Me, Ebby, and Trouble!

I made it!  I finished Ebby School last month and part of the reward was meeting the great lady herself, Ebby Halliday!  She was nothing by gracious and so very nice.  It's no wonder she has been such a successful icon in the DFW area.  

 

I might not have mentioned in my post about starting this real estate career but let me just say here and now........THIS IS THE HARDEST THING I'VE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE!!

 

And if that's not sufficient whining, somebody get the violin tuned because, it's hard enough learning how to be a real estate agent.  Just try learning to be one and be me at the same time!!  Not kidding!  I'm the fifth in a family of six and, truly, I think my parents ran out of brain organizing genes by the time they got to me.

 

Here's just a few examples of some of my foibles of late:

1. This last weekend I was manipulating my way through a HUD deal so was talking to the listing agent with the property.  To make things easier I entered his number into my contacts and away we went.  Oh, I was feeling very professional as I dealt with him about HUD details.  In the midst of all that Bob and I were texting each other and, imagine my embarassment, when my text to Bob somehow got sent to this guy I'd only just met!  And it happened twice!  Are you kidding me???  I mean, phone, if you're going to send my text somewhere it's not supposed to go, did it have to be to a stranger?  Sigh!

 

2.  On Sunday I hosted an open house for another agent in our office and, afterward, I was kind of in a hurry to get home.  Well, as soon as I walked in the door I realized I had left my three Open House signs at the house!  See, now aren't you glad you're not me?

 

3.  Here's another one about HUD houses.  Apparently, when a house is being sold by the government, they don't leave the utilities on.  I was showing five houses that day and saved the HUD ones till the end.......after dark, of course!  Ugh!

 

So that's kind of how my life goes.  And all of that was just last week!  But while I didn't get many brain organizing genes, I got lots of shake it off and move forward genes because that's just what I do.  I'm still working with this young couple after all of the HUD and light fiasco so apparently all is not lost........or maybe they just feel sorry for me.........sigh again!

 

While this little real estate venture is truly one of the hardest things I've ever done, at the same time I'm getting to meet a lot of new people, I'm beginning to enjoy the challenge, and I'm actually starting to just have a lot of straight up fun.  I might even sell a house one of these days!  : )  

 

  

Good job guys!

 

The Southeastern Oklahoma State University Flight Team are the official first place winners of the 2012 SAFECON regional flight competition.  And Bobby is the captain!  Can't get much better than that.  (Bobby's 2nd from the left)

 

Every year Bobby's been at Southeastern as part of the team, they've always participated in this regional competition out of state in places like Nebraska and Kansas.  But this year SOSU hosted the games and it worked well for them because they won the whole thing.  And my favorite part was that Bob, Kaylee, Jennifer, and I got to attend the awards banquet on Friday following the week long competition. 

 

They recognized the top 20 out of each individual competition and we were thrilled and so proud as Bobby was awarded one 2nd place, two 3rd place, and two 5th place awards for his events.  What an exciting and proud way to do it in his senior year.  

 

Now they're bound for Ohio and the national competition in May.  Congratulations Bobby and the whole SOSU flight team!   



Boston twice

We finally got to see the ocean!  We woke up to clear skies, sunshine, and high 70's for the day.  Pretty nice!  Our Boston experience actually started yesterday when we drove in from Newport in a dreary drizzle.  And it didn't get much better through the day.  But we persevered.  

 

We stopped in Plymouth and drove to the coast where Plymouth Rock was.  We found it and the Mayflower II.  The ocean is in the background but as you can see our luck hadn't changed yet.    

After Plymouth we drove on into Boston and hit Fenway Park and Harvard.  The weather didn't really affect either and we had a great time taking in a little Bahston history! 

That was yesterday.  As I said before, today's weather was pretty much perfect so we were in good spirits as we drove into Boston again, hopped onto one of the tour trolleys (it's why our hair looks so wind blown in the following pictures), and started our trip back in time.........well, as much as you can with crazy traffic and huge modern buildings all around.  It was really pretty much a big city but it was truly beautiful for a big city.  I just couldn't believe the old buildings that just went on and on and on, especially Beacon Hill.  Amazing!

 

There really wasn't a good reason for this picture except that I couldn't pass up the opportunity since macaroni and cheese is one of Kaylee's favorites. 

