Friends

Today I am feeling lonely and a little bit full of self pity. Sad, I know. Luke is working about a 20 hour day in total so it is just me, my dog and my thoughts. Dangerous combo at times! 

This upcoming week marks a month since we moved from Portland, OR to Modesto, CA. It also marks a month of not having any familiar family and friends around (outside of Luke and Sam). Don't get me wrong, the family that we work with is amazing and so kind. It would feel like a whole new type of lonely if we didn't have them. But, I don't have a girlfriend to go get coffee with, to call and have come over to just hang out. Really, I don't have anyone like that here.

I feel as though I have had 4 lives and now I am on to my 5th. My childhood in Phoenix, AZ, adolescence in Houston, TX,  high school and college in Corvallis, OR and my first taste of adult life in Portland, OR. The difference with this new life is that I don't immediately have a path to follow. All the other moves had me going instantly into a social atmosphere. School or work. That is where I have always met my friends. And church too. I do have work here but its a very small and immediate family circle unlike my last job where I worked in an office of 200+ people. In school you have access to hundreds and hundreds of people that you are bound to find at least one or two good friends.

I am a social person that doesn't mind being alone a lot of times and being able to be selfish with my time but more than ever before, I want to not be alone. I want to have someone to hang out with. I want to have someone to go shopping with. I want to be able to tell someone close secrets and feelings. And my question is, how do I find that? I don't live in a neighborhood or apartment complex with close proximity to people. I live on a 28 acre ranch. A bit more secluded that I am use to. I desperately wish to have some kind of serendipitous moment at the grocery store, or the bank, or at the gas station where I will bump into someone and instantly strike up a conversation and then blink my eyes and now we are besties. ha! I sound so pathetic  today. 

The idea of moving here didn't really scare me or make me nervous. I had a strange peace about the entire decision. And I still do when it comes to the big picture of our lives. But, I think I might have been a bit naive about how different moving is as a child and moving is as an adult. Very different. A lot more difficult.

The only place I can think of to meet new people is by going to a church. Luke and I would like to find a new church and community but the biggest hindrance right now is that we are getting into cheer season. Cheer season means working most weekends for about 6 months. Working weekends = no weekend church services. I guess if there is a will, there is a way.

Lastly, I heard this saying a couple weeks ago that I am trying to have constantly present in my thoughts, actions and feelings:

"Bloom where you are planted."

Not only is finding new friends and a sense of community part of accepting where we are and what our current circumstances offer us but its about being able to find the sunshine where it falls so that our new lives can grow. I can only expect God to give us so many opportunities to grow before I have to make the conscious effort to then seek out the sunlight on my own.

What we did on Monday...

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I worked a non cheer event on Sunday in Sacramento and Luke worked the first cheer event of the year on Sunday. He was up at 3 am and home at midnight! LONG DAY! I guess the busy season has officially begun! 

Monday was actually one of our days off so today, Tuesday, feels more like Monday to us. Yesterday we ran a bunch of errands. The bank, Costco (still so weird that you can buy hard alcohol in regular stores in CA), Lowe's, and a nursery. Not the baby kind, the plant kind. Here is a sneak peak of what we are working on out in the yard. More detailed post to come later!

Plants!! Our Nursery stop was very successful.

The left side of the house...the door is to the right of the window above. Please don't judge 1. the terrible picture quality 2. the dead trees (they will be removed) 3. anything else that isn't aesthetically pleasing about this picture.

The right side of the door/house. More plants to be removed. And we are going to build some shutters. Again, don't judge.

The only picture I have taken of where we are going to lay some grass for Sammie and a possibly place where Luke wants to add a garden. This is a picture taken through the blinds of our bedroom door. It is the left side of our house and you can kind of see that the yard starts to slope down on the right by that weird pole. It is like at least a 30 foot steep slope to a creek/river. Side note: that black cat is so scary! I walked over to the door the other day and it was just... sitting there. staring. a. black. cat. AH!

Well we will be out working in the yard today. It will take awhile. There is so much property and dead stuff that we could make it our full time job and spend THOUSANDS of dollars to fix up...but since we don't own the place, we will only do a fraction of stuff to just make it look nicer for the time being. Seriously though this property must have been amazing in its prime. There are so many areas around the yard that probably were stunning back in the day. Maybe I will take some property pictures this week and upload them so you can see what all the property had/has to possibly offer in the future.

And of course, I will take better pictures of the planting process and do an update later in the week! 

Our Adventure To Do List

Moving from the beautiful Pacific NW to the Central Valley of CA has been a bit of an adjustment. We went from lots of green, trees, and crisp air to a lot of wheat fields, cows, dust, and flat lands. Each has it own beauty but without a doubt its a change. I never thought I would get so familiar with the fresh scent of cow manure. :) One thing I absolutely love about the Central Valley is the pretty constant sunshine. Okay, well one more thing is the great location it puts us in for easy travel to all different great parts of California. Luke and I have made a little "Day Off To Do List" to help us navigate all the wonderful sites to see around us!  

