from a consignment store (called Consignment Stars). Our decorations were from Target and Ikea. Collin loves building things, so naturally, Ikea is his favorite furniture store. :) I've always wanted my home to have an Asian theme to it. I don't know if it was my Japanese heritage, but I love the modern, natural look. I was looking at so many pinterest ideas to help us get started. We got some decorations and items that we thought would look good as an Asian theme. We love how our new place turned out! Of course, I couldn't have done it all without Collin's help. I think I will keep him around. :)
During our first few weeks of Texas, we were furniture shopping and organizing our stuff. When you become an independent adult, you grow fond of furniture shopping. I absolutely love shopping for your own furniture. I honestly never knew it would be so much fun to decorate your own place. We got a lot of our furniture from Ikea and a few from a consignment store (called Consignment Stars). Our decorations were from Target and Ikea. Collin loves building things, so naturally, Ikea is his favorite furniture store. :) I've always wanted my home to have an Asian theme to it. I don't know if it was my Japanese heritage, but I love the modern, natural look. I was looking at so many pinterest ideas to help us get started. We got some decorations and items that we thought would look good as an Asian theme. We love how our new place turned out! Of course, I couldn't have done it all without Collin's help. I think I will keep him around. :)
My handyman at work. :)
Our dining room chairs and table. I saw them at the consignment store and fell in love! So we got them. :) I think the design looks a lot like the pagoda in Japan.
Our bookshelf and entertainment center in our living room. With an addition of a bamboo plant, floor lamp, cherry blossom decors, and a blue rug.
We've lived in Texas for about a month now and here is what we have learned about it so far:
Their barbeques are to die for! I've heard that Texas was famous for barbeques. Collin served his mission in Houston, so he already has had a taste of Texas barbeques. However, it was my first time. We went to Rudy's Barbeque and ate some barbeque briskett and chicken. It was so mouthwatering! I get hungry every time I think about it. We made some of our own barbeque hamburgers and hot dogs at home.
Everything is huge in Texas, including the bugs. That is something that is going to take me a while to get used to. I've always been afraid of bees and other big insects. Every time we go outside at night, we find these June bugs flying around the porch lights. At first, I freaked out when one landed on me, because I didn't know what they were. Plus, they are HUGE! I was told that they were harmless so now I feel much better about them. :)
Their barbeques are to die for! I've heard that Texas was famous for barbeques. Collin served his mission in Houston, so he already has had a taste of Texas barbeques. However, it was my first time. We went to Rudy's Barbeque and ate some barbeque briskett and chicken. It was so mouthwatering! I get hungry every time I think about it. We made some of our own barbeque hamburgers and hot dogs at home.
Everything is huge in Texas, including the bugs. That is something that is going to take me a while to get used to. I've always been afraid of bees and other big insects. Every time we go outside at night, we find these June bugs flying around the porch lights. At first, I freaked out when one landed on me, because I didn't know what they were. Plus, they are HUGE! I was told that they were harmless so now I feel much better about them. :)
The weather can get pretty wild! It literally rained the whole time during the move in! We, of course, got plenty of thunderstorms. We even got flash flood warnings on our phones. They went off at about 6am on a Sunday morning. Luckily, our location wasn't hit by any flood, but the thunder and lightning would not stop! It was so hard to fall back asleep. I have never been more sleep deprived waking up at 11:30am. Luckily, church didn't start until 1, but I was still so groggy. On the bright side, Texas got some much needed rain. They went through a drought for about 6 years and are now catching up on rain and moisture. It made me think that there is hope for California.
When there is humidity, you will feel it! Coming from a girl who was born and raised in California, humidity is something that is very new to me. The Southern and Eastern states get a lot of humidity.
Humidity gets a lot more intense in the heat. They weren't kidding when they say it gets hot in Texas. We found ourselves wearing t-shirts and shorts in the rain. It even gets hot when it's cloudy or stormy outside. California is also a warm state, but not like Texas. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we have already reached the triple digits.
Texas is basically flat, but beautiful. I used to live in Idaho, so I've seen what flat looks like. It's not like Utah where you were surrounded by snowy mountains. I don't believe that we will see snow anymore because... it's Texas. However, Austin is a very nice area. As I have said before, there is a lot of green and you can even find scenic locations. It reminds me of the Roseville area in California where I used to live. Very nice neighborhoods and natural parks.
Humidity gets a lot more intense in the heat. They weren't kidding when they say it gets hot in Texas. We found ourselves wearing t-shirts and shorts in the rain. It even gets hot when it's cloudy or stormy outside. California is also a warm state, but not like Texas. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we have already reached the triple digits.
Texas is basically flat, but beautiful. I used to live in Idaho, so I've seen what flat looks like. It's not like Utah where you were surrounded by snowy mountains. I don't believe that we will see snow anymore because... it's Texas. However, Austin is a very nice area. As I have said before, there is a lot of green and you can even find scenic locations. It reminds me of the Roseville area in California where I used to live. Very nice neighborhoods and natural parks.
You always see the Texas star (which you see on the Texas state flag) and the longhorn wherever you go. People use the two logos as home decorations, on buildings, in restaurants, on their car doors, etc. All I can say is, Texans really know how show their Texas pride. Someday, I may decorate our home with the star and longhorn. :)
I now know what they mean by southern hospitality. The people from Texas are very nice, friendly, and down-to-earth. It felt like everywhere we went, people were just willing to help you or be polite. You can even recognize the southern accents and you hear people say "y'all" or "yes'm" almost all the time. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we start developing southern accents. Haha. When we went to our new ward, the people there were really welcoming and had a good sense of humor. We now go to a family ward, which is kind of a transition from a student ward.
We hope to get know more people and the area a little bit better. We like our new home in Austin so far. More to come about our adventures in Austin in the near future. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment