The BIG move

I am EXHAUSTED! Michael is too.
This weekend we moved all of our funiture. We had mostly all of our "stuff " at the apartment already. Ok, I lied, WE didn't move it all. Michael, his dad, Klaus and Jason moved it all. I went to "VISIONS- womens expo" to help out with some Tai Chi demonstrations. It was fun. But even though I didn't help with the furniture I really am still really tired. The two of us worked SOOOO hard last week getting everything moved over. We hardly had a break to just relax. Then over the weekend I worked that expo both days and really made me tired too. We have our house until Thursday (Thats where I am now) and we are just getting everything all ready to leave. some slight cleaning, getting everything out... I mostly just have cleaning stuff here now, get rid of a few pieces of furniture and thas about it. We have some one coming to deep clean the house tomorrow and some people to clean the carpets on Wednesay. It's gonna look so sparkly in here we are going to want to move all our stuff back in.

The apartment seems good so far with all our stuff in it. It actually a bit cozier feeling because alll our stuff makes it feel really full already. Here we had a lot of extra space. I think we will like being over there for now. There is a new development in Allen that we are actually really interested in actually buying a place in... only problem is right now.. its not built yet. But we already have our eyes open to try to hopefully buy a place next year this time. YEA!

So now I must get back to finishing up in here...

Moving Moving Moving

The move is going well. We are really moving along quickly. We don't have a ton of stuff left in the house, which is good. Michaels dad is coming down over the weekend to help us with our furniture. I've been packing up boxed during the day, load them up, pick up michael and head to the gym. Then after we go to the gym we take the boxes to the apt. and unpack them and bring the boxes back here and start over... Its been a pretty good system so far. We have some furniture we aren't taking then I need to call someone about coming to pick up for donations, or that we can drop off on Saturday for someone.

Hopefully the rest of the move will go smooth too.

1 year already

WOW!! It has been 1 year since we moved to Allen. I can hardly believe it! Though it is a little strange, the first 8 months were such a drag... I mean it felt like we were here a year only after 6 months, then from April till now the time has just FLOWN by! Perhaps it helped that we had a jam packed and really fun spring and summer.


So... Did we learn to love dallas? I wouldn't say so, but I will say we did learn not to despise it. We have found a lot of great things about being here (besides shopping and eating out-because for so long those are pretty much all we thought there was, which was a problem, cuz we aren't big shoppers and we never ever eat out) Things such as access to an AWESOME international airport, the ability to finally be able to save up money because while Dallas is a huge city, its very cheap as well, and we have finally started to get to know people and have people know us (mostly from the gym and grocery store) We have also learned how to not have to drive in the traffic all the time and have learned how to avoid it. Which has made a huge difference. However, the weather... UGG the weather is HORRIBLE! We are on like day 34 of 100+ degree weather. Friday it was 105. That shouldn't be legal. I'm not sure how anyone gets use to this.

So a year ago this time, we were moving in, and this year this time, we are moving out. We started to move into our apartment yesterday. While its not as fancy and fun as this house, its cute and it will work for the short time we need it to, and we both think the convenience of it will be unbelievable.

Ok, so that's that, I'd write more but its bedtime!

Russia and Japan!!

I FINALLY have all our pictures from Japan and Russia up now too!
I obviously posted the best ones from Tokyo here on our blog while we were there, but there were a lot more that we took. As for Russia, well, can't say I've ever posted any on here, so here is a couple to convince you to come have look:

Moscow 1996

Moscow Conservatory 1996

Saratov 2001

Red Square Moscow 2001

Have a look:

Russia

Japan

My New Car

Just Kidding! It's not mine. Remember the Z4 BMW I fell in love with in Tokyo? One of our friends just got a Z3... and I wanted a picture, so I took one! We went to Fort Worth on Saturday with our friends Jens and Sarah. Jens is the Danish student in the states right now and working at TI. His girlfriend Sarah is here visiting. She's been here almost 6 weeks and goes home tomorrow I believe. They are nice people and we get along really well with them. We took them to Joe T. Garcias in Fort Worth for some Mexican food. On Thursday Sarah and I went to the Galleria and spent the entire day there. We had a really great time and she found tons of stuff to take back with her to Denmark. Slowly but surely our house is getting all packed up. I'm glad we have a couple weeks where we will have access to two places. That will come in handy.

CRUISE PICTURES!!!

Yea! I finally have the cruise pictures on our website.

I have the links open to Japan and Russia, but the pictures aren't transfered over yet so you will get a page with a bunch of blank picture spots. I'm having some trouble transfering all that over. I should have that fixed by Sunday night.

So if you wanna see our cruise pictures... and there are a TON of them... Go here:

Moorhead Family Cruise

If you were on the cruise, I have already sent CD's with all the pictures on them to each family and you should get them soon.

Occassionaly our internet has been crashing. We are having a really bad problem with it, so if it isn't working, our internet is probably down and just try back later. ...

I'll let you know when I get all our Japan and my Russia pictures up too.
ENJOY!!!

Water Conservation Pt. 2

Remember my last post on the Allen water restrictions and how I thought people weren't understanding the meaning of the restrictions and were doing all they could to have pretty yards? Well I was glad to see that it didn't go unnoticed. Last week in the mail everyone in the city got a 4 page letter in the mail box basically scolding everyone. The whole letter was basically a slap on the wrist and a warning that if the water usage didn't decrease we would move into a level 4 water conservations where no one could use sprinklers at all.. and could only water trees. I won't go into much more, I was just glad that the city noticed. Yea for the City of Allen! (we are sad we will have will be JUST over the border in a couple weeks and can't call Allen home anymore.. then we will be in Plano)

"We are going to be showing your house between..."