And then there was Paul Revere.  He's always been kind of a background personality to me when I've studied about the founding of our country but that may have changed.  He was apparently a very hard working and trust worthy man and he had thirteen children, for goodness sake.  What's not to like about that! 

And of course there's the gelato.  The North End was full of Italian restaurants so we finally picked one and then went a couple of doors down and had Italian ice cream.  It was okay.  Not Blue Bell, of course. 

The things that stuck out most to me about Boston was, of course, the age.  And the history is obviously so meaningful and so cool to actually experience it all in person.  Being in a big city was pretty predictable except that here, the streets and sidewalks were much more narrow than what I'm used to.  Well, let's just say it--I'm from Texas and being in such an old city where everything is jammed together makes me feel a little claustrophobic.

 

So we completed our time in Boston in the late afternoon and then headed to the ocean.  I'd read about Marblehead when we were researching our trip and had decided that we just wouldn't have time to fit it in.  But we had some daylight left on this perfect weather day so that's where we headed.  And it was so worth it!  I thought it was sort of a present day Newport.  There were lots and lots of really amazing houses and quite a few looked pretty new.  It was such a quaint town and made for a beautiful sunset adventure.  That's where the first picture in this post was taken and then this one.        

We have one more morning left and we'll head over to Salem to check things out for a short time.  Then it's off to the airport in Manchester, NH, which makes seven states we've traveled through on Mom and Kaylee's excellent adventure!



Fog and Mansions

We woke up this morning to fog, hoping it would get better as the day went on but nope, it was not to be.  It's a pretty sad thing when you're right on the ocean and you can't see the ocean. 

 

But, on a much better note, we also woke up to an amazing breakfast that our host, Stuart, made for us.  We had blueberry covered Yorkshire pancakes and sausage, with pomegranate juice on the side. 

 

Then, rested and nourished, we made our way into Newport to see the mansions.  We started at The Breakers and here's a picture of the front.

We found out very quickly that some people just plain have too much money.  I mean, seriously, were they just looking for places to spend it?  Apparently!  The Breakers was my favorite partly because it seemed more like a home, and partly because I think I could have been friends with ol' Cornelius and Alice (Vanderbilt, of course).  They met while they were both teaching Sunday School and, even though four out of their seven children died young, "their faith brought them through those times".

 

This next picture shows how bad the annoying fog was.  We're looking out from the upstairs balcony at the lawn and................fog!  We just assumed the ocean was out there because they told us it was.       



Okay, remember how I said I thought I might be friends with Alice Vanderbilt?  Well, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been friends with her sister-in-law, Alva, who built The Marble House.  If for no other reason than that she also had this monstrocity built in her back yard.  Maybe it was considered pretty back then and maybe I'm offending some of you right now by dissing it but it's definitely not my taste.  And I also didn't like her much because she divorced good ol' Cornelius' brother, William after only 14 years and, honestly, it sounded like she did it because it just wasn't done and she wanted to be the first to start the trend or something.  Anyway, here's the Chinese Tea Room with the elusive ocean in the background.  Can you tell I'm bitter about the fog?   

Obviously I'm not too distressed about it because I look pretty happy here in the back yard of The Marble House.  Note my Ebby t-shirt I won at Ebby School.

Since we were in Alva's back yard we went ahead and walked all the way back to the cliffs and Kaylee got this shot of the ocean, more fog, and some other oppulant homes in the distance.   

After a drive around to Land's End and the southern tip of Newport we picked up a pizza and came back to our little haven to watch the Presidential debate.  Priorities, right?



Fall has come!

Okay, at this point I'm wondering what the catch is.  Kaylee and I arrived in Portsmouth, RI this afternoon and were greeted by this amazing sight.  Our humongous and four star hotel style room on the 2nd story of a farm house.  Kaylee found it online for $100 a night.  What a deal.....if there's no catch, that is.  I'm waiting.  And enjoying!  This picture does not even do it justice.  Behind Kaylee is a partition and behind that is another beautiful bed. 

And this is the kitchen.  Everything is new, clean, and just perfect.  I thought about showing you the bathroom because it looks like a spa but I figured enough is enough.  We're here for two nights and we'll live in luxury and tomorrow will tour the historic homes of luxury in Newport.  Appropriate, right?   

