Yippe Kye-yi-YAY!

Wow.. last posting in June, and here we are in August. So much has happened - it's hard to get it all out...

Basically, I got a job in Texas and have moved out here. It all happened so fast, it was just amazing, really. It seemed that it only took about 2 weeks to apply for the job, interview, and then get an offer. I never really thought I would get the job, but I did. I'm doing a lot of the same things I did in Long Beach, except now I've got the added bonus of being our site EVM (Earned Value Management) focal. That has made me super super busy. But I really love it, so I don't complain (not too much anyway).

Mark is still in California. I didn't quite anticipate how much it was going to suck having him there and me here. He was left to close up our apartment, get rid of our stuff, and basically clean up after me. I went to California once and did a little, but apparently, there was tons more to do. So he's been spending the past week stressing over packing, stuff, and wondering about his job out here. And that has just been really difficult on both of us. Aunt Isy says that all we can do is pray, and leave it up to God. But that is still very difficult, emotionally. I can hear the stress in his tone of voice.

As for me, I'm really enjoying Texas. It is hot, as everyone says, but with air conditioning, it doesn't bother me much. I'm trying to keep myself busy: I'm on facebook most every night, I'm thinking of taking a Bible Study class at the Methodist Church I am attending with Aunt Isy, and just basic stuff like that. Mark is visiting in September, and I'm looking for something fun for us to do while he's here. I want to have some time where we aren't stressed, and we can stop thinking about the stress of work and life; let's remember why we fell in love, and try to rekindle that.

Some things I'm enjoying about Texas: I love my new job. My boss is just incredible, and I can tell I'm going to love working for her. She's the type that makes you want to do a good job for her. She's challenging, yet fair, inspiring, yet very down to earth. I love the sunsets in Texas; they seem to turn such beautiful shades of pink and purple, orange and yellow, and the bluest of blues. I am always awe-struck when I see them. The thunderstorms, while sometimes scary, are so beautiful to see too. The lightening bolts strike through the sky, and it's just amazing! They light up the sky like a fireworks show. It's like nothing I've ever seen in California. And fireflies are no myth, my friends. I call them lightening bugs, because their butts light up. I love to watch them. Plus the pace is much slower, the people so friendly, and just an all around great experience.

I will get to see Stephen and Shyanne in a couple weeks. It is Danny and Rachael's anniversary, so we are going to take them for the night. I'm really excited about spending quality time with them. I'm not sure yet what we are going to do, but I'm sure it will be fun.

I think thats it for now. I will write more soon. With more time on my hands, I can spend more time doing things like this. I enjoy writing, and it's quite therapeutic. I'm not sure anyone is reading, but if you are, I'm sending you a big hug!

What IS going on with Mark and Anje?

It's been so long since I've posted - I'm not sure I remember how to do this.  Let me take a whack at it, though...

Since I last blogged I made a visit out to Texas to attend a funeral.  My uncle Albert passed away, and for some reason, I just felt really compelled to go out and support my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I saw my biological mom for the first time in about 10 years, but that went OK.  Could have been much worse.  My brother drove down to the Dallas area, so I got to see Stephen and Shyanne (could there be any better gift than those smiling faces?  I don't think so.).  Anyhow, it wasn't on the best of terms to visit, but I saw my cousin Michael, had long talks with my Aunt Isy, and just felt really blessed to have visited.  I'm not sure why I so felt the need to be there, but it certainly did a lot for my spirit.

Other than that, Mark and I are just really hanging out.  Mark celebrated his birthday on May 12, with some of friends coming over for dinner.  I made my first venture into making Angel Food cake, and it wasn't a complete disaster.  He seemed genuinely pleased, so that's good.  He got a monitor for his piano and a zombie killing game (its rated M for Mature for a reason!).

Currently I'm on a mission to lose weight.  My doctor seemed concerned, so I've joined a challenge at work.  I feel like I'm working hard between spin class, and running and elliptical, but the scale is not so generous.  My fitness coach tells me to stop looking at it, but I can't help myself.  Maybe I should move it to the closet.  But let's be honest, I'd just obsess over it, seek it out, and sneak a peek.  :)

We have two trips coming up.  Our first is for our first anniversary in July.  The women who did our rehearsal dinner and wedding cake own a restaurant in Lompoc, so we will be heading up that way for some anniversary wedding cake (I don't know anyone who freezes theirs).  We made a special request for cheesecake, and they've very willingly obliged.  From there, we are heading a bit farther up the coast to Sycamore Mineral Springs, and staying one night.  We may do some wine tasting along the way, but there is no itinerary, and therefore, no rush.  Just some serious "us" time.  

