Thursday, March 18, 2010

Welcome to TEXAS!

It's my day!  There is a great site called Blog Trotting and today it's my turn for them to stop by my little corner of the world and visit.  You really need to head on over there and check them out if you don't know about them.

texas


Welcome to our little corner in this big state called TEXAS!  As you can see from the title of my blog we are Misplaced Midwesterners.  My husband and I grew up in Kansas and Missouri.  After we were married we lived in two places in Joplin, MO; moved to Nashville, TN; then to Eau Claire, WI; to Lisle, IL (right outside of Chicago); back to Nashville, TN (lived two places there); back to Springfield MO (where home really is and lived in two places there); down to Bossier City, LA; to Arlington, TX, and yes, we are in our second home here.  We moved here on Labor Day weekend (September) 2007.  Please go ahead and read all about our move or should I say our pilgramage here from Louisiana (where we only lived 9 months) here.  I'm sure you will find it quite humorous as we do now looking back on it.  Even though our address is in Arlington, TX, we feel as though we really do live in Mansfield, TX.  If you look at the map below towards the bottom you'll see the city of Mansfield.  We live less than a mile from the city line of Mansfield.  Our son goes to Mansfield schools, we shop in Mansfield and we go to a wonderful church in Mansfield.

map


As you can see from these maps TEXAS is big and we live in one of the biggest metroplexes in the state.  We are the 5th largest metroplex in the United States. It really is a great thing.  We have the feel of a smaller city (Mansfield is just a little more than 50,000) but we have all the benenfits of living near/in a big city.  I know that 50,000 may not be small to some but when you put it in perspective with the fact that the DFW area is over 5 million you can see why we feel like this little corner is small.  Arlington itself is right around 1/2 million!  So either way where we live it seems much smaller. We live equal distance from Fort Worth and Dallas.  In fact we live the exact number of miles away from the Fort Worth Zoo and the Dallas Zoo.  I love that we have 2 great zoos right here.  We've only been to the Fort Worth Zoo so far and it was great the times we went.  Here is one of my favorite pictures:

lizard


Arlington, TX, is now the home to the Dallas Cowboys.  Yes, they are called the "Dallas" Cowboys but their new stadium is here in Arlington.

new-dallas-cowboys-stadium-aerial-biggest-dome


Not to mention that right down the street from this new stadium we have the baseball team the Texas Rangers:

Rangers-Ballpark-in-Arlington-


Go down the street a little bit further and you have Six Flags Over Texas!

six flags


Now imagine that all three are open at the same time.  Yes, it does happen.  When it does happen it's not fun trying to find a place to park.  That is when we stay completely away from that area of Arlington.


A little bit about us:  My husband, Andy, and I have been married for 18 1/2 years and he truly is my best friend.  We adopted our son, Sam, when we lived in Nashville, TN, and he was only 4 months old.  He is the light of our lives.  He is in Cub Scouts, a book club at school, the drum club at school, a running club at school, not to mention the activities at church.  I have quite a few hobbies myself but one of my favorites that I like to feature here on my blog is my love for photography. I also love to read and in fact coming up very shortly I'll be doing some review on some pretty awesome books and with most of them there will be a giveaway.  So you know that you'll want to put me in your blogroll/fan me/follow me so that you'll know when those are.  I also do some products and have some of those coming up too.  In the meantime here is just a small handful of my favorite photos:

self_portrait_3


emotions_in_the_pool-1


Flying


Murphy


There really is so much to see and do in this little corner of TEXAS that I can't even begin to put it all in one post.  So, please take a few minutes and peruse around this little blog of mine and get to know me a bit better.  I thank all of you Blog Trotters (and anyone else as I love all of my visitors) for stopping by and I'll be by your place really soon!

P.S.  And yes, we've been down to Waco and have visited the Shrine!

100_4613

19 comments:

Jen said...

I love Living in Texas! I've lived in several states and I always seem to find myself back here! However, I've necer been to Mansfield. I'm currently in Denton.

