Yay! I finally went to the beach!

So yesterday was kind of uneventful... Amy and I went on a walk so I'm hoping that my get skinny plan is kicking into high gear. We keep going for walks at Kapalua and it is beautiful and very hilly! My calves and shins are very sore which is really good because that means I'm using my muscles! After our walk we went to the post office and then just came home and hung out around the house. We played outside with the boys and watched a movie.

Today we packed the boys into strollers and walked about a mile to a beach that is right next to a park. By the time we got there I thought I was going to hyperventilate, I am just so not used to walking around hills. Especially pushing a stroller with a sleeping baby inside! Once we ate lunch I meandered into the ocean. Oh my gosh the water is so beautiful and warm!! I played with the boys and made some sand structures and watched as Maddox destroyed them. It was a great day at the beach. I got some sun so I'm starting my base for the tan I will eventually have! Jaxson was making fun of my white legs and he is only 4 so I know I need to get a tan for sure!

I still haven't heard anything about a job yet. I am really looking forward to having something productive to do. I hope I get a call soon!

Thursdays fun

Amy and I dropped Jaxson off at school and then we went to Kapalua and walked around the grounds. Oh my goodness it is so beautiful here! Our walk was a little long, I almost died out at the end but the views were well worth the effort. My plan to get skinny has officially started! We are going to go walk again today if I can get my legs to cooperate with me. Then we came back to the house and played with Maddox for a while.

I'm still looking for a job and I am actually starting to feel a little panicky that I haven't found something yet. I know I've only been here for 4 days but I am anxious to find a job and get a schedule going so I feel more like I've moved here and less like I'm on vacation. I know that Amy has enjoyed having the extra help around the house but I also know that she would be ok with having her house back.

Well everyone keep your fingers crossed that I hear about a job in the next few days... I'm so ready to get to work!

Wednesday

Today was a great day. Actually it's still only 5 o'clock here so who knows what else might happen today. But I had a few minutes so I thought I would jot down some of the things I did today.

I went with Amy, Maddox and Jaxson to the Maui Ocean Center which is kind of like the Monterey Bay Aquarium but a little smaller. Jaxson had a field trip with his school and I got to tag along. It was fun being with all the kids although at one point during the day I realized just how much patience it takes being a mommy. I was a little overwhelmed but only because there were about 20 four to five year olds with the group. I spent a lot of time chasing Maddox around and pushing the stroller. A few times during our trip I kept catching sight of the ocean and it takes my breath away every time. It is just so beautiful!!

When we got home Jaxson and Amy took a nap and Maddox and I got to play together for a few hours. I tell you there is nothing better in this world than baby laughter!! This kid loves to laugh and he loves books!! I read about 5 books about a dozen times each and he never got tired of them at all! Good thing I have some patience because the itsy bitsy spider book 10 times in a row is enough to make anyone stir crazy!

I'm starting to feel a little anxious because even though I've only been here for a day, I would really like to get a job and start my own life here. I miss having a routine and things to do. I am very thankful that I have the time now to spend hanging out with my nephews but it would be kinda nice to know that I will have some money coming in soon.

I'm cooking dinner tonight and that makes me happy! Tomorrow I have no clue what is on the agenda... probably some job hunting!

Maui is SO beautiful!

So I am in Maui! Finally! It seems like I've been waiting to get here for so long it's actually weird to be here.

I got in yesterday and Amy picked me up from the airport and we drove to Lahaina. We dropped a few things off at the house and then went and picked Jaxson up from school. I spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the kids! It was SO much fun. Jaxson and Maddox are the cutest kids EVER!! Well my Ventura kids are cute too... so I guess they are the cutest kids in Maui :)

I've spent the morning playing with Maddox and then Amy took me to apply for some jobs. I've been sitting at the computer for a few hours filling out online applications so I'm anxious to see if I can get a job sooner rather than later.

Amy and I are off to pick up Jaxson from school.

Hopefully I'll have something exciting to report soon!

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!

Ok so I'm sitting at the airport and I realized that they have wireless access for free. So I thought I would do a little post.

This morning was pretty uneventful. I was a little worried that my bags might not make the flight only because they were SO freaking heavy. But I got to the counter and I weighed them. My big bag was 69.5 lbs and my small bag was 54.5 lbs. It cost me $50 bucks to pay the overweight fee. But it would have cost more to have my stuff shipped so I willingly paid it. The weight limit for bags is 70 lbs so I JUST made it. I was totally relieved. It took me about 25 minutes to get through security but then I settled into a seat by a plug and I've been watching Entourage for the last hour or so.

I'm so ready for this move. I can't wait to be in Maui. I can't wait for the next chapter of my life to start.

Here I go!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!!

Wow. Ok... It's tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm moving to Maui.

