Happy Birthday LL!

Today my blog turns 1!  Since there was initially a reason for what has turned out to be my place to vent and ramble endlessly about things no one but me cares about, I figured I would update “the list” and see how I’m doing so far!

#5 – Take my girls Ash & Jen out for a sorry-I-missed-it, post-wedding celebration!

I’m counting this one done.  Although I didn’t take them out for a post-wedding celebration per say, I have gotten together with them a few times to celebrate our lives in general and I figure that deserves a check!

#17 – Take my cousins out to dinner and get to know them better.

Done…ish.  I’ve been to lunch/dinner a few times with my cousin Cole and his wife Brittany, and although we haven’t been out to an official meal I’ve gotten to spend a lot more time with Wyatt and his girlfriend as well.  I’m so lucky to have these “brothers and sisters” and am so happy that it’s equally important to them that we all remain close and get to know each other as friends as well as family.  Check!

This brings me up to 9 ½ checks off my list!  Although it may not be as many as I had hoped for, I’m well on my way to checking off some of the others…and in between time you lucky readers get a backstage pass to the inner-working of yours truly.

It's difficult to post a picture of my blog celebrating a birthday, since it's a blog and all...
So here, enjoy this picture of me celebrating my birthday...the balloon clearly proves I'm an only child.

Anyone else accomplish any goals lately?

Mud Run

I used to be the one who never made excuses about working out.  I was the, “sorry, I can’t go to dinner tonight because I won’t have time to shower and straighten my hair when I get home from the gym” girl.  Lately, however, I seem to be finding every excuse in the book.

Last week I was sick, so I’ll give myself a little slack on that one.  But this week I’m just plain lazy, and I’m finding my greatest fear of moving back to the States coming true.  I’m not sticking with my workouts.  I lost almost 30 pounds and over 8% body fat while I was in Spain and I kept that motivation going steady when I was back in California; now that I’m in Arizona I can’t seem to keep that motivation to hit the gym instead of the “insert better plans here” or because of “insert lame reason here”.

So, today I decided enough was enough. 

(Actually, yesterday I did…but running at 10:30AM in Arizona in July after not consuming nearly enough water over the past few days was not a brilliant idea and after 15 minutes I was done.  Mr. actually got the car, picked me up, and took me home…that’s how done I was!)

But tonight, at 7:30PM, I decided I was going to do it.  I was going to go running and get back into my routine, and nothing was going to stop me!  And I did run, and nothing did stop me.

Not to say things didn’t try to stop me.  Like my very first dust storm, which decided to blast me…I got a great facial and my esophagus is now as smooth as a baby’s bottom! 

I Google'd "running in a dust storm" and apparently this is not a popular thing to do...
but I did find this picture of an Arizona dust storm and I'm pretty sure this is what it must have looked like on my run...

And what’s with this awful humid, muggy weather? 

Cheers to my first mud-run…

It's Official!

Today Mr. and I headed to the MVD.  (Motor Vehicle Division…aka the DMV)  We got a letter in the mail from the California DMV saying our registration would be suspended at the end of the month because we were no longer insured in California, (picky, picky!), so we went to sort things out here in our new home State.

I was expecting to update my registration and hit the road.  But instead, they took away all my beautiful California things.  My license…my license plates…all Arizona now.  I actually got a little teary.

I really don't like how I'm just hovering over the Grand Canyon...
although I do like that my picture finally looks like me again!

We did manage to get Veteran license plates however, which I'm pretty stoked about.  I'm thinking with the former-military police population here in Arizona I'm less likely to get pulled over if my plates are screaming "Veteran".  I know, I'm a genius!

So yeah, I’m officially an Arizonian now…or is it Arizonan?  I still haven’t quite figured that one out yet…

Math = Greek

There are certain things I will just never understand.

The appeal of Tom Cruise, not having a desire to travel, people who don’t like to read, why they believe distilling whiskey several times will miraculously make it taste better, and math.

Unfortunately for me, I’m taking Probability and Statistics this month. 

It took me over 45 minutes to correctly figure out how to answer ONE question on my homework.  Sunday is my midterm, and there will be 20 questions, and I have only 2 hours to complete it.  I may not be a genius at math, but if it takes me 45 minutes to answer one question, I’m pretty sure the professor should give me 15 hours to complete my midterm…not 2.

(Don't even ask me what the probability of me passing the exam is...I couldn't tell you!)

