Beginnings in North Carolina

It's been moooonths since I posted. So much has happened. Soon after my last post we got orders and had to immediately start the moving process. We got all of the paperwork finished up and caught a military space available flight to North Carolina to house hunt. When we left California we were flirting with the idea of buying a house, but we got to North Carolina not really knowing what we were going to do. The base we're stationed at in North Carolina is in a not-so-great area full of nasty bars, pawn shops, and 18 year old Marines. Needless to say we were very interested in NOT living there. There just wasn't much to rent outside of that main part of town so we decided to buy a house!

We got the paperwork rolling and had a very hectic time getting back to California. Basically if you're active duty military you can catch a ride on any military plane going anywhere as long as they have room for you. You just have to show up and hope you'll be able to get on. It's very spontaneous, and has the potential to be incredibly stressful, especially if you're working with time constraints. But eventually we got back to Cali only to find two rooms of our apartment had had pipes that run underneath them break and had gotten water everywhere. After hectic traveling that was the LAST thing we wanted to have to deal with. But we did. Four days of guys coming in and out, tearing up our floor, not fun. 

After that was done and our dates for movers was set J and I took off to San Francisco to check off the last couple of things on our California bucket list: driving over the Golden Gate Bridge and seeing some redwood trees. It was a pretty rushed trip, but it was really fun and we loved San Francisco! We always take the opportunity to eat at a restaurant that's been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives when we have the chance so we found Pier 23 Cafe, which is a seafood diner. Oh. My Gosh. By far the best seafood of my life! We got a feast of calamari, a whole roasted dungeness crab, and fish tacos. If I could eat that every day of my life I would. If you ever find yourself in San Francisco you HAVE to go there! We also found an authentic Italian pizza place run by the greatest Italian woman ever. We found the little hole-in-the-wall place late the night we got there and we were so glad we did. The owner was funny and welcoming and the REAL Italian pizza was phenomenal. We saw a few redwoods, but we didn't have time to make it up to the real redwood forest, so we didn't see anything that impressive.

We got back to San Diego, the movers came, and we were on our way! We drove across the country, stopping to visit J's aunt whom I'd never met before, and my best Florida friend Autumn. We got to North Carolina on February 25th, went to closing on our house on the 26th and got our stuff delivered on the 27th!

We love our house and our neighborhood! Our street is pretty much entirely military and retired military so it's really nice to be around people who understand your lifestyle. There are two couples on our street that we already knew from Florida and we have "the Wednesday Whine" every week with some other ladies on our street. Basically we just get together and drink wine. I dig it. It will be soo great to have their support and friendship when J is deployed.

So now I'm just once again starting the job hunt. I'm discouraged already, so wish me luck!

Hiking Adventures

Recently the husband and I have started hiking! So far we've only gone twice, but So Cal has  SO many great places to hike. Part of the reason I have fallen in love with Southern California is the diversity. We can spend a day at the beach, or drive 30 minutes and hike a mountain, or drive a few hours north and go snowboarding. They just have everything here! 

A few weekends ago we went to Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. We hiked about six miles total. It was pretty much entirely flat, but it had a great little waterfall that reminded us so much of all the pretty waterfalls in the foothills of the Adirondack's where J is from. 

The pretty little waterfall!

It felt SO good to be outside all day. Not to mention in the six miles we hiked we went through a forest, a desert, and a waterfall! 

J and a HUGE cactus plant in the middle of the woods!

I had a great time. It was easy enough for someone as out of shape as I am, but still a decent workout. J put a 25 lb weight in his backpack to make it more challenging for himself. Silly boys.

J climbing up some rocks.

I decided I didn't want to venture into the rocks. It just looked like the perfect hideout for some nasty snakes that I definitely didn't want to meet.

Yesterday we decided to try a more difficult hike. Our friend from college spontaneously ended up visiting us Friday and Saturday and he's a pretty avid hiker. He and Jon decided on the hike while I was still catchin' some Z's. They decided on Mt. Woodson.

