Country Roads...

...will take me home.

Hello road trip.

Good-bye, Virginia! Can you believe I lived here for a semester? Thanks for being so good to me. Thanks for all of the lovely Autumn colours, and for lots of snow on Christmas so we could go sledding. I will miss your greenery and fresh air. I will miss my housemate, H.! She is the best!

But don't worry. I still have to post about the snow. And I suppose I should also write myself some sort of report card/general conclusion to this semester-long adventure.

So I'll be back.

Please keep me and A. in your prayers this week. Road trips are long and tiring (in addition to fun and...well..fun, right?). Please pray for good weather, safety, healthy bodies, and general cheer and car-riding jollity.

VA Adventure log will be continued once I reach CA!

Cheers!

Are You Sitting Down?

No, I'm not pregnant. But I am sitting down, and so is everyone else in my family. Why is this so significant? Well, because we've been on our feet moving for the past several days. You know, the kind of moving that involves transferring all of our belongings from one house to another house. (And maybe the kind of moving that necessitates a giant "House Purge" from all spices, baking mixes, and Asian cooking liquids that have been around for 15+ years. Yeah. ...It was icky, but I feel liberated.)

Think Little House on the Prairie, except with a blue minivan replacing the covered wagon. Also, Costco pizza instead of corn dodgers and bacon. I'll always associate pizza and hot dogs with moving.

Moving is tough work. Packing and loading boxes mirrors a clumsy ballet routine. Grand Plié to lift a load, twirl twirl twirl to avoid hitting your sister, who is also carrying a full load, and another plié to lower the load. I am no dancer. 

Thankfully, we picked a Non-Thunderstorm week to move, and I am happy to say that everything was successfully transferred from House #1 to House #2. Or should I call it House #7? (Or House #9 if you include dorms and my Virginia house.) 

Like I said, moving is tough work. And in the past, moving was always bitter work for my family. Tension grew, tempers flared, and everyone was wary of one another. This time was different. Our family came together, literally, and labored together for days and days until we had to be out of the house. We were exhausted and stressed, but nobody yelled. In fact, there was a lot of laughing. Um, there might have been a lot of singing and dancing, too. Maybe all that Costco Pizza helped us stay sane. Or maybe it was Sam and my Aunt, who helped move heavy boxes, brought us food, and drove several loads of "schtuff" to the new house. Or maybe it was all the above combined with the knowledge that all really shall be most well. 

I used to quote that phrase during stressful times like finals or juries. However, moving, and all the circumstances leading to our move,  forced me to really consider what I was quoting. Everyone in my family had to trust that the source of ultimate peace and happiness transcended any material house. As we backed out of our driveway for the last time, my sister reminded me that everything we own is a gift from God. I do not think God gets angry and takes away our things just to spite us or "teach us a lesson". Those "things" were never ours to begin with. Maybe what feels like God's anger is really our own pain upon realizing that we sought happiness in the wrong place. I don't really know. 


But I do know that all has been well thus far. We have a place to live and loads of citrus trees in our yard. We still have our cats. The sun still rises every morning. Trader Joe's still sells Salsa Authentica. (WHEW.) 


I'm glad to be here. And I'll do my best to be glad to be "there", wherever the next "there" might be. 


For now, I should just say:

It's good to finally meet you, Little Brown House! 

(No, not "Welcome Baby Darling!")

NM to VA: Owl-y Breakfast, Southern Lunch, and Lots of Trees

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Whenever you visit Santa Fe, you must always eat breakfast at Tecolote Cafe. This is a must. But you do not need to pose like a pathetic-broken-winged-owl in front of the Tecolote Wall.

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Pa and I drove and drove and drove.

We do not have many pictures of Texas, mostly because I managed to nap the entire way. 

We did, however, see this:

 

(I guess it's ironic that we later passed a town called "Atkins".) 

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Pa and I did not stop for beef.

But we did drive, drive, and drive some more towards Pork. And Elvis.

                                       

And I guess Elvis is about as cool as Rare Bears. ....

Or so he wishes. 

 

Pa and I found our Pork.

And after making a solemn pledge to someday bring Ma to such Pork, we then drove and drove and drove some more. 

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Until we finally arrived in the land of trees.

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Hello, Virginia!

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CA to NM: "And they decided that all cars bear some semblance to hippos..."

Road Trip Revelations: Day 1

-Cars and Hippos. Don't the side mirrors on a car remind you of hippo ears? Or is this observation a result of spending most of the night packing and re-packing the car? Hmm. 

-The Beach Boys like geography. And girls. At least this is what my Dad thinks when he listens to "California Girls".

-I missed New Mexico more than I thought. It is so wonderful to be back, even if for a short while. I love the fresh mountain-y air, the reddish dirt, and even all of the adobe houses.  My dad and I ate dinner at La Casa Sena::La Cantina. (My dad used to take me here on dates when I was 6 or 7. I love my dad.) The building brought back many memories, and I fell in love with New Mexican architecture all over again. New Mexico, I love you I love you I love you.

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A dog standing on its' hind legs? A woman with puffy bangs?

I love the highways of ABQ because they always lead our family to the zoo! How handy!

Hello, Jeep. Hello, rocky rolling hills. 

So, so luscious and green right now. :)

And so piercingly blue is the sky. 

"Puff!" say the clouds.

And we are happy. 

Cheerio for now!