Well, we’ve hit our three year mark in sunny Houston. Can anyone believe that we’ve been ‘gone’ for three years? I certainly can’t!
Would you believe, that for most of our SLB expat friends, they’d not even get around to hitting three years? For most of them 18 months to two years is their lot, before they get their marching orders and they are rotated through to their next post. I can’t imagine my life being like that, so disorganised, not putting roots down in any one place, for any length of time.
I have to keep reminding myself, that in the oil business and with the company Col works for, the two-year-term lifestyle could be ours at any time. It’s a daunting thought. It also brings me back to reality about starting a career, about attending a post-graduate degree and anything else that may require a long-term commitment. It’s sobering to think about, especially when people get on my case about why I don’t have a job. We have our reasons.
We’re dangerously near the end of our first trip home in the UK for just over two years. It’s been a fly by the seat of our pants kind of trip, we thought we were here for three weeks, max, we didn’t pack our mainland UK friends presents, as we thought there would be a second trip at the end of May. But we’ve gotten there by winging it, in spite of the fact that our apartment is falling apart at the seams!
Our third year in Houston, has been another whirlwind ride. We’ve done a lot of exploring, had lots of adventures and fun and neither of us can believe how quickly our time is passing in our sunny, American lives. Here’s our year in review (or as close to ‘review’ as your humble blogger here, can manage!)
In June, we also had a visit from one of my Linked By Letters penpals, Vanessa and her other half, Mike for a few days (read about it here). It was a lovely trip and we got to show them a small cross-section of what the Houston area has to offer. It was nice to meet her after all these years!
In July, I was at my second CKC scrapbooking convention with my scrapbooking friend Helen. I’ve not done a lot of scrapbooking, my scrapbooking room is a total mess and I’m WAY behind on my scrapbooks, the pile of pictures and events to scrapbook just keeps getting bigger. However, at a scrapbooking convention, you make layouts, books, make and takes, right there, so you just need to go home and add pictures – it’s perfect! Especially since inspiration and creativity are things I often struggle with when it comes to scrapbooking!
In August, I hosted my first ever baby shower, for my Houston-based best friend Magz who I’d met almost a year previous. It was an event that I loved organising, bigger than I expected it to be but it went down really well. The theme was giraffes – we joked that little lentil would be born thinking he/she was a giraffe!
In August, I made a huge decision, I was joining a choir. I missed having music in my life, and, for those of you who hated Dr Frame’s music class and choir in Sacred Heart, you probably think I’m crazy, but I’ve always loved choir (even Mrs Sheeran’s choir!) and I took a leap of faith.
An SSA friend sent out a flyer in our Yahoo group, saying that the UNAIC was looking for singers, so, I auditioned (in secret) for the United Nations Association International Choir and got a place – I was THRILLED (especially given how freakin’ nervous I was about the audition) and I’ve never looked back. It was one of the best things I’ve done since becoming a ‘grown up’, it’s rewarding and fulfilling and I’ve met such fantastic people there, I should have done it years ago!
September brought with it my ‘hockey confession‘ blog-post, one of my most visited blog posts about how I got in to hockey and what I found when I got there!
October was a very busy month, a friend of our Canadian friend Ann, held a lovely baby shower for her – with the most delicious strawberry punch I’ve ever tasted!
I turned ‘super southern’ and learned to ‘can’ and had a ‘canning party‘, I made jam, a disastrous batch of salsa and, more recently, lemon curd. It’s definitely a hobby I’ll continue, especially since everyone I’ve given a jar to, loves the jam!
I tried out our local Glazery for some pottery painting, (literally like a block away from our house) where you pick a piece of pottery (there are hundreds of things to choose from), you sit and paint it and the Glazery fires it for you in the kiln when you’re done. It was good fun, a big group of ladies came to the activity – it was met with much more enthusiasm than I thought it would be and it was a great activity. It’s indoors, so it’s cool and can be done even on the hottest of days!
