My Own Worst Enemy

Have you ever woken up in the morning and before your body even registers the transition from the state of sleep to consciousness, your mind is already going a million miles a minute? I had such an experience this morning. Usually, my brain does this to me when I have had a particularly emotional experience the night before or when I have an extremely important event taking place the next day. For example, when Nik comes home from his trips at night... the next morning I shoot awake looking for him to make sure he is indeed laying next to me and not in a hotel bed on the other side of the nation, or world for that matter. This is my brain's way of reassuring his presence so that I can calm down and go about my day in a less anxious state.

I am definitely one of "those" people whose mind is her own worst enemy. However, this is usually a result of me focusing on one particular issue for long durations of time. This morning is different because I can't seem to focus on any one thing for a period of time. Just when I begin to analyze the situation I find myself jumping to a whole other topic... it's starting to become annoying. I do not like to leave anything unresolved, yet I find myself doing exactly that. To make the situation even more interesting, I am thinking about completely random topics that really don't even require any substantial thought. Here are just a few of the issues I have been pondering all morning...

1. Why in the heck can I not go to CNN without having to look at freaking Tiger Woods cheating face? Seriously, is anyone really surprised that yet another celebrity has managed to be unfaithful to his wife? Really? There are WAY more important issues to be discussed than a lying, cheating scumbag... like, oh well, I don't know... a war, a recession, missing hikers?

2. I really really hate to wrap packages, I am the decorator of packages in my family and this year I have no one to wrap the packages that then require decorating, so I will be doing both. I just hope I don't embarrass my father, the world's most amazing (and obsessive) package wrapper at Christmas this year.

3. Where can I find a scooter to practice riding? I really want to rent a scooter when Nik and I are in Rome, I think we will cover three times the area that we would cover on foot.

4. Where the heck are the stupid cords to my camera and iPod, I still cannot find them???!!!! (see post below)

5. How is that Lifehouse still manages to create fantastic music even after 10 years? I am such a fan.

6. What a disappointment The Lost Symbol was, how could this have come from the same man who wrote Angel's and Demon's? What a bummer.

7. Why is avocado soooo good and the only thing I am allergic too?

8. Why is the woman in the homeless office at the VA such a horrid despicable individual?

9. I'm still fired up about Tiger Woods, I feel like this is Britney Spears or Anna Nicole Smith all over again. Who cares?

10. How is my Addie so beyond perfect?

11. Why am I lucky enough to be surrounded by incredible and beautiful people in my life when there are millions of others in this world who have no one?

12. When are they going to make a movie about a Nora Robert's novel? She has some really entertaining stories.

Dizzying isn't it? I desperately need my husband to come home and turn my brain off for me, he seems to be the only person who can successfully accomplish this task for any length of time = (

I MUST be getting old

I swear, I feel like I am losing my mind these last couple of weeks. I am not sure if this is a result of having to say good-bye again to my husband, the fact that I have an enormous house now with a gazillion hiding places or if I really am just starting to get old. I have always taken pride in my memory; I can usually remember someone's name the first time they tell me, even if I am meeting ten people at once, I remember little tidbits about them for years afterward and am still appalled at exactly how much brain space I have wasted on memorizing songs and quotes from movies. It's disturbing.

So why is it that in the last two weeks I have been unable to find three rather signicifant items? First, it was the bill for our mortgage. That was SUPER awesome! The reason for the sheer awesomeness of this situatioin was that after we paid the first month's mortgage, UMAC sold our mortgage to another bank. Thanks, UMAC! To make matters even more fantastic, because Lord knows they weren't interesting enough, I completely forgot about the fact that it needed to be paid on December 1st until the night of November 25th, it just had to be the night before Thanksgiving, didn't it? Of course, once the realization dawned, the incredible hunt began, which of course produced absolutely no results. Nik being the genius that he is, called the bank and made the payment over the phone with our debit card. However, when I myself called the bank on Friday to explain the circumstances and ask for our account information, they absolutely refused. They told me there was no way for them to determine that I was the home owner. Don't get me wrong, I am all about security measures, I work for an organization that follows HIPAA regulations after all! But seriously, when I provide the bank with my name, my husband's name, our social security numbers, our monthly mortgage payment, the name of our former loan holder and still manage to get rebuffed, I am not a happy girl.