Friends, let me tell you, if you're out of shape and new to hiking this is not the trail for you...and I know this from experience. ha! It was up-hill right from the get go, and pretty steep too. The combination of my being out of shape, being dehydrated from a night full of beers the night before, and a not-so-friendly visit from Aunt Flow meant that I chickened out. Yes, that's right, before we'd even made it half way I turned around and went back while the guys went on to the summit. *facepalm* 

Needless to say that proved to be a HUGE amount of motivation. I'd already decided this post-wedding weight had gotten out of hand, but dude, having to quit a hike was so embarrassing there's no way I can keep going the way I have been! I've attempted to do p90x several times. But the truth is, it's hard and I'm not the type of person that enjoys pushing my physical limits. I can never keep it up just from the sheer memory of the pain endured the day before.

So I decided to look into other at-home fitness programs and discovered that there's a Power 90 program! It's still going to be challenging and it's still by Tony Horton, but it promises to be a little less intense, which is definite what I need. I found the whole thing on eBay, bought it, got it in the mail yesterday and am starting tomorrow! I WILL CLIMB AN ENTIRE MOUNTAIN!

2012

As I posted about last year, I'm not the kind of girl who makes New Year's resolutions. That being said, in that brief time of year in which we wave good-bye to the past year and gaze wonderingly into the year ahead I can't help but find myself both reflecting on everything that 2012 brought with it and all that 2013 holds.

In 2012 I...

• met some of the most amazing ladies I've ever known. I made my first military friends. I cherish the friendship of these girls perhaps not more, but certainly in a different way than all my other friends. They understand my life. When my husband is deployed and I can't sleep at night because he's not next to me, these women will know my pain and welcome my call at any ridiculous hour. When I went for weeks at a time seeing my husband every day, but never really being with him these ladies kept me going. Along with that joy of military friendships comes the sadness of having to say good-bye. I stayed in Florida and had to watch all of my friends leave. It was incredibly difficult to not know the next time I'd see the faces I'd spent so much time with., but I learned they are truly forever friends, even though we're spread out all over the country, and even the world.
• went flexitarian for awhile. Yeah, that got old. I still enjoy vegetarian dishes and by no means have abandoned what I learned from my research, but daaang cooking vegetarian all the time is hard work!
• found purpose. Since getting married in 2010 and moving to the other end of the country, 1,500 miles from the only home I'd ever known, abandoning a job I loved and all the people I knew I spent a lot of time wondering what the heck I was doing. I had no job and couldn't even find possibilities in the small, poor area we were forced to live in. We wouldn't be there long enough for me to go back to school. My life was just monotonous. Then we found a great church that, even though they knew I would leave soon, offered me the opportunity and privilege to work as a leader with their youth group. Coincidentally, the majority of the youth were very similar in many ways to the at-risk youth I so have a passion for. I learned so much and met some incredible kids. 
• moved to SoCal! The opportunity to live in sunny, glorious Southern California has been one of the best experiences I've had. We were blessed enough to find an affordable apartment less than two blocks from the beach and 3/4 mile from the cutest downtown area filled with shops, restaurants, and bars. Though I wish our time here wasn't coming to an end in the next month or two, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to experience life here.  The sunny skies, perfect temperatures, and laid-back attitude of the people here make it a place that will definitely be hard to leave.
• saw the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forrest, the Hoover Dam and Vegas for the first time. On our move from Florida to California we decided to take advantage and see all of the big sights on route. Vegas....meh. But the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forrest were so amazing. It's hard to be in places like that and not find yourself in complete awe of our Creator. 
• got my first glimpse of baby fever. Don't go getting excited, I never ever came even close to catching it! In Florida in the months before I left everyone around me had a baby, or got pregnant, or was trying. EVERYONE. Sorry. I'm just so not in that stage of life yet and don't see it hitting me for quite some time, which makes it really hard to relate to the women around you when all they've got on their brains is diapers, bottles, and swollen ankles! Just one more reason I missed all of my friends I met in Florida when they moved -- NONE of them were in baby mode.
• was a bridesmaid for the first time! My best friend since high school, Kaity, got married and I had the privilege of standing by her as she said 'I do'. She was my first friend to get married and I had an absolute blast celebrating her last night as a single lady and her commitment to a super great guy!

So there's some of the things that happened in in 2012. Check back for my look ahead to 2013. It will definitely be a year of changes.

Superficial Dilemmas

In most parts of the world it is now officially December 21, 2012 and, surprise surprise, we're all still here. In light of the recent new that the world is in fact not ending today/tomorrow I'm browsing Pinterest. My mind is just racing with incredibly superficial predicaments. 
  
