Well, I hinted at some big changes going on in our lives lately, and they’ve finally gone through.  I have a new job at a renewable energy company called Ontility.  They are a distributor of solar panels and solar panel equipment.  Check them out at www.Ontility.com.

It all happened very quickly; I had my first interview on a Wednesday, I had an offer on Thursday, and my last day at Smith was on Friday.  Ontility is a sister company of my old company Smith & Associates, so there were no issues with not being able to give two weeks notice.  That next Monday, I was in Dallas for 40 hours of Solar Panel training which finishes up today.

I’m now pretty much settled into the office and working on filling up our solar training classes and finding potential customers who would like to be vendors with us.  I’ve been excited to get up out of bed every day, which is a big change from
before, so overall, I’m very happy that I had the opportunity to make the move.

The only downside is being so busy that I haven’t had time to do things like update this blog, but I’m sure you’ll hear more from us soon as the weather warms up and Jessica talks me into booking a few more trips.

Speaking of trips… there is less than a month until California.  Six of us are spending spring break in San Diego, Temecula and LA for the first time ever.  Check back in for pictures and updates from the trip.

Thanks for checking in.

A lot has happened in the Miles’ household in the past couple of weeks.  I won’t spoil all of the news and will let Hollis fill you in on all of the excitement in his/our life!

Our weekends have been very busy, on January 23rd we drove up to Ft. Worth, TX to see one of my college room mates Lynnsey get married.  It was so great to spend some time with all of our college friends again!  The wedding was wonderful and we wish nothing but the best for the Quillens!

The following weekend we went with the Abshires and Brent to check out the Sam Houston Race Park.  The Race Park is five minutes from our house and we had yet to visit!  We had a great time making $2 bets on six different horse races.  We ended up walking away with $50 or so and had a great time!

Last weekend, my girlfriends and I decided to have a girls weekend in Austin and San Antonio.  On Friday after work Katie and I drove to Austin to hang out with Heidi, Becca, and Tara.  We ate at Texas Roadhouse and went out for a fun night on West 6th street.  We woke up late on Saturday and drove to San Antonio to meet up with Angela, Kelley and Mallory.  We stopped at the outlet malls on our way into town for some quick shopping.  We had a wonderful stay at the Emily Morgan and a nice dinner at Rio Rio Cantina!  After a delicious dinner we made our way to Howl at the Moon where we enjoyed people watching and girl time.  This has become a tradition of ours that we hope to continue at least twice a year!  It is so great to be back with girls, we always have a wonderful time!

Jessica has been doing most of the blogging lately, so I figure it’s about time that I post my side of the story. But before I do, check out the Twitter feed on the right side of the page. It will contain day-to-day posts on what Jessica and I are doing. Our latest four posts should be up there now. If you have Twitter, be sure to follow us.

Since Christmas, we’ve been very busy, as always. We hosted our 2nd Annual New Year’s Eve Party, and the party was great. I think we counted somewhere around 15 people that were able to make it. Thanks everyone for coming… it’s you that make it fun. We just host… and we’re already looking forward to next year’s party.

Soon after New Year’s was Jennifer and Ben’s wedding. From a married older brother’s point of view, it’s really weird to have a married younger sister. I suddenly feel much older than I did a month ago. Overall, the wedding was a lot of fun. The ceremony and reception were great – I heard nothing but compliments about it; Jennifer and Ben did a great job. I got to spend a lot of time with my family who I don’t get to see all that often, and I got to relax from the hectic pace of things in the real world. Northgate with my dad and cousin was an experience to say the least…

Congrats to Jennifer and Ben for starting a new part of your life; and welcome to the family Ben, I know everyone is happy to have you officially a part of it.

Other than that, this New Year has been about changing for the better. We have finally filled our house (now a home) with the few little cosmetic/comfort things that we felt we were missing. We’re working on a few investment ideas to get ahead in life. And we’re both setting goals for the short and long-term future.

This weekend we’re headed north to Fort Worth for Lynnsey and Todd’s wedding. We will update you on that, and the rest of our lives soon.

Hollis and I were blessed to have an amazing Christmas with our families.  We spent December 23rd (Christmas Eve Eve) with my nieces and nephews.  We opened up gifts with the kids and ate a nice spaghetti dinner.  On Christmas Eve, we woke up and had our 16th Annual Christmas Eve Brunch with the Long Point Crew.  After the brunch we spent the rest of the day with Hollis’ family.  We were able to open up gifts, play games, and go to Midnight Mass.  We spent Christmas day with my family.  After opening gifts in the morning, we had a nice turkey for lunch with my Aunt and my Grandparents.

Here are a few pictures of our holiday!

It has been a while since we have posted, so here is an update on some of things that are going on.  Hollis and I joined our friends Justin and Katie for an extended weekend in New Orleans over my 24th birthday!  Here is a preview of our trip:

November 20th:  We left after work on Friday and started the drive to Louisianna.  We made our first stop in Lake Charles and played a little “Let it Ride.”  We then drove to Coushatta to play a couple hours of craps.  We were all up for the night and the guys decided to continue driving until 4 am to Layfette, LA.  We stopped for the night at a Motel 6.

November 21st:  We woke up Saturday morning and finished the last two hours of driving to New Orleans.  We checked into our beautiful historic hotel, the Omni Royal Orleans.  We took a walking tour of the French Quarter and made our way to Harrah’s.  We ended the night early with the boys excited about their poker wins!

November 22nd:  (My birthday).  We started the day off by eating at one of our favorite restaurants, Deanies.  After a nice lunch we walked to Jackson Square where we were able to watch street performers entertain the city.  We then caught a carriage ride around the French Quarter.  Hollis had made plans that night for dinner at a nice wine restaurant.  The restaurant was in a beautiful backyard, with Christmas lights and live music.  After dinner we made our way to the French Quarter to enjoy some piano bar music from Pat O’Briens and finished the night at Harrah’s.

November 23rd:  We woke up and ate lunch at one of our favorite places, ACME Oyster House.  After a delicious lunch, the girls and boys split ways.  Katie and I enjoyed some shopping down in the French Quarter while the boys headed to the casino to gamble some more.  We met up later in the day and ate dinner at a wonderful restaurant on Bourbon street.  The inside of the restaurant was filled with Christmas lights and the view of Bourbon street was entertaining to watch.  We ended the night with a couple of bottles of wine in Jackson Square.

We left on the 24th and made our way back to Houston to host Hollis’ family and my family for Thanksgiving.