Before and After

I mentioned in my last post about how we're settling in. We've been taking some pictures around the house now that we have painted, decorated and hung curtains and light fixtures. It looks and feels like a completely different place. Checkout these before and after slides to get an idea of the transformation. (Click the fullscreen icon on the toolbar below for the best view.)

[slideshare id=1296708&doc=house-090415211824-phpapp02]

House, Before and After

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Next up - the landscaping. From the picture, it looks better than it really is. Lots of work to do, but we can take our time more with the outside.

Even though we've lived there for only 1 month, we already feel so comfortable and at home. I give Cori all the credit for making it feel so homey, so soon. What a wife!

Home

By the Grace of God, we have found a house that will soon be our new home. In two weeks, we'll say good-bye to this house and all the memories we've made here and move to the new house. We're ready to start some new memories there for sure.

This is our new house on Snowshill Drive in Frisco. We love the street name because it is such an oxymoron. Its not on a hill. And chances are slim that there will ever be much snow around these parts.

They say that home is where the heart is. Well, I think our hearts are already there. This past weekend we started packing. The first phase was the de-decoration phase. In one day our beautiful home underwent an amazing transformation from cozy, homy abode to a stark, barren shell. And all we did was take down pictures, artwork, nic-nacs and curtains.

I was pretty surprised by the sudden difference in the feel of this place. Now that all of our personality has been removed (other than furniture), I'm ready to get to the next house and make that one "our home".

In the design world, there's this concept of form vs. function. There's a fine balance in there somewhere. Even though this place is still fully functional, the form is gone. Its like viewing a website with only the text - no pictures, colors or style.

I am thankful for a wife with the talent to work such magic on this shell and make it a home. Next time your wife asks to buy some new decoration for the house, don't be so quick to balk at it. A little decoration goes a long way. :)

India Pictures

Apologies for the delay on posting some photos of my trip and for the lack of posting in general. Life has been pretty crazy since I got home. Here are a few photos in particular that I'd like to share and explain.

This is the view from my hotel room window. I spent a lot of time just looking out the window watching what life is like for these people. Fascinating to watch anonymously from the 8th floor.

This is the infamous alley Dave and I walked through behind our hotel on that first day.

This is me at Tiger Cave.

This is Daos and two of his children. Meeting and talking with him was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.

This is one of my favorite photos. Children love getting their photos taken. I took this photo from the car as we drove past.

This was the best part of the trip - coming home. :)

In total, I took about 360 photos on the trip. I uploaded about 100 of them to Flickr. I also created a slideshow on Flickr of all my pictures for your enjoyment.