Here's the front of our house 

Cute little Ellie 

Ellie--just because she's so cute! 

Our Temporary Lives

Eric and I have been working since last Monday for an independent bookstore, The Dickson Street Book Exchange. The 2 owners hired about 10 temporary workers to help them get through the rush that comes with the start of each new semester at the University of Arkansas. I'd forgotten how much hard work the retail business is; we've been working 12 hour days, on our feet pretty much the whole time. But it's been a good experience overall--we've met some really nice people who we'll probably hang out with from time to time. One of the women there, Jada, is actually having a "post-rush" party this weekend, which should be fun.

One of the best parts of working at the Book Exchange has been Mr. Merriam Webster, the resident cat. (See website for pix.) He's very sweet and likes being around all the customers and lying in the store windows in the afternoons to nap in the sun. It's so strange that there are cats out there who could enjoy such an environment! Lucy and Ollie would rather die, I'm sure.

http://www.bookexchange.org/flash/DicksonStreetBookExchange.html

Tomorrow is probably our last day at the store, and I have to admit that I'm looking forward to my pending unemployment. Eric and I will finally be able to finish unpacking, paint our bedroom and kitchen, and do some yard work.

The Ozark National Forest

Eric's parents live about 10 minutes outside of the Ozark National Forest. In our copious amounts of downtime, Eric and I have gone out there a couple of days--once to go swimming at Lake Wedington, and once on a short (probably one mile) hike to a really pretty waterfall. The link below will lead you to a slideshow of the lake and its surroundings.

http://policy.uark.edu/lake/

Barf and the Devil's Icebox

Hi there. Sorry for not having written in so long, but I haven't had much to report. Eric and I had a good first weekend in Arkansas. Friday night, we went with Eric's brother Adam to an upstairs patio bar, On the Rocks. The physical setting was nice, but there were several things that made it a less-than-stellar experience: 1) the band was *trying* to cover Radiohead's "High & Dry" and "Karma Police" without much success, 2) the crowd was not really our style--very sorority/fraternity crowd, and 3) we had to witness a man my father's age barfing into a trashcan. Needless to say, we won't be going back to that bar anytime soon.

On Saturday, we went to Devils Den State Park--about a 20 minute drive from Fayetteville. It was beautiful there; I've provided a link to the website that has some nice pictures.

http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/park.asp?id=4

I've also maybe made my first Arkansas friend. His name is Chris and I met him on Friendster. Eric and I are hopefully going to meet him later this week....

I'll write more later!

The Search Is Over (?)

Here are some photos of the house that we're 99% sure we'll be moving into in August:

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lavamayn/detail?.dir=/b05f&.dnm=1767.jpg&.src=ph&.tok=phtC1VBBw0cmVBU.

(Again--sorry for not being able to create a live link yet. Laura--I need your help!)

I'm very excited about having a nice little porch and a washer/dryer!

This Could Be The One!

Check out this cute house:

http://www.zoom-n.com/homeportprop/744.html

(Sorry--I haven't figured out how to make the links active yet....)

The only bad thing is that it wouldn't be available until mid-August so we might have to stay with Eric's parents for a couple of weeks. Also, it has window units instead of central A/C, so....

Houses

Unfortunately, since I'm Mac-based at work, I won't be able to post pictures today after all. However, I'm sending a link to the photo album that Eric's cousin sent us. There are several houses shown (all the interiors are of the second house.) Unfortunately, we don't have any interior shots (yet) of the two houses we really liked--the first and third ones. She is going to try to make appointments to see the inside of those houses this evening....

Here's the link to the photo album:

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lavamayn/album?.tok=phIyCUBBAhZ8TDGd&.dir=/f9b8&.src=ph