Date night

Last night Doug and I were able to go on a date. We try to do date nights often, but usually our dates will consist of candy and cuddling up to watch something on Netflix. Last night we actually got to get out and do stuff we hadn't done yet. 

We started with dinner at Ferraro's. It's a local Ventura place that everyone talks about and has been to (or so it seems). I had never been and Doug hadn't been either, so we checked it out. And we liked it. It's an Italian restaurant and had a fun atmosphere. Cozy and quaint. I liked the fact that they had real flame candles. I don't like it when restaurants have the fake kind. I got a spinach and pesto ravioli and Doug got beef ravioli. We were stuffed. 

Next we went to golf n stuff. We hadn't been here yet. We went miniature golfing when we were in South Carolina, but had never gone in Ventura. I don't usually care for putting, mainly because I'm not very good at it. So we don't keep score (although I know that Doug won but he wouldn't believe me when I told him that). We had a lot of fun though just goofing off, calling Mulligans, and at least trying not to hit it more than 6 times. 

On this hole we both hit a hole in one. Doug got it to go up the ramp and that was an automatic hole in one. I went to the side of the ramp and then when we went to the lower green couldn't find my ball. It ended up being in the hole. Too bad we missed it, but hole in one!

Inside the gold mine tunnel. I remembered a lot of the course from when I was little. Mainly how I wanted to be able to play in the little buildings and forts that were built, and was disappointed that they were fake.

I think my form could use a little work.

Then we roamed around a few stores. We like just hanging out and window shopping. We started at Petsmart and found this awesome bird. The first part of the video is a bit boring, but I love how you can see Doug and the bird interact with the bobbing. So awesome. 

We wandered through Michales, Sports Authority, and Barnes and Noble. I got a pumpkin cookie cutter for when I make sugar cookies in the fall. We were going to get Thrifty ice cream, but the flavors were really low since it was so late at night. Then we came home and watched Hunger Games special features.

I'm so thankful for opportunities like that to hang out with my best friend.

Done with Summer

For the past couple of weeks I've really been looking forward to fall. Schools are starting to begin and summer is coming to a close. Although it will still be warm for possibly 2 more months. Boo. Lately I've been looking forward to all of our fall activities.

Hot drinks on cold nights. Chai, hot chocolate, apple cider...

Hot coffee on cold mornings. Drinking hot coffee in a heat wave just isn't enjoyable...

Electric blankets. There's just something about being wrapped up in a warm bed in a cold room. So toasty.

Early sunsets. I've always liked when it gets dark early (but I enjoy the change when daylight lasts till 9 pm also). I'm ready for bed much earlier.

Sweaters. It is so hard to wear a cozy sweater when the weather isn't permitting!

Moccasins. They are my go-to shoe during the fall and winter when it's too cold for sandals.

Curling up with a book with a blanket and a hot drink. Once again, you can't do that when it's hot out!

Cuddling with a sweet husband (or cat if he's not home). Neither really wants to cuddle when it's warm because it's too uncomfortable to be that close to someone when it's 80 degrees out.

Crisp cold air. There's nothing like the smell of fall (I swear there is one).

Pumpkin. Pumpkin everything. Coffee creamer. Bread. Muffins. Cookies. Pie. Air freshener. Candles.
Not to mention Jack-o-lanterns and their seeds!

Orange and red. Neither look good on me to wear, but I love seeing them everywhere in the decorations.

Thanksgiving and all the delicious food and leftovers that go with that.



That's what comes to mind right now, but I know that there are more. So summer, you were great but you can see yourself out now. Autumn, you're welcome to come anytime.

A couple weeks ago we celebrated our 3 year anniversary. It does not feel like it has been that long at all. It's crazy when I think about all that has happened and all that we've been through. 

We both had the day off and we decided to go on some adventures. Doug had been wanting to go to the Los Padres Forest again. We went last summer but didn't have a chance to go back again. We got a park pass and went up there. We did one trail that took us to a water fall. The waterfall was pretty dried up though. This was the first one that we came to. The moss was really pretty. It was supposed to be a short hike (and to this point it was), but then we decided to go up the side of it. It was a challenging climb and we were wishing we had brought our water (but we hadn't because it was supposed to be a short hike).

