Thursday (5/26)
My day began bright and early so that I could tell my dad bye before leaving later that morning. I thought I'd go back to sleep, but I was too amped up, so I stayed awake! All in all, my drive to Dallas was uneventful and fairly easy once I settled into driving on I35. There is definitely an art to driving on an interstate that I'm slowly mastering with more practice, but I have a way to go. My GPS suggested that I take I35 all the way down to a tollway in north Dallas, but there is some killer construction in Denton that Thomas wanted me to avoid. For that reason, I exited at Gainesville and took Hwy 82 over to Hwy 75, which gave me a more direct route to Thomas's house. I pretty much knew where I was going, but my GPS was having none of that. We had what I'd like to call creative differences, because it spent the entire length of 82 trying to get me to make a u-turn back to the interstate. I would have adjusted it, but, you know, I was driving, so that was a no-go for me.
I also stopped off in Whitesboro (location of the now-former Liese family cabin) for lunch and fuel. Since I was in Texas, I decided to eat like a Texan and go to Whataburger. There was an overly helpful employee who helped me decide what to get, so that made things a little easier, I guess? From there I continued fighting with the GPS lady literally until I was on the on-ramp to 75. Suddenly, she directed me to the right exit and I really didn't need her from then on. Not long after, I arrived at his house, where I relaxed for a very short time before dashing off to the first event--Michaela (Thomas's cousin)'s 8th grade graduation. She attended a small Christian school, so there were only about 20 people in her class. All in all, it was a sweet ceremony! After that, Thomas's parents, sister, grandma, and we all went to supper at a little diner nearby. When we got back to their house, I realized that what I initially thought were mosquito bites from some outside work I did the night before were chiggers...what a LOVELY way to start a trip! Thomas had some cortisone cream that helped a little bit. Besides being insanely itchy, I slept like a rock that night!
Friday (5/27):
Friday was pretty uneventful early on. Not long after realizing I had chiggers, I also realized that I forgot a contact lens case, so I had to buy one. I also bought some chigger cream, which helped tremendously, but left me smelling very ointment-y, if you get my drift. It was better than scratching constantly! This was the day of our planned trip to the Texas Rangers game, so we were on a bit of a time crunch. Despite this, I opted to go get manicures with Diana and Elizabeth. It was a fun bonding time for us, although Diana and I were slightly underwhelmed by our color choice. We ended up picking the same color, which was actually the color they use for the base of a French manicure...we spent an hour in the salon to get nails that just looked really shiny but otherwise the same. Such is life, because we still had fun!
Upon arriving to the stadium, our first order of business was to procure some official Rangers gear for me. I already was wearing red so I decided to get a hat. It took a little doing because I have a weird-shaped head, but we found a winner! I also got a certificate because it was my first game! I made a sign in a feeble attempt to make it on TV, but that ended up being a fruitless effort. Our seats were pretty great! Not really in foul ball/home run territory, but a great view and no sun glare! The all-you-can-eat food selection didn't disappoint at all! We LOVED it! The two biggest dampers of the evening were the raucous, drunken, foul-mouthed frat boys behind us who ruined the family atmosphere of the game and the fact that we lost. Thomas reported the guys behind us to security, and they were given a stern warning with the possibility of being ejected from the stadium. They ended up leaving in the bottom of the 7th inning, and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. (It was Daddy-Daughter night, so lots of parents were happy to be rid of their debauchery.) There were post-game fireworks, so at least we could end the night on a high note! I'm already ready for my next game :)
Saturday (5/28):
Our Friday ended pretty late and Saturday began pretty early. Elizabeth had a baccalaureate Mass across town at 9 AM, and it was a fairly formal affair. The five of us, along with Thomas's cousin Nicole, comprised our posse for the morning. The Mass was beautiful and was followed by a brunch at a ritzy downtown hotel. Brunch was fairly uneventful besides the fire alarms going off in the middle of it, which caused us to evacuate for about 10 minutes while they figured out what was happening (nothing serious, thank goodness!). There was an awards ceremony that accompanied the brunch. It was a little lengthy, but considering that Elizabeth was part of a class of 200+ other girls, it probably didn't take that long when it came down to it.
