Sayonara, San Diego.

Our bags are checked, our iPads are loaded with books and music, we have the entire series of Friday Night Lights (thanks for that, Tina!) with headphone splitters ready to be queued up, and Sadie and her crate passed all the inspections.  Now, after dreaming and preparing for this moment for over a year, all that is left is boarding the plane.    

I look forward to telling you all about this journey.  Thanks for reading about our tales of this city and I can’t wait to share tales of our new one soon.

Until next time, love from San Diego (one last time!)

Sadie goes to Japan.

Well, we all go to Japan, but the first one that people ask about is usually Sadie.  Getting Sadie to Japan has been quite a process, but we are lucky that we were able to do all of it in the United States. 

We started about a year ago with getting her microchipped.  After that we had to do a couple of rounds of Rabies shots, blood tests, health exams, and prior approval procedures.  We will have a few more exams when we land in Japan, but if all goes as planned there will be no quarantine required.  We finished everything up here in the States yesterday with her 10-day health exam.  This is the last exam before flying to make sure that she is safe to travel.  And now all we have left is the actual flight…

For me this is the worst part.  We have to hand her over three hours before the flight and entrust her to the airlines.  We are flying commercial, so they are used to flying with pets, but that doesn’t help to ease my nerves.  We have tried to prepare her by getting her used to the crate, having her drink out of the food and water bowls that are attached to the crate, and trying out Benadryl.  I have been told that she will be in an area of the plane that is the same temperature and pressure as our cabin.  Let’s hope that this is the truth and not something that they say to annoying dog-parents like me who call 20 times before the flight to make sure everything is set (and who physically walk the crate into the airport to get it approved by an airline representative!)

To be honest, the thing that I am most scared about is the noise.  As you have seen in the past, Sadie is not a huge fan of loud noises.  I think that the takeoff and landing would qualify as a loud noise.  But this falls into the category of something that I cannot change, so I am trying not to worry about it too much.

So come Monday morning, Sadie and I will both be medicated (Sadie with Benedryl, me with a Bloody Mary) in an attempt to keep us calm for the duration of our 12-hour flight to Japan until we are reunited.      

And here is what Sadie’s crate looks like in hopes that her cute face will persuade them to take extra special care of our beloved pup (well, this pic and the cash that I will be slipping them as they cart her away.)

She looks totally comfortable, right?!

Moving Day (s)

Today we begin the first of three moves – well, one move – but with three different packing days.  That’s right – three.  All of this in order to get our little 900 (okay, that is being generous) sq. ft. apartment all the way to Japan.

I have fooled everyone into thinking that I am prepared and ready for the moves.  I did this by coming up with a sticker system.  See below…

Don’t all those colors make me seem organized?!  But really, I am not ready.  I am running around like a madwoman trying to decide what stays and what goes.  And if it is going – what move it should go with.  And I’m changing my mind every 5 minutes.  And Matt is working.  And I haven’t started anything yet because they are trying to sell our condo and had showings all last week.  And my dog feels the need to jump on everyone that walks through the door, including the movers.  This is what a military move is like – organized chaos.  Okay, maybe just chaos.

Wish me luck!

And if you are interested, here is a breakdown of our moves:

• Express shipment: This is for our clothes, a few dishes, some pots and pans, and our skis (yes, we have determined that the skis are that important to us).  This shipment should get there a month after us.
• Household goods: This is for the rest of our furniture, dishes, pots and pans, and anything else that I didn't convince them to take on the Express shipment.  This shipment should get there two months after us.
• Storage: This is for the stuff that we don’t think will fit in our new Japanese place.  In reality, it is everything.
• And just for fun we have to figure out what we want to take with us on the plane to last us the entire month until our Express shipment gets there.  Did I mention that it is freezing in Japan (at least for spoiled San Diegans) and that we each only get to take two 50-pound bags?  I think that I’m most excited for this decision making process.

Oh, happy day!

Look what arrived in the mail - my “Story of Us: Year 2” scrapbook!  This is my very first completed scrapbook (I have had several in the works for years and years).  I also have made a couple for other people, but have never completed one for myself.  It is a happy day, indeed!

PS.  Don’t bother to ask why my “Story of Us: Year 1” isn’t the first completed scrapbook.  It is a long story...

PPS. If you are interested, I use Creative Memories Storybook Creator 3.0 to make my digital scrapbooks.  

