All settled in and loving it

I am finally all settled in in my new home in Corpus Christi. A lovely little house on a canal on Padre Island. The best part is that I am finally with James and I'll get to see him and spend time with him every day. The past 2 days have been a whirlwind of Walmart visits, Dollar Tree stops (my new favorite place!), grocery shopping, and decorating our home. I even managed to throw some Halloween decorations up. Yup, there is definitely a girl living here now.
The road trip across the country with my mom was long and monotonous but also really fun, gave us a chance to get some time in together before starting my new life adventure.
Corpus is an interesting place....although not entirely terrible, the highways are lined with one fast food joint after another (the especially famous "Whataburger" is everywhere!) and loads of car dealerships. At least there is a half decent mall only a few miles away. But where we live is actually "pretty" - North Padre Island is this quaint little beach town filled with beach bars and little restaurants, cute little beach houses, and the Gulf is always warm. It's the middle of October and it is 85 degrees outside. A perfect place for someone who likes to keep a tan year-round.
Oh! and our big news of the week is that we purchased a TV - 50" of pain, as James likes to say.
Yup, we are settling in quite nicely together. Looking forward to our first weekend together in our new home.

2 weeks out.

It's hard to believe that in just 2 weeks I'll be leaving California, the place I have called home for the past 25 years, to move to a state that I've only been to twice, and to start a life that I never imagined I would be living - the life as a Navy pilot's wife. I'll be packing up all of my belongings into Lily, my transport from here to Corpus Christi,  along with my trusty sidekick and mother. One of two things will happen during this 3-day road-trip: 1) my mom and I will become closer and talk about this experience for the rest of our lives, like "Remember that time when we drove 1,500 from CA to TX?? That was so fun!" or 2) we'll kill each other and my car will be found on the side of some random highway running through New Mexico. At least whoever finds it will get an amazing new collection of handbags and shoes for their closet, right? Can I count that as community service?
I feel like Dorothy, like a tornado is going to pick me up, along with all of my favorite things, and whoosh me away to some mystical, unknown land where everything is bigger, the locals dress differently, and everyone has a strange accent. Oh, and there's something called a "Whataburger" on every corner. Barbeque reigns supreme and "jorts" are the chosen dress for formal occasions. I guess I can leave my Steve Madden wedges and Marc Jacob purses behind...space just opened up in my trunk.
Despite the major changes that I will have to adjust to over the first few weeks in my new home, I honestly can't wait. I'm counting down the weeks, the days, the minutes before I hit the road and I'm headed to Texas. Finally knowing that I will be spending every day with the man I love is the only motivation I need to get me to do a cross-country move. So, this blog will serve as a place where I can not only share my thoughts over the next however-many years of my life about being a Navy pilot's wife, but I can also keep in touch with all my loved ones all over the world. We will be moving quite a bit over the next few years, collecting new friends and new experiences along the way. I want to keep a record of that and maybe when it's all over, James and I can look back on it and smile about the crazy life we lived.
Back to packing!