We returned to the house to begin preparations for Elizabeth's party that night. There were tables that needed to be set up and decorated outside and a fruit salad/hot dip that needed to be made inside...take a wild guess as to which I volunteered to do! Naturally, I fell into the kitchen, chopping and washing fruit for the salad and mixing up the dip ingredients. I was in my happy place, since I love to cook so much! It worked well for everyone. The party itself was lots of fun, as I was able to see all of Thomas's aunts, uncles, and cousins again. I am happy that I get to (unofficially) call them family...they're great! I'm blessed to be marrying into an amazing family!!! The party was full of great food, laughter, lots of wine, and a fire in Steve's new fire pit! I was tired all day/night, but I had a great time! I crashed hard that night...we ALL did!
Sunday (5/29):
Thomas and I decided to attend Mass at a different parish since they had a Mass at 11:30 AM (we were able to sleep in nicely). It was by far the most bizarre Mass we've attended in a while...the church had no kneelers or pews, just chairs and there was no defined "front" of the church. It was nice, but much different than either of us were used to. We spent the remainder of the afternoon resting a little more before the graduation ceremony that night.
The ceremony itself is steeped in rich traditions dating back many years, the biggest of which is that it is held outside, in front of the school. That was good and wonderful, besides the fact that the DFW area was in a monsoon-like weather pattern. It was POURING rain right up to 10 minutes before the ceremony started. Some of the younger girls who were part of the Ambassadors organization spent this time frantically drying the graduates' seats, as they all were wearing white dresses...you get the picture, I'm sure. For them having a class of 200+ girls, the ceremony really didn't take all that long...maybe about 1.5-2 hours from start to finish? It was a lovely ceremony indeed! Afterwards, we rendezvoused back at the house, where we snacked on leftover party food (there were STILL leftovers after that!). Our gathering that night was considerably shorter, mostly because everyone was still trying to recover from the late night the evening before! Still, lots of fun times and laughs were shared!
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| Thomas, Elizabeth, me, and Nicole |
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| Ursuline Class of 2016! |
Monday (5/30):
I thought this would be the day I prepared to return home for a few days. I was wrong. At Steve and Diana's (and Thomas's, if we're being totally honest) request, I opted to extend my stay until Thomas made the big move so that I could help him get packed and ready. Also, I figured out that it would save me about 200 ish miles in driving, which would be nice. My parents anticipated this and weren't surprised at all when I called to inform them of my itinerary change!
It was VERY nice to have a slow day with nothing to do and nowhere to go after 4 straight marathon days. Thomas worked on organizing/packing his then-tornado of a bedroom. I mostly "oversaw" the process. Okay, I really just kept him company/helped him stay on task. Sometimes that's all a person needs to be productive, I think. I also called one of my good friends from NOC to catch up with her. It was great to hear about how she's doing and tell her about all that I've done since our last chat! Thomas eventually reached a stopping point, so we ventured out to the living room to find out that Steve planned on grilling salmon for supper. Yum! We had a lovely dinner on their newly-refinished patio. Afterwards, we watched "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", to celebrate its 30th anniversary! It was a lazy night, but definitely well-earned!
