Can't believe I haven't posted anything since March but most of the year was consumed with triathlons, which I consistently posted on my training site.
But, outside of racing we did have a great year. We were blessed to have many visitors this year and we appreciated seeing so many of our family and friends throughout the year. We had to reschedule a planned vacation but hope to do that early in 2015.
We celebrated Lane's 1 year anniversary as a member of the Bell family and while she has had some health issues this past year we have a new vet that has done a wonderful job of helping us manage those issues. Yes, she is SPOILED. She has beds in most of the rooms in our house, 2 in our bedroom, numerous toys and bones to occupy her and a good start to a hand me own Vera Bradley collection. We did have a fence installed so she has a pretty good side backyard that she can roam. Although she usually stays close to the house.
It's still hard for us to believe that we have been in Texas for over 2 years. Maryland chaos life seems so far away and we are thankful for that - although we do miss all of our DMV family. Rob continues to head back to MD twice a year so he is lucky enough to visit family and friends - I'm very jealous!
Our house continues to be work in progress, still so much to do in the yard and trying to decorate - but we are comfortable with the way things are and in no hurry to get things done and prefer spending our time as a family.
As the year comes to a close, I realize I'm lucky that I have been able to find a great balance between work and life. I'm happy that my priorities in life are me, Rob, Lane and everything else!
I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas with high hopes for 2015!
I can't make any promises that I'll be better about posting update - FB, email or a phone call might be better ways to get the latest and greatest with the Bell's.
Clearing property
Well we bought our lot we had high hopes of doing most of the tree / debris clearing ourselves but with Rob's back and my work schedule and tri training we really haven't been able to put a big dent in things and since we needed to do something before the fence guys came we decided to hire it out. We didn't have them do everything there is still some things we have to do but they got rid of a lot of the dead brush and dead tress.
Here are some before and after pics.
Here are some before and after pics.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
The fence was delayed a bit with all the rain that we got last week but they are scheduled to be here on Monday to start that so hopefully before next weekend Lane will finally have a backyard that she can rome free.
Who would have thought
Two years ago today we took a leap of faith and purchased a lot in the Vintage Oaks community in New Braunfels, TX. Initially we bought the lot knowing that we would either build a house several years down the road or it would be an investment property that we could sell later.
Much to our surprise this kicked off a whirlwind 14 months for us:
March 23, 2012 - bought Texas property
March 30, 2012 - I quit my job
June 25, 2012 - Put Maryland house on the market
July 2, 2012 - Sold Maryland house
July 5, 2012 - Nicol back surgery
July 30, 2012 - Started building process for home in Texas
August 28, 2012 - Movers come to pack up Maryland house
August 29, 2012 - Closed on Maryland house
August 29-Sept 1, 2012 - Drive to Texas
Sept 1, 2012 - Arrived in Texas
October 2012 - Nicol starts new job in Texas
November 2012 - Construction on Texas home starts
May 2013 - MOVE to NEW HOME!!
10 months after moving in we still have plenty to do....but this is definitely home!
Most of my posts are here
A few people have asked me why I'm not posting more often. Well if you go here you will see I have been plenty busy......with training.
I know I have been horrible about keeping this site up to date pretty much since we moved into the house and Lane came into our lives.
Life for the Bell's continues to be wonderful although the weather here in Texas the past few weeks has been a bit chilly but I'm NOT complaining considering the weather everyone else is dealing with. Everyone tells me we must have brought some of this colder than usual weather with us because this has been unusual for Texas.
We still have plenty to do around the house - mostly yard work and some decorating. Hard to believe that we are coming up on 2 years being in Texas!
We are still trying to figure out our travel schedule for the year, we are hoping to get to Maryland to visit family and friends.
We will try to get some updated pics of the house and of course Lane posted in the future.
I know I have been horrible about keeping this site up to date pretty much since we moved into the house and Lane came into our lives.
Life for the Bell's continues to be wonderful although the weather here in Texas the past few weeks has been a bit chilly but I'm NOT complaining considering the weather everyone else is dealing with. Everyone tells me we must have brought some of this colder than usual weather with us because this has been unusual for Texas.
We still have plenty to do around the house - mostly yard work and some decorating. Hard to believe that we are coming up on 2 years being in Texas!