I'm tired of that sentence. We have had about 5 people bring by other people to look at our place. I suppose the company we are renting through is trying to get someone else living in this house as soon as possible after we move out. Its annoying because I try to leave when they come, but sometimes its at an inconvenient time for me to do so. Other times its annoying because they will call to come by soon but I'm in the middle of doing something like laundry for example so I have stop that and pick up all my piles of clothes to be washed and just wait till later or the next day. A couple nights ago they came as we were making dinner. Its not really that big of an inconvenience it is more of an annoyance. Someone is coming between 3-3:30 today, haven't decided if I will stay here or leave. We have had to start leaving our safety latch undone when we leave so that they can get in the house if we aren't here. I'm not super thrilled about that, but what can we do right?

So more about moving... We start moving on the 19th. That's only about a week and a half away. I already have the guest room packed up and am starting on other rooms. We have 2 weeks to do the move in so that gives us plenty of time not to rush and make sure everything is taken care of in both places.

Tai Chi

Every other week the city of Allen puts out a little magazine called, "Allen Image" This past week my Tai Chi instructors were featured. I actually take Tai Chi in Plano at TI, but they offer classes in Allen, so that's why they are on the cover. Anyways, I've tried and I think I have done a pretty good job of not being too preachy about Tai Chi and its benefits. Honestly though, it is something I really truely believe in for overall wellness...both physical and mental. I started in January sooo, 8 months ago. At the end of May I started private lessons that have helped my progress even more. Already after only 8 months I can physically feel the benefits this ancient art has brought me. My posture is better, I am not as clumsy as I usually am (except for the one day a few weeks ago, I turned and walked smack into one of our double doors which are usually both open, but one of them was closed. oops) , and I've learned how to relax my muscles and noticed a significant change in being relaxed and not as tense especially in my neck, shoulders and upper back. As for mentally, it's begun to train me to let everything in my mind to go away for a short time but at the same time has increased my level of concentration. Anyways, I'm sure out of all you wonderful people that read this, not many will actually go out and try it.. but thought I might raise some "Tai Chi Awareness" and perhaps later down the road, you might give it a try...

Anyways, here's the cover of the Allen image and another picture and at the bottom is a link to the article. It is mostly about their Tai Chi for arthritis program and has some testimonies and a little about what tai chi is and how it helps people with arthritis. I will say that the testimonies aren't "made up" to promote their business or this program. Everything these women say, is the real deal. You don't really have to click on the link to read the article, but I think it is interesting... HOWEVER... If your name is Ellen or Sharon.. I HIGHLY recommend you click on the link and read the article :o)

My instructors, Chris and Fayne Bouguyon

Chris and Fayne Teaching Sun Style Tai Chi

http://www.allenimage.com/archive/aug-06/issue/feature.html

Photoshow...

here is something fun while I work on getting all our pictures online!
Its a little big, but you can see the pictures better then the small or medium versions!
Enjoy!!!

Our Crazy Cruise

We are back and we had a blast. There was never a doubt in our minds that we would have an excellent time. As I mentioned before, we always always always have a ton of fun with Michaels moms side of the family when we get together. The cruise turned out the be the perfect way for us all to spend time together or do our own thing at any given time. Our rooms were all located right next to each other so we were able to stand in the hallway and all talk, though we made it an obstacle for other passengers and the room stewards to get past us. I couldn't possibly write about everything we did and stuff like that because there was just so much, we were constantly doing something and were always busy, even if it was just eating. The food was great too, we ate dinner in the nice dining room every night and everyone got use to having their own starters, salads, main meals and desserts. That will take some adjusting to not having that anymore. Our head waitress, "G" , was spectacular and made our dinners even better and even more fun too. We really wanted to bring her home with us, but that didn't work out!! I don't think we will be weighing ourselves for a week or two. All of us seriously had multiple desserts at dinner time. We did go to the gym a few times (which was nice and made us feel a little better) and our clothes still all fit, but we still aren't stepping on that scale yet! It was also pretty neat to be able to stand outside and see nothing but water on all sides of the ship. We were both ready to get off the boat when it was time to,but after we got back home, we were wishing we were still on it. The last day on there I was already rocking back and forth when I was sitting still or if I stood up to walk... so that wasn't fun. But we were really sad to leave everyone. The rest of the family seemed to enjoy themselves as well, especially being able to spend so much time together. Michaels mom and stepdad were hooked on the cruise thing immediately. Their excitment about almost everything was like kids in a candy shop and it was adorable. I really won't be surprised to see them come home and start planning their next cruise just as soon as they are done unpacking.

So, we are now home. Michael seems to be all adjusted back, but I'm still looking for my land legs. Yesterday was pretty bad, and today I'm a bit better, but I'm still slightly wobbley. It's not bothering my stomach, just my head. Now I have a BUNCH of laundry to catch up on. Here's a couple teaser pictures before I get them up online... In the next week I'm planning to get a few new pages on the website... Our pictures from the cruise, all our pictures from Japan, and finally get pictures up from two trips to Russia :o)

So here's a few cruising pictures:

The Ecstasy

Cozumel

Inside the Ecstasy