View from the top of the valley. There was a view of a rock wall behind us that was supposed to have a big waterfall cascading down it, but it was completely dry. 

We then went to the trail that we had been to last time. We hiked to some huge white rocks last year, but this year we decided to follow the river. Except that when we got to it, there was no river. It was completely bone dry. And it was in the nineties. We were so hot hiking in the sun. We hiked for a bit, and then decided that the beach sounded good.

So we went there

We layed out and enjoyed the sun. I fell asleep for a bit, which left a nice tan line on my back...

Then we went back to the apartment and got ready to go out to dinner. When we were on Kauai for our honeymoon we went to Duke's for dinner at our hotel. We have one in Malibu so we thought that it would be fun to go out there for dinner. So we got dressed up (California standards) and drove out there for our reservations.

The view from our table

My baby back ribs

We were actually kind of disappointed in Duke's though. We thought that for the money that we were paying, the food wasn't as good as it should have been. It was good, but we could have gotten that kind of a meal at Wood Ranch or something for a lot less money. But oh well. It was fun going out there. Actually we were laughing that a lot of thing didn't go as planned that day, and if it had been about having the "perfect" day, we probably would have been upset or felt like the day was a waste. But it came down to our attitudes and our responses to situations. We were just happy to be hanging out with each other and celebrating our marriage. In fact, now that I'm writing this, I'm having a hard time of the things that went "wrong". Which means that they really weren't wrong, they just were unexpected. We had a great day and I'm so lucky to have Doug as my husband.

Lately Luna has been loving our windows. This is our bedroom window and she is almost always in it when we get home from work. She meows at us as we walk up the stairs and then when we open the door she still comes running. She likes this window when the curtains are open and the one by our kitchen table. She loves just watching.

This week we had Thursday afternoon off again to spend with each other. It's been hot with a heat wave so we hit the beach again. Then we went to my parent's house to watch the Chargers first preseason game. Which they won. Against the Packers. Then we watched the Olympics that were on since we haven't been able to see very many without having cable. 

Doug left tonight for Indianapolis for a convention with GameChurch. So now Luna can finally live up to her purpose in our family. We originally got her to keep me company for when Doug was gone since he had been gone a lot. She is always company though for both of us when the other isn't there. Now she has extra purpose since Doug will be gone until Monday. I hate when he's gone. He keeps me sane. 

Piece of my heart

I didn't miss July entirely! I sadly thought that I might.

Today I bought my first organic produce/products. Yams, milk, and eggs. I've been on a health kick lately and today I was reading up on balancing my body and such and went grocery shopping. I'm excited for what I got and what I'm planning on cooking. Maybe cooking can become a hobby for me. I need one of those.

Lately I've realized that I don't have a hobby. I've had hobbies, but they've slowly faded. When I have free time, I don't do what I used to enjoy. I'll watch my tv shows. Or clean. Or do laundry. The rest of the time I'm at work. It makes me sad when I think about it. But I haven't had time to think about it. So recently I've been wanting a hobby. I haven't even read anything lately. And I have so. many. books. to. read.

A year ago Doug and I were in Brussels. We've been looking back on our trip over the past two weeks. It's fun to read our blog and be like, "A year ago we were in the Eiffel tower." I still need to finish the photo book that I started. Again, another hobby/project to finish. We both miss Europe though and are hoping to get out of debt and be able to travel again. But with life continuing in that annoying way that it does, I don't know when we will afford to travel again.

We are still hoping for Doug to be able to go to school this fall. Just a few more kinks to work out and he'll be on his way. We're really relying on God to provide for us during that time financially, mentally, and emotionally. It's a scary adventure every month but He had never disappointed us (and never will).

