William and Kate

It's here!!!  I am in the process of staying up until probably 5:30 in the morning to watch the wedding of Prince William to Kate.  I have my trusty companion, Gizmo along for the fairytale and we are both enjoying watching such a big day!  T-minus 1 hr, 40 mins until Kate arrives!  Can't wait to see the dress.  Happy Wedding Day everyone!

Annoyed...

Let me start off by saying I still want to teach...

But, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see that happening, at least any time soon.

What I don't understand is how someone who has taught for FOUR years is not selected to interview as a SUBSTITUTE!  

I know times are tough, but if teachers aren't even given the chance to continue working in the field they love, then how are public schools expecting to turn things around?

This frustration stems from the first opportunity I have had to apply to a district since I moved here in August.  I'm not talking about a full time position in my own classroom; just the opportunity to sub every once in awhile.

This has got to turn around soon...

Or maybe I need to reconsider my career choice?  Hmmm

Any ideas?

So Long "4SOU222" =(

The time has finally come for me to become an official California resident again.  With that, I had the privilege of spending 2.5 hours at the DMV today, lucky me!  It really wasn't too bad considering I needed my license, registration, and title all done in one shot.  


When I moved to NJ back in 2006, I had a feeling that Pat and I would someday move back west.  When it came time for me to register my car out there, I made sure to hold on to both of my plates thinking I would be able to use them once I was a CA resident once again.  Boy, was I wrong!


A little side note is needed here...I know it might seem crazy to post about the loss of my car's plate.  The thing is this was the plate to my first car, the one I have had since graduating high school.  My plate just had a certain flow to it and it was easy to remember.  Who wouldn't love "4 Sou (like Sue) 222!?"  I kept both plates in the trunk of my car for over 4 years just for the purposes of today.  So, it was a bit of a let down to know that it would no longer be my plate.


**Just received my new plates (March 22), and I may have exaggerated a bit on the below paragraph...oops!  Normal Cali plate for me!
Another horrible part of this is I now will have a plate that no longer fits the typical California car license plate.  For those of you who don't know, a Cali plate typically has had one number, three letters, then three numbers.  It was unique to California and now I will no longer be a part of that.  The new system has 5 numbers, one letter, one number...How boring!!!  So in honor of my long, lost plate...here it is.

The exciting part of today was getting a California license again.  It is kind of weird to have a "Temporary" paper license again.  I feel like I am a teenager again not having a "real" license.  (though I am not complaining!)  The good news is the CA DMV did allow me to keep my DL number I had 4 years ago...thank goodness!  Now the only difference is I will get the spiffy (that's right, I said spiffy!) new license with fluorescent pics, raised signatures, and whatever else they came up with.  Too bad I have to wait 30-60 days for it.  Here is my temporary license, with the important info blocked out. =)

So, finally I am officially a Californian again and can now will be able to prove it in about a month, with a real id that is!  

Where we have been...

I guess it is about time that I updated on here. I always imagine myself accomplishing way more then I usually do...and making my life seem more interesting on here is one of those things. =) I think I have to get used to the idea that I can't always be the most creative person; but I can get myself in the habit of regular updates on here. Someday, we want to start a family and my main intent for starting this blog was looking to the future and being able to keep family everywhere up-to-date on what is happening with our family and our future children. It is also a way that I can share our adventures and experiences, while also being a great way to record our life together. So with that in mind, I guess I should update whomever reads this on what we have been up to these last 2 months!

FYI: if you are really just interested in pics, scroll down some...new camera is finally in use!

For Christmas we were lucky enough to fly back east for the holiday and spend some much needed time with family and friends. It was a very nice trip, and I think it was much needed for a some-what home sick husband. Don't get me wrong, he loves living in California, but there is just something about home for him that he needs every so often (and I completely understand-living away from California for 4 years was tough at times!)

Christmas in New Jersey meant parties with friends (and the annoying drama that goes along with it-so ready for it to end!), play time with some great kids next door, sitting around the dinner table talking with Linda, Christmas eve with the Nocito family, shoveling that darn snow (why couldn't it wait just two more days!), and exploring the city of Philly on a crisp December day.

The holiday season continued once we returned to California. My family is awesome, especially my mother. She knows how much I love Christmas morning; there is just something about family traditions that are difficult to let go. She made her famous cheese bread and had me make fresh hot cocoa in order to recreate the morning for us. It was such a wonderful feeling to know she did that just for us! Love you mom.

