Thankful Thursday

This house hunting thing is a real trip. We're going on random trips to look at places, locations, changing all sorts of parameters, and learning about ourselves in the process. Whew. I'm excited to find our home but I won't be sad when this part is over :)

Last weekend was one of those random trips up on Saturday morning, supposedly just for a quick few hours and then back home again, but we ended making a lot of changes and even staying the night to look at more homes the next day. It was fun to get together with friends for dinner, see new neighbourhoods, and see my family a little bit on top of that.

Sunday morning, I decided to go for a nice run on the ranch while Nolan got some work done...but I hadn't brought anything for working out. So I threw together a sportsbra from high school, a shirt from my college freshman dorm, my mom's socks, the shoes I leave up there, and a pair of my brother's tiny running shorts...which ended up being just my size (almost). Win!

I took Captain with me for the run, and he kept up the whole way, but by the last few laps the poor guy was flagging. He stayed right here (below) until we left. Haha.

That's a little bit how I feel lately, what with the hot weather and all these upcoming changes. Just kind of pooped. Still: I shouldn't complain! Look how many great things I have going on!

1. I'm thankful for Nolan's residency coming to a close. It's been great being down here and meeting new people, but residency is just as tough as the stereotype says it is.
2. I'm thankful for free massages! I was going to use a groupon massage today that I bought awhile ago, and the masseuse had to cancel last minute - so he offered me an EXTRA free massage, and we booked both for within the next 3 weeks. w00t!
3. I'm thankful for the A/C unit in our little apartment. Yes, it is tiny. Yes, it is loud. Yes, it is huge and inconvenient. But YES it does make life more bearable when it gets super hot like it's been this week.
4. I'm thankful for our neighbour. She watches Milo and FDR when we're gone, she is super kind and thoughtful, and today she killed and disposed of a really nasty spider for me when I just couldn't.
5. I'm thankful for my food processor. Every.Single.Day.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

I realized recently that I've been too casual about thankfulness in my life. I say I'm thankful for a lot of things (and I am, really!), but I don't let that thankfulness manifest in my everyday life. For example: I say I'm thankful for our home and where we live, but I complain about the traffic or the single-paned windows that never seem to keep the heat in or out  (depending on what we need at the moment). Instead, if I'm truly grateful, I can look outside my window as I am now, and appreciate the lush green of the trees right outside, and the quiet of the breeze blowing and the birds singing. I can go for a walk through our beautiful neighbourhood and think, "this, this is a great place for us right now, and I'm thankful for it", even if it means I'll be stuck in Bay Area traffic this weekend at some point.

Is thankfulness really thankfulness, if you don't stop to consider what it means, and just say that you're thankful for it? If I said I was grateful for a roof over my head and a full belly, but just superficially consider it to be true and don't actually absorb what that means or feel how truly grateful I am for those things...am I really appreciating those blessings? I don't think so.

So this week, I'm keeping it simple, and saying and meaning these 5 things that I truly, sincerely, am profoundly thankful for each day. My goal is to really feel how grateful I am for these things, so that I don't let complacency rob me of the true joy I should and can feel at all of these blessings.

1. I'm thankful for my relationship with the God of the universe, and His relentless pursuit of my heart.
2. I'm thankful for my true media naranja, my husband. He is my world.
3. I'm thankful for our time in the Bay Area, even as it comes to a close. I have learned so much while living here, and have truly enjoyed so much of it.
4. I'm thankful for my job. I hope I don't take for granted just how lucky I am to have a job that I love.
5. I'm thankful for my families, and truly appreciate how blessed we are to have godly, loving families on both sides of our little sub-family :)

What are you thankful for?

Things white people like.

A fitting title, when you see my two displays of glorious pictures for today.

A couple of days ago, my dad sent me this picture, that he said he took when he had to drive by Jack in the Box a second time just to make sure he wasn't seeing things:

Who knew that any 4-wheeled vehicle could go through a drive-through? Classy.

 Today Nolan had to get some dental work done, so when I got a text with this picture, I decided that I need to make sure and look this awesome next time I go to the dentist. Seriously, why didn't I think of wearing sunglasses to guard against the hellish lights? Why didn't I think of bringing my own music so I don't have to listen to Celine Dion one.more.time. while I'm sweating in that chair?

Seriously though.

This week is chock-full of work, both professional and personal. Each day, once I'm done with work-work, I start on other chores and things on my to-do list. Pretty normal for me, except that this week that involves more house-shopping, which I semi-really love and semi-loathe because I just find it exhausting to get excited that much. Hah.

Wish us luck!

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday again, and I sit here with a belly full of avocado and sore feet from a lovely run early this morning. This week has been crazy busy, as a lot of new things come down the pike and a lot of old things come to a close. I've gotten to spend time with out of town colleagues, good friends, and try a new lunch haunt with our developer that I'm adding to my short list of good places to eat. However, this week has also been crazy productive and you know how I thrive on that feeling. Woo!

I've already written down my massive "to-do" list for the weekend, and I still have another workday between now and then.

Anyway - let's get on to the good stuff.

1. I'm thankful for a bit cooler weather. For awhile there, I thought it was time to haul up the huge A/C for our bedroom again. Phew.
2. I'm thankful for a wonderful Easter with family again, and that our families love each other and love God.
3. I'm thankful for chocolate avocado mousse! Hah! For real, though.
4. I'm thankful for my little lacrosse ball that Natey got me, because it saved my quads from some real bad soreness this week.
5. I'm thankful for the many homes we are able to search in order to find just the right one for us. I know many people don't have that luxury, and I am so looking forward to finding something perfect for our family.