Our next trip has me SUPER excited.  We are flying to Washington, DC.  It has been a life long dream to visit the White House, and since I'm a big fan of it's current occupants, there is no better time.  We'll be there for a week at the end of October.  We are also trying to see my niece Brianna who lives out there with her mom.  Very exciting indeed!  I got great prices on the airline and the hotel.  So far, the fare hasn't gotten lower than what I paid.  YAY!

Other than that, not much is going on with us.  We will see a new nephew join Mark's family in August, and we get to watch his youngest niece, Sophia grow up quite rapidly.  In between all that fun is work - which we try not to take too seriously.  

So, what's going on with you??

One Shot of Optimism, Please

I stayed home yesterday to watch the inauguration.  I'm a total geek like that.  I love all things Americana.  And I especially love it when my country does me proud and elects officials who want to get stuff done!  I watched the inauguration and all the events of the day with my girlfriend, LaToya.  We are both huge fans of Obama, so it was equally fun for both of us.  

As I watched, I couldn't help but be inspired.  I couldn't help but be hopeful.  Our new President spoke to each of us Americans.  "Stop sitting on your butts, expecting a hand out, and get down to business, and let's all get work done!" is what I heard.  He wasn't selfish or proud.  He was humble and thoughtful.  I got so wrapped up in his words.  

Not everyone agrees with our nation's choice, but I hope they agree with his message.  I hope they listened to what we all need to do.  We need to work together.  We need to work hard, all of us, and put our faith in each other.  We need to make wrongs right, and move on from 8 years of bad policy, bad economy and bad reputation for all Americans.  

It's a great time to be an American! 

Not much new - except that big TV!

Not much new in our house these days. Oh wait, there's a HUGE TV in our living room now! A little back ground....

One thing I love about Mark is his little quirks. They are so unique to just him. Even thinking on them now, it makes me smile. One thing he does is get up every Sunday morning (before me) and reads all the Sunday ads online. He diligently surfs through Target (our favorite), Best Buy, Circuit City, all the fun ones, and jots down little notes. Sometimes when I'm doing laundry, I find his little notes to himself.

Anyway, technology is Mark's "thing". In our family, the kitchen, cooking, and the like are my "thing" and anything technology is Mark's. Since we are all going digital, Mark has been spending quite some time looking for TVs; and specifically, the perfect one for us. Every once in a while, he'll get excited, and we'll go look at one, but for whatever reason we don't get it. Well, upon scouring Best Buy's ad last Sunday, Mark found one that made him excited. And so we went to Best Buy, and sure enough we got it. You'll have to ask him about all the detailed specs. I know that it's Samsung, 40-something inches, and we had to get a new cherry wood stand to put it on. I also know how to turn it on, and change the channels (but that's a whole other blog!).

Saturday comes around, and Mark, Jim (his oldest brother), and Uri (Mark's best man), all came over to put it all together. Why I didn't think to get the camera out to snap some shots, I'll never know, but forever regret. Three heads over one instruction manual, Uri saying, "MM goes into CC!", to which Jim replies - "Are you sure MM and not WW?", and then the three of them putting that piece together. Or Uri saying, "I think this means CC and DD go together, but what do you think, Jim?". What amazing guys they were together! It was such fun to watch! All I had to do was feed them.

So now we have a big TV, and beautiful stand made of glass and cherry in our living room.

Time for a new couch! It's an investment, right??!!

O'Hearn Family Road Trip 2008

My Grandma said to me once, "Why should I go see other countries, when there is so much of my own country I still haven't seen?".  I took that to heart when Mark and I planned our Christmas vacation this year.  At the time we were looking, flights to the Oklahoma area, where my brother lives, were "prohibitively expensive" (as Mark would say).  So, we opted to drive.  This gave us the option to visit his sister, who is less than 2 hours from my brother.  

Alas, a plan was hatched. Mark and I would drive straight through to Arkansas, about 25 hours, stay with his uncle in Springdale, then we'd go to Oklahoma, and finish our journey in Frisco, Texas.  

His mom asked if we could bring a wedding dress out to Mark's sister, Sharie.  "No problem", I thought, "we've got plenty of room".

Then she asked if we could bring another person.  She and Mark's youngest sister, Amy, were flying out for the holidays, and Mark's dad doesn't care to fly.  "No problem", we thought, "plenty of room, still!".

