Hello from Massachusetts! Let's start back from the beginning. We left for the Ted Stevens Anchorage Airport around 10 pm and waited for Julian to get off his airplane. Once Julian came back to collect his car, we took our bags out of his car and checked in with our airline. We got through security and I was 'randomly' selected for a pat down but there wasn't a female around to do it so the guy just swiped my shoes instead. Our plane from Anchorage to Seattle left at 12:43 am and we grabbed some coffee cake and a yogurt parfait that we shared before boarding.

Our flight from Anchorage to Seattle was approx. four hours and I was lucky enough to have a crying, kicking kid behind me. He did better than I was expecting though and I did manage to get some sleep. We landed in Seattle around 5:30 am and then left about an hour later. I got coffee, a fruit cup and bagel (for the plane) along with some animal crackers and a couple of Cliff bars. So we got on the plane going to our next stop, Newark NJ. This flight was so freaking long. Almost five and a half hours. I didn't really sleep at all. I ate the bagel and cream cheese and the animal crackers on the flight and had some of the juice the beverage cart brought but that's it. We started our descent into Newark and it was so bumpy and jarring that I sort of got sick into the vomit bag that's located in the seat in front of me.

So we asked the stewards if we could be let off first since we had a really tight connection and we were all the way in the back of the plane but they said they wouldn't/couldn't do anything. So our flight from Seattle landed in Newark at 3:07 pm and we thought we would be alright because the next gate to fly to Boston was near where we were coming in...like two gates down.

Wrong. The gate originally told us was now going to Phoenix. So we looked at the board and our flight had been changed to C125 instead of C86. So we ran. RAN. SPRINTED. Through the airport. We heard the five minute final warning boarding call for the connecting flight and I had Andrew sprint along ahead of me and let them know that I was coming. I got there just in time. Literally. The doors were closing. It was crazy. And horrible to sprint through the airport after just having gagged into the barf bag!

Regardless, we made it. But we had to wait for our bags once in Boston because they didn't make it to the flight we barely made it on. But Continental gave us food vouchers so we spent all $24 at Dunkin' Donuts getting bagels and muffins for the week.  We finally got to my mom's new house in Auburn around seven and had gotten pizza for dinner. Then we went to bed at like 10 pm.

Saturday we picked up his dad's car at the hotel because we are using his car all week. And we went to Walmart on the way to Grammie's to pick up some things to do maintenance on some of Andrew's caches. Grammie wasn't home so I just saw Dad and Sam instead. After we went to do the caches and then we headed to his parent's house for Victoria's birthday. Mom came too.

Today, Sunday, we went to HBC for church. Erin came too. Then we went out to Leominster (spell?) to go for lunch at Friendly's before Erin and I headed back to Auburn to get stuff ready for Bridget's Bachlorette party....of which I will continue to right about tomorrow...because I'm exhausted and need to take a shower and go to bed before tomorrow!

So while reading another friend's blog today, I was reminded that being outside, out in nature -despite how cold, warm, snowy or rainy it is - is very therapeutic to me. These past few days I have been able to get outside with Andrew - we played disc golf downtown a couple of times, we've gone to Far North Centennial Park/Campbell Tract (took a wrong turn and had to walk 2 miles back to our car, on the road) and today we went down to Alyeska Ski Resort to do the disc course but it was a flounce. So we decided to check out the hotel instead and  then found a lot of caches in and around Girdwood.  I found most of them - and most of them were nanos! We stopped at Beluga Point on the way back home, snuggling under my sleeping bag to watch the sunset.

It has been a good long weekend.

It's definitely been a while since my last post - almost a month and yet things (like time) seem to slip away. I read a post from a friend from college and even though she didn't quite say it, her post was/is a good reminder to stay connected and even write just a little bit here and there will help me, and those who want to be kept in the loop.

These past few weeks have been stressful. Really stressful. To pinpoint the stress, to put my index finger on it and jam it into the ground so it no longer becomes a problem is hard to do because I feel as though it is a little of this and a little of that until it all builds up and WHAM! out comes most things...but it still doesn't feel any better.

I've been applying for and looking for jobs since April of this year. It's been about six months since I've started and I've only had one interview and a lot of dead ends. This is so frustrating. I have a second interview possibly on Tuesday, or maybe Thursday (I'll find out tomorrow) for a job within the education department of the Alaska Zoo.

I'm really burned out working at Barnes & Noble. I would really like to a. be paid much more than I am making (Auntie Annie's in the Mall has a starting hiring pay of more than what I am making and I've been with the company for a year) and b. a more stable schedule, preferably days with weekends off or just occasionally - say one a month. This job is not my career and it won't become one.