Tuesday (5/31):
I was supposed to leave on this day, but I didn't. Instead, Thomas took me to lunch at a neat little seafood place in Plano. I got my fix of fried catfish and hush puppies! Yum! I also figured out that I actually like tartar sauce on fish after 23 years of thinking I hated it. Just when I thought my tastes were done expanding, I was pleasantly surprised :) The rest of the afternoon was punctuated with random errands around town for Thomas. At some point, I also realized that I had a new patch of chigger bites to contend with...Oh, joy! We got back to the house in the nick of time that afternoon, as the floodgates opened up and it started POURING again! By suppertime, there was a river of water gushing down their street. (In all fairness, their house sits on a downhill slope, so it's a natural drainage area.) Elizabeth invited Thomas and I to join her in driving over to the neighborhood park to check out how much the creek there was flooding. It was wild! Thomas and I really had wanted to go on a walk that night, but the weather showed no signs of cooperating, so we settled for getting frozen yogurt instead. I was pretty pleased with that :)
Wednesday (6/1):
We had yet another somewhat lazy day. Since Steve and Diana were so gracious to let me stay extra, I decided to treat them by making them a nice home-cooked dinner. A few months back, my parents sent them some of our fresh beef. They still had a little bit left, so I decided to make them a roast dinner, which is one of my family's signature meals. It was a bit weird preparing this traditional meal in a different kitchen, but I eventually settled in. The meal included roast, mashed potatoes, gravy (made from the roast drippings), and sauteed green beans. I was a little nervous about how it would all turn out, but my fears were unfounded. It was great, and they loved it! Nothing makes me happier than seeing people enjoy food I cooked for them!!! (Is cooking a love language? I'm starting to think that's mine...random tangential thought)
The weather was much nicer that day, so Steve, Diana, Thomas, me, and Zoe (their dog) went on a long walk around their neighborhood. That trek made me increasingly ready to be married and live in a nice neighborhood where Thomas and I can go on post-supper walks! I know, that's still a way off, but I can dream, right?
Thursday (6/2):
For as relaxing as Wednesday was, Thursday was a horse of a different color. We started bright and early by picking up Thomas's U-Haul truck. He ended up with a 20 foot truck that was an absolute monstrosity! I was VERY happy that I would have nothing to do with driving it. We returned to the house to start packing furniture.
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| He was VERY excited about the U-Haul |
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| Zoe (the family dog) wanted nothing to do with the U-Haul until she sniffed it out. |
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| Thomas was overseeing the U-Haul guy to make sure his car was properly secured. |
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| Thomas's set-up was quite the monstrosity! |
Friday (6/3):
We left the house to go to Arkansas around 8:45 or 9 AM. There was a nice little convoy of the U-Haul (with Thomas and Steve), me (in my car), and Diana (driving their car). We set our travel order and headed out. In all honesty, the first half of the drive was super easy. I was beyond grateful that I ponied up the money to continue my XM subscription. It paid for itself in this trip! Three hours in, we stopped off at McAlester for lunch and fuel, then got back on the road.
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| Thomas driving to Arkansas Photo credit to Steve :) |
After driving for what seemed like an eternity, we finally saw signs of civilization in Fayetteville. We just had to make it to the U-Haul facility, where we were ditching the car trailer and Steve would lead us to the apartment in Thomas's car. By the time we made it to the apartment, we had logged 6, almost 7 hours of road time that day. We scrambled to quickly unpack the U-Haul so we could return that too. By the time everything was inside, we were all tired, sweaty, and VERY hangry! Dinner could not have come at a better time! We ate at a nice Mexican restaurant, where it tasted like the salsa was made by angels! (Actually we were really hungry, so EVERYTHING tasted amazing, but it was also just really good salsa.) We came back to finish unloading Thomas and Diana's cars. After that, we unpacked and settled a few things before everyone decided it was time for a shower and sleep. We all slept VERY well that night!
Saturday (6/4):
We started the day with no food in the apartment, so Steve and Diana invited us over to their hotel and let us bum off of their complimentary breakfast. After breakfast, we went on a small driving tour of the region. We drove by Thomas's office and all sorts of attractions. After driving a while, Diana spotted a sign for the Crystal Bridges art museum and wanted to drive by it. What followed was a somewhat wild goose chase trying to find the place. Steve periodically doubted its existence, but we eventually found it! We didn't go in, but it seems like it would be a great place to visit one weekend, as it also included a kids' museum. The NWA area (what they call the span of cities from Fayetteville to Bentonville) is pretty neat, and very underrated! It has beautiful scenery, literally every store one could need, and lots of attractions. The amazing thing is that while it's considered a "metro area", it is still easy to distinguish one town from another and it isn't just a concrete jungle. I very quickly fell in love with the area...maybe it's irrational, but I LOVE it there!
