This past week has been an interesting one. Last Thursday (5/13) Craig got a message from his friend Justin regarding a programming position at his company in Oregon that they have had a problem trying to fill. He said that they have a few remote programmers that work out of Southern California but they would prefer to find someone local and if Craig would be willing to move, he would more thank likely have the position. Craig was immediately excited about this opportunity and I was naturally hesitant about such a drastic change. Leave my friends? My family? I don't know anyone in Oregon! What the heck is IN Oregon?! But in the end I decided that Craig should take this opportunity. I wouldn't want to be the person holding him back (could you imagine the guilt?!) and I think it will do good things for our relationship. The pros definitely out weigh the cons, I mean really - no sales tax (compare to nearly 10% in CA), cost of living is much less, the houses in OR are way larger and on much more land, a new culture, new people, and I hear it's just beautiful there. Craig has always wanted to move to a more "urban" environment and he also loves the beauty of green landscapes and Portland fits in with both. In the past we've talked about moving to another state, I was always joking about it but if California is falling apart at the seams then why not move to a place that has it's sh*t together (well, more so than CA)?
So when is all of this going to take place? Well, I intend on working as long as I can where I am at. The "extra" money will come in handy and as it is now there isn't too much of a shortage of work for me to do. It's been slow but I feel there will be enough work to last until the move. Plus if my boss agrees to it I could do some remote working to wrap anything up or on an as needed basis in the future. Craig put in his two-weeks at his current job earlier today (5/21) and then he'll drive to Portland to begin working and looking for a place to live and then we'll arrange a moving truck and coordinate how we'll get everything up to OR. With that said we have no idea when we'll actually be moving but I estimate around the end of June and early July.
I am hoping to have a farewell party on the Friday night of our moving weekend so for now just keep your Friday nights toward the end of June, early July open. :-) We will need some volunteers on the following Saturday morning to help us load the moving truck, everything is packed (as it is currently stored in the garage at the condo) but I think a few extra helpers for the heavy stuff would be nice to help us get the truck loaded up faster so we can start our seventeen-hour drive to Portland sooner. That should be an interesting drive with two dogs.
The past week has been bittersweet. Thinking about missing my friends and family immensely has brought me to tears a few times, the thought of being in a foreign place and not knowing anyone but my husband has made me nervous, but the excitement for things to come has made me optimistic and I can't wait to get this adventure started!
Much love to all of our friends and family, we will miss you!!
P.S.
You will visit us in Portland, won't you?
Friday, May 21, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Slacking Off
So, I have this tendency to slack off on finishing projects (is this even news to anyone?). Its caused me to have way too many unfinished projects lying around, leaving areas of the house messy and taking up storage space. I spend money I shouldn't be spending on new projects because I get bored with the "old" (even though I really want to finish the old projects) or I'm spending more money on various things to finish the old projects without actually working on them more than a day or so. I have several years of scrap booking projects that I should finish before I forget what was going on in the pictures. I think that is the most important of the projects I'd like to complete (at least up until the end of 2009 - so that would mean I have 3 1/2 to 4 years of pictures to get into books, plus a few vacations). I also bought a various amount of beading supplies because I wanted to make this ring that a co-worker of mine wore (her friend made it for her). $35 in beads, another $40-60 in tools, and various donated supplies from my Mom later...it sits in a craft box waiting for me to have the patience to figure out how to make the thing. One of the wives of Craig's co-workers made me a little diagram of how to make the ring, I tried and realized I didn't have the correct beads for part of it. Got frustrated and quit. I will go back to it again, but I think I need to clear my head of ALL of the other projects I have running through it, sort of a "start fresh" sort of thing. Yet another project - a few years ago I made 3 pieces of art out of laminate flooring samples I got from work -they turned out really nice and my sister in law requested I make her one. I have everything I need for it except a tube of liquid nails and this simple thing is the only reason why this project has sat in my to-do for over a year.
I guess the whole purpose of this post is to get me thinking about which projects I have and which order to complete them in. This sort of goes along with my 101 Things in 1001 Days list too, if I can get these projects complete it will take care of about 5 items on that list. I am determined to finish these projects THIS year (at least that is my frame of mind at this moment in time). Now the question is: Which project do I take on first?
