Moving date

My little cozy condo in La Jolla is soon be switched out for a cozy little home in my same ward, just on the other side of the canyon. My landlord gave us notice that they would not be renewing our lease at the end of July, so we were on a frantic 2 week search for our next place to hang our hats. It's been a little bittersweet. It's always nice to call a place home and settle in. I've been settling in this place for 7 years! But the life of a renter hit me full force as we were on the lookout for a new place.

Our new abode is a cute little house on a corner lot surrounded by families and other cute homes. There is a backyard that we can plant our garden in and have flowers and new carpet and paint. The kitchen appliances are also newer and the cabinets were all refinished with new hardware. It's a cute house that has a charm to it. It didn't get us anymore bedroom space, but it is a 4 bedroom so the three of us will have a room to expand at least (craft/project room?!) and the kitchen is good size, with a dining area that is large as well. We have some good storage in the garage too. So, it's a nice set up, in a nice neighborhood that I definitely feel comfortable running in and closer to the local grocery store that we like to frequent. I will miss my little condo area. A lot of the young families and couples live in the condo area of our ward and they are a fun crew, and we see them often walking around, at the grocery store. The temple was pretty much a hop, skip and a jump from our place. We could see it from our patio. Our little house will be kind of tucked back into a neighborhood, which is great when you don't want to hear the crazy student parties that were held in our complex, or not hear all the cars driving through our parking areas at crazy times of night. I won't miss the guy who locked himself out of his car at 2am in the morning, and proceeded to talk for an hour on the phone while he waited for AAA to come unlock his doors. That was fabulous conversation eaves dropping (though I can see how folks would rather SLEEP DURING THAT TIME OF NIGHT!). So there are things to not be missed.

So cheers to the new housing adventure, cheers to the new neighborhood and to ingratiating ourselves into the good graces of our new neighbors. Our little western corner of the ward will hopefully be better because we moved there. Hey, hope the neighbors like cupcakes.

Fast and Slow

Remember those days when you couldn't wait for the next Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings film to come out, not caring that a whole year at least, would go by in the meantime. Life could be measured by the yearly Harry Potter installment, when we'd age another year with Harry. What's crazy is, I didn't really care that all that time went by. But now, it's all I can to to keep up with the fast paced speed that life is flying by and yet all I want it to do is slow down.

One of the best things my friends and I were able to do while we took a trip to Austin, was to float lazily down the Guadalupe River, down near New Braunfels. We rented tubes, and slipped into slow moving current, that propelled us at a snails pace down about a mile. It took us about 1.5 hours to get down the river. And yet, those 1.5 hours were just fabulous. I haven't sat for that long, with no distractions, no pressures, no social media buzzing from my purse. Time stood still.

When we returned, it picked right back up. Work, church, family, friends, all need my time and I am more than willing to give it. What's crazy is how fast that time gets filled. This weekend, one of my friends is getting married and last night was her bridal shower. Her sisters threw a fabulous garden dinner party and then gift opening and games into the evening. The best part was, many other friends who once lived here and moved away came back for the weekend. While standing with a couple of friends, all we could say was how amazing that about 1.5 years had gone by since the first one moved away and got married, then a couple more followed and here we were today, with my group of girlfriends splitting up. This is the ebb and flow of single girl hood. You make friends, close friends, who become your stable table, since you are most likely away from your families. And then those friends start to move away to other things. That table starts to wobble a little bit until you steady it with more friends who move into your circle. Throw in the added bonus of having to move to a new place when your landlord calls to say they are not renewing your lease at the end of July and your table legs rock a little more. But those moments of wobbly instability cause you to consider where you are in life and if what you're currently doing is going to steady your table enough. I haven't yet figured that part out, but I do know that these moments where the legs feel worn down, don't stay that way forever and they can be good motivators to make those sturdying changes. So I guess we'll see where this moment of upheaval takes me, whether it is here or there, or anywhere, the days move on and you end up where you're supposed to be.

A new dessert blog to follow

I love looking at desserts and thinking that I'm going to make them all. So when I found this one, I was excited, yet again, to find more dessert options. 

http://www.grandbaby-cakes.com/

The Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake looks divinely delicious!

