Two Days of Accomplishments

The last few days have been busier, although still relaxing. Still managing a little time for running and today was my first day back in the pool. The first few days of a new workout are always the best for me somehow--as if my body is just so grateful that I have it moving again! I am hopeful that once I am in settled on base in the South, I'll actually establish a set workout routine again.

I've gotten most of my name change stuff taken care of--who knew there would be so many steps in the process? Although really it wasn't quite as bad as I had been expecting I guess. While I'm grateful for the extra protections due to identity theft issues, it still doesn't escape me that I have to get special governmental permission to a) get married and b) change my name....which seems to me to be a basic right. But in this day and age of numerous policies (and don't get me wrong-I'm a policy person!), it's sad to see some basic "rights" overlooked by government bureaucracy, paperwork, and monetary fees.

It appears that I actually didn't make enough to file taxes and I didn't have any state or federal taxes taken out of what I did make, so that "to do" sort of resolved itself. Although Dad and I did run it through an online filing system just to double check and discovered that I could have received money back from the Feds due to not making much income. In light of the current state of government and the fact that I really don't need to take advantage of this great program that truly is benefiting many who do need it, I decided to pass and just refrain from filing.

That being said, my husband and I have been devising ways to get out of debt---almost all of which is mine due to school loans and finishing paying off my car. Yesterday I was able to find some job leads for on-base once I get down there this summer and this morning I submitted my resume for a couple of the openings. So we'll just have to see what happens. I also contacted the local school district about substitute teaching. Technically we can make it without me working if necessary, but I also know that if I do work then we'll be in a much better financial situation at the completion of the rest of his stint in the military. And truthfully I might as well contribute what I can to society, especially when there will be weeks when he'll be out in the field training for days on end.

I've started a couple of fabulous books over break as well. One is The Relationship Principles of Jesus, which my local church here is going through during this time of Lent. And the other is by a blogger (Cold Antler Farm) located on my right hand options. The book is titled Made From Scratch and is Jenna's practical and hilarious insights on journeying toward a homestead existence. I seriously am loving it; just as I love her blog.

Today, since the rain stopped and the temperature hit 60 degrees, Dad and I drove to check out the local beach. It was just a gorgeous early spring day! Sometimes I question whether I will ever truly lose that sense of childlike amusement at the beach, as I spent my time there checking out everything that had washed up on the shore, skipping flat stones across the lulls, and at times trying to outrun the waves from splashing onto me. Dad spent his time taking pictures of the scenery and of me running around. Here are a couple of the pictures that I did happen to snap:

Hope everyone has been having a great first of their week as well! Happy Wednesday!

Today I'm Grateful for....

Today I'm grateful for....
-conversation and love with my parents
-webcam chats with my husband that now include my parents too
-the small answered prayers
-safe drive travels
-green fields full of sheep
-blossoming trees of spring
-the drizzle that's outside; perfect for my morning run
-my childhood flannel sheets and my husband's sweatpants for sleeping
-time to read a book for fun
-love demonstrated through actions
-daydreaming
-afternoon errands yesterday with my granny
-the close relationships i have with my siblings
-access to yummy foods
-glasses of filtered water
-the same running clothes i've had for the last 6 years or more
-the comfort and relaxation of being "home"
-the decrease in stress i feel from leaving the city
-the chirp of birds in the backyard
-the realization of more of the little ways that we're just like our parents
-morning song time
-and just well LOVE

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

A Train of Thoughts

So it's never an issue of having things to write about that keeps me distracted from blogging. Rather it must be the inability to focus long enough on just one thing or selecting an appropriate topic to blog about that keeps me at bay.

So tonight these are the topics I had cross my mind:
--The run in I had yesterday with the Kay's Jewelry manager who pissed me off about diamonds while I was shopping for a wedding ring. I had gone in intending just to purchase a cheap, plain white gold band but was distracted by diamond accent rings. Somehow I started to think that maybe a diamond accent ring wouldn't leave me feeling so guilty about purchasing a diamond since it's just the left over chips in the shaping that are used. At least that was until this woman, after hearing me mention Blood Diamond, came over with a document from Kay's which she proceeded to "inform me" about---2 of the points were that the distributors of diamonds for Kay's have issued a written statement that their diamonds are conflict free. Hmm....I'm supposed to trust a written statement from...industry....sure. Since she wouldn't stop talking, I had to forcefully ask her to walk away from the salesgirl and myself or else I would leave the store. She lost the sales girl a commission and both should have been fortunate I walked out with the plain band anyway. (I couldn't not buy it though when it really was a major savings compared to others I'd looked at!) And I suppose if anything the sales manager made me stick to my original value.

