Trains, Trolleys & Cars

This past weekend I took my first train ride! It was so much fun! We drove down to Oceanside where we took 'the coaster' to Old Towne (San Diego) to go to a Padres (vs Marlins) game followed by a Dierks Bently concert. The train goes down the coast and it was a beautiful view the whole way. Me & Kim took the train and then met a few friends in Old Towne where we grabbed a few drinks and explored the candy store before catching the trolley to the game. We had a great time with great friends!

Of course my life must always have some 'character building' in it. This morning I got pulled over for the first time in I don't know how long. I wasn't sure why I was being pulled over because I wasn't really doing anything wrong. 20 minutes later I had a ticket for window tinting on my driver and passenger windows (thats been there for 6 years, for my car not being registered in California, and for my tire tread being "too low". The next 3 weeks are going to prove to be VERY expensive. Let's hope I hit the jackpot in Vegas this weekend!

Living in Fast Forward

As I sit here in my little apartment, decorated the way I want it to be, kitty cats rolling around on the floor, and everything right where *I* put it, I look around and realize a few monumental things in my life. A little over a year ago my world had literally just come crashing down around me. I picked it up the best I knew how and shipped a quarter of it across the country with hopes and dreams of starting over, yet again. At the time, I was scared to death, but such an amazing opportunity was offered to me, I just knew I had to take it. So, taking a leap of faith and putting my trust in God to lead me I embarked on the hardest, sometimes loneliest adventure of my life 2300 miles and several times zones away from my mommy and all my friends. I'm happy to report I have survived a full year of California living and I love it! I can't imagine not living here, though there are days I insist on packing the car and driving back to FL. In the last year I have learned to depend on myself like I never have before. I look within for my happiness just like Momma always told me. I never really fully understood that till now. I am perfectly happy sitting at home on a Friday night curled up with a movie. I didn't use to be! I also used to have this timeline on myself to have children and I'm learning to let that go as well. Now, I wonder if I could even handle children - I can barely take care of myself and the cats!! I have learned a lot about myself and my weaknesses and my strenths. I've met some great friends and had some great adventures and I know I will have many many more to come. My next adventure is in a few weeks when I go to Vegas for the FIRST TIME for my "freedomversary" with my single girlfriend Kim. I'm looking forward to the road trip! :)

Promise to write more often. Promise to always have a goal.

Settling In

I can't believe January is over! How time flies! I am totally moved into the new place and we are settling in well. The boys love sitting in the windows here. I love the view and the scenic areas to walk. The place is cozy and the neighbors are great. I feel much more at peace here. I finally feel like I can get a handle on my finances now that I'm paying so much less in rent. I've already arranged for one cc to paid off by October and that's a pretty big deal for me! I know this won't be easy - but living debt free will so amazing. :)

The gym and my diet has been a pretty big thing in my life these past few weeks. I finally cracked down on myself and I've been to the gym everyday with few exceptions. I'm starting to feel better and obsess less. I haven't weighed myself so I really don't know numbers - but I can feel it in my clothes and that's what matters.

That's about all that is going on in my life right now. I'm being very strict on myself so I haven't had much "fun" lately. Maybe next blog will have some exciting stories!

xoxo

Ohhhh January...

As I read over my last few blogs I notice I am steadily decreasing in my blogging. Guess I have been slacking more than I realized. This new year has been off to a bit off a rocky start, but none the less, I'm glad to have 2010 over and down in the books. I had a really wonderful 11 day visit home for the holidays. I was able to see almost everyone I had wanted to with the exception of the few that were traveling. It was great to see those I love but I was ready to come back "home" by the end of trip. The night before I left, we celebrated my birthday with my parents and grandparents with my favorite spaghetti dinner and carrot cake. I was not expecting this so it was extra special.

The week that I returned was a big week. I had to quickly pack my apartment because I was due to move the first weekend I was back in town and it was also my birthday. The night before my birthday and the big move, my wonderful friends Ginny and Jessie took me out for a girls night. We went to dinner, then drinks. We had a blast. This was the best part of my birthday. Well that and Ginny's carrot cake that the guys at work gave me! :) Then moving day came. I had packed as much as I could in very little time but of course the day came and I was still throwing things in trash bags and suitcases. Some things may never change. ;) The afternoon of moving/birthday I came down with bronchitis and was in bed for 5 days. It was miserable - especially with no TV, refrigerator OR microwave! Then, as if this wasn't already a bad week - me and the boy broke up. 28 has been memorable, hopefully this isn't a sign for the year to come.

Since the move, I have learned how to do coin laundry - which is a hell of a lot more expensive than this bratty laundry snob expected! $1.00 to WASH and then ANOTHER 75 CENTS just to DRY? Geez, I was expecting 25 cents. I have also purchased my first refrigerator. I'm currently working on getting TV channels without cable. Remember, this is a no frills way of living these days. Washing my dishes sucks and so does carrying my laundry up and down the stairs....but I'm getting used to it.

