3...2...1...

This morning started out as I expected....a lot of excitement about heading back to Iowa...a shower...finish packing...play with Kasey...prepare snacks...hang w/Jon for a few minutes before we headed to the airport.

THEN, Jon got the news that WE'RE MOVING (assuming our potential sub-leaser's credit check is approved)!!! We'll still be living in California, but we're moving to the country just outside of the foothills :)  Jon's co-worker has moved out of state and needs someone to rent her house.  We visited a few weeks ago and loved it.  It's a 3br/2ba house with a huge yard and even space for horses.  (Pictures to come!)

The only catch is that Jon has to move EVERYTHING by himself as our sub-leaser would take over June 1 and I won't be back from Iowa until June 3! Hopefully Jon can convince a few co-workers to pitch in with the big stuff.

Thank goodness he is more than willing to do this, but I feel awful he'll have to accomplish this alone :(

For now, off to the airport to go to discuss the crazy details of the next week of our lives!

I've packed some goodies for the trip...

 Trail mix with air popped popcorn, whole almonds, sunflower seeds, dried cherries, mangoes, and craisins. (You can barely see little blue pops of color in there...yes...I've added Dove Chocolate!)

 Apple, banana, and DARK CHOCOLATE!

And a PBJ of course!

Packed and ready with my new luggage, courtesy of my hubby.

Last family pic in this teeny tiny apartment...when I return...onto bigger and better things!

Sayonara Cali...hello Iowa!

What I'm Learning...

Moving two timezones from your family is obviously a big adjustment.  In less then one week I'll be back in Iowa, my FAVORITE place on earth (barely in front of Disneyworld...), with my favorite people (minus my husband and a few friends who have moved just as far away from Iowa as myself).

I'm struggling way less with living in California than I was even a few weeks ago, but it's not always easy! My first trip back to Iowa is in a week, so I've decided to do a reflection of what I've learned during the past five months about California, Iowa, Jon, Me, Relationships, Life, and anything else!  Please note that I'm totally aware that this is from MY point of view--I did not ask Jon for his opinion, thoughts, input, or advice on this one--so it will be completely biased :) Maybe I'll ask Jon to write what he's learned later... :/

Some of them are funny, some obvious, some positive, some negative, and some serious.  This is not meant to put down California, Iowa, marriage, or anyone or anything else.  I love everything and everyone in my life for different reasons.  This is just an honest description of life the past few months!

I have to apologize about the formatting---the template on Blogger wouldn't let me outline it the way I had hoped!

