Texas Roadtrip

Well, I got back to Midland about 8PM yesterday night. I was exausted and glad to see my mom and father-in-law. The trip was a lot of fun. I had a great time in Schliterbahn. I did learn a lot about myself on the trip, like having a backbone dealing with the Value Place hotel that screwed me out of my reserved room. I will continue to update if I do get any leads from school districts.

Hey friends,

Yesterday was a lot of fun. I went to the outlet malls in San Marcos. As many of you know I am a shopaholic. I only visited like three shops yesterday and spent less than I expected. That's always a good thing. I then ate lunch at the San Marcos River pub and grill. It was really good and very inexpensive. The other day my mom suggested I find out about this resturant my dad used to visit when he was going to school in San Marcos. I asked around at the resturant and found out that the resturant was no longer in business. The waitstaff was going to show me some black and white pictures of it, but they couldn't find them.

I then went to Gruene. I love that little town. I had a drink at the awesome general store and walked around a little bit more. There were a lot of people there. After Gruene, I wanted to tube the Comal. So I found this place called Corner tubes and rented a tube and walked to the river. I had a good time, except on one of the tube shoots, I hit my butt and tailbone on this rock really really hard. I have a good red bruise there today. After that, I was exausted and headed back to the hotel.

Today, I am going to take it easy and spend some more time sightseeing and window shopping around San Antonio. Have a great day!

On the job front, I have had no calls from school districts. I am quite discouraged. I found out in Austin that many school districts don't want you to call them. If they have the need and like your application, they will call you. I am tired of playing the waiting game. I have been playing this game for the last 5 years. Ok. I am going to get off of my ranting rage.

Today, I visited the Quarry. Its a cool shopping center. I got my hair cut at ULTA. I would have waited until I got back to Midland, but it really needed it. I cut two inches off and it looks good. I also spent like 2 hours shopping at Whole Foods. I found a really good cheese at the cheese counter, some olives and crackers and had a great snack.

I think tomorrow I am going to head to San Marcos for the day. I will float down the river and visit the outlet malls. It will be a long day, but I will have Saturday and Sunday to rest up for Schliterbahn on Monday, then it's back to Midland on Tuesday.

I would ask you to please pray for something to peak a school districts attention with my experience and credientials that would want them to contact me. As I said above, I am feeling quite discouraged and thinking this trip was for nothing except an fun vacation. Thank you!

Good morning friends,

Went to bed very early last night, so I am feeling much better today. I have been trying to plan my acitivites for the day. I am thinking I am going to go on the River Cruise this afternoon/evening. Then do some walking around the Riverwalk and eating a late lunch/early dinner on the Riverwalk.

As for the time in between, I will be working on applications and setting up appointments at school districts that have openings. I am also going to see about getting my hair done at a Vogue beauty school because I need it. Well, that's all I have for now. Have a great day!

Well, my first day in San Antiono was a harder transition from Austin. I did find a couple of neat shopping malls that I am going to go back to, but my accomodations was totally horrible. I was supposed to check in to a Value Place hotel in Live Oak. I arrived there about 11 and wanted to see if I could go ahead and check in. The gentlemen that helped me said no, so I was like ok I will check in later. So I went and met Mike and Cymbre Bryant and their middle school youth group. We went to see Toy Story 3 at the Palladium. It was Imax and 3d. It was really cute.

After the movie, we parted ways and I tried to head back to the hotel. I tried to get on 1604 but there was a horrible accident. I did try to avert by getting off and getting some gas and letting the traffic ease. That worked well. I then decided I would go to the grocery store before checking in because I was exausted. In hindsight, I should have gone ahead and checked in because when I got back to the hotel when the manager was there, they said that they had already rented my room. The manager then called a friend who worked at the same position at a Value Place futher down the Interstate. I was so upset and angry that I told them no and found a Motel 6 for the night.

It was about 10 pm and I finally checked in to the Motel 6. It took me a long time to relax. I was up and down all night checking on my car and getting woken up by IH35 traffic, sirens, and trains. I woke up about 6:30 and found the phone book. In Austin, I stayed at a Extended Stay brand hotel and it was pretty nice, so I called and found that their was a room for 45 a night. I was a little concerned about the price, but I took it anyway. They bent over backwards trying to get me a room early. I checked in to the Homestead on 281 about 10. This place is great! I am on the backside of the property, so it is very quiet and it has a full sized fridge/freezer.

