Holiday Cheer

Thanksgiving this year was a lot like last year, but we had Nick's sister Stephanie in place of Justin.  I cooked almost the same dishes-- herb roasted turkey breast, apple sausage stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pie, and Stephanie made green bean casserole. I signed us up for the Dana Point Turkey Trot, so we woke up early and did our 5k run (might I add that it was warm, sunny, and along the harbor).

       

We came home and relaxed, clipped coupons from the sale paper for black Friday and started cooking. Dinner turned out great, and we had enough leftovers for a week. Then, we were those people who went to target at 7 to stand in line for 2 hours. Not for electronics or a new TV, but for an ottoman. Yep, we waited and waited, and participated in the crazy black Friday eve, with determined people who didn't have a goal or purpose for their shopping trip, who just filled their carts with everything they could grab. We got the ottoman after about an hour of trying to track down an employee that could get some for us from the back (why they wouldn't have some on the floor after advertising the price in the paper is beyond me). We didn't think anybody else would come to target for the ottoman, but there was a line (we were first) and people who weren't in line were grabbing the ottomans from the carts as they were bringing them out. It was quite a night, but we survived and I think I would do it again next year. :)


The weekend after thanksgiving, Nick and I drove up to San Jose for Stephanie's graduation from Palmer College of Chiropractic. Nick's parents, sister and grandma were there too, so we were really spoiled with spending time with family. Stephanie- we are so proud of you and so glad we could be a part of your weekend!

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This year's Christmas will be much different than last year. Last year, we didn't go home. We stayed in Virginia and took a little trip to New York together. We didn't make a huge Christmas dinner. We skyped with our families while opening gifts. It was just me and Nick. It was kind of lonely and a lot different than we were used to. We made the best of it, and enjoyed being together.

Tomorrow morning, I leave for Seattle for a week. Nick comes just a couple days after me. This Christmas will be split up between 3 families. Even though we won't be home for very long, we are so excited to just be spending the holidays with family and in the comfort of their welcoming homes. We can't wait!


xo

Fall

So apparently it's fall, but it's so hard to believe because I can lay by the pool in the middle of November. Thanksgiving came up on us so quickly! 
To help myself get into the holiday spirit, I made pumpkin bread and muffins last week and pumpkin brownies last night. The brownies turned out a little different--it's only 2 ingredients and no oil or eggs, so the texture is a little different and the brownies are slightly healthier. I found the recipe on pinterest, but for those who want to try them, here it is:

Ingredients

Brownies
• 1 "Family Size" box (19.5 oz) brownie mix
• 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

How to Make

Preheat oven to 350°
Line a 9x9 pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.In a bowl mix together brownie mix and pumpkin until smooth.Spread batter into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until set.Let cool completely. Frost if desired.

We also had a really nice date night a couple weekends ago. We went to a quiet beach in front of the Montage Hotel and watched the sunset with a little picnic. It does get a little chilly at night, but the view was perfect and the sunset was amazing.

Oh, and I finished my wedding planning classes. So I'm a certified wedding planner now. :)


I am anxiously awaiting Stephanie's arrival right now. :) I'm so happy we have company again for thanksgiving this year! I hope everybody has a great thanksgiving!!

xo

California is:

perfect. It is exactly what I expected and we are so, so happy here. After being here for a month, we are finally all settled in and making our condo feel like home. I am finishing up organizing and decorating, so once everything is done I will put some photos on here. We bought a file cabinet for the office and a big mirror for the living room the other day and I was so excited about it... does that make me old?

This last weekend we went to one of the beaches near our place-- Salt Creek Beach in front of the Ritz Carlton hotel. There's something about seeing surfers everywhere that makes me feel like I'm on vacation. :) Then on Sunday I went with a friend from college and one of her friends to a little town called Jillian near San Diego.  Jillian is known for the apples, so everything we did was apple related and so so yummy. We made apple cider, fed the remains of the apples to goats at the farm, ate apple pie and went wine tasting (yes, there was apple wine!).

