Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

Last week, Jason and I had a meeting at our builder's design center to pick everything out for our new house... outside brick and stone, granite, tile, paint colors, hardwood floors, carpet etc. It was an overwhelming but fun process and with the help of our good friend Sue, we finally got everything picked out.

This week, we had a pre-construction meeting with our builder to see how our home will be laid out on the lot, look at the blueprints and decide on any structural changes. We ended up making a few small changes to the original plans like adding a butler's pantry with a wine fridge between the kitchen and dining room and changing a half bath to a full bath.

We are excited about all of our choices and can't wait to see them come to life in the next few months! Here is a picture of some of the design choices that we made (the granite countertop that the selections are laying on is not part of our design palette).

Top left: Tile for the entryway, kitchen/ breakfast room and two bathrooms.

Top center: Tile for our master bathroom and shower.

Top right: Stone colors for our bathroom countertops.

Center left: Dark green granite countertops.

Bottom left: Dark wood floors for the dining room.

Bottom center: Dark wood cabinets for the kitchen.

Bottom right: Neutral carpet and paint color.

Valentine's Day and Exciting News!

This weekend we celebrated our first married Valentine's Day! It is not uncommon for Jason to send flowers to me at work for Valentine's Day, but this year he surprised me by having a beautiful bouquet of red roses delivered to school on Monday so that I could enjoy them throughout the week. I wanted to surprise Jason as well, so I had a dozen chocolate covered strawberries and half a dozen chocolate dipped cookies delivered to him on Saturday. Saturday evening Jason took me out to dinner to Eddie V's, a new seafood/steakhouse in the City Centre area of Houston. The food was was amazing and we had a wonderful date night! On Sunday, we were invited over to a friend's home for brunch in the morning and that evening we met two more friends at Alamo Draft House to see the movie "Valentine's Day". It was a perfect Valentine's weekend for both of us!

My beautiful Valentine's bouquet

However, as wonderful as Saturday and Sunday were, the best day of the weekend was for both of us was Friday. After a lot of thought and discussion, Jason and I signed the contract to begin building a new house!!! We have been going back and forth for some time now on not only when we wanted to purchase our first home but where we wanted to live as well. Jason wanted to buy a house right away and move to the Katy area of Houston where he grew up. I wanted to stay in the city for a few more years and eventually move to the Humble/Kingwood area of Houston to be closer to my family. In the end, we both compromised and decided to buy a home now but move to the suburb of Eagle Springs in Humble. With a lot of help and guidance from our realtor (and one of my best friends) we chose what we hope will be a perfect house for us to grow into. Jason and I are both so excited to start the building process on the home that we hope to start our family in and enjoy for many years! Here are some pictures of our new lot and community:

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Us with our "sold" sign on our new lot. We were lucky enough to get a lot on a cul-de-sac away from traffic instead of a main street.

Some pictures of our new community. We really love the family-friendly feel and all of the amenities such as parks, pools, walking/biking paths, playgrounds, athletic club and sports complex.

Bowl Games!

As everyone knows, Jason and I are both huge football fans. Although we cheer for different teams, we try to split our time during the fall evenly and attend as many Tech and UT games as we can. This January, we were lucky enough to go to both the Alamo Bowl and the BCS game to cheer on the Raiders and the Horns!

Alamo Bowl: The Alamo Bowl is in San Antonio, so we drove up Saturday morning, tailgated and went to the game Saturday night. Sunday, we had lunch and enjoyed some time on the Riverwalk before coming home. Here are some pictures from the game:

The "Going Band from Raiderland" marched from their hotel on the Riverwalk to the Alamo Dome. I shot this picture from Jason's truck as they marched past us.

Jason and I in our great 50 yard line seats!

The balloon drop and trophy presentation after Tech beat Michigan State. :)

Rose Bowl: Earlier this fall, Jason played in the Texas Exes golf tournament where he was the grand prize winner in a raffle for two tickets and a hotel room in LA for the BSC game. As you can imagine, he was on pins and needles the entire season, hoping that UT would stay undefeated and make it to the big game. Luckily for Jason, they did and we headed off to California. During our short stay, we were able to spend some time with my cousin who lives in LA, have lunch and go sightseeing in Old Town Pasadena, tailgate with friends who had also come to the game and of course, go to the Rose Bowl. Although UT lost, we still had a great time in California!

Jason and I enjoying lunch and the warm weather in Old Town Pasadena


The whole crew that met us in California for the game. Jimmy Halvatzis (standing) and Dave Fletcher (far left) are two of my friends from high school that ended up being in Jason's fraternity at UT!

We stopped to take a picture as we walked from Old Town Pasadena to the Rose Bowl.

In front of the Rose Bowl with our friends Nick and Kristi

Tailgating before the game.

The Rose Bowl Stadium

Parachuters landed on the field before the game.

The Longhorns warming up on the field before the game.