Phew! What a Ride

So It's been a while since I've updated you all. For starters, in this very moment, I am sitting at Silverlake Coffee with Joey, "looking for jobs", as we call it. But really we cruise the internet and watch funny Youtube videos-mostly. I search for jobs. Joey, on the other hand, has been here for 40 minutes and his laptop is still in it's case. And he is off somewhere doing something other than what we came here to do. I know it's tough. Last week I applied for over a hundred jobs and went on 15 interviews... and still, I sit here "job hunting". I hate going to an interview and giving it  150%, knowing full well that this isn't the job for me. But there is something about being offered a job I intend to decline that makes me feel like I've accomplished something. But really, it's just a waste of my time.

We've been here for a month now. Bumming around in Silverlake with Joey, Adam and Jon. I feel bad. I feel like we weren't quite ready to make the move, and now we're in limbo again. Luckily for us, the boys are happy to have us. For now anyways.

Here are some things I had no idea I missed about California:

**Freeways. Despite the endless traffic, they make me feel connected. Like no place is out of reach.
**Good Coffee. Sorry Seattle, you just don't have the best coffee. I know you claim to have started to gourmet coffee movement, but I've seriously had better coffee at a Seven Eleven.
**Late Night Restaurants. A gourmet burger at Stout at 1 in the morning? Lobster grilled cheese at Cafe LA at 11pm? Good food is always available.

Here are a few things I miss about Washington:


**The Brown Lantern. I doubt I will ever find a bar that compares.
**The mushroom soup at Cameron's. Seriously my favorite soup ever.
**Nature. This may come as a surprise to you, but nature is hard to come by out here.
**Long summer nights. I was talking to Joey about  this. There is really no comparison to the sun being up at 10 pm, making the night seem infinite.
(Fear not, Cali friends, I have no intention of abandoning you for Washington. Again. I am too at home, despite our homelessness situation. It feels right to be back.)

We're On Our Way!

Praise Jesus! Will got the job! He got the phone call yesterday, and now it is only days until he can meet me in California...  Oh yes, did I forget to tell you I'm in Cali? Redwood City with my mom, to be precise. I arrived on Monday night and have been recovering from my 17 hour drive, preparing for the last leg of my journey on Thursday. See you soon, my lovelies! And thank Jesus tonight for being faithful to us Deansies!

Go Deansies, Go!

We're packed! Only a few more days until we make our pilgrimage to California. Just in time too. It has been quite blustery in Anacortes these past couple of days. Fall is definitely upon us.

So here is a picture of our moving pod... as you can see it is packed to the brim. We ordered two pods just in case we couldn't fit all our stuff in one unit (which we couldn't) but instead of forking out the extra $500, Kelly Deans is letting us borrow her truck to haul the last of our boxes down south. Thank you Kelly!!!

Although it looks like we are all ready to go, we still need all the prayers we can get. Will is still in job-limbo and we wont know until Wednesday if he has a job for sure. At this point, we are packed up in sheer faith that the God has a plan for us. So don't forget about us Deansies! Pray Pray Pray!!

Moving and a Blouse.

Well, it's official. My last day  at work is October 1st. It feels really good to say that. And to keep the ball rolling and give the Lord more opportunity to work in our lives, I called a moving company today and scheduled a moving and storage pod to be dropped off at our house next week! I also packed up some boxes and researched housing in Long Beach online. Exciting! Now all we need is a call back from that job Will has been interviewing for! Ugh! The anticipation is killing me. But I've been trying to stay positive and keep busy.

I love thrift stores. Today, the mother of all thrift stores was open. The Mercantile: They gather awesome stuff from estates and whatnot all month long, and then sell everything in one big feeding frenzy of a time. The bummer is waiting in line for at least an hour before the doors open and then feeling pressured to buy everything in sight before the guy next to you does. We didn't wait in line this time so all the really good stuff was gone by the time we got there. I spotted this rad vintage trunk immediately, only to realize that it was already purchased along with a vintage blue suitcase that I had coveted. Sad day. I did, however, walk away with two very nice vintage table cloths. not bad. Then I jetted over to a thrift shop across the street and picked up this girly blouse for $1.50. Swoop.

I can't wait to wear it tucked into skirts and shorts. Cute belt., maybe? Or some sheer black tights? Oh yes.

Made a skirt today...

Fall Fashion:

big shirts and skirts. 

