New Life In A New City

So September 7, 2010 marked the first day of me working at my new job. As of this post, it has been about three months, and I'm loving every minute of it. It is all that I had hoped for. It's more than just a step up from my previous job. For example, if my career level at my previous job was a 3, then I have moved up to like a 9. To me, that's a big deal! I've always been a firm believer to always grow in your career, and personal life for that matter. I always set goals in place for my life, whether it be something small like save money for the month, to weight loss, to landing that next big position. And getting this position was a goal I had over three years ago, and to actually experience it was something special alone.

So then comes the news my wife presented to me the second week we were in (hold your breath):

She wanted to play a prank on me by taking a random pregnancy test and lying to me that it came back positive, as if she just knew it would be negative...but what do you know?? She took and it DID come back positive!!!!

You hear that blog world! REIGN is gon be a daddy!!



That was a little snippet of Martin I thought you'd enjoy.

So KD is now 4 month pregnant. We are so excited, because this will be our first child and we obviously have no clue on what to do. How exciting!! New city, new state, new job, and new addition to the family. This song helps describe my feeling of our new life, courtesy of Little Brother.

That'll teach her. Now I must go find things to sell.

REIGN

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How did you spend your Thanksgiving!!

I must say, our first Thanksgiving in Houston, TX was cool. We weren’t around much family, but I got to relax, and we did get to spend time with at least one family member (let’s just say she’s like a sister to us...). We didn't do much cooking, but we had all of our favorites: ham, cabbage, lasagna, stuffing, and of course the turkey. But I am trying to lose some weight, so as you can understand this is the most difficult time for me , not to mention I'm the one that made the lasagna (a very forceful special request every year from the wife for both Thanksgiving AND Christmas...). But so far, I have done pretty good. I have actually lost a pound and (thank GOD) have not gained any.

On top of the food, and a family member visit, I get to sleep in...something I cherish every single day.

So how did you spend your Thanksgiving?

REIGN

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Welcome to....(In my most southern voice…)!

So the place we decided to move, and the place I so greatfully received a job offer in due time is HOUSTON!!!!

We arrived in Houston about 1pm on September 1st, and can officially call it home sweet home. We were smiling from ear to ear when we arrived at the gate of our new apartment complex!!! See, this was a dream come true for us. This was 3+ years in the making. This meant we can finally start building our family and the past 3+ years all was in preparation for this very moment.

…Moment of clarity…

In retrospect, that road trip took a heavy toll on us!

We could not wait until we got here. I mean the long road trip was very taxing. The only places I will be driving are to work, and to get food from around the corner (I know...I'm over exaggerating…so what). But we arrived safely and the apartment we selected from DC, that we never saw in person, was indeed everything we needed. But the only problem is….we do not have any furniture!! See, to save money, we got rid of all our old furniture, because it was just not worth moving down here. But I do have my 46” TV and PS3, and oh….we had to buy a bed. So what more can we ask for?

Wait….there’s more…(I am just at September 1st….)

REIGN

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Road Trip!!!!

We wanted to move out of DC and to a state that we can start a family. Ya know...affordability, good schools, nice neighborhoods, low cost of living, decent income opportunities, etc. And in August, 2010 our wish came true. I received a job offer out of state that advanced my career to the next level! How perfect God works! I received the offer about a week prior to our end of lease term. So that meant we were able to pack up and move out. Before we arrived at our destination, we wanted to do a half-cross country road trip and visit places and people on the way. Our first stop was...

Charlotte, North Carolina!!

We got there late that night, and stayed at a hotel that I will never recommend to anyone. The people were nice, but I just had a nasty feeling about it. Unfortunately, we were not able to sight see in North Carolina, because we got there too late, then woke up to late the next day, and didn’t want to be behind schedule on to our next city...

Atlanta, GA!!!

We got there at a decent hour, and had enough time to sight see and enjoy the city. And although the hotel was a little better, it still had a nasty feeling to it. But then again, these are basically all the hotels I expected to stay in because I’m cheap. So I blame myself. But nonetheless, we got to visit the Georgia Aquarium, as well as the Atlantic Station. Both were pleasant. We rested, and on a Thursday, we got up and headed to the next city...

Memphis, TN!!!!

This is where my sweet KD is from! We stayed here from for most of our road trip because of this. I always secretly thought of this as my home away from home. My extended family always treats me well. It is always a vacation for me when I go there, but for KD, she forgets about me a little, and becomes like a kid in a candy store, and I’m ok with that! Monday morning we got up on our way to the next city...

Dallas, TX

Now for those of you that know me, you already know I not only despise Cowgirls, but I hate the city too. Unfortunately this was nonetheless on our way to our destination, and KD’s brother lived here (why???) so we included this in our trip. After stopping here and seeing a little of the city, I must say I hate it even more, and oh how much I love this year’s NFL season! But the stadium does look nice, and they had a nice mall, which of course does not compare to a mall in our new home city. And I will not name their mall as I am already giving too much attention to the city any.

So...we finally left this bad, bad city and after an entire week of road trippin’, we arrived at our new home city. The city has all of the characteristics we were looking for in a city, and we will be calling it our home for a long, long time. We have been here since September 1st, and we have no regrets. Where are we now you ask? I will give you a hint: it’s warm here most of the year, and it’s very close to Mexico! Will let you know in our next post…so stay tuned...

REIGN

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So What Have You Been Up To?

There have been many changes going on here in our lives, most of you know all the changes, but for those of you that do not know...I am here to give you the lo-down over the last 6 months!!

Before I explained our last six months, I would just like to say that Texas de Brazil is our favorite restaurant!!! We ate there like four times in a month, but unfortunately, there isn't any where we are now....until 2011....

*sigh*

So....between May and August there hasn't been many things going on...just us trying to get out of the basement and back into a place of our own. It was a decent experience. I appreciated the space we rented. The bills were low, but the distance between home and work was a pain. On a good day, I would drive 45 minutes all highway miles! Hey I know some people travel further, but I hate driving in traffic. I wanted to make sure when we moved out of state that this would not be an issue.

The location where we lived (Woodbridge) was a prime area. I didn't realized how fortunate we were to live in such an area until we moved! We had so many stores/restaurants/attractions in the area, and to top it all off one of my best friends lived 5 minutes away from me, and we would frequent poker on a regular basis! Those were the good ol' days....(so what it has only been 6 months...)

But the cons to Woodbridge was the distance from the city of DC: 90+ percent of my family and friends lived closer to DC, I would have to drive to DC to play basketball because in Arlington (near Pentagon City) it was the only court I knew that would garuantee people there, and oh yea…the job thing.


But nonetheless that is all past us because we are no longer in the DC area. Where are we? Stay tuned….

REIGN

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