why.. hello.

lauren who?! yes... i  know. i'd say i've just been too incredibly busy to post, but really that shouldn't be my excuse. i did have a month off from working... but i must say, i was looking for a job that entire month.. and have been sight seeing, of course.. exploring our new city.. so.. i was busy. i landed one, though.. a job.. and so our bills can now be paid. yippee!! jake too. we're responsible adults contributing to society again! well we're here in austin...

and it's A W E S O M E.

someone please tell me why i wasn't born here?! okay.. maybe that's because i was too busy being borned out on an island in american samoa. ya ya whatever... there's a saying here that goes something like this:

'i wasn't born in texas (austin), but i got here as soon as i could."

that sort of applies to me, i guess. except that i'm 25... er.. 26 now.. and i hummed and hawed through those first few years of my twenties. i could've moved out here sooner. but then i wouldn't have met the man of my dah-reams.. and austin wouldn't be as cool without the guy.

the trip out here was sooo loooong. sooooooooooooo looooooooooooooooooooong. and we were in separate vehicles. me being stuck with the meowing bug-cat. she chilled out after about the first 8 hours. uh huh. we arrived at our new condo and to our horror, the place was SO DIRTY. :( it's a pretty nice complex.. older, with a ton of trees and squirrels everywhere... but the owner had not cleaned the place! we were pretty disgusted. we had driven 11 hours that day (on 3.. yes THREE.. hours of sleep the night before) and then we had to head to the grocery store that night and pick up cleaning supplies. there was no way i was sticking my hiney anywhere near the toilets as they were. um ya... it was bad. but we conquered! and it's our home now.. we sort of love it. :)

every time we venture off to look at something new, we're in awe of just how cool this place is. the people are so incredibly nice, it's contagious.. and i've already picked up on all the 'ya'll talk' and bbq. let me tell you, they are serious about their bbq here.

we miss our family.. and friends, of course.. and i think it makes it harder knowing how much they'd all absolutely LOVE it here (and in my head i've been scheming of how i could get them all to move out here..). it's sure been difficult missing the big events that've been going on back home, too. this has been a really amazing experience for us, though... already. we depend on each other a lot more. it makes us appreciate each other a lot more, too.

so all in all, life is pretty darn good... jake has had a phone interview with the usaf and will be flown up to hill afb in a couple weeks for some tests. the possibility of the military is great and we're pretty excited.  we knew that our time here in austin would probably be short lived, but now that we've been here, we know that we'll want to come back one day. so who knows what the futures holds.

hopefully a few more adventures... :)

**so i haven't taken too many pictures with my good camera... don't ask me why. i really have been busy, okay?? but i stayed up after writing this post last night and put all my flip video clips together of our trip out here and whatnot. well, it isn't loading. guess it's too big. so i'll work on that. but sorry i don't have any pictures for you! maybe i'll get some on here soon..