Word of the Year

Have you guys heard about the “one word concept”?  I read about it on a couple of blogs and thought that I would try it this year.  Basically, you choose one word to focus your year around rather than picking New Year’s resolutions.  This is a word to reflect on throughout the year – it can serve as a guide for how you want to live, how you want to spend your time, a reminder of what is important to you.     

After giving it a lot of thought, I decided that my word for 2013 is going to be present. 

I want to use this year to live in the present.  I want to thoroughly enjoy the moment.  I will use my word to refocus on the now rather than living in the past or the future.   

In college I used to have a countdown to the end of the school year.  I would be looking forward to the summer when I would be free of classes, of commitments, of laundry duty.  I would cross off each day with a big red X.  Then one day my roommate mentioned that she hated countdowns because they made each day seem insignificant until the big day.  At the time I didn’t pay much attention to this and kept crossing off my days.  But I have never forgotten what she said and it means so much more to me today than it did back then. 

On the other hand, I also have a tendency to look back on days with regret that they have passed by so fast.  I will be in the middle of a vacation that I have been looking forward to (maybe even counting down to) and I stay up at night worrying that I have already lost three days.  I will be so worried about those three days that I forget that we still have four days left to enjoy.    

This year, I will try to give up countdowns.  I will try to give up sleepless nights of wondering where the time has gone.  I will live in the present.

What is your word of 2013?  I would love for you to join in and share!

And since I have been so busy living in the present, I forgot to post New Year’s Eve pictures :)  Here is a look back on how we started off 2013 – the year of being present!

The visit started with good beer.

Continued with a birthday celebration.

And with a trip to Railhouse Brewery

Happy 2013!  So happy that we were able to celebrate with family

Sisters!

The men in the kitchen (where they belong;))

The newlyweds.  Love them!

The not-so-newlyweds

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye...

I tried, I really tried, not to reference Boyz II Men in that title, but I just couldn’t get away from it.   The song has been stuck in my head since I thought to write this post and it just won’t quit (cue MC Hammer).  Okay, back to it.

Rarely have I been able to say that the timing of our military moves has made things easier.  We are usually given two weeks notice which results in begging the landlord to let us out of our lease, marathon cleaning sessions, hurried goodbye lunches because the movers are coming in 10 minutes, and throwing leftover household goods in the car to share a backseat with Sadie for the next 16 hours.

I am happy to say that the Navy has really come through on this international move.  We were told ahead of time when we would be moving – what a luxury!  Well, we don’t actually have an exact date yet, but I am happy with a general time frame.  Because we knew when we were moving, we could make plans.  And, oh how I love to make a plan!

Matt and I decided that the best thing for me to do was to quit my job before the holiday break.  Then when we went home for Christmas, I would stay home for a couple of weeks to say goodbye to friends and family. 

It is impossible to tell you how much this time meant to me.  It meant one more Cracker Barrel breakfast with family, tea with my grandparents, puzzles with my brother, scrapbooking with my Mom, technology lessons with my Dad (thanks for teaching me Twitter, Dad!), telestrations with cousins, late night talks with my sis-in-law, wine-filled DVR sessions with my best friends, a weekend getaway with 10 of the most amazing girlfriends, and sweet new baby smells. 

  

So thank you, Navy, not only for the amazing adventure that you are sending us on, but for the time to say goodbye.

Japan Bound

Matt, Sadie and I have exciting news – no, I’m not pregnant (I have learned that this is typically what people are expecting to hear when I say the words exciting news) – but another adventure awaits us.  We are moving to Japan in a little over a month! 

Even as I write those words, it is hard to believe.  I am beyond excited, but there are a lot of other emotions tied up in that excitement.  I am anxious about the logistics of the move, sad to say goodbye to family and friends, nervous about finding an apartment, ecstatic when I think about all the new experiences that we are about to have, and grateful that we get this opportunity.  There will certainly be hard times as we learn to adjust to our lives abroad, but those will be outweighed by the good ones.  Of that, I am sure. 

I look forward to sharing our adventures with you as this blog goes from Our Tales of Two Cities to Our Tales of Two Continents!  Until next time, sayonara.

Photo credit

Pinterest Party

One day Meghan and I were talking about how much we love Pinterest (something I find myself saying quite often).  She told me that one of her friends throws a Pinterest Party each year – she invites a couple of girls to her house and each one brings a Pinterest craft idea and the supplies to make the craft.  They leave the party with their completed Pinterest projects.  After hearing about this I had two thoughts: 1. our idea of parties has certainly changed over the years and 2. I NEED to do this.

We decided to try it when we were all home over Christmas.  Each of us (Meghan, Mom, and me)  brought one idea and the supplies. Most were successful (mine…not so much).

