Holloways in Houston: September 2011

I interrupt the house tour to make a very important announcement: I got a new job!

If you've talked to me recently, you know this has been on my mind for some time. Over the summer, I devoted myself to being more faithful in praying for my career path (where God wanted me to be), and buckled down for some job searching (praying that God would open the right doors and guide my search to be in line with His will).

I found a posting a few weeks ago that hit home with me. I don't often read postings and think I fulfill all of the qualifications, but this time I did! So I emailed it to myself to apply for it. I applied on a Wednesday night. Thursday, I went to the library during lunch (to check out some Texas gardening books, haha). I rarely leave work during lunch (this is significant because we didn't get cell service at Reynolds, so if I had been at work, I probably wouldn't have gotten the call - I would've just had a missed call when I left). I was praying for guidance in my job search (for God to open doors, and really show me what he wanted me to do) while I was driving to the library. Right after I finished my prayer, the phone rang. They wanted me to come in for an interview! Answer to prayers? I think so.

After going through a somewhat stressful interview rescheduling process, I finally got in for an interview on a Wednesday at 3:30. I was there for 2 hours and LOVED it. I had to take a design test and design an ad and I got to meet with the owner. I felt at ease with her - we really clicked, I thought. I loved her personality and more than anything knew I wanted to work for her (and I told her so!). So I left them with my references and got the offer on Thursday at lunch time. I accepted!

Last Friday was my last day at Reynolds. I started at reviewit on Monday and am having a great week!

A little about the business... The business has 2 sides - a magazine (reviewit Magazine) and a PR and Marketing business. The magazine is a free publication in our area (The Woodlands, Spring/Champions/Tomball, Conroe/Lake Conroe/Montgomery). It's really cool - we cover events, fashion, have recipes, etc.

Check it out! (The first link has online issues)

http://www.reviewitmagazine.com/

http://www.prmarketingllc.com/

So what exactly am I doing? Graphic design - ads, flyers, business cards, directories, etc. Everything under the sun you could want from a PR and Marketing business! It's a really fun place to work. It's laid back and I am already learning so much. It's a creative environment and it's just fun to be here and work with these folks. AND, it's close to home. It takes me 15 minutes to get here in the morning and about 20-25 in the afternoons to get home. It's nice.

Anyway, sorry this announcement is so late! I'm hoping to post more house pics soon.

Love from Houston,

L and J

I'm starting the house tour in the living room - fitting, because it was the first room to get set up in the house (we had the cable installed the same day as the refrigerator and washer/dryer... priorities...).

Okay, this is an overview of the room.

This is another overview... I wanted you to get a feel for the layout, so this was taken from the breakfast area, looking through the archway.

You can kind of see a little of this area from the previous pic (look on the left).

This is "my chair." The picture doesn't do it justice (this isn't just any chair, people!). We've got our blanket basket (Lan likes to keep it cold in here!) to the right, and the infamous lamp table ("Too practical to throw away" -Lan) to the right.