I was actually feeling great about this class up until this week.  Week 1 was pretty easy …I was understanding math!  But then we moved on to week 2, and the dreaded probability portion of the book.  It should be common sense, but somehow my brain shuts down and no matter how many times I read over the problem and the formulas it looks like it’s written in Greek.

Since when are there exclamation marks in math!?!

Good thing I’m not working this month, because I’m going to need every second of the 6 hours I spend every night on this class and a good deal of luck to pass! 

Cross your fingers for me!

Cheers to Papa and Nana...

This weekend Mr. and I took a quick trip out to Arrowhead to spend a day with my family at our cabin.  Built by my great grandfather Hap in 1926, this cabin has been a special place for my family for years.  It truly is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, which I’m sure is why my Papa and Nana chose it for their final resting place.  We spent the day visiting, remembering, and celebrating, and then we cousins spread their ashes around our little piece of the mountain.



My "brothers" and I!

I was not wearing the shoes for this, but they were cute!  Nana would have approved!

My mom and Aunt Kathy with Lake Arrowhead in the background...gorgeous!

It was a perfect, sunny day and I feel so lucky to have such an amazing group of people I can call family.  Especially Mr., who joined me on the 6 hour drive at midnight after getting off of a 9 hour work day (without me even asking) to spend less than 30 hours at Arrowhead before turning around and coming back to Arizona!  I am one lucky girl!

We were both exhausted, but it was worth it!

Cheers to Papa and Nana; words cannot express how very much you will be missed and how truly grateful I am for the time I had with you both.  I love you both.

And to end the post on a not-so-sad note, here’s some pictures of my cousins daughter, my beautiful “niece” Riley who is almost one!!!  I could take pictures of this kiddo all day!

Too cute!  I love this smile!

Cracks me up!

Riley's "oh my gosh!" face.

340 days 'til Cruise Time!!!

It has been almost a month since I’ve posted anything!  In fact, it’s been almost a month since I’ve even read any of the blogs I follow.  This whole school thing is really putting a kink in my blog-life. 

BUT…I’ve officially finished my first class!  And although the professor hasn’t graded my final research paper yet, I’m pretty sure I’ve started my 4^th go at school off to a good start with an A!  Now I’m on to my second class, and I’m dreading it almost as much as I dreaded the Speech class I took…this month is Statistics and Probability.  Wish me luck!

In happier news, Mr. and I have been super busy!  We’ve gone on a couple hikes around the area and we are really starting to enjoy Arizona!  I never thought I would, but the heat is growing on me and it’s been great to be outside by the pool and hiking on the weekends.  Sunshine = happy Shana! 

And don’t worry, I’m rocking the sunscreen and saving my tanning obsession for next year, because…

Mr. and I booked a cruise!!!  Yep, next May for our 5 year anniversary Mr. and I will be going on a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise.  We’ll be stopping in Labadee (Haiti), Falmouth (Jamaica), George Town (Grand Cayman), and Cozumel (Mexico).  Plus, bonus, the cruise is departing out of Florida which means we’ll get to spend some time with the bro-in-law Josh, sis-in-law Colleen, their beautiful little girl Nora, and what will be their brand new handsome baby BOY!!!  I see Disneyworld in our future!!!  Crossing #10 off my list!

Ready to rock the Caribbean!!!

We may be absolutely crazy booking a cruise in the midst of building our first home, relocating to Arizona, and going to school…but savings is overrated and travel is my passion, so I’m planning to ignore all the financial anxiety and just go with it!  Everything has worked itself out so far! 

Any recommendations on things to do at any of our cruise stops?

I hate radio...

Radio stations in Arizona are horrible.  I mean really, if I wanted to go from Foster the People to Flo Rida to Keith Urban I would put on my IPod.  (Which totally has all three of those artists on it by the way, I’m pretty diverse right?) 

I am missing the more organized radio of San Diego.  For example, I knew if I tuned in to 93.3 I would be getting some kind of rap music, or at least a bad remake of a pop song; 105.3 would always give me the rock classics, with a good mix of new rock; 91.1 has the 90’s classics and some of the newer pop hits.  I could tune in to a station and know what kind of music I was going to get. 

NOT in Arizona.

I have reprogrammed my “favorites” stations about 10 times now because I thought it was going to be a great station but then the awesome music I finally found changed to some ridiculous rap song that I’m almost positive was being “sang” in German. 

If anyone is in Arizona and can tell me the method to this radio madness it would be greatly appreciated.  Otherwise I’m back to my good ole standbys on my IPod…or at least rocking the more orderly Pandora on my IPhone.

Thank goodness for Apple!