Moving is hard. I knew it would be, of course. I knew I would miss the ocean and the weather and familiar places. I had a hunch I would miss the city and the hills and mountains. And most of all, I knew, I would miss the people I love.

It's been thirteen months and I and was pretty much right. I do miss all those things. But one thing I didn't realize I would miss. More than our favorite breakfast places and California burritos and our ocean view and even more than the people I love, I miss people who love me.

I miss people who know I can be melancholy and sensitive. They know I read into things too much. They know days go by when I may not smile at all. And they take it in stride, because they know that at the end of that emotional day, there will probably be a new song or a fantastic meal that works its way up through (and maybe even because of) the sadness.

I miss people who know I need a hug even though I feel too tall to initiate one. People who know I book myself too tight. They know I suck at talking on the phone but that if they want to get coffee I can go for hours. They know I have good ideas sometimes, and are straight forward when they need to talk me out of a bad one.

It's been a long year. Full of opportunity and new experiences. We've learned a lot about ourselves. I expect this coming year will hold much of the same. Well, hopefully a little less. I've had all I can take for a while in getting to know new things. I'm ready to be known again.

Finally our own living room

The previous owner's living room:





Our living room:


It's in party configuration, not living configuration, so it doesn't have the furniture loaded in yet, but it already feels so much better!

Christmas in San Diego and winter in Champaign

So I'm definitely behind on the blog, even for my standards. I went and did like I do and took on way too much this winter... oops! But here's some of our latest.


Two weeks ago we returned from our first visit back to San Diego. So much has happened since then it feels more like two months.
It was the perfect trip. My favorite Christmas celebration ever, I think, maybe because it was combined with our first trip home in seven months. A lot has changed at home and it was exciting and sometimes overwhelming to get caught up. We saw a lot of the people we have missed, but not enough of anyone. We weren't ready to come home and spent much of our down time out there scheming on how to return someday. The ocean was as glorious as we remembered, the weather was better, and the people made it really feel like home again.

However, since returning, we've hardly had time to miss San Diego. In a good way.
We had our first show with our band (currently called "Say it with a smile" but we're not hooked). I had my first few games with my two volleyball teams at Judah Christian school, and I got back into the thick of it with youth ministry at First Pres. It's been tiring to say the least. But relief came in the unexpected form of a cold front this week. Subzero highs cancelled several events and left me with an entire day off!


In other news, our pup Kona has left us. Her medical conditions turned out to be too much for us or for our wallet, so we said good-bye today. Sad to see her go and especially not knowing where she'll end up, but we are about four times busier now than when we got her, so we're looking forward to just having Banjo again.

So, kind of a boring post... update style.

While I'm at it -
Favorite things about winter (so far):


-snow (we haven't had much though)

-knit hats and scarflets

-dark hot chocolate (sometimes with vodka)

-huddling up in coffee shops and bars with the rest of town

-no yard work

-checking the weather first thing in the morning and feeling like a warrior about it


and just for good measure - my least favorite thing is the ice. it makes me feel like a toddler... life suddenly becomes three times as hard and walking takes every bit of my concentration!

Fall!

So this is my first real fall season experience. Even though it brings some fear of winter with it, it has been completely glorious.

Favorite things about fall in middle America so far:

-Grated-apple oatmeal

-walking the dogs through piles of leaves

-mussels in white wine

-Jaron in a hoodie

-watching Kona play with falling maple leaves

-spicy pumpkin sausage soup

-butternut squash soup

-driving down our street lined with multi-colored trees

-coaching volleyball

-intermittent super temperate days

-the grass growing more slowly

-apples straight from the orchard

-oktoberfest microbrews

-pears with dark chocolate

-mushrooms every day!

-holding hands more often cause you're not hot and sticky anymore

New Puppy!

This is Kona, our new Alaskan Malamute. She's 3 1/2 months old and quite a piece of work. We love her and are getting more used to the idea of being a two-dog family, but she's definitely a tougher puppy than Banjo was! We got her from a breeder whose house recently burned down and had to get rid of these dogs who are too old to sell now. Problem is, she's been kenneled at a vet's for weeks and has no sense of of not sitting in her own potty anymore. Makes me so frustrated that even an animal health professional would put dogs in such an inhumane environment. But, we are happy to have her and optimistic about overcoming her current bad habits.

And Jaron is already talking to local Malamute trainers about getting her some time pulling sleds! Here's to living in the arctic. :)

New Dining Room

Here's the before...



And here's the after! We still have some doors to paint for the built-ins, but it already feels so much more like home and it's been refreshing for sure.

*!?#!? Roosevelt...

I've had a very exciting couple weeks since I started coaching volleyball. And when I say "coaching" I mean sitting far away from the girls, watching practice, and filling in the coach on my observations by email. Aargh!

For a second I want to ignore all the good reasons there are for the red tape I'm encountering and just bitch about it. I cannot be on the court as a volunteer until I get a background check and register to be a sub. Fine. Oh, and I can't register to be a sub until I get a physical and a TB test. $200. Fine. Oh, and I have to have physical copies of my social security card and birth certificate, which I lost in the move. Replacement costs $30 plus a notary and weeks upon weeks of waiting. So it's going to take months of forms and waiting and about $300 to be able to VOLUNTEER 30 hours per week of my time. And until then I'm not allowed contact with the students. Up yours, FDR, I'm not a number!

In other news, I love the paint we finally finished in our dining room and will post a picture as soon as I get my camera battery back from Chicago. Also, we've been able to have dinner twice now with local musicians, Casados, and they are awesome. The hospitality of strangers is shocking and wonderful to me. They are so much farther along the road of performing and writing than we are and I'm repeatedly surprised by how gracious they are to us and our dreams.
You can find them in all the usual online spots for music, including Casados.