At Target I've had a few regulars that I can recognize. (Normally that's not a good thing if we can recognize you since it means you probably left a bad impression). There's this one woman that comes in that always baffled me. She appeared to be homeless with a trolley full of bags full of stuff. She always walked in and I know she rode the bus around. She's also a germaphone (mysophobia for those that don't know the slang). Every time I rang her up she did not want to touch her change. She would fish it out with a napkin or such. She bought a new wallet one day and got very angry when I opened it up and began looking in the pockets (which we have to do in case something was put in there by either the person buying the item or someone else that left it there). I told her I had to look because it was our policy. She thought I was accusing her of stealing. Once I made her understand that wasn't the point, she was still upset that I was touching her new wallet with my hands that have been handling money. She also only ever has new money bills on her. And if you have to give her change back, she wants you to find her the newest bills in your register. She always takes a really long time first to pay, then to gather her items and leave your line (which people behind her do not appreciate at all, see what I mean about us remembering you?)

She really took to me though and after every transaction she would ask me my name. Maybe I was the only person that treated her like everyone else and respected her wishes. I dunno cause I never saw her interactions with other cashiers. But she always seemed to end up in my line.

This morning she was there again. When it was her turn to be rung up, I asked her, like everyone else, how her day had been going. She told me not that great, to which I said I was sorry. She then talked to me for what seemed like 10 minutes about how she hated that question because she felt that nobody really cared, that it was just an American greeting (in a way she is right). She told me how once she was sarcastic back to someone and told them that she was just wonderful, to which she was told that she had given "the correct answer." The whole time she kept saying that she didn't doubt my genuineness. She then told me that she had been on the streets and was supposed to be moving up north tomorrow and into a hotel until a shelter has room for her. She had saved up enough money to finally move. Currently she has been staying outside on the concrete next to a motel and had the cops called on her the night before just for being there. (She's probably in her late 50s or early 60s). Her bones were hurting and she was tired. My heart really broke for her. I asked her what her name was and then I asked her if she would be offended if I told her that I would be praying for her. She seemed surprised but her face lit up and said that no, she wouldn't be offended. So that's what I'll do. She's God's sparrow.

I now wear men's deodorant. They don't really make a women's deodorant without aluminum in it. I've just used antiperspirant since high school but really don't want to anymore. There's a brand called Tom's that makes it without aluminum, but it just didn't work for me. So I got the girliest smelling Old Spice that I can find and will just use that. I'm already married, so maybe people will just think I smell like my husband instead of random dude.

I'm glad that one of the fastest (there's lots of debate as to the fastest) healing parts of the body is the eye, cause I accidentally poked it today. With a plastic fork. It's still hurting a bit. So I'm glad that it should be better by tomorrow. But it's making me feel much more tired than I thought I was.

Life is interesting right now. What a ride.

...June

So I've really dropped the ball on blogging. Now that half of my audience has moved across the country to be closer, I lost half my reason for writing in the first place. Aaaand not much has changed. 

Doug's looking at going back to school in the fall to finish up his bachelor's degree. He got accepted into CSUCI and just needs to meet with counselors to figure out classes and to apply for financial aid and student loans. We're hoping he can get that done soon so that he can return this fall. Getting him through school gets us one step closer to starting our life out. 

I've been working with both Target and American Eagle. I'm still deciding which I like better. Both can be amazing, and both can suck. It really depends on the customers/guests that you get that day and how they interact with you. It's amazing how some people can really make your day. I have regulars at both places. And then there are the regular mean people. The really bitter people who try to bring you down with them. I hope to never become like that. 

American Eagle is great because it's much more variety. You aren't stuck in a box for hours on end. You move around a lot. And you do different jobs. You interact, and then you task. And there's nothing measuring your speed of your transactions, so you can connect better with people (obviously Target isn't designed to be able to do that. People need to get out of there!) And you get to interact with co-workers. You make friends a lot easier. 

Target is great because...the company really cares about its employees. Some there might disagree with me, but it really is a great company to work for. The problem with Target is it gets lonely. You can't really interact with your co-workers, or they get mad at you for talking. So you're pretty much on your own for 8 hours, having superficial conversations with people who may or may not get angry at you for trying to meet your quota of Red Cards. Some days aren't like that. When it's slow it's amazing. Plus, I get a lot of hours there. And the higher ups listen to you. I had a half hour conversation with my boss in which he thanked me for my feed back, instead of trying to make excuses for the criticism I was giving. 