I am thinking of taking on the scrapbooks first as that project is the most far behind but it is definitely an overwhelming one to take on. The reason I want to do this one first is because Craig and I have been discussing a trip to Ireland and I know without a doubt there will be much to scrap-about. I wouldn't want to get even further behind after the potential trip so if I can get caught up before hand, then I'd be more apt to get that vacation book knocked out in a jiffy upon our return!! At the same time I could work on the art project for my sister in law - the glue takes a day or so to set-up and I would have to have the laminate pieces weighted down to the foam-core as it dries. It took me a good week to get the first 3 pieces done because of this. Just need to hit up the home improvement store now.
My goal in the next two weeks: At least begin the art project (hopefully finish it) and get to the next port on my cruise scrapbook (baby steps). I'll try to update.
I guess the whole purpose of this post is to get me thinking about which projects I have and which order to complete them in. This sort of goes along with my 101 Things in 1001 Days list too, if I can get these projects complete it will take care of about 5 items on that list. I am determined to finish these projects THIS year (at least that is my frame of mind at this moment in time). Now the question is: Which project do I take on first?
I am thinking of taking on the scrapbooks first as that project is the most far behind but it is definitely an overwhelming one to take on. The reason I want to do this one first is because Craig and I have been discussing a trip to Ireland and I know without a doubt there will be much to scrap-about. I wouldn't want to get even further behind after the potential trip so if I can get caught up before hand, then I'd be more apt to get that vacation book knocked out in a jiffy upon our return!! At the same time I could work on the art project for my sister in law - the glue takes a day or so to set-up and I would have to have the laminate pieces weighted down to the foam-core as it dries. It took me a good week to get the first 3 pieces done because of this. Just need to hit up the home improvement store now.
My goal in the next two weeks: At least begin the art project (hopefully finish it) and get to the next port on my cruise scrapbook (baby steps). I'll try to update.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Quickie
A quick update.
#37 - Well I think this month I've made up for the 24 pictures per month that I missed doing the past few months mostly because of completing #90.
#54 - Work in progress. Planning the Owens family reunion and intend on sending out invitations in the next month. Yippie!
#56 Well, a possible Vegas trip is being planned, I don't have many details of it yet - everyone who's involved in the pre-talk of it is checking financing to even see if it's possible this year.
#90 Bought a Canon Rebel T2i and LOVE it. Can't wait to figure out all of the little features it's got and get creative with my picture taking. I have been trying to go out and take pictures about once a week (either at an event or just around the neighborhood) to practice different techniques.
That's all for now.
#37 - Well I think this month I've made up for the 24 pictures per month that I missed doing the past few months mostly because of completing #90.
#54 - Work in progress. Planning the Owens family reunion and intend on sending out invitations in the next month. Yippie!
#56 Well, a possible Vegas trip is being planned, I don't have many details of it yet - everyone who's involved in the pre-talk of it is checking financing to even see if it's possible this year.
#90 Bought a Canon Rebel T2i and LOVE it. Can't wait to figure out all of the little features it's got and get creative with my picture taking. I have been trying to go out and take pictures about once a week (either at an event or just around the neighborhood) to practice different techniques.
That's all for now.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Ok, Ok... I'll update already!!
Well, it's been a while since I've given any updates on my listy-loo. I blame my job (yay that I have one, still!) for taking up all of my time. I began working at my previous company again with the understanding that there would be about four months worth of work for me at about three days a week. Well, I'm at three months back at the job and only worked three days a week for the first month - been at 8 hours/5 days since then. It's SO great that I am working this much and I am so thankful that things are still seeming to pick up! The paycheck sure is nice!!! I will admit though, that it was nice being on "vacation" for nine months (I just had no money to have any fun!).
So now I am taking the time out to update my list. I did change a few items on the list to things that were a bit less on-going and more substantial to me. So check out the new version of My List. Hopefully I didn't switch up the numbering too much so it'll still work with my previous posts.
Here goes the update:
5. I finally purchased a book on financing and investing - yes, it's one of those "Idiots Guides" but it's easy to follow along and understand in non-financial mumbo-jumbo. It was my book for the plane when we went to Oklahoma for Kendel's wedding. I got about half way through it and now it sits on my bookshelf with the bookmark we got as a wedding favor. I do intend on finishing it. I also got a book about retirement planning. Work in progress.
