Onward. To Richmond.

We are moving again. Yup, that's what I said.  We're moving....to Richmond!

I just figured that even though we're not in the military, we still need to move as many times as Casey and Matt.  just kidding.

This will be our 4th move in 3 years.  I imagine the police coming after us saying "What are you running from?" (In which case...nothing.) or "What are you searching for?" (In which case...we're never sure.)

NJ ---> VA truck.  hoping we can move in a smaller truck this time.

Long story short, Nick's job did not work out in D.C.  The project he was hired for was affected by the government budget cuts.  Plus, government engineering consulting is not exactly what he thought.  Things happen and that's life.  So per usual, we roll with it.  Nick is an industrial engineer and loves to work on the operations of a company.  He's a logistical guy who likes to make things run easier, faster, and cheaper. I just made him sound like a fast food chain.  ha.  I think it's safe to say that the government and Nick aren't quite on the same page ....??

I said to him, "Why wait? Life is short and this is not the way to spend your days when there could be something else that makes you happy."  Since we are super flexible right now, (I have no job and we're still renting) we can move anywhere!  But as I've mentioned we want to stay in Virginia.  A GREAT opportunity opened up in Richmond and after an intense interview process Nick landed a fantastic job.  We are very excited about this company and this opportunity for him.  He (like everyone) deserves job satisfaction and I am optimistic that he will find it here!

So by the end of April we will be living in Richmond!  This is where I grew up and my parents still live there, so we are going to live with them temporarily.  This statement brings me to a list...a list of things I thought I would never do:

-live in Manhattan
-live in the great state of New Jersey
-move again after moving to DC
-move back to Richmond
-move in with my parents

Nope. I never thought I would be 30, married with a baby, and living with my parents. Maybe I'll start watching this show. But if there is anything these past couple years have taught me, it's that you can't plan out your life. You never know where you might end up!  In all seriousness, we are really grateful that my parents are nice enough to let us live with them for a couple months.

I say "a couple months" in hopes that we buy a house this summer as planned!  yay! Wait, I just said "planned"...uh oh!  We have started to look at houses online, but will start really house hunting when we get down there.  I was overwhelmed to start the house hunt in Northern VA, but I'm excited to house hunt in Richmond!  Adventures in house hunting, home ownership, and possibly some house projects will definitely be posted on the blog!

Although I never thought I'd move back to the little city of Richmond, I look forward to re-discovering it.  It has a lot of charm and is a great place to raise a family.  I haven't lived there since high school, (my college summers were spent in North Carolina) so there is a lot to discover!  I'm also excited to live near my parents and for Waverly to grow up having them so close by.  Not to mention that we have some really close friends in Richmond that we can't wait to hang out with on a regular basis.  Most of them have kids, so there will be lots of family fun!

ready for good times ahead!

For the next couple weeks we will continue to enjoy DC...the cherry blossoms and a Nationals baseball game are in store for us before we leave!

looking pale from the long winter!

Mission accomplished.

We finally found a house!  We move in Monday and words cannot express my excitement!

Even though we are in a different neighborhood than we were originally looking, there are so many positives to our house.  We are down the street from a huge field where we can walk Sadie.  We are about a 5-minute walk from the local train station, which means that there are plenty of restaurants and shops around us.  The shower is on the same floor as our bedroom (you can't imagine how hard this one was to find!)  The walls are not wallpapered, so we can hang pictures (another really hard thing to find.)  The best part of our new house is that it is a duplex and we are sharing a wall with our good friends, Sarah and Justin!  It is going to be so nice having each other when the guys are deployed.  We also have a lot of military families in our neighborhood, which adds a little comfort to living off base.  My mom is probably most excited about that one ;)

Oh and did I forget to mention that the kitchen is purple?  Yep, purple!

I promise pictures and more house updates soon.  Until then, Ikea is calling my name...

Being Home. And Embracing It.

Things have been a little "in flux" (is that term made up...?) since we moved to Alexandria.  We moved in and got settled over the holidays which was a tad hectic and then by mid January it became clear that Nick's new job was not exactly as he expected. (more on that later)

I am definitely not an anxious person...the only time I really get anxious is when I'm not prepared for something. Which happens occasionally, let's be honest.  But overall I roll with the punches and don't worry too much.  However, I do worry about my little one, Waverly, being comfortable in her surroundings and knowing "home".  Not only do I want her to feel comfortable and confident in her home, but I also don't want it throwing off her sleep habits because selfishly that would also make me tired!  Obviously I shouldn't worry a bit, she's one happy baby...and healthy...take a look at that tummy in the picture below!

mom...i'm doing just fine!

