Well, hello friends! I'm currently en route to NY, sitting in first class eating filet mignon and sipping a glass of wine. Have I mentioned I absolutely l-o l-o l-o-v-e my job? It's a perfect fit for me. We are headed to NY and Canada, and will return Sunday. This will be my first time to visit the big apple, I'm thinking this is the perfect time of year to see it since its Christmas time. I am going to try and act "cool" since the people I'm traveling with are NY experts.

Poor Ike. I'm now planning our trips home first class with the pup! (they don't have to be in kennels in first class). Speaking of my better half, he's probably going to relish a few days of quiet. He will probably finish unpacking and organizing the new place and enjoy our home. I've already fallen in love with it, we walked to the store last night, and sleep with the windows open! No a/c!!

Time to play with B! Write you later.

Enjoy the pic of my lunch and me with the blanket wrapped up reclining in my seat.

That is the amount of miles we've driven. We are nearing the end of our journey. Fin, Ike and I are together in the 17FT U-Haul (we named Beast) towing his car, moving slow and going through a crazy amount of gas.

Let's talk about the beast. The seats don't recline, there is little leg room, only the FM radio, and it's LOUD. We've managed to laugh about all that's transpired in the Beast including me falling out of it at the gas station, lots of tejano music, NO cruise control, and no power anything. I'm not sure why I find it so comical to manually roll my window down and push to lock car door but I do. Oh, and did I mention we decided to try a new route to get to Phoenix yesterday? Through Tonto National Forest. This was a horrible idea. We were up and down the mountain in the kind of dark where you can barely see your hand and we were among all sorts of wildlife that would have loved to eat us. Next time, (not that there will be) we will stick to the highway.

It's a weird thing for me to say, "we are headed home". Our next stop is our new address. I'm excited to have a place that's ours. It's been extremely nutty since our honeymoon, we have been living out of our suitcases for 6 weeks. And girls, I've only had about 6 outfits to play with. Do you know how hard it is to dress cute with minimal outfits, accessories and shoes?!

I'll make sure to do an update with pics of our stuff settled in our home, which deserves a post of its own..I think I'm going to completely change how I decorate. I'm going to step out and be funky.

Sorry if it seems as though I'm rambling..

I'm leaving you with some pics from our trip, snow on the mountains in NM, a teepee in AZ, us in the car and the most adorable pup. Ever. Enjoy!

Well, almost...It wouldn't be a Lee experience if it wasn't a little bit complicated. We planned to leave yesterday and be in California this evening, but Thursday night I was up all night vomiting and slept until 1:30 in the afternoon yesterday hoping to shake whatever I had. Ike tried to pick up our U-Haul truck and trailer yesterday afternoon but they were out of it and the closest location was somewhere just north of Waco.  We took it as a sign we shouldn't have left yesterday. We are on schedule to leave tonight, drive thru the night again and arrive in LA tomorrow to unload our U-Haul in our new house....Which is a story all on it's own. We were signed to move into an adorable house off Santa Monica Blvd until they called up and tried to add an additional pet rent/month, a huge pet deposit and make us sign a 2 year lease. We were already at the top of our budget with this house and I definitely didn't want be locked into a lease for an extended period of time (what if I don't like area, what if we are ready to buy sooner than 2 years, etc....) So, we settled on our 2nd favorite place. We've been trying to tie up all our loose ends and sign leases via email/phone and it's been VERY stressful to say the least. I will be happy to get to California, unload our stuff and have a home. Put this very stressful chapter behind us. We're making memories.

"When we make a change, it's so easy to interpret our unsettledness as unhappiness and our unhappiness as a result of having made the wrong decision. Our mental and emotional states fluctuate madly when we make big changes in our lives. Somedays we could tightrope across Manhattan, and other days we are too weary to clean our teeth. This is normal. This is natural. This is change."

My Thanksgiving post may be lacking in punctuality, but overflowing in thankfulness....

I'm thankful for our families who have done more for us than we can say. The sacrifices they've made for us, the love they always give us, and their support have done more for us than we can express. They've carried us in our darkest of hours when our spirits were lowest. They've cheered for us in our accomplishments and in our decision to head west. They stood by our sides in Cabo as we exchanged our vows. It feels strange to say, but our parents have become some of our best friends. What a neat thing to be able to say!



