A picture an hour

This past weekend we went to Michigan for a friend's wedding.  I thought about doing a vlog, but I wasn't planning on bringing my computer and I knew I would run out of phone memory.  So instead I decided to take one photo every hour.

Here's our first day in Grand Rapids, by the hour:

8am - At the airport waiting for our plane.

9am - The view out our plane window.

10am - Still on the plane and not sure how we feel about it

11am - We made it to Grand Rapids and picked up a tasty snack (London Fog and Coffee Cake for me)

12pm - Peter's best friend's mom picked us up and took us to run some errands, such as picking up some items for the wedding, as well as picking up Peter's tux.

1pm - We took a drive-by tour of downtown Grand Rapids

2pm - We made it back to the house and relaxed with Netflix (Pictured is an episode of Sherlock).

3pm - Peter and his best friend.

4pm - A spot of tea to keep us warm.  We were not used to 30 degree weather!  It's still in the high 70s in Alabama!

5pm - Fully naked trees.  Also something that's not a familiar site down south.

6pm - I took a much needed nap and failed to get a picture.

7pm - We were going out for dinner and I could not get a cute picture.  They're all blurry because Peter and his friend were making me laugh too much.  This was the best I could get.

8pm - Dinner! (Thai friend rice)

9pm - Back at the house, back with Netflix!

And that's pretty much where it ends.  We went to bed early that night.

I hope you enjoyed this post!  I will soon be posting a bit more about the trip.  It was a great time to catch up with friends and take a little break from school!

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My Hometown || Middle-of-Nowhere, California

There are pros and cons to growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere, CA.

California isn't all beaches and palm trees.

Pro - Everyone knows everyone.
Con - Everyone knows everyone!
Pro - Mild winters.
Con - Freaking. Hot. Summers.

Pro - Fresh produce year 'round.
Con - Pesticides.

Pro - Family-oriented community.
Con - Am I related to everyone in this town?

Pro - Wide, open spaces.
Con - Anything "fun" is 2+ hours away.

Pro - No mosquitos!
Con - Did I mention it's hot?  Like boiling hot.  Like "why do people live here?!" kinda hot.

Pro - No hurricanes, tornadoes, or blizzards.
Con - No beach, no seasons, no trees...

Pro - It's where I grew up and where my family is currently located.
Con - Why couldn't I have grown up in San Diego?!

What are the pros and cons of your hometown?

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Linking up for Travel Tuesday

Llamas

I was going through old photos and I stumbled upon these pictures.  These are at least 2, probably 3 years old.  My brother used to have llamas on his farm... not sure if he still does or not.  They were quite friendly.  I love llamas, especially furry, baby llamas.

I also realized that I resemble a llama.  I have the narrow face and poofy hair!

Well, hello!

Hope you enjoyed these random pictures!

XO,

Julie

Barnes and Noble Haul

Hey Folks... Peter and I recently went to Barnes and Noble and bought a few things.  I thought it would be fun to share with you which books caught our fancy and why.

Sorry for the horrible picture quality.  We had to sell our nice camera when we left Brazil, and we haven't had the money to get a new one yet.  I've just been using my iPhone camera, which isn't horrible but isn't great, either.

Dutch Blitz - a fast paced card game.  Pretty fun.

These three were in the "End-of-Summer Clearance" section.

Forget about it by Caprice Crane - A girl gets in an accident and pretends to have amnesia so she can get a "do-over" on life.  So far it's pretty chick-lit.  Haha!

In the Company of Others by Jan Karon -  I absolutely LOVE the Mitford series by Jan Karon, and this book follows the protagonist of the Mitford series as he and his wife go to the country of his ancestors - Ireland.

On Hummingbird Wings by Lauraine Snelling - A woman has to move from New York back to California to take care of her dying mother, "even though her primary ailment seems to be hypochondria."  Another Chick-Lit pick.

Should I post reviews when I'm done?

We bought these three because they are part of the series of books that Barnes and Noble has where the covers are decorated by current popular illustrators... Peter already has a lot from the series.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - It's a classic.  You should read it.

The Constitution of the United States of America and Selected Writings of the Founding Fathers - The majority of this book is the "selected writings" portion.  Some very interesting info in here, especially for the history geeks (which I am).

A Treasury of Classic Poetry - Peter and I both love poetry.  I grew up reading all my mom's books of poems, but I realized I didn't have any of my own!  This is a good start to my collection.

So that is an overview of our most recent trip to Barnes and Noble.  I'll let you know if I like them!

XOXO,

Julie

First Impressions - Alabama

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to post!  We arrived exactly one week ago and haven't had internet until today!

I already started my meetings and I start teaching on Thursday, my first full day.  Wish me luck!

In the meantime, here are my first impressions of Alabama:

- Everyone is super friendly, but I sometimes wonder how "real" it is.  They're a little too friendly for it to be real... only time will tell!

- They weren't wrong when they said it's the peanut capital of the world.  The entire town smells like peanuts.

- Our allergies are beyond control.  Even Peter, who doesn't usually get allergies, is getting them really bad.  Everyone here says that they will get even worse when they start harvesting...

- Gas is so cheap!