30. This one is a new one that I had already added to my list, prior to officially making the changes. In the time it took me to finally update the list, I managed to get it partially crossed off. I've got all of my discs moved over to paper sleeves, got rid of those pesky, bulky cases and have all of my 600-something movies into 2 decorative boxes. Now I just need to purchase the storage unit I have been eye-ing. Yay for less clutter!!
55. We're going to have a pain-in-the-arse problem on 2010's taxes because of the foreclosure of our house (it went through on 3/16/10), so we're trying to keep track of every-single penny we can use to offset the big tax implications we'll face. Federally speaking we'll be just fine due to the debt-relief-act of 2007, which was extended until 2012, but lovely California will still be taxing us on the "profit" we "got" when the house was foreclosed (ie: we'll owe state taxes on the full amount of our loan because it's looked at as income, even though we have not a penny of that in our pocket). I am not looking forward to next years tax season. Ick.
Well, not much updated. I still only have 8 items completely crossed off and won't be counting half's anymore (more motivation!).
Until next time.
So now I am taking the time out to update my list. I did change a few items on the list to things that were a bit less on-going and more substantial to me. So check out the new version of My List. Hopefully I didn't switch up the numbering too much so it'll still work with my previous posts.
Here goes the update:
5. I finally purchased a book on financing and investing - yes, it's one of those "Idiots Guides" but it's easy to follow along and understand in non-financial mumbo-jumbo. It was my book for the plane when we went to Oklahoma for Kendel's wedding. I got about half way through it and now it sits on my bookshelf with the bookmark we got as a wedding favor. I do intend on finishing it. I also got a book about retirement planning. Work in progress.
30. This one is a new one that I had already added to my list, prior to officially making the changes. In the time it took me to finally update the list, I managed to get it partially crossed off. I've got all of my discs moved over to paper sleeves, got rid of those pesky, bulky cases and have all of my 600-something movies into 2 decorative boxes. Now I just need to purchase the storage unit I have been eye-ing. Yay for less clutter!!
55. We're going to have a pain-in-the-arse problem on 2010's taxes because of the foreclosure of our house (it went through on 3/16/10), so we're trying to keep track of every-single penny we can use to offset the big tax implications we'll face. Federally speaking we'll be just fine due to the debt-relief-act of 2007, which was extended until 2012, but lovely California will still be taxing us on the "profit" we "got" when the house was foreclosed (ie: we'll owe state taxes on the full amount of our loan because it's looked at as income, even though we have not a penny of that in our pocket). I am not looking forward to next years tax season. Ick.
Well, not much updated. I still only have 8 items completely crossed off and won't be counting half's anymore (more motivation!).
Until next time.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Scrapbooks
I find that I get the urge to start working on another scrapbook before I've managed to finish the last one I started - this is a really bad habit that needs to go away. I will say I am one of the few people I know who has finished their wedding album. Although, I'd be lying because I have a few pages somewhere in the middle left undone and some writing that needs to be added here and there, but it is presentable as-is so I am telling everyone it's done. I also have our first year (the dating year) book done - with the exception of some things I want to change, some text I need to add, and a few things from about 2 months before our wedding. Ok, so that wouldn't qualify as "done"....it's just so close to it that I often forget that one isn't done. I have ONE page and possibly some text left for our honeymoon album and that book is fairly skinny so I am wondering if I should finish off the calendar year in that book or start a new one? It's a bit confusing to me where I should start and end my books. I think that's what causes me to stop working on them. It's not an excuse though because I could work on the pages and move them around later. I think it'd be silly to use an entire album for the last 3 months of the year just so that I can actually have "year books" after then. Oh decisions, decisions. I have a lot of books I need to get done so hopefully I can force myself to sit down and work on them. The only issue with that is that when I force myself to do it, they tend to not look as good. It's a mood thing I guess.
Here is what I have left to get done:
1) 1st year book - modify a few pages, add events in last few months before wedding.
2) Wedding - Finish/add remaining pictures/pages to middle of album, finish text.