I can't believe I'm already going to be 24 next week. That I've been out of high school for 6 years. And that I've been out of college for a year. Sometimes I get really discouraged wondering how I've grown at all. How I am any different than I was in high school. But I know I have changed. Drastically. And thank God. Not that I was a terrible person back then. But I was naive. Man was I naive. I wish I could have talked to myself back then. I probably wouldn't have listened to me though. 

I've been working on myself a lot the last couple of months. I look at myself and then at who I want to be and try to make the necessary changes. I feel like I've changed a lot just over the last year. I'm not as emotional as I used to be. I'm not as sarcastic either. I still am, but I've needed that defense mechanism a lot less as I work through myself. I still have mad anxiety, and still will have anxiety attacks at work. But I work through them. I've been focusing on love. Love God. Love others. Both can be hard at times. But that's who I want to be. 

After not having had a cold for a long time, I've finally caught one. I'm off to take some meds and hopefully sleep it off before waking up early and going to work. 

Next week is promising to be a good one. I'm super excited to live it. 

April

I feel like I have a lot to catch up on tonight on this blog. I didn't realize it had been a month since I last blogged!

Working at Target has been great. The team has been really amazing and very welcoming to me. When I got back from my vacation a lot of people had noticed that they hadn't seen me in a while. I didn't know so many people even knew who I was. Plus I have a lot of hours there, which has been amazing. I've been busy, but I feel more satisfied and fulfilled because of it. There have been a couple of crazies, but most of the guests are really nice. I had a couple tell me that I would be perfect for their son. I just laughed and let them leave. I didn't really know how to respond to that without sounding rude. I haven't really worked that much at American Eagle since starting at Target, but that was kind of the plan. I'll be on the schedule next week though.

Luna has realized she can get on the kitchen counters :( I was hoping she wouldn't, but the day after we got back from Boston, I walked out of the bathroom and she was standing on the counter. Then yesterday I watched her go from the couch to the stovetop (scary!). I threw her in the bathroom for a time out. Not that she understood why she was locked in there. She just played with the bathroom mat. I need to get a spray to put on the counters that she won't like. I just haven't made it over to Petsmart yet.

Speaking of our trip...

It was a really great week off. A lot of long travel days, but totally worth it. First Doug and I parted ways with him going to Boston and me going to Pennsylvania with my parents. The whole Wolfe side of the family was there which was great since it had been a while since we had all been together. We tried to catch butterflies (but not bugs cause Reagan doesn't like bugs. We planted 500 trees around the property. Devonna and I played Angry Birds late at night as we talked and wound down from the day. We ate lots of good food. We hid and found Easter eggs and ate easter candy. We shot some guns (safely), and learned how to throw knives (also safely). The weather was graciously amazing and the nights weren't too cold. We ate cheese steaks and drank Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer.

Reagan running to catch the butterfly.

I convinced him to let me have the net and then snuck up on it to catch it after it had landed.

Reagan with his butterfly.

Okay, so it's really a moth, but we let him call it a butterfly.

Beautiful Pennsylvania sunset

Reagan planting his tree. We got to pick out trees that were "ours" if we wanted to. Devonna and I staked out three different spots. We also claimed three for Doug. So hopefully one of them will survive. 

Reagan and his tree. Which will one day be much bigger than him.

Helping Pappy dig a hole.

Me and Doug's tree. We did plant him a Douglas Fir to be funny. But this one's a Hemlock :)

Close up of the tree

They have a few of these bushes that were blooming and were so pretty.

Reagan took this picture of me and Quinn.

And then Quinn took this picture of me and Reagan.

It pretty much tastes like root beer lol. But it's unique.

Coloring eggs. He liked making yellow ones.

The kids before the egg hunt

Reagan got a small head start. 

He liked finding them, but needed some help.

We also left some out in the open for him so he wouldn't get too frustrated. 

Already counting and showing them off before the hunt was over.

He even found the one in the exhaust pipe! (with Pappy's help)

At the end of the hunt the golden egg hadn't been found (and probably a few others). All the kids were looking for it, and all of them were close. In this picture, the golden egg is behind the small board next to the stump, visible from the other side. Cian ended up being victorious in its discovery!