Yosemite National Park 

The entrance is only an hour away from our house.

Monterey Bay

About a 2 hour drive away.

San Francisco

Between 1.5 and 2 hours away depending on traffic.

**Side note, we went this past week to explore before filming a speech for work. Conclusion: Meghan in a bad mood all day. Must redo!

Lake Tahoe

2 to 3 hour drive from our house.

Napa/Sonoma CA.

1.5 to 2 hours away! WINE!! :)

I think we have a pretty good list going! I do know that Luke wants to make it up to the mountains sometime this winter for boarding. There are a few possible mountains to go to but I'll let him decide. Most likely I'll be hanging out in a lodge. :)

I also wouldn't mind doing some good ol' California history things. Gold Rush towns. I think it'd be fun since I am a history junkie!

One of the nice things about our new job is that we will be traveling a lot on weekends all over California. I don't expect to see much of any of the cities we go to since we will mostly be only seeing the inside of convention centers but we should be seeing a good chunk of other main California cities by default! And, Las Vegas two times for some large events. Maybe I will get a night or two to explore the Strip some more? Who knows!

Let me know if there are any other places that we absolutely need to add to our list?? Thanks!!

Catch Up

I do not have any idea of where to begin with my blog since I haven't posted something in almost a whole year! A lot has changed so I will do a fast update and then slowly but surely start doing posts about the catch up and hopefully keep this thing more updated!

New Years Eve 2011 - Flew to Europe for a 10 day vacation. Zurich, Paris, Strasbourg and Munich. Amazing!

March 2012 - A fun long weekend in San Francisco celebrating Luke's birthday (belated) with one of our best friends, Curtis.

May - June 2012 - Another married couple lived with us for a month. The wife, Karyn, was pregnant. The baby arrived in August! Adorable!

June 2012 - Buchanan family road trip to the Price Ranch in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Loads of sun, lake swims, and eating.

July 2012 - Celebrated 2 years of marriage!

September 2012 - Coordinated a wonderful friends wedding, we quit our jobs and moved to California! BIG MONTH!!

October 2012 - Trying to update this blog. :) And, survive the insane heat here in Modesto, CA. It finally cooled down this week though!

Hope all is well!!

Xoxo

Meghan

Update

I feel like I am getting worse and worse about updating my blog! The fall is just incredibly busy. Also, working all day on a computer doesn't make getting on a computer at home sound all that fun.

Life has been very busy and crazy but nonetheless, great! I absolutely love the fall and breaking out the warm coats and scarves. With fall also comes the Golden State Spirit Association (GSSA) season. Luke and I work cheer events throughout the west coast on weekends from November to March. It makes for a fast paced life style during those months. We had our first event last week in Irvine, California. A nice treat about having events in the LA area is the ability to see Luke's brothers Tim and John who go to school down there. We were able to get some dinner with them right after the event! The events are chaotic, loud, and tiring but without a doubt a complete blast. Luke and I have been able to create a family within GSSA and it is such a blessing. I almost feel I am living a different life at these events because no one in my normal life knows or understands anything that goes along with GSSA. It is actually pretty exciting. I will try and get some pictures at the different events this year and post them on here!

Also this fall we got to witness the marriage of Tim and Jessica Reed. They are some of our dearest friends and we couldn't be happier for them. I have never been to a wedding that was so emotionally charged and so sincere. God was 100% present in the whole day and evening. I feel very blessed to have been able to share in their union. We have another wedding coming up this weekend on Saturday. One of Luke's closest friend from high school is getting married and we are very excited to be a part of another special day. Many reasons to give thanks this Thanksgiving.

I have been baking up a storm as well this fall. I think my coworkers find it a blessing and a burden at the same time. :) Pumpkin spice cupcakes, peanut blossoms, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, mini apple pies, double chocolate biscotti and much more! I am excited to start all the Christmas baking too!

This weekend Luke and I were able to finally nail down some important things for our trip to Europe. We bought our train passes and finally decided our cities. We are going to travel to Zurich, Paris, Strasbourg, Munich and Berne. We also finalized our itinerary for the most part and booked hotels! Yesterday, I literally sat at the computer from 10am to 7pm researching hotels. Paris was the biggest challenge. There are like a billion hotels in Paris and so many are in great locations. It was so hard to decide where in the city to stay because the metro can really get you anywhere you want super fast. But! We finally picked this morning after sleeping on it last night. So next on our long list of things we have to do to prepare for our trip is figuring out what we actually want to see and do in each city. Man! That will be a task. I can't believe we are leaving in 6 weeks. With the holidays quickly approaching, the vacation will be here before we know it! I am excited!!

Finally, CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!! WOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luke and I are cutting down our tree on Sunday and decorating. Let the festivities begin!!!