Today was my last day at Schlumberger. This was my first job right out of college and I have made so many friends here. The first six months that I worked there I was in training with people from all over the world and now have friends in so many countries. Plus I have also found a great group of friends here in Houston through my work. It has been a great experience and I have loved working with all these people.
I was offered a position at Chevron and thought about it very carefully. It just wasn't a position that I could turn down. The position will still be in seismic but it's much more people oriented. I'll be putting into place standards for how to perform different things so I'll get to work with everyone in the office. The position is also in downtown so it's much closer to our home and Jonathan and I can carpool to work since his building is also in downtown. I'm really looking forward to it.
It's very surreal to be making this change but I'm so excited for what's to come and for new challenges! I have next week off and then I start at Chevron on October 8th!!! If I have worked with you over the past 3 years thank you for everything!
-Chelsey
Friday, September 28, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
We Love to Cook!
I know I should be blogging about how we've settled into our house and daily life as a married couple but first I wanted to share with you what we did this past weekend. Don't worry, I'll get to that soon enough. This past weekend, Jonathan and I along with our friend Colleen cooked 4 meals for about 20 people over Friday and Saturday. We all have a pretty big passion for cooking and I especially love cooking for other people. We were cooks for a retreat called Bayou Awakening which is a Catholic retreat for young adults. If you're interested check it out here: http://www.archgh.org/youngacm/Awakening/. This retreat is held twice a year: once in the fall and once in the spring. So anyways, I was asked to cook for this retreat and I asked Jonathan and Colleen to do it with me and they were crazy enough to accept! We decided to go international for the weekend and we made food from all different countries. Friday night we went English and made shepherd's pie and a traditional English trifle for dessert. Saturday morning was Mexican which meant migas and freshly made corn tortillas! Lunch was entirely Asian and we had homemade egg rolls, egg drop soup, and Thai peanut chicken. For dessert we went Italian and made pistachio and chocolate hazelnut gelato ourselves. I know, we're kind of a big deal.... Just to throw in a few more cultures, for snacks we had hummus and pita chips as well as challah bread which Colleen made herself! It was sooo yummy and it looked beautiful! And finally, for the grand finale meal we served all Indian food! Freshly made naan, saag paneer, chicken tikka masala, and a vegetable coconut curry. Our last dessert was bread pudding with vanilla ice cream. So amazingly good and we have three quarters of it in our fridge so please help us eat it if you can haha.
We were incredibly exhausted by the end of it but super pumped that we actually did it. We were also lucky to have all Sunday to recuperate. We only were able to take two pictures and that was thanks to Colleen so here they are:
It was a great weekend! Although it made me feel old because it's hard for me to stay up past my bedtime anymore haha. We had a blast in the kitchen, had plenty of dance parties while we cooked, and everyone loved the food! It was definitely a success!
If you're interested in trying to make some of this amazing food here are some of the recipes. It's not as hard as you'd think! We hadn't even made a lot of these recipes until a week before the retreat or even the weekend of. Most of them are really easy!
Shepherd's Pie: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_shepherds_pie/
Egg Rolls: http://www.joyfulabode.com/2009/07/05/homemade-baked-egg-rolls/
Egg Drop Soup: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesesouprecipes/r/eggdropsoup.htm
Thai Peanut Chicken: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/thai-peanut-chicken/
Pistachio Gelato: http://www.archgh.org/youngacm/Awakening/
Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chocolate-hazelnut-gelato-recipe/index.html
Naan: http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2010/09/naan-127-recipe-016-serving.html
Saag Paneer: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/absolutely-perfect-palak-paneer/
Bread Pudding: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/the-best-bread-pudding-recipe/index.html
Of course I'm always looking for new ideas of things to cook so if you have any suggestions or favorite recipes feel free to share!
-Chelsey
We were incredibly exhausted by the end of it but super pumped that we actually did it. We were also lucky to have all Sunday to recuperate. We only were able to take two pictures and that was thanks to Colleen so here they are:
On the left is the Thai peanut chicken and egg rolls with a special dipping sauce for the egg rols.
On the right is the egg drop soup!
Think it looks like takeout?? No way! We made all of it!
We totally made this too! Chocolate hazelnut gelato on the left and pistachio gelato on the right.