Bridget is getting married at the end of October. I would have really liked to keep it a surprise, but Andrew needed to know if he needed to wear his dress blues and I can't ask Bridget or Matt or Matt's Mom without one of them finding out and ruining the surprise. So I told her today (and Erin too) and they were both pretty happy. Now I have to figure out what to wear.

Andrew and I booked a cabin overnight for tomorrow evening and I thought I had a shift switch with another employee but it wasn't approved because mine says 'institutional' on the schedule and the coworker isn't trained in that so I either a. call Renee in the morning and ask her to switch me to Tuesday evening instead or b. call out even though it's lying and I'd have to give some excuse and possibly lose my job over it or c. go to work anyways, lose the money we paid for this cabin (and a lot of the fun I've been looking forward to for the past week or so). I don't know what to do.

I've been getting upset about a lot of little things and blowing a lot of things out of proportion/taking them too seriously when I don't think normally I would be. So tomorrow morning at like 6:30 I'll be calling up my PCM for an appt..hopefully in the afternoon. I need to talk to her and let her know what's going on. Plus, if I need to see someone else, she needs to give out a referral.

My spiritual life sucks. Major. I haven't been reading the Bible, talking to God, praying etc. I feel no motivation to, I don't want to. Yes I am going to church - which is wonderful - except today we didn't make it because of other important things we had to take care of. I really like this church we are going to and I am somewhat growing but it is painfully slow. Reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllyyyyyyyyyy slow.  I think I feel discouraged too because I am not getting spiritual 'checkups and encouragement' from the one person in my life who matters the most: Andrew. And he's still trying to figure himself out too. It's hard to encourage someone to be better when you yourself are not where you should be. We've stopped doing devotions together at night (it takes five minutes) and that is bothering me. I sometimes read them by myself but I would really like for him to be present for it - not snoozing on the other side of the bed - and willing to discuss parts of it like the book suggests with the questions at the bottom of the page. Any advice?

I didn't think that my mom moving out of the house I grew up in would bother me so much. Yes, I think it is wonderful and great that she is finally getting her own place, away from memories we might not want to remember and be able to get a fresh start...but when Andrew and I go to MA this October, I'm not going to be staying in the house I grew up in. The way I know to get home is not going to be the same. What it comes down to, really, is that I didn't think seriously that the few days before I got married of this year would be the last time I saw/slept/lived in the house. I figured that when I came back for a visit, my room would still be there (after all, mom promised that my room would always be there) and Andrew and I would just stay in it. But I guess that's not happening.

Another thing that is frustrating me is that everyone back home is hammering for us to come and see them (Andrew has already flown home four times within the past year) and blah blah blah but why is it that they can't come and see us? 'oh, well we have full time jobs and we have this and that and plane tickets are expensive...' what do they think we are? Made of money? Not working? Plane tickets from Anchorage AK to Boston MA are pretty expensive (although we did get a good deal on these ones) and certainly add up over time. Plus, we still had to get time off approved from our managers/bosses and put everything on hold so we can fly back. Stop whining about us not coming to see you/make it out to your function/making excuses because we (meaning me mostly) are sick of hearing your excuses. Want to see us so badly? Buy a flippin' plane ticket and fly your silly bottom out here.

The end.

Autumn is upon us. Early morning and late evenings have that crisp-air feel to them. Days are all-around cooler. The nights are darker, earlier. The trees have yet to turn here on base, but I am sure that by the middle to end of September, all the leaves will have turned and fallen. It seems weird to me, that it is only the very end of August, beginning of September, and it is already fall-like. Back on the East Coast it is still relatively warm - these last few weeks it has been pretty rainy - and a 60-degree day is considered warm (still wearing those t-shirts and sandals).

Anyways, some new-ish stuff in my life... after just over twenty four years of a wonderful dentist record, I have obtained three cavities - all of which will be filled at 7 am Friday September 9th Pacific Standard Time...so if you want to remember me on that day, please do...and pray for me now as the left side (both top and bottom) of my mouth has been bothering me (think: lots of ibuprofen) and I still have to wait two weeks to have this done! I hope the ache-y and uncomfortable-ness doesn't get any worse!

Two things I've learned in my short married life so far

There are two things I have begun to learn since I have been married (these short almost six! months). First, Andrew and I have realllly different tastes when it comes to decorating. For example, my mom just shipped up all my wall art, including a wonderful oil painting that was made by my friend Lisa York while she was in her senior year at Hougton - it depicts Massai women in their traditional garb in their village over in Tanzania. This painting holds meaning to me because I've experienced this picture, a semester earlier than Lisa. I also have a few professionally framed batiks I brought back with me and a digitally mastered art piece done by a Houghtonite I bought during my senior year. This Little Red Riding Hood piece was displayed in Java 101, the Houghton coffee shop, during an art show and I kept going back to it over the course of the show. I like it. A lot.

