The Next Big Thing

After Christmas, Joey and I decided to go on yet another adventure. Why not, right? But this time, we would stay within our own country.

As I have mentioned in another post, once we came back from Europe, our plan was to relocate to another state other than our own. I've gone into our reasoning for doing this in other posts, so no need to do into now, but I'll just say that although we love Louisiana, we really value and enjoy living and experiencing other places.

We had several places in mind, mainly in the western part of the country, and we figured since we weren't working, why not explore those places to see if they're a good fit? And why not have some fun on the way? And why not take Polly Browne? We like to say YES! :)

So on New Year's Day, we packed up my CRV, scooped up our little one and hit the road for the wild west. I started calling our tour the Williams' Western Whoa! Tour, or the WWW Tour. We had a great time. We were considering Austin, Texas; Flagstaff, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; San Francisco, L.A., and Napa Valley. Also, we were open to any city we might fancy along the route. We figured this way we could really get a feel for a place.

Of course it wasn't all business. We got to see some things we had never seen before, like the Grand Canyon. It was breathtakingly beautiful!

We visited Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and Boulder Basin. Our country has such beauty!

Hoover Dam



Family Portrait at Boulder Basin



I believe the bridge over the dam was Memorial Bridge. It was quite the sight to see.

Of course we couldn't miss the opportunity to visit Sin City! I hadn't been since high school and Joey had not yet been. We had a wonderful time, even though it was freezing walking around. Joey even tried his hand at the craps table. He played for about an hour and walked away with the same amount he put in. Pretty good, I thought! I made "friends" with a gambler's wife who was also watching her spouse play. Interesting life style, I'll just say that.

Las Vegas

 Next, we headed up to California. Unfortunately the weather was not great while we were there. I was a bit disappointed because I'm sure Napa Valley is gorgeous when it's pretty out, so we'll have to come back another time. But they still serve wine when it's raining, so that's a plus!

We made some friends with some wine-drinking Sicilian miniature donkeys...

San Francisco

Polly enjoying one of many treats she was adorned with while on this trip. This was from the Sonoma Dog Camp organization while we were in Sonoma. No, we did not send her to dog camp...

So if we haven't told you already, we did make a decision as a result of the road trip, and we chose...

Probably not a shocker if you know us! We love this city, and we always said if we ever moved, this would be a top destination. And the truth is we didn't find anywhere we loved as much as Austin. It has everything we're looking for in a city, plus it's close enough to drive home if we need to, which is a big plus. Plus Austin is weird, like us, so I think we're fit right on in :) We're excited! Although we will greatly miss our friends and family, this is the right move for our little family. And we welcome visitors!!

I have to end with a great big thank you to our dear friends, the Charlet family. We are incredibly grateful for the kindness, support and generosity they showed us while we were checking out Austin. They are newcomers themselves to the area, but they opened up their home to us on numerous occasions with such graceful hospitality. They are a true example of serving others in the name of the Lord, and we have been and will always be blessed for having them in our lives. We love you Charlets!!

We indeed would appreciate your prayers as we quickly move in the next few days while also searching for (and hopefully finding) employment in our new city! We love you all!

I'm movin' to Austin, y'all!

Two Very Special Trips

Well, we're jetting off tomorrow! I can't believe this day has arrived. We're getting very excited, and also very curious about how these next few months will unfold.

Before we left, Joey and I each had somewhere we needed to go separately. For Joey, it was a road trip with his dad and brother through northern Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama. They visited various family members, many of whom Joey had not before met. They also went to different museums and other historical points of interest. I think they even got to visit the grave site of Joey's grandfather's great grandfather. I'm sure Joey could tell you much more about this trip, but as he tells me, I'm the writer of the family. At any rate, they had a great time; and I'm pretty sure this is the first time that father and sons have taken a trip together just by themselves. I'm really glad they went.

So while Joey was gallivanting down South, I went up to New York to see my sister Maya. As many of you know, my sister is pursuing an acting career, and has lived there for about five years. She is doing an amazing job, and we're all so proud of her. Although I get to visit her pretty often, and she also comes home a few times a year, there is always a hole in my heart that no one else can fill when she's not around. It's very difficult living separately, as we're very close. So I wanted to come see her before Joey and I left for Europe. This is actually the first time I've ever come to visit by myself...Joey is usually with me, or other family, as everyone wants to see her, and we're usually coming to see a show of hers. So it was really nice to get to some time together just the two of us. We lovingly dubbed it SISTERFEST! I stayed for a week, and then she flew home with me for additional week, so it was really wonderful. It's the longest amount of consecutive days we've gotten to spend together since she's lived in New York. I will miss her terribly, and I'm so grateful I got to spend some time with my little Moo before we leave. Here are a few photos from my trip to NY and while we were home, and a few from Joey's trip.  

