Happy Summer!

Yesterday was the hottest day yet for us here in Rhode Island - 81 degrees and I loved it!  I've been waiting six long months for this.  I overdid it a little bit, though, and went on a super long walk and got super sunburned.  Wamp.  Wamp. (or insert appropriate noise from Charlie Brown for a swing and a miss here)

Today Drew and I went to the Great Chowder Cook-Off here in our hometown.  It was extremely, extremely crowded.  I would definitely recommend that they limit the number of tickets they sell, but nonetheless, the chowder was very tasty and it was a wonderful kick-off to our New England summer. The best chowder we had was from The Boat House in Tiverton, RI.  It was a shirmp, pollack, and corn chowder.  Delicious!!

We've been busy again with visitors, which we absolutely love!  Drew's best friend, Adam, came out for a visit the week before Memorial Day.  Our friends, Tim & Christa, spent a night with us before they left Rhode Island for good, which we are super depressed about.  And right now we have a four-legged little houseguest staying with us while her parents are out of town for the weekend.  I love dogs and it's kind of nice having one around, but it is also a pretty big commitment.  In addition to our dog sitting duties this weekend, Drew and I also did some babysitting last night.  We babysat a little dreamboat named Liam, who is indescribably in love with Drew.  Or Brew as he calls him.  Liam has two older brothers, but last night we just had him all to ourselves and I think he relished in the attention.  We played t-ball in the yard, went on some walks around the house, and did lots of laughing.

I think our summer is off to a great start.  Hope all of yours are too!

We played TONS of Catan while Adam was here!

Adam and Drew both learned how to tie a bowtie on his visit.
What gentlemen. 

Two boys in a brewery

Precious - our furry houseguest 

Smile!  Liam & Brew

Gardening

For the first time ever, I'm trying my hand at gardening.  I don't think my hand has a green thumb, though, so we'll see how this turns out.  I'm attempting a container garden, which includes thyme, basil, cherry tomatoes, and marigolds.  This afternoon I planted the three herbs.  I still have to purchase the marigold plant because last time I went to the nursery they still weren't stocking them due to the cold temperatures.  I got the inspiration for this particular assortment of plants from HGTV magazine, which I have a subscription to thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law, Maggie.

Hopefully my little garden will bloom and thrive.  I'll keep you updated on its progress...and with pictures, if there's anything to see.

The only plants I have ever had, unfortunately, I killed.  I usually kill them with too much love and nourishment by overwatering them.  As in friendships, plants too need a little room to grow.  But they do also need the care and attention to make sure their needs are met.  I know I'm far from the first one to analogize gardening to relationships, but I was struck by this concept as I was talking to my little plants outside.  They do need me, but they also just need time to grow on their own.  I will strive to remember that as I (hopefully) watch my garden grow, but I will also try to remember that as I watch my friends, family, and all of those around me grow.  They need me, but they also need space to bloom.  

"As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend."  Proverbs 27:17

And the award goes to...

Me!  For worst blogger ever.

It seems like so much and so little has gone on since I last wrote.  Drew and I are now settled in Newport, Rhode Island and loving our little apartment.  Well, except for all the noise that accompanies living in the middle apartment of a three story converted house.  We've already been fortunate enough to have three groups of visitors - Lindsay, Mikko & Kirsi, and Roush.  I think I've got the visitor itinerary down now, so we'd love to have more visitors anytime!

Me & Lindsay exploring Brown University in Providence, RI

Mikko & Kirsi on the world famous Cliff Walk in Newport, RI 

Fenway Park: we went to our first Red Sox game with Matt!

The winter was long, extremely long.  Even as I write this in the middle of May, the temperature is only 55 degrees outside.  I sure wish it would warm up a bit.  But I do have to say that springtime is beautiful, even if the weather isn't perfect.  Since this was my first true winter, it is also my first true spring.  I conceptually understood the whole spring thing - flowers bloom, things get green, new life, you know.  However, I never really got it until now; it is phenomenal!  It felt like overnight gorgeous flowers just sprung up, trees that I had only ever seen bare had leaves and flowers, and the colors are just so pretty.  I can't get enough of them.  This spring thing is really amazing.  Each time I drive around I'm in awe anew of the beauty that God created all around us.  It's been a real treat!

The biggest news in our family is that my brother and sister-in-law are expecting a perfect little girl in October!  We are all thrilled.  I know that they will be amazing parents and cannot wait to see the love and affection that they pour on their daughter.  And I can't wait to meet her!  I'm going to be an aunt!!!!

The cute gender reveal - I always love a scratcher

The second biggest news in our family is that my brother just graduated from Duke Law School!  (Wait a minute, it seems like Jake is getting more than his fair share of publicity here.)  We are so, so, so proud of Jake and all of his accomplishments.  He is quite the brainiac!  We were lucky because the whole family was able to make it out to North Carolina for his graduation and the ensuing celebration.  It was the perfect time to be together because it was the three year anniversary of our mom's passing and Mother's Day all while we were there with each other.  There was no place else I would have rather been.  It was also nice because we got to celebrate Angela, the mom-to-be, and her wonderful mother, Amy, who was also there for the graduation, with a fantastic Mother's Day homemade brunch.  We had a superb time together.  There was some sightseeing, lots of celebrating, lots of eating, lots and lots of game playing, and just some really good times with each other.  I am so blessed!  I love my family! 

Law School Family BBQ at Sarah P. Duke Gardens

Way to go, Jake!  Congratulations! 

