That's the only thing that comes to mind when I think about how I have yet again neglected a blog I had intended to regularly keep. I suppose this post is more for myself than anything. But it is really amazing to think of how many major life events have occurred since I last blogged. Most notably, I had a baby almost a year ago and she is turning one very soon. I also work in a place that I've always wanted to work and is so well-suited for me that even a year into it, I still can't believe how fortunate I am. I've been writing very sporadically as well. Like actual stories--not blogs.
It is well past my bed time. Even though E mostly sleeps through the night these days, proofreads or anxious brain in overdrive have been making it hard to get to bed at a decent hour. So instead of sitting here going, "Where should I begin?" I am going to sleep.
Friday, April 20, 2018
Thursday, January 14, 2016
New Dog
Wow, the rest of 2015 kind of got away from me. We've been pretty busy the last few months. I'll keep this post brief, but I thought I'd use this opportunity to post about our new little dog. We adopted him from the San Diego Humane Society this past weekend while we were visiting family. We'd been talking about wanting another dog for a while. Copper is taking a while to warm up to him, but I'm hopeful they will become good friends.
Anyway, meet Wink!
His name at the shelter was "Shmoopy" and we were like, "Uh, no." Stuart came up with Wink, because he permanently has one ear up and one ear down. We like it, and Wink seems to be getting used to it.
One thing we need to figure out is how to deal with his separation anxiety, especially where I'm concerned (he seems to have latched onto me in particular; he follows me everywhere). I even went so far as to record him in his crate while I ran errands for an hour to see what he gets up to when we're out, and the poor guy makes these really sad little howls and paws at the crate door when no one's around. (Any other dog lovers out there with tips on easing separation anxiety, let me know!)
We've only had him a few days, and he's definitely going to take some work, but he's already stolen my heart. We're also making sure Copper gets plenty of attention; she is a jealous little doge sometimes.
This is the face of dejection. "Really, guys? Why have you done this to me?" She'll like him eventually. She's already tried to get him to play with her a few times, so that's a good sign.
More pictures to come, I'm sure. Looking forward to Wink getting more comfortable in his new home. That's all for now. Happy New Year!
Anyway, meet Wink!
His name at the shelter was "Shmoopy" and we were like, "Uh, no." Stuart came up with Wink, because he permanently has one ear up and one ear down. We like it, and Wink seems to be getting used to it.
One thing we need to figure out is how to deal with his separation anxiety, especially where I'm concerned (he seems to have latched onto me in particular; he follows me everywhere). I even went so far as to record him in his crate while I ran errands for an hour to see what he gets up to when we're out, and the poor guy makes these really sad little howls and paws at the crate door when no one's around. (Any other dog lovers out there with tips on easing separation anxiety, let me know!)
We've only had him a few days, and he's definitely going to take some work, but he's already stolen my heart. We're also making sure Copper gets plenty of attention; she is a jealous little doge sometimes.
This is the face of dejection. "Really, guys? Why have you done this to me?" She'll like him eventually. She's already tried to get him to play with her a few times, so that's a good sign.
More pictures to come, I'm sure. Looking forward to Wink getting more comfortable in his new home. That's all for now. Happy New Year!
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Quick update
Sorry for the absence. The last few months have been challenging for us financially, spiritually, and emotionally. I just wanted to let you know I'm still here and will continue to update this blog as regularly as I can, or as blog-worthy stuff comes up. My work schedule is crazier than ever, but I promise I'll have some more detailed updates soon.
One thing I will say is, as hard as these last few months have been, God has provided for us every step of the way. That has been abundantly clear since we moved back to Santa Barbara and have been dealing with all the challenges that come with moving to a place with such a high cost of living. We've been living on God's faithfulness and grace, which has been both frightening and comforting at the same time, if that makes any sense.
On a completely unrelated note, who else is as excited about fall as I am? Getting sick of the hotter-than-usual weather, even by Santa Barbara standards. Global warming + no air conditioning = ME NO WANT.
One thing I will say is, as hard as these last few months have been, God has provided for us every step of the way. That has been abundantly clear since we moved back to Santa Barbara and have been dealing with all the challenges that come with moving to a place with such a high cost of living. We've been living on God's faithfulness and grace, which has been both frightening and comforting at the same time, if that makes any sense.