My second big stupid brainfart was with the iPod USB cable. I updated my iPod a mere two weeks ago and when I went looking for it on Sunday, nada. WHAT THE HECK? I am OCPD (Obsessive Complusive Personality Disorder) to the MAX, people! It is sick just how organized I am. In the first month I was in my home you better believe that I organized all my electronic cords into plastic baggies and put them in the box marked "POWER CORDS". How in the course of a week did I lose the cord that powers and updates my favorite electronic possession? REALLY?!

The last and final brainfart that officially sent me into crazy mode and almost led me to the psychiatric ward was misplacing the USB cable to my camera. My brand-new camera that my way more amazing than I deserve husband bought ME after I lost HIS camera last year. Oh the irony. Now, I can't update everyone on the progress of my home, because I can't find the cable to upload the pictures on my camera to my laptop, so that I can then upload them onto the blog.

Words escape me that this point, I am literally speechless that at 25 I am making these kinds of mistakes. What does that leave me to look forward to in the following years?

I think I feel a headache coming on.

Next Stage of Traveling

I have led an incredible life in my short quarter of century. I have the world's most amazing family, the best friends anyone could ever be blessed with, a husband I am still not quite sure I deserve and endless amounts of memories that revolve around all three.

When I was sixteen, my grandparents took my sister, Ashley, and I to Norway for a month. My grandfather is Norwegian, so we went to visit our family and see what has been referred to "As close to perfect as a country can come." Norway is indeed one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to, the people are friendly and hospitable and the landscape goes beyond words. I didn't think anything could be as invigorating as traveling to another nation with my family.

My second year of college, one of my teammates and best friend at the time, Margaret, and I decided to travel to Paris for a week during our spring break. I was twenty and flying high on my independence. Margie and I planned the whole trip on our own; we booked our plane flights, found our hostel, learned the very complicated underground railway system and discovered a city whose romance left two young women a little giddy. I never imagined that I could feel more alive and capable in my self than making that trip with Margaret.

Now, I have the incredible opportunity of discovering multiple countries at one time with my "World's Greatest" husband. In spring, we will be taking a 16 day trip to six countries! Due to the fact that we are both rapidly moving up the ladder to "adulthood" we desperately wanted to take the opportunity to see as many places as we could before we lost the chance to do so. Both of our jobs are very demanding, so it was a bit tricky finding the perfect solution, but we found it =) We are going on a Mediterranean cruise!

The incredible stops on our agenda include; Spain, Greece, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Malta and back to Spain. Here is a little glimpse at the places we will see... only our pictures will be way better, of course!

Barcelona, Spain

Rome, Italy

Athens, Greece

Turkey

Egypt

Malta

SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite person in the whole wide world is on his way home as we speak!!! I can't even stand the thought of waiting one more minute, my heart is racing and making it very hard for me to concentrate on anything work related. I have missed his goofy behavior soooooooo much! I look forward to more silly moments like these in just a few hours!

Mr. and Mrs. Sean Winser

Congratulations to my beautiful cousin, Sierra!!! Sierra and her new hubby, Sean, tied the knot on Halloween!!! Everything was beautiful and fantastic, Sierra looked radiant in the same wedding dress that her grandmother wore almost 60 years ago. I am so pleased for both of them and thrilled to have Sean and his family as my own. I have no doubt that they will be so happy together. Love you guys!

Cheers!

The bridesmaids

Sierra's college roomie, Liz

Elegant

Sierra and her parents

Sassy!

Stop and take a DEEP breath

Okay, I know that my dogs are in a state of confusion. Moving into a home they don't recognize, not having a backyard that is completed and at their disposal and suddenly being told that they have to stay in a dog run all day long rather than running freely must be a difficult concept for them to grasp. But seriously, I feel like they are intentionally making my life more difficult than it need be.