--I spent the weekend with my granny who had been battling a cold during the last week. Every time she gets sick I just get nervous, especially the farther she gets up there in age. As she was still feeling tired and weak, even though she'd begun to heal up, it was nice to just spend the weekend there taking care of her. Whenever I have the opportunity to give back to her, I always feel so fortunate. It's always a benefit to me to be there as well. Having no internet there to distract me, I actually get work done while being there. And on my last day there I woke up early and just enjoyed listening to the geese and ducks chattering outside my window. I also had the opportunity to spend time with my brother and his wife, attend my church down there, and grab coffee with a good friend of mine--the closer I get to leaving for Louisiana the more I am attempting to cherish the moments I have left to interact with those here that I hold most dear.

--Once I get my final essay of this term completed, I will be packing my bags and heading for my parent's house on the coast for a week. Even though we only spent one week down there together, it's going to be strange being in our hometown without my husband being there with me as well. However I feel I am going to relish what could potentially be the last major visit with my parents before heading out of the state. I'll have to hit up my favorite restaurant and coffee spot, check out a book from the library, and finally get my body moving again on my old running and swimming routines. Somewhere in there I've got to get my taxes completed, continue to do some work for my boss, and continue to study for the comprehensive exam. But more than anything I'm just looking forward to quality time with the parents and getting to relax.

---And my final thought for this evening is that while I usually am not a big fan of new techno gadgets, I am grateful to be benefiting from those my husband has deemed worthwhile. The best technological gadget he's given me is that of the webcam. With the potential of having the next three months apart, our almost daily video chats (via gchat/gmail) seriously gets me through. It's definitely not the same as being in the same room with him but being able to see him when we talk just makes my day. Especially on days like today, when I miss him more than normal. The even brighter piece of this is that once I do join him, we plan on passing the webcam he got me on to my parents so that we can video chat with them also. It's really a great way to communicate with people and this way we'll be able to pass on the joy and resource to someone else. Another friend of ours (the guy that introduced us actually) is facing several deployments this year, so we're looking forward to being able to video chat with him as well. And we hope to get several other family members and friends on board too.

Anyway, just a few of the many thoughts running through my mind as of late. Hope you all have been having a good week! Take care!

And....We Do

It's amazing how much one's head can dissolve when one's heart takes over. Somehow I've been able to complete the things that I need to get done over the last few days, but I feel like I spend pretty much all my moments these days just enjoying....well being in love and being married to my incredible husband. Because yep, that's right....the first part of our marriage journey happened a week ago Friday. The relationship has been incredibly short but I have known what I've been looking for over the last handful of years, and this winter I definitely found it. I'm still in awe that the man I have been praying for all these years arrived in my life and is even better than I ever imagined.

As my husband is in the military and was only here shortly for the weekend, we just had a civil ceremony last Friday. We want to have a larger, yet simple religious ceremony later with all of our friends and family, so had asked that people refrain from joining us for this ceremony. And really it turned out perfectly. We had friends of mine (who are married) be our witnesses and then spent the rest of the weekend with a variety of our friends and family. We had dinner with friends, spent one evening in the family beach house, celebrated birthdays and the ceremony on Saturday morning with my family, and then spent Saturday evening until Sunday afternoon in Central Oregon visiting his relatives and attending church there. While it was all a whirlwind of a trip, he describes it as "the best weekend ever."

We were blessed with gorgeous weather on the day of our ceremony and great travel weather as well. I am fortunate to be married to a man who understands the beauty of the small things and simple moments of life, and who is very good at calling my attention to those memory making moments. One of those favorite moments from this weekend was driving on a snow covered road, the only car around, the sun streaming above, him wearing my funny car sunglasses that I can't bear to get rid of, and both of us singing along to the radio and laughing. I'm so looking forward to all of the little moments we'll have together for the length of our lives.

Later on in the year we do hope to have an official ceremony which will include all of our family and friends. However I hope it can be as simple as possible. I've already asked my brothers to be our photographers, a friend of mine has offered to make the cake, and I'm hopeful to get flowers from the rose garden at my aunt's. And really we'd just like for it to be a simple ceremony that occurs in conjunction to a potluck/bbq with those we hold most dear. Weddings such be full of blessings and happiness rather than drama and unrest.

