home sweet everywhere: another day, another dollar

that I don't have because I'm still waiting to hear about the jobs. I swear I'm gonna give myself an ulcer waiting to see what happens! I just want to get an interview, one foot in the door.

but anyways. do y'all Yelp? It's my new obsession and I won't go anywhere without yelping it first. seriously never leads you astray! E says I'm a slave to reviews. it is true.

ok random

(one of) the greatest things about being a military wife, for me at least, is getting to experience and live new places every so often. Just weighing life options with E is one of my new fave subjects. It is kind of thrilling not knowing where in the world you will be in one, two, three years. It is also kind of crazy when you don't know where your next plot of land will be until a month or so before you have to be there! I have been thinking a lot lately how this time last year I was an FSU student, trying to graduate and plan our wedding, E was just home from Afghanistan and getting ready to go back. I had not a clue that in one year I would be living in california. not a clue. It wasn't until E was back in the desert - probably a month before our wedding (julyish)- that he got orders for cali. Now, I am a rookie at this whole thing but I can assure you moving your whole life-as-you-know-it across the country, in a dang Penske truck with barely any notification is. strange. exciting. bizarre. fun. I honestly don't know what it is in a word.

We had literally flown back from Honeymoon Hawaii (approx 14 hours), had a nap, had a farewell dinner with friends, slept for ohh- about, four hours, packed the Penske and headed west from North Florida at about 11pm on a Wednesday night. We drove through the night until the 90 degree angle bucket seats and clanging noises (oh lord - my new china! crushed under E's motorcycle back there!?) could no longer keep us awake. did i mention all the terrible gas station coffee? strong (thankfully) but terrible none the less. we got a hotel just in time for the continental breakfast. yessssss. my favorite meal! and slept until 5pm. sweet, sweet hotel bed. it was so good to my soul! we then drove another zillion hours through the night, through Texas and half the time on a two lane road. In west Texas there was a storm, it was incredible. I have never seen such a storm. Panoramic horizontal lightning that confused my already confused mind. is it day time? no. no way. all the way until Amarillo at 4am. I begggggged E to stop. get a hotel. for heavens sake we need a hotel. an overpriced one on route 66? yes, please anything. the first civilization in miles and miles! and so we slept a glorious, overpriced, but soo worth every single penny, sleep. Got up at noon (much later than we wanted to) but oh how great it was. We were, once again, heading west. after E had 10 hours at the wheel we got subway, coffee and switched. I drove and drove. determined to rid us of this god awful Penske truck. I drove for hours through New Mexico and Arizona until California! yessss! we are almost home! except no home was here (yet). plus add about 6 more hours until we reached monterey. It took us 24 hours from Amarillo to Monterey. we were hell-bent, coffee crazed, sleep deprived newlyweds desperate for our lives to be out of this moving truck. we made it. got a hotel that we slept in so beautifully all day.

well this post certainly got away from me. I could go on and on about driving that big, scary truck with car in tow through traffic (god help those on the road)! the dozens of subway sandwiches, and even more gas station coffee's. try to park a moving truck with trailer at a Starbucks. one can dream, right? I will leave you, my sweet reader (thank you for sticking this lonnnnng one out) with some pics of our move.

but first a map. I love maps! and hope this gives you a better idea of our drive...

began in Tallahassee, Fl - slept in Shreveport, La - thru Dallas and slept in Amarillo, Tx - New Mexico thru Arizona to Cali where we FINALLY arrived in Monterey! wooohooo!