3) Honeymoon - Waterfall pictures/page and text
4) End of 2006??? (maybe I'll tack this on to the 1st year book??? honeymoon book?)
5) Puerto Vallarta - start album
6) Cruise - Travel day and 1st cruising days are done, next: Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and home)
7) Cabo - DONE (this one is a digital book, which I am still not sure I like)
8) 2007 - do
9) 2008 - do
10) 2009 - do
11) 2010 -do
Well.. lots to do. I don't like the digital albums for vacations and bigger events, but I am thinking about doing the 12x12 digital albums for the yearbooks - they are a lot skinnier and I can add to them as I take the pictures - no need to print anything until I get the entire book printed.. plus I can do individual pages and put them in a fancy album if I want to... we'll see. I want to get the vacation books done before the year books though - I have a TON of bright, tropical etc papers, stickers etc. so the sooner I get those books done, the sooner I have less scrap-booking supplies lying around.
Just whats on my mind. Maybe reading this later will push me to work on these.
Here is what I have left to get done:
1) 1st year book - modify a few pages, add events in last few months before wedding.
2) Wedding - Finish/add remaining pictures/pages to middle of album, finish text.
3) Honeymoon - Waterfall pictures/page and text
4) End of 2006??? (maybe I'll tack this on to the 1st year book??? honeymoon book?)
5) Puerto Vallarta - start album
6) Cruise - Travel day and 1st cruising days are done, next: Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and home)
7) Cabo - DONE (this one is a digital book, which I am still not sure I like)
8) 2007 - do
9) 2008 - do
10) 2009 - do
11) 2010 -do
Well.. lots to do. I don't like the digital albums for vacations and bigger events, but I am thinking about doing the 12x12 digital albums for the yearbooks - they are a lot skinnier and I can add to them as I take the pictures - no need to print anything until I get the entire book printed.. plus I can do individual pages and put them in a fancy album if I want to... we'll see. I want to get the vacation books done before the year books though - I have a TON of bright, tropical etc papers, stickers etc. so the sooner I get those books done, the sooner I have less scrap-booking supplies lying around.
Just whats on my mind. Maybe reading this later will push me to work on these.
Monday, February 22, 2010
This past month.
So, for the last week and a half I have been telling myself "I need to update my blog..." So here I am, it's 10:30pm and I'd honestly rather be curled up falling asleep right now, but am going to force myself to do this now, or it'll never get done (I have a habit of forgetting I even have a blog). Things have been going well (and busy) lately. I've been working full weeks for the last....almost two months now and things seem like they'll continue this way. This is both a good thing and a not-super-wonderful thing. It's great because I'm working, debts are staying down, we're able to have a bit of fun in our off-time, and we're less stressed over financial concerns or if we can afford to do xyz. It's not-super-wonderful because, well.... Craig got a new job (that's not the bad part, that is wonderful!). He's working out of Irvine now and he loves the job/hates the drive. When he got the new job, I was still unsure about how long my job would last and we decided that if I were let go (again) that we'd move closer to his new work. This would allow his commute to be shorter and allow me to have access to more design jobs (Orange County has many more opportunities available, in a better job market). So that's the part that makes me still working not-so-great, I don't get to see Craig as much and when I do, he's worn out from his long commute home. I see him on the weekends and at a late dinner time until bed, it stinks. But I am very thankful to have a job, so for now we'll stick it out.
So what's been going lately? Aside from working, we've been quite busy. A few weekends ago (well, back in January) we went to help clean up my grandparents house. They haven't been able to do it themselves due to health issues so Craig and I hopped in the car and went to Santee for the weekend to lend a hand. My Mom and I tackled the master bedroom first while Craig helped move furniture, organize the hundreds of CD's that were strewn about out of their cases, he dusted and helped my Dad with a few things here and there. Once the bedroom was clean, we took on the day-long task of going through my Grandmas clothes. She had so many clothes that were out-dated, over worn, stained, brand new (complete with store tags), or that just didn't fit her anymore. We did not anticipate that it would take us the entire day to do this. We did manage to get all of her hanging clothes to fit into one closet (about 15' long) and eliminate the make-shift-rod hung from the ceiling in another room. I know it meant a lot to them and we hope to make it back down there again to clean some more and weed through their belongings.