I'm thankful for my sisters; Erin, Kelly and Andrea, who are always available for a phone call, text or email. They're always available to make me laugh, offered great advice, and an unending friendship filled with love!!


I'm thankful for my husband, who EVERYDAY makes me a better person. He met me in my darkest hour and patiently waited while I healed. He is my biggest supporter and has allowed my biggest dreams to come true. Together we are embarking on a new life adventure and thus far it's been phenomenal. God couldn't have hand picked a better partner for me.

Well, it's Tuesday evening and my work week is over! I got up this morning super early (okay, 7:15) and helped pack and run errands for A's trip to New York for Thanksgiving. While everyone is going to relax and enjoy this Holiday Ike, Fin and I are DRIVING to Texas! We leave tonight and drive BACK to Los Angeles this weekend with our stuff to move into our HOME!! Yippie! After this weekend we will FINALLY be settled. It's been over a month since I've been living out of a suitcase and I am at my witt's end. I'm eternally grateful to our family for opening their homes for us but we are ready to be settled. 

I know it's been a happy Friday here in LaLa land for a few reasons of which I'll list below:


#1. I'M GOING TO NEW YORK! I've never been and I get to go November 30-December 4th. I cannot wait to take it all in. I've seriously been down playing it and then I get in my car and scream!!!!
#2. It's Friday and I am in LOVE with this city. Finley and I ran some errands on Robertson today and ate lunch at a fresh fruit stand and it was heavenly. The people are not nearly as nice as they are in Texas, but


#3.  It's date night with my husband! He's taking me to the Grove to eat sushi and enjoy the Christmas decor! I don't have to share him with anybody. We can put our phones down and enjoy each other which I can honestly not remember the last time Ike and I went to dinner. Alone. 


#4.  I have the cutest dog. Ever. 

Yesterday was such a fabulous day I'm not even sure where to begin..I had a quiet morning updating my iPhone and playing around the house with plans of doing nothing when Ike's cousin called me and asked me to come over and hangout! I happily obliged, excited to have someone to talk to and hangout with. We spent the afternoon watching Disney movies and playing pretend.....Did I mention she has a 3 year old son? B and I are pretty much inseparable. I've hung out with this kid plenty and STILL have not seen him cry. He has an old soul and I love spending time with him. 

Wow! What a whirlwind the past 2 days have been! Dad and I got to LA Sunday afternoon and I have been flying since my feet have hit the ground...

Sunday Ike and I were reunited for the first time in 16 days! It felt surreal when I saw him and got to kiss him! We showed dad around LA including In and Out Burger, an ADORABLE house we are trying to rent, and his office in Santa Monica on the 3rd street promenade. Dad and I spent a lot of our time in Santa Monica and we LOVED it! I took Finley into all the shops, which makes me so happy-considering he's pretty much my best friend here until I make some people friends .

Today I took dad to LAX and when he left I realized I'm here. Alone. Yes, Ike is here with me, but I'm all I have during the day. I don't have my dad in the car helping me drive or strolling the shops and beach with me during the day. Ike leaves for work at 9am and doesn't get home until after 6:45, so it's a very long lonely day for now. I had such a frustrating day that by 4:00 I needed a drink. (okay, it was about 3:00, but realized it's not generally good to drink alone). Haha.

Anywho, I ran into Petco today during my errands and saw they have politically correct dog toys, check out the Hanukkah collection! I've never seen these in Texas!!

I'll leave you with one last thing, I've been here for 48+ hours and have had 2 parking problems. One, I got a $58 ticket for parking and not paying the meter (it was hidden AND there were no signs saying there was a meter)! AND today I was told my valet was validated and sadly it was not. $16 later for an hour parking I nearly lost my mind!

Im sorry if this post seems all over the place. I feel like my life and brain are, too right now!

I'm here, with my husband. I'm generally happy in LA. I know I'll be extremely lonely for awhile, all I can do is pray for a few good friends to come along. I'm thankful for Ike and his amazing opportunity that will provide us a better life than we could dream possible in Texas. So, with that said, I'm going to hold my head high and hold on for the ride of our life!