Truth be told, I have not been the world's most attentive mother when it comes to training, my lack of time does not excuse this fact. I also feel I must defend my unruly children to a certain degree because they genuinely are good girls. They just have sooooo much energy and they love me sooooo much that they simply cannot contain their excitement when they see me. It's a pretty incredible feeling to come home everyday and see their overly joyous puppy faces looking back at me with love and adoration shining in their eyes. I wouldn't trade them for any other dogs in the world when it comes down to it. I just wish more than anything that I could control them!

I had to run home during my lunch hour today because a man who pours concrete was coming out to measure the yard for an estimate. As soon as I came home, my children went crazy, as always. I feel horrible leaving them in the dog run all day, especially because there is a small patch of grass and the rest of the run is currently serving as a swamp land. They are muddy, whinny and psychotic by the time I get home everyday. So, since I had a little time during my lunch break I wanted to give them a few minutes of freedom. Bad idea #1.

I am obviously dressed for work and therefore in my professional attire. To make matters better, I am wearing a white cardigan today. Bad idea # 2. So when I open up the dog run to let my girls take off at warp speed down the length of the backyard to expend some of their, literally, undying energy, they come back to make their usual lap and hurdle their bodies right back in my direction. Screaming at them to stop at the top of lungs has little effect on either at this point, they are after all thrilled that mommy is home. Hence, bad idea # 3. Letting my crazy dogs out of the dog run when I know they are going to be excited to see me despite the fact that I am not dressed appropriately to play with them was not my brightest idea of the day. So now here I sit at work, my dogs are upset with me for toying with their emotions and letting them out long enough only to tease them and I have muddy dog prints all over my white cardigan and grey pants. Oh the joy.

First Time Home Buyer 101

It quite simply amazes me how little I knew to expect in this whole first-time-home-buyers experience. Usually, I feel decently prepared for what comes along in my life. Nik and I are the ultimate researchers and take much pride in this fact. We rarely make a purchase, decision or transition without giving it our up most attention and consideration. Before we made the decision to purchase a home, we sat down and dissected our finances. We looked at our savings, our income and then broke down all of our bills from utilities to food to gas to animals, etc. You name it and we most likely thought of it. Well, at least anything that comes along AFTER you put in a backyard, window treatments, purchase a whole brand new starter's kit of cleaning supplies, trash cans, food, paint, yada yada yada.

Good lord people, I cannot even tell you how much goes in brand-spanking-new homes. I can only be grateful that Lennar provided us with light bulbs for all of the lights in the house!!! What's worse, I have probably spent more on gas driving back and forth, back and forth to Lowes, Home Depot, Target, the grocery store, Costco and any other home "friendly" store that currently loves me due to the obscene amount of money I am paying them. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE these stores. At times I consider the stability of my mental health because I consider these happier places on Earth that Disneyland. I just get tired of arriving home after a very expensive and liberating shopping extravaganza only to turn around and go back out because I didn't realize I needed two additional trash cans, one for recycling cans and plastic and another for recycling glass. It really kills my buzz.

It amuses me that before Nik and I left Tennessee I had the foresight to pack away cleaning supplies, laundry detergent and some food that is not perishable. However, it does not amuse me that over the course of the last year this fact completely escaped my memory bank and I now have not one, but TWO of each item. Thank goodness I have the room to accommodate all of these items. So now I find myself in the very interesting situation of having too much of certain things and not nearly enough of others. I wish I could somehow delete the items that I have too much of and then the things that I do need would magically appear. And no, I don't think I am asking too much =)

I know I promised pictures and I will post the ones I have from before, but now I am going to wait to post pictures of the after until everything is done. My absolutely incredible and way better than I deserve family came over this weekend and between my parents and sister and Nik's friends, grandmother, aunt's and Uncle Robert, we were able to put in backyard, a sprinkler system, a dog run, paint every room that needed to be painted and put in window treatments in the master bedroom and bathroom. I am so beyond thrilled with the results, I am literally amazed. So, as I finish the final touches in each room, I will post pictures. For now, here is what I have from the before...