That same weekend was Peter's welcome home party. The first time I ever sung in front of anyone other than Craig (in the car). It helped that I wasn't front and center on a stage with a spot-light on me and that everyone else was singing - that's what made it so much fun. Plus it's always great to see my friends and make new memories with them.
Not to get all mushy now, but for Valentines weekend we planned a trip to Solvang, California. I had never been there and have heard so many wonderful things about it so I wanted to go. I told Craig one night and he ended up booking the trip within a matter of seconds. It worked out perfectly too - President's Day turned the weekend into a 3-day (4 for some lucky people). We headed out on Saturday morning and made it to our hotel by about 1:30pm. I thought we would have gotten their earlier but no biggie. The hotel we stayed at was where they filmed the movie Sideways. I would not recommend staying there though. It was the Day's Inn, in Buellton and unfortunately we were stuck with a smoking room. I knew this ahead of time and packed a brand new bottle of febreeze, which I used about half of over the course of the weekend. It was your typical seedy hotel/motel situation with the bar across the driveway and a disco dancing room next to that (run by the hotel too). It wasn't a big deal to us though, we didn't go to Solvang to spend it in a hotel room and the price was worth while. Once we got settled, we headed out to Solvang to get lunch at Root 246 - a super up-scale, very well designed restaurant that was only serving off of the bar menu. The food was incredible and I had the best glass of wine for the whole trip there. The bill wasn't nice though - $78 after tip for lunch for two people off of a bar menu - oh well, we're having fun this weekend!!
After lunch we went to Sanford Winery - my boss and his wife told me about the winery and talked it up like it was the best one to go to, so I just had to go check it out. I wasn't impressed. We got there at 4pm on the dot and they had just closed, but allowed us to taste the wine - we had a free tasting coupon so in that respect the drive was worth it. I guess that area is known for it's Pinots and Chardonnays of which I am generally not a fan, so I didn't like anything from this winery. We headed back to Solvang and stopped at the Ostrich farm on the way - I totally loved this stop. It was such a child-like cheesy thing to do but it was fun and those birds are both ugly, pretty, graceful and retarded all at the same time. I don't know if that makes any sense but if you ever see an ostrich in real life, up close - you'll understand. We got back to Solvang to find that the little downtown area starts shutting down at about 5pm. Most of the stores were closed and the few that were open were getting ready to close. We managed to check out the leather store (way too expensive), a mosaic glass store (no need for any of that) and a chocolate shop (yes, we bought chocolate and a caramel dipped apple) and then headed back to the hotel where we spent the remainder of the evening.
The next day (Valentines Day) we had a scheduled wine tasting tour. We were picked up by a tour bus and shuttled around to four different wineries. The first was Kalyra, we enjoyed two of the wines from there - the Muscat and their Port. The next winery was Branard Cellars where we had some more tastings, had lunch, and took a ton of photos. We met a really nice couple there (Rob and Lisa) and ended up playing photographers for one another, taking a ton of pictures from this little tower window. We then went to Shoestring Winery, the only wine I enjoyed their was the Rose - but I did get some more great pictures in (that's what matters on a wine tour, right?). The last winery we went to was LaFond, and again I wasn't impressed with their wines (maybe I'd had too much to drink by then?) but we ended up getting lost in conversations with our new friends and ended the day taking pictures by the vines. All in all it was a great day, beautiful weather and scenery and great company. Once we were rested after getting back to the hotel we went to Pea Soup Andersen's for dinner where we both got stuffed!! So good!