What are you thankful for?

mint condition

Ah, Easter. The season of bunnies and peeps and green grass and family. We kicked ours off with a trip to our favourite sushi spot with my dad and our friends John and Julie. Please note that Julie and I controlled ourselves this time and didn't get the all you can eat. It was a tough decision. Possibly also the first meal where we haven't eaten more than our husbands, as is our habit.

We also spent a little time house-shopping, and got so close to finding what we're looking for. It's exhausting, but exciting. We've narrowed it down pretty far at this point, so I think one of these next forays will lead us to "the one". Phew.

Saturday morning we celebrated my father-in-law's birthday (Happy Birthday, John!) with our traditional breakfast out at Sweetie Pie's. Nolan and I also spent part of Saturday learning how to recycle his "baseball cards" (business cards a la Stanford), since he won't need them anymore. Hopefully my dad's rental car company won't mind finding an extra picture or two laying around of some random dude from Stanford. It's nothing in comparison to the plethora of these babies that lurk in odd places in my parents' house, waiting for discovery.

The rest of Saturday was spent with family, celebrating Easter up on Easter Hill, and enjoying the gorgeous weather and good people around us. This is a terribly nondescript picture of some of us, but I was eager to get back to the festivities, so I didn't bother trying to get a decent one.

Sunday while we were driving back, I came down with something. I think it was mild food poisoning from the symptoms, but not really sure. Anyway - after making it home and deciding to suck it up, we drove over to our friends' for a game night and dinner. We drove separately because Nolan had to stay until about midnight to work on a residency task, and I had grand plans of nursing myself to health again with an early bedtime. That plan didn't work, because I barely slept at all that night. Blah.

Anyway. As I was driving, I get a text with this in it:

And I got another one tonight as Nolan was headed to work. These make me laugh out loud and smile to myself at how full my heart feels when I think of him :)

Thankful Thursday

You know, it's past 10, I have to get up before 5, and I'm still here. That's commitment to trying to get back to my blogosphere right there.

This weekend we're celebrating Easter with our families, visiting with some good friends over sushi, and house-shopping (yay!). So I am totally hyped up with anticipation, and I'm thinking that's why I'm okay not being in bed yet.

I took a picture last week of my fancy pearls that Nolan bought me for my birthday (in July...hah), and was going to post them last week but totally forgot to blog so...here it is. Aren't they gorgeous and glow-y?!

I finally was able to connect with a breeder today about a potential puppy litter that would allow us to adopt our dream dog in the Fall. I didn't want to wait that long, but Nolan's right - we've waited this long for a dog, so we might as well get exactly the one we want and wait until that's possible. 

This house thing is exciting but tiring too. I almost have a hard time looking at homes these days because I just want to find the right one and stop weeding through duds! Nolan seems okay with it - he's spent hours looking at homes, and doing a lot of work on that front. Ah well, maybe this weekend will be fruitful! Speaking of which:

1. I'm thankful for the opportunity to own a home soon.

2. I'm thankful for a job that will allow me to move to that home and still keep working and doing what I love for a company and a team that I love.

3. I'm thankful for hopefully finding a good breeder to help us get our puppy! EEE!

4. I'm thankful for a tiny bit extra time to cook recently...almost every night! It's been awesome, and has yielded some stupidly delicious food that happens to be healthy, too!

5. I'm thankful for productivity and opportunity. Even though it's been a super busy time at work and at home, it feels good.

What are you thankful for?

Real World: Bay Area

Back to real life. After I got home from our vacation, I spent a day in the office and then flew down to Scottsdale for an offsite with our Corporate partners. We stayed in a gorgeous resort at the base of Camelback mountain, and enjoyed lots of great discussion and learning, awesome food, and the most beautiful weather. Friday morning, we all even fit in a long hike up to Piestewa Peak, and enjoyed the view of the whole valley. 

As you can see, by Friday, many of our colleagues who had joined us had already flown back home, and so it was just a large party of women left. Fun!

One of the best parts about being back and settling into routine again is cooking. I love cooking, and have been able to make a whole bunch of new and delicious recipes, mostly from the wealth of deliciousness at paleomg.com (like this one! serious caution: only use half the cayenne and chili called for; even with half the amount, it was really hot. I'm also going to add a little sweetness next time, per Nolan's request :)). No, we're not paleo - we just practice clean eating, and these recipes fit the bill for a fantastic dinner! Try this one and this one, too - they're both going in the rotation as they are fabulously delish!

Milo's been loving having us back home again, and been very affectionate in the hours we spend with him around the house. But his habits haven't improved. This is what I found (below) the other day when I got out of the shower and had been letting my cooked broccoli cool so I could eat it. When my parents were over this past weekend (fun!), he made off with a piece of asparagus and was ferociously growling over it. Seriously, I can't even trust him with greens. The vet told me I have to be careful about him stealing veggies, too, because the calcium in those babies isn't good for his already-susceptible urinary system. 

Last night I was supposed to pick Nolan up from work after my bible study ended, and since I was a little late, he started biking and told me to find him from my location. Since I had a good guess which route he would take from Stanford home, I had to estimate where he would be along that route, and at which point in time so I could intercept him while I was coming from another location also. After his challenge, he was dismayed (but I think impressed!) when I pulled onto a street and flashed my brights at him JUST as he was coming towards me on it. I demanded my prize and felt very pleased with myself for guessing just right. And this was before I had time to read the tiny street sign in the photo he sent me!

After a serious lack of energy for the last couple weeks, I'm finally starting to be back to my normal levels, and back to getting in hard workouts and checking a million things off of my lists. This includes buying a house, finding a puppy, and starting to de-clutter and pack up things in our house. We've got a lot of fun stuff coming up, but a lot to do in the meantime. It's good to be back and at it!