We are still trying to figure out our travel schedule for the year, we are hoping to get to Maryland to visit family and friends.
We will try to get some updated pics of the house and of course Lane posted in the future.
Happy New Year
Where does the time go? 2013 was very good to me! I was excited to start 2013 and I’m even more excited about 2014.
As 2013 came to an end I thought about all the things that happened and while there are too many to write down I wanted to highlight the ones that mean the most to me:
Best Friend – This year my hubby and I celebrated 17 years of marriage. He is my best friend, my soul mate and the person that keeps me grounded. Our life has been through some up’s and downs but he has always been the person I knew I could count on, that would have my back no matter the situation, that would talk me off the roof and would always make life better with a hug and kiss on the forehead. I could not imagine life without him! I can’t wait to see what the next 17 years bring us.
New addition to the family – We brought our Great Dane / Lab mix, Lane, into our family on August 5th and our life has changed in so many ways. I love that she talks to me when I come home from work and when she is hungry. I love those brown eyes that I can’t resist and I love that she is stingy with kisses but loves giving hugs.
Dream home – We moved into our dream home in May. The process of building our 2nd house brought many ups and downs but the finished product is wonderful. We built this house to be where we wanted to live the rest of our lives and while most people think we are crazy that our gym is the biggest room in the house it is what we wanted.
Olympic distance Triathlon – I have been doing triathlons for about 8 years and a few years ago set my eyes on doing longer distance races and for the past few years have wanted to do the Olympic distance however I have been side lined with many injuries but I finally achieved this goal in 2013 and have already committed to a 1/2 Ironman distance in 2014. Triathlons give me something to focus on, something that I strive to achieve for myself!
Peace & happiness – For me these are two things that are very important that come from within but have been missing from my life for awhile. I have made many changes over the past 2 years and I can say with a clear mind that I have taken every opportunity to live my life the way I want to live my live and not the way someone else wants or tells me too. I have stopped doing things to please others and do things that make me happy!
Family & Friends – Moving to Texas meant leaving behind family and friends. This was a hard decision but I’m so thankful that I have remained in touch with so many people and that for some of them I have developed an even stronger bond! I had several friends that had a rough year and I did my best to try to help from afar but it was tough knowing that I could not personally be there to give them a hug!
So what does 2014 bring, who knows. I stopped doing resolutions a few years ago but I hope to continue to live a healthy lifestyle and work off those last few pesky pounds. I hope that we are able to return to Maryland to visit family and friends and I hope that we all can live a much happier, healthy life!
I hope everyone had as great a 2013 as I did and I hope we can spend time together in 2014!
Yes I'm one of those people......a fanatic fan
I was raised on sports. I learned to love sports from my father. He showed me what it meant to be dedicated to your team, to follow them through good times and bad and over the years I have learned how you can get high off their success, the passions to dislike the rivalry teams, to feel that you are an extended member and maybe at times think / feel that you can change the outcome of a game.
It can be a very strong driving force, you can get consumed by a game / event and at that moment nothing else matters. People that don't have this passion often think we are crazy and don't understand what it means. It is in your heart and is part of your soul but we are just fans, we aren't playing or coaching the game we are only cheering them on and that can't mean much......or does it.
There have been plenty of players that tell you the fans can change the outcome of a game. Players can feel the energy of the fans and can feed off their desire that can will a team to success. Don't get me wrong they have the talent and abilities but sometimes you need a bit more, sometimes you need to hear someone chanting your name and believing in you in that moment.
I live my life focused on sports and often use that to fuel me / to motivate me to success. I can talk about specific plays, games, players that have a special place in my heart because of the desire to succeed and the opportunity to watch them can be amazing and motivating.
So don't think I'm crazy, just realize it's part of my driving force. You might draw your strength from something else, that's cool, we all need something to motivate us to get out of bed every morning and say "I Can!"
It can be a very strong driving force, you can get consumed by a game / event and at that moment nothing else matters. People that don't have this passion often think we are crazy and don't understand what it means. It is in your heart and is part of your soul but we are just fans, we aren't playing or coaching the game we are only cheering them on and that can't mean much......or does it.
There have been plenty of players that tell you the fans can change the outcome of a game. Players can feel the energy of the fans and can feed off their desire that can will a team to success. Don't get me wrong they have the talent and abilities but sometimes you need a bit more, sometimes you need to hear someone chanting your name and believing in you in that moment.