My high school reunion is being planned. I cannot go looking like this fatty patty that I am now so I started back to the gym this week. Diet too. I'll keep y'all posted on that. I guess that's all for now. I'll start blogging more.

Peace!

Closing a Chapter....

I've haven't blogged much this month. I'd like to blame it on my incredibley busy social life or that I'm such a gym rat I couldn't bare to drag myself out of a high calorie burning workout but we all know that's not true! ;)

Truth be told, I've been trying to take care of myself this month and get my finances under control. The best way for me to do that is find a much cheaper place to live. So, I have broken my lease and found a place to rent that is $675 CHEAPER than my current apartment. My new place is 5 blocks from the beach in San Clemente with an "ocean view". It is missing a few things I am very used to - like a dishwasher and a washer/dryer and even a fridge. I have solved the fridge dilemma but I shall be sacrificing for a while as I become debt free. ;) I mean, if I have to look at the ocean everyday to pay off some bills - I guess I'll just HAVE to do it!! :p

I have also become an OFFICIAL resident of California. I passed my driving test this past week and also officially have my maiden name back! Double Yay! 2011 is going to be a new year with a bright new begining. I am very excited to close the Haney chapter of my life and move on in a new state, with a new old last name, great job, and of course amazing friends.

In the new year, I hope to focus more on my health and improving it. Becoming debt free and maintaining those friendships while across the country.

Thank YOU for being a part of my life. Life aint always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride.

The COUTNDOWN!

I am getting so very anxious to fly home next week! It's only been a few months since I saw everyone but it feels like forever! I have started making plans with friends and family to do visit while I am home and I am getting very anxious. I will try to pack this weekend. :) Till then I have a few things to wrap up (haha) here so I can go play for 11 days in Florida!! Bring on the new year!!

Countdown to Christmas Break!

I'm surprised to say it but December has come quickly this year. I haven't had much Christmas spirit, which is unusual seeing as it is my favorite time of the year. Maybe it will show up once I get home. I haven't decorated my apartment, I haven't listened to the usual Christmas music or even dashed out on Black Friday to go shopping. In fact, other than ordering Christmas cards for work, I haven't done a whole lot this season.

This has been an incredibly difficult year for me, both for my personal life, my health and my family. My divorce and move - tho sudden - have turned out out to be a blessing in disguise. The diagnosis of my Fibromyalgia has been a struggle, but I am getting it under control. The loss of my sweet Gamma, was a upsetting surprise. She will be greatly missed this Christmas as I experience my first holiday without her. Memories of all us cousins at her house on Christmas Eve will forever be in my heart. Many other difficult things have happened this year to myself and my family but I feel like, I am very blessed. My Nana used to tell me that God never closes a door without opening a window. I finally get what that means and am very thankful for the family and friends I've been blessed with. This Christmas, the only present I need is the PRESENCE of my loved ones.

A Thanksgiving to Remember...

This past weekend I experienced my first Californian Thanksgiving. A Thanksgiving without tons of family, friends and food seemed very odd to me and at first I was extremely homesick but I quickly realized two things. 1. I was living the life I had always wanted to - exploring, traveling and enjoying life and 2. I'd see them in a month and for the time being, Skype would just have to be enough!

Wednesday night before Thanksgiving we (me and my charming CPA friend) set out to drive the 8 hours up to San Francisco. We thought we could make it all the way there that night and get up in the morning ready to explore. Well, as things often go in my life, plans NEVER go as planned. I should have known this when he dropped his cell phone in the toilet on the first pit stop that we were in for a eventful weekend! Haha.

We had a wonderful time. We saw the Golden Gate Bridge, the giant redwoods at Muir Woods, Stinson Beach, Lombard street (aka the curveyist street in the US), Fisherman's Wharf), San Jose, the Winchester Mansion, Sonoma/Wine Country/DeLoach/Hook and Ladder Wine's, Union Square, Pebble Beach, Carmel, Montery, Marina del Ray. Gosh we did SO much! It was an amazing trip, even with a few hiccups including a broken down car that is still in San Fran and my impessive ability to get us lost no matter where I am. We are lucky we are safe and that we made it back. Thank God for rental cars! :)

Now the countdown begins till I head home for Christmas! I can't wait to see everyone!

Taken from on the Bridge

Muir Woods - Inside a Redwood!

Stinson  Beach at Sunset

Winchester Mansion

Lombard Street

Winery's

We spent the AM at the service shop! lol

Carmel by the sea

Even on my weakest day, I get a little bit stronger!