We were also lucky enough to spend time with my cousins, especially Jere who is in the Navy stationed in Virgina. It worked out that we were able to have Christmas with all of my cousins, which is always a good time. There is nothing like my Uncle David's chili and homemade tamales for a Christmas dinner. Even better, we got to make the tamales which always make them taste better.

The present I loved most this Christmas was a collective effort from a few people (thank you all!) and one which I can't wait to use more. I finally have a fabulous DLSR camera! I have always loved photography but my lack of quality equipment makes it difficult to pursue. I think this might also be part of the lack-of=post problem I am having! Well, I brought my camera with me and spent my time on my beautiful cousin Aydan. She is adorable and I really couldn't get enough of her! So here are a few of my favorite first pics of her...

Opening a gift she obviously loves

She plays with her ears when she is tired...so cute!

G-ma enjoying her beautiful Great granddaughter

So happy...

A ham for the camera!

Aydan and her Mema a.k.a. Aunt Carol

"Aunt" Sara and Aydan...we feel more like her Aunts then cousins =)

I LOVE my new camera!!!

For New Year's Eve we celebrated with my dad's side with our Kiser Christmas and a specilal party for my Great Aunt and Uncle's 60th Anniversary!!! It was a great time and I loved finally seeing many cousins I haven't seen since we got married. New babies, meeting significant others, and Skyping from Australia with Megan! It was so much fun ringing in the New Year with family.

One piece of the family puzzle that was missing was my brother and his Fiance, newly engaged New Year's Eve! Woohoo John and Kristin =) My first time as a bridesmaid will be in their wedding, so excited for them!

Another fun event was girl's weekend in Vegas the first weekend in January. It was so nice to have everyone there, plus we got in a farewell to Jere, a hello to John, and some quality time with Kristin. Not much happened in terms of winning, but we had a wonderful time, as always!

The group, minus the photographer enjoying a great breakfast at "Hash House a Go-Go"

The delicious "S'more latte"

Catching G-ma making a face!

After the whirl-wind past month, Pat and I needed to just be at home and live a normal life. That is basically what we have been doing since then. It has been nice living in California, especially these last couple weeks where the temp has been in the 70-80's and sunny. You can't ask for more then that in January! I am even amazed that trees are already blossoming (man I should get on that with my camera!)

The last thing I need to update is our newest goal/change of life style. We have found a wonderful gym ($10 each per month!) which is brand new and amazing. We have started goals for weight loss and eating healthier. And no, this isn't our new year's resolution...we actually signed up for the gym in November, it just didn't open until January. So far so good, 3-4 times a week for the last 2 weeks. I won't mention weight of course, but we have both lost about 4 pounds each...the healthy way!

Hope you enjoyed the ever so long update! Please pester me if I don't do this for awhile so I don't have to group so many things at once next time! Until next time!

Settled yet?

What do you know...another long gap in posts and I really don't have a big excuse for it. We have been safe and sound in California for over a month now and yet I have really been slacking on the whole blogging thing. I really will try to get better at it!

We have had quite a busy month or so. ( I guess that could be partly to blame!) After our successful drive across the country (post coming soon-need to get pictures from by bro), we started to get our house ready for the movers who were arriving about a week after we did. Luckily, my wonderful G-ma was able to help us go through all of the items she left behind in her house. She really is an amazing woman and so full of energy. I don't know what we would have done without her help and that extra push she always seems to give me.

Before all of our furniture arrived, we had a little welcome home celebration at my parents house with some close family and friends. It was such a great way to come home without having to worry about a bunch of people coming over. That was probably the first semi-relaxing day we had had since we officially started packing everything up a week before the move.

The beautiful welcome home cake created by my sister and mom!

My dad and Pat relaxing before the party

Then it was time for the movers... we really lucked out on this (thank god I had a wonderful co-worker whose husband happened to own a moving company-thank you Maggie!) The driver and helpers were wonderful and did a great job getting all of our belongings to our new home safe and sound. I think we only had one plastic bin that was slightly dented. Of course once they were done all the fun began!

