Oops.

I have been horrible about updating this blog this month! Part of the reason why is because we haven't been doing much of note lately. Matt's still working very long hours and spending lots of nights in the field. And that means he's also sleeping the larger part of the weekend. In 3 more weeks he will graduate his first class and then he'll be off until OCTOBER! I'm very excited. And not only do we have a lot of fun things planned but he has a honey-do list about a mile long!

One thing I was able to get Matt to do was hang curtains.

I love these white curtains! They're subtle but they add so much to the room. I also hung white curtains because the wall color is so close to white, it helps make the green more noticeable. Of course the color is slightly off in this picture though.

Honestly, it's impossible for me to get a decent picture of these curtains. The room is small and the light is weird at ALL times of day. These curtains were a huge splurge, but I love them and not any pictures I can take do them any justice! You can see a little peek of the duvet - yes, I tried to mix prints. Whether or not I was successful is still up for debate. You can decide when I post a picture of the whole room!

I've been feeling more at home in California. We've met some great people and I'm starting to learn my way around without a GPS! Here's some pictures from the last month:

Some helicopters flying over San Clemente pier:

Our view of Dana Point harbor at dinner one night:

Fireworks on the 4th of July:

And Jack passed out after his birthday feast. I can't believe our puppylove turned 2!


Since Matt isn't home much I haven't been cooking much, but I did make this light version of cheesecake. I can't say it has the texture of cheesecake but it sure is delicious! Look at her picture, it's prettier than mine.

Today I spent the entire day cleaning because Kelly comes tomorrow! She'll be here for a week and I'm so excited to have her here! There is also some other very exciting news that I will be sure to post here early next week. No, I'm not pregnant and none of you better be wishing that on me! Check back!

Where did June go?

It is seriously hard to believe it's July 1st. We will have lived in California for almost three months and in ways it's felt shorter, but in ways it's hard to believe we were in Hawaii less than 12 weeks ago.

Normally when I don't post any updates it's because we've been super busy, but since my last update, it's been exactly the opposite! Matt is working a lot of hours and spending a lot of nights in the field with his students, so I've been doing a whole lot of nothing! Last weekend, we went to the county fair which was a total letdown! It gets a lot of hype and I expected it to offer a lot more. It also was BEYOND expensive - it cost us $9 in tickets to ride the ferris wheel! Seriously! That's after the $10 parking. I'm so glad we only paid $2 each to get in or I would not have been happy. Also, they didn't have fried dough. I was not aware this was a northeast/New England thing. And no, funnel cake is NOT the same thing.

Besides working out and studying my GRE books, my days have been pretty empty. I haven't even been doing much with the house because we are saving up all our extra money for two trips in September, once Matt graduates this class of students. I've been researching different volunteer opportunities, because I need something worthwhile to fill my time, and I have it narrowed down to volunteering at a battered women's shelter or with a non-profit that deals with alcohol and drug addiction in women. Any input as to which I should choose? I think they'll both be challenging, but rewarding.

What I have been doing with all this extra time is reading. In the past few weeks I have read Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Age of Innocence, The Help, and The Red Tent. I loved them all. I just started a book called Honolulu, by the same author who wrote the book Molokai about the island of Molokai and the leper colony there. Normally when I read a light fiction book, I try to follow it up with a classic. But I went out of order and read three classics and I'm finishing my third novel. And now I'm out of ideas for my next fun book. With all the traveling and long plane rides we've done over the past few years (and yes, days spent on the beach in Hawaii), I feel like I have read every book anyone has ever recommended to me. So I need suggestions!

No Jodi Picoult or Nicholas Sparks or James Patterson or anything like that!