1. I am in the final stage of grief. Grief from being directly torn apart to everyone and everything that's comfortable, that's happening, and that's been my life for 23 years. Grief for losing my independence--it is no longer about MY wants, needs, hopes, and dreams, but will forever be about OUR (Jon and I) wants, needs, hopes, and dreams. You KNOW this is what it's going to be when you decide to get married, and this is what you CHOOSE when you decide to get married, but now it's the real deal, and no one can really truly prepare you for marriage--the good AND the bad. For all of you non-socio/psychology minded people, or anyone who just doesn't know, the five stages are: 
• Denial/Isolation 
• Anger 
• Bargaining 
• Depression 
• Acceptance--Yes, I've been through them all, and all I have to say to being in the acceptance stage is, "FINALLY!" Being in my situation and experiencing grief is immobilizing and makes you feel trapped!! You KNOW you shouldn't feel the way you do, but you feel that way anyway.  You KNOW you want to love the life you've been give, but you just can't. The freedom I feel is absolutely liberating.
2. What it's like to be the "new" girl. I am now truly aware of how it feels, and am ever so challenged to TRY to make an extra effort to be hospitable to ANYONE who is new to an environment that I am not.  I know this one sounds cliche and I almost didn't want to add it to the list, BUT, this has been probably the hardest part for me.  I moved quite a few times throughout college, but college is a special circumstance and you really aren't the "new" girl for long. You quickly make a name for yourself. I happened to still live in my home state near everyone and everything that was comfortable, thus making my "transfers" to different colleges much smoother.
3. "Pop" is called "Soda" here, and everyone laughs at you and says, "how cute," when you ask, "would you like a pop?" Funny because I think YOU'RE cute for saying, "soda." Anyways, I thought that was only in the south?! Apparently the entire west coast calls it "Soda" too.
4. I sleep and veg for comfort.  This is something that I KNEW about myself, but that I never fully admitted before.  I allowed myself to do this (and still sometimes will, as this is what I need to rejuvenate myself), but I have tried to take on a different awareness of this action.  I've tried to allow myself to do this only when my body NEEDS it, and instead consciously make an effort to be present and explore the other hobbies, interests, and desires I love or have always wanted to try.
5. Iowa really needs to get an "In-N-Out" burger, or SEVERAL.
6. People here really don't know the difference between Idaho, Iowa, and Ohio. Come on---did you pay attention in 6th grade?! So disappointing.
7. Marriage-hardest, yet most blessed, thing I've ever done-revealing too much about myself and my character. Constantly challenging/stretching one another.  My husbands best friend told us, "in marriage, the highs are higher, but the lows are lower." Any married person will tell you this, so I won't elaborate. 
8. We live in the Bicycle Capital of America, so you must, MUST, watch out for bikers when driving. Share the road people, share the road.
9. The fitness options are much more plentiful (obviously, it's nice weather all year long with more diverse landscapes), which we've finally gotten to start exploring!
10. Having control of your money and budget (thanks to Financial Peace University) allows one to  feel incredibly empowered and blessed.
11. The food here is so delicious. And, the options are endless. The plethora of tasty and FRESH foods constantly impresses me (and my taste buds).
12. They do NOT sell French (Western) dressing where we live.
13. There are NO Jimmy John's. BOO.
14. My husband tends to stand right in front of the TV during the most intense part of the show.  I never noticed this before.  I am one for letting your spouse be themselves, but I am DETERMINED to break this habit.
15. There are sadly not very many ma 'n pa ice cream shops.  Mostly frozen yogurt. Still tasty, but not as much fun as a million flavors of malts!
16. Northern California, as much as I hated to admit it, really is beautiful once you get away from the cities.  At times, it's absolutely breathtaking. Having the ocean, the mountains, the redwoods, San Francisco, and Lake Tahoe all within 2 hours driving distance is fantastic.
17. People do not usually J-walk. And although this is for good reason, it is hard for me!
18. The shopping here is fabulous.
19. The (country) roads absolutely suck here. 
20. I desperately miss my family and friends as well as the beautiful rolling hills of Iowa and the peace that it brings. NOTHING will ever replace that.
21. My dog has at times healed my heart! As cheesy as that sounds, I swear she can read my mind. 
22. I am humbled every day at the love my husband has for me. His encouragement, his sacrifice, and his effort. I am even more amazed at the grace of God and His plan. This is THE toughest thing Jon and I have ever done. Not just being married, but the whole move in general.  It is incredible to see how and even sometimes WHY (something not always easily determined) God put us together.  We balance each other so well at times, and other times....not so much. In both circumstances, what a blessing it is. We get to rejoice that God gave us each other, and rejoice that we're forced to compromise, be flexible, and give up ourselves for each other.
23. Wine Country rocks my world. 

Very much looking forward to my trip home, the celebrations that will take place during that time, and the hugs from missed family and friends. I'm so thankful for the journey of the past five months of my life.  Thanks to everyone who has supported Jon and myself, for that we owe you big time. Will some local wine and beer do? ;) Some new adventures are coming our way, and I'm excited to get to share them with all of you!  

Supper Last Night...

Jon got to go out for a work supper (and I got the leftovers, woohoo), so I used some leftover ground turkey to make a homemade Crunch Wrap Supreme.  Yes, so incredibly NOT healthy, but any form of taco's are on my TOP 5 FOODS list.

Prior to supper...I checked out a new women's only gym where I got a free 7-day pass.  We go to a fairly "normal" gym now, but there are a bunch of meat head's that also attend and I do NOT particularly enjoy their company while working out. I went to a 45-minute cycling class last night.  It made me wish I would've completed my Group Exercise Certificate that I started in college so I could teach cycling!  The combination of getting some aerobic exercise as well as re-living my childhood (riding a bike EVERYWHERE) is actually extremely rejuvenating for me.

Tonight I'm going to attend Body Pump.  Shout out to KERF as she regularly attends these classes as well.  I'm constantly reading about her workouts so I've been dying to try out a class. This will be my first as I've never lived anywhere else that offered it so hoping I love it :)

So far I'm LOVING the new gym because I made friends on day ONE.  Nothing speaks to this girl like female bonding time.

BACK to the Crunch Wrap Supreme.  This was a Pinterest recipe (I'm pretty sure it was anyways--I get lost browsing the internet).

Ingredients:

6 large flour tortillas

6 small corn tortillas (or tortilla chips)

1 pound ground beef

1 package taco seasoning

sour cream

nacho cheese (or shredded Mexican blend cheese)

shredded lettuce

diced tomatoes

Directions:

Brown ground beef in a skillet, then add taco seasoning (according to package directions). Set aside.

Bake the corn tortillas in the oven at 400 degrees for a couple of minutes, until they are golden and crunchy.

Microwave the flour tortillas, one at a time (because they cool off quickly), for about 10 seconds to warm them up; this will make wrapping easier. You could also warm them up in the oven; just wrap them in aluminum foil and heat them up for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Lay out the flour tortilla. Spoon some of the seasoned beef into the center of the tortilla. Top with some nacho cheese, or shredded cheese. Place the crunchy corn tortilla on top of the cheese/beef; spread a dollop of sour cream on top of it, then toss on some diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce.