Pat and I definitely have our priorities strait...our first goal was to get our tv set-up so we could watch movies while we unpacked! I think we watched about 4 movies back-to-back before we were close to having the kitchen ready. The rest of the family room wasn't too bad. Our bedroom took a little longer...lots of books and other little things to put away. Actually, we still haven't finished since we have tons of pictures and things to put up. That will probably be a work in progress for quite awhile.

All of this fit into the trunks of our two cars!

Most of our bedroom things

Watching "Step Brothers" while we unpacked!

I think overall it took us about 2 weeks to fully unpack (with some small stuff still left).

Found the perfect spot for our "Priscilla" painting! She is my great Aunt and a wonderful artist! (Those books will be in the community garage sale...all national geographic if anyone is interested)

Gizmo hiding and Tigger laying on top of her as we get all settled!

We really love our new home and can't wait to have visitors over. We are very fortunate that Pat's mom has already come out for a visit and we all had a great time! We can't wait to have her back as well as whomever would like to come with her. The post on our week together will come soon.

All in all we are very happy and excited for what is to come here in Escondido!

Here are a few pictures of some of the finished product from our new home:

Our master bath

Bedroom with some pics up

Other view of room...

I love my new kitchen!!!

Our mix and match family room

Our wedding party photo hanging over our fire place!

Moving and Phillies

The time has finally come for Pat and I to move back to California (well back for me at least!) We have had a great summer hanging with friends and family, visiting some great places, and just enjoying the summer. Along the way we packed up most of our life (but Pat still has quite a few things that will have to be left at his parents house). I can not believe how much stuff we own...a lot of it can probably be classified as junk. We basically packed stuff up all summer and started stacking it in the dining room of our apartment.

This picture is about when we were half way done...

The last few days the poor kitties have gone through periods of unrest as they realized something was going on. Here is Tigger in one of her many hiding spots as she adjusted to each change.

One problem with moving is figuring out what to do with unused food that you don't want to go to waste. After we finished packing up the entire kitchen, Pat decided he wanted to finish off his "Gadzooks" ice cream (it is so good with peanut butter brownie pieces). Well, when you don't have any silverware you are usually left to use whatever you can find. Luckily he was able to find a serving tong to use...pretty funny!

To get away from all the moving stuff, we decided to go to one last Phillies game this last Tuesday. They played the Dodgers (bummer of a game though losing 15 to 9) which I thought was very apropos for our upcoming move. We did also get a chance to watch the Angels play in Baltimore. Just a little bit of California before we leave the east coast! We took full advantage of our last Phillies game arriving when the gates opened. We were finally able to watch the home team take batting practice-usually we never make it in time. It was also so nice and relaxing to be able to not rush to eat. We ate at "Harry the K's" to watch batting practice while having some cold beer and ball park food. Highly suggested for some pre-game food. This game is the first time we purchased "standing room only" tickets and it was so worth it. We stood behind the lower field section just beyond 3rd base. What a great view!!! Plus the Phillies were not doing so hot so we got to sit in the lower section from the 7th on since so many people had left.

Even though the game was a loss pretty early on, we still enjoyed ourselves tremendously. We got to witness the first career home run for Dominic Brown, who will hopefully turn out to be a great ball player. Here is the bell ringing after the home run hit.

We really have had a great last couple of weeks on the east coast. It really has a lot to do with the great friends and family that Pat has and I have been lucky enough to get close to. Whether it was drinking with friends, going to family parties, or just hanging out; we really enjoyed every minute we have had. There really is going to be a lot that we will miss living out here with a lot of it being things you don't normally think about. It is the little things that really make the difference in your life and there were plenty of these I really enjoyed. We are definitely looking forward to the start of our life together in California, but I am grateful we had a chance to experience life together on the east coast these last 4 years. Thank you to everyone who has really helped to make me feel welcome so far from my home (and making Jersey feel like home while I was here) =)

Welcome to our blog!

I am just starting this little experiment and I really hope to develop it into a way for our family and friends on both coasts (and in between) to keep tabs on our life and the small moments they may miss.

To start, I wanted to post an image from the happy beginning of our family. Our wedding day was such a wonderful experience shared with our loving family. July 18, 2009-wow we are almost at the 9 month mark-time sure does fly-by!

As time allows, I will hopefully be able to update this more often-and with more interesting events! I welcome any and all comments-I hope you enjoy!