The stars at night are big and bright

Welp, Austin it is, I guess.  Unless of course I get an amazing financial aid package at Washington, which seems unlikely.

I had been leaning towards Austin if for no other reason than a change of pace.  Chapel Hill seems too much like Ann Arbor and there's not much in the way of employment for Ed in the Seattle area.  I guess Ed had been leaning towards Austin too because when I told him of my UT acceptance, he says "So we're moving to Austin?!" and he just looked so cute and excited that I had to agree.

So now I have about one million things I need to do before August 1st, including, but certainly not limited to:

• Find a place to live (I think I'm going to convince my parents to move to Austin.  I know there's nothing that would bring my conservative father more joy than housing his adult daughter and her boyfriend [read: I'm living in sin].)
• Find a job
• Be supportive while Ed finds a job
• Save money for moving expenses (which, for the record, are OUTRAGEOUS!  I got a quote from U-Haul that moving all our stuff would be EIGHTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS.  You read that right, folks.) (Also, this is impossible with a puppy with no immune system who loves catching pneumonia more than chasing squirrels.)
• Schedule a visit to Austin to tour campus and get reacquainted with the city
• Make friends/reconnect with friends in Austin so that when we get there we're not terribly lonely and miserable. 
• Not panic about aforementioned to-do list.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about moving.  For all the antsiness and anxiety I feel about leaving Ann Arbor, I've lived here for longer than I lived anywhere during my childhood.  Hell, Texas only beats Ann Arbor by two years.  It's become my home, the place where I became an adult, and I'm going to miss it.  Also, I think it's going to be a lot harder on Ed than either of us realize; he's never lived anywhere else and we'll be leaving all his friends and family.  For a while we're only going to have each other which has the potential to make or break us.  I hope it makes us, I feel in my heart that it will, but the thought of things falling apart after I've made him uproot from his home is heartbreaking.  I feel good that the two of us can handle this; everything we've ever done, from dating to saying I love you to moving in together has been so natural, so comfortable, so unceremonious.  I have no reason to believe this big-time, cross-country move will be any different.  And at the end of the day, I'm in a familiar place and he isn't; it's a sensitivity I will have to try to always be aware of.

On top of all this excitement, Jamaica is in less than 2 weeks and this cold that I've been brewing and had convinced me wasn't going to boil over until I touched down in Montego Bay has hit!  I'm sick and I couldn't be happier.

A weekend in pictures

Not a weekend, exactly, but it coulda been.  A co-worker asked me to take his shift on Sunday if he would take my shift on Tuesday and being that Sunday is a WAY easier shift than Tuesday, I said hell yes.  And immediately I began planning my day.  Here are the highlights:

1) I woke up ON MY OWN, no alarm clock, no whiny puppy*.  Let me just tell you how wonderful it is to wake up without those things.
2) I finished a book I've been working on FOREVER.
3) Ed and I enjoyed a wonderful brunch at a restaurant I've been wanting to try.  And it was under $20!

4) I got a haircut.  I love haircut day.  I feel so pampered and comfortable.  Plus, even when its a small change, a hair cut just makes me feel so excited. 

Here's the front, just a light dusting off the length:

And here's the back where I took a bit more length off.  The idea is that it'll be the PERFECT length in a few weeks when we're in Jamaica:

I like it and I get a lot of compliments on it!

5) I wore the cutest spring outfit.  It was the first really nice day so I was excited to wear a skirt, lighter colored tights, and my leather jacket.

I played a little bit with patterns, which I've been trying to do more of now that the weather is floral-pattern appropriate.  You can't really tell in the pictures, but I wore a striped tank top under my floral blouse:

The thing I love the most about spring/summer (ok not the thing I love the most, but a thing I love) is that I can show off my tattoo!  I still get super pumped when someone recognizes what it is:

6) Finally, because I had the whole day off, I made a really tasty dinner of hamburgers with sour cream and dill sauce and homemade sweet potato fries.  I even managed to have the entire meal ready at the same time.  Quite a feat, indeed.

And that was my day!

*I should note that the reason I didn't wake to the common noise of Whiny Puppy is because he's sick.  For the last 5 days, this is what he's looked like:

Nothing sadder than a sick puppy, I tell you what.

Sun on my face

Today as I was waiting for Ed to pick me up from work and the sunshine was in my face and most of the snow on the front lawn had melted, I felt like the weather was giving me a high five.  Like, "Way to go, Rebecca!  You survived the gray bleariness of winter and as a reward, sunshine!"  Thanks, Spring, I love you too.

And because it's the weekend and I survived another day of work: my puppy, who is trying to plead with the dog in the window to play with him.

The Hurt Locker

was. so. good. 

Hopefully a more eloquent review in the next few days, but in the meantime, put it on your Netflix queue.  GO GO GO!