But not without making some memories! Dad drove 1100 miles yesterday. He wouldn't let me drive which I'm honestly not complaining about. During our last fill up in Wilcox, Arizona dad and I were involved in a gun battle! We had just pulled out of the gas station and were waiting for the light to turn green when we heard what we thought to be someone banging on our car..after looking around we saw nobody was hitting our car, it was GUN SHOTS! 6 of them! Needless to say I was shouting obscenities and dad ended up running a red light to get out of town. I called Liz and it turns out we stopped in Pima County, which has more drugs go thru it than ANY other US city. Thankfully we arrived in Phoenix not long afterwards and got to enjoy dinner and many laughs with Liz and Daryle. Finley also got to meet his cousins, Chuy and Charlie (chihuahua mixes). I've been up since 6am excited to see Ike. It's been 16 days!!!

I'm leaving you with a pic of the beautiful Phoenix sunset and Fin and his cousins.

Next stop, LA!!

Phew. We made it to El Paso and I'm not trying to crawl out of the car...Yet. Honestly, I'm surprised at how well I'm hanging out. It's been a peaceful trip with good tunes (Willie, Kenny Chesney, Asleep at the Wheel (a fav of dad and mine), Bob Marley and some other classics.

We're in mountain time zone now, it sounds so silly but it's very strange to think I'm going to be on Pacific time soon. I'll be 2 hours behind my loved ones. It's the little things I suppose.

I'm so excited to be able to see Liz and Daryle tonight! We are going to crash with them and finish the remainder of the drive tomorrow morning. I hope I can sleep tonight, I feel like tomorrow is Christmas and I can barely contain my excitement to see Ike!!!

670 miles down!

Dad and I woke up at 4:30 this morning to leave Dallas for Los Angeles. Today we are driving all the way to Phoenix to stay with Ike's family for the night and tomorrow we will get up early and finish the drive. So far so good, we've stopped once for gas and to tell Finley have a break, too.

Music in the cd Player now is; Willie Nelson, The Eagles, Kenny Chesney and Bob Marley.

I'll leave you with a few pics of Finley and our current view.

517 miles to El Paso.

My oldest sister,  Erin and I have been hanging out everyday this week. I thought it would be fun to take her to the Galleria yesterday and help her shop for her fall/winter clothes and mom even took off work to play with us! Erin needed to bring Kayla (she's 17 months) and I had no idea what I was in for...

How could this sweet face reek so much havoc?

Easy. She neglected to inform me that Kayla hates being strapped into her stroller, or anything for that matter, she likes to climb on chairs, hates sitting on her bottom, being told no, she loves to touch and knock things over and I guess do other things 17 month olds do. Since I'm not a mom yet I had no idea how exhausting kids are. Everyday. Kayla is a great kid, but what child wants to shop all day? Erin and mom thought it was hilarious that by 3:00 I was so tired I nearly cried when they told me it was time to pick up Taylor from kindergarten and continue the madness for another 4 hours. What did I learn yesterday?

This is the only baby we need right now :).

Just for laughs, here is Erin today. I've got color on her hair and she's decided to take a nap while she's processing. Seriously.


I really do love kids and the idea of being a mom. I also know that for now I enjoy sleep, doing what I want, and I am really just enjoying Ike + Katy time. nothing too exciting planned for the rest of the week, tomorrow I am having lunch with some old co-worker girlfriends, Friday I head to College Station to see my seester AJ and Saturday at the crack of dawn dad and I leave for La La land. I'm only 4 days from seeing my husband!!

Today, mom and I ran to the mall and played around a little bit! I've introduced her to Pinterest, so here we are in the kitchen trying out a new recipe!

Every Thursday (okay, at least in November) I'm going to do a Thankful Thursday post. Today is easy. I'm thankful for Face Time. Ike has been gone for almost a week now and I'm really struggling tonight. You see, I'm used to seeing him as soon as I wake up, coming home to him, kissing him goodnight and falling asleep safely in his arms. Face Time allows me to call him whenever I want and see his face :) I can see what he's wearing, watch his facial expressions and see his new office. I feel like I'm there with him! 


All in all, I think Face Time will help a lot with my move West. I can call anyone in my family (and most of my friends) and feel like I'm with them. 


Excuse the bad pics, but you can see how seeing him gives me the BIGGEST smile!



Face Time happy hour, anyone?