- Hooray for Publix!  This grocery store carries a whole line of natural, organic, and gluten-free items - from organic, cage-free eggs to grass fed, antibiotic-free beef.  They have organic fruits and vegetables!  AND they have guaraná, a Brazilian soda that Peter is obsessed with!

- Everyone knows everyone.  This town isn't super small (60,000 people, I believe), yet everyone knows everyone and is related to everyone.

- The weather is very similar to Rio de Janeiro, only there isn't an ocean nearby.

- Do I miss Brazil?  Yes and no.  But I think that deserves a separate post of its own.  I definitely miss the city of Rio de Janeiro, I miss living so close to the beach, and I miss a few people.  I don't miss how stressed Peter was, not having a car, being broke all the time, and not having a dishwasher.

- I am homesick and miss my family, but hopefully when school starts I'll be too busy to notice.  I also hope I can start making some good friends.

- The school is very supportive and helpful.  I don't really feel overwhelmed or stressed yet.  Everything is taken care of and my fellow music teachers have been helping me out a lot!

- It's soooo nice working for a school that says "We have money for that" and "You're the expert, this is your program, you can do whatever you want" and "Don't buy anything with your own money, we have more than enough in our budget" and "We trust you completely."

And last, but not least:

- PETER GOT A JOB!!!  He had a preliminary interview a couple days before we moved out here and then a second interview the day after we arrived.  They offered him the job right away and he starts tomorrow as well.  He will be the Senior Graphic Designer for the marketing division of a local company.  The company actually manufactures and sells video surveillance systems, but he will be in the marketing department.  He is super excited.

Oh yeah, if you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen my post from the day we arrived.  Some girls from the choir stopped by with gift baskets, notes, flowers, and gift cards for me.  It was so sweet!

VLOG to come soon.  I haven't had time or energy to make it yet.  The first couple of days I was feeling very anxious, stressed, and homesick.  More on that later.  

XO,

Julie

Road trip so far

If you want to stay updated on our road trip, go ahead and check out my Instagram!  I post whenever we have cell reception/working internet (which isn't as often as I'd like).

Fun stuff coming up... I've been vlogging a teeny bit and can't wait to make a video to share with you all! 

Only 1 and 1/2 days of driving left (hopefully).  

A video game?  Nope, just the view somewhere in Texas...

XO,

Julie

Reenacting Our Wedding

As many of you know, Peter and I just had our FIRST ANNIVERSARY!  Woohoo!  We made it!  haha!  Actually it seems like we've been married forever, but at the same time, it seems like our wedding was just yesterday.  So much has happened this past year.  Eight days after our wedding we moved to Rio de Janeiro.  A few weeks ago we moved back to the U.S., and in less than 2 weeks we are moving to Alabama.  This California girl might have more culture shock in the deep South than in Brazil!  :)

To celebrate our anniversary, we spent the day in San Diego.  My family lives a couple of hours away from San Diego, in the desert, in the middle of nowhere.  It is expected to reach 115 degrees this week, so we were so grateful for a day in beautiful San Diego.

Get ready for an overload of pictures.  The day was just toooo beautiful.  The sky and water were so blue, the grass so green, the weather absolute perfection.  All of these photos were taken with my phone and remain unfiltered and unprocessed.

I wish it had been so vibrant the day we got married, but, alas, it was a little gray.

The wedding day, one year ago:

The anniversary:

The professional photograph:

The amateur selfies:

 

Lying on our beach towels and admiring the tree and sky:

Peter prepared a picnic.  It was adorable and yummy:

Our picnic spot:

Our view while picnicing:

After our picnic, we headed over to Seaport Village, which is probably my favorite place in San Diego.  They have amazing little shops, views, and the weather and atmosphere was perfect.

This is a restaurant at Seaport Village, photo from my Instagram.

Another selfie:

A human statue.  We gave him a dollar.

There's a small pond in Seaport Village, and I found these adorable baby ducks hanging out with their mom.  So cute!

I wish my family lived closer than 2 hours to San Diego - I wish they lived IN San Diego!  Wouldn't that be amazing!

We had such a fun anniversary celebration.  Thanks for letting me share my pictures with you.  

Which selfie should we print and frame?

XO,

Julie

P.S. Who is interested in hearing our "love" story?  We met online and had a long distance relationship while Peter lived in Brazil.  Should I do a post about it?

Feeling Refreshed

We took an almost-two-week vacation and it was lovely.  It was so great to spend time with family and friends.  I was reminded that there are people out there who "get" me and like me just the way I am.  It was refreshing to see friends who are kindred spirits (including this lovely lady).  And now I'm sad to move so far away again!

Here are a few snapshots of our time at the farm.  I have another post planned dedicated to our time in the cabin at Shaver Lake, but for now here are some pictures from my brother's farm.

Self-explanatory.

The cutest little helper.

Donkey butt.

My weird fortune...

My beautiful nieces.  Miss them already.

My niece made us an organic trifle using raw-milk and all organic everything.  It was so delicious.

Just a gopher snake my brother found while doing some landscaping.

Hope you've had an awesome summer so far.  I have slowly been catching up on my blog feed, but I haven't been able to leave many comments yet.  I definitely have missed the blogging community and can't wait to get back into it soon!

XOXO,

Julie