In The Beginning...And Now

So, I started another blog specifically about design, however, I have realized how my life is so intertwined with my passion for design that there was no way to separate the two. I sort of felt like I was taking the Christmas lights out of the box from last year and they were so tangled that I decided to put the clump on the tree just the way it was.

For those of you who don't know me or don't know much about me here are the highlights: I am a Christian wife to a wonderful husband, Jake. He is the love of my life and we have been married since July 2006. We don't have children yet but we have the next best thing, Cooper, our 3 year old Jack-Russell mix. When we began this marriage he was an electrician and I was a student but since then he has recently become a United States Marine and I have no idea what to do with my degree in design. When I got my degree my plan was to do residential design for anyone who needed it on a budget (for those of you who don't know me i am one serious bargain hunter) since the economy was so bad. For the past 6 months my husband has been through boot camp and school of infantry training (neither of which I can be with him) and I have been home trying to wrap up the loose ends and have been oh so very anxious to find out where we are going to get stationed. Some of our options were North Carolina, California, Hawaii, or Japan. I had also planned on living on the coast somewhere since, hello, he is in the Marines, and finding someway to use my God given talents. We got the call last night and we got California but what I haven't mentioned is this...

Twentynine Palms, California. If you don't know where that is, look it up. It's in the middle of no-mans-land in the only true desert the United States of America has. No ocean. No lake. No pond. No grass. Little to no trees. All of these things are what usually pop into someones head when they think California! 2.5 hours from Los Angeles. 3 hours from San Diego. The closest thing to a metropolitan area is Palm Springs which is still over an 1 hour away! Needless to say, I was devastated. I cried myself to sleep and slept in until 10:30 this morning. I think I deserved to give myself a pitty party don't you think? I mean come on! The worst luck of the draw and we got it.

Another thing you should know about me: I always look at the bright side. Granted, I might pout for a moment but what good does that actually do? Nothing. I am going there whether I like it or not so I might as well get over it (hence the new blog) and look at the bright side. No ocean, no lake, no pond means that once I do get these things I will appreciate them even more. No grass means no lawn to mow and no allergies. No trees means nothing blocking my view from a beautiful sunrise or sunset. 2.5 hours to Los Angeles and 3 hours to San Diego is 30+ hours closer than I was when I lived in Michigan. Being so far away from everything means that Jake and I will have to rely on each other now more than ever. Being alone for 6 months makes you tough but God wants us to depend on each other and in a place like this how can we not? We're secluded. Another bright side: even though we are in the desert there is still a Church of Christ! Can you believe it? If we were to live on the coast the closest Church of Christ was like an hour away! What an amazing blessing.

The whole point of this blog is to put my thoughts out there, get support and advice from those who are willing to give it (positive only please) and to keep all our family and friends informed without being one of those people who are updating their Facebook status every hour on the hour.