1. I really really really want this tattoo in white ink on my left forearm.

 

However, the forearm is an incredibly conspicuous place for a tattoo and I'm just not sure that I'll want such a clearly visible tattoo my entire life. On the other hand, I imagine that probably after a while tattoos become so much a part of you that you don't even remember what it was like without them. And white ink when all healed barely shows up. But then, what's even the point of getting a tattoo if it's not going to be seen?

2. I loove the blazer trend. It makes pretty much any "just alright" outfit look pulled together.

Love this one from J. Crew!

I'm not sure I could pull it off though! I'm 99% sure I'd just end up looking like A) a little girl playing dress up, because I've come to terms with the fact that I look 17 or B) a lesbian. When I put on clothes with a masculine feel I don't make them look feminine, they make me look masculine. Yeah...not so sure about the blazer thing.

3. I am obsessed with boots! The bad news: my calves are so freakishly large that I have to get the kind made extra wide around the calf and none of the cute ones come that way! Anyone have any good calf shrinking secrets?

Sunday Blessings Link-up

I'm sure I'm not alone in finding it extra special to spend a little time counting my blessings this week, so I'm linking up with Kaity at (Bee)autiful Blessings for a dose of Sunday Blessings.



1.  As I said a few weeks ago I finally landed some short-tern employment. While it's by no means a glamorous or meaningful position, I am earning my own money again. It may sound materialistic, but the ability to make my own money and buy things I need and want with money that I have earned is very rewarding for me. Since I was 18 I've been working and providing for myself so the past two years of unemployment and having to rely on J's income for everything has been a huge struggle for me. More than anything though, I'm so happy to be able to buy gifts for J with my own money. I always feel a little dumb buying him presents with his own money and it feels so good to truly be able to give him something from me.

2.  Along with the making my own money thing, having a job enabled me to purchase a brand-spankin'-new laptop! Since I do all of my work on the computer having one that functions is pretty important, not to mention so much of every day life takes place around the computer, and I'm toying with the idea of going to grad school when we move. So the fact that neither of the two computers we had functioned properly or consistently was a drag and a source of constant frustration. I got myself a shiny new MacBook and I'm in love.

Isn't she pretty!?

3.  A few weeks ago I randomly won tickets to a San Diego Chargers game so J and I got up early today to                             drive through the crazy traffic to the game. We got there about an hour and half before the gates even opened. I was grumpy because I was tried, and we hadn't planned ahead and brought anything for tailgating, and because I didn't want to have to just sit in the cold for the two and half hours before the game. Basically I was just miserable for no good reason. J just treated me lovingly and waited for me to get over myself and enjoy the day. I admit that pretty often I'm not an easy person to be married to and J continually loves me and supports me even when it's not easy to do. 

4.  This may sound weird, but I'm really thankful that J and I will just be staying home in Cali spending Christmas together by ourselves. I love my family and I love my in-laws, but sometimes it's overwhelming to be around them. I understand this, because they don't get to see him often, but when we're with J's family they just swarm him and I just miss him the whole time we're there. I can be pretty selfish and jealous when it comes to my hubby and I don't like to share him, especially on Christmas. It's nice to just be able to be together on Christmas this year and not have to worry about anyone else...for most of the day anyway...

5.  J and I have decided to open our home to some of the young enlisted guys who will be here alone on Christmas, assuming there are some and they want to come. I can't imagine being 18 or 19 years old and not being able to be with people I love on Christmas, having to spend the day alone in the barracks. Because God has blessed J and I with each other and with a place to live and plenty to eat we decided to pass some of that on to some of these guys and girls who will be unable to travel home to their families this year. Pray that God brings some people into our lives to bless in this way and that He will work through the time we spend and the relationships we build with these young people.

Anyway, these are just a few small ways that I've been blessed this week. I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Reflections

This morning J is gone doing his Christmas shopping and I am home alone, reflecting on the horrific events that yesterday held. I cannot begin to fathom the pain that the parents and loved ones of those who lost their lives must be feeling. I cannot imagine being caught up in the joy of Christmastime one minute and then next finding out that I would never see my child again, never again be able to hold them or hear their laugh.

I don't generally post about current events because A) everyone already knows about it and B)I usually have nothing to say that hasn't been said better by someone else. But this, this is different.