Starting with the bottom of the tortilla, fold the edge up to the center. Continue doing this in a clockwise or counter-clockwise movement until all of the tortilla is folded over, and the filling is entirely enclosed. If your filling isn't entirely enclosed and you have an open spot, simply cut out a circle from another flour tortilla and place it on the exposed area, then wrap the tortilla again. 

Spray a frying pan with cooking spray.  Carefully place the Crunchwrap, seam-side down, in the pan. Press with a spatula and cook on medium-low heat, for about 3 minutes, until the bottom is nice and brown. Flip it over and cook for another 3 minutes. Serve and enjoy :D

This was DELICIOUS.  It was so good that I completely forgot to take a picture.  If Jon isn't there to remind me, I ALWAYS remember right after my last bite.  

I used ground turkey instead of ground beef because that's what we had in the fridge! We only had medium whole wheat tortillas which tasted delicious but made the "wrapping" part rather difficult. I had Organic Blue Chips for the "crunch" and substituted Plain Fat Free Greek Yogurt for the Sour Cream.  I am ADDICTED to this substitution for many reasons: 1)It's equally as tasty, if not better 2) Much healthier 3)Lasts longer 4) Less expensive--we buy a huge tub of it!

This is a fun recipe if you're home alone OR with family/friends/kids too!

I'll let you know how Body Pump goes.  As of right now, I'm exhausted and will need some major positive talk after work to get my butt to the gym.  Once I go I feel wonderful, but I stayed up too late this weekend watching our wedding DVD's and I STILL haven't caught up on sleep.

Hope you've all made it a great day :)

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Okay, so I went on a month long hiatus.  I'd go into the details, but trust me, you'd get bored quickly! I wanted to LIVE our life, not WRITE about it.  That is no longer the case!  I'll try to update this blog as much as possible, but as I said originally, this blog will be ever evolving.

This is the first weekend that Jon didn't have to work (WOO HOO!) so we got PLENTY of quality time together. Ha, ha, ha. I laugh, because I swear I'm cursed! Okay, I'm not cursed, but I am one of THE most forgetful people I've ever met. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Needless to say, this always creates road bumps, interesting trips, and funny stories. The Lord KNEW I needed someone with tremendous amounts of patience, or at least the ability to keep his mouth shut, smile, and go with the flow.

Friday we saw The Avengers! I wasn't sure I wanted to see it, but Jon could hardly wait (and as bad as movie theater popcorn is for you, I am a sucker for it!).  So off to the movies we went. Again.  The movie theater has been a popular date night for us because there are way too many extremely delicious (and fresh food) restaurants in Davis, downtown is always fun and charming to walk around, and the movie theater is convenient.  By the time we're both off of work on the weekends, there's not much left for us to do!

Anyways, The Avengers. I LOVED it.  This past week, Jon made me catch up on the superhero movies that I had NOT seen so that I could go see it.  Even if you haven't seen them all (Iron Man/Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America) the movie is still great entertainment.  Unless of course you don't have a sense of humor or any sort of appreciation for your childhood (or never had a brother!). :)

Saturday we headed for the foothills in Auburn...

After a beautiful (and windy) trip, we arrived at our hiking spot that Jon had carefully planned out.  As I'm digging through my bag to get my hiking boots on, I quickly figured out that I left my socks at home.  Of course. ONLY me. So, back into town we went. Poor Jon. Not only does he have to deal with my constant forgetfulness, he gets motion sickness when the temperature changes (I am NOT kidding...I didn't believe him...but it really happens).  You can't imagine how he felt after 2 windy trips into and out of the mountains :( He's a trooper though and onto the trails we went...after of course we saw a bear cub run across the road in front of us...look closely, yes, that's his rear.

We got to see Foresthill Bridge...the highest bridge in the state of California, and the 4th highest in the United States.

And finally we made it to the trail...what a stud muffin!

Yes I know, super sexy.

After a nap and a tasty dinner, we watched The Vow followed by our very own wedding video.  If you were present at our wedding and chose to dance, we will forever have something to hold over your head. In all honesty though, it was a great reminder of how fun and special that day was. And trust me, we ALL did funny things that we didn't realize were being captured!  We also got to actually LISTEN to the message our Pastor delivered to us--and HEAR it completely this time.  We both agreed that the entire day was a complete whirlwind.

Today we went to church, heard an awesome sermon on actually LIVING out the lives God intended--not just believing or saying or agreeing with the messages we hear and read. Brunch at Crepeville, a nap, a couple phone calls to some very special Mama's, and a 10 mile bike ride followed.

Two weeks until I'm back in Iowa! Hope you all had a great weekend and got to celebrate a special Mom in your life ;)