A lot of exciting things have happened in the past few weeks...the most exciting of all, David got a new job! :-) Many of you know that we had been looking for him a new job for the past several months, because the grant he was under previously was being restructured and we were afraid he may be out of a job come this August. But God is FAITHFUL, and before we even got to that point, David got a position as a Senior Consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton! I am so proud of him!!!
We think it is going to be a really great job. Although he will be working for Booz Allen (a company that contracts with Federal government agencies), he will be working out of the EPA Office in Research Triangle Park. Now, the bad thing about this is, it will be a LONG commute. Over an hour, each way, every day. BUT we didn't want to move because it would mean a) me having to find another job and b) us giving up our house, which we LOVE and c) moving from Greensboro, which is really where we feel like we want to be. So, we have decided that the commute in this case is probably worth it.
We initially decided we would sell David's pickup truck and buy him a small car that was really good on gas to make this commute more affordable. But, we spent a few hours at a dealership and realized we just couldn't really make the deal we wanted. Did some more calculating and figured out that, since his truck is paid off (and has been for quite some time) it would actually be a better financial decision to just keep his truck and pay the extra gas. I know he is thrilled, because he loves his truck and was going to hate to give it up. Here are some pictures of the truck, and a very sad David, in our driveway just before we went to the dealership to try to sell it. Luckily, we came back a little later with the same truck, so things were happy again. :-)
David had some vacation to use up from his previous job, so we took a Thursday and Friday off of work and went together for an overnight "mini-vacation" in the Triangle. It was such a great getaway! When we first got to Chapel Hill on Thursday, we had lunch at my favorite Mexican place, Cosmic Cantina! It was so yummy and I got my signature meal - NACHOS!
After lunch, we rode out to Chatham County for a little drive in the country. Stopped by Fearrington Village (http://www.fearrington.com/)...saw some beautiful landscaping and the trademark Belted Galloway cows!
Next, it was just down the road to a slightly more scary adventure. A lot of us who went to Carolina knew the rumors about nearby "Big Hole" in Chatham County. You can read the story about it here, and trust me, it IS worth reading (http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/big-hole-deep-secret/Content?oid=1182760). I was always too scared to ride out there by myself, but with David I decided I could do it. The road looked surprisingly "normal" as we approached, but still had a TERRIBLY creepy feel. I was a little freaked out...
And all of the sudden, we rounded the bend and there were the barricades that we had read about. SCARY!!! Definitely no way to get past, nor would I want to. We took a quick picture, turned around, and headed the other way!
The was enough fun at Big Hole for me! So we headed back to Chapel Hill. Went to the Chapel Hill Museum (http://www.chapelhillmuseum.org/), then went shopping at two of my very favorite stores in town...A Southern Season (http://www.southernseason.com/) and Branching Out (a little gift and decorating shop). There is a "shop dog" that lives at Branching Out, and she just LOVES David!
We had decided to spend the night in Chapel Hill, so we then went and checked into the hotel, rested a bit, and then went out for a nice dinner, and had a long relaxing night of sleep. The next morning, we got up and ate breakfast. Rode over to Durham, so I could show David dook for the first time. I didn't think it was fair for him to be such a big Carolina fan but never to have been on the "enemy territory." So off we went to dook's campus. We stopped next to this building, and I captured David's reaction to the campus...
Before coming back home, we went to RTP to see David's new workplace - the EPA Campus. WOW, it was so impressive. HUGE, with lots of BIG buildings. This is the building his office will be in. I am so proud!
What a wonderful little trip and how grateful we are for the doors God has opened. Can't wait to see what the future holds!!!