Everywhere I look, Facebook, the news, the papers, people are contemplating what kind of sick person could possibly do such a horrible thing. How could someone be able to go into a school and take the lives of children who have barely had a chance to live?

And while I understand those questions, this morning as I reflect I find myself drawn to others who were there that day. Not the criminal, not the students, not the parents, but the teachers.

So often in our world today we hear about teachers and school employees only because they too have committed some formidable act against a child. They are found to have raped and molested children, had inappropriate relationships with students, gotten caught up in scandal in their personal lives. And again we find ourselves asking what kind of person does those things?

But in light of yesterdays events I ask the question what kind of person goes to work with their lesson plan prepared for the day and instead puts their life on the line to protect their students? A heroic one, that's who. I have great respect for teachers any day, but there are stories coming out everywhere of the teachers yesterday who put themselves between their students and the bullets, who risked and lost their lives to protect those precious, young students they spent every day nurturing. I read one story of a young teacher who directed all of her students into the tiny bathroom in her classroom, placed herself against the door and repeated to them over and over "I love you" because she didn't want the last thing those children heard to be gunshots. This is the kind of woman that causes me to look beyond these terrifying things that happen and see that there is still goodness and beauty in our world. This is the kind of woman that gives me hope.

I read something on Facebook that quoted Morgan Freeman's opinion about the senseless shooting. He made the argument that these deranged individuals choose to do such horrific things because of the way the media portrays them, because their name will be remembered for what they have done, that we don't hear news stories focused on the victims because that's not what sells. While that may or may not be true, I do wholeheartedly agree with what he said next. "You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim instead. "

And that is my goal. In the days, weeks, and months following this tragedy I'm going to focus on the children and their families, and even more so, the teachers who gave their lives to defend innocents. I refuse to give power to the monster that did this. I will not remember his name.

J and I went to see The Hobbit last night. There is a scene where Gandalf the Grey is being asked why he chose a small, insignificant hobbit for such a great journey. What Gandalf says in reply has been resonating in my mind ever since. He replies "Saruman believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. That is not what I have found. I have found that it is the small things, every day deeds from ordinary folk, that keeps the darkness at bay - simple acts of kindness and love." 

May we live with intention, remember the heroes, and know that it is the light within each of us that will keep the darkness at bay.

Christmas Tiiiiime is Heeeeere

I've been scrambling like crazy to get my Christmas crafts done. Every year I have grand plans for homemade gifts and Christmas cards and every year I wait too long to get started and forget the whole thing. This year I did make an improvement in my yearly plan by actually buying the materials, which every one else also happened to be doing the same day. Michael's was CRAZY. 

I bought this adorable reindeer stamp set to attempt to make Christmas cards. Please note that I have never in my life made a card before. I spent all last night experimenting with paper, glue, ink, pencils, markers, and stamps trying to make something that looked nice enough to send to friends and family. Annnnd I will be continuing that today. Wish me luck.

I'm super excited about the blogging world Secret Santa I joined via (Bee)autiful Blessings and I'm trying to craft my gift by December 14th to get it out in the mail in time. I can't say what exactly it is I'm making for fear of spoiling the secret, but lets just say I'm trying to revive my knitting skills. And I haven't knitted in a very long time. I'm also trying to learn a new stitch and teach myself how to make button holes. I'm trying to practice as much as I can before it's really crunch time and I need to either make my gift or ditch it and come up with a new idea, which I'm really hoping does NOT happen because I have no other ideas. 

J and I went shopping last night. Yes, my husband went shopping. We have a mando-fun squadron Christmas party Friday night in which "business casual" attire is required. Ok. Who the heck has a Christmas party that requires "business casual"? It's a Christmas party. Shouldn't we all be wearing ugly sweaters and obnoxiously sparkly dresses? I think so. But instead I will be wearing my boring black skirt. It was, however, quite the bargain at 70% off at Gap last night, woooo! But J got some awfully nice dress clothes and will be looking mighty handsome!

And now I'm off to scramble to find a shirt to wear to the party, work on Christmas cards and gifts and somehow still get my work done for today. Whew. And also crossing my fingers that I get paid today so I can go get my new computer...last week the number strip on this one just randomly stopped working, which means all punctuation other than periods must be copied and pasted. Annoying! Anyone I hope everyone has a fabulous Thursday!


Oh! And I entered this awesome giveaway from (Bee)autiful Blessings! Wish me luck!