Our journey began on Dec. 20, at about 4:30 am, when we left Costa Mesa.  Mark and I agreed to switch driving every 4 hours, so the other person could nap.  We listened to Harry Potter on tape, and stopped for gas and potty breaks.  We got into Springdale, Arkansas at 5:30 California time, and the temperature was 9 degrees.  

Yes, you read that correct.  NINE DEGREES.

We dropped Dad at Sharie's then continued the 1.5 mile journey to Uncle Jim's.  What a wonderful  and gracious host he and his wife were.  He had an exotic spread of cheeses, and bourbon fudge made by monks; took us to the War Eagle Mill, where we had lunch; took us all over Fayetteville, and Razorback territory, visiting all the major sports complexes.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  The evenings were spent visiting with Mark's sisters, Amy and Sharie, his nieces, Sophia and Kathryn, nephews, George and Issa, and other family members.  All in all, very wonderful time.

On Dec 24, we took off for Oklahoma.  We spent the next few days with my brother and his family.  We had a huge spread on Christmas day.  We ate our way through that holiday, and Stephen and Shyanne had a great time opening their gifts.  My brother, Danny, and Mark played Rock Band 2 every night except Dec. 28, when we watched the Chargers hand the Broncos their booties (what a blow out, 52-21, or something like that).  Ever the fan, I was sporting my Mike Goff jersey and Charger santa hat.  :)

Our original plan was to then head to Frisco, Texas after Oklahoma, to visit my Aunt Isy, then drive straight home to California with Mark's mom and dad.   Somehow, we were able to stuff all of our stuff, plus mom and dad's stuff, plus a bag full of things from Mark's youngest sister into my trunk in the Corolla.  We did end up holding things on our lap, but it all fit!  We made our way to Frisco, and had a really nice time visiting with Aunt Isy.  She invited my cousins Robert and his family, and Karen and her family, over for a luncheon.  We had traditional Southern fare of black eyed peas, and all the fixin's.  

As for driving straight through to California, Uncle Jim had other plans!  We drove from Dallas to Las Cruces, New Mexico and stayed the night.  According to his instructions, we were to stop at a particular place for Mexican food.  But it was closed until Jan 3.  So, after driving around looking for something else, we stopped at an Italian place.  We got up the next morning and drove to Pie Town, New Mexico for a slice of pie.  Uncle Jim had given us some directions off the beaten path, and what a wonderful drive it was.  The scenery was beautiful, and the weather made for a lovely journey.  After Pie Town, it was off to Flagstaff, where Uncle Jim put us up in Little America Hotel.  

Wow.  What an experience.  It was such a gorgeous hotel, and our rooms were so cozy.  It's a ski resort hotel, so think winter wonderland.  There was snow on the ground, and all the trees were still decorated for Christmas, with lights up their trunks, and winter all around.  The Chargers were playing Indy, so we had dinner in the bar so we could all watch.  The bar had a giant tree along one wall, with branches that came up and over the  bar area.  On the branches were stained glass leaves.  So beautiful.  We watched the game until half time, then walked around the grounds, returning for the last quarter of the game to our room.  Mary, Mark's mom, later told me that she didn't think she had to watch the game, as she could hear us cheering and jeering from her room!  The Chargers won (with Mike Scifres in top form), so we were quite excited.  

On Sunday, we woke up to snow falling.  We attended a mass at San Francisco de Asis.  As I was listening to the sermon, I was watching the windows, thinking how lovely the mountain looked while the snow was falling.  Half way through the sermon, I noticed that I couldn't see the mountain anymore, as the snow was falling that hard!  EEEK!

We drove through the blizzard for about 20-30 mins, but luckily, it let up, and all the way to California, it was smooth sailing.  Stopping in New Mexico and Flagstaff were definitely the better way to go.  

Now, we are spending our Monday catching up on laundry, going to the store, and preparing ourselves for our week.  We don't get any time off until May, so we are trying to make the best of it.  We had a really nice trip.  Everything really went well for us.  The weather cooperated, our family visits were outstanding, and my car, Ruby, got us there and back safely.  

We truly are blessed!

Thanks for reading.  More to come soon!  I have Libby on my lap purring madly, and wanting some love!

First Blog!!

One of my resolutions this year is to keep in better contact with family and friends. Mark has a blog on our website, but I like this site, so you just go one place and read up. Who know how often we change photos and everything else!

We've just returned from our Christmas vacation, so I'll blog on that tomorrow. Right now, we are unpacking and preparing for some laundry! WOO HOO!