However marriage does create much busy work! We are now going through the process of paperwork mania for moving stuff, insurance, finances, name changing, etc etc. But it will all get taken care of in due time. I suppose one nice thing about my still having three months left in Oregon is that it does buy us some extra processing time for paperwork.

But basically, never been happier. Life is good.....

More Changes

Change seems to be the key theme on this blog lately---well that's if you can call my couple times a month of posts anywhere near frequent. ;-) I'm just about to wrap up this term and settle in for a week or two of working for my boss, reading for fun, tax filing, and a bunch of other paperwork. The following three months will bring program changes (instead of taking a bunch of classes I'll basically just be doing one class and my environmental internship), graduation from grad school, a cross country move, and well some legal name changes to go along with that moving piece also.

Based on some of those changes, this blog will probably a) finally get more attention again and b) have a slight change in theme. My fiance reads my blog and so knows what's covered. And he reports that he trusts my judgment on what to write about our upcoming life together. ;-) So that being said, I forsee a lot of future posts about trying to make-do (and survive!) in a new surrounding where the closest mainstream store is Wal-Mart, fast food is abundant, I'll have to drive our recycling to a drop-off location, and who knows if they even know what sustainable produce is-let alone if there is any! I'm definitely going to be missing my "green" Oregon and supposedly-sustainable based city of Portland. I'm going to miss summers of organic, fresh, local produce for sure!

However there are some good things! My fiance has already discovered that both the "evil store" (as Dad and I like to call Wal-Mart) and the commissary (yes, that means I will be living on a military base) carry Burts Bees products and Seventh Generation cleaning products. That's a start at least. A couple he's met claims to be able to grow some produce in/around their housing, and at least there is some place (even if I have to drive there) to recycle. Friends are already telling me they'll ship me anything else I might be missing from my native "hippy" country (although the guilt I would feel at shipping!!). And truthfully, the fiance and I will learn to make-do and do what we can to live healthier lifestyles. If anything, I'm just going to be glad to be with him; embarking on this new life together.

Hopefully you're going to enjoy being along for the ride. So don't give up on my lack of postings just yet----wait around in anticipation and I promise you it'll be worthwhile! The best things seem to come when we least expect them!

Just a Nothing Ramble

Nothing much really to report--am just steadily trudging along through the rest of the term. I've come to realize that part of my problem of focusing this term has been due to the fact that I have multiple looming deadlines and too many different pots that are slightly simmering at once. I'm taking a fascinating anthropology course this term, and the professor mentioned in there that technically the human brain caps out at being able to manage about 7 different things at once. So if that's true, then it's no wonder that most of my friends in the program and I have been all over the place. We all are seeing the irony that a program based on improving health is creating havoc in our own healthful outlooks due to stress/time management.

We all have a full course load (with at least one course that requires much more work than normal this term), all are research assistants, all are trying to get our internship paperwork and internships solidified for next term, all are trying to start studying for our 2 hour oral comprehensive exam that comes at the end of our program, all are trying to prepare for graduation, and all of us have a major significant other in our lives. I feel lucky that unlike a couple of my friends, I am not working another job nor do I have children who need/deserve my time as well. How they are able to do it all, I don't know, but it seems pretty representative of the average overworked American.

However I do know how lucky we are to have this opportunity of grad school, to support each other, to have gotten to this time period in our lives. It takes a lot of support, a lot of willpower, a lot of open doors, a lot of hardwork, and a lot of scrimping and borrowing to get here. I know I will eternally be grateful for all the individuals, organizations, and experiences that got me here.

On another note yesterday was the acclaimed Valentine's Day. Luckily I feel that the man in my life is my gift and am glad that he feels the same. There was no need to exchange gifts, no need to glamorize one day, when everyday is a gift in itself. I am much more the type of person who likes to give little things on occasion when I see, make, or can do something that will make another person feel thought of and appreciated. My anti-consumption Christmas has thus transferred to all other holidays as well. I'd just rather appreciate the everyday little moments that themselves are the largest gifts than feel obligated or have another person feel obligated to get something just because "it's what we do." With him being so far away, my best daily gift is just the evening phone call I get to have with him.

As for now, I'm off to trudge along the rest of this weekend. One paper that is due tomorrow evening, a group meeting this afternoon, and I'm hopeful I can make it through the rest of my other book in the next day or two.

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend embracing the little gifts that are daily present in our lives. Have a good one!