I started this blog to remember my journey, even the hard ones. Although, I try to make a conscious effort daily to find the silver lining of things…..not all of it has been easy.  There is a Sara Evan's song that says, "I'm telling myself I'll be OK, even on my weakest day, I get a little bit stronger." Every time I hear that song I smile to myself and take a moment to realize how much I have overcome in my life, especially the past 6 months. A year ago I would have never expected to be single in California - but look at me! I am doing pretty darn good! I will miss my family and our annual Friendsgiving very much on this holiday, but I know those people are there for me no matter where I go. I am very thankful for these amazing people in my life every day. :)

Malfunction Junction!

I now know how Janet Jackson felt the night of that famous halftime show when she had that wardrobe malfunction! Yes, it happened to me and my hotglue masterpiece. The recital was going well. I did an opening dance that we were taught about 10 minutes before our audience came in, not having a clue, I’d say we did well. My class dance was last. I was pumped and ready. My getup was a bit hookerish but I didn’t care, I had made it and I was proud of it. Not only that, I was confident enough to get out there and shake my thing looking like said hooker with my creative outfit, extremely exposed (maybe not but it felt that way!). Then IT happened, I felt the back of my skirt go, in slow motion. Someone had stepped on my skirt from behind and it came undone. I grabbed it with one hand and the front started to go too. I quickly Thanked God for deciding to wearing the boy shorts I had on and managed to catch the front with the same hand and hold it up. I continued the dance one handed, laughing hysterically and was quite happy when it was over so I could make myself decent. ;) I really enjoyed the recital and I can’t wait to take more classes next time. I plan to take a sewing class soon….to prevent any future malfunctions! J

My teacher, Jheri

The final hooker look :)

Here's a Story....of a Lovely Lady...Fresh Prince of Belair!

I had such a great weekend, I didn't even have a chance to blog about it!

Saturday was a much needed lazy day while cheering on my Gators. I will never ever take for granted being able to watch a Gator game on TV. I have spent several games this season, searching online for websites that stream the game live. Thank the good Lord for these sites. A fan can be a fan, even 2300 miles away! After all, the Gator Nation IS Everywhere!! I remember many Saturdays that were spent with all my girlfriends getting up early and spending the whole day having too much fun, covered in orange and blue. Some of my favorite memories, or lack of memories, are from Gator games and I hold those close to my heart...especially during homesick days. :)

Sunday I woke up to an enthusiastic call from John. (Enter new character!) I have been seeing this charming CPA for a few months now. He has been a bit under the weather so I was happy to hear he felt like coming out to play. We hoped in the car and headed towards LA. First stop, THE BRADY BUNCH HOUSE!! That's right, we live here and we spent the day being TOTAL dorky tourists and I had a blast. :) We found the famous TV houses right on the internet. We visited the Brady Bunch house, the Happy Days house, the Fresh Prince of Belair House and the Knocked Up house. Oddly enough these houses were all supposed to be in different cities than what they are actually in. It was very cool to see these houses from shows I grew up on and one of my favorites movies. My favorite was the Fresh Prince house. The owner drove by as we were peering over the bushes trying to take pics but oh well, I just smiled and giggled a wave! He was young,  I had to try, right?! ;)

Sunday night I had a field trip with my belly dancing class. We went to a great tapas restaurant and after we ate they put on a beautiful show. One of the dancers even had a snake she danced with! It was amazing!

This is a busy week for me. I have planned an entire menu of meals. I plan on shopping for them tonight and cooking them this week. I also have my recital this week as well as a candle party I got invited to by a new friend!! (Yay new friend!!) If I can figure out how to post pics of the houses, I shall. J

The Brady Bunch

Happy Days!

Fresh Prince!

Hot Glue Masterpiece!

Saturday morning I got up and headed to meet my friend Liz in Foothill Ranch. I took what seemed like the longest possible way there  and finally arrived in the windiest place in California. Yep – I discovered that famous ‘Santa Ana wind’. We went to JoAnns fabric store, armed with her wealth of knowledge, we found just the right fabric and all the other do dads I would need. At this point , I was really wishing I knew how to sew but alas I am fierce with my with my hot glue gun.  Don’t worry, I’m saving all these fantastic ideas for when I  do learn to sew! ;)

So I go home and I no longer have the brains behind this operation to be there and help me. We are now operating on my own creativity folks – this could be dangerous! Well, the idea was to fold the fabric over a bit, put the waistband in and then scrunch it up. Well, I needed had what I wanted to do in my head but I definitely needed more than 2 hands and my 2 feet to do this. I got this great idea! I have chip clips! They have magnets on the back so I’ll just put one one either end then one in the middle! Great plan! Ok so I get it all clipped and I’m gonna put it up somewhere. The back of the front door. Well, in all my great planning I totally missed that the weight of the fabric would pull those magic clips right to the ground. Now the doors all scratched up. Oops. I tried again on the fridge before deciding I’d just  have to use my monkey toes and figure this out. J My final skirt is quite something. I’ll post pics soon.

