Green Thumbs: Update

I am happy to inform you we have life! We have sprouts everywhere. The only thing that hasn't sprouted yet is the cilantro. I was worried about the carrots but yesterday I noticed some sprouts. I am not sure what happened with the cilantro but we will give it a little more time before we totally give up on them. I am so excited that we have plants growing, and we haven't killed the lettuce or the tomatoes yet. I can't wait to actually taste the fruits of our labor. I know we aren't out of the woods yet but at least we don't have the total kiss of death.

Feeling Presidential

Ever since our first stay at the Driskill hotel in Austin, we couldn't wait to go back. I started planning our return to the hotel while I was in Iraq. I thought that it would be the perfect place to go during the 3 days off that we got as soon as we got back to Ft. Hood. Due to the unpredictability of the fight schedule on the way home, we weren't willing to risk not making it in time. Our trip would have to wait. Finally, after our big trip to Washington and back, we had the perfect opportunity during a three day weekend.

We drove down to Austin in the early afternoon to find a good parking spot downtown. We walked around Austin for a little while before we could check into our room. When we showed up to the hotel, they told us that the room wouldn't be ready for a few more minutes. We had fun strolling around the amazing lobby just looking at all of the neat furniture and art. Eventually, the front desk called my phone and told me that there was a problem with our room. The jacuzzi tub was not working properly and we were told that if we liked, we could be upgraded to the LBJ Suite. We gladly obliged and went up to our room.

We couldn't believe how wonderful it was. Apparently LBJ liked the Driskill hotel and so they had that room decorated specifically for him. We had our own private hallway leading up to the huge wooden door with the American and Texas flag posted out front. The inside of our room was unbelievable. As you can see in the pictures, it had a huge bedroom with a wonderful bed and a great bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, a huge stained glass window and a walk in shower. The second room was a parlor-type room with a balcony and a bunch of places to sit and watch TV, which was set inside a very nice wooden cabinet type thing. After relishing in our amazing room for a while, we headed next door to a nice little restaurant and had a very quiet Thursday night dinner. After we ate, we walked back to our room and enjoyed our jacuzzi tub and the amazing weather out on our balcony overlooking downtown Austin. Although it was only one night, it was very relaxing and just what we both needed.

All moved in!

Ever since I got to Texas I have been picking up little things to decorate the house with. Mostly small things like shower curtains and towels although I did buy some dresser cubes from Target. Now that Nathan is home we have been decorating like crazy. Most of the things we picked up were bigger things like our new dining room table! We were so excited to pick this gem up! We were really sick of standing next to the counters in the kitchen to eat dinner. We also purchased a bed. We contemplated just getting a queen but my sister talked me into a king and we LOVE it! It is super comfy, huge, and perfect. Since we got our bed, we had a futon that we weren't using so we went down to Austin and bought a futon frame for our couch. We love it. It is so nice to have something to sit on and watch TV. Besides the big furniture, we also got a small appliance. My brand new Kitchen Aid mixer. I have been wanting one of these for so long and I finally got one. The one I got is the professional 600 series. It is awesome. It makes making bread so easy. I have already made pulla and Amish bread. Nathan loves having all the yummy homemade bread around. We also picked up a microwave from Jimmie and Alexis and we are so happy to have it. You know, you don't really realize how nice it is to have a microwave until you don't have one. We still have a few things we want to get but we did finally put up some pictures and we even got a rug for our bedroom. I think everything is coming together very nicely! It really feels like home!