Our last day on this trip we drove up the coat to Hearst Castle - I have to say this was definitely the highlight of our trip. Craig had been there once before when he was younger and I had never been. I had no idea what to expect. As we drove up to the base of the mountain I could see this small building out in the distance, it looked like a far away version of Balboa park. Once we got to the castle I was in complete awe. The entire time the guide spoke of the castle I just couldn't believe all of the history I was looking at. I imagined living there, in that time period and being a guest at Mr. Hearst's castle. Swimming in the pools, staying in the guest houses, having dinner in the Gothic dining room! Amazing!! Coming from an Interior Design background, having learned all of the period styles and finally getting to see actual period pieces was just amazing to me. To top off the tour, one of the guides had a small blue glass tile with gold leaf that he let me hold. I had a piece of Hearst Castle in my hand! I couldn't get over that! Craig and I decided that we're definitely going to make a trip to see Hearst Castle again - we'll stay closer to the castle and visit the area a bit more as well as take a few more tours of the castle - well worth it!! The long 6-8 hour drive home was actually not too bad. Craig drove but I don't think it was too bad for him either - not too much traffic and where there was traffic we navigated around it (which probably added more gas to the trip but made it more interesting). We got home about 11pm and went to bed as soon as we finished telling Craig's parents all about the trip. Immediately passed out when our heads hit our pillows and got up for work the next day....and real life continues...
I can tell that my brain is beginning to not function as time goes on this evening. I've corrected several typos and spelling errors and I knew I had more to say than what I've already said. Please forgive the bad grammar and if I've repeated myself I apologize. These sleepy eyes are going to go to bed. I'll see about updating my list progress sometime this week.
So what's been going lately? Aside from working, we've been quite busy. A few weekends ago (well, back in January) we went to help clean up my grandparents house. They haven't been able to do it themselves due to health issues so Craig and I hopped in the car and went to Santee for the weekend to lend a hand. My Mom and I tackled the master bedroom first while Craig helped move furniture, organize the hundreds of CD's that were strewn about out of their cases, he dusted and helped my Dad with a few things here and there. Once the bedroom was clean, we took on the day-long task of going through my Grandmas clothes. She had so many clothes that were out-dated, over worn, stained, brand new (complete with store tags), or that just didn't fit her anymore. We did not anticipate that it would take us the entire day to do this. We did manage to get all of her hanging clothes to fit into one closet (about 15' long) and eliminate the make-shift-rod hung from the ceiling in another room. I know it meant a lot to them and we hope to make it back down there again to clean some more and weed through their belongings.
That same weekend was Peter's welcome home party. The first time I ever sung in front of anyone other than Craig (in the car). It helped that I wasn't front and center on a stage with a spot-light on me and that everyone else was singing - that's what made it so much fun. Plus it's always great to see my friends and make new memories with them.
Not to get all mushy now, but for Valentines weekend we planned a trip to Solvang, California. I had never been there and have heard so many wonderful things about it so I wanted to go. I told Craig one night and he ended up booking the trip within a matter of seconds. It worked out perfectly too - President's Day turned the weekend into a 3-day (4 for some lucky people). We headed out on Saturday morning and made it to our hotel by about 1:30pm. I thought we would have gotten their earlier but no biggie. The hotel we stayed at was where they filmed the movie Sideways. I would not recommend staying there though. It was the Day's Inn, in Buellton and unfortunately we were stuck with a smoking room. I knew this ahead of time and packed a brand new bottle of febreeze, which I used about half of over the course of the weekend. It was your typical seedy hotel/motel situation with the bar across the driveway and a disco dancing room next to that (run by the hotel too). It wasn't a big deal to us though, we didn't go to Solvang to spend it in a hotel room and the price was worth while. Once we got settled, we headed out to Solvang to get lunch at Root 246 - a super up-scale, very well designed restaurant that was only serving off of the bar menu. The food was incredible and I had the best glass of wine for the whole trip there. The bill wasn't nice though - $78 after tip for lunch for two people off of a bar menu - oh well, we're having fun this weekend!!
After lunch we went to Sanford Winery - my boss and his wife told me about the winery and talked it up like it was the best one to go to, so I just had to go check it out. I wasn't impressed. We got there at 4pm on the dot and they had just closed, but allowed us to taste the wine - we had a free tasting coupon so in that respect the drive was worth it. I guess that area is known for it's Pinots and Chardonnays of which I am generally not a fan, so I didn't like anything from this winery. We headed back to Solvang and stopped at the Ostrich farm on the way - I totally loved this stop. It was such a child-like cheesy thing to do but it was fun and those birds are both ugly, pretty, graceful and retarded all at the same time. I don't know if that makes any sense but if you ever see an ostrich in real life, up close - you'll understand. We got back to Solvang to find that the little downtown area starts shutting down at about 5pm. Most of the stores were closed and the few that were open were getting ready to close. We managed to check out the leather store (way too expensive), a mosaic glass store (no need for any of that) and a chocolate shop (yes, we bought chocolate and a caramel dipped apple) and then headed back to the hotel where we spent the remainder of the evening.
