a few pictures

Have you ever seen the Jim Carrey movie "Yes Man"? Zoey Deschanel plays this character who leads a running/picture-taking group; I feel like I should start a biking/picture taking group here because I keep trying to snap pictures while biking (with varying success). Here are a few pics from two-wheels...
This is a house on my street with incredible terracotta roof tiles and huge windows. (I felt like a total creeper taking the picture)

And here are some outside pictures of our house! The heat and bugs have kept us away from using the porch much, but come October, I hear it's the place to be in the evenings.

Everything is different here - even the kind of grass in people's yards; it's kinda scraggly. I mowed ours last week and got a nest of fire ants blown all over my ankles - I forgot about those! In Georgia, as kids my brother and I knew better than to mess with ants but in Michigan there's only little brown ones that are harmless. Red ants are bad and dangerous. Now I won't forget it.

MOBsters

our bikes waiting for us outside of Callaghan's

In preparing to move to Mobile, as you can imagine, I was so curious about our new home. I started trolling the internet for what life is like in this far away place, and wondered if we would find things that we already like along with the new-found joys. And you know, I found so much! This is a place with no shortage of things to do, especially now that we don't have 6 months of sub-zero cold! Hooray! So, as a 5th year anniversary gift, Daniel and I bought each other really nice bikes, and in order to make sure we could use them well, I searched for what biking in Mobile is like. Lucky for me, I found a facebook group called "Mobilians On Bikes" or MOB, and this group chimed in with helpful suggestions for biking around the city (even things like, "wait til October to ride!" ...well, I didn't say I was following all their advice). Even better: they organize group rides. Last night, we became MOBsters and participated in a sweet group ride all around downtown that stopped at the 4 pubs that have bike racks.

What an amazing way to get to know this new place, right?! After pub #3 I was especially glad to be on a bike even if the ride was getting a little wobbly - between the heat, the exercise, and the libations I think I'm going to have to take serious water bottles on future MOB rides. The folks we met are friendly and interesting; the city is lovely (albeit, still humid at 11 PM); I discovered some great, fairly local microbrews like Sweet Water 420 and Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan at super cool local places like OK Bicycle Shop that is still a functioning bike shop while being a bar/restaurant; all in all - being a Mobilian on her bike (learning to hydrate like it's my job) totally exceeds my expectations. We ended the evening at our new friends - Todd's and Karen's (the super stylish riders with their balloons, high heels, and hat) - beautiful midtown house that is full of of artwork and mirrored walls (very cool!) over one last drink that we savored together until the wee hours of the morning.

this week's mantra

via Jackie's pinterest, via this blog

blurry days

I finally found my camera! So, from now on... pictures! Until I take some to share, here are a few places I've explored in Mobile...
pretended like I could afford to even look at in this amazing store (looking is free, right?)
wandered here for like 2 hours today. I'm in antique heaven, I tell you.
enjoyed the catch-of-the-day at Queen G's. Honestly, might be the best meal I've had here yet. I could have eaten straight-up a whole platter of the brown butter green beans.
visited (my super nice) Winn Dixie about a dozen times already.

On the docket: Daniel and I joined this Mobile On Bikes fb group, and we're going on a ride this Saturday evening where we ride to 3 sweet bars/restaurants with the group. Today Daniel's new colleagues, one of whom founded said fb biking group!, invited me to their potluck and the table was full of shepherd's pie, enchiladas, salads, stewed okra, ceviche (my contribution), deviled eggs... even better than the food, these folks are wonderful and laid back people; I'm really excited for him to have such good people surrounding him every day.

Little things are falling into place bit by bit. We FINALLY got our washer and dryer and our hot water turned-on so we have clean laundry and hot showers (truth be told: the lukewarm showers were actually so refreshing, I may not give them up entirely). I can now get to several places without obsessively pouring over the map before setting out. Every evening I've been biking our neighborhood; I'm in awe at how different and beautiful this place is. Okay okay, pictures are coming!

new and Southern

I've not used this space much at all in the past year or so, and since everything else in my life is changing, why not change-up this space too? The web address is now www.erinoconnorgarcia.blogspot.com.
I've not gotten true internet up and running at our house yet so this will be a slow start, but here's a little list of all that's new with us... it makes me tired just thinking of all of this! But it's good stuff at the end of the day - even if that day is ending in a different time zone than I'm used to.

• Moved from Grand Rapids, MI to Mobile, AL one week ago
• New (rental) house in Midtown Mobile
• Additional dog in the family as of a month(ish) ago - ZuZu Petals is her name!
• New school/classes for Daniel to teach
• Thesis work for me (due this fall)
• Ph.D. programs to apply to (for me)
• Trying to rent out our home in GR
• Daniel finishing the film he just shot in June to send to festivals
• Buying outfits for said festivals  Getting a part time job (for me)

Oh, the details that come with moving are endless and impossible to get done efficiently! So I will wade through them every day until we are settled. And as soon as I unpack my camera, pictures will ensue. Consequently, the photo above is NOT of our new home (dream on, Erin), but a place called "avenue of the oaks" on Daniel's new campus.