across the country

excited to have this finished (finally). here's the 'film' from our journey from ohio to california earlier this month:

across the country from Andrea Hoppel on Vimeo.

a different rhythm

i'm a little hesistant to even write these next words because... well, it's what we asked for.

but we've been getting used to a whole different rhythm around here. starting jobs has taken longer than expected (we should've guessed!) and while our friends have been so welcoming and wonderful we've definitely come into a much slower pace of life than what we've been used to.

prior to the wedding, i was working two jobs, jimmy was working one demanding job and picking up extra shifts, we were doing college ministry, trying to figure out if we were actually coming here to california--oh, and planning a wedding. a very DIY wedding.

then the weeks after the wedding involved so much packing and moving and driving and family events and friend events and packing to move, etc that they were not what we would call laid back, despite the fact that we weren't working.

so here we are, in the fullness of what we asked for. a much slower pace.

and we're finding that we're going a little crazy.

i was thinking this weekend that it's just such a reminder of our human tendency to overcorrect, to swing to the opposite side of the pendulum when we really need (this-funny-little-difficult-to-find-thing-called) balance. we experience craziness and think we need a full stop. in the midst of a hefty amount of busy-ness we cry out to have a completely empty schedule. and then we find out that empty schedules are nice for about two days.

we just needed balance to the craziness. enough in our schedules to provide structure; not enough to make us too exhausted to communicate by the end of the day. what we really need is a routine, or something consistent that resembles one.

(i, personally, really dislike routine because it's predictable and i become bored. i rarely do the same thing the same way twice. there's always room for improvement!)

but it is what we need and what we're working on establishing. as much as i don't love routine we do need to establish something consistent like that.

thankfully we have had some things happen that should make jobs much closer on the horizon this week (such an answered prayer). and we're looking forward to figuring out what routine/consistency... what our 'normal' actually is. to find our balance.

whiskeytown

there's a lake ten minutes outside of redding that has quickly become my safe place - whiskeytown. we came here with the wardles when we visited the first time; i spent some time in prayer here when we came last thanksgiving; today we spent two hours just wading and laying and enjoying the beauty of the lake.

it's more peaceful than i could possibly explain. even with the smoke from a massive forest fire in the national park. (and yes, we are fine. the fire is getting contained and is moving away from redding.)


(sorry for the large amount of shirtless photos of my very cute husband.)

moonstone

today we had lunch at the most amazing restaurant, moonstone bistro, where our friend, cindy, works.

i had this eggplant napoleon dish that was out of this world. then we had, yes, two desserts between the four of us (one was complimentary!) and that chocolate souffle was.. holy smokes. by the time the cobbler came out I could barely take a bite.

we also decided that dessert should always be a group effort. life rule. I swear souffle is always better when shared with friends.

"sometimes the glitter just wins"

today was quite a day. we found a bed - a total win. 

and maybe even better...

we found these masks at a car wash while waiting for ryan's car.

we were taking addison (our friends' 8 year-old) out on a birthday date tonight & tried to resist the masks. 

but eventually after looking at the whopping price tag of $2 for 15 minutes, we caved.

in conversation with addi, who is working on saving money and spending wisely, we realized that we may be jeopardizing the whole lesson.

finally em said, "here's the thing adds - sometimes the glitter just wins."

of anyone in the world, addison wardle knows just what that means.

she went on to make wise money choices throughout the night.

and we all walked away with awesome masks.

adjustments

it's so strange to think that a week ago we were in cheyenne, wyoming. so much happens in the first week in a new place & it feels so much longer than seven days. 

these days in redding have been good but definitely an adjustment. first of all, dry heat. 110 degree type of dry heat. thank God that it's dry heat because otherwise it'd be completely unbearable. but it's definitely hot. by 9am when we have gone to run errands it's already 85 degrees. 

we've been adjusting to the time change as well, which has been more of an adjustment (especially for me) than we expected. i won't lie, we do feel a bit accomplished when we naturally get up before 7am but falling asleep at 8pm like we're narcoleptic - not so cool. but we're working on it!

we've had a great time meeting lots of new people already. we're currently living in a house with three other friends/housemates and between all of their networks of friends we've hung out with a lot of great people. the community here is amazing & deep & it's a big reason that we decided to come out here.

there have also been some firsts. i did my first grocery shopping trip for just us (between living with other people and family before & after the wedding we haven't had the chance to). we've been learning the art of cooking for two and have been rather decent at it thus far. i'm well trained in shopping for a family of seven but shopping for and cooking for two is a whole new ballgame. one night we made pretty great feta & garlic hamburgers & were proud of that achievement! burgers are going to be a staple for us since they're jimmy's favorite food so we have to perfect our recipes.

