Thankful...

Ryan and I recently had the chance to take a quick-VERY quick- trip home for  Thanksgiving.  It was soooooo nice to see family and friends, but of course too short of a trip.  We also drove...ugh. It took us 16 hours there and 18 hours back because of weather and traffic! This meant a lot of car time and since we were both in need of sleep...the driver was usually pretty bored.  I took this time to think about all these things people are posting on Facebook that they are thankful for.  Although I do not have nearly enough time (I am at work!!!) to post 30 different things I am thankful for, I decided to post the top 10.

I am thankful I finally have a career-like job. One that I can use experiences from in the future.


I am thankful Ryan has a career that will continue to provide for our family. He is a very hardworking person and I know that there are days he does not want to go in for a 12 hours shift, but he truly enjoys what he does and it makes it much easier.


I am thankful for the opportunity to move away from family and friends and everything we have ever known. It has made us a much stronger couple and given us a lot of life-enriching experiences…but….


I am also thankful that I have family and friends in Michigan and various other places around the world who keep in contact with me. Even though I love our life, I would be nowhere without the support from those closest to me.


I am thankful for the few friends we have met in Williamsburg. The extra special ones can relate to Ryan and me so much that it makes it easy to be friends.


I am thankful for a loving husband who I thought I would be sick of seeing everyday by now, but everyday we countdown to the time we get to spend together and could not imagine spending that time with anyone else.


I am thankful for my education—even though paying those bills is going to be a chore. I know that the experiences I gained during those years are unparalleled and will pay off in the end.


I am thankful lots of little things like: books, cheesy movies, exercise, chocolate, comfort food in general, memories, holidays, warm blankets when I am freezing cold, music, alone time, traveling, learning new things and the ability to have confidence in myself (mostly)!


I am thankful for technology. I hate it just as much, but it allows me to keep in touch, do my job more efficiently, and stay educated so I have learned to like it.


I am thankful for my health and the healthy choices I make…and the opportunity to announce (except most of y’all know) that we are expecting an equally healthy baby in late Spring and we could not be happier.

Now onto DECEMBER! and the NEW YEAR?!?!?! What happened to 2012?

New job!

On November 1, I started a new job/career at Tyges International.  Tyges is a local recruiting company that I have been talking to since August. We decided to push my start date back to after our Europe trip, so it seemed like I had the job forever before I got to start.  The last week and a half have been spent learning the ropes and all the ins and outs to the recruiting business.

Tyges recruits for manufacturing companies all over the country which has led too even more learning for me. I know almost nothing about manufacturing so I am becoming more educated on all the processes that happen--there is SO much to learn! I already know some random things from some of my business classes, growing up in Michigan, and living near Michigan Tech for a bit.  I cannot wait to learn more because I know that it can only open more doors in the future.  

Here is the website if you wanna check it out...my name is even in the list of employees already!
http://tyges.com/

European travels!

AHHHH! October was a crazy month! I apologize for being off the radar for most of the month, but we were busy the whole time and I didn’t find extra time to sit in front of the computer for any great length.  Therefore, my life needs a whole lot of updating and I promise to write more often in the coming months.

ONE of the most exciting things about last month was our first family trip overseas!  Ryan and I took a 10 day vacation to England, Finland, and Estonia.  The weather was yucky for most of the trip—considering we left sunny beautiful-hasn’t-even-turned-fall-yet weather in Virginia.  We definitely did not pack enough warm clothes!  We also went at a non-peak vacation season so a lot of what we wanted to do was not even open or available.  Regardless, we had a spectacular time during the whole trip and we could not have asked for better friends to spend it with. 

We flew to England, stayed 2 days, flew to Estonia/Finland, stayed 3 days, flew back to England for a few days.

The reason we chose England was because my best friend Kellie, her husband Joe, and daughter Ava live just south of London.  She has not had many visitors in her 2.5 years of living there AND it is not often that we will have friends conveniently living in other countries (although right now we have quite a few!) so we decided to take advantage of this opportunity and visit.  Kellie showed us around London—where we saw Queen Elizabeth riding in one of her cars down the street by Big Ben—and also took us to Windsor Castle (where the Queen lives) and Hampton Court Palace (where King Henry the VIII lived).  We also got to see one of Joe’s hockey games—which I think was cool for him because no one they know from the States ever gets to see him play in person anymore.  Best of all, we got some amazing, much-needed quality time between best friends and Ryan and I got to spend lots of time with Kellie and Ava.

Another reason for the trip was to visit our other friends Kristi and Dave in Finland.  Dave is one of Ryan’s offensive line teammates from college and he is studying this year in Sweden/Finland.  He had the week off from school so we planned the trip around this week.  Kristi is about to have a baby (within the next 6 weeks or so) and they have been away from family, friends, and everything they know for the whole pregnancy.  It was nice to get to spend some time with friends who made us feel like we were back in the UP and nothing had changed over the last year.  Again, we were hit with some cold, overcast weather and a lot of places shut down for the winter.  We still managed to have a relaxing and adventurous time.  We spent most of the time in the Old Town part of Tallinn, Estonia.  This was a great place to just take in historic buildings and neat sights. Then, we took a ferry over to Helsinki, Finland and did a bit of sightseeing there.  We took a boat ride to the islands of Suomenlinna, which had a lot of history.  Most of the museums were closed so we made our own tour and explored the nooks and crannies of the island.

Even though it seemed like everything we wanted to do was closed, we were surrounded by friends the whole trip and that is what made it worthwhile.  We have been a little friend-sick over the last few months and this trip was just what we needed to make us feel better!