I live my life focused on sports and often use that to fuel me / to motivate me to success. I can talk about specific plays, games, players that have a special place in my heart because of the desire to succeed and the opportunity to watch them can be amazing and motivating.
So don't think I'm crazy, just realize it's part of my driving force. You might draw your strength from something else, that's cool, we all need something to motivate us to get out of bed every morning and say "I Can!"
Where does the time go?
I'm amazed that last time I blogged was a month ago and it's now November, a mere 8 weeks left in 2013. Of course it's that time of year when Rob makes one of his trips back to Maryland for work and I'm left alone here in Texas, although this go around I'm not alone....I have Lane to keep me company! Thanks to the government shutdown his trip this year was reduced to 3 weeks compared to last years 5 weeks. It's still tough but I'm not complaining and I can't imagine how our military families deal with sons / daughters / brothers / sisters / moms and dads being deployed for months at a time and in harms way every day. God bless them.
The past couple weeks have been busy as Lane's daily routine was turned upside down because she wasn't hanging at home with Rob all day. She now goes to doggie day care 5 days a week. Our day starts early and ends late. She has been a trooper, some days rougher than others but I think overall she has done great.
The house continues to be a work in progress, that just takes time. A few weeks ago we had some massive rain storms and it destroyed our front rock landscaping which has resulted in a violation from the county for the rocks in the drainage tubes. I thought this would be a somewhat easy task just moving rock around......think again, I was in for a rude awakening and will have to wait for Rob to get home for us to make any progress. I like to think that I can do just about anything but damn that rock is hard to move.
We are looking forward to the holidays, our first in the house and with Lane. We will be staying local for both Thanksgiving and Christmas as we both have to work. I need to start my mission to find a new Christmas tree (yes we are fake Christmas tree people, but how long do you expect a tree to live down here in Texas??).
I have been contemplating whether I will keep this blog or if I will just consolidate to http://pitatriing.blogspot.com/. Although I haven't been posting much on that site either but I have been thinking a lot about what goals I'll be setting for 2014!!
The past couple weeks have been busy as Lane's daily routine was turned upside down because she wasn't hanging at home with Rob all day. She now goes to doggie day care 5 days a week. Our day starts early and ends late. She has been a trooper, some days rougher than others but I think overall she has done great.
The house continues to be a work in progress, that just takes time. A few weeks ago we had some massive rain storms and it destroyed our front rock landscaping which has resulted in a violation from the county for the rocks in the drainage tubes. I thought this would be a somewhat easy task just moving rock around......think again, I was in for a rude awakening and will have to wait for Rob to get home for us to make any progress. I like to think that I can do just about anything but damn that rock is hard to move.
We are looking forward to the holidays, our first in the house and with Lane. We will be staying local for both Thanksgiving and Christmas as we both have to work. I need to start my mission to find a new Christmas tree (yes we are fake Christmas tree people, but how long do you expect a tree to live down here in Texas??).
I have been contemplating whether I will keep this blog or if I will just consolidate to http://pitatriing.blogspot.com/. Although I haven't been posting much on that site either but I have been thinking a lot about what goals I'll be setting for 2014!!
Life sure does change when you become parents.....even of dogs
The house looks great - the landscaping is now completed and we finally have grass! We still have plenty of trees to cut and need to figure out what to do with some of the areas that we didn't have landscaped. We have slowly started decorating but that will take time since we are both very picky. The neighborhood is fast growing and we have more and more neighbors by the day. But it makes for some fun walks to check out some of the other houses that are being built.
We continue to be amazed at how much or lives have changed in just a little over a year. We have gone from living a crazy stressful life to a more relaxing and enjoyable life. We have always been a happy couple but we let our work life, mainly my work, rule our lives for many years. We made a big decision that many people said we were crazy for doing but now at 43 I feel more alive than I have in 15+ years. I have more energy than I did in my 30's and I am definitely a healthier person that I have been for almost 20 years.
I finally learned to live life for myself and not for others or the way others tell me to live my life!
Welcome to the Bell Family.....
On August 4, 2013, we welcomed Lane into our family. She is a rescue great dane / lab mix from San Antonio Great Dane Rescue. She is approximately 3 years old. She is such a sweet girl and quickly stole our hearts. She has only been with us for 1 week, but she is definitely family.