we're praying that we'll be able to solidify job situations this week & until then are enjoying the much-welcomed rest. it's definitely a change of pace. and to be honest, we're not even anxious about the job situation; we've been so assured that this is the right move that we've been able to operate from a place of trust that the right jobs at the right time will come.

so here's to a new week! we are super thankful for this new time & new place & new season!

dinnertime!

first meal at in-n-out. accidental photo (thought it was video).

family dinners complete with music.

afternoon sun time.

plants in the backyard.

new friends & their adorable baby. who had a bit of a meltdown.

hiding addison wardle.

in-n-out! jimmy's happy place!

day 4: yes, we did make it.

we made it. we did. across nevada. in a new place and excited and feeling what we have termed "exhausted relief".

aaron rocked the rooster party event. it was an amazing inaugural night. it's amazing to know we will be in our first place. we even bought our first hangers together - and gosh, there's nothing more committal and permanent and establishing than your first velvet hangers.

day 3: the city i thought i'd fall in love with

today was a bit different than we expected.

we jetted across wyoming, which was more enjoyable than nebraska, and made it to salt lake city by 3. (side note: cheyenne actually looked pretty interesting and we wished we would had more time there!) scored a great hotel room through priceline in downtown, researched restaurants and even started thinking of a witty title about how today was the day i fell in love with a city. expectations were high. i had pictured quaint streets with lots of antique and vintage shops and full restaurants. i was anticipating a great little explore-the-city date day with jimmy - the kind that gave us all kinds of creative ideas and great people watching.

maybe i should have researched more (but my sources were pretty reliable) but slc has not been the adorable picturesque city i was anticipating. it's spread out, pretty chain and commercial, most of the shops were closed and worst of all, it was totally dead. empty.

perhaps what i was actually picturing was more park city than salt lake city. and even the olympic stuff from 2002 isn't really here - it's over a half hour away.

but after dealing with some disappointment we made the best of it. we walked through the grounds of the lds temple which was absolutely breathtaking. had a decent meal at a local place (it was one of the only ones that was full) because the really good restaurants were empty and that always makes me feel really awkward. we had some great conversation though, and even tried out the hotel pool until it filled up with lots of families with small children and socially awkward hot tub-mates. just used awkward twice in two sentences. that's telling.

i read something today that said, "magic really is something you make" and it resonated with me. little did i know.

the really great news is that we'll be in redding tomorrow and found out the rooster party's last tour stop is tomorrow night, and we can't think of any better way to end this roadtrip and begin our new life in redding than at aaron's concert.

day 2: all day long.

on the road again through the rather "blah" states (sorry to anyone with strong heart ties to them) of western illinois, iowa, nebraska and wyoming.

the most exciting moments of the day: figuring out how to get everything back in the car and thinking i was being pulled over and the relief of the cop choosing the guy in front of me (i think we both u-turned when it wasn't legal - but i didn't know!). i'm convinced that one of the worst adrenaline-inducing moments in life is when a cop pulls out of his previously sedentary position to follow you.

we've also decided that midwest drivers are the least consistent - changing speeds and lanes all the time without intentions of passing anyone. perhaps boredom causes them to want to try that left-most lane. perhaps that irrational decision made me yell at them in the car a few times today.

we've also become great fans of the freakonomics podcasts. and have been shocked by how brown the midwest is from the lack of rain. and how barren nebraska feels. but we made it through our longest day and are really excited to get to salt lake city tomorrow and explore the city!

day 1: made it to peoria!

first, we just have to say that we are so, so overwhelmed by how generous and sweet and encouraging everyone has been this week. we had great quality time with friends and family and felt so loved and supported and couldn't be more thankful.


today started off early with a 630am alarm, early morning eggs and donuts with the family, and lots of goodbyes. we had a difficult time leaving everyone and there were tears. there's a strange thing about the mix of emotions in something like this: sadness, excitement and thrill and a twinge of it still just feeling surreal enough that you don't quite believe it.

but with the car packed to the brim (thanks to jimmy's great packing skills) we made it to peoria and spent the evening with our close friends patrick and holly.

tomorrow will be our longest day - peoria to cheyenne, wyoming. and the olympics finish tomorrow night AND shark week begins! what a day.

baseball

we're closing up our last week here in ohio, and last night we had fun at progressive field with my family. mike was upset with their performance but we really enjoyed the evening.

caricatures

i have the most amazing four brothers - jordan, justin, aaron & michael. we're leaving in a week for california and although we're excited, i'm so sad about leaving them. we laugh, we fight, we laugh about our fights, we share talents... they're amazing.

my brother justin did these for the wedding - caricatures of every person in our bridal party. they were displayed in holders on small birch tree stands (pictures later).

you can see more of his work here.