On a completely unrelated note, who else is as excited about fall as I am? Getting sick of the hotter-than-usual weather, even by Santa Barbara standards. Global warming + no air conditioning = ME NO WANT.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Home
Well, things have finally settled down a bit. This post make be a little all-over-the-place because it's late, but here it goes.
This was one of the hardest moves I have ever had to deal with in the physical sense (I will spare you the details of my being violently ill the night before/morning we had to pack the truck, which rendered me near useless), and we never would have gotten everything done if it wasn't for our friends and family in both San Diego and Santa Barbara helping us. Literally, that truck would've never gotten packed or unpacked so efficiently, our last place would've never gotten so clean, and I would've brought up a lot of stuff I didn't really need anymore.
Most stuff is unpacked and in its proper place (again, thanks to some good friends of ours; I was especially thankful to have my kitchen clean and organized by the end of move-in day). The bedroom is still a disaster with bags of clothes and other random odds and ends strewn everywhere, but we just haven't had the time or energy to tackle it yet. We were so physically drained at the end of the move and we've hit the ground running ever since. When we woke up the morning after the move, Stuart thought I was dead for a moment and checked to see if I was still breathing (true story). I don't remember the last time I was so physically exhausted that I couldn't even move. And the funny thing is, once I had recovered from that, with all the walking we've been doing (in clunky walking shoes I haven't worn since my retail days), I ended up with shin splints and knee issues (splints are gone, and knees are thankfully slowly getting better).
Physical ailments aside, I'm so glad to finally be back in Santa Barbara. I think it's beginning to sink in that, oh, we're not on an extended vacation, we're home. Like, actually and truly home. A year ago I would have thought living up here was just a pipe dream. But things are slowly working themselves out. We have jobs, we have a roof over our head, we can buy food... and we get to do life in Santa Barbara.
I walked the UCSB commencement stage five years ago. Leaving Santa Barbara after college was one of the hardest things I had to do. I never imagined I'd get to come back. I mean, look at this:
I get to live here again? It wasn't just a once-in-a-lifetime, only-for-college thing? Is this real life?
I'm also incredibly thankful that we have some dear friends that still live in the area. I don't know how we could've handled the move and life in general these last couple of weeks without them. Something I'm noticing, though, now that we're away from the friends and network we had in San Diego, is that I will, in fact, have to go out and make new friends. And since I work from home, and church community group is on hold until fall, I'm actually going to have to go out of my way to meet people--which, if you know me, is not exactly one of my strongest traits. So that's a challenge on my immediate horizon. I've got my eyes and ears open for opportunities to connect with people; I just hope I have the courage to get out of my comfort zone and put myself out there.
Copper still seems a little anxious. I think it's going to take her a while to get used to our new home, and I'm hoping against hope that she'll eventually NOT bark every time someone walks by our door or talks within earshot of our window. But that's something she did at our old place, so we'll see.
Something I'd like to get once finances are more settled is a bike. Not a road bike, but just something to get me around town or the beach and up the occasional hill without inducing a heart attack. I feel like once I have a bike (and a bike lock), getting around will be SO much easier. We're trying to minimize our use of the car (for lots of reasons), and Santa Barbara is very pedestrian- and bike-friendly. Places that take me a while to get to on foot will be much more accessible by bike.
Stuart and I are both really excited about this next phase of our lives. I'll be sure to post about our adventures (and Copper's adventures, too!).
Anyway, my brain is shutting down on me, so I better leave it there. Goodnight!
This was one of the hardest moves I have ever had to deal with in the physical sense (I will spare you the details of my being violently ill the night before/morning we had to pack the truck, which rendered me near useless), and we never would have gotten everything done if it wasn't for our friends and family in both San Diego and Santa Barbara helping us. Literally, that truck would've never gotten packed or unpacked so efficiently, our last place would've never gotten so clean, and I would've brought up a lot of stuff I didn't really need anymore.