The next day (Valentines Day) we had a scheduled wine tasting tour. We were picked up by a tour bus and shuttled around to four different wineries. The first was Kalyra, we enjoyed two of the wines from there - the Muscat and their Port. The next winery was Branard Cellars where we had some more tastings, had lunch, and took a ton of photos. We met a really nice couple there (Rob and Lisa) and ended up playing photographers for one another, taking a ton of pictures from this little tower window. We then went to Shoestring Winery, the only wine I enjoyed their was the Rose - but I did get some more great pictures in (that's what matters on a wine tour, right?). The last winery we went to was LaFond, and again I wasn't impressed with their wines (maybe I'd had too much to drink by then?) but we ended up getting lost in conversations with our new friends and ended the day taking pictures by the vines. All in all it was a great day, beautiful weather and scenery and great company. Once we were rested after getting back to the hotel we went to Pea Soup Andersen's for dinner where we both got stuffed!! So good!
Our last day on this trip we drove up the coat to Hearst Castle - I have to say this was definitely the highlight of our trip. Craig had been there once before when he was younger and I had never been. I had no idea what to expect. As we drove up to the base of the mountain I could see this small building out in the distance, it looked like a far away version of Balboa park. Once we got to the castle I was in complete awe. The entire time the guide spoke of the castle I just couldn't believe all of the history I was looking at. I imagined living there, in that time period and being a guest at Mr. Hearst's castle. Swimming in the pools, staying in the guest houses, having dinner in the Gothic dining room! Amazing!! Coming from an Interior Design background, having learned all of the period styles and finally getting to see actual period pieces was just amazing to me. To top off the tour, one of the guides had a small blue glass tile with gold leaf that he let me hold. I had a piece of Hearst Castle in my hand! I couldn't get over that! Craig and I decided that we're definitely going to make a trip to see Hearst Castle again - we'll stay closer to the castle and visit the area a bit more as well as take a few more tours of the castle - well worth it!! The long 6-8 hour drive home was actually not too bad. Craig drove but I don't think it was too bad for him either - not too much traffic and where there was traffic we navigated around it (which probably added more gas to the trip but made it more interesting). We got home about 11pm and went to bed as soon as we finished telling Craig's parents all about the trip. Immediately passed out when our heads hit our pillows and got up for work the next day....and real life continues...
I can tell that my brain is beginning to not function as time goes on this evening. I've corrected several typos and spelling errors and I knew I had more to say than what I've already said. Please forgive the bad grammar and if I've repeated myself I apologize. These sleepy eyes are going to go to bed. I'll see about updating my list progress sometime this week.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Complainers
I am writing this blog about complainers. I will admit to being one as well, because I too complain but have tried my hardest not to (at least, I feel I've tried). Yes, I do see the irony in complaining about complainers.
I know everyone's lives have been of the sucky nature lately and don't think for one second that your life is worse than anyone else because you were or are unemployed or because you don't make enough or whatever other horribly awful reason you have...trust me that you're not the only one who has had something negative going on in your life at some point.
Work:
One of my reasons for writing this is because I am tired of people complaining about their work, the job they do, their coworkers or their boss...on facebook.. really?! You're complaining on the internet about your JOB. First off, be thankful that you have one...I was without work for nine months and even though everyday isn't perfect and not planned with my personal comfort in mind I am SO thankful to be working again, getting a paycheck and keeping myself busy and my mind active (not to mention utilizing the expensive skills I picked up in college). Stop making comments on how you can't wait for the end of your work day, that you're dreading tomorrow's, that you have a case of the Mondays, or that hump day is here. I know plenty of people who would LOVE to take your job if you're not happy or willing to do it (send me an email if that's the case and I'll work on getting you out of there).