So after we moved and things became "hazy" with Nick's new job...it made sense to keep our home life settled and for me not to job search just in case life became even more "up the air".  (these are good terms to describe a sucky situation)   I don't know why I felt the need to explain all that, but it gives some background to my decision to be at home with Waverly full time.

So I have been a stay at home mom for a while now! And I'm trying to make the most of it.

little too much mommy time??

Like any mom, there are times I feel like I am going crazy and not being productive at life. Those days are when Waverly doesn't nap or I didn't get a chance to shower or I have changed my outfit 4 times and hers 5 because of spit up or poop.  And on those days, we wait by the door for Nick to come home....ha.

try not to gag.

But most days I love being home with her and I love all the snuggles, laughter, when she figures out a new trick or I show her something mind blowing - clapping!  Taking care of her is definitely the most productive thing I could do.  Every day I try to remember that she's only this little once and to embrace this time together.  So in order to make the most of being home....here are some things we've done!

Library...(just trying to make you proud, Aunt Casey!) We go to the library at least once a week!  I love it because it's FREE and Waverly gets a chance to socialize with other babies, sing nursery rhymes, have story time, and put all the germy library toys in her mouth!  The Del Ray, Alexandria library has a great baby time, but the Columbia Pike, Arlington library is the best.  The children's librarian does a fantastic job with a new theme every week, lot of songs, books, tons of props, and we get to play with all the toys afterwards. The librarian also conducts some of it in Spanish which is cool for Waverly to hear....and for me to try and sing along. yea right. I studied French. I try not to notice the Hispanic nannies laughing at my attempts at Spanish.

Lunches with friends...it's great when your friends have flexible schedules and can meet for lunch!  We try to meet up with close friends Allison or Pete every once in a while to get out for a fun lunch. Recently when having lunch with Pete, it was a Friday. So naturally we had a beer. I swear the waitress did not think I was the mother of my baby.  I guess my chili cheese dog and beer didn't look "mom worthy".  I asked for hot water to warm Waverly's bottle and not only did I get hot water, but I got full instructions on how to warm the bottle, test it, and then how to feed her.  It took a lot of patience for me to only say "thank you"....instead of "are you freaking kidding me right now?!"

Another Friday...always drink on Fridays!

Mommy & Me Pilates...I LOVE this and wish I knew about it as soon as I moved here.  "Mind the Mat" (love the name) studio in Del Ray, Alexandria has some AWESOME mom and baby focused yoga and pilates classes.  I heard their prenatal yoga is great and you know I am a big advocate of that! Another mom I met at the library told me about the pilates classes.  It's a workout that will kick your ass (ballet barre and mat combined) and you have your baby the whole time!  The first week I held Waverly on my hip while doing the barre workout.  The following week, I smartened up and brought my baby bjorn carrier.  While on the mat the baby can be under you or on your stomach...or just chillin on their own blanket.  Nursing and crying during class is totally acceptable... very baby friendly while you sweat!  I can take Waverly till she starts crawling, so we're still going!

W stretchin out.

Making my own baby food....lots of mom's do this whether they are working or not, but I really felt like I should do this since I'm home.  Turns out, it's super easy. Really easy.  Add some extra produce to my grocery list, steam in on my steaming pot which I already had, and puree in my magic bullet which Nick previously used for protein shakes...voila, baby food! For the record, protein shakes are gross. The only thing I bought were some ice trays specifically for freezing baby food.  So far we have done sweet potatoes, apples, green beans, and bananas!  Everything is going down the pipe well except green beans...she holds them in her mouth and then lets them stream out down her chin...fun.  Next up is avocado, pears, peas, parsnips, and peaches (lots of "P" foods, apparently).

We have also discovered some fun baby music...we dance around the house to this song and she loves it.  Lots of artists have come out with kids music and it's pretty good....remember the song "Freshman" by  Verve Pipe??  They made a kids rock album and it's good!

I look forward to going back to work, but until that day rolls around...I'm enjoying my time at home.

Love from Alexandria!

Discovering Yokohama.

This past weekend we explored Yokohama.  Apparently it is the sister city of San Diego, which might explain why I loved it so much.  It is the second largest city in Japan and is full of little alleyways just waiting to be discovered. 

We went there Friday night in search of a craft beer bar, aptly named Craft Beer Bar, which we read about in our Lonely Planet Japan book.  Instead we got lost.  But isn’t that half the fun of living in a new city – getting lost?!  It is one of my favorite things – to be lost without set plans - nowhere to be, no one to get upset with you for being late, no pressure.  I love finding those little gems.  Sometimes it is a local joint with room for 10 people and not one of them speaks English.  Sometimes it is a Hard Rock Café when all you want is an American cheeseburger.  We usually find what we are looking for, even if it isn’t what we started out trying to find.  Of course we have learned that it is important to have your phone battery fully charged for these adventures so that you can always access the train schedule and Google translator!