I love your zoo photo! I've been to both zoos and Ft. Worth is much better. I prefer the walk at the Dallas zoo, but they always have so many exhibits closed and it's difficult to see many of the animals. We went this weekend and waited an hour just to park!

Have a great Thursday!

Jen
www.reviewretreat.com

Anonymous said...

Great tour! I'm in the DFW area.

I'm going to check out the rest of your blog now. Have a great day!

CaraBee said...

All of the photos are so gorgeous (the one of your son in the pool? AWESOME!), but that last one, aah-aah-aah, that one might be my favorite! Surprised? :)

I've been to Texas a bunch of times, and have been to D/FW in particular on a couple of occasions. None recently, though. I have several good friends that live in that area, so it's only a matter of time before I find my way there again.

Great tour!

E... said...

Thanks for the tour -- I've always been intrigued by Texas -- seems like almost a whole different world from the midwest, so interesting to hear a midwesterners take. I'm also very excited to hear about your book giveaway, so I'll be checking back in for future visits!

Heather said...

Your photos are gorgeous! I'll definitely be back for more of your blog; I love to read, take pictures, and get hints from others.

Awesome tour; Six Flags looks like a lot of fun!

brainella said...

Texas is one of the few places I'd consider moving to. :-) Wonderful pictures; the shots of your son are fantastic.

Shelley said...

Hi there. Congratulations on being featured on Blog-Trotting. I think it is so interesting that you live in a place where you can still feel rural, but are so close to all those people.
Texas is a mystery to me. In my mind, I KNOW that it is a wonderful place full of culture and music and fantastic places to visit, but I still, everytime, I hear Texas think of Wyatt Earp. (I know, it's a sickness).
Thanks for the beautiful pictures of your home state.

cat said...

Hi there, over from Blogtrotting. Nice to meet you. Years ago a South African played for the Cowboys.

mep said...

I have always, always, always wanted to visit Texas and can't believe I never have. Loved the tour and can definitely see a trip that involves at least one zoo and the Dr. Pepper Museum.

I'd be interested to know if there are moments in Texas life when you feel particularly Midwestern?

Love the photos of your son! I will definitely be back for the book reviews and giveaway!

Thanks for being a BlogTrotter.

gramma2many said...

Greetings from one Arlingtonite to another. My Arlington is Washington State though. You can see my town on my blog since I was the Friday blogger.
I keep thinking with todays economy, Texas might be the place to be. Can't leave my family though, so it will never happen.
I absolutely love the picture of your son on the swing. I am thinking I need to play with my camera more, or at least read the manual so I can get some of those types of shots. Probably need to learn how to use my photo shop too.
Thanks again for the amazing tour. Am wondering if a stop over at the airport constitutes a visit to Texas?

Anonymous said...

Came by through Blogtrotting.. nice post and pictures! Thanks for the tour.
/Maria

Anne said...

Love all the pics! Gorgeous! Can't wait to get my new camera ;) BTW, your son is so handsome. A little bit like looking into the future for me!

KJ said...

Visiting from Blogtrotting! Love the post! I have always wanted to visit TX! It is now on my travel list!

Michelle said...

Cute blog you have here.

I enjoyed getting to know you and your family a little better through this post.

mavericks_mommy said...

Happy Friday Follow!!

Im a new follower!!

Mavericks Mommy

So Who Is The Crayon Wrangler? said...

You made me so homesick for Texas. I found you through FF and I am so happy that I did. Wonderful photography! I especially like the cat picture and I don't care for cats, but the lighting is amazing!
Great blog!

Dimes2Vines said...

We are loving living in Texas even though it is so different from Alabama!
Stopping by from Friday Follow to say Hi! I already following and hope you are having great week - can't believe another week has gone by!

Darcy said...

stopped by from FF. Have a great weekend.

justanightowl.com

Sharlene said...

I have family in Texas (San Antonio and Austin) but we have never made i tup to your neck of the woods. It seems like a nice place to live. Your son is adorable! He seems to exude joy!

I am hosting Blogtrotting today on my blog. I hope you will stop by!

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