Weekend Adventure

It is almost the weekend. On Friday, Will, my dad and I will be carpooling up to Redwood City to wish my sister a happy 23rd birthday. Yikes. I can't believe she's that old already... I got married at 23! Also, we will be wishing her safe travels as she ebarks on a missionary adventure in Ghana for a whole year. Sometimes I can't believe we're related. Her mission is to save the world one orphan at a time and all I seem to care about these days is myself. Also, she seems so young sometimes. But then again, so old. I'm proud of her. That is for sure.
 I keep telling myself that as soon as all my ducks are in a row that I will join a yoga studio, take tennis lessons, volunteer, join a small group... have kids? But my life never seems to be... ready. Maybe I just need to take the plunge. Maybe my life will be ready when I make it so.

Good news is that I am going in for a 2nd interview tomorrow for a clothing company in l.a. I am super excited. The location is ideally located right down the street from Will's job, meaning we can carpool. Super important. So I am praying that the Lord opens some doors tomorrow because I REALLY want to start working again and get back on track.

In other news, Will and I became L.A. Zoo members this past month which is really cool. I feel like we're adults now for some odd reason. It's like we're a part of the school board or or a charity organization or something. They send us emails that say "sign this petition to save the zoo!" and I do because it's MY zoo in MY city. Yeah. It also makes me feel like we really live here... In Anacortes, I never felt like it was home. I never wanted to volunteer, or support the local community theater. But here, in los angeles, I want to be a part of everything. I recently joined every mailing list, subscribed to a bunch of event calenders and and made it a point to become immersed. It feels nice. We even picked a coffee shop thats "our place" and a restaurant thats "our spot". We make it a point to patron them at least twice a month. We go to art walks at the Brewery and tour artists lofts and imagine we live there, overlooking the industrial city from our cavernous apartment. We go to the theater, eat everything, go to shows... We really live here. It's home. And the traffic is not that bad, really. Unless you try to go to West LA during rush hour. But honestly, everyone hates the west side anyway. So we all stay here, with the mountains and Griffith Park and free street parking and Downtown at our back door. Oh yeah, we have Hollywood too. Suck it west side!

In summery, pray for my interview, pray for safe travels, pray for my sister. Love!

 The Zoo. My Zoo

gotta love food trucks. And lobster roll and wine tasting night !

Penny Lane wearing a flower crown and basking in the sun at Griffith Park

the view from the Getty Museum. 

Rain Rain Rain!!

It's raining and the house is freezing. I've made myself a pot of coffee to keep me warm but what I REALLY want is big plate of comfort food. I'm not even hungry, really. But I keep thinking about creamed corn, my moms  fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fettucini alfredo, braised lamb with parsnip puree...  Yesterday was Valentines day and Will took me to this amazing restaurant. They had the best lamb ever and it's all I can think about. Did you know that exactly 2 years ago on Valentines day, Will and I drove a U-Haul into rainy Anacortes Washington? Yep. I can't believe it's been that long. Now I am sitting on our couch in Los Angeles, listening to the rain fall and watching the palm trees sway back and forth across the gray sky. It's a weird juxtaposition.

Everyone is at work today. I am alone and it's very quiet. Penny is snoring on my lap and I am wearing yellow gloves. This house was built in a time where modern insulation meant 4 walls and a roof. So it is always cold in here, even when it's nice outside. It's dark too. My favorite part about this house is the plantation shutters on every window. Every morning, I open the shutters and the early light pierces through the darkness like a rebirth. It's energizing. But today, there is no motivational sunshine to get me going... only the bleak, gray sky creeping through the shutters. 

Well, Will Deans must have sensed that I was craving that lamb because he sent me this:

A recipe! I think this is just what I need to warm my bones...

The New Normal

Well, there must be something to be said about my lack of blogging since we got here. Is it because we've been too busy living it up in Los Angeles to be bothered with writing everything down? Is it because the title of this blog is no longer relevant to our lives? Is it because we are magically living the fairy-tale life I talked about having once we moved back and now we have no problems to discuss? The answer is,  I don't know. The truth is, however, Will and I could have been perfectly happy living in Anacortes if we had rented a house and moved out of the in-laws.We both had stable jobs, managed to make a lot of good friends, and given the area, could have afforded to live in a decent sized house. And that's all I've ever really wanted in life: A place of my own where I could throw dinner parties and plant a garden. It took FOREVER to get to that place in Washington. Over a year. And when we finally got there, there was this tiny voice telling me to seize the opportunity to build a little life of our own, even if it wasn't in California. Now, I'm not saying I miss that lonely island, but I do miss the part where we were ready to walk away, just the two of us, and get a place like we were newlyweds.

Fast forward to this afternoon: I am sitting in the living room of a bachelor pad, watching the sun move from window to window, wondering how long it will take for us to be in that place again. Over a year? Now, I am always setting the expectations unrealistically high for Will and I. I predicted that we would both get jobs and find a place to live within 2 months of moving- needless to say, God had other plans for us. Will, only just this past week, was offered a full time job at BCBG, which we anticipated months earlier. And I am still hunting for jobs, taking a few temp positions here and there while I wait for the right place to sweep me off my feet and pay me a hefty salary with benefits and bonuses. It's hard to believe that this past January, on the 24th, we celebrated our three year anniversary. Three years!! And only a small portion of our first year was spent nesting in our own place. And as hard as it is for me to admit, living with roommates, whether it be family or friends, is becoming more and more normal...

 My greatest fear, is that when this is all over, I won't recognize myself anymore. I wont know who I am in our marriage... That it will be like starting over. My identity used to be wrapped up in a combination of my home, my husband my need to feel in control. I loved being married and taking care of my house and my husband. Is it possible that those things might not matter to me once I am back in my element? Am I suffocating the person I used to be? Who knows, really. I suppose it is best not to worry about things you cannot change and instead, focus on what HAS changed... for the better.

For starters, Will loves his job at BCBG in the inventory accounting department. He no longer works at soul-sucking US Bank, dealing with customers who blamed him for all their financial problems. He sits at a desk, crunching numbers and listening to podcasts without ever having to talk to anyone about anything. His dream job, really. And me- I get to be whatever I want to be. I have endless opportunity to discover my calling. When we left Orange County back in 2010, I felt trapped... I felt like there was no where for me to go... I hated my job, we had mounds of credit card debt and way too many responsibilities for me to figure out what I wanted out of life... and after all thats happened, I finally found the space I needed to sort it all out. Now if only I could find a job...

 The view from the Griffith Observatory

 inside the Pantages Theater where Will and I saw Wicked for our anniversary

 atop the Standard Hotel, where our friends bought us a room as an anniversary gift

 Breakfast with Will

Penny Lane... as cute as ever

W&J

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.