We are so happy with our decision to live North of base. We have gotten so used to saying "we are moving to the San Diego area" but really, we are much closer to LA. But with Nick working on the North side of Pendleton (base is HUGE!) his commute to work is only about 20 minutes. It works out perfect and we really like the area up here.

Nick is all checked in and is working away. He really likes his job and the people he works with. And I have been doing my classes, laying by the pool, running with Lucy, and enjoying the weather! We haven't been doing anything too exciting, but are thinking about going to the San Diego zoo soon. :)

Come visit us, we have an extra room!

xo

A Little Update

We are finally in California!!

We got here Wednesday and drove around to get the know the area a little bit before looking at places to live. We originally were going to try and live south of Camp Pendleton (Oceanside/Carlsbad/Vista area). But since Nick will be working on the north side of base, the commute was much longer than we expected. We did the drive on Wednesday and it was about 45 minutes without traffic. The pros of living south are the prices and sizes of homes and town homes, but the commute made us focus on looking north (San Clemente/Dana Point/Laguna Niguel area) for places to live.

Thursday, we woke up and went to a local real estate office around 9am. I'm only mentioning the time that we got there BECAUSE when we walked in we were told two different times: "You guys are up early!!". I might love this town if 9am is early :). The real estate office was super nice and they did the research while we enjoyed our day at the beach, a local cafe (best coffee I have ever had!) and pool. Lucy has never been to a beach so we took her yesterday. We didn't see the "Dogs Prohibited" sign, but Lucy got to rip around and play for about 2 minutes before the lifeguard at the pier came on the speaker and told us to leave... oops. Good news is that there are a few dog beaches she is allowed at so we will have to visit those soon.

It's so beautiful here, and we are staying at the Holiday Inn close to the beach in San Clemente, so it literally feels like we are on vacation (minus the fact that we haven't done laundry in over a week because of the drive and we are wearing random clothes). We are eating at some amazing local restaurants, and to say this town is dog friendly is an understatement (besides the beach). Lucy got her own menu today at lunch... and no we didn't order from it. She also got a desset menu at a coffee cafe we went to the other day. As if she isn't spoiled enough.

Today, we looked at a couple places and applied to a 2 bedroom condo in Laguna Nigel. We will find out soon if we get it, so I hope to have good news to share soon!

Thanks for keeping up with us on this journey. Pray that we find the right place and get settled in quickly.

Goodbye, Virginia

Nick comes back home tomorrow (!!!!!), movers come Thursday and we are starting our journey to California on Friday (if everything goes as planned... lets hope).
I can obviously find negative reasons about living in Virginia on a daily basis... it's too hot, too much traffic, it's so humid I can't breathe, everybody is in a hurry...
But I really wanted to take some time to reflect on our year living on the east coast.
List time! I love lists :)

I thank Virginia for:

• Our first home together
• Sweet Tea-- I will really miss you
• Our first Christmas together... in New York! (we didn't spend holidays together while dating & engaged) 
• All of our amazing friends who have really become more like family
• Firehouse Subs... duh
• All the memories made with family visits
• The ability to spend time in and explore Washington DC
• The opportunity to babysit for the Tilney family-- I will miss them so much!
• The journey across the country... soon to be twice! We really do feel lucky with everything we get to see and do
• Showing me what it means to be far away from family, and reminding me everyday to not take them for granted

We will miss Virginia, but we are anxious to get back to the west coast and settled in California. 

We will keep updating the blog on our drive, so stay tuned!

Last Visitors in Virginia

I had been counting down the days for my family to visit since day 65 and their visit came and went so quickly. My mom, sister and Grammy stayed with me from August 30th to September 7th and we had the best time. They had never been to Virginia or DC so we did a lot of touristy things. I was so excited to pick them up from the airport and finally have some company for a while. We went to panera for dinner and relaxed at home for the night.