She had her first trip to the vet this afternoon and got a few shots but overall did very well. We were told several times how pretty a girl she was.
She is a pretty gentle girl has a bit of anxiety separation but loves lounging around the house and her daily walks. We have lots of training to work on - I almost got my arm ripped off the other night when a rabbit ran right in front of her. We dread the day she sees all the deer in the yard!
Happy 1 Week Anniversary Lane.
Life is wonderful!
I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since we were in Maryland! Above is a picture of me and my hubby from the wedding we attended while in Maryland. I really like to take pictures but I'm usually not in a lot of pictures because I don't like to have my picture taken. Why.....because I realized the smile on my face hasn't been genuine in a LONG time.
This picture shows my genuine smile!
Family and friends
It's been awhile since I've written about anything but the house but this past week (Wed - Sun) we returned to our old stomping grounds in Maryland. The main purpose of our trip was for a very close friends wedding and we added a few days to visit family and friends. The trip was non stop from the moment we arrived till we departed.
I realized how much I really miss everyone and we were very lucky to spend time with many people and so very much appreciate they made time to see us. I also realized that I LOVE my new life. It has been difficult to "leave everyone behind" but one of my big goals when we moved to Texas was to start a new adventure that focused on ME and getting my life back on track both mentally and physically. I didn't realize till this trip just how much progress I have made. I am in a much better place today than I was a year ago and know that it's still work in progress but some of the big hurdles have been addressed. It was talking to friends and family that helped me see that I have drastically changed.
We weren't able to see everyone but we knew that would be impossible on such a short trip and hopefully those that we didn't get to see understand that we were crunched for time.
We can't wait to plan our next trip to Maryland. We already have a few visitors planned for this year or early next year and we are excited to show them why we LOVE Texas so much.
Here are a couple pictures from some of our adventures.
Some of the gang enjoying good food, drink and conversation at Uncle Julio's.
Enjoying a relaxing afternoon with extended members of our family (Joy, Elyse and Nicki).
The handsome groomsmen and groom. My handsome hubby in the middle.
My good friend Molli - she looks AMAZING!
Great friends Debbie and Mike - a wonderful couple that we have known for many years!
I realized how much I really miss everyone and we were very lucky to spend time with many people and so very much appreciate they made time to see us. I also realized that I LOVE my new life. It has been difficult to "leave everyone behind" but one of my big goals when we moved to Texas was to start a new adventure that focused on ME and getting my life back on track both mentally and physically. I didn't realize till this trip just how much progress I have made. I am in a much better place today than I was a year ago and know that it's still work in progress but some of the big hurdles have been addressed. It was talking to friends and family that helped me see that I have drastically changed.
We weren't able to see everyone but we knew that would be impossible on such a short trip and hopefully those that we didn't get to see understand that we were crunched for time.
We can't wait to plan our next trip to Maryland. We already have a few visitors planned for this year or early next year and we are excited to show them why we LOVE Texas so much.
Here are a couple pictures from some of our adventures.
Some of the gang enjoying good food, drink and conversation at Uncle Julio's.
The handsome groomsmen and groom. My handsome hubby in the middle.
My good friend Molli - she looks AMAZING!
Great friends Debbie and Mike - a wonderful couple that we have known for many years!
This is HOME!
We are IN! We moved in on May 24th and we were about 90% unpacked by May 28th. Of course the last of the unpacking is always the rough stuff but things are shaping up well. We completed the closing paperwork on May 30th. Yea things are a bit different down here in Texas, but that is mainly because we owned the land and had a construction loan.
The hubby returned to Maryland this weekend for a bachelor party so I spent the weekend organizing the office, cleaning and buying our bedroom furniture. Sadly I wasn't able to buy our bed because the store was closed, but hopefully we can get that done next weekend. Our furniture is being made and will take a minimum of 8-10 weeks so no worries on having the furniture before the bed.
With Rob gone for the weekend I was a bit worried about how I would sleep since normally when he is gone I don't sleep at all. I woke up Saturday morning rested and refreshed - that was the moment I realized we were home! Waking up this morning was close to yesterday except for the major thunderstorm. Have I said that it is DARK out here. There are no street lights and I'm not kidding you when I say you need night vision goggles to walk around the house. Fortunately we have some night lights but when the power went out this morning I had to carefully work my way through the house to the flashlight, lucky I didn't run into anything :>)
It's been a long process but it was worth the wait. We love the house and are looking forward to many new memories!