My bags are all packed and I'm leaving the house at 7:00 a.m. and getting on a plane and flying to Maui!

I'm a little freaked out... but more than that I'm excited! I'm worried that one of my bags might exceed the weight limit... but I weighed it and I think it might be ok... we'll see if they let me on the flight tomorrow.

Well I'm sure there is more that I could say but I think I'm a little overwhelmed so I'll leave it at this tonight and write again... but from Maui.

Ok I'm really moving to Maui.

Wow.

Getting closer!!!!

Well the big moving day is getting closer and closer!! I can't believe how ready I am to get there! I am so ready to go that yesterday I was cleaning up my computer and I'm taking it with me! The things I have left to do are so small that I can get them all done on one day! I love that I will be able to leave knowing that I took care of everything here. It's a great feeling to be so organized!

I've had a lot of fun this week meeting up with friends and having lunches and dinners and such. I am slowly trying to build a small tolerance to alcholic beverages by having one or two drinks a day with my friends! heheh I think that once I get to Maui I will have reasons to celebrate and enjoy some drinks so I'm trying to build up my tolerances now.

Mostly I am just excited to start this new chapter in my life. I am really looking forward to doing something totally different. It's exciting to do something that is pretty out of character for me. I feel like I am pushing myself to move outside of my comfort level and in my experience every time I do that I learn and grow and become a better person for it. I'm really trying to go into this new chapter in my life with no expectations and preconceived ideas about how it should all work out. I plan on just letting it all happen the way that it happens. This is by far the scariest thing I have ever done but it also the most exciting!

I'm so thankful that I have the amazing family that I do. My mom for helping me with all my bills and moral support, my sister for letting me stay with her and her family while I get my feet back underneath me. I realize that not everyone is so lucky to have the support system that I do and at times like these it makes me take a moment to reflect on the blessings I have in my life.

Four more days including today in Sacramento... then I'm leaving on a jet plane!!! For MAUI!!!

Is it the 23rd yet??

Well time seems to have slowed way down... I am totally ready to head to Maui now. All the stuff at my mom's house is put away and you can't even tell that I moved in here with the exception of the crammed garage and her new "sitting room". Some of my living room furniture fit very nicely in the middle bedroom upstairs. It's actually where I've been hanging out at night and it strangely makes me feel more at home. I guess because I can sit on my couch or chair and watch tv.

Sunday morning was surreal. I woke up in my old bedroom and almost forgot where I was. It made me feel like the last year and a half was a dream! When I finally woke up enough to remember where I was and what was going on, I was instantly ready to be in Maui. I got so much stuff done on Saturday that Sunday morning I had a few things to put away and then I got to go up to Ruth's house and hang out. Dana made dinner and we just chilled out... it was so nice to relax after working my butt off for the last few weeks.

Yesterday was relatively unexciting. I ran a whole bunch of errands and did some organizing. I will be more than ready to go on Monday. Can I just say THANK YOU TAMMY!!! heheh I feel so prepared for this move and I know it's all because she helped me. :)

I probably won't have anything that exciting to post about in the next week but hopefully I will have some interesting stories. I'm going to try to see a bunch of my friends before I take off, run around doing last minute errands, and maybe even slimming down the stuff I'm taking with me. Exciting stuff folks... make sure you stay tuned ;)

It's Saturday Night!!

Oh my goodness!! There has been so much going on this week I haven't blogged at all! Let's see if I can catch us up!

Tammy came up on Tuesday and put me straight to work!! She kept me on task and made sure I got stuff done done done! THANK YOU TAMMY!!! I would not have been ready if she hadn't come up to help!

Wednesday I woke up early and took my brother to the airport. Then Tammy and I attacked my apartment with a vengence! We got SO much done... Tammy packed my whole kitchen, which was so wonderful because that was the part of packing I was least looking forward to. We worked late into the night so that we could get as finished as possible so we could get a little play time in.

Thursday we woke up and decided to go run errands because we were both tired of packing. We got a lot of things taken care of that needed to be done before I could finish packing, and some things that I just really wanted to get done. A few more hours of packing and we took the rest of the afternoon off! We went to the mall and wandered around and then went to Ikea and wandered there. Thursday night we went to dinner with Ben and Leslie (Tammy's Brother and Sister-in-law). We had a really nice dinner and a great time visiting with Ben and Leslie.

Friday we woke up and finished clearing the debris that we had been creating with all our packing. We made one last trip to my Mom's house and then Tammy hit the road. She had put in many hours helping me out and I am so appreciative of her help and her friendship! I can't think of a better friend than one who willingly helps you move! THANK YOU TAMMY!!! I just can't say thank you enough. Friday night I finished going through paperwork and did little things around the apartment trying to get things ready for Saturday.

