Carless and Homeless

We are officially on our way, there is no turning back now.  We have no home to return to or car to drive...Now it's happening, for real!

Eric and I are currently in Portland, Oregon.  We made it out of Austin yesterday, 5 suitcases and 2 backpacks full of stuff, our life really.  The last week is a blur.  The gravity of this move hasn't quite set in yet.  I know this for sure, we can't back out because we wouldn't have any place to return to.  Our renters moved in already and both cars are gone. 

Good bye house!

It's really empty!

The next two weeks are a much needed break for both of us.  Last night at dinner we decided that this move has been happening since last September when we were initially approached.  The pace of our life has significantly sped up since then.  We have decided that there are few things that are more stressful than literally moving to the other side of the world.  This move has been harder than my surgery, seriously.  The move just continued to drag on, an unrelenting to do list.  Every night for months something else to do.  No rest.  No time to heal.  No time for anything except moving...

Now it's time for vacation.  VACATION.  What's that?!??  No work and lots of rest.  Looking forward to spending time with our best friends, being outdoors, whale watching, drinking beer and wine, laughing, exploring, healing and finally, arriving in our new home, Penang! 

Vacation!!

What day is it???!!!?????

Um...what's the date??? What day of the week is it??? 

I have officially lost track.... I think I'm brain dead.  Yes, it is 11:09 pm on Tuesday, June 28th and I'm sitting in our lovely Extended Stay DE"luxe" in Austin.  Eric is currently skyping to Penang where it is 12:10 (noonish) on Wednesday, June 29th...what what.....

Crazy...that's our life right now...freaking crazy!!

We are leaving in 2 days for Portland...thank god, I just booked our hotel....that's about as far as this planner can see into the future.

Tomorrow, meaning in 8 hours, we are headed to good old Temple, Texas for a doctor's appointment for Eric, not me....

I think we have both hit the moving wall, I'm ready to be out of this limbo that we have been living in for the last two months...our move has offically happened.  Our storage containers are in storage. Our container to Penang is somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Our house is empty, cleaned and ready for our new tenants to move in tomorrow! 

We are offically living out of our suitcases and are back to being a single car family.  We sold the truck today! The G6 is on her way on Thursday!  This is happening!  Craziness and all, it's happening.

More to come soon.  Pictures I hope and some gratitude to my peeps that have made Austin a great stop on our Boy/Girl Adventure....

2 more days in the ATX!

Now, we need to run back to our house for one last goodbye....

12 Days

Last week is a blur.  I probably can't tell you what the date is or even the day of the week right now.  I do, however, know that we have 12 days left in Austin.  Here is a quick update of what we have accomplished in the last week:

• Our shipping container is on it's way to Penang! Yay!  We knew we did a good job when the mover's told us that we may be one of the best clients they have ever packed and we were under our quoted weight by 800lbs...good thing I didn't know that beforehand! 
• While our stuff was being packed our NEW tenants came by to meet us -- tomorrow Eric and I will sign their lease and become landlords! I find it hard to believe that our house wasn't on the market a week and we have a great couple renting for 24 months!  Couldn't be more perfect! 
• Our condo in Penang is almost finalized!  
• The rest of the house is 85% packed.  Our pods come in the morning

Eric and I are spent and brain dead.  July 1st is both a source of anxiety and relief at this point...we just need to make it!

On a side note, Maizie tried to sneak on our shipment last week....

Balls to the Wall

Our sea shipment leaves tomorrow....Holy Crap!

Eric and I have spent most of the last month going through our house, our life and all of the stuff we have accumulated over the past 6 and a half years of living in Austin.  OMG.  I know it's been a while since we moved....OMG we have a ton of stuff.  Since our shipment is going through customs in Malaysia we have to have an itemized list of everything we pack. EVERYTHING...

It's amazing how much stuff people can accumulate. These last few weeks we have went through all of our stuff and decided if it goes in one of these three piles: ship, store, donate.  This exercise has helped us realize,  how little of our stuff we had because we used it, wanted it, or needed it.  We are not very materialistic.  Many of the things we were holding on to was surely because it reminded us of someone or sometime in the past.  But, even without those things we still have those memories, whenever we say their name or think of a particular date or place.