Personal:
No one wants to know that your back hurts, that you're going to the doctor to check out that weird rash, about that oozing abscess on your back, or whats in your bank account. If you have a really cool story about breaking your leg by all means tell it, but don't sit and bitch about it hurting for weeks on end (hell-o, broken bones hurt...duh!). The world (ie: everyone on your facebook friends list) doesn't need to know about your DUI court case, how so-n-so is ruining your life because of xyz, your parents ruined you life or that you're thankful so-n-so died. Keep your personal life PERSONAL (they call it that for a reason, you know). Now, I am not saying to never ever talk about personal things to your family and close friends, but there isn't any need to post this all over facebook/internet (try using the phone, email or a text for a change).
I've learned something this past year from being unemployed, losing our house and losing some family members. LIFE GOES ON. It's not the end of the world. I've learned to be more positive no matter the situation, avoid telling the world all of your grudges and only talk about everything that's going good in your life - things will eventually get better. I don't assume everything will work out wonderfully and I'm not walking around with my hopes up in the air. Yes I want things to work out for me and my family but realistically they don't always go the way they are planned - but I'm not going to bitch and moan about it to the world.
I am not where I want to be right now, but I am not complaining about it everyday. I'd love to have a new house, not be living with my in-laws, have time and money to take fancy vacations, be in a position to have children soon, be able to get a new car, and be able see my friends and family more often (just like most of my friends). But that is not where my life has taken me right now...I'm still positive though - I have a husband who loves me like you wouldn't believe, I have in-laws who are allowing us to live with them until things get better (for both us and them), and I have dreams that I can hold on to that ONE DAY I will achieve.
No matter how many negative things happen, my life will still be positive. I wish others would think and act the same way.
I know everyone's lives have been of the sucky nature lately and don't think for one second that your life is worse than anyone else because you were or are unemployed or because you don't make enough or whatever other horribly awful reason you have...trust me that you're not the only one who has had something negative going on in your life at some point.
Work:
One of my reasons for writing this is because I am tired of people complaining about their work, the job they do, their coworkers or their boss...on facebook.. really?! You're complaining on the internet about your JOB. First off, be thankful that you have one...I was without work for nine months and even though everyday isn't perfect and not planned with my personal comfort in mind I am SO thankful to be working again, getting a paycheck and keeping myself busy and my mind active (not to mention utilizing the expensive skills I picked up in college). Stop making comments on how you can't wait for the end of your work day, that you're dreading tomorrow's, that you have a case of the Mondays, or that hump day is here. I know plenty of people who would LOVE to take your job if you're not happy or willing to do it (send me an email if that's the case and I'll work on getting you out of there).
Personal:
No one wants to know that your back hurts, that you're going to the doctor to check out that weird rash, about that oozing abscess on your back, or whats in your bank account. If you have a really cool story about breaking your leg by all means tell it, but don't sit and bitch about it hurting for weeks on end (hell-o, broken bones hurt...duh!). The world (ie: everyone on your facebook friends list) doesn't need to know about your DUI court case, how so-n-so is ruining your life because of xyz, your parents ruined you life or that you're thankful so-n-so died. Keep your personal life PERSONAL (they call it that for a reason, you know). Now, I am not saying to never ever talk about personal things to your family and close friends, but there isn't any need to post this all over facebook/internet (try using the phone, email or a text for a change).
I've learned something this past year from being unemployed, losing our house and losing some family members. LIFE GOES ON. It's not the end of the world. I've learned to be more positive no matter the situation, avoid telling the world all of your grudges and only talk about everything that's going good in your life - things will eventually get better. I don't assume everything will work out wonderfully and I'm not walking around with my hopes up in the air. Yes I want things to work out for me and my family but realistically they don't always go the way they are planned - but I'm not going to bitch and moan about it to the world.
I am not where I want to be right now, but I am not complaining about it everyday. I'd love to have a new house, not be living with my in-laws, have time and money to take fancy vacations, be in a position to have children soon, be able to get a new car, and be able see my friends and family more often (just like most of my friends). But that is not where my life has taken me right now...I'm still positive though - I have a husband who loves me like you wouldn't believe, I have in-laws who are allowing us to live with them until things get better (for both us and them), and I have dreams that I can hold on to that ONE DAY I will achieve.
No matter how many negative things happen, my life will still be positive. I wish others would think and act the same way.
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