Our house warming in Austin

This was the house warming in Austin, I made some invitations and Allan and I went around and invited the neighbours (sorry neighbors). Many came and they then introduced themselves to each other. I feel I have done a community service now. Fun was had by all, some even came by them selves and made excuses for their partners, who they then rung up and invited along. It was a lot of fun - Allan even cooked on the dreaded BBQ ( sorry BBQ on the grill- I am getting the hang of local lingo, honest). Please note that the teenagers did not mix with us, they stayed around by our basketball hoop, unless they wanted food, then we saw them! We did it as an open house from 4pm until 9pm and it worked well, and I have now already started the New Years eve party rules so they are not surprised by the black tie, I have said I will accept black tie and shorts, being a reasonable sort of girl, but all the woman are VERY determined to glam up, the only way! We do not get to be gorgeous and glamorous enough. Allan please note a new dress is a must. I was just checking I had spelt gorgeous correctly and the definition is "richly coloured; splendid, dazzling" that works for me.

Our leaving party

many of you managed to make it to our leaving party at TFH, which we were very humbled by, it is so nice to see everyone, and you know how much I enjoy a good party!! I thought I ought to post some of those pictures for you all to see. we have many happy memories from then and i will be creating a scrapbook all about us leaving as the memento's and memories are many, so would make a fantastic scrapbook. more photo's to follow.

weather monday 29th September

Your photograph of the Austin Statesmans weather for us;

I've finished course one

Today was the final lesson in course 1, next week I am starting Gum paste and fondant. The cakes are ending up at ARM as I have managed the impossible and made them fed up of cake in this house, although Ben liked eating my pure icing roses this week if I rejected them. He has his fathers sweet tooth, it is safe to say.

The weather

I keep being asked about the weather, we are definitely hotter than you all in the UK, but our temperatures will not be hot all the time, so I thought I would take the information from the paper and every now and again photograph it and post it on the blog so you can see what our last 24 hours had been like, for those of you threatening to come out, this might be very useful information.

I have passed my Texas driving test

I took this picture myself today to show you happy I am to have passed my driving test, it took me three hours waiting in line at the Department of Public safety, and then a whole 6 minutes of driving, including vehicle checks. I am now driving with much more confidence!!

Dino day at Zilker Botanical gardens

At the moment they have an exhibition on dinosaurs which was of huge interest to Alex and Ben so we took them down there when it first opened. a great day was had by all, lots of dinosaurs were seen around the gardens and after wards we went to Barton Springs pool, across the road to have a nice cool dip. Barton Springs in naturally filled and stays a constant temperature of 68 F all year round, it is very beautiful and definitely a place to visit what ever time of year you visit.

cakes galore

I have been indulging myself with cake decorating courses and thought that would be another item of interest for some of you, so I will post pictures of my cakes etc each week, so you can see what I am up to.

New Possessions!!

The Car has been a discussion point with many of you for a while, so I thought I would post some pictures of the car, and since we are going to be, or have, had to purchase lots of new items we thought this might be a great new label, so you can see things as we get them, small or large. We have found a great place to purchase items, it is called 'craigs list' and you just put in your area and way you go for second hand items. Having lots of fun with craigs list.

Adding flowers to our garden

Yesterday and today I have been purchasing flowers to put in our empty tubs and pots from the UK. I have some Lone star hibiscus, in a lovely red, and some blue Plumbago, a local variety of lavender and a large ginger plant which we have put in the middle of our Circular bench. it will apparently have wonderful trumpet like orange/red flowers next spring. Each month I am going to purchase some more plants, so we should build up a lovely array before next spring.

Sunday's long run

Today Allan and I did our long run, on the way to our marathon goal, every Sunday we will be increasing the distance by one to one and half miles until marathon day. Today we did 6.9miles, which was a great run, just wish we had gone out earlier, starting at 9am was too late, the heat was not great once we were en-route. We are going to have to start earlier, until the temperatures drop to something sensible!

getting ready for the marathons next year

Allan and I are now trying to run regularly and get fitter so we can run some marathons next year. we will keep you all updated on how it is going and the sites and sounds we see when we run/train over the next 5 months. the weather is certainly a positive thought, normally at this time of year we would be starting to think about winter and whether we really want to train through it, but that will not be an issue here. the sun shining is so lovely. I will try and get a picture of us on the blog for you, before we have run!!!

Our new home

We are now settled and life is ticking over, we are enjoying doing normal chores and not unpacking boxes. The house is looking more organized and I am starting to have time for extra activities like writing a blog- who would have thought I would every try a blog!! I have posted pictures of the boys playroom, the family room, drawing room, my craft room( or Den as I do let Allan have a very small part of the room and the kitchen