The littlest produce.

Forget the storms. Forget the tornados. Forget the damage.

We officially have something that outshines them all--

Our first ripened tomato--  Adorable... and deeeeeeeeelicious!  

Last night.

Last night was... interesting.

I had heard all day that storms were coming through, but during my glances at patients' TVs throughout the afternoon, it seemed that most of it was going to miss us. Yeah, the clouds looked terrible, but they've looked that way for a week now! So I thought nothing of it. Leo & I ate dinner and started to watch the Biggest Loser Finale. And after about 5 minutes, the local weather people took over the TV. Funnel clouds had been spotted west of Fort Worth and were headed this way. But still, it looked to be heading just northeast of us... So we started filling out some paperwork at the kitchen table.

We could hear the little pings of tiny bits of hail hitting our railing outside, but the radar still showed the storms pretty far away. But then suddenly, those pings turned into much more and as we checked the radar again on the TV, we heard the words "funnel cloud" & "Love Field." Then "Lemmon Avenue is the most dangerous place in Dallas right now." (For the record- we live right next to Love Field ON LEMMON AVENUE.) I grabbed the keys and my cell phone, yelled for Leo to get dressed and quickly headed downstairs. As we hit the 2nd floor, we met up with some neighbors who wanted to know where we were going. My response: "No idea-- we're just headed to the first floor." By this point, the baseball sized hail was coming down FAST and Leo was officially freaking about his new car sitting out in the open. I just about had to tackle him to keep him from running out and getting a concussion- all the while telling him this is what insurance is for!

Luckily, one of our apartment managers lives right downstairs, and he came out just in time to offer his place as a refuge. So, along with 2 other neighbors, we headed inside and straight to the closet. It was a tight squeeze- with 6 adults and a dog, but our new hosts were also serving cocktails, so that helped! Definitely the best way to wait out a tornado...

About an hour later, we finally headed back upstairs, and proceeded to listen to the horrible thunderstorms all night long.

This morning, we went out to assess the damage, and were greeted with this:

Both cars have several dents, and the Civic ended up with a severely cracked windshield, but it definitely could've been worse. Only about 10 miles west of here, there's basically no glass left in tact.

And just as a bonus, we finally did get some pictures of the new GTI! It's a little dusty from the weather, but here ya go!

Life: Turbo-Charged.

Guess what we got this week??

A Volkswagen GTI! Unfortunately, the sun has not come out even once since we brought it home (there's a thunderstorm blowing through at this exact moment)- so you get a stock photo instead of Leo's actual new baby. But you get the idea.

And yes- we both absolutely love the car, but there's a lot more to it than that. SO much compromise and discussion and research went into this purchase, and frankly, I'm proud of us! Our first major purchase as a married twosome... and first major COMPROMISE. We seriously could not be on more different pages when it comes to car preference. I want the most affordable, least expensive to maintain, HIGHEST GAS MILEAGE available. And Leo wants sporty and turbo-charged and Volkswagen. (Those are his exact criteria.) So clearly there was some head-butting on this one. But after much deliberation, we finally agreed on the oh-so-awesome GTI. Leo's happy. I'm happy. Our bank account is happy.

Of course, during the test drive, my husband did manage to get up to 60mph in a residential, but he promises he'll be good from now on.

And talk about a learning experience! All of our past car buying endeavors have involved a big check and no future payments. But this time around, there was a bank, a dealer and some serious negotiation. Surprisingly, Leo played bad cop and I was the good cop... but we ended up getting exactly what we wanted. New tires, a full tank of gas, new brakes, new wiper blades, a year of maintenance free, a couple years of full coverage warranty, AND no annoying stickers on the back with the dealer's name... We are a force to be reckoned with.

There was a minor incident that involved me walking into a very large planter there in the showroom, but luckily, the negotiation had ended by that point... and there were no injuries sustained. And then Leo had another incident in the parking lot of Panera the night we brought it home. It turns out the alarm works GREAT. We still have no idea how to turn it off with the remote, but putting the key in the ignition does
do the trick. Should be smooth sailing from here. 


And since we got such a great deal on the car, we decided to go ahead and take another big leap we'd been considering.

Back in January, when we were in the midst of all the social security drama and had just sent off the applications for Leo's green card and work permit and all that, I hatched an idea. As soon as everything came through and Leo was official and we could breathe again, I wanted to go to Las Vegas to celebrate! And while he thought I was kidding at first, it definitely morphed into a bona fide plan. So the tickets are booked and we fly out on June 1st!

Not only will we be properly celebrating the enormous immigration progress we've made this year, but we'll also be in Sin City for the 1 year anniversary of my leaving Botswana. ONE YEAR, people. That's just insane.

Our schedules worked out perfectly, the price was right and you only live once!

the thermostat.

Some co-workers and I got into a discussion this week. And it was sparked by a battle that is waged constantly on the floor-- involving the thermostats. I swear, throughout the 24 hours of the day, those thermostats flip from 50 to 90 and back to 50 at least 6 different times. There's no such thing as a middle ground. If it's too hot in a room, someone goes in and cranks it all the way to 50. And then when it gets to the boiling point after that, someone else comes along and puts it to the other extreme. No room is ever just "comfortable." You're either tempted to hang meat or start shedding layers...

And so we all got to talking about our thermostats and what they're set at in our houses. When I mentioned that Leo and I have had ours turned off since at least late February, there was a collective gasp. Everyone thought I had absolutely lost my mind- but I promise it's all good.

As long as there's no threat of actual ice forming inside the apartment... Or on the other end- as long as we won't physically turn into one big Rangira puddle in the middle of the night... we tend to rely on either blankets or fans. Right now, we have a fan in the living room and another in the bedroom. And they work wonders. And I'm seriously considering getting a tiny one for the bathroom. See- the only time I'm even tempted to turn on the air is when I've just stepped out of the shower and start using a hair dryer and flat iron. There are times during hair fixing that I think my face might actually melt off-- but luckily it hasn't happened yet. We save a heck of a lot of energy (yay planet Earth!) and our electricity bills are simply beautiful.

We understand there will come that point during the Texas summer when we are forced to flip the switch... but for now- the windows are open.  :)