Hermanos

Epic Fail

That pretty much sums up my blogging over the last few months.  I've been waiting until I had cool pictures of our new apartment all set up to share, but who really knows when that's going to be at this rate.  I've gotta say that this hasn't been the easiest of moves.  We moved into our new apartment on December 3, and I've got to say that it is pretty cute.

But for the first week we had no gas, which meant no heat, no gas stove & no hot water.  It was not entirely pleasant.  We did get a space heater so our bedroom (if you can call it that - it just happened to be where we had our air mattress set up) was warm at least, but we really had to bundle up to go into the rest of the rooms.  The good news is was that it was in the 50s that week, so it wasn't near as bad as it could have been.  And to be honest, it was probably a lot worse for Drew because I only showered once that week...if you can call it a shower.  I made a great plan in my mind to go on a run, get real hot & sweaty, and then take a cold shower, which at that point I figured would be refreshing.  Wrong!  About two seconds in there and I realized it was a terrible idea.  I was so tense and frozen, and I could barely breathe, so I tried to wash my hair & body as best as I could, but it really wasn't much of a success.  Needless to say, we were both very happy when the gas was turned on!

Our furniture, which has been in storage since we left Guam, was scheduled to arrive last Friday.  But when we called Friday morning to inquire about the time of the delivery, they said that it was supposed to arrive in RI that day but wouldn't be delivered until some later date.  Why you ask?  Well, we're not really sure.  On Monday morning, Drew called to see if our stuff had arrived in RI and schedule the delivery to us.  He was told that our stuff had not arrived and they actually weren't sure where it was...uh, really?  We decided not to panic and weren't really that shocked, but that just seems to be par for the course for this move.  But thank goodness, yesterday we got a call that our stuff has indeed arrived and will be delivered to us on Friday!  Or so they say...stay tuned to see if it's really true.

Also, if I don't get another post up before Christmas, I wish you all a happy, peace-filled Christmas.  Despite the difficulties of the move, we have both felt an amazing sense of calm and thankfulness.  We are together at last and these little things really don't matter in the grand scheme of life.  We are just so happy to have each other, and to have you in our lives!

From One Big State to the Tiniest State

We finally made it to Rhode Island!  We arrived here a little bit later than we had anticipated and just in time for winter.  I don't think I'll be seeing the temperature above 50 degrees for a very long time.

With all of our packing, goodbyes, and cross-country trekking I have been a bit behind on the blogosphere.  But I intend to catch up and get back on the blogging bandwagon.  Drew and I, thankfully, had a very unadventurous trip across these United States - no tickets, no car trouble.  We went the southern route from California to North Carolina along 40 east - it's pretty easy not to get lost when you just stay on the same freeway for the entire time.  We didn't really do any sightseeing but just drove as much as possible so that we could spend as much time with my brother and sister-in-law in North Carolina.  We went through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and finally arrived in NC!  We did take a slight detour in Oklahoma one day to Some Bar in Small Town, America to watch the depressing USC v. UCLA game.  It was quite a detour and fun to get some of the flavor of America.  I mean, Drew even made a great Navy veteran friend.

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the road trip:

Beautiful desert sunset

 

We must be married or something because we each took a picture of the other one sleeping without even knowing it.  I gotta hand it to him, Drew definitely got a better shot of me.  But I did have a good one lined up of Drew with his mouth open with the beautiful scenery behind him, but he closed his mouth just as I was about to take it.  Fail.  I promise, driving & photographing is completely safe and legal.

Jack-O-Lanterns

Drew and I have been up visiting his family in the Bay Area for the last few days.  They were all so happy to see him and have him home.  It's rainy up here, which is pretty much par for the course when I visit.  But it is fun to start getting all cozy for winter.  We were lucky enough to be up here for Halloween so that we could go the pumpkin patch together, carve our pumpkins & hand out Halloween candy to all of the kiddos.  I love seeing all of the cute kids & creative costumes.  I think a few of my favorites where the Christmas present, blacksmith, girl from The Capitol & the dog squirrel (don't ask me what that is, I'm still not exactly sure).

I think Drew won for best jack-o-lantern this year - he went with the puking pumpkin, which is actually quite fitting considering how much candy we all consumed tonight.  I hope everyone had a happy & safe Halloween!  

The Eagle Has Landed!

As one of my best friends texted me yesterday, we're reunited and it feels so good!!!  Drew made it home safely on Monday night.  I was able to get a military gate pass and met him right at his gate as he got off the plane.  And he was even wearing his sexy uniform!  He was able to make the long journey back to San Diego with a friend he went to training with and was deployed with so I think that made it a little more bearable.  But, after three layovers and an over 24-hour journey, he was understandably exhausted.  Since he got in so late, Drew had the next day off and we planned to just sleep in so he could get over his jet-lag, but the Navy had other ideas...they decided to test the alarm system in our "hotel" rooms at 7:45 a.m.  Really?!  So we didn't have much choice but to get up and get going.  It was just a day filled with errands & relaxing, but it was so good to do it all together.      

I am so excited to have Drew home and finally be together again.  It was definitely a long eight months.  Thank you all so much for the prayers & support for both of us.  God was surely watching out for Drew because as he told me this morning, he never once felt scared for his safety.  That's pretty amazing considering he was stationed in a war zone! God was holding Drew safely in the palm of His hand.

A slightly sleepy Drew with a lot less poundage & a lot more stuff!
He's just too cute, if you ask me.