Most stuff is unpacked and in its proper place (again, thanks to some good friends of ours; I was especially thankful to have my kitchen clean and organized by the end of move-in day). The bedroom is still a disaster with bags of clothes and other random odds and ends strewn everywhere, but we just haven't had the time or energy to tackle it yet. We were so physically drained at the end of the move and we've hit the ground running ever since. When we woke up the morning after the move, Stuart thought I was dead for a moment and checked to see if I was still breathing (true story). I don't remember the last time I was so physically exhausted that I couldn't even move. And the funny thing is, once I had recovered from that, with all the walking we've been doing (in clunky walking shoes I haven't worn since my retail days), I ended up with shin splints and knee issues (splints are gone, and knees are thankfully slowly getting better).
Physical ailments aside, I'm so glad to finally be back in Santa Barbara. I think it's beginning to sink in that, oh, we're not on an extended vacation, we're home. Like, actually and truly home. A year ago I would have thought living up here was just a pipe dream. But things are slowly working themselves out. We have jobs, we have a roof over our head, we can buy food... and we get to do life in Santa Barbara.
I walked the UCSB commencement stage five years ago. Leaving Santa Barbara after college was one of the hardest things I had to do. I never imagined I'd get to come back. I mean, look at this:
I get to live here again? It wasn't just a once-in-a-lifetime, only-for-college thing? Is this real life?
I'm also incredibly thankful that we have some dear friends that still live in the area. I don't know how we could've handled the move and life in general these last couple of weeks without them. Something I'm noticing, though, now that we're away from the friends and network we had in San Diego, is that I will, in fact, have to go out and make new friends. And since I work from home, and church community group is on hold until fall, I'm actually going to have to go out of my way to meet people--which, if you know me, is not exactly one of my strongest traits. So that's a challenge on my immediate horizon. I've got my eyes and ears open for opportunities to connect with people; I just hope I have the courage to get out of my comfort zone and put myself out there.
Copper still seems a little anxious. I think it's going to take her a while to get used to our new home, and I'm hoping against hope that she'll eventually NOT bark every time someone walks by our door or talks within earshot of our window. But that's something she did at our old place, so we'll see.
Something I'd like to get once finances are more settled is a bike. Not a road bike, but just something to get me around town or the beach and up the occasional hill without inducing a heart attack. I feel like once I have a bike (and a bike lock), getting around will be SO much easier. We're trying to minimize our use of the car (for lots of reasons), and Santa Barbara is very pedestrian- and bike-friendly. Places that take me a while to get to on foot will be much more accessible by bike.
Stuart and I are both really excited about this next phase of our lives. I'll be sure to post about our adventures (and Copper's adventures, too!).
Anyway, my brain is shutting down on me, so I better leave it there. Goodnight!
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Adventures in Moving
So it's been a while since I've posted anything. That's mainly due to the fact that life became even more bonkers than it was before. I was finishing a PR class, I'm working two jobs, and I'm also trying to pack our entire home. Oh, and taking care of our crazy (but adorable) dog at the same time.
We are in the process of moving to Santa Barbara, and are in the last two weeks of life in our current home. I'm tremendously excited to move back to Santa Barbara, as it has always been a special place for us. For me, it has always felt like home in a different way than other places I've lived. We have friends and a church in Santa Barbara, so it's not like we're going into completely unknown, unfamiliar territory. But at the same time, change is hard, and when it comes to things like, oh, finances, it can be downright scary.
We've been praying about this move and thinking and talking and assessing things for several months now, and enough things finally lined up where we said, "Okay, God, we're taking a leap of faith." Not long after my husband put in his notice at work last month, we found an apartment that was within our means, recently remodeled, and accepts dogs (all of which are hard enough to find individually in Santa Barbara, let alone as a combo deal). My husband is working so hard to find a job while he lives in our minimally furnished apartment. Meanwhile, I'm trying to work as many hours as I can and simultaneously pack our belongings here. It's tough in a lot of ways, and it's easy to feel helpless or for fear to creep in.
It's moments like that when I need to remind myself how God has always taken care of us and will always continue to do so. Not because we've done anything to deserve it, but because he's good and he loves us. So we're trusting him to work things out, even while a part of me is going, "man, things are getting kind of crazy here..."
