Pure Joy

Since I've been married the next natural question I get is,

"Soooooooo when are you guys thinking of having kids??"

It's a natural question; one of which I ask my married friends (about every time I talk to them)!

After that question always comes their advice, especially if they have had kids.

Yesterday Jeremy and I were in the doctor's office (no, not because I'm having a baby- totally unrelated) and Jeremy goes to get a shot while I'm in the waiting room. Next to me is this ooooold man, waiting for his name to be called.

He started up a conversation and you can tell he was a charmer. One of those old guys that can talk to anyone and make them laugh. Well, after a few questions he asked, "Are you two married?" "Yes, sir!" I replied.

"Do you two have kids?" he asked

"Nope, not yet!"

And before I could go on he gave a genuinely disappointed "Awww..." reply as he shook his head.

"My advice to you two, have them as quick as you can!" he said earnestly. "And have a dozen, if you can afford it! Having kids is the best thing. You better get started..." And he went on and on about the joy having kids is.

(And yes, I made him repeat this to Jeremy once he came out :))

And despite whether Jeremy and I will be on Cheaper by the Dozen #3 or be the next Duggar Family, I loved the passion in which he spoke about the joy of family. I imagine him as a grandfather to huge family where it's filled with joy and laughter and loud squeeking babies at the dinner table on holidays.

I hope I see life in that way. Loving it so much that all that can pour out of me is pure joy the things it brings.

Here's to cute babies, adorable old men, and enjoying life.

With love from Pasadena,

Paige

If I wasn't _____, I'd be ______.

One of my favorite authors/bloggers is Shauna Niequist who wrote "Cold Tangerines" & "Bittersweet," perfect books of celebration that have helped me through the transitions of moving cities, leaving familiar, and being a wife.

She wrote a blog today about this topic: "If I wasn't ____, I'd be _____."

I always love fill in the blank things. Unless it's Mad Libs because I still don't know the difference between an adjective and an adverb (and please, don't try to teach me it again unless it's in a song format which I'd actually remember).

Anyways, here are a few of the lies I tell myself.

If I wasn't so unmotivated, I'd be thinner.

If I wasn't in an unfamiliar place, I'd go for a run outside.

If I wasn't overwhelmed, I'd start this project today.

If I wasn't afraid, I'd be more confrontational.

As you see there's a trend in the lies I'm telling myself- motivation. I'm blaming my motivation on external things rather than myself.

Take a few minutes and see what your lies are today. Maybe you'll see a trend too.

With love from Pasadena,

Paige

Flag & Friends

I had a wonderful week :)

Jeremy was out of town training, Caleb was working intense hours at the hospital and Ryan was gone working on wildfire crew, so the 3 of us friends gathered in Kalie's home in Flagstaff, AZ for some memory-making times.

You know there's just something about good friends that warms my soul :) Friends you don't have to pretend around or explain yourself. Friends that you can tell things to without judgment and know that even if they think it's ridiculous, it doesn't change how they love you. I hope everyone in their life can find a good friend. They're the best.

Kalie's sister Hannah came up from Prescott for a few days and was wonderful to be with as well :)

Here are some taken on my phone.

Blurry. Me and Kalie's cat who I hated, bonded with, then loved. Still don't know her name. I just know her as Kalie's best friend. ;)

Hike with Mazzie to get her energy out! Loved that pup.

Mazzie working out with Kalie.

So I'm kind obsessed with Kalie's friend, Joy's baby Tessa Mae. And Joy, she's great too.

It's so fun to have gone through college and marriage beginnings with these two. So funny looking back on our adventure of friendship at APU and where we are now.

(Yes that's Jeremy on the left when we were "just friends" and I'm the white one in the sun :))

And I stole this from Kalie's blog.

With love from Pasadena,

Paige

Vacation & Home Base

Well, it's been too long since I've blogged last!! I've started getting texts so I'm back in the game :)

Jeremy and I have had such a wonderful month of vacation! We have been told to make the most of the time we have in between jobs, and we have!

First stop: Maui!

Jeremy and I had the pleasure of staying with Tiffany & Jon Russo, my friends from high school, in their home in Maui! I put a million pictures on Facebook, but here are a few of our favorites:)

Second stop: Sacramento!

It was so fun to have a week in Sacramento with my family! We got to have great time with the kiddos and Josh was home from work a ton so we got to spend lots of time with him too! Love family time!

Tahoe day with mom & dad:

Third stop: Pasadena!

We are spending May in Pasadena. So far we have gone to APU's Spring Graduation where many of our friends got their diplomas, I've learned how to sew, lots of time with the family and enjoyed some great relaxation!

Mother's day brunch hosted by Mary:

Fourth stop: Arizona/New Jersey

Next week I'll spend a few days in Flagstaff, Arizona with two great friends, Elli & Kalie, as Jeremy will be heading to New Jersey for the week for a first week of training. Then we will be in Pasadena two more weeks! (He has at home training those two weeks) We are so excited that at the end of our time in Pasadena we get to be a part of Jeremy's good friends Kyle & Katie's wedding on June 5th!

Fifth Stop: Sacramento/New Jersey

For the month of June I will be in Sacramento and Jeremy will be in New Jersey for his training. My wonderful friend Sarah will be getting married June 24th and I am SO excited to share that day with her!!