I also hosted my second baby shower, for our newest friend Heather (who later gave birth to little Evy). The theme this time was Elephants and the colour scheme was pink and grey – it was small, but fun and Heather and Jeff loved it, which is, after all, all that matters!
Also in October (I told you it was a busy month) my beautiful Goddaughter, little Eve, was born. I’ve never been quite so close to someone giving birth to a baby before, my nerves were wrecked and I was in more of a mess than Magz was, but everything went well.
She was the smallest baby I’d ever held or changed, and she was perfect in every way!
November, I got my walk on! I did a walk for The American Heart Association, it was fun, Col, Magz, Sam and co came with us and it was a perfect day for the event, plus I raised a lot of money for a very good, worthwhile cause!
We had yet another killer Expat Thanksgiving, our biggest yet, at twelve adults and six children joining us for our celebration. For the first time in a long time, I delegated, I asked people to bring a dish each, because feeding so may people, probably would have driven me crazy trying to sort things out for everyone. It was great, the food was delicious, the company was excellent and I’m looking forward to trying to top it, yet again, this year!
In December, my sister came to visit. I’d not seen her in over a year and it was great to have her come for a visit, even if it was for a short while. She got to see me sing with my choir at our Christmas concert, (which I was very nervous about as she’s so musical) and we did plenty of shopping while she was in town!
January kicked-off with the first event of the 2012 QHSE health and safety calendar, a skid-simulator came to town and we got to rip around the car park in a pretty huge truck for the morning. It was definitely fun and left me coming home asking the hubby if I could have a pick-up truck.
The only other notable event in January, was Col’s epically fab 80’s themed fancy dress birthday party. I had an absolute blast planning this party, I ended up going all out with the retro decorations, foods, sweets and all of our visitors rose to the challenge of fancy dress. We all have a great night!
February was another busy month for us, my friend Amber came down from Iowa to visit for a while. We went to see one of our favourite musicians, Matt Nathanson, we hosted a Norwex cleaning supplies party and we had lots of fun!
February was also the month the Rodeo came to town (again!), I decided it was time to impart our rodeo-wisdom and tidbits from the last few years to my readers, and wrote an Expat’s guide to the Houston Rodeo.
For March, I organised my first ever Bake Sale, the proceeds from which went towards our choir, the United Nations Association International Choir. It was great fun, we had lots of fun, many choir members and my SSA friends donated baked goods to sell, we had a good spread of volunteers helping out, and, most importantly, we raised over $1,000 for the choir!
May brought with it a killer, eight week trip back home to sunny Northern Ireland. We spent six weeks on the emerald isle, two weeks on the ‘main land’ and had a bunch of fun across the board.
We met with a bunch of new people (including my long-term pen-pal Laura and Col’s long time friend Claire), we had my Goddaughter’s Christening in Scotland, hung out with old friends in England, Scotland and Ireland and were run totally ragged.
It’s good to be heading back to Texas, (mostly cause we need a break!) but also because at the end of April, I was voted in to a new position with the SSA, I am now the Coordinator, and it’s time for me to go back and take the reigns!
Also over the last year, I’ve taken small, slight, occasional steps away from ‘normal programming’ on this blog, to write blog posts about important issues, female health and the importance of getting a smear test, as well as a post about the trials and tribulations involved in trying to conceive for National Infertility Awareness week in April.
(June 6th 2011 to June 6th 2012) has also been a year of exploration for us, click the links below to read about our adventures!
June 2011 – Chicago, Illinois (to visit my friend Nicky)
July 2011 – Cedar Rapids, Iowa (to visit my BFF Amber, her beau Aaron and my niece Averie)
September 2011 – Singapore (to visit our friends Colin, Amee and Michael and to go to the Singapore GP)
December 2011 – San Francisco, California (to visit with friends and to have a mini-break)
February 2012 – Angel Fire, New Mexico (skiing with the Maddens and Sophie)
April 2012 – Washington, DC (to visit the Obamas 😉 lol!)
Here’s to another fab year in H-town and to making many, many more fantastic memories to blog about 😉