With a cookie of course! Just like the Italians do it...(hopefully)
It was a great weekend! Although it made me feel old because it's hard for me to stay up past my bedtime anymore haha. We had a blast in the kitchen, had plenty of dance parties while we cooked, and everyone loved the food! It was definitely a success!
If you're interested in trying to make some of this amazing food here are some of the recipes. It's not as hard as you'd think! We hadn't even made a lot of these recipes until a week before the retreat or even the weekend of. Most of them are really easy!
Shepherd's Pie: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_shepherds_pie/
Egg Rolls: http://www.joyfulabode.com/2009/07/05/homemade-baked-egg-rolls/
Egg Drop Soup: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesesouprecipes/r/eggdropsoup.htm
Thai Peanut Chicken: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/thai-peanut-chicken/
Pistachio Gelato: http://www.archgh.org/youngacm/Awakening/
Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chocolate-hazelnut-gelato-recipe/index.html
Naan: http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2010/09/naan-127-recipe-016-serving.html
Saag Paneer: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/absolutely-perfect-palak-paneer/
Bread Pudding: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/the-best-bread-pudding-recipe/index.html
Of course I'm always looking for new ideas of things to cook so if you have any suggestions or favorite recipes feel free to share!
-Chelsey
Friday, September 7, 2012
We're married!
Can you believe it? Jonathan and I have been married almost 5 months already! I don't know how that's possible! I seems like our wedding was a few weeks ago. We have been loving married life and settling into our new home. During our engagement, we heard that people loved our blog that we had on our wedding website so we thought we'd start up an actual blog! (If you're interested in reading our previous blog posts you can go here: https://sites.google.com/site/chelseyjonathan/home/blog.) We hope you'll enjoy reading about our lives as newlyweds!
We had the best time on our honeymoon. Cape Cod was so much fun! The weather was great. It was in the 80s the first couple of days and the rest of the time it was in the 50s and 60s and no rain! We could not have asked for better weather! We spent a few days on the beach - one in Sandwich where we stayed and one on the national seashore. A lot of the beaches in Cape Cod are rocky which made it nice to sit and be by the water but sometimes making walking a little painful. The water was of course freezing! We dipped our feet in for a little bit until they started going numb, literally! We took a day and drove to Plymouth to go on a whale watching tour. It was a four and a half hour trip. We sailed across Cape Cod Bay to a basin where there are often whales. According to our tour guide, at this basin the water gets really shallow allowing there to be a lot of fish for the whales to feed on easily. If you're ever interested in whale watching we learned that the way to spot whales is to look for flocks of birds diving into the water in a particular area. This is because whales scare fish up to the surface and birds dive in these areas to feed on the fish. It was really amazing seeing huge crowds of birds flying in one area and diving into the water. It was really freezing once we got out there but we didn't seem to notice once we were able to see some whales! We saw humpback and finback whales and it was amazing! We also spent a day in Provincetown which is on the very tip of Cape Cod. It was a really cool drive there. We stopped and saw the national seashore which was beautiful! This beach actually had waves whereas the beaches along the bay don't. This bothered Jonathan greatly lol! As we got close to P-town (as they call it), the land got skinnier and skinner and after awhile it was just one road with houses on each side and water visible in both directions! I had never experienced anything like it. P-town was really fun. We just spent the day exploring the town. We even went to a pirate museum and learned all about a real pirate ship that shipwrecked in Cape Cod. It was a very heartbreaking story. The captain of the Whydah became a pirate because he fell in love with a girl in Provincetown. The girl's father forbid her to marry him because he was poor. He became a pirate, got very rich, and was coming back for the girl when his ship crashed. A real romeo and juliet love story!
We spent a lot of time exploring Sandwich which is the town where we stayed. It is the oldest town on the cape. It was established in the 1600s! It was a super cute town and very walkable. We loved the bed and breakfast where we stayed! It was previously a Catholic church that was desanctified before being turned in a b&b. They used every part of the church that they could. It was filled with stained glass, the bar cabinet was previously a confessional, the chandeliers were kept, and even the bar was made out of the church pews! Each room was a different day of Genesis story. We stayed in the Thursday room, the day when God made the plant life. We got to eat breakfast in the restaurant every morning and it was a feast! They had banana bread and fruit set out for everyone before you got there. You had your choice of juice, coffee and tea and there were two options every morning for your entree. We had everything from omelets, french toast, hash, and waffles. Everything was delicious and it was so nice to just walk downstairs for breakfast every morning.