I thought I'd see if you can guess what this relic of the past is.  I love maps!  There I said it.  I'm a map nerd!  I think it's one reason I enjoy my driving job.  I get to look at maps.  Anyway, our route today took us on some obscure scenic roads and I couldn't figure out how to enter that into our phones (I still think it sounds funny to say that) so I got to do it the old fashioned way.  And let me just say that pictures cannot do justice to the beauty of Connecticut!   

In a small town called Pomfret we happened upon a crew filming for a upcoming Cuba Gooding movie about slavery.  Yeah, much to Kaylee's embarassment I made her pull over so I could ask a young man who was an extra. 

This picture pretty much explains itself. 

 

 

 

Here I am with my four picked apples.  I'm pretty sure I've never picked apples before so I was excited.  It doesn't take much, right?  I wish you could have seen this little farmstand for real.  The colors were so vibrant.....everywhere!  I'm pretty sure that fall will never be the same for me.  We in Texas don't even know real fall.  I always thought we did but not anymore. 

And last but not least I had to show you this picture of the First Baptist Church......not sure of where since it was out in the middle of nowhere on a country road  Too bad we weren't driving by on a Sunday.                   

We finished our day driving on the Rhode Island Coast in the misting rain and arrived in Newport about mid afternoon.  We made a quick drive through but decided to just hang out for the rest of the evening.  And how nice to be greeted by such a nice place to do so.  Tomorrow we'll be seeing Newport fully so I'm sure I'll have lots of pics of that. We're hoping the rain stays at least mostly away.   

Four States In One Day!

We woke up to a beautiful sunshiny 73 degree day in Ronk, PA, just outside Lancaster. Our motel was a little less than desirable but there were waffles waiting for us in the morning so all was forgiven. I love waffles!

 

After breakfast our plan was to follow a route that would take us to see some covered bridges but that didn't work out so well. I'm blaming it on the instructions we had. But all was not lost. During our little hunt for bridges we were able to see mile after mile of beautiful rolling hills and Amish farms. What a beautiful day God blessed us with in our goal for the morning.

After driving around for about two hours and before continuing on our journey we stopped to get gas and I saw this neat little buggy beside the parking lot.  So I decided to take advantage of the photo op.

 

And Kaylee decided to be funny!  No, I don't normally wear my hair that way!  Actually, I laughed pretty hard for about the next hour.

And then we were off......again!  It was about an hour's drive to Philadelphia and we found ourselves in a big city again.  But what a city!  I just can't get over the age of all the buildings in PA.  Our plan was to gain a little history knowledge so we headed straight for Independence Hall to get our tickets for entrance a little later in the day. 

 

Apparently our waffles weren't sufficient or maybe it was the weather.  But we were so hungry by that time so we headed out to find a cheese steak stand that Kaylee had read about.  We walked a little over a mile which was fine because we'd been in the car so much the last couple of days AND we got to see lots more of Philly.  And it was so interesting.  And old, of course.  And so different from Denton! Love that! 

 

And the cheese steak was amazing! So worth the walk.  There were two little competing stands and both were busy.  We shared a sandwich and some fries (that were really yummy too!) We were so hungry we forgot to take a picture till after we were finished.  Here's the leftovers.  Oops, there are none!        

Here's Kaylee posing where we ate.

Of course we had to take the obligatory picture in front of the liberty bell.

And then Independence Hall

At about 3 we continued on our journey which took us through Trenton, NJ.  Hmmmm!  I guess all I'll say about that is that it sure was different from our drive through the mountains of PA.  I love America! 

 

I was so proud of us!  With Kaylee driving and me navigating, we maneuvered our way through New Jersey and just north of New York City like pros!  And in rush hour traffic to boot!  Yay us!!  Yeah, and while I was sure excited to see all there was to see I don't think I'll be too anxious to do it again.  I mean other than the traffic it's just.....well, crowded.  I mean, in some places, on either side of the road there just wasn't any room.  Stores and houses were just right there.  

 

This picture isn't very good and it doesn't even do justice to the view we actually saw but I took this when we were crossing the Washington Bridge in New Jersey.  The view was of Manhattan.  I just couldn't believe we were there!    

We made it through rush hour traffic and then hit Connecticut, a whole different world.  It was getting dark and we were on a highway so we couldn't see much but enough to be sad that we couldn't see more.  We drove along the coast so, as the sun set, we could see a little of the water between the trees.  We stopped at a Denny's like restaurant to get a late supper and then drove the last hour to Hartford where we stayed the night.  Brand new Super 8!  Much better than the night before.