We have been inventorying all weekend what we are planning on shipping to Penang.  We have managed to pair down our house to less than one room that will come with us.  It is a feat!  Truly! We hope in the future we will be more conscious about "the stuff" that we buy and hold on to. 

On another note, here is a quick list of what we have been up to these last 2 weeks:

• Our house is offically on the Austin market to be leased -- tomorrow we meet with a prospecitve couple that would like to lease for 24 months!
• The G6 and the truck are sold!!
• Mya, the horse, is being leased for 24 months by a loving family
• Maizie will go live with her Auntie and her brother and sister
• Jenn is working part time, kind of 
• We have selected our condo in Penang and are waiting for it to go under contact (more to come about that later)
• We are considering driving a Honda Civic in Penang, but will most likely wait to test drive it when we get there
• Eric has 2 people in Austin from Penang and 2 people working for him in the Penang office and an intern
• Jenn has 5 interns working for Candlelight Ranch

We are 18 days from leaving Austin...to Oregon for 11 days...to Ann Arbor for 3 days...to Penang on July 14th! 

Balls to the Wall until July 1st!

Jenn & Eric

Gray Hair and Wrinkles

38 days from today we are leaving Austin, Texas...

Last night Eric and I were laying in bed talking about how we are going to handle the mail.  I was concerned about receiving mail in Malaysia that may have any account information or information about our identities that could be stolen.  I guess I've heard some horror stories about mail being opened or not delivered.  Eric, as always, was trying to assure me that our identities would not be stolen by a Malaysian and that everything would be fine and I should stop worrying...that's when his faced went from "don't worry honey" to super concerned and worried.  He then spoke words he has never said to me, ever, in one of his most serious voices he has. He said, "You have wrinkles!?!"  Shocked and appalled that my loving husband pointed them out and, in fact, actually noticed them, I could only cover my face with my pillow and laugh until I cried.  Seriously, I have wrinkles.  Yes, at 29 I have wrinkles -- crow feet, really -- around my eyes. 

Of course, Eric realized he had dug himself a hole and tried to climb out of it by telling me that "I need to moisturize and maybe they will go away." And the final insult to injury, "You need to take better care of your face." 

Great, I'll add it to the mile long list of things I need to do in the next 38 days....Moisturize two times per day.  I'm on it. 

I told Eric I was going to write about this on our blog.  I've thought about it all day.  Talked to Misty about it and laughed.  Yes, I have wrinkles.  Maybe I have wrinkles because I work outside and don't wear enough SPF (although I religiously wear SPF 70).  Maybe the stress of moving to Malaysia has bestowed this honor.  Maybe having a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction and a revision surgery over the last 3 months has done it.  I'm not sure and I really don't care.

I have wrinkles and Eric has gray hair!  Who cares.  We have each other. 

I realized today that it's really easy to get caught up in the details, the gray hair and wrinkles.  Right now it feels like my life is dictated by details...home insurance, doctors appointments, work, transitions, packing, boxes, storage, parties, visitors, shipments, travel, family, the horse, the dog, the list goes on and on.  I found myself worried so much about the details today that I forget the bigger picture. 

We have an amazing life.  We are 38 days away from the adventure of a lifetime that I can't wait to start.  Somehow, someway all of these details are going to work out or fall away.  What matters is that I don't get consumed by all of the details and forget that I am one lucky lady that happens to have a few wrinkles! 

Our 4th Wedding Anniversary

It's hard to believe it's already been 4 years since Eric and I were married! So much in our lives have changed since then.  We've taken some amazing trips, I graduated from Grad School, Eric has been promoted several times, I've changed jobs, we have continued to grow as a couple, the list goes on and on.  We are officially 6 weeks away from our biggest adventure yet...leaving Austin and moving to Penang Malaysia!  It's crazy!  I don't think either of us envisioned this opportunity and the doors that it will open for us as a couple and as professionals.  We are looking forward to sharing our journey with our family, friends and the world!  I'm so excited to be on this journey with the love of my life! 

Penang Team is In Austin!

Here is a good portion of the NI-Penang team that I will be working with.  Everyone was in town for NI Tech, an internal conference on internal Technology.  We had a great time hanging out with our VP and eating Fajitas.  It was a really busy week with everyone in town, but it was good to see everyone again.