A lazy, quiet, Saturday.

It is a bright and beautiful summer day here in New Jersey. Living on the top floor of our two-apartment house, we leave all of the blinds open during the day. It allows the sunshine to dance on the hard wood floors and every time you look outside, all you see is trees. Sometimes I pretend we live in a tree house. It's so sunny and warm that it makes it hard to believe just 3 and half short months ago there was still snow on the ground. It also makes it hard for this California girl to believe that in just about 4 months, there will be snow on the ground again.

My handsome fiancé and myself were supposed to pack up the ice chest full of snacks, beer, and excellent decisions and head to the beach today. I'm trying to get as many trips in as I can before school (aka: the mayhem) begins. But after working a 70 hour week, a machine called "The Wheel" decided to break (again) and he had to go into work on a SATURDAY to fix it. It's just criminal, I tell you. But he took it like a champ, got out of there by 11, and took me to do one of my favorite things in the world- shop for more school supplies. I say more because I've already gone once this week. Now I have two stylish binders complete with brand new pens and pencils and little dividers and folders for each of my classes. Nothing can cheer me up quite like the stationary aisle at Target can. We plan on trying for the beach again early tomorrow morning. Early (sigh) because we want to get a good spot.

It is nearing 2 in the afternoon now and Jason is napping. Not surprising after working more than 70 hours in only 5 and a half days. I, on the other hand, decided to distract myself with my favorite pastime- writing- because however exhausting it may be to work 70 hours in one week, I would suffice it to say that it is almost as exhausting to be completely alone for 70 hours in one week.

Well, that's not fair. I'm not alone anymore. I now have my kitty cat Augustus who keeps me wonderful company, if I do say so myself. He yells (meows) at me when I'm doing something wrong, cuddles me when he's waking up from yet another nap, and has no problem letting me know when he wants to play fetch no matter what important show I'm watching or book I'm reading. Yes, my cat plays fetch. He admittedly plays fetch better than any dog I've ever played fetch with, in fact. He stays very focused. He only stops going to get the ball after over 20 times of bringing it back to me because he is suddenly oh so exhausted and falls wherever he is standing to take, you guessed it, another nap.

I love him.

Yeah, life is pretty good. I miss home, sure. Especially on long days like the ones I had this week where the waiting never seemed to end... Waiting for Jason to get home, waiting for the weekend, waiting for my birthday in New York, waiting for school and my life to start... A lot of waiting. I feel as though I've spent the past 7 months of my life waiting. Which draws quite an excellent parallel to our lives, I suppose. Aren't we always waiting for something?

Voltaire said, "We never live; we are always in the expectation of living."

However, on the 2 week home stretch of this 7-month excursion of which I have found myself, I am declaring, right here and right now, to live. I will finish the book I'm writing. I will go to the beach. I will read and nap and enjoy the downtime I have left. Because I have a feeling 17 units of classes will quickly make me miss all of this expectation of living.

Until next time.

-City Girl from Cali

To everything there is a season.

I wrote about the winter and the majesty that is heavy snowfall (to a born and raised California girl, at least) and now I feel it necessary to write about the spring.

I've never in my life experienced drastic season changes. In California, we have one season year-round: beautiful. And while I do find myself missing that constantly perfect California sunshine, I am truly enjoying getting to see the seasons change. After the snow melted and everything was just plain dead for awhile, I figured it would take quite some time before my new world started turning green. Much to my surprise, however, this new world of which I've found myself took less than a month to come alive. It gets more and more beautiful every day; with cherry blossoms and flowers sprouting up all over the place practically overnight.

This newfound drastic change of seasons has gotten me thinking about the seasons in our lives. (And yes, it got me singing, "To everything turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn...") 

Think back on your life, on all of the people you have been. It's amazing to think that just from year to year, not to mention every 5 years or so, how different we become. If somebody one year ago would have told me I'd be where I am today, I'm not sure I would have believed them. If they told me just two years ago, I definitely wouldn't have. 

Our lives are like a giant book and every thing we go through, every inner-change we grow in to, becomes a chapter in that book. And the funny thing about it is that looking back on the chapters in our lives, one at a time, we (well, maybe I can only speak for myself, but I digress...) truly believe that we know how things are going to turn out in the chapters to come. Although, the truth of it is that what we believe is going to happen, usually doesn't. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, but always it's for a reason.

I know, I know. How more cliché could I possibly get? The whole everything happens for a reason bit... But it's true! It does! And I haven't always believed that, either, which just goes to prove my "different people in our different chapters" theory. If something terrible were to happen to me or someone close to me, I would think, "What reason could this possibly be for?" But the older I've gotten, the more and more that I've learned every little detail that is bestowed upon us in our lives is part of a bigger plan, much bigger than anything we could dream up for ourselves. God's plan.

A quick example: If my parent's wouldn't have split up when I was very young, if I wouldn't have gotten my heart broken by the first boy I loved, if I hadn't have gone through all that I did because of and in light of the hardships in my life... I never would have been the me that I was when my Jason came along. Therefore, I never would have had the bravery and the appreciation and the belief in love that I had in order to open my heart to him.

Here's one more: If Jason hadn't been so driven by all that he went through in his childhood, put himself through college, worked his ass off, and gotten a job at a major plastics company... he never would have been able to take a job in California. If he hadn't have chosen the California location (out of FIFTY others)... we never even would have met.

Last one: If all of the above hadn't have happened... Jason and I never would have found each other, the people we had always been meant for, we never would have fallen in love, and we certainly wouldn't currently be living out the adventure of our lifetime right this very second.

This has been the hardest three months of my entire life. I miss my family so much and I know that I have put a strain on them as I hear them tell me often how much they wish I was back home. This decision was not one that only changed the course of my life, but it catastrophically changed the course of the lives of those all around me as well. This is a new chapter, a new season, for all of us.

And though it has broken my heart in ways I didn't know were even possible, it has also brought to life parts of myself that I didn't even know were there. 

And to think... I'm only on month 4 of 24, with many a chapter and many a season to go.

'Til the next one.

Xx