Life, Love, and Veggies: March 2009

Monday, March 16, 2009

Boxes, boxes and more boxes

I know many of you think we have fallen off the face of the earth. We haven't. We are still here. I promise. Just trying to make sense of how we got so much stuff and where we should put all of it. Life is approaching normalcy. I can just feel it. Our computer has finally made it to the desk! It's previous spot was on the living room floor. Typing is a lot more comfortable at a desk! Our TV has finally made it to the TV stand (we found the hardware for it. yeah!!!) instead of it's previous spot on a storage tub. We still have so many boxes, though. It's incredible. I think they are multiplying. I'm just waiting for a dream where the boxes are chasing me.

We miss our friends and life in California. I so miss the community. I keep waiting for OSC to come and welcome me to Meridian and for my neighbors to bring me cookies. Stephen and I have both been calling housing maintenance but no answer. And Olivia keeps wanting to walk to the park. What do you mean we can't walk to the park? Poor thing.

We definitely had our doubts about this neighborhood and our neighbors. We have yet to meet our immediate neighbors but we have had several sightings. We have heard our next door neighboor is deaf. We saw her checking the mail while smoking a cigarette in her PJs (it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon). Then we heard her screaming at the dog. I can't repeat what she said. I had to cover Olivia's ears. Oh, dear.

Things have improved since that day. We found that 10 steps from our house down a side street is what we have coined "Mansionville"!!!! Wow. The houses are amazing! I just know they have butlers and chauffeurs. The rest of the neighborhoods are nice, working class and hilly! I had no idea Meridian was going to be this hilly. I like it.

We found an awesome area on Saturday called Bonita Lakes. They have nice paved walkways around one of the lakes and have hiking and biking. Right up our alley! Yeah! The best part about it is the park. I'm telling you it is the coolest park I've ever been to. It's brand new! I'm sure we will be at that park all the time!

We also went to our new church and met some really nice people. We had connections with most of the members, so it was fun! I'm looking forward to singing in the choir and getting Olivia into Sunday School, next week. I love that our church is 5 minutes from our house. What a blessing!

What I was most concerned with when we first got here was where to find good produce!!! Thankfully we are 5 min away from a pretty nice grocery store. They had some Amy's food, almond milk, and tofu. I was impressed. The produce is good. Definitely better than the Piggly Wiggly. There is also a farmer's market downtown that I am looking forward to. I'm sure it will get started in a few months.

Stephen gets sworn into the MS Air National Guard, today. We have heard that he will be flying the MC-12. Please, keep us in your prayers, as we still aren't sure how much work he will be getting. We have faith that God will provide. We are so thankful for our nice house, the people we have met, so far, and for being so close to family!!! It's awesome!

Once we get the printer set up, I can share some pictures. So long for now! I'm off to go through more boxes. :-)

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Whole Foods to Piggly Wiggly

Well, Olivia and I have made it to the south. I could have told you that just by listening to the people around me. The accents and sayings take a little while to get used to when we come back to MS.

Here are a few funny sayings and interesting things we've run into so far...

I'm drunker than Cooter Brown! (I won't reveal who said this. It's not a family member.)
My stars! (If you put your right hand on your chest and draw out "stars" a little bit, you'll have it.)
Heaven's to Betsy! (I have no idea who Betsy is but she's always a part of this expressive saying.)
"Ya'll" magazine for Southerners (I couldn't help but check this magazine out at Books-a- Million. I had to read the article on Collards. No recipes fit the bill for me. I try to stay away from ham hocks, salt pork, and meaty ham bones.)

It's good to be around family and weird to be in Jackson when there isn't a holiday or special event. I'm ready to get settled and have a routine, again. Stephen is still making his way across the country. Charlie is apparently going stir crazy. He ate Stephen's shoe, last night. If you see a one shoed man driving a Pacifica with a U haul trailer, a cat meowing his head off, and a dog running outside the car....that's Stephen and his gang of wild animals. I'll have the beer waiting for you, honey!

FYI: The closest grocery store to our house in Meridian is a Piggly Wiggly.

Off he goes into the wild blue yonder!

Stephen has always dreamed of flying in a fighter plane. His wish came true during our last week at Beale. He flew in a T-38 trainer that the U-2 pilots use at Beale. It was an awesome experience for him. I'm so happy he got to do it!

From New Album 2/18/09 2:14 PM

Alcatraz

From New Album 2/18/09 2:14 PM

The night before his flight, Stephen let Olivia try on his old flight school helmet. She thought it was really cool!

From New Album 2/18/09 2:14 PM

Our last...

As soon as we found out we were moving, we started saying, "This is our last...time to eat at Zakuro, to go to church, to go to gymnastics, etc." A big last time moment was our last trip to San Francisco. We probably went to San Fran more times than anywhere else in California. We got to know our way around town pretty well. We knew where to park, where to stay, where to eat. Every trip there was always more to explore.

One of our favorite spots was Crissy Field. It is a part of the Presidio and used to be a landing strip. It's right on the water and right next to Golden Gate Bridge. What a beautiful place!!! We really wanted to have Charlie experience our favorite spot, so we took our last trip to San Fran with our good friends Michelle, Joseph, and Michelle's mom. Oh yeah, and of course, Blue was there to enjoy the romp with Charlie.

Besides the warning ticket we got for being in the wrong spot with dogs off leash (oops!), the trip was awesome. We will miss you San Francisco!