**Texas Time**

Enjoying Texas... Time is precious. 

Since we are quite aware of our limited time in Texas as the months will soon whittle down to days before we venture off to our new life in North Carolina, we've made it a point to enjoy as much quality time with friends and family as possible. Though Al and I are undoubtedly workaholics, we know that we must squeeze in fun time or we will most definitely regret it once we can't so easily just make plans on a whim with loved ones in Houston and San Antonio. We've had an eventful spring so far! 

My *little sister* Christie from my sorority (Beta Sigma Phi) days in college had a bachelorette party... 

Oh yes, it's ladies' night!

We attended Alumni Oyster Bake (aka Baby Bake) held at St. Mary's University campus where we reunited with old and new generations of St. Mary's alumni as well as Beta Sigma Phi sisters... 

Al and Bernie had a garage band jam session the night of the bachelorette party. Of course, the guys definitely enjoyed all the food at Baby Bake - the turkey legs and chicken on a stick were highlights!

The St. Mary's tower with a bell on campus - this was not on campus when I was an undergrad here so I really enjoy seeing it when we go to Baby Bake.

 We celebrated our birthdays one weekend after the next, since they're only 4 days apart... 

We went to the King Tut exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts during the day of Amanda's b-day. Two of our friends in College Station came into town to celebrate with us and they took us out for Dim Sum - it was our first time with this cultural food experience.

We went to eat gourmet Tex-Mex and fabulous margaritas for dinner and then out to a wine bar, a karaoke bar, and then home for a game night after-party! Oh yes, there were "party buses," lol.

Maria and Amanda = favorite cousins! Keepin' it classy at Vintropolis.

We went rock wall climbing and then played a few games of racquetball at the UH Main Campus gym during the day for Al's b-day. We went to The Den for a drink to cool down afterwards (The Den is a bar on campus). Al completed his B.S. and Amanda completed her M.A. at UH Main Campus.

We had Italian food for Al's b-day dinner (he wanted pizza, of course - no big surprise there, haha!) and then out to enjoy a live rock cover band play at Sherlock's where many other friends came to meet us.

We went to the San Antonio Zoo with our goddaughter, Isis, and her mom, Sandra, for a day of fun in the sun! We noticed that many of the kids had backpack leashes on at the zoo, which is a smart idea for safety purposes. It was funny seeing this and so we kept pointing out when we spotted a kid-on-a-leash, haha!

Monkeyin' around with Tio Albert!

We spotted a few butterflies out in the open air of the zoo. Such vibrant, pretty colors!

Isis had a blast seeing all the animals and she even brushed the goats' and the pigs' hair in the petting zoo! We asked Isis to choose a toy from the zoo gift shop so that she would remember the day at the zoo with us. She chose a colorful bird stuffed toy and proclaimed, "You're gonna be my BEEEEST friend!" So cute.  ; ) We rode the train around the park afterwards and then we blew bubbles outside while Isis ran to pop them. The three of us completed a Dora hologram puzzle at Al's parents' house before Isis and Sandra headed home. Later that evening, we enjoyed a belated b-day celebration with Al's parents which consisted of a nice outing for a fancy dinner downtown and then drinks at the Lion and the Rose Pub. Each weekend has been fun-filled so we're pretty confident we're making good use of our time. No matter how busy I am, I have decided it's best for my overall well-being to take a day (or at least the evening) off per weekend. That's a good rule of thumb post-grad school, I think. You know you're a workaholic when you have to schedule fun time!  

In other news, I finally did get Al his "I survived my wife's PhD dissertation" t-shirt."  : )  

 
Al said white is definitely his power color, upon seeing this beautiful picture taken from the balcony of our townhome, hehe. 

We've noticed that each time we tell someone about our moving, the common question(s) people ask is, "So, what does your husband do? How does Al feel about the move?" I suppose he's quite the progressive guy to be supportive of moving for his wife's job because so many people have commented on this fact, as though they're surprised by it. Al says that it seems like people don't believe him when he says he's excited to move, get out of Texas for a while and experience somewhere different, haha.

It makes sense that we'd have to move for my line of work because everyone knows academics must be flexible for jobs. Tenure-track jobs are not in abundance these days and a Ph.D. would be crazy to pass up tenure-track employment upon being offered such a position. Not only that, but lucky for us Al's line of work is everywhere so he is definitely not geographically confined in any sense. This reality certainly impacted our decision for me to even apply for jobs outside of Texas.

We see ourselves as a *partnership* in which we discuss and make mutually beneficial decisions together. Maybe one day a wife moving for her husband's job and a husband moving for his wife's job will be equally common so that the situation will warrant less of a reaction any which way. All I know is I'm so glad the man I married "survived" my Ph.D. and is supportive of this career move! God knows he kept me grounded throughout the process (Ph.D. and job search), no matter how close to insanity I came, haha.