After our drive, Steve and Diana decided to hit the road back to DFW, which left Thomas and I to continue unpacking and settling his apartment. It was still a mess of boxes and bags, but by the end of the afternoon we managed to make it look a little more home-like, though still fairly cluttered. I found tasks that spoke to my organizational nature to do and left some of the "crumbs" to Thomas, only because I figured it'd be better for him to know where most of those things were stored. I organized the bathroom and his dresser, which took a decent amount of time.
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| One of our new treasures! I'm excited to read through this! |
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| Thomas was in awe of it! |
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| He looked a little sugar-crazed afterwards...I felt that way too :) |
Sunday (6/5):
We decided that we wanted French toast and bacon for breakfast that day. This sounded like a great idea the night before, and it still was, but we hit a little snag...Thomas didn't have any mixing bowls to mix the batter in! We found the closest thing we could find to a mixing bowl...a big souvenir cup from an OSU football game! It was a little unorthodox, but we pulled through. We'll probably laugh about that for years to come! After breakfast, we went to Mass at the Catholic church that was fairly close to the apartment. It is a beautiful parish, and the priest seemed very nice too! After Mass, we made another Wal-Mart trip to procure mixing bowls, other kitchen utensils, and more food. We spent the afternoon doing a little more unpacking before visiting the hot tub again. Afterwards, I made supper and we had a lazy night so that Thomas could be ready for his first day of work. We also remembered at some point in the day that that day was 1.5 years since we started dating! Oh, what a year can do!
Monday (6/6):
The long-awaited first day of work arrived for Thomas! Look at my handsome business man!!!
He left for work around 7:30, but I decided to stick around for just a little bit longer so that I didn't have to contend with as much traffic in Tulsa. Once I got on the road (about 8:30), I had no trouble whatsoever! Of all the long drives I took on this trip, this was by far the easiest! It was essentially a straight shot across Hwy 412, so I didn't even bother with setting up any navigation. I just followed the signs for 412 West. There's something kind of liberating about traveling long distances and not needing turn by turn directions! About 3.5 hours later, I was back on the farm! I loved getting to spend a long time with Thomas, but it was also nice to be reunited with my family! I missed them like crazy!!!
So, a few takeaways from this trip:
-Texas highway driving isn't that bad so long as you quickly establish that people will be in an unnecessary hurry to get wherever they're going, and that if you want to change lanes, you signal, find a gap, and GO. You have to be aggressive there or else you'll get run off the road!-I'm starting to regain my confidence on the road, but I still hate highways without a right shoulder. I'm also not keen on roads that have cement barriers right next to the right side of the road. That almost makes me more nervous.
-I'm pretty good at navigating myself throughout quite a few places in the tri-state area. Road signs are really much more useful than people realize. If you know about where you're going, most GPS's aren't that necessary.
All in all, I had a very good, long trip. I loved getting to spend more leisure time with Thomas's family, especially since I'm usually only down there for bigger events. I'm definitely starting to feel like a part of their family, not just a special visitor. Their house feels like a second home to me, which is always a great feeling! It never ceases to astound me how amazing of a man I'm marrying next year. Moreover, he didn't become that amazing on his own...his family played a large role in this, especially his parents. I always knew how much my family loved Thomas and accepted him as one of our own, but now I am starting to have a much better understanding of what it means to feel loved and accepted as "one of their own" by Thomas's family. It's gratifying on so many levels. I'm very blessed, and I can't wait to start this next chapter! Okay, I've rambled long enough...on to more adventures!
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