Home Base:

Jeremy and I found out that our home base for his position will be the Bay area! We will be living in the San Jose/East Bay area unless he gets called to fill another position. We refer to it as our home base, as we will be going back there whenever he isn't helping out somewhere else! We potentially will be moving in July. :)

It's exciting to still be in CA, as that means we are close to many friends and family. And although I've spent some time in San Fran, I'm new to different parts of the Bay area and we are excited to explore!

So that's the latest in our lives!

With love from Pasadena :)

Paige

Moving & Maui!

Well, I've got some updates for you, blog reader!

After interviews, flights, contemplation and prayers, Jeremy and I have decided to make a little change! He is going to work for Ethicon, Inc. in their Women's Health & Urology medical device sales position as a Territory Assistant (TA)!

We are stoked for this exciting time ahead. As a TA we can go help the needs in any of the territories west of the Mississippi River. For example, if someone goes on maternity leave in Denver, we could go there for the 3 months to fill the position. This way, Jeremy can get some great sales experience before he gets his own account. The locations we can go will be a major market, so most likely we will be city hopping. That's right, I get to go along too! :)

I am so excited I get to accompany him and we get to have a little adventure together!! We won't know until late June where our first location is, so I'll update you when we know where we are going first.

So, what that looks like for us:

• April 13th (Wed) my mom comes down from Sacramento and helps us pack our stuff!
• April 16th (Sat) we move out and put our stuff into a storage unit in Pasadena
• April 17th (Sun) we drive up to Sacramento to spend some time with Fam before....
• April 19-29th we venture over to Maui to visit my friends Tiffany & Jon and vacation!!!

Me and Tiff! Married women!

• April 27-May 4 Sacramento time with fam!
• May 7 We would NOT miss APU's May Graduation!!!!
• May 16 Jeremy starts his training for the new job in New Jersey. I'll spend May in LA.
• I will spend June in Sacramento!
• End of June/early July we go to the first location.
• July 17th in Minnesota for Bo & Abby's wedding!

I'm thinking we will pack our clothes and backpacks, bring along our espresso maker and the sewing machine I'm looking to buy, and hit the road to wherever it is we will be going! We will most likely be staying in a furnished apartment or long-term hotels with the kitchens, etc. so we won't need to bring a lot of stuff.

That's our news! So so excited for this new change :)

This is to possibly living in Texas (hopefully Austin so we could be by Aunt Donna!):

With love from El Centro,

Paige

[Update 3pm]

I forgot to mention what I'd do for my work. I will be ending my marketing & PR job here in El Centro next week and as we stay in different cities I'm looking to do volunteer work. I don't have a clear direction as to what that looks like yet since I don't know where we will be, but I'll keep you all updated when I do :)

The Other Side

Sooo I'm on Facebook a little too much. A lot too much. I guess I am... considering I started calling it "checking my email" to justify why I'm there. Sometimes that's true. Not often. And I start a lot of books and don't finish them. I am not that great at working alone- I lack that inner drive to rise to the top (considering there's no one to beat), unless it's an easy road and then consider me there! I could be a stay-at-home-person always. I don't get bored and love starting little projects. I'm pretty proud. And by saying "pretty" proud I'm defending my pride. So I should just say "I'm proud." I love to eavesdrop and snoop and be in the inside of a situation. I could eat cookies, brownies, ice cream and frappucinos for every meal if it wouldn't make me amazingly sick. I am addicted to shows like The Bachelor and if my Netflix wasn't publicly shared with some other people I would probably be watching "16 & Pregnant" too. I only workout to be thin, and not to be healthy. I don't really love hiking or running or dirt, although I really, really want to and sometimes enjoy when I do. Sometimes I wonder if I have a relationship with Jesus or my subconscious because I talk all day to myself, but can I call that prayer? I do not collect much clutter but my Achilles heal is: pencils, tissue paper, ribbon, craft paper. I cannot throw them away. I could probably listen to the same 5 songs for the rest of my life and be just fine. I love to move, to pack, to organize, to unpack, to nest. I wonder if one place will ever feel like "the" home or if I'll feel like every place was a little bit of home. When I was little I'd sneak spoon fulls of sugar, powdered sugar, and brown sugar (not spoon fulls of brown sugar, I'd just look in the carton for the chunks and eat those). I'd like to say I'm different since I'm older, but now I just eat too many desserts or "test" whatever I'm making. I could sleep 10 hours each night, and sometimes do. And if I wouldn't feel guilty, I would also take a nap along side that. And when a friend told me everyone is racist, I've avoided thinking about that certain comment because it's easier to pretend I'm not. And that makes me really, really ashamed and sad and very, very small and embarrassed in the eyes of our Creator.

Having a blog is an interesting thing. Similar to Facebook, you portray the version of yourself you want to. I called this entry "The Other Side" to attempt to normal me out. Now I don't think you, the reader, thinks of me as some sort of heroine. But I only post the comment-worthy things on here. Not the boring things like my generic brand of nail polish remover and how often I clean out the food in my fridge.

So here's to normal. To boring. To regular. To life.

And here's to facing the tough reality that the road to achieve perfect is frustrating and incomplete. We're all a little wacked out and that's all right.

And lastly, here's to mending those wacked out things about ourselves that need some good thought and attention. To those things that we push into the corners of our mind so we're not inconvenienced by their truths.

With love from El Centro,

Paige

Our Wedding Slideshow!!

Hello dearest blog readers,

I am THRILLED to share with you the link to our photographers, Liz Wang Photography's website of our WEDDING SLIDESHOW!!!!!

Also, here is the link to their website, where they will be posting a new blog of more of their pictures in the coming days!

Enjoy!

With love and smiles from El Centro,

Paige