So this weekend we celebrated one month in Texas! It's hard to believe it's been one month. We are getting adjusted. Here's an update about us after one month.

• Zoe started school last week. She is going to public school, but she wears uniforms, which is awesome! After a little uncertainty on her part, they are turning out to be a non-issue. I can't get over how adorable she looks in them! 

Source

We have officially been in Texas one week and I wanted to document my thoughts and feelings thus far.

• I knew it would be different from living in Idaho, but the concentration of people and buildings is something I'm struggling to get used to. Driving into Fort Worth, my anxiety was super high, there were just so many people, I'm not quite used to it yet.
• It is not nearly as hot as I thought it would be. According to the locals, it has been unseasonably cool, ranging in the 80's this first week. I was assured I would be suffering soon.
• The amount of restaurants within 5 miles of here is bound to make me gain 20 lbs. Several of my old favorites like Taco Bueno and Schlotzky's are nearby, and there are a few new ones on our list to try. Also, there is a restaurant where there whole menu is chicken fingers, that's it. I'm thinking these chicken fingers must be magic to sustain an entire restaurant chain.
• I'm so grateful for Google Maps on my iPhone. I use it to get anywhere. I'm hoping someday soon, I'll be able to find Target without it, for now though, it is my best friend. 
• U-turns are the norm here. There are lots of unprotected left hand turns and making u-turns is part of driving around here.
• There is a serious biscuit aisle here. Like serious. Like this isn't even the whole thing. 
  
• People are so friendly. I've missed southern hospitality.  
• I miss Idaho. I didn't think I would miss it so much, but I do. I miss my friends, Zoe's friends, and my routine. I even miss getting to bring Ryan his lunch during the day. But once school starts in a few weeks, I think things will really start to feel normal again.
• So far I haven't picked up an accent. This I'm guessing will not be the case in a few more weeks.

I came up with the project just a few weeks before we were planning to move. Not a great time to start a time intensive project, however, most of it was completed while sitting at the splash park while Zoe played, or on the long drive to California for a wedding reception.

Materials:

• Funnel Cake Digital Stamp from Studio Calico (The template I used was a limited time digital stamp, and is no longer for sale. However, you could use a digital map template and free hand the letters, or watch for the actual digital stamp to be returned, sometimes Studio Calico will put old stamps back on sale for short periods of time.)
• Needle
• 6 colors of embroidery floss.
• 6" embroidery hoop
• flour sack towel
• 12x18 canvas 
• graphite pencil/water soluble pen
• staple or glue gun.

Tracing took about an hour. I did not trace all the fun accents for this project because I wanted to be able to clearly read the states and I was worried about the small spaces. I was right in this assumption and I'm glad I didn't add them, even though they are awesome!

I started stitching with Kansas. I started in the middle so that I could make sure I had a good color spread. Six colors was enough to make sure there were never two colors touching, but it did take some planning. If you are worried, I would add in one or two more colors.