Greenwich Village

At Brunch in Brooklyn

James and Joey in Huntsville, Alabama at the NASA Space Center

Being silly with our dogs, as usual

Fleur, my Grandmother, my Mom, Maya at home

We will dearly miss our family and friends while we're gone! Please leave a comment every now and then or send us an e-mail! We would love to hear from you. Your prayers during our travels are very much appreciated.

Love and blessings to you and yours,

Interview on the Jim Engster Show

This past Friday, August 20, I (Fleur) was invited to come on the Jim Engster show to talk about our upcoming adventure! The Jim Engster Show is a local Louisiana radio show that comes on 89.3FM, the area's NPR station. I'm curious to know what everyone thought of the segment! I've posted the link here so you can listen. Just follow the link and click on the podcast for August 20. It'll read: The Jim Engster Show 8-20-10. Then just hit "play" in the black box and the interview will start.

http://www.wrkf.org/multimedia/index.php?id=1#

The interview starts at about 1 minute 50 seconds in. Friends and family have had different takes on the angle of the interview, so I just thought I would share with all of you. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Keeping Little Girls In

My dear sweet grandmother Phyllis whom I love with all my heart (and who we lovingly call Phee) is keeping Polly Browne while we go on our adventure. We are eternally grateful for her willingness to take care of our little girl! Not only does Polly Browne adore Phee, but the fact that we won't have to kennel her for so long while we're gone makes us very happy. We hope Phee will enjoy keeping her, and of course PB will love being there.

A few things have had to be done in order to ensure Polly's safety while she stays with Phee. Namely, she needs to be fenced in! She is not a disobedient dog (on purpose anyway), but she is an incurably curious dog, who will run right into oncoming traffic as she chases a butterfly. She has no sense of fear, caution or limitations. She is also a very fast dog when she's got on her eyes on the prize (another dog of any size or temperament, a person walking by, just about anything or anyone who could possibly be a friend), there is no stopping her. Joey and I have had difficulty catching her before when she behaves in this way, and though Phee is in wonderful shape, we cannot ask her to go chasing Polly down the street in the event that she decides to go embark on a certain death spiral of shame....it doesn't happen often, but it only takes one time, and we cannot put this burden on Phee.

So Joey has built a fence in Phee's backyard, or rather, continued on with the fence that used to be there. A new neighborhood sprouted up about five years ago behind Phee's property, where the golf course used to be. My sister and I would spend hours playing on or near the golfcourse, either trying to resell lost golf balls to their previous owners (a low cost, all profit business model, you might say) or running through the turf in the rain (A very fun activity, but one which made the golfers EXTREMELY angry! They would scream at us from their houses as we ran away. I guess golfers like their grass) or feeding the ducks. But now the golf course is no more. The contractors in their work tore most of Phee's fence down and never put it back up. They built their own large fences for the new houses, but the structures do not go all the way down to the ground and therefore do not provide any type of security for a dog.

Phee recently revealed to me that her fence was originally built to keep another little girl "in".....me! I never knew that before, but I can certainly see why they needed a fence during my tiny days. Like Polly Browne, I didn't have much sense of fear, caution or limitations.


So here we are once again, building a fence to keep a little girl that we love "in!"

It's a Blog!

Hi Everyone!

We are starting this blog specifically to let family and friends know how we're doing during our travels. But everyone is welcome to check us out and see what we're up to!

In early September, Joey and I are setting sail (or jetting off to be more accurate) on a great adventure! We have purchased one-way tickets to Europe and plan to backpack through the continent as much as possible. Our plan is to travel for as long as we can, and from there. . .only time will tell. We're very excited to see what the next few months will bring!

'Why are we doing this?', you might ask. And, as some have already asked, 'why are you taking this risk?' To put it simply, because we can! We recently sold our house and we don't have children yet, so why not? The way we see it, we only have one life to live, and we're going to do just that!

Coincidentally, another question that occasionally pops up is, 'are you crazy??' Yes, perhaps. . .but in a good way, we think!

Thanks for checking in on us!