"You Say Goodbye...I Say Hello..."

My life is filled with good-byes right now. It's weird. I told a friend that it probably won't hit me until I'm riding in the Penske truck with Maddie sitting between Joel and I. Then I will be thinking, "What are we doing? We're leaving our friends, jobs, church and my sister?"
As of right now, I'm in survival mode. We are going on a service trip to Vietnam and trying to adjust our sleep schedule before hand. Watching the clock tick away the time until we can finally go to bed is not very much fun! Sometimes Joel and I bicker (who wouldn't when you're packing at 2 am?!?)...but during the great times we watch movies and shop for the big trip to that far away land. I'm so excited we get to share this adventure together before we start a new life in Jersey....Keep us in your prayers. We have a lot to do!

I'm Sad

I've been starting to think about all the things I'm going to miss about this area...including my job. I'll admit there have been days when I've thought about running away and never looking back (not seriously...and those were probably the days when people have threatened to poop on me..). Now I'm sad. I work with a lot of great people who are willing to help. I pray that the next group of nurses I'm employed with will be as flexible and willing to work as a team. I've learned so much at my first nursing job. I'll never forget it or the people I worked with. Thanks to everyone who has helped me during my first year and 1/2 as an RN.

Boxin' It Up!!

Today, I packed 8 boxes. They were small, but still, that is 8 less I will have to do in June. Joel is so happy I'm packing, and I'm ecstatic that he is making all the phone calls and financial decisions....I guess we knew what we were doing when we said "I Do!"

I really can't believe that we will be moving soon. I have four days left at my job. All we need now is for someone to rent our house....and really...it's so cute..who wouldn't want to rent this house?!

Shopping Commandments...

The other weekend, Joel and I went shopping together. I'm usually very excited about these outings. I picture myself trying on lots of beautiful clothes with my husband heartily agreeing how great I look in that dress...shirt...whatever. Unfortunately, this is not how it happens. It seemed to happen when we were engaged, but not so much after we were married. Don't get me wrong, he doesn't think I look bad in what I try on but he just doesn't care to endure the whole shopping process anymore. boo. I like the shopping process. So, last time we scheduled a shopping outing I made him recite the shopping commandments. Here's what happened.

Me- "Repeat after me, babe...I, Joel, will not complain about staying in a store for too long."

Him-"I, Joel,....will not complain about staying in a store too long...if we don't stay in the store for too long."

Me- "That's NOT the shopping commandment."

Him-"Well, sometimes I get tired and I want to sit down...so I will not complain about staying in a store too long if there's a comfortable chair to lounge in."

Me-"But, I want your opinion....but FINE...whatever....Repeat this after me "I, Joel, will NOT complain about being tired and WILL have fun the ENTIRE time."

Joel-Ummm..I'm not repeating that.

Me-"BUT I WANT US TO HAVE A FUN TIME."

Joel-"Shopping makes me tired."

Me-"We've been planning this for WEEKS."

Joel-"Well, hopefully we will find stuff quickly."

Me-"Grrr..so much for my shopping commandments.....whatever...I love you...even though you drive me crazy sometimes."

Joel-"I love you too.."

We ended up having a great time...but I had to FORCE him to stay in Anne Taylor Loft. Don't I have an amazing husband? The fact that he even repeated part of my shopping commandments is amazing!

Paralyzed

If you actually read my blog, you may have noticed that I've taken a little sabbatical. I thought after I was able to go "public" with our move to Jersey, I would be blogging non-stop. It's actually been quite the opposite as you may have noticed. There is something about moving that makes me really excited for the future, but also REALLY nostalgic for the past. I've begun thinking about the fact that we have to leave our church friends, and my sister. This is where Joel and I met, dated, and lived our first years of marriage together. I'm sad to leave our first house, my first job and our first community group. I'm also sad that the people we have grown close to the past few years won't be involved in our future (no-not pregnant right now) children's lives. I've even been selfish enough to think about the fact that I probably won't have a baby shower if we get pregnant in NJ, since no one will know us. I know, I'm selfish, right?!? Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to be a part of the community in NJ, but something about this move has paralyzed my bloggingness (a new word I made up). Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about our move, but I've needed the last couple of months to mourn what were leaving behind! We love you Norfolk!

Jersey is for Lovers?

So, Joel and I aren't going to be living in VA much longer. He is going to be principal at a school 20 miles from NYC (I listened to the Jay-z song featuring Alicia Keys about 800 times today. We're very excited. I can't believe I'll be living this close to NYC? A little MN native girl like me? What?!? I guess we'll have to change our blog name AGAIN!

Hmmm....Decisions

Decisions....decisions. I've made a lot of them over the past few years. I've come to find that huge life changing ones are pretty easy for me to make. It's figuring out what to do on a Friday night that really throws me into a quandary. For example, I decided by the 3rd date that I would marry Joel if asked, yet I make him decide what we are going to do on our free weekends. I'm not sure if this is a personality flaw or an asset. I think I'll deem it a "flasset" (a mixture between a flaw and an asset). How do you feel about change. Does it excite you...or do you feel as though you need a dose of ativan in order to adjust to it?