The front door and entry way

The dining room, right off to the left side of the entry way


The side yard, now the dog run

The backyard

The backyard

The master bathroom

The master bathroom

The master bedroom

One of the three bedrooms, going to be the study

Guest bathroom

Looking out of the kitchen to the great room

Looking into the kitchen from the great room

The great room

The great room

The breakfast nook and kitchen bar

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!!

If for one second I ever doubt how lucky and blessed I am, I only need remember this past weekend and I shall doubt no more. It is unbelievable how incredible all my family is. Between Andrea's help on Friday; Oma, Papa, Nikki, Robert, Andrea, Fred, Pam, Kristin, Alex, Mitch, Jeremy, Steph, Chadwick, Samantha, Steven, Alex, Matthew, Erik, Anna and Ben's help on Saturday and Oma plus all the tante's and uncle's help on Sunday, Nik and my home is almost finished! All I am waiting on now is my parents, sister and Far Far's trip on Friday to drop off yet more furniture and stuff, then bookcases for the library and the Beer's home will be complete!

I am so grateful that my obsessive compulsive personality did NOT cause me to lose the love of any of my loved ones. In fact, everyone was so respectful of my quirky and often ridiculous organizing habits, that I hardly realized I was having them. How lucky can a girl get?

I cannot thank everyone enough for putting up with the craziness this weekend, I appreciate it more than I could ever possibly verbalize. You are all fabulous!

I have before and after pictures that I will be posting either today or tomorrow, let me know what you think!

It's Official

Well, there is no going back now. Nik and I are official home owners! Two words come to mind right now. Holy shit. That's about all I got. I'm pretty numb at this point. There has been a constant war between my emotions all morning. First, was obvious delight. Nik and I finally have the opportunity to create our home, can life be any more beautiful? Wonder is another frequent emotion, how can two people in their mid-twenties be so fortunate? Happiness, elation, giddiness; these are all other positive emotions that have been jumping around inside my stomach for the last six hours.

However, there is also a really weird sense of guilt. I'm not supposed to be doing this without Nik, that's just wrong. He is my partner through everything that I do. I feel like I just went on a spending spree and charged six figures worth of stuff onto our credit card behind Nik's back. Not just stuff, more like hundreds of thousands of dollars on shoes and now Nik is going to be pissed! He really hates it when I buy shoes since I already own somewhere around 60 pairs. I know this feeling is slightly ridiculous, after all Nik and I do not make large purchases without consulting each other, especially a purchase to the magnitude of a real life house. I just can't help it, it felt like something vital was missing the whole time, something in addition to my heart.

Now I just have to wait for the call to come in announcing when I can pick up the keys. After that, it's on. I will transform from relatively calm and sweet natured Brittney to psycho-obsessive-compulsive-have-to-take-care-of-everything-and-make-it-perfect-before-my-husband-gets-home Brittney. I may lose some friends and quite possibly the love from my family, I can only pray that will not occur. Cross your fingers for me over the next few weeks, I will need all the support I can get.

How quickly time passes

It's incredible how quickly time can pass, even when it appears to be crawling. Life has been anything but dull in the past two months since I last blogged. I am still missing my husband terribly, but I was fortunate enough to spend a few days with him not long ago. As always, he is as close to perfect as any human can be. Not much longer and he will be back home, exactly where he belongs.

I am extremely thankful that when he comes home in less than two months, he will be coming home to mine and his home. Finally, our housing prayers have been answered. Unfortunately, the house that has had our complete and total devotion for the last... well, almost 11 months... will not be that home. However, the house that has come along is exactly what we never thought we could have this early on in our lives, but everything we have dreamed of. It's brand new and in the completion process as we speak. By the end of the month I will be in process of trying to move a very very large amount of stuff into a house that can accommodate all of that stuff. I might even need to buy new stuff =)

I am in my final three weeks of class, which is equally unbelievable. It is hard to imagine having my evenings to myself again after having given them up completely for the last four months. Now I get to think about what comes next. I know I am not done with school, there is still so much more I want to learn. I just have to determine how much more I want to know and how much money my family can afford to put into my education.

