Sunday, October 26, 2014

Gratitude

Today is Mike's birthday and I honestly can't put into words how grateful I am to have him in my life.  He motivates me daily to live a more awesome life and to push myself out of my comfort zone, while also being so supremely supportive.  

To celebrate his birthday, we took Zater for a stroll through the woods. It was a relaxing day. 







We celebrated at Outback with a fantastic meal. Then came home and ate cheesecake (homemade by me: that's one more item off the bucket list). 

Peru week is finally here. Friday morning I leave for what I hope will be a wonderful adventure to South America. Please pray for health and safe travels for myself and my other team members. 

Mike - I love you and our dog. I love our life together and I know we are just getting started.  Thanks for motivating me to live life to the fullest. 

P.S. This blog is a test to see how well I can post to the blog from my cell phone. Hoping to post a few times from Peru to keep everyone in the loop. 




Monday, October 20, 2014

Homesickness

Something about Fall makes me REALLY miss North Carolina.  Fall is a beautiful time in Tahoe (let's face it... all of the seasons are beautiful in BOTH states), but it's nothing compared to the beautiful fall foliage you find in NC.

To make the most of our amazing fall weather out here, Mike and I decided to go paddleboarding.  I have been feeling stressed lately (changing jobs... getting ready to go out of the country for 2 weeks... etc) and paddleboarding is such a calming activity.  We hadn't been in MONTHS.  It was so therapeutic for me to be out on the calm lake.













Mike paddling by Homewood Ski Resort.  


After our lovely paddle, we continued our loop around the lake.  We decided to stop and walk around Tahoe City so we could see just how low the water levels are.  It was shocking.  And really sad.

Beautiful Aspens. 

Poor fish... they want flowing water... not stagnant water.  



This is the river that we floated with friends a few months ago.
Can't float it anymore.  Sad.  



Seriously.  We need water.  

And this picture, well it's just in here because he's so dang cute!!!  


Speaking of homesickness... many of you know that I recently changed my cell phone number.  And lots of you asked, "Does this mean you're staying in Nevada forever?"  Well, here's the answer: NOPE!  It doesn't mean that we are staying here forever.  We may very well move back to the East Coast one day.  Who knows what's in our future?  I have been trying to just live in the moment.  And right now, in this moment, it makes more sense for me to have a local number since I will be making more local phone calls from my personal cell.  That's all.

Although I was SOOOO sad to get rid of my 919 area code, I had no problem letting go of the rest of my old number.  It was FULL of 6's which always kind of bothered me and I was always getting calls from people in NC looking for various people, most often "Andre."  So, I won't miss seeing random numbers pop up and having to say "You've got the wrong number."

But, parting with my 919 area code... that was actually hard.  That was my last real tie to North Carolina and I feel like I'm betraying my state by switching.  As I was lamenting over my situation, Mike pointed out that we still own a home in North Carolina!  Duh!  How did I forget that??? I'm a homeowner in North Carolina.  This fact alone made me feel slightly less homesick!  And no matter what: Wendell, North Carolina will ALWAYS be my "HOME."

So to those of you who think we are giving up on NC and staying in Nevada forever, that's not necessarily true.  We really don't know what we're doing.  We're just living in the moment and trying not to plan too far into the future.  Having said that... if you are planning to come and visit, you should DEFINITELY do so!  Who knows how long we'll be here???  

In other news: tonight's Tahoe forecast is calling for SNOW!  But returning to 60 degree temps tomorrow so it shouldn't last long.  We are really hoping and praying for a good winter though.  We need the precipitation!


Monday, October 13, 2014

Fall Festivities

Finally, the King fire is contained!  There is no more smoke in the basin.  It's fall and it's gorgeous!  The weather is perfect (which is true 99% of the year).  The leaves are changing.  The salmon are swimming upstream.  It's awesome.  So, here's a glimpse of what it looks like around Tahoe now.


Bye King fire smoke! 

All smoke... can't see the mountains!



Groves of Aspens! 





Cabins tucked in groves of Aspen trees.  







Yesterday we spent the day at Apple Hill... visiting wineries... picking pumpkins... eating WAY too many delicious apple flavored desserts (dumplings... doughnuts... cheesecake).  We bought homemade apple butter and strawberry apple jam.  We bought 2 apple pies for the freezer (hopefully they'll make it to Thanksgiving and Christmas).  



Free wine tasting with a view! 






2 weeks until Peru!  6 weeks until Thanksgiving!  10 weeks until Christmas!!!  Not that I'm counting.