The next day I had a very special, surprise visit from Nick! My mom, sister and I spent the day in Fredricksburg antique shopping. We had no idea Nick was coming, until I called him with a question about the printer after we got home. He asked why I needed the printer and I told him we bought tickets for a bus tour in DC for Saturday and needed to print them out... and he asked if I knew if there were more tickets available or if they might sell out. :) I immediately knew something was happening, because why ELSE would he want to know if the tickets would sell out. A couple weeks before my family came, I kept jokingly asking Nick if he could come home for Labor Day because he had a long weekend, but he kept saying he couldn't. I didn't think he really would, but I was hopeful after he asked about the tickets. Later that night, he asked if I wanted to Skype at 8:30 and then I thought for sure he wasn't coming. But around 8:15, there was a knock on the door and it was him! He stayed for the first part of my family's visit (Friday-Tuesday) and it was so nice to be able to spend so much time together after 3 months a part. Only 10 more days until he is home for good!

Lunch in Fredericksburg at Capital Ale House

Minutes after he came home!

Saturday morning we headed to DC and got on our "hop-on hop-off" DC bus tour. It was a really hot and humid day, so we sat on the open deck part of the bus and enjoyed the breeze. We saw all the monuments, memorials, and toured through downtown DC. We  hopped off the bus to walk the steps to Lincoln's Memorial, to see the World War II memorial, and take pictures by the White House. Grammy has had trouble with her back for a very long time and has been through many surgeries because of it. She didn't think she would be able to climb the 98 steps to Lincoln, but she did it! We were so impressed and proud of her. Saturday was an exhausting day for all of us,  but so much fun and completely worth it.

Metro

Helping Gram up the steps

The reflecting pool was under construction every time we went to DC
So happy I was able to see if before we moved

Nick was playing with the Zoom Lens he got me for my birthday :)
Top of the White House

Sunday, we visited Mount Vernon, George Washington's Estate. I have been there a few times and love it more every time I see it. My Grammy read the book before she came, so Mount Vernon was on her must see list. We also visited his whiskey distillery.

                                           

On Monday, Nick showed my family around base and we shopped at the PX. After two exciting days, we decided to take it easy and relax. My mom and sister made me a birthday cake and we went out to dinner. I opened my gifts from them, and celebrated an early birthday since Nick was home and wasn't going to be there for my actual birthday.

Tuesday was another quiet day. We all slept in and I made lunch before Nick headed back to North Carolina. It was sad to say goodbye, but we were all so happy he was home for so long. We went out in the evening to get out of the house for a while- shopping at TJ Maxx and dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Rach and I at dinner

Wednesday we headed back to DC and went to the American History Museum and the Natural History Museum. I loved the American History Museum-- I think my favorite part was Dorothy's ruby shoes from the Wizard of Oz... and the room full of the inauguration dresses from all the first ladies. Grammy's back wasn't doing too well, so we made sure we rented her a wheelchair and she walked when she wanted to stretch out. She was embarrassed, so we all took turns in it :).

Metro

Mom and the Muppets

The Real Kermit

Wizard of Oz Scare Crow

Superman's Outfit

Metro

Relaxing after Museums <3

Thursday was my BIRTHDAY! We went to the Marine Corps Museum, shopping and out to dinner at the Charbroil Grill. Then, Fro-yo of course. :) I'm so glad I didn't spend my birthday alone, and so thankful my family was here to celebrate with me.

Rachael and Grammy touching a piece of the World Trade Center from 9/11

Lifting the Marine's Backpack-- she did it so easily 

Blurry, but loved the wheelchair today :)

Birthday Dinner

I was back to an empty house Friday night. I loved having them here with me and I had such a great time. Being a part of the Marine Corps usually means being far from home and away from family, so I really cherished the time I was able to spend with my sister, mom and Grammy. Hopefully another 6 months doesn't go by before I see them again.


Rachael, Mom and Grammy- thank you for coming and thank you for EVERYTHING.