I get to go and complete a walk-through of the house this week, so I will take more pictures then, but in the meantime, here is a quick peek.

Hero's Bifday!

What can I say, July is a great month! Happy birthday to Miss Diana, also known as Hero. I hope you have an incredible day, love you lots!

Nik's Birfday!

Happy birthday to the most wonderful husband in the world! Thank you to everyone who called either Nik or myself to wish him well!

The Half-Blood Prince

I expected that life would slow down considerably after Nik left, at least the social part of my life. I should have known that Nik would have addressed that issue prior to his departure. Life has not slowed down at all and may in fact be more busy than while he was home. The little spare time I have has been devoted to re-reading all of the Harry Potter books. I was surprised when I realized that the sixth movie was coming out and I could not remember ANYTHING from the book! Usually I have a pretty good memory when it comes to the books I have read, but somehow The Half-Blood Prince completely bypassed my brain. I then also realized that I could not remember much about the stories in general with the exception of key events and characters. So, I decided to read them all again =)

This may not have been the best idea, however. With the sixth book fresh in my mind, I went to an early showing of the movie on Saturday morning with some of Nik's family. Nik's eldest cousin, Anna, is a die-hard fan, much like myself. She and I have been itching to see the movie for a while now and were beyond thrilled that our two years of waiting for the next film had finally come to an end. We had certain expectations from this movie due to the feedback we have heard from people we know.

I, myself, was slightly disappointed in the outcome. I know, I know, I know that movies are NEVER as good as the books themselves. There is so much that is lost in translation that it makes the possibility actually impossible. But still, when a screen writer takes scenes out of the movie that was in the book, I feel they should absolutely not be putting scenes in the movie that never took place in ANY of the books. This slightly irks me. It also irks me when certain scenes and characters have been left out of prior movies, which thus completely changes what will happen in future movies. For those of you who both read the books and watch the movies, I think you know of what I speak. The lack of certain Weasley characters, the extra scene at the Burrow and the complete negligence of acknowledging the funeral; all made it very hard for me to thoroughly enjoy this movie.

Because I was already on a role and desperately wanted to finish the series, I read the seventh book as well. I will be sure that it is the last time I read the Deathly Hallows until after the second movie for the seventh book has been released. That way, I can hopefully avoid disappointment if the last two movies do not meet my high expectations on my favorite book regarding the tale of Hogwarts.

Sad Farewell

Well, unfortunately it had to happen sooner or later. My wonderful husband has left for his academy. Needless to say, life isn't too peachy currently. The first couple of days are always the hardest, then new routines are established and the pain slowly eases to bearable.

This being the third time since Nik and I met that he has left for an extended period of time, I would think that I would have built up a tolerance at some point. I guess it just never gets easier. I am thankful for the fact that he will not be going over sea's and that I will have more opportunities to speak with him than if he were deployed. I will keep everyone updated on how he is doing and what is taking place in the meantime.

Jam Packed Weekend

This last weekend happened to be Nik's last weekend before he leaves. It also happened to coincide with 4th of July and our second wedding anniversary. Needless to say, it was extremely eventful. After arriving home on Thursday night from class, Nik and I went through the process of packing up our camping gear. We decided to take a couple days with Nik's buddies and "rough it" in the mountains near Shaver Lake. This was pretty exciting for Nik and I because it gave us our first opportunity to use our new camping gear. Nik and I were thrilled with our new tent, sleeping bags and 80 cubic liter backpack! We look forward to building up our collection of camping gear so that we can continue take more trips in the future.

We arrived home on Saturday afternoon and immediately made a run for the shower, both of us had managed to collect a good portion of dirt on our bodies and clothing. Since we camped with friends, we didn't get too much sleep, so we took a couple hour nap after finishing our showers. Later, we went over to a friend's family party to eat incredible food and shoot off our own fireworks. There were a handful of children present, so we had a blast entertaining them with sparklers and poppers. Some celebrations really are enhanced by the presence of children. I can't help but get a kick out watching the expressions on their faces as they experience something new and exciting.