The hubby returned to Maryland this weekend for a bachelor party so I spent the weekend organizing the office, cleaning and buying our bedroom furniture. Sadly I wasn't able to buy our bed because the store was closed, but hopefully we can get that done next weekend. Our furniture is being made and will take a minimum of 8-10 weeks so no worries on having the furniture before the bed.
With Rob gone for the weekend I was a bit worried about how I would sleep since normally when he is gone I don't sleep at all. I woke up Saturday morning rested and refreshed - that was the moment I realized we were home! Waking up this morning was close to yesterday except for the major thunderstorm. Have I said that it is DARK out here. There are no street lights and I'm not kidding you when I say you need night vision goggles to walk around the house. Fortunately we have some night lights but when the power went out this morning I had to carefully work my way through the house to the flashlight, lucky I didn't run into anything :>)
It's been a long process but it was worth the wait. We love the house and are looking forward to many new memories!
We finally have the keys
Finally, we have the keys to our new house. We ended up getting the keys late yesterday and spent all day today cleaning the house from top to bottom. Thank goodness Rob has the week off so we have all our appointments scheduled for tomorrow and Tuesday. The movers are packing us up on Thursday and unpacking us on Friday.....yes we have that much stuff that they can't pack and unpack us on the same day.
We love our front door.
Front entry
Study
One of the spare bathrooms
Kitchen
Great room
Exercise room (this is the largest room in the house)!
Master Bathroom
Master Bedroom
Master closet
Below are the final pictures of what it looks like!
Front of our house - landscaping will hopefully start in the next month or so.
delayed again
No new photos to post, sadly our close date has been pushed back to May 17th. We have been assured that they can meet this date....we sure hope so as we are moving May 23/24 so there is little wiggle room. The stress level in our house has gone up significantly so we are truly going to enjoy the first night drinking a few beverages on the back deck. When we close on the house I'll post some final photos so everyone can see the finished product.
We want to thank everyone for all the positive comments regarding the house. This is a dream house for us and we are very happy with how things are coming along. We have 2 spare bedrooms and would love to have visitors when we get settled.
We want to thank everyone for all the positive comments regarding the house. This is a dream house for us and we are very happy with how things are coming along. We have 2 spare bedrooms and would love to have visitors when we get settled.
Getting closer...
So here are some of the latest photos. We are getting closer, have I said that before?? I think they still need at least another week, so we will see of our close date changes or not. I'm very glad that we scheduled our move for the end of the month, so we wouldn't have to be moving that around.
Right now it's just a waiting game, there is so much to do but nothing we can do until after we close.
This is a picture of the backs splash in the kitchen.
Master bathroom shower.
Driveway was poured on Wednesday.
Back splash in the other spare bathrooms.
Move Date Set
Many, many things are happening. We have scheduled our move date - May 23-24, now all we need is to have a settlement date.....we are hoping to close May 6, 7 or 8, keep your fingers crossed.
This is one of the spare bathroom showers
and here is the other spare bedroom shower.
Lights are being installed - here are the lights at the front door.
All the stone is finally completed, this was the last part.
The chandelier in the entryway.
Forms for the driveway and front steps.
Looks like move in will be in May
It looks like our move in will be in May, but the actual date is still undecided, it could be as soon as May 6th or as late as May 23rd. All part of waiting for work to finish. The volume of work has definitely picked up in the past couple of weeks and there are lots of people in the house.
Here are some of the latest pictures of the work.
Picture of the counter top for one of the spare bathroom vanities.
Utility room cabinets.
Yet another picture of the fireplace, the bench is now done, looks like the last thing is for the mantel to be installed.
Kitchen counter tops!
Kitchen cabinets, the stain came out perfect!
One of the spare bathroom showers. So glad we decided to go with a decorative boarder, it breaks up the tile.
This picture is standing on the front porch and looking up. We love all the arches.
A few of the front porch.
Another view of the front porch arches.
The kitchen, they still need to install the stone on the curved island.
Entertainment center int the great room.
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