Uncle Grant

The day after Easter I took an early bus to catch a flight to go to Boston. Doug met me at the airport and his hotel was right next door. He didn't have to check out for a few hours so I was able to nap until we had to go. Unfortunately my bag didn't make it onto my flight. This is the second time this has happened in Boston. But they did deliver it that afternoon to the hotel we stayed at the rest of the time.

Pretty New England streets

We ate here the first night. It was voted in the top ten of best pizzas in Boston. 

It was really good. We stayed pretty original with Pepperoni and Basil. 

We walked up to Harvard to be able to say that we had seen it. The campus is huge so I don't know how much we actually saw. This is the Law School portion.

Dorms or classrooms or something.

The first church in Boston, founded in the 1600s.

We had a beautiful sunset as we walked

We took the metro to Boston Commons. The sun against the buildings were so pretty.

One of my favorite books as a kid was Make Way for Ducklings. In the book the mom duck and her ducklings end up living on an island in the Boston commons. There's these statues in the park commemorating the book. Someone put easter hats on them though! It was cute!

The pond in Boston Commons.

Right next to the Common is the Cheers bar. We just peeked in for fun. Neither of us ever watched the show, otherwise it would have been more intriguing.

Sunset over the Charles river.

The next day we tackled the Freedom Trail. We had decided that there was no need to squeeze it into one day, so if we needed to we would split it up. 

Boston state House.

Cemetery with a lot of famous people in it. Ben Franklin's parents are buried here, along with...

Paul Revere

John Hancock

and Samuel Adams

Anglican Church (which the Puritans were NOT happy about when it was built in the 1600s)

Another cemetery, in which a woman that came over on the Mayflower is buried.

This building used to be a book shop where books were printed and bound. The Scarlet Letter was printed here. Now it's a Chipotle. 

The spot where the Boston Massacre took place

In front of this building is where the Boston Massacre took place, but also the Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony to the people of Boston. 

The old Haymarket where goods were sold. Now there's shops lining the inside, mainly of food. 

Faneuil Hall, marketplace and meeting hall.

You can kin dof make it out, but it has a grasshopper weathervane which has become a symbol of Boston.

This is what I had for lunch. It was really good. 

Yum!

The Green Dragon. Pub where revolutionaries would meet in secret.

Paul Revere's house. We didn't go in, but this is it!

Old North Church where the lanterns were placed.

"The British are coming!"

Memorial for those in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's made of blank army navy tags that chime in the wind.

Just to remind us where we were walking...there were either bricks or painted red lines marking the way. 

Beautiful clouds over the harbor.

Bunker Hill monument.

That night we went and saw Wrath of the Titans. It's nice to be able to go out to the movies on vacations.  It's better to be out than sitting in the hotel room. 

The next day we went and saw the U.S.S. Constitution, the only thing that we didn't see the day before on the freedom trail since we got tired. 

"Old Ironsides" First to defeat the British in nine years back in the day. 

Cramped quarters. Doug couldn't stand up all the way most of the time.

Rain clouds rolling in. Luckily it held off till the next day when we left.

We went out to see Fenway Park. We're not exactly Red Sox fans, but Fenway park is so iconic. Unfortunately the tours were completely sold out for the day!

But we saw the outside...

Then we tried to go out to an island to see a Fort, but we didn't have enough time with the ferries to be able to get back in time. So we went and saw Titanic in Imax 3D. I never had seen it in the theaters since I was too young last time it was out. I liked it. Doug was nice enough not to complain about it :)

The next day it was raining all day. We had an evening flight out so we had been planning on hanging out in Boston Common. The rain ruined that plan though. We got a late check out and then headed to the airport. They had free internet so we watched some shows while we waited. It wasn't that bad. We got home around midnight and quickly crashed for the night. Luna kept me up though cause she kept climbing all over me in her glee.

The next day she didn't leave my side. Normally she'll come and check in, go and do her own thing for a while, and then come cuddle. But she only wanted to cuddle, as you can see from this.

We also switched phone providers. We're now with Verizon. We upgraded our phones and we really like them (Doug is in love). All these pictures were actually taken on my phone. It's convenient to not have to carry around a camera too!

Tomorrow's my first day completely off since being back (and since starting at Target since the vacation wasn't exactly restful). I'm excited to have lazy day plans!

Time to get to sleep. Good night!