Our first weekend

8/9-8/11
We started a new tradition. Since we rarely have plans these days, Friday nights are reserved for pizza and a movie at home.  For this, our first Friday pizza/movie night, we shall watch "Night at the Museum" because George saw the dinosaur on the front and insisted. We shall enjoy one home made pepperoni pizza and one home made veggie pizza. Then we shall indulge ourselves with some brownstuhns (thats a borrowed term from a dear friend for brownies).  All very tasty indeed. The movie was a little scary for George but he wouldn't admit it and made it till the end.

Saturday we got up early and DROVE to the beach, which was much more enjoyable than the train and much more efficient as well. Oh, and we actually saw the ocean this time.  The beaches are so much wider than NC beaches but in my humble opinion, not as beautiful or as nice. I am just a little tiny bit biased though.  There are lots of people who crowd the 25 feet closest to the water and then there is about a football field length of sand before you get to the parking lot (it should be mentioned here that parking is $12. This city is about to "12 dollar me to death" as my dad likes to say). Between the parking lot and the beach is a huge walk/run/skateboard/scooter/rollerblade/stroller lane which is very busy and caused much more anxiety to cross than the actual street with cars.  Along this path, that runs the entirety of the beach, there are beach cafes, bathrooms/showers, and vendors.  We bought a sparkling water and shared it for $7.  You can also buy from vendors that walk in and out of the sunbathers. They sell ice cream, fruit kabobs, beach umbrellas, and sand toys.  The water was frigid, about how it would feel if you were to take a dip in April or November in NC.  All in all, it was a good trip. We left around 3:00 and headed to our new friends' house for dinner. They wanted to thank George for his help as he had moved them into their new place this morning.  We had appetizers, burgers and salad, shared a few beers and swam in their pool and hot tub.  Its good to have friends!

Sunday we went to Oneonta Congregational Church.  It was the contemporary service at 11:30 and the first person we met had a 2 1/2 year old in the nursery. She showed us the way and helped us sign George in.  On the way back to the service she introduced herself as the pastor's wife.  The service was great, with a few worship songs led by a great worship team, and a meaningful sermon.  Afterwards, we met the pastor and found out his mother's family all lives in Raleigh NC! Small world right?  He told us about a few opportunities for young families and we were pretty impressed.  This service was small in numbers but he encouraged us to try out their traditional service as well, which is held in the big sanctuary with an organ and hymns.  So we think we will.  When we picked George up from nursery he seemed very content and never once cried for us. Thats always good!  I have a good feeling about this weekend.  Thankful for the ocean, friends and church!

Background and Backdate

Thursday, August 15th
Four weeks ago tomorrow, George and I arrived in South Pasadena California.  Most of you reading know why we made the move from Durham, North Carolina but just in case this blog goes viral (ha!) I will give a little background info. George, my sweet husband has been an orthopaedics resident at The University of North Carolina for the past five years.  In May of 2012 we found out that he would do a fellowship at University of Southern California.  We were elated because it was so far away at that point and his chief year was going to be a breeze, right?  Well, not so much. We found out he had thyroid cancer in August of 2012 and most of the year was shadowed by that diagnosis.  It was a difficult journey that taught us both a lot about ourselves and about life, about friendships and the importance of community, especially a church community.  God not only protected George and answered our prayers for healing but was with us through every tear and every shadow of doubt.  We both feel closer to our Lord for having been through such a hard time.  That, however is a different story. We are here now in sunny California and couldn't be happier!!  We have a three year old son, George Ryland and he will make this blog colorful and vibrant and alive.  If you do not wish to hear about funny things a three year old says and does, or if you do not wish to hear about trips to the park, museums, Disneyland, or leggoland, please take your cursor up to the "x" button and get out of here before I bore you to tears.  Since big George will be working most of the time this blog will be mostly about the little guy and me, our struggles and our victories, however big or small.

Backdating a little bit:
We arrived Friday July 26th after a 4 day long drive across the country. WOW what a country we live it. I feel so incredibly blessed to have experienced The United States of America in this way.  Here are a few tidbits from our journey:

• Heard so many songs that coincided with our journey. Sorry, I am so into song lyrics fitting into life and these were just too ironic not to mention... In NC we heard: "feels like Carolina, looks like California..."; "anywhere with you....have you ever been to California" by Jake Owen; "Everywhere" by Tim McGraw.  In TN we heard: "On my way to Tennessee singing GA on my mind" and "you moved from west LA" by Train; "Heads Carolina, Tails California", "Maybe it was Memphis" (right when we left Memphis btw), "Beverly Hills...thats where I want to live..livin' in Beverly Hills".  In AK we heard Edward Sharp and the Magnificent Duo sing "Alabama Arkansas, I sure do love your maw and paw".  In Tx we heard "West...on a plane bound west..been a long hard ride, got a ways to go, but this is still the place we all call home". NM we heard Cast Iron Filter sing "unleaded" and lyrics are like this "Santa Fe then Monterrey come a long way-got a long way to go takes more than gasoline, son to get to paradise"
• First night we stayed in Memphis, Tn with Natasha and Jason Johnson in their new house. Good food, comfy bed, showers, great company! They treated us right!
• Made it across Oklahoma and Arkansas and stopped in Amarillo at "The Big Texan" for dinner. Watched a 10 year old little skinny little boy attempt the 72 oz. steak challenge.  Finish it and its free, dont finish it and you pay 72$. He ate 9 oz......
• HUGE storm driving out of Texas. NEVER seen anything like it before in my life and I've seen some storms in my life sailing on the Neuse.  Everythings bigger in Texas. 
• Stopped at a hotel in Tucumcari, NM. Pulled in right beside who else but a fellow North Carolinian (eastern NC- from Pinetops to be exact) who stopped us and said, "Y'all from NC?"
• Rained almost the whole way across the desert, ironic, no? Mesa land was really amazing
• Two other things worth mentioning that I saw during our many stops for gas- "Kool-aid pickles" (just like those big Dill pickles or sour pickles but marinated in yep, you guessed it, kool-aid). gross.  And a "Brass-Knuckles Clutch" ...Exactly what you are picturing in your mind. A cute little clutch-any color you want-but the handle is brass knuckles in case someone tries to steal your valuables I guess. 

So that was our trip here.  I will continue to backdate for a while until I catch up to current happenings.