Saturday! I woke up at 7:15 and did two loads of laundry and then went through the apartment and put last minute stuff in boxes. My movers showed up at 8:45 and got started right away. My friend Ruth came over and brought me breakfast and then helped me with all those little things that you don't really want the movers to take care of. She must have made about a billion trips up and down the stairs taking all my precious treasures so I didn't have to worry about them. THANK YOU RUTH!!! It made it so much easier on me and I appreciate that I got a break walking up and down the stairs. She also kept me company and told me lots of fun stories so I could keep my spirits up and not feel sad about leaving my cute little apartment.

It's Saturday night and mom and I have cleaned up all the debris that I brought into her house! All my stuff fit into the garage and there is still enough room for you to squeeze through to find stuff. Now that I am settled in at my mom's house I am getting really really excited about moving to Maui. I am actually relieved to have a smaller pile of stuff to worry about in terms of my things. I think it will be great for me to get back to worrying about me and my life instead of my things.

Ok so I have one week left and I am officially moving to Maui. I am SO ready!!!!

Tuesday!

Well I am actually getting some stuff done today. My Tammy is coming to help me pack up all my mass quantities of garbage so I am motivated to get some stuff done! Now that is the ultimate Best Friend!! She's coming all the way up to Sacramento to help me pack up my junk!!

I also oficially have a mover hired and a move date... I am moving out of my apartment on April 14th! Now if I could just get my clothes down to a reasonable amount that I could actually take with me, I would be doing great! I have shut off all my utilities and changed my address on all of my bills. So I guess it's true that I'm moving!!

I'm starting to get excited about going to Maui... I'm certainly not excited about packing my apartment... I hate moving so much it's just unbelievable!!

Well I'm off to pack more boxes... they seem to be never ending!

It's Monday!

I guess I took the weekend off from Blogging. I had a pretty good weekend though! Friday I actually got through all my DVD's and packed up the ones I wanted to take to Maui with me and put the rest in boxes. That was a chore in itself because it was really hard to figure out which ones to take and which to leave behind. But now that is done! My apartment is starting to look like a work zone instead of a home so I guess I am actually making a little progress.

I haven't been sleeping very well lately. I guess it finally caught up to me on Saturday because I pretty much laid around in bed all day and then went to bed at 8:30! I took some advil PM and it knocked me out until 9:47 on Sunday morning. I felt a ton better after knowing that I got some sleep so I guess I needed a day to just rest.

Sunday was Easter and we also celebrated my brother's birthday since he will be flying off to Maui on his actual birthday! My mom outdid herself this year! She bought plastic eggs and an easer basket for my brother and I to share! Then she actually HID the easter eggs around the backyard and the house. Of course we couldn't let it go at that... My brother mixed up some DELICIOUS Pina Colada's and we enjoyed one or two before commencing the easter egg hunt! I can tell you it was pretty funny watching a 23 and 33 year old running around the backyard hunting for easter eggs and getting just as excited as kids when we found one! The kicker was that mom had stuffed the eggs with money so we both wanted to find as many as we could! Miraculously we each ended up with 12 eggs! My brother ended up with more cash than I did but it was ok because it was his birthday celebration after all!

My Mom also cooked a delicious dinner and it was really nice to sit around and visit. I also worked on my scrapbook project a bit so I should be able to finish what pictures I have before I leave!

Today I am going to hang out with my brother a bit and then hopefully get some packing done later this evening! I have to get it all done soon because the movers will be here before I know it!

Have I mentioned how much I hate packing and moving??!!

Ah the joys of today...

Well yesterday turned out to be an interesting day. My mom's doctors appointment went well... all except it took almost 2 hours. But she is healthy and that is the most important thing. We went to Sam's club and got some of the stuff we need for our Easter dinner. Then we went back to her house and waited for my Uncle Danny to show up on his stopover on his way home to Idaho. We had a really nice dinner and got to relax and visit. All in all it was a nice day.

Then I went to the store and changed my coins into cash. I had $168.00 in change! I walked away with about $140.00 because I had to buy some batteries and they charged a fee for converting into cash.

So I was pretty happy with my score and walked up to my door carrying boxes so I can start packing and found a 3 day pay or quit notice on my door. I didn't panic but I did call Don and Tammy to see if they had any words of wisdom for me. I'm not sure if it was the stress of finding such an offensive notice on my door or if it is just that I have way too much stuff going on but last night I just could not fall asleep. I was still up at 3:00 and writing lists of everything I need to get done. I finally fell asleep somewhere around 4:00 or 4:30. So imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning thinking it was about noon only to find that it was 7:36. So that means I only got about 3 hours of sleep. Oh that should make for a fun day today!

I went in this morning and talked to my landlord. She wasn't aware that they had put the notice on my door. She wasn't horrible but she wasn't the nicest either. For some reason as I'm talking to her and telling her the circumstances of why I am moving and such, I started crying. I think all of the stress of the past few weeks has finally caught up to me. She ended up honoring the deal that she had made with me on the phone... they won't be putting me into collections for breaking my lease. That is good news.

