The New Phase

My apologies for the week-long absence everyone! I was just a little bit busy - starting law school! On Monday and Tuesday I had orientation, and then I started class on Wednesday and just completed Day 3 today. It would be hard to truly sum up the week (I don't think I have enough perspective yet), but here are a few random thoughts.

- I am playing around with and tweaking my schedule, and thinking it may end up being on the "earlier" side compared to what a reasonable person in law school would ordinarily do. (Not that this matters, but reading law cases has already influenced how I think, I can tell...) Rush hour in this city is not the worst, but my drive is about 35 minutes when traffic is flowing smoothly, and it felt like some days this week it took 45-60 minutes. As one of my professors said "Time is money," and I feel like the frustration of slow-moving traffic would really get old, so I'm now planning on going to bed earlier, waking up earlier, going to school earlier, and hopefully coming home earlier as well. This will also be nice when hubby is living with me, since the military keeps him on a similarly "early" schedule! I will feel like an old lady being in bed by 10 all the time, but I think it will just make life work better.

- The schedule is manageable so far, but I do have to cut out a lot of "extra" things that I used to spend time on. Less pleasure reading (boo!), for one. I am not as responsive to keeping up with people, or as frequently on Facebook, but I suppose the Facebook thing isn't horrible, and I am just making an effort to keep up with people when I can. DVR (which I just got for the first time) is great for putting TV on MY schedule, rather than being flexible enough to be on its schedule. Certainly wouldn't want to miss the latest episode of Teen Mom [insert intelligent-sounding show here].

- I have met a lot of lovely people who are in classes with me, which is also facilitated by the fact that I have the same exact schedule as a group of 22 other students, and half the same schedule as about 100 or so, many of whom I'm getting to know. I am realizing that my social life will be different than it was in college though - "going out" is more difficult since I live further away, and probably also not as high on my priority list. I keep reassuring myself that I will make good friends with or without that stuff, as long as I continue to be generally open to new relationships. A lot of my classmates are starting to do things in the wonderful city where our school is located, and I want to do that stuff, but I'm hoping that someday I'll have a chance to do it with hubby, or that I'll get to it eventually. I have about 3 years here, so there is some time.

- I guess a common thread in some of these things is that I'm realizing that I'm not going to always be like the "average" classmate of mine. There are a few that are married, so I know others who have that person who needs to be a priority in their lives, so that's good. One classmate even has three kids and has been married for 12 years! The important thing though, is that I'm figuring out what works for me, and that is totally valid. Grad school is a different experience than the all-encompassing community of undergrad, and while school is a huge part of my life, I am also going to be working on cultivating my home life as a mostly separate atmosphere.

So far my overall experience has most definitely been positive and I feel more excited than anything. I'm looking forward to getting a few more classes and cases under my belt, but I definitely feel like I'm learning already, and that I didn't make a horrible choice, which is always a plus. I think I am also thriving with having more of a real schedule again - which I pretty much anticipated. Having the year off provides some good perspective for when I want to whine endlessly. I made the most of that year, but I love having a bit more purpose to the productive/professional side of life!

And of course there's the fun blog paradox that now that I have more to blog about, I will probably have less time to blog. I'll try my very best though!

My First IKEA Experience

Let me tell you, IKEA is most definitely an experience. Thanks to my present locale and furniture needs, it seemed an ideal time to visit IKEA for the first time in my life. I was lucky enough to have A along for the ride - more accurately, she had me along for the ride in her vehicle, which is larger than mine, much better with which to carry large furniture boxes.

I didn't fully realize until yesterday that IKEA also has restaurants in their stores, at which I could try some Swedish meatballs. Clearly, I wanted to do this thing right.

I got meatballs, mashed potatoes, and lingonberry sauce all for about $3 - works for me!

A and I also discussed furniture needs and placement at length as I showed her my new digs, and after we arrived at the store. I ended up purchasing the bookcase/desk combo I'd planned on, and a slightly different TV stand than I'd scoped out online. It seems like the longer one I got will better accommodate our soon-to-be-delivered new television. By the way, did I forget to share how I originally accidentally ordered our new TV to be delivered to our OLD address instead of our NEW one? I did? Well, yeah, that happened... (I was able to have it intercepted and re-routed but it's taking longer of course. Totally my fault.)