Sandwich has a great area of gardens and museums. It was huge! There were so many gardens of many different kinds, a ton of art sculptures, and even a maze and a labyrinth! If that's not enough, it also has three museums. The automobile museum has all sorts of cars from every time period. They even were getting ready for a Norman Rockwell exhibit but it hadn't opened yet. The second museum was an art museum and they had the oldest work carousel. It was really beautiful. Sadly, the history museum was closed but I don't think we minded because there was already so much for us to do there! A really cool part of the grounds was a place called the treehouse. When we saw it on the map we thought it'd be fun, everyone loves treehouses! It was not only a treehouse, which was more of a jungle gym, but a huge area for kids to play in. They had musical instruments, "construction areas", playgrounds, and a stage when they have shows sometimes! It was really impressive and we both kind of wished we could play along with the kids.
Another benefit of honeymooning in New England was that we were close enough to meet my aunt Sandra and her boyfriend, James, for dinner. We drove about 1 hour to Providence, RI to meet them. It was a good deal for us because she had to drive 2 hours and it was kind of cool that we got to say that we went to another state. In Texas, it's a lot more difficult to go from state to state and doesn't happen nearly as often. It was really great to meet James in person. We went for Portuguese food. Did you know that there's a big Portuguese population in southern Massachusetts? We had a great time chatting and enjoying yummy food.
We had tons of lobster! We literally had lobster rolls 5 times and we even stumbled upon PJ's. PJ's was on the food network on the best thing I ever ate. If only we had lobster rolls in Houston! It was the perfect honeymoon. It was the very beginning of the season so everything was laid back and no crowds anywhere. Cape Cod is only open from mid-April to August or September. We thought it was funny because most people there were either families on spring break or retired. After awhile we realized that we were the oldest people around that weren't with their parents. We never felt rushed like we had to go and do a lot of things all the time. It was very relaxing but as you can see, there were a lot of fun things to do. We really lucked out on the weather but we wouldn't have minded some cold weather. We had a warmer than average winter, even when we went to Iowa for Christmas. We did get to experience some cold on the whale boat tour and the ferry that we took to Martha's Vineyard.
So as you can see we had the perfect honeymoon which resulted in me writing this huge blog post! Hopefully Jonathan will post anything he remembers that I left out (if that's possible lol.) I took so many pictures, it was hard to pick just a few! Soon we'll be blogging more about our wedding day and us getting settled into married life. We hope you enjoy reading all about it!
-Chelsey
We had the best time on our honeymoon. Cape Cod was so much fun! The weather was great. It was in the 80s the first couple of days and the rest of the time it was in the 50s and 60s and no rain! We could not have asked for better weather! We spent a few days on the beach - one in Sandwich where we stayed and one on the national seashore. A lot of the beaches in Cape Cod are rocky which made it nice to sit and be by the water but sometimes making walking a little painful. The water was of course freezing! We dipped our feet in for a little bit until they started going numb, literally! We took a day and drove to Plymouth to go on a whale watching tour. It was a four and a half hour trip. We sailed across Cape Cod Bay to a basin where there are often whales. According to our tour guide, at this basin the water gets really shallow allowing there to be a lot of fish for the whales to feed on easily. If you're ever interested in whale watching we learned that the way to spot whales is to look for flocks of birds diving into the water in a particular area. This is because whales scare fish up to the surface and birds dive in these areas to feed on the fish. It was really amazing seeing huge crowds of birds flying in one area and diving into the water. It was really freezing once we got out there but we didn't seem to notice once we were able to see some whales! We saw humpback and finback whales and it was amazing! We also spent a day in Provincetown which is on the very tip of Cape Cod. It was a really cool drive there. We stopped and saw the national seashore which was beautiful! This beach actually had waves whereas the beaches along the bay don't. This bothered Jonathan greatly lol! As we got close to P-town (as they call it), the land got skinnier and skinner and after awhile it was just one road with houses on each side and water visible in both directions! I had never experienced anything like it. P-town was really fun. We just spent the day exploring the town. We even went to a pirate museum and learned all about a real pirate ship that shipwrecked in Cape Cod. It was a very heartbreaking story. The captain of the Whydah became a pirate because he fell in love with a girl in Provincetown. The girl's father forbid her to marry him because he was poor. He became a pirate, got very rich, and was coming back for the girl when his ship crashed. A real romeo and juliet love story!