So I walk out of the office and I can not stop crying. All the way back to my apartment the tears are just flowing. I officially had a mini breakdown. After about an hour I finally composed myself enough to get some chores done. Now comes the fun of breaking down my apartment, changing my addresses on everything and trying to get myself ready for my big move.

I know that life isn't supposed to be easy. I understand that life has challenges and how you deal with those challenges is how you are shaped as a person. I am just needing a little break from hard stuff. I would love to have a few days where I wasn't stressed beyond my breaking point or crying because my heart is broken for one reason or another.

So I'm off for now to see what I can get done today. I'm hoping to keep the drama to a minimum today. It would be nice to just get some stuff done.

Yesterday's Accomplishments.. Todays Agenda

Well I got a lot done yesterday. I made three new trashbags full of clothes and purses to donate. I have my clothes into rough piles of what I want to take, what I'm leaving behind and what I think I want to take. I say rough because I already have WAY too much stuff and I haven't even done my laundry from when I was gone. The only clothes I didn't get through is all the stuff that is hanging in my closet. I'm only taking a few of my nice clothes for interviews and stuff so that should be easy. I need to go get boxes from my Mom's house before I can really do anything that resembles packing. My room is a total disaster though so you can tell the packing intention has started!

I'm not sure if I should admit this publicly.... but I took pictures of all my shoes and the boxes they go in so I can take only a few pairs with me and then have my mom send me the ones that I want later. I just will take some of my nice shoes so I can interview and then when I figure out where I will be working I can send for shoes that I will need. I don't think it gets more type A than that... but hey it makes me happy so whatever!

So today I am going to not get too much done. I'm going to Folsom with my Mom because she has a doctors appointment and then we are going to go to Sam's Club. We are going to have a nice Easter Dinner and celebrate my Brother's birthday at the same time. His birthday is on the 11th but that is the day he is leaving for Maui so we are going to celebrate a few days early.

I do plan on taking all my change to the store today and see what kind of money I will be able to take with me... I have a ton of change... hopefully it will be a few hundred dollars! That would be cool :)

Maybe I'll post more later if I end up doing anything more interesting today....

Wednesday Morning

Ok here is all the super exciting things that I have done today! I woke up.... ummm.... oh! I checked my email and my myspace page.... dang it, I guess that's about it. *sigh* Have I mentioned how much I hate packing?! Ok I am going to get my room done today. Now that I have put it out there for the world to see, I better get it done! Yesterday I filled three trash bags with clothes that I am getting rid of... I think that's a pretty good place to start!

So today I am going to put my clothes into three categories: Things I'm taking with me, Things I might want later, and Things I'm not ready to get rid of but might want whenever I come back from Maui. I am also going to go through my children (read: shoes) and decide who comes with me and who stays behind.

Ok so I have publicly set a goal. I guess I better go get it done....

My First Post!

So here goes my very first blog entry...

March was a great and a horrible month all at the same time. Some of the great things that happened... I got to stay with Cody and Jesse and hang out with them while Don and Tammy went to New York. We had so much fun! Not only did I realize that I make a pretty cool Auntie, but I got to take them to Disneyland! It was also during March that I realized that I was really and truly going to move to Maui! I have been unemployed since September 1st and haven't found a job that would keep me in California. So since my unemployment ran out at the end of March I decided that I had to make a change. So with a gentle push from my Mom (ok... ok... honestly she bought me a one way ticket) I decided to pack up my cute little apartment and head to a new place. I am both excited and terrified at the same time.

March was also a horrible month because I lost my Grandpa and my Nana. After a long illness he is finally at rest. It seems like a bad dream because he has always been such an important person in my life and he isn't around anymore for me to talk to. I miss him. Nana fought cancer for a long time and it finally won. I feel so blessed that I got to spend some time with her and all her grandkids and great-grandkids before she died. I have been very lucky in that I haven't had to deal with the death of anyone close to me and then to have two grandparents die one day after the other, it has been extremely hard. Trying to come to terms with the fact that both of these beautiful people are gone has made it even more difficult for me to get my feet back underneath me and start packing.

But life has to go on and I intend to take all the great lessons I learned from both My Grandpa and Nana with me. I haven't actually started packing but I have started to go through my clothes and get rid of stuff that doesn't fit or that I haven't worn in a long time. The hardest part for me is to figure out what stuff to take with me; what stuff to have Mom ship to me later, and what stuff to leave behind.

I'm leaving on April 23rd to start my new chapter... so the next few weeks should be both boring and exciting... boring because packing is never fun but exciting becuase oh my gosh I'm moving to MAUI!!!!

Stay tuned for more :)