The question comes down to: where are we going to display these? My first guess would be the guest bedroom, but then again, we keep the door closed to keep the room as hypoallergenic as possible for those who visit us with allergies...and so by putting them up there in the room, they would never be seen and enjoyed. We could put them in our bedroom and it would go well with the particular bedroom set we picked up....but I'm afraid that because the frames and pictures are dark and may make our bedroom seem even darker than it already does...

Put them in the living room? Or maybe on that wall at the end of the kitchen that is such a blank white and we use the floor between the bathroom and the door to the basement as a catchall for the file cabinet and backpacks etc..... it would put more color in this house, maybe make it more home-y. What do you think?

Secondly, I went to another medical clinic today because I couldn't get in for an appt in the Hospital with my PCM (it seems I NEVER can!) So let me back up a little bit - and to warn you, the following information may be too personal for you so if you are uncomfortable - suck it up and keep reading or x-out of this blog. A couple of months ago I piggy-backed my birth control and the past couple months my cycle has been off... like a week. So basically, my body says 'I am ready to expel NOW!' a week early - while I'm still on the pill. So this past week has been pretty much the same except two days ago I had a really sore back and last night I woke up several times with debilitating cramps - worse than I've ever had in my entire life of cramping (which is very little to speak of). So I went to the clinic today.

One thing I have learned in these five and a half months of marriage is that nobody cares and I shouldn't either. And if I am caring, I better get over it quick. The first time I saw a guest doctor volunteering at the Hospital a few months ago for this same issue (infection!) I had to get over the fact that the doctor was a male... and today there was a student intern in the clinic and I said it was okay for her to be in there. In fact, what the heck!? If there is a student there to learn, and I have a problem (no matter what area of my body it is) then come on in - even during the exam. Students have to learn somehow. Oh, and I've also begun to not care-so-much about how 'groomed' I am when I visit the doctor. I mean, who cares?

A few highlights from this weekend's camping trip in Willow AK

At the top of the mountain, and near Summit Lake.

Summit Lake

The View from the top

A really cool waterfall

I was so excited to capture the water spraying!

At the base of the mountain.

Ally, the cutest little girl ever.

Her sister Emily.

Dinner Saturday Evening.

Kia

After eating fresh wild blueberry cobbler.

Salmon eggs, used for bait.

Dan Evans, with his first catch of the night.

Andrew's first catch!

Gorgeous sunset.

A simple oil change

A couple of things on my mind today: 

I went in for an oil change this morning and had to make an appointment for later in the afternoon. So I went over to Target to get a baby shower gift for this weekend, got slightly distracted by the sales in the ladies department (and only spent $36!) and walked out with some baby shower gifts and a new dressy-tank with sweater - separate items - and a pair of black leggings. But I spent most of the morning doing this. I sped home for lunch (which was way quick) and home brewed coffee before heading out again, back to the garage for that oil change. It was supposed to be about an hour. Two and a half hours later, I am paying for the oil change...and a new engine filter...and a new belt. They wanted to replace the rear struts as well (both of them because you can't just replace one - and the passenger side is already shot apparently) but we said no for now, because that would have cost (with labor) an extra $770, putting the bill up to $970...not something we have right now....ESPECIALLY since less than a week ago we shelled out another $330 for two brand new tires on the rear (I got a flat...and not just any flat - a razor-ed one)!

So I am driving home thinking about something my dear friend Kelly said to me yesterday while chatting: Why don't you think about praying [for your husband]? And she recommended the book Power of a Praying Wife (let's just add that to my ever-growing list of books to read!). I have a lousy prayer life. Just putting it out there. I hardly pray about anything. Yes, I talk to God occasionally (not as much as one might think) but I wouldn't label it as prayer necessarily. I have been thinking that this will be the fall I finish my degree from Southern and yesterday I was all excited after I talked to a counselor at UAA versus APU (and UAA is not only cheaper but on the list of schools that Spouse Tuition Assistance Program (STAP) will help pay for!)...and as I was driving home I realized something. I haven't prayed about school this fall. I don't know where the money would come from for that to happen, and even if I did [know], school starts in about two weeks and I will be hard pressed to come up with money for that...especially since we have to possibly shell out an additional $700 to fix the car....

Ever wonder why all the big stuff happens right in a row? It's like a woman named Kendra from Hospitality House who broke  shattered her ankle on a ropes course and she says that God totally broke her ankle so that she can really learn how to be humble (an area she has trouble with) and truly rely on God. So I sort of feel as though God is telling me that I need to pray about BEFORE they happen so that when they do I don't feel so stressed out and freaked out and whaaaa!

I can't promise my prayer life will pick up real quick after this one. Or that I will keep it up after a while. But it's a start now, isn't it?