Out in the Country

Chris had Monday off of work for Columbus Day so we decided to take a trip with some friends of ours. After meeting up at our house we decided to grab a bite to eat on the way. While Chris and I searched the gps for something of interest (we were thinking just something quick) J saw a sign for this place. I absolutely <3 Cracker Barrel! Since J had never eaten here before (practically un-American, right? hehe) it was decided. After a short wait J was able to see the magic that is Cracker Barrel. Cute store, sweet people, absolutely delicious food at amazing prices! She loved it! :-) Onto our first stop!

Our first stop was Hartland Orchard. Sadly, our trip here was cut short. Most of the apples had already fallen from the trees (who am I kidding... ALL of them had fallen) and the ones that were on the ground were rotten. After wandering through the orchard and being eaten up by bugs (seriously the stink bugs and bees were UNREAL!!) we decided we needed to leave and head to our second stop. This is definitely a place we'll visit again but earlier in the season (strawberries in May? Yes, please!).

Our second stop was Cox Farms. In hindsight, we should have made this our first stop. There was so much to do and was great watching our friend's son, N, run around and having a blast :-) Here's some of the photos from the evening:

Just an overview of some of the things to do

Me and my adorable Monkey

D and his beautiful children

Piggies!

Daddy and Monkey

N absolutely LOVED all the slides!

Miss L... how beautiful are her eyes?

As much as I miss San Diego (and that's a TON!) I do love fall out here. Happy fall everyone :-)

Outsider Looking In

One of my English teachers from high school, Mrs. Reitz, recently posted this article. While reading it, I couldn't help but see myself... how I felt, how I act, and how I react.

I've mentioned on here before that being from a military family and being in the military I've had to move around and therefore have missed out on having those life-long friends that most people have... the ones that they grew up with, the ones they went to college with, the ones that they'll never be without. I don't tend to open up to people I don't know. I don't usually go up to people I don't know and insert myself into conversations. I've been told on multiple occasions (by some good friends) that I can come off as a b***h because of these things... I've tried to change how I come off but I'm not sure how it has worked out. I have some fantastic friends that I've come to love over the years... sadly, most of them are in different states due to the military.

When Chris and I moved to VA we joined a church, met some great people and became good friends... or so we thought. I put myself out there, I opened up, I let myself be vulnerable and I was hurt, tremendously. Enough so that we ended up leaving the church in order to find another one. A few months later we found IBC after looking at MANY other churches. I love the church but even after a year I feel like an outsider at times. It's truly hard to move into a new area, where friends already exist and groups are already formed. In order to try to counteract this Chris and I joined a small group and have tried to become involved in the happenings of the ABF (Sunday school). Most recently someone (multiple someones) invited me to join the church's MOPS group. I thought long and hard about this... I prayed about it... I tried to come up with excuses why I couldn't/shouldn't join. Instead I decided to put myself out there... You can join and pay either all at once or one meeting at a time. I decided to bite the bullet and pay for the entire year hoping that this would ensure that I would attend.

So tonight was the first meeting. I was excited to be going... more so for the opportunity to NOT to be the outsider anymore, the opportunity to hopefully make those life-long friends that I long to have... friends I can trust and that are there for me... friends that are at the same place in their life that I am. Chris came home from work, I fed Aiden, I left... sadly, on the way to the church I hit a pothole and destroyed my tire. :-( We're still not sure if it's the tire or if I messed up my rim as well. Hopefully we can find out tomorrow. Maybe I can go to the next meeting without it being so eventful... we shall see! Here's to hoping

There's just so many things...

that I'm not happy with. Ok, so this may sound just awful but I'm not sure that's how I mean it. I love my life! I have a fabulous husband, a wonderful house, wonderful pets and some great friends. This post is more about me, and why shouldn't it be? ;-)

As I enter my last year of my 20's; I realize that some things need to change. I've been in the DC area for a little over 2 years and have few (if any) good, dependable friends. Mostly meaning that I have few that I could turn to and vent, that I could call and say 'hey wanna hang' and they would, that I can vent to and would understand what I was talking about. This is upsetting to me. I'd like to consider myself a good friend. I'm invested, loyal and a great listener. My downside? I'm not very out going. I'm extremely shy when I don't know people and I think this seriously hurts me when it comes to meeting people. :-( Chris and I have been going to a new church for almost a year now and I think it's safe to say that I still don't have a single person in our class that I would consider a 'friend'. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of people that I talk to and that I completely like but none have really shown the interest to take it any further. I would love to have friends that when we miss class would notice and ask where we were... wonder if everything is ok... we just don't have that right now. Now again, I'm not saying that I'm not to blame :-( Because I am so introverted it makes it difficult.

SO, with all this being said this is one of my changes! I will be more open and try to be more outgoing. Now is the time for change! This will be extremely hard for me but I vow to try; that's what matters, righ? :-)

Next on my list is to continue to be healthier. Now, this kinda flew out the window in the last few months because with little bean I've been STARVING TO DEATH! Seriously, I feel like I eat all the time, like I just can't seem to eat enough... but lucky for me, this seems to have tapered off a little in the last few weeks. This means I can get back to normal :-) I can go back to eating normally and on the healthier track that I was headed. Now that I'm not so exhausted (seriously I felt like could just pass out every time I got home from work) I can get back to exercising. Not being able to work out because I didn't have the energy was rough for me but my energy level seems to have come back to normal! YAY energy!!

Other things I'm changing are my organization, time management and home improvements... all of these things will be slow and steady but they WILL happen :-)

So, that's my 29 year resolutions :-) What do ya'll think??