We are all moved in to the new place! With a little help from some friends, we were able to complete the move rather quickly. Lauren and I moved most everything over from the house on Friday night, then unpacked the U-Box from storage Saturday morning with co-worker Eddie and new friends Rob and Elizabeth helping with the lifting. I then went to the furniture store with the empty U-Box to collect the new furniture we had purchased and we got that all moved in. By 2:00, the moving was done and the unpacking and arranging began. That’s still a work in progress, but the place is coming together.

We feel very adult having purchased some new furniture including an 8-piece dining room set and matching couch and chair. For the first time our entire furniture arrangement doesn’t solely consist of inherited, Craigslist, or college furniture.

One of the oddities is all the complexes around here have fireplaces. In Texas the odds of us ever going to the trouble of gathering wood and using a fireplace seem pretty slim. But, it’s there if we need it.

Little beagle has been kinda hit or miss with the moving adventure. He’s peed on the carpet a dozen times already.

If this was the Twin Cities, we’d probably be living in the equivalent of Burnsville. We are about 15 miles from downtown, yet are in a very suburban-like area with plenty of businesses and restaurants nearby. We are literally right across the street from a Petsmart, Papa John’s, Scholtzky’s, Party City, and quite a few other businesses. Just up the road, still walkable, are a very solid selection of restaurants including Rudy’s BBQ, Chuy’s Tex-Mex, Brick House Tavern, and Outback. There’s a seedy little bar right near us as well called Woody’s which feels too bright and wide open to be a fun place to hang out. But $2 Miller High Life bottles are a cheap way to kill a night.

Our High Oaks 2-bed/2-bath apartment is the 16th different place I have called home. We will be there until at least September 30, 2012. I will post some more pictures soon once everything is arranged, but for now here’s one shot of our pool area right outside our unit. There are palm trees and cacti around… I feel very tropical.