Saturday Morning thoughts

It's been a while since I wrote anything. So maybe I should try something. It's Saturday morning. I have a busy few weeks at work. It's been project after project, with no real slow down since October. Now, with the government sequestering money and taking it back from agencies, we have less money, but still have to do the same amount of work. So, less positions are filled, luckily no furloughs as of yet for my office, but more work to go around. But today, I have a little chance to relax. I spend the night at my friends house and today, 4 of us are headed up to the Newport Beach temple to do a session. It's been a nice relaxing morning so far, I've gotten my visiting teaching report requests out, and I am updating, in a haphazard fashion my blog. I've been overwhelmed the last few weeks with things I needed to do and responsibilities and it's so nice to just take a day. I've been reading a book called "The Great Decision," and I probably should have read something else. It was so interesting, it was about the Marbury v. Madison decision of hte 1803 Supreme Court, which put the Supreme Court on the same level with the Executive and Legislative branch, allowing it to be a check and balance as the constitution called for. But, I work in a courthouse every day, so maybe something with some levity would have been preferred. But I found it required me to really think, and maybe I'll do a book review on it, just to show I did make it through.

I've made risotto twice now, and I have to say, it's becoming my new favorite dish. It's so creamy, can be rich with flavor and filling. So good. Life is moving ever faster to me, I can't believe it's March already and maybe that's caused some reflection. Three of my sisters are having babies this year, it will be the third for each one. So by the end of the year I will have 12 nieces and nephews. I measure my life sometimes in these birthdays and events that happen, and it occasionally sparks a little jealous note that it would be nice to measure my life with my own events like that. Instead, I throw trips into the mix to measure my life. A couple friends and I are going to Austin, TX in April to see the place. I am running a race the end of March, a little 5k in Balboa Park to raise money for Autism research. I will hit my 2 year mark as being Relief Society president in June.  Life measurements have different markers for me, but that's okay. But sometimes, it would be nice to be able to measure life like so many others around me. And yet, I have a great group of friends who are in the same boat as me, who feel that same way, and so it's not so lonely. If I have to be in this boat, I'm rowing along with some fantastic people, and it's not an empty boat.

Okay, that's enough seriousness.

Vacation to the East

No, not to the far east, but the east coast, Virginia to be exact. A few friends and I had been planning this trip for a number of months and it finally came! Blessed day! It came at a great time when I needed a break from work and some other items that press for my time. Our first day was filled with Delta Airlines, leaving from San Diego through Detroit, to Richmond Virginia. That little puddle jumper from Detroit to Richmond was certainly not my favorite. Still Delta, still the wonderful Biscoff cookies that they serve, but I think the little planes allow me to feel the air beneath us just a little too much. I didn't feel very well through that whole flight. But, in reality, I never feel wonderfully well on planes anyway.

We flew into Richmond, picked up our rental car and began our first adventure-to navigate our way to the Gholson homestead. After getting on the magnificent toll road, we got off on the correct parkway, but took off on the wrong exit. Should have taken 2nd Iron Bridge instead of the 1st exit. (Don't worry, by our last day there, we finally had it figured out). We met up with Ron and Katie, to then go back into Richmond for fabulous food in an area of downtown that is being renovated. Bottom's Up Pizza is fantastic, huge pies and pretty much fantastic! I got one slice and could not eat the whole thing. I think it was bigger than my plate. What's cool about all the shops around there is that they are old tobacco warehouses that are renovated to bring business to that area. I am a sucker for things old, walking the Riverwalk was just up my alley!

Where did 2012 Go!!!???!!!

I know, this year has been the worst in terms of me updating my blog and the world on my life. I can't imagine how my fans have got along with out this :) But don't worry, there will be updates coming. As a recap, the 2nd half of the year was full, with a few trips to see my family, work being busy, church responsibilities and of course the time spent with fabulous friends here in San Diego. It was a busy year and one that I need to recap for my own remembrance at least. So here's to updating!

Results of the Garden

I have kept you in suspense! I'm sure you were standing by waiting to see what happened...not. But here are the results. We have seen tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peppers, a couple zucchini's. Our strawberries, unfortunately, didn't produce this year and our yellow squash decided to not really do well. But it was a good first test of how we would do with a patio garden. It was fun to get out every day to water, to harvest and get excited when it was growing!