Sunday was our second anniversary and spent mostly out and about. We met Nik's grandfather and his grandfather's best friend and family for breakfast at Toledo's, a Mexican food restaurant with a superb Mariachi band. This has been tradition between his grandfather his grandfather's friend for a number of years. The food is very good and the music festive. Once we finished eating, we wanted to run over to Target to get some items for Nik before he takes off. We also checked out some things that we have considered purchasing for the house, I want Nik to be part of as many aspects of the home buying experience as he can be. Before heading home, we stopped off at Nik's aunt and uncle's house to chat with the family. Nik proceeded to spend most of his time on the floor, wrestling with his 13 and 11 year old cousins (which pretty much takes place every single time they spend time together).

To cap off the night we went for Teppan-Yaki, one of our favorite places to eat. We of course ate way too much, but it's so hard to stop! After we finished, we came home and spent the rest of the evening relaxing on the couch, a book in my hand and a remote control in Nik's =) Altogether, a very pleasant, fun, relaxing and busy weekend.

Good luck streak with movies

By the time that Friday hits each week, I am usually pretty exhausted. Between working a 40 hour week and going to class for 16 hours, I definitely could not win an award for the life of the party. Since I also have class early on Saturdays, I don't even have the luxury of sleeping in the next day. So, I am thrilled to have found the perfect activity for the "end of the work week exhaustion". Going to the movie theater. The new trend began Friday over a week ago. Nik and I had been dying to see The Hangover, we just hadn't had any time to actually go. So, after I finished with class, I hurried home to pick him up and then race over to the cinema just as the previews were finishing. We both almost peed our pants from laughing so hard. As long as you aren't easily offended, I would highly recommend the movie to anyone who needs a good laugh.

This last Friday, we stuck with the theme and went to another Friday evening movie. This time, Nik's buddies and their significant others were with us. I was raised in a very non-gender-stereotyped home, but I cannot recall playing with Transformers much as a child. However, I have seen the first movie and enjoyed it enough to give the second movie a try. I LOVED it! The movie was actually extremely entertaining and captivating, even for two and a half hours. Needless to say, I am pretty excited about my streak of good luck with movies.

Here are some other movies that I am looking forward to seeing:

Harry Potter 6- only 17 more days!
The Proposal
The Ugly Truth
My Sister's Keeper (loved the book)
Public Enenies
Funny People
Holmes
New Moon

The evil game of house buying

For those of you who have never had to go through the stress of purchasing your first home, you probably shouldn't read this blog. You may decide to never purchase a first home, especially a short sale. Little lesson, there is absolutely nothing short about a short sale. In fact, short is the antithesis of a short sale. It is a long, grueling and horrid process. To bring everyone up-to-date, Nik and I first started looking at homes shortly after we moved to Fresno back in October of 2008. After only one day of house hunting, we fell in love with a beautiful home located in an up-and-coming young family neighborhood. We thought the house would be the perfect first home for a young married couple who desires to have children someday.

For all the property virgins out there, let me break down the process of house buying. First off, purchasing a home falls into one of three categories; regular sale, short sale and foreclosure (REO). With a regular sale, the buyer and the seller come to an agreement together on what the final selling price will be. Foreclosures require an agreement between the buyer and the bank because the bank in this case owns the home. In the case of short sale, the price of the house is "upside down" meaning that the cost of the house when the seller purchased the home is more expensive then what the current appraisal is on the home. Therefore, the buyer and seller come to an agreed purchase price, but then the bank has to approve the price as well and determine that the seller is financially incapable of paying their mortgage. This the situation that Nik and I fall into. Sounds awesome, doesn't it.