BEFORE

Shimmy from the Heart!

On my new lets-start-my-life–over-adventure I told myself I was going to do things I’ve always wanted to do but somehow something (or someone) always held me back.  After two failed marriages, it was time to focus on me. To figure out who I really am these days and to put my wants and desires at the top of the priority list - even if this means turning the AC on 60 and only watching HGTV, and blaring my music and singing at the top of my lungs. (I'm sure my neighbors are big fans of that last one!)  My momma always told me that we must be happy with ourselves before we can make someone else happy.  Guess she was right....

Meeting new people (that I actually want to hang out with) at this stage in my life, outside of a bar setting, can be a challenge so I joined an online womens group. At first I was skeptical and felt I was trying to date these girls....you know, shes cute, but shes not my type or she looks fun but maybe too wild...finally we were matched in a "connecting circle." So far I've met 2 great girls from this. One of them, Liz, told me how she wanted to take belly dancing classes and I knew she would be an instant friend  since this has been on my want-to-do list forever!!

So I finally started taking belly dancing classes. At first I was a bit in shock. I expected to walk into a room that looked like the inside of a castle with hot ladies dancing around in pretty outfits and shake what my momma gave me then after 2 classes have a 6 pack ! Well, there was no castle (it’s only the Laguna Beach community center after all) and we were ALL beginners so no one else had any more of a clue than myself. Oh and I'm still waiting on my 6 pack to show itself. ;)  My teacher was this awesome older lady, with bright red hair, and lots of jingle jangles on. She has quite the personality too.  She tells us she’s been dancing for 30+ years and after seeing her do “the camel” I believe her. The first week we learned what we call the eights. These exercise our ‘female reproductive system’ and we should do these daily because even these parts of our bodies need exercise. I quickly asked if these were gonna get us pregnant too because if so, I should definitely sit this exercise out! ;) We all are in the beginner class so we all looked just as silly and akward exercising our organs as did the other. It was also suggested that we stand on ours heads daily to prevent the effects of gravity. Thankfully, this wasn’t a class exercise! 

The next few classes were just as fun. They gave us zills (finger symbols) and we danced and clanked around. They made beautiful noise with a exoticxl dance…I made lots of noise and laughed at myself and my lack of rhythm. Then they introduced veils. I thought wedding veil…like it goes on your head. Boy was I wrong! It’s like this flat sheer sheet that one flings around and dances with. So everything you do with this veil is pretty so you can basically make up stuff and its called something. (At least thats what I got from it.) Last week they put me in a solo circle and I flung my sheet, I mean veil, over my head and swirled it around just like I did when I was a kid….I mean just like I was taught.  ;) It was so much fun. The whole class has been a blast.

My recital is in 2 weeks. I'm going to make my costume this weekend. I bought the stuff this morning. It shall be an interesting piece of work being as I don't sew. That's next on my list of things I want to do. ;) I shall post a pic of my hot glue masterpiece soon!

On this day I am thankful for HOT water!

So I am creating this blog to remember my daily happenings as I go from a small town married gal to a big city single chick! I love home and miss many aspects of it such as my family and friends, sweet tea, boiled peanuts, the good ole southern food, and of course my Gators BUT I now call the sunny state of California my new home and will soon prove that with a new drivers license (and last name)! Doube yay!

Over the last 5 months in this amazing always great weather state, I have learned alot about myself. I have discovered that living somewhere without humidity and barely any rain really can control your mood immensly. I have found that ya'll is THE SINGLE funniest word in the English language to anyone outside the south and that I actually can't control just how much I really do say it. I have learned that there really is a whole different world out there and I have so much left to learn.

This weekend I learned what GAS is used for. That's right folks, gas. This southerner has never used gas for anything (besides making my car go!) and had no clue how useful it truly was. I got home Friday from work and I got this note on my door that my gas had been turned off. Well, you can imagine how surprised I was since I thought I was paying this every month with my rent but I thought oh well, I just won't cook this weekend. Gas stove right? (Like I cook alot!) No biggie. So I figured it out online and made the payment immediately, all of $77 and expected it to be turned back on right away. Later that night I filled up the bathtub and went to jump in and low and behold it was COLD WATER! Now I get it. Gas heats the water. Ok now I'll just wash some clothes. Oh wait stop. It heats the dryer too?! Now I'm just really annoyed! (And quite cold!) Well I have to bathe so what do I do? Ok I got this. I'll soap up and RUN thru the water. That lasted a few times. Then came my next bright idea. I'll heat bowls of water in the microwave and fill up the bathtub! That wasn't a bad idea but it was soon to prove it was a close to impossible idea! Today, I came home and had hot water. I've never been so thankful for my hot water!