After I moved in, I was so exhausted that I have been napping all day. I am going to go out later and find some dinner, but I am going to take it easy tonight. I haven't decided what I am going to do tomorrow, but I need a good night's sleep and then I will be ready to do something great.

Hey friends,

I came home from Barton Springs about 6 last night. I spent the whole afternoon there, and don't worry I did put on sunscreen several times. I decided I would leave the pool about 5. Not a good idea. Traffic was bad. I finally got off at the Arboretum to let the traffic clear. I had a iced tea at Barnes and Nobles and then felt extremely tired. So I headed back to my area and found a Chinese take out resturant to get an eggroll to go with my PF Chiangs leftovers. I was so tired, I went to bed about 8:00 pm.

I was woken up several times last night. About 2 AM I heard a car alarm go off and I looked out the window and saw two cop cars. A little upsetting. The past couple of nights, I have also been having dreams about my family. Tomorrow will be the first father's day without my dad. I am feeling depressed and hoping I can find something fun to do today to get me out of this slump.


Tomorrow, I am going to go to Marble Falls and Kingsland. As a family we spent many good times there. But now I am thinking it may be too hard, so I am thinking about going to San Marcos and tubing down the San Marcos River and visit a place my dad use to go when he was attending Southwest Texas State.

Chiao

Good morning,

I slept in this morning and I am still in my jammies. I have had a difficult time trying to figure out what I want to do today. I would go back to Barton Springs, but they are closed until 7. So I think I am going to go check out the Domain and shops around the Capital. I think it would be cool to go swim at Barton tonight so that is what I am going to do. If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know.

Hey Friends!

Well, I made it to Austin about 6:00 on Monday evening. On the way, I stopped in Lano at Coopers for some world famous barbque. Yesterday, I visited Austin's botanical gardens. They were sooo cool. I will try to put pictures up later. I also visted the Bob Bullocks Texas State History Museum. It was three floors of Texas history. I got a charm for my charm bracelet there. I then visited Anthropologie! Yes I did! My main focus was the hardware, drawer knobs for updating bathrooms at Regal Pl. After shopping for knobs about an hour, I got tired and headed back to the hotel. The hotel is pretty nice, I am on the third floor. However, I keep hearing people talk in front of my window between 12-2AM. I am going to ask the front desk what can be done about this.

As for job searching, I have been calling some school districts to set up meetings, but I haven't had any of my calls returned yet. So I am going to try to apply with more school districts today and call them to set up interviews. I found a really cool Barnes and Nobles at the Austin Arboretum where I am now. I think I might try the Barton Springs Pool this afternoon. It is really hot here and the humiditiy is bad too. I drove by the pool yesterday, but I decided I would go to the musuem instead.

I may be calling my friend Cassie Little today to see if she can give me some pointers about my job search and see if she would like to go do something with me this week. Well, I guess that is all for now. Ciao!

Well, tomorrow I will hit the road to Austin. I am going to repack tonight and run a couple of errands tomorrow morning before I hit the road. I am really excited for my new adventure to start. Please pray that I don't have any kind of car trouble while I am on my road trip. I have invested in roadside assistance with Verizon wireless. I am also going to go by and get a 10 point check with Avis Lube before I leave to make sure everything is in good shape. Well, I am going to go. I need to eat, pack, and get to bed pretty early so that I can be alert for my driving.

For those of you who know me really well, this is something I have never done and it is very different for me. I have decided to take a road trip this summer to help me find a teaching job. I have been thinking and praying about this for a few days. It will be a combination of experiencing independence, spiritual journey, and trying to decide where God wants me to be to start a new chapter in my life.





For the last six months, I have been through many trials and tribulations. I lost my dad very suddenly in November, graduated with my master's in December, and lost my job with the Girl Scouts in January. Since then, I have been battling with them to get unemployment benefits. I was denied 4 times. On the last denial, I discussed this with an attorney who has been helping my sister and I deal with the specifics of my father's estate. He said that it would probably be best to just close that door on that difficult time. During this time, I have been living with my mom in New Mexico. I love my mom and I love New Mexico, but Texas will always be my home.



So all of this has lead me to this blog and my upcoming trip. I have been trying to get a teaching job for the last five years. I have applied in Midland, Odessa, New Mexico, and the Meteroplex with no luck. So what my goal is to travel to different towns and cities and personally go in and meet with whoever I have to in order to find a job at long last.