And now for the skirt I made:

I looovvveee it!! I found the tutorial on Elle Apparel and attempted this shorter version. This is the first item of clothing I have ever made so it's definitely not perfect. I am pleased with the finished result, tho! It's way more than I expected. Yay! I love lace!!! I have a million things I want to wear it with! Denim, heals, big sweaters, riding boots... the possibilities are endless, really. This is definitely my new go-to item!

Deans are on the Move

Will's had an interview yesterday with US Bank in Cerritos, CA, just a mere 5 miles outside of Long Beach. Hooray! According to him, it was a fantabulous interview. He reckons he nailed it. But we have to wait until next week to find out weather or not he secured himself a job. I feel like the Lord is doing some awesome things in our lives! Everything we've been praying for is slowly but surely coming to fruition and it's incredibly exciting.

For example: OUR CAR IS FIXED! For those of you who have not heard us complain about our '06 Passat, here is the scoop. Two years ago, on a trip to San Francisco, Will and I had been without a working vehicle for months, bumming rides from our friends and family to get to work and such,. Well on this little trip, an opportunity arose for us to buy a car. A nice one. One with leather seats, dvd player and a turbo engine. Hallelujah! The Lord provided us a car despite our lack of down payment and so-so credit. But 6 months after we bought it, it started having major problems. Like four-thousand-dollars-to-fix kind of problems. The main issue was that it wouldn't start on a regular basis. We would put the key in, the car would turn on, then die immediately. It would do this 6 or 7 times before roaring to life. And the problem got progressively worse to the point where the car wouldn't even acknowledge that we had put the key in, and there was no telling how long it would take to start. Kind of a problem when you have to get to work or you have to pee badly. Anyway, the point of this story is to tell you all, Volkswagen recalled our car and fixed the damn thing for free. FREE! And it's like we have a new car again! It drives better than ever and it starts up every time without fail. Thank you Jesus!

Another example of the Lords grace in our lives is that we've been blessed with a swell group of friends here in Anacortes. It makes me sad to have to leave them. But for the longest time, we were a miserable bunch, Will and I. Moping around the house on a Friday night, watching reruns of Family Guy until we were blue in the face. But now, thanks to miss social butterfly Kelly Deans, we are official bar rats. Not that it sounds like we've moved up in the world, but we are enjoying Anacortes at least.

Now remember I wrote about Will starting an accounting program online back in January? Well he finished his 2nd quarter a few weeks ago, did alright, and now he is in his third quarter... Though he has only completed one class each time, at least there is some progression. I have no idea how he's doing, really. He never talks about it and sometimes I forget he is even in this program at all. When I ask him how his classes are, he grunts and mumbles and says something along the lines of "Good, good, essay, chapter, discussion, midterm, good" and then changes the subject to Xbox games. Whatever. As long as he's not stressed.

So to recap, Deansies credit cards are payed off, our car is fixed, Wills job hunt is going very well as well as his accounting program and we are set to move to Cali is a few short weeks if the Lord continues working in our lives at this pace! Hooray!

Now for some fun stuff  STATE FAIR!

Day Off

Today started off less than blissful... our car stared making a thumping noise spontaneously. Awesome. We have been dreading getting our car inspected for fear of it being in total disarray... luckily it was a completely positive experience and they discovered our car has THREE outstanding recalls and that the most major ongoing problem we have been dealing with (our car not starting on a regular basis) fits under the umbrella of the recall and FREE repair. Hallelujah!! We still have to fix our axel, get a tranni flush AND get a full tuneup.. but At least one major stress factor will be taken care of on Wednesday.

So since we spent a whole four hours at the mechanic, we decided to come home and cook a yummy dinner. Our favorite go-to dinner: Mock-Chicken Parm. Will also added sauteed chard and potatoes. 

we scarfed it ;) Sooooo delicious. 

The weather was acting like fall today. It even started raining. I was secretly pleased to put on my new knee high boots and prance around town in them. I say secretly because the winters here are so severe... and summer is close to being over. Sad face!

Now, for the finale:

MANGO BRULEE!!! Our new favorite thing in the world. And anyone can make it. 

*Sugar

*Mangos

*Oven 

*...and ice cream if you like

*broil for 10 minutes (watch it! it will burn. keep rotating it.)

*let it cool until the sugar crust hardens

*serve with vanilla ice cream sprinkled with cinnamon. 

It's like pie.