One Month and Counting

Some people use their blogs to countdown weddings, pregnancies, or retirement. Not us...we count down adventures. One month from today the 2010 Winter Olympics begin in Vancouver, Canada. And we will be there. Right around the 1st of January our Winter Olympics tickets came. Thanks to the ticket lottery for US citizens, we got tickets to the luge, curling, and a Russian men's hockey game. This week, I was able to secure some downhill skiing tickets on Ebay. We are so pumped. If I had a bucket list, Olympics would definitely be at the top. And, at just 29 years old, I'm so lucky to be crossing it off. In preparation for the trip, we've been searching for warm snow boots and ultra warm clothing. It's been a challenge in Texas and with Jim's size 14 foot. But, thanks to Zappos and some great local stores, we've come up with attire for our mountain events.

The House...Saga

Building a house is a relationship-breaker. So we've been told. I never really believed that little piece of wisdom. Now I do. Jim and I are fine. Our builder and us are not. Below are some photos. The house looks great. "Looks" being the key word. Brick, stone, cabinets, granite, and painting was done last week. We literally lack(ed) landscaping, touch up paint, some final trim, light fixtures, and flooring. Our closing/moving date was the first week of February. Until Jim and I started noticing some things. Come to find out, our brick is crooked on three walls and our sink/plumbing is in the wrong place in the kitchen. Little things we can live with. Crooked brick and a sink without any counter space is unliveable. So, as we speak they are chipping break off our house and tearing out our kitchen. We are now looking at a move-in date around the second week of March. At least our house will be right.

Days of Our Lives

Again, I am reminded about why I swore I would never blog. Despite how great blogging sounds. I just knew that I would not keep it updated. And, I definitely haven't disappointed myself.

Things have been down right crazy at the Turner household. It all started when we sold my house (our primary residence) in October. We were hoping to move out after Thanksgiving. But our buyer needed in the week of Thanksgiving. So we caved and moved the weekend before Thanksgiving. Now, we are living in Arlington with Jeff, Jim's brother. The commute, holidays, and back-to-school stuff has made it nearly impossible to keep a normal schedule or keep in touch with friends. For those of you I haven't had a chance to talk to, here's a run down of the last two months and a look ahead. Sorry it's so full of photos.

• My parents came to Arlington for Thanksgiving. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Turner for keeping them and making sure they weren't alone in Tyler for the holiday. We were really lucky to go to the Thanksgiving Day Cowboys game (our second 'Boys game this season) and the Baylor/Tech game at Cowboys Stadium. The Cowboys won and Baylor lost (what's new?). I will say, it was the best Baylor game I've ever attended. Even my mom had a great time. Keep an eye out -- the Bears will be good soon.
  

• Growing up in East Texas, I never realized that "city" people like Jim might have had different experiences. Part of our Christmases as a child involved cutting down a Christmas tree at a local tree farm. Jim had never gone to a tree farm. So the first weekend in December, we drove to Tyler and along with my parents, sister Amber, and my brother-in-law Jason, we went to cut down a tree. Keep in mind that we are living in a bedroom...so the tree had to be small. But it was still fun. We also went to Canton. Another first for Jim.
  

• For our 1st anniversary, we went to Las Vegas. We stayed at the Bellagio, overlooking the fountains. We ate a lot, walked a lot, and lost a lot. But, we had a fantastic time. As a surprise/anniversary gift for Jim, I arranged for us to go indoor skydiving. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. If you want to see a generic video of what it looks like, Google "Vegas Indoor Skydiving." Here's a little "before" picture of us all suited up and ready to fly. Click on our Flickr for more fun photos.

• In honor of the National Championship bound Texas Longhorns, and against every Baylor bone in my body, we had an orange and white (literally thanks to a Christmas Eve blizzard) Christmas. Besides family vacations we have taken, this may have been my first white Christmas in Texas. Even though the weather was crazy, we made it to Christmas in both Tyler and Arlington. Jim got a giant inflatable Bevo and lots of Longhorn gear. I got some really great gifts from everyone. We also received a lot of gift cards to home stores and items for the new house. It was definitely a big Christmas. Murphy may have had the best time of all -- destroying her toy in less than five minutes. Just in case you don't recognize it, it is one of those long dogs that they sell at PetsMart. It did have a scarf and a huge smile...before she unwrapped it.