Fall. My favorite season. Although, let's be honest, this one is underwhelming compared to last year when Ben and I were in New England. I fear that we have peaked with our ultimate fall experience and every one that follows will be sorta lame in comparison. Oh well! Our winters are much more bearable, so I guess it evens out. Since my last blog post, lots of things have happened so quickly at times and in other instances, gone SO slow. Lots of life change has been happening, but honestly that's not new for us. After vacationing in Vegas to celebrate Kristen at the Mrs. America pageant, and the end of summer, we loaded up our SUV and landed in Dallas, TX. Now, Ben and I have a great love for Texas. It is the first state we flocked to when we first left "home". We still have lots of friends in Houston and share some favorite places there as well. We were excited to move to Dallas because we felt it would be similar enough to all of the things we love about Houston, but much closer to family, making trips home easier. Here is something Ben and I didn't expect... To think it looks kind of brown and flat and ugly. I'm sorry Dallas. I'm sorry Texas. We really wanted to fall in love with you. I blame it on Seattle, with it's mountain views and towering trees. Shame on Washington State for having the most beautiful hikes and unexpected skyline. I guess while there are things that are my absolute favorite about the south, there are things that I have equally grown to love about other places we have lived. So, the short version of all of my feelings is....Dallas is just another stepping stone and I am ok with that! I have an enormous Texas bucket list and I am thrilled to have the next year to experience all of the things Texas has to offer. During our year in Dallas, Ben will continue to work remotely as an engineer and travel as much as his heart desires. He LOVES business travel and I love to guiltlessly binge watch my DVR'd Lifetime Movies, so clearly this is a suitable arrangement for all involved. When we arrived to Dallas at the end of August, I had a job lined up with a local school district. Being the planner that I am, I interviewed for the job and accepted a position back in June while I was still in Seattle. Things were lining up nicely. Key word = were. Over the past 14 months I have had six jobs. That is a LOT of mental energy learning a new job every couple of months. But, I love traveling and I love contract work as it allows me to gain so many different experiences. This contract however, was the first one that I have ever quit. I interviewed for and accepted a certain position, only to show up to my first day on the job and be placed in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT position. When I inquired about my original position, I was informed it was still available, however I was not going to be able to work in that position because they needed me more in the current one. Hmm...nope! So, I gave my two weeks notice like any responsible person would and I have been so happy ever since. I wish the story continued with "because we are so rich I now sit at home and watch HGTV all day..." but that simply isn't true. So, I did the next best thing: I signed on with a tele-therapy company as an independent contractor and I now provide speech therapy to students online through a video chat platform. My students live in California, so my day starts around 10:30am and ends around 5pm. Yay for getting in a morning workout and working in my yoga pants! I have been working in this new position for about a month now and I really enjoy it! I have also picked up a few adult home health patients on the side, because we all know that's my favorite. So, long story short: I am loving my new position...and working from home with Ben each day isn't bad either ;) Ben and I have the idea that if we work hard, we can play hard, so we have quite the travel agenda lined up for this next year. We just got back from NYC (our FAVE!) where we celebrated our sweet friend, Elyse's 30th birthday. It was Sean and Elyse's first trip, so we were so glad they asked us to join. We spent four full days in the city, and let me tell you, we packed it in! I need a vacation from my vacation. Ha! We had the best time exploring the city and trying so many new things. We are so thankful for them and their friendship and we are already planning our next adventure. In a few short weeks, Ben and I will venture out on what I'm calling our "Southern Charm" road trip. Ben will be completing a free diving class with his brother, Seth in Wilmington, NC, so we decided to just make a whole event out of it. We will be hitting up parts of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Our trip will end with us heading back to Arkansas for Thanksgiving. I'm excited to spend some time in some charming southern towns and share new experiences together. Sadie and Ava will get to join too! I remain constantly grateful to Jesus for his grace and for the ability to live our lives the way we do. We are thankful that God has been so faithful to our dreams. <3 Sunni
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