After Friday night, we returned on Saturday for a Yokohama BayStars preseason baseball game.  Honestly, the baseball game was just like being back in the States.  There were rambunctious fans, beer, hot dogs, home runs, and I think that I even saw someone trying to start the wave.  And just like back in the States you have foolish people who leave in the 8th inning, only to have the home team come back from a 3-run deficit to win the game.  Those foolish people would be us. 

Here are some pictures of what we found in Yokohama (and it wasn't just beer, which is what the pictures will lead you to believe!)

Cosmo Clock 21 - a giant Ferris wheel and the world's largest clock

Yokohama Stadium

What is a BayStar, you ask?  A giant hamster, of course!

Not quite the peanuts we were expecting.

Beer and a hot dog on a stick.  

Play ball!

I just discovered this option on the iPhone camera - love it!

Local brewery.

Hmmmm, what to drink?

Who would have guessed?!

Haru ga kita (spring has come) to Japan!

Beer tasting.

Everyone loves St. Patty's Day - at least that is what I'm inferring from the clover!

Bump in the road.

It happened.  Everyone said that it would, but I didn’t believe them.  But it did.  I got sick.  A couple of days ago I got the stomach flu.  It certainly wasn’t fun, you know, because the flu often is.  So there won’t be any Japan updates for a few days since all I have been seeing and all that I will be seeing is the hotel room.  Instead, I want to write about our flight over here.

I can honestly say that it was the best flight I have ever had, and living so far from family, I have flown A LOT!  We started off on a good note when we realized that the flight was half booked and we had an empty seat next to us the entire trip.  And the good vibes just continued throughout the flight. 

Here are a couple of highlights:

• Hot washcloths multiple times throughout the flight
• Individual televisions with the ability to choose from tons of different movies and television shows (all for free!)
• Japanese cuisine served throughout the entire flight
• Ability to play old school video games (Tetris, Pong, etc.).  You could even play against other passengers (I dominated Matt in Tetris;)).
• Pillows and blankets for everyone (this may not seem like a big deal, but I have been on a freezing flight before when the blankets have run out and it was not pretty!)
• Free vanilla ice cream for everyone

If you are planning on visiting (and I certainly hope that you are), I would absolutely recommend Japan Airlines. 

Here are some blurry iPhone pics that we snapped along the way.

Japan Airlines

No lie - this is a remote, phone, and game controller.  For some reason this just blew our minds!

We could watch below.

Coat hanger - I thought this was so cool!

Don't worry - there was an English version - but this one was more fun

Dinner is served

Game on...

Pictures are so helpful!

Cheers!

Meet Charlie.

This is our new ride, Charlie.  We bought this little baby for under $2,000.  My only requirement was that we get a Japanese car – something we could not find back in the states.  Matt’s only requirement was that it was cheap.  We hit the nail on the head with Charlie.  Plus, it is equipped with a Japanese navigation system (can’t read or understand a word of it, but who doesn't love perks?!)

House Hunters International.

As lovely as our Lodge stay has been (and I say that with a definite hint of sarcasm b/c we are going a little stir crazy), our biggest priority right now is finding a house.  When moving here, there are two options – live on base or off.  There are pros and cons to each.  We decided a long time ago to live off base.  Since getting here I have had moments where I want to live on base because it certainly is an easier and more convenient process, but I remind myself that we didn’t move here for it to be easy and in the long-term, I will be happy that we live out in town.

So here is what goes into finding a house in town…

Each morning I go to the housing office and get an updated sheet of house listings.  The main thing that I look for is area (Yamato) and the pet allowance option.  If there is a house that interests me then I call the agent and pray they speak English.  Most likely, if they have a house listed with the military there is someone that can communicate with me.  At this point, I make an appointment.  For the appointment, a representative from the agency picks me up at the Main gate and brings me to the house and then returns me.  Pretty similar to the states, right?!  They really have worked out a pretty simple process.  The hard part is finding the right house.  I have already seen five, but haven’t settled on one yet.  Fingers crossed, that we find ‘the one’ soon.  
 

And with that, the house hunting continues.      

Here are some pictures from an area in Yamato where we are looking to live – Minamirinkan.

Local neighborhood.

A little busier.

Found an American bar (didn't go in, but love the "Big Size American Hamburger")

Asked for chai tea...got black tea and still loved it!