These next couple weeks will probably be the hardest. I thought once I was done with my PR class, and therefore had one less thing to focus on amid the myriad of logistical concerns, that things would get slightly easier. HAHAHA, NOPE. Because now it's hitting me that we're leaving in less than two weeks. And I'm not talking about my brain going, "OH MAN, so much stuff to pack! How will we get it done?!" No, no, no. Now the emotions are kicking in.
We've always wanted to go back to Santa Barbara, but that doesn't make saying goodbye to all the friends we have here any easier. It doesn't stop thoughts like "I wish I had hung out with this person more while I was living here" and "I'm going to miss playing with so-and-so's kids" and others from popping into my head. And yeah, there's only a three to three-and-a-half hour car ride between San Diego and Santa Barbara, but visiting is not the same as doing life together on a regular basis. And I am going to miss my friends here something fierce...
In a way I'm both looking forward to the last weekend of May (our moving weekend) and dreading it, because of everything that it entails. It's like I want to hit the fast-forward button and the pause button at the same time.
Not sure if I will have time for another update between now and the big move, but I'll be sure to post about life in Santa Barbara once we're up there. In the meantime, keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Much love,
Alyssa
We are in the process of moving to Santa Barbara, and are in the last two weeks of life in our current home. I'm tremendously excited to move back to Santa Barbara, as it has always been a special place for us. For me, it has always felt like home in a different way than other places I've lived. We have friends and a church in Santa Barbara, so it's not like we're going into completely unknown, unfamiliar territory. But at the same time, change is hard, and when it comes to things like, oh, finances, it can be downright scary.
We've been praying about this move and thinking and talking and assessing things for several months now, and enough things finally lined up where we said, "Okay, God, we're taking a leap of faith." Not long after my husband put in his notice at work last month, we found an apartment that was within our means, recently remodeled, and accepts dogs (all of which are hard enough to find individually in Santa Barbara, let alone as a combo deal). My husband is working so hard to find a job while he lives in our minimally furnished apartment. Meanwhile, I'm trying to work as many hours as I can and simultaneously pack our belongings here. It's tough in a lot of ways, and it's easy to feel helpless or for fear to creep in.
It's moments like that when I need to remind myself how God has always taken care of us and will always continue to do so. Not because we've done anything to deserve it, but because he's good and he loves us. So we're trusting him to work things out, even while a part of me is going, "man, things are getting kind of crazy here..."
These next couple weeks will probably be the hardest. I thought once I was done with my PR class, and therefore had one less thing to focus on amid the myriad of logistical concerns, that things would get slightly easier. HAHAHA, NOPE. Because now it's hitting me that we're leaving in less than two weeks. And I'm not talking about my brain going, "OH MAN, so much stuff to pack! How will we get it done?!" No, no, no. Now the emotions are kicking in.
We've always wanted to go back to Santa Barbara, but that doesn't make saying goodbye to all the friends we have here any easier. It doesn't stop thoughts like "I wish I had hung out with this person more while I was living here" and "I'm going to miss playing with so-and-so's kids" and others from popping into my head. And yeah, there's only a three to three-and-a-half hour car ride between San Diego and Santa Barbara, but visiting is not the same as doing life together on a regular basis. And I am going to miss my friends here something fierce...
In a way I'm both looking forward to the last weekend of May (our moving weekend) and dreading it, because of everything that it entails. It's like I want to hit the fast-forward button and the pause button at the same time.
Not sure if I will have time for another update between now and the big move, but I'll be sure to post about life in Santa Barbara once we're up there. In the meantime, keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Much love,
Alyssa
Monday, March 30, 2015
The briefest of updates.
I recently got full time (or close to it) at one of my publishing jobs, so it's been extra busy around here lately. When I have some down time, I'll make some blog posts. For now, hang tight. You'll be seeing me here soon.
Thanks.
Alyssa
Thanks.
Alyssa
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
A Shortcut to Mushrooms!
Well, technically a mushroom, and there were few shortcuts involved. Stuart's been wanting a Super Mario mushroom hat, so I crocheted one for him. I'm quite proud of the way it turned out, so I wanted to share it with you all in internet-land. Ta-da!
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