Freezing cold on the boat ride to see whales!
A whale!
The national seashore!
Excited to be the Nassars!
Argh! Yes we're quite dorky but has anyone else gone to a pirate museum on their honeymoon?
We spent a lot of time exploring Sandwich which is the town where we stayed. It is the oldest town on the cape. It was established in the 1600s! It was a super cute town and very walkable. We loved the bed and breakfast where we stayed! It was previously a Catholic church that was desanctified before being turned in a b&b. They used every part of the church that they could. It was filled with stained glass, the bar cabinet was previously a confessional, the chandeliers were kept, and even the bar was made out of the church pews! Each room was a different day of Genesis story. We stayed in the Thursday room, the day when God made the plant life. We got to eat breakfast in the restaurant every morning and it was a feast! They had banana bread and fruit set out for everyone before you got there. You had your choice of juice, coffee and tea and there were two options every morning for your entree. We had everything from omelets, french toast, hash, and waffles. Everything was delicious and it was so nice to just walk downstairs for breakfast every morning.
A pier on the beach in Sandwich.
Our bed and breakfast!
We had delicious breakfast every morning.
Sandwich has a great area of gardens and museums. It was huge! There were so many gardens of many different kinds, a ton of art sculptures, and even a maze and a labyrinth! If that's not enough, it also has three museums. The automobile museum has all sorts of cars from every time period. They even were getting ready for a Norman Rockwell exhibit but it hadn't opened yet. The second museum was an art museum and they had the oldest work carousel. It was really beautiful. Sadly, the history museum was closed but I don't think we minded because there was already so much for us to do there! A really cool part of the grounds was a place called the treehouse. When we saw it on the map we thought it'd be fun, everyone loves treehouses! It was not only a treehouse, which was more of a jungle gym, but a huge area for kids to play in. They had musical instruments, "construction areas", playgrounds, and a stage when they have shows sometimes! It was really impressive and we both kind of wished we could play along with the kids.
The gardens were so beautiful!
The kids in Sandwich are so lucky!
Another benefit of honeymooning in New England was that we were close enough to meet my aunt Sandra and her boyfriend, James, for dinner. We drove about 1 hour to Providence, RI to meet them. It was a good deal for us because she had to drive 2 hours and it was kind of cool that we got to say that we went to another state. In Texas, it's a lot more difficult to go from state to state and doesn't happen nearly as often. It was really great to meet James in person. We went for Portuguese food. Did you know that there's a big Portuguese population in southern Massachusetts? We had a great time chatting and enjoying yummy food.
Dinner with Sandra and James!
We had tons of lobster! We literally had lobster rolls 5 times and we even stumbled upon PJ's. PJ's was on the food network on the best thing I ever ate. If only we had lobster rolls in Houston! It was the perfect honeymoon. It was the very beginning of the season so everything was laid back and no crowds anywhere. Cape Cod is only open from mid-April to August or September. We thought it was funny because most people there were either families on spring break or retired. After awhile we realized that we were the oldest people around that weren't with their parents. We never felt rushed like we had to go and do a lot of things all the time. It was very relaxing but as you can see, there were a lot of fun things to do. We really lucked out on the weather but we wouldn't have minded some cold weather. We had a warmer than average winter, even when we went to Iowa for Christmas. We did get to experience some cold on the whale boat tour and the ferry that we took to Martha's Vineyard.
Lobster roll! We definitely don't have these in Texas!
So as you can see we had the perfect honeymoon which resulted in me writing this huge blog post! Hopefully Jonathan will post anything he remembers that I left out (if that's possible lol.) I took so many pictures, it was hard to pick just a few! Soon we'll be blogging more about our wedding day and us getting settled into married life. We hope you enjoy reading all about it!
-Chelsey
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