Fixin up the house!

Well here is some pictures of some of the stuff I've been doing to the house. It's been a crazy 6 months here. Terry and I really have been living in dust, but it's all turned out great so far. Well 3 rooms done rest of the house to go!!!

Living/Dining Room Before (sooooo 1970's)

Living/Dining room after (with the new hardwood Teak floors)

The Kitchen Remodel. (This room about killed us I swear, but it was worth every cussword!!)

Kitchen Before (once again 70's fake plastic cabinets!!)
Also scary tore up kitchen with electrical wires everywhere ahhhhh!!

The new finished kitchen with cherrywood cabinets, green granite countertops, tile floors and backsplash. It turned out alot nicer than Terry and I imagined. We worked for 4 months on this room. We thought the roof was going to fall in on us once as we demolished a wall. We got shocked way too many times to count. Of course the plumbing was the usual mess and leaked. (could I just have one plumbing where something didn't leak!!!)I tell you what we got so sick of washing dishes in the bathroom sink and tub, but it's all soon forgotten once it all came together.

Mosaic medallion / backsplash Mosaic pattern on the floor

over the cooktop

I hand cut all the mosaic tiles in the kitchen. It took about a month to cut and assemble the almost 8000 individual little pieces that make up all the mosaics. I know it's a strange hobby I have. My friends here all laughed and wondered if I had anything better to do than cut tile. hmmmm....now what mosaics can I cook up for the bathrooms.......!!!

35 Holy Cow!!

I can't beleive I've now turned 35! The years just creep up on you I suppose. I can't say I feel like a 35 year old guy, except maybe when I get motivated and run on the treadmill at the gym. Then I feel every one of those years as I'm huffing and puffing while the 100 pound 20 something girl next to me is barely breaking a sweat and running twice as fast. My thirties have been an interesting time. I am feeling like I am too old now for the super trendy clothes and hairstyles, and now all of that grown up looking adult Banana Republic clothing seems more my style. I even forgot about my age the other day when a co-worker of mine asked how old I was at a group lunch. When I informed him I was turning 35 he got a look on face, scrunched up his face and said "oh my gosh you ARE old!!" Well so I guess it's official, and I am now out of the younger generation. I can't say I mind too much though. My friends that are my age and older have come up with a fun new pastime now: poking fun at how the 19 year olds look. I suppose it's silly but it does make us feel better. And actually my 30's so far have been the best years of my life, so I wonder what 40 brings....??????

I did have a great birthday however. Terry baked lovely birthday chocolate caramel brownies. We ate them outside in the 70 degree weather by the pool. It was so wierd having my birthday in sunny weather outside. February 10th was always cold and snowy in Utah, and I always had a birthday inside. Now time to start working on that tan..........

Big D

Here I am in Texas now, and here is some of my observations.

Dallas is called "Big D" by Texans. They are right when they say everything is big in Texas, and especially Dallas. It seems like if your going to do anything here you do it BIG. People like their homes big, their cars big, and trucks bigger, their hair big (well not West Jordan Utah big), and the ladies like their implants big here too. Lots of people say Dallas is the least "Texas" of the big cities in the state. Suprisingly it is a very cosmopolitan, sophisticated, and diverse city. With arts, entertainment, and nightlife that rivals any west or east coast big city. That said Dallas still has that brash, flashy, loud, and bigger than life Texas flair. Of course with 6.5 Million people living here the traffic is big and crazy too. You don't get anywhere very quickly and traffic is part of the daily fabric of life in Dallas. I've even encountered a traffic jam at 1:00am in the morning. Driving is not for the faint of heart here, and you better bring your "A" game when you get on the freeway. I have a lovely 23 mile 45 minute commute on 2 toll freeways and one interstate every morning. You would be suprised what you see in the middle of freeways here: big metal extension ladders, whole couches, exploding gas tanker trucks, and my favorite dodging tree and lawn clippings shooting from the back of a landscape truck doing 90 in front of you (especially when I was in my little covertible!!!). But I've also found big hearts, and big warm friendly people. It's funny but I understand what they say when they talk about "southern hospitality." A big smile and a loud "Howdy Y'all" always makes me feel welcome. Of course a big mess of Texas bar-b-que ribs, cornbread, and ice tea makes it even better. I think I'm gonna like this place alot!!!

Brian meets Texas

Well it all started in March of 2007. My partner Terry and I decided to visit our dear friends who had just moved to Dallas Texas from Salt Lake City Utah. We arrived and had a truly wonderful fun time in Dallas. We loved our friends pool in their backyard. The hustle and bustle of the big city was exciting. It was so green and lush, and the weather was perfect. Terry and I both commented on how much we liked the area and it wouldn't be bad living there. Well I guess we thought we would see what happened if we put our resume online for jobs in Dallas. Well sure enough a job headhunter contacted me and poof 3 months later I accepted a job with a small natural gas company in Dallas to start and run their geographical information system. The crazy part was they needed me to start in 3 weeks. It was a mad dash to get the house packed up and sold. Of course, just to make things interesting we ended up selling house the morning we were packing the U-Haul and heading out of town. Talk about coming down to the wire!!! Big thanks to Bob W our friend and Salt Lakes finest real estate agent for making it happen. Well 1500 miles and 2 days later a HUGE yellow Penske moving truck towing a pickup truck, and a cute black honda convertible arrived at our friends Todd and Bill in east Dallas. Man I was glad to finally get here. I was tired of driving and staring at the back of that big yellow truck for hours on end. Not to mention there wasn't much to see driving for hours through west Texas, unless you like cows and oil wells for miles and miles. After we arrived it took us another month to get closed and into our cute new home here in north Dallas. Our friends were saints to put up with us crashing at their house for a month. 4 Queens all getting ready to go off to work in the morning is quite a production but we actually got along great. Here are a few pics of the house.

We love our new house and of course started immediately remodeling it. (more on that later).

I will say it's been so crazy and fast the way it all worked out. I still can't beleive I'm living in Dallas sometimes, but it just feels right. Man I definitely learned to be careful what you ask for because it might come true. I was wanting to move and find a new job and BAM it happened!!!

My First Blog

Well here I am posting up my first blog. I must admit I had no idea a few months ago what a "blog" even was. little did I know that my family were a bunch of seasoned bloggers, and especially that my sister had such a gift for fun writing. I must admit it was wonderful to read about what is going on with everyone. It's fun to see all my cousins with families of their own now. I'm not sure how exciting my life and blog will be, but at least you can see what I'm up to.