Moving right along! Once A and I got the furniture back to the house, we made relatively quick work of putting it all together, with the help of the Glee Pandora station and A's past experience with IKEA furniture. Hopefully she didn't mind helping me too much, because it all made this whole endeavor much more pleasant for me!

So that's more or less the story of today. For some additional cell phone pic fun:

My new workstation - hopefully it will serve me well as I start this whole law school thing! I also purchased those storage baskets at IKEA - they had very few in stock so two very nice employees helped retrieve those two off the shelves for me!

I'm thinking this will look much better once there's a TV to finish it off! 

Anyone have IKEA experiences to share? Are you shocked it took me this long to get myself to one? Discuss. :-) 

I Like It Here

I'm feeling pretty good about life these days, I'd say. I arrived here at the new (rented) house on Monday and met with the landlord, and got to meet his wife as well. Since then I've been mostly acquiring stuff to make me feel a bit more at home, though the full amount of our furniture (and stuff) won't get here until closer to when hubby does. Particularly yesterday and today, I feel great about what I've accomplished, and I'm really enjoying getting to know this area and the people. I had multiple experiences today that made me feel like I really like the people here in particular - and one of those experiences was at the place where I registered the car in this state! Pleasant surprise for sure, for them to be so patient, understanding, and kind.

I also had a chance to walk around my law school's campus today (really beyond just the law school), and though it was deathly hot, I really appreciated the beauty of the place. It also made me nostalgic for college in general, and my undergrad school specifically. It reminded me how much I love learning, and love school (I'm a nerd at heart) and just the general atmosphere of a campus. That's been missing from my life the last year and I'm glad to return to it! (I should just return to this paragraph when I'm lamenting the amount of schoolwork I have. By the way, I already have some, before the first day of orientation!)

I also went to the local farmer's market after I got home, and picked up some sweet and spicy chutney, some tomatoes, and some basil. I spent a little time searching and decided to make this recipe for dinner (simple pasta with tomatoes and basil). Since I'm heading into school, I'm going to try to keep my cooking simple but still healthy and delicious. My plans won't be as elaborate but I just hope to keep good habits up. Above all I want to let my cooking be dictated by what's on sale at the grocery store, and what's around at the farmer's markets. We'll see how it goes!

Tomorrow a friend and I are going to head to the local IKEA to do some furniture shopping for me. I won't lie - I'm pretty excited.

Life is good right now for sure. I'm a little nervous for school but eager to get into it at the same time. I love this area and look forward to discovering it more and more as times goes on. One of the only things that would make life better would be to have hubby here experiencing it all with me. I miss you darling!

And to just add a bonus picture, here's my lunch from yesterday, one of my first meals cooked here. It's a quesadilla with red bell peppers, onions, and cheese, with some mashed avocado on the side. Yum! I used an app called "Picplz" on my phone to add a filter and make it look cool. :-)

Transition

Tonight, I am neither here nor there - literally. I'm blogging from a hotel in between my old home, which I just left behind, and my new home, where I will sleep on an air mattress tomorrow night. I've got a carload of stuff and I'm going to try my best to make a home with it tomorrow.

The worst part, for sure, is the fact that due to training timetables, I had to leave hubby in our old home, discovering for himself what it's like to live alone. He'll be fine with all that, but it was pretty sad to drive away from him after the wonderful 12 days of reunion we just enjoyed (at least we enjoyed them to the fullest and I tried to be grateful for every moment). I'm hoping things will line up to have him visit not too long from now, and then he'll actually follow me to our new home a little while after that.

When I went out to house-hunt a few weeks ago, I remembered all of a sudden that while change is exciting, when you then actually go through it, it's stressful too. Thankfully so far I've done okay and things haven't stressed me too much - and having hubby around has been a big part of that. Even now it's so nice to have him just a phone call away, unlike most of this year. I guess right now I am just going to try to embrace the experience of our new home, our new town and greater region, and all the things I've been looking forward to for so long. I'm not sure I've fully processed that I'm not going back to the "old home" for a long time, but I suppose it will set in soon enough. Not to mention, I start school orientation just ONE WEEK from tomorrow, which is pretty crazy too. My focus is on setting up a good routine for myself that allows me to stay on top of my work but make time to take care of myself too (exercise, good eating, occasional recreation, and keeping up all my relationships in life). I am trying to view this as a fresh start, and hopefully I'll follow through and embrace it as such. It's a bit odd to move ahead of hubby and draw our move out like this, but it's our situation, and in the end we'll be fine.