So, after falling in love with this house, putting in an offer, putting in a counter-offer, finally coming to an agreement with the seller and signing an obscene amount of paperwork, we thought we were set to go. This all took place last November. We are still not in our home. From what our realtor has told us, we are definitely not one of the lucky one's. In fact, we are one of the most unlucky one's she has dealt with. Thanks Bank of America, for making our lives so stressful.

We thought that once word came in that the last BPO (appraisal) was submitted to the lender, we would be about 15 days out from moving. The appraisal was turned in last week, so we were desperately hoping to move in before Nik leaves. I doubt that will happen.

Here is a picture back at Christmas time, we thought we were a mere month away from moving then...

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there, a day late unfortunately. I want to wish a special Happy Father's Day to the new daddy's out there, as well as my own, who is one of the two most incredible men in my life. I love you very much, Da!

Childhood Favorites

When I was a little girl, my parents took my sister and I to Sea World during summer vacations. This beautiful tradition ended when I was 9 and I had not been back to Sea World since that magical third grade summer. Until two weeks ago. Nik, being the most incredible husband that he is, decided it was time for us to make a trip down to San Diego together. So we purchased tickets online for Sea World, found a hotel and packed our bags!

I have to admit, I was a little worried about visiting Sea World in particular. I had hyped up the memories from my childhood to the point that I was worried I may end up disappointed as an adult. I should have known it would be just as fabulous, if not better, than what I remembered.

The first day Nik and I took in the sights of La Jolla, a small beach side community near Mission Bay. My parents honeymooned at La Jolla 27 years ago after their wedding and as a result, the town holds a special place in my family's heart.

Here are some pictures we took during our stroll around the town...

On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to get an early start. We arrived at Sea World just after the doors had opened, anxious to get started. The day was absolutely fabulous. Sea World has incorporated some fantastic pre-show entertainment (for those of you have been recently, I LOVE the Sea Lion and Otter pre-show!).








Our excitement is hard to miss =)


Essentially, the day was perfect and we hated to leave, but we were so grateful for the chance to take a mini-honeymoon vacation. I am crossing my fingers that it won't be the last time for another 16 years!

Joining the world of online blogging

Last May I turned 25 and for the first time, seriously considered deleting my facebook account. Ever since my good friend Arleen set up my facebook profile, and somehow managed to have created an uncontrollable addiction to procrastinating the world of college, I have been a die-hard fan. I toyed with MySpace for a couple of years and in fact, can contribute mine and Nik's relationship to the overly used and abused website. This was the first attempt of contact after our initial meeting on the evening of our mutual friend, Emily's, birthday. The rest is now history.

The thought of getting rid of facebook, I found, was difficult in large part because I desperately want to stay connected with my friends and family. Clovis has provided me with incredible in-laws and a variety of new friends, thanks of course to my husband. But with the exception of my roommate from college, Kristin, who lives approximately 20 minutes away, I no longer find myself surrounded by the plethora of relationships that I had established between college volleyball, people from my major and crazy Crandall gatherings. Even my hero, Diana, is a 45 minute drive to the south. My incredible family is a not-so-short 10 hour drive away and my girlfriends on the east coast require a five hour plane ride if I hope to steal a weekend with them and their enchanting daughters.

I realized after mine and Nik's second wedding, back in April, just how hard it is to have distance from the one's you love. My post-wedding blues were a result of no longer having my favorite people surrounding me, rather than feeling a sense of loss once I no longer had a gigantic event to plan. It is because of this desire to keep my relationships in tact that I made the choice to start a blog. I don't have the time and I know that my friends and family do not have the time to catch up on a daily basis, at times even a monthly basis. As a result, I want to use this blog as a way of keeping in touch as much as possible. My friend Laura first introduced me to this concept, both she and her friends have successfully utilized the blog for its purpose. It is my hope that some of my loved ones will choose to start a blog of their own, so that I can also keep better in touch with the events taking place in their lives.

So... here is my first attempt at staying better connected. Between buying a home, Nik taking off for his academy, surviving two ridiculously active dogs, going back to school for alcohol and drug counseling and dealing with the everyday little events that take place, I am sure I can find something to write about every-so-often.