Here are our Pinterest crafts (the good, the great, and mine...)

Ready to craft...

Meghan's Pinterest Craft

Inspiration:

Pinterest

Our version:

Supplies needed: clothespins, hanger, spray paint, craft beads, ribbon, hot glue gun

Step 1: Line the clothespins up for spray paint.

Step 2: Spray paint.

Step 3: After allowing time to dry, take a hanger and form it into a circle. Slide a clothespin on the hanger and then a bead.  Repeat until you have about 1-inch of space left on the hanger.

Step 4: Wrap a ribbon around the extra 1-inch of space.  Leave enough ribbon so that you have a hook to hang the wreath.  Use a hot glue gun to seal the ribbon and attach a ribbon bow to the front of the wreath.

This was such an easy craft and can be used for anything - birth announcements, save the dates,  holiday cards, etc.

Mom's Pinterest Craft

Inspiration:

Pinterest

Our version:

Supplies needed: binder clips, scrap paper, embellishments, double-sided tape

I didn't take pictures of the process for this craft because it was very simple. You basically just use scrap paper and embellishments to decorate your binder clip.  We used double-sided tape and zots as adhesive.  

The great thing about this craft is that you don't need a lot of supplies.  These can be used to display pictures, children's artwork, recipes, etc.   

Casey's Pinterest Craft

Inspiration:

The Lettered Cottage

Our version:

Supplies: Glass jar, thickers, and spray paint (white and gloss)
The key is to pick a jar without any writing on it.  You can use an old pickle jar, peanut jar...really, anything you want. We bought our jars at Michael's.

Step 1: Choose your words and place thickers on the jar.

Pre-spray paint.

Unfortunately, I was too covered in spray paint to take any more pictures. Basically, you spray paint the entire jar.  The idea is that you remove the letters and then your words will be clear on the jar.  

I love the idea of this craft, but sadly, it didn't turn out exactly as expected.  I think that our mistake was that we sprayed three coats of paint onto the jar and it was too thick.  The paint started dripping and made it so the letters were not clear.  Next time, only two coats of even spray paint and one coat of gloss.

This is what you do when your craft doesn't turn out - break out the Corona's and wine and relax on the front porch.

It was such a fun day with my family.  We were able to leave with two completed crafts and lots of fun memories.  Another idea is to have a Pinterest dinner party or Pinterest cocktail party - everyone bring something new with the recipe to share.  The possibilities are endless!  

Ahhh, don't you just love Pinterest:)

Blog Facelift

Hello "Our Tales of Two Cities" readers!  We've made some recent updates to the blog.  Most of you may read our posts on your mobile device and get new posts via email...which is great!  Keep reading :)  However if you check out the full web version, you'll see a little bit of a facelift.

You can now click on each city and link to old posts related to these cities. Fun way to look back on the past couple years!

As we've made some updates, I think some old blog posts got re-posted. Sorry if you got alerts on these old posts.

Thanks for following our tales. We have loved sharing them with you!

We hope you had a wonderful holiday season...Our Tales of Two Cities, Casey & Leslie

Home for the Holidays.

Christmas, it goes too fast!  Even this year, with an extra week, it flew by.  So instead of giving into my Christmas withdrawal, I wanted to hang on for a little longer and share our Christmas memories with you. 

After a nice little airport delay, we landed in Virginia at 10:00 pm, found the only restaurant still open and settled in for our annual Christmas Eve dinner - fried eggrolls, house lo mein, and all the other classic Chinese favorites.  By the time we got back to Mom and Dad’s it was Christmas!  Chris and Meghan were supposed to come over after lunch on Christmas Day, but ended up sneaking up on us and surprising us right after midnight.  They certainly know how to make this family happy!

The rest of our time was spent on the usual Christmas festivities – eating too much, drinking too much, and playing more games than you can imagine (or, if you have hung out with my family, then it was just another normal Saturday night but with a few more cookies)!

And now we are off to visit Chris and Meghan for his birthday and New Year’s.  Can’t wait to celebrate 2013 and all the wonderfulness that it will bring…HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here is a peek into our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day…

A Christmas Story Christmas Eve.

Egg rolls, lo mein, and orange beef...oh my.

Surprise!

Christmas cheers!  Les, these glasses look familiar?!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

O' Christmas tree

Looking a little sleepy.

All together now.

Mom made us aprons!  Ready to bake...

Mimosa time.

The girls.

Ate a few too many of these.

Wouldn't be a family gathering without a little competition.

Staying warm!