Anyway, that's just a snapshot of where I am - in transition. I look forward to getting into a new routine (and eventually, having our furniture again!), but in the meantime, I am going to try my best to enjoy the newness of this new home and this new life! We'll see how it goes...

Sneak Peak

Well, here I am closing in on leaving this first post-college home and heading to the next one - the one that will contain my life as a law student! I'm mostly excited about this, but could really do without leaving hubby behind while he finishes training, but alas, such is life.

Anyway, as I am moving in to our first house (rented) next week, I thought I'd share a couple teaser photos for anyone who happens to be reading.

 Exterior. It's a perfectly lovely little place for us! I'm also looking forward to hopefully developing my gardening skills when I'm not buried in cases. (Maybe hopefully on the weekends? Or something?)

The gorgeous kitchen - a major selling point for me! The landlord renovated the home last year and it looks absolutely pristine inside, which is great. Not to mention, a few houses I'd seen previously left a lot to be desired, so this house was such a breath of fresh air!

More photos will come in the next few months, though possibly not right after I move in, as the majority of our furniture will be coming closer to when hubby moves.

Exciting times of transition ahead! Guess I'd better work on packing...

Long Grocery Lists and Life Transitions

I feel almost like life isn't "real" right now - but it is. Hubby spent most of this past week that he's been back lounging around, which was much deserved, and I joined right in and fully enjoyed his company. He did have to start a "class" today which should be more or less a 9-5 type of deal. Though I'd love to spend all day every day with him, there is the unavoidable reality that I have to move next weekend, so I can start school (!) the week after that. I can definitely use some time this week to work on preparations. Our move this time is going to be a bit piecemeal, with me getting along without most of our furniture for a little while, and buying some new things. Hubby has to finish up training here before he joins me at our new location. We are hoping for him to take some leave during a break between schools, so that would make this newest separation more manageable. That, plus the fact that he has his cell phone and internet access, all of which will make it much easier to endure than these past 7 months of either no communication, letters here and there, or pay phone calls just from him to me.

If I wanted to be negative about things, I really could - with the schedule he's likely to be on over the next year or so, we still won't live together on a regular basis, and he could be going on his first "paid vacation" overseas. I really don't want to be sad and depressed at the moment though, and I don't want to waste the time we have right now - the time I waited so very long to enjoy again. I also know that unlike the past year, my newest academic endeavor will be something to keep me busy and keep me on a schedule, which should help. I guess I have to just keep on believing that we'll get more time living as a normal couple, at some point. In the meantime we are doing the best we can with the time we have, and in this particular moment today, I am just so happy to be spending the time with him that I am.

The first part of the title of this post refers to the general phenomenon I'm experiencing - where food disappears much faster with him here, and my grocery list today is much longer than when I lived by myself. It's also harder to keep the kitchen clean since we are constantly cooking and eating, and his military stuff is spread out over our apartment again - but I wouldn't have it any other way! I sure hope that the past 7 months will give me an additional degree of appreciation for all these little signals that he's back. So far, so good.

Marriage, Gotta Love It!

Well, all of a sudden, hubby is back. It's not under the results we'd hoped for, but him being back is the most important thing - so that is what I'm focusing on! Really though that's just an introduction to the following story.

He stopped by work this morning and got back pretty early. After so long apart, we are going to dinner and a movie tonight (yay!) and he asked about the details of when the movie was and what restaurant we'll eat at. I gave him those, and then, knowing the type of person I am, he continued the conversation as follows:

Him: "What type of place is it?"
Me: "A steakhouse."
Him: "And what are you having?"
Me: "Well, there's one pasta dish that looks good but I think I might go ahead and get a steak."

I didn't even miss a beat, even though you might think this would be a weird question. You see, hubby knows that when I get excited about something, I like to look it up on the internet and daydream about/plan the details if I can. This morning I did in fact go to the restaurant's website to peruse their offerings and decide what I might like... because that's what I do, and hubby instinctively knew I had without even having to ask.

There are a lot of other little details of our interactions that I am rediscovering these past few days. I'm loving every minute. :-)