10 anniversaries!

Life has been BORING! We are getting quite used to our little life in VA and the glamour of just moving here has worn off almost completely.  We are trying to save money as my student loans are due soon.

Monday, I finished my last cake decorating class. I learned more about the basics, but I cannot wait to get some more practice and become a pro!

Yesterday was our 10 YEAR DATING ANNIVERSARY! It is soooo hard to believe that we have been together so long, but we are still so happy and could not ask for more.  After Ryan got off work, we celebrated by driving to Richmond (45 min away) and ate dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant! It was very yummy and an interesting experience.  There are no utensils involved and at times we laughed about how silly it felt and looked to be eating meat, rice, and beans with our fingers! We just love doing things we have never done before!

Speaking of things we have never done...in 2 weeks, we are going to Europe! Ryan has never been out of the country and we are both so excited for him to experience some different cultures.  He is very open to cultural differences, but since he has never left the country, he also is a little ignorant  to how different some aspects will be.  Last night at the restaurant, the bathrooms were ridiculously tiny and it reminded me to let him in on the fact that he will find a lot of places in Europe that he is too big to fit into/taller than!  I will write more about our trip soon!

career girl.

Well, it finally happened...I got a REAL job! and I am SO excited!

I got hired at a local international recruiting company as an Executive Recruiter. I was supposed to start on Oct 1, but we are going to Europe at the end of Oct so they moved my start date to Nov 1.  Until then, I am going to work as much as possible at the restaurant I have been working at.

I also started a cake decorating class today! So I can check TWO things of my "To Do Before 25" list!


I will update more later...for now, I am obsessively watching Parks & Recreation on Netflix :)

en français...

Something amazing happened....I got to speak French at work!

I have 6 years of French education...I took it for 3 years in HS and also minored in it at Ferris, but I have never gotten to use it.  I have actually been kinda depressed about this useless knowledge that I paid for, but I finally got to put it to semi-good use!

This tour group from France came to the restaurant where I work a few weeks ago and I did not even know that they were French until they were already ordered and waiting for food. Funny story there--a majority of the tourists in the group have some sort of disability so one person orders for them all.  When they visited a few weeks ago, they all ordered "Coca" so the server made 13 hot chocolates...nope, they wanted COCA COLA! Anyway...this is where my French knowledge would have came into play.

This time, I knew in advance that the group was coming.  It was pouring rain out and they were so happy to be at the restaurant they were not even trying to speak English.  A lady rushes in and says..
              "une serviette afjkhfkahgakjgha s'il vous plait".  
I was confused as to why she was asking
                             ...so I said, "pourqoi?" (why)...
and she said, "ahkjhgoiahgalkjgahg une serviette"...

So, I told the server to get her some napkins.  The customer was OVERJOYED that I "knew" what she said and the server went running to the owner to proclaim this new-found knowledge that Jaci know how to speak French!

I managed to say a few more simple saying..."Ah, oui d'accord" (Ah, yes, ok) and "Oui, je parle francais un peu"....little do they know that I really speak A LITTLE French!  Oh well, made those classes seem worth it.

Au revoir!

we are locals.

I am starting to feel more comfortable in our new settings.

• I have a job--working close to full-time right now and training for hostess and server so I can work as many hours as possible! 
• I started volunteering today at the local United Way.  I am working at their front desk on days that they need a replacement and when I have time.  I am hoping to meet new people and possibly open more doors in the future.
• I have some friends...none that I have hung out with outside of work or the gym...but people who recognize me and know me by name, which is a huge comfort.
• We have gone to all the local grocery stores and scoped out best prices! This is big for me because when we moved from the UP, I didn't know there were actually options of places to shop for groceries!
• I have successfully (to my knowledge) given directions to 3 customers at work! Wooohooo!

In addition to settling in more, we also had two guests this month already!  My sister came for a week and my friend, Joslyn, came for a few days on her way to NC.  It was exhausting because we normally sit around and do not do much or go with the flow and try not to have plans....but it was SOOOO worth it.  I already miss them so much because it was just nice to show someone around and do daily things with.  

From now until Christmas, we have something big going on/someone to see every couple of weeks--including a trip to Europe...no big deal!  So I have lots of little countdowns in my head and will not be able to get lonely with so much stuff going on!

birthday!

It has been awhile since I last wrote...mostly because I have been doing the same thing day in and day out.  It is starting to get a little old, but it is all about to change! I got a job at a locally owned restaurant on Wednesday.  I am starting out hostessing but will be cross training for waitress, so I am super excited! It is obviously not something that has to do with either of my two degrees, but for right now I need something to do and we could use a little extra money.  I start tonight!
Another plus side is that Ryan and I will have something to talk about.  We have gotten into quite a lazy routine after he gets off work..especially with the Olympics on.  I am hoping that working a few day shifts and night shifts a week will break up the monotony.

Anyway...
Yesterday was my birthday and it ended up being a great day.  Ryan worked 16 hours the day before and still had to go into work on my birthday so I started the day off normally.  I watched some Boy Meets World, which makes any day good (I am watching it right now too haha), and went to the gym.  Then I started to get sooooo glum! It was my first birthday ever without family or friends or in Michigan. Normally, random  people are telling me "Happy Birthday" and all that extra attention stuff...but not this year :(

I was so sad...until Ryan came home early from work with sunflowers for me! He also bought a bunch of food to make a surprise dinner! Then two packages came from my mom...she got me some of my favorite candies and  a little planter with oregano, parsley, rosemary, and sage planted! Now, I have my own little garden.  Ryan and I went to go explore a local park.  We stopped at a cupcake shop and it started to down pour! So we hid in a bar until the rain let up and decided to go back home.  He made me a delicious dinner of scallops and lobster tail (!!!!) and then we tried to go swimming at our apartment's pool.  It was closed early! So, we watched tv and hung out all night.

So many little things happened that made it a good day overall.  I am so thankful for everything I do have, but days like that make you realize how much more family and friends mean.

Now, I am 23! Only 2 more years to check some things off my to-do list...and to get cheaper insurance!

crafty!

No more boredom for me! I am cleaning, organizing, and crafting! I am so excited to decorate our apartment.  It hit me today that we are going to be in this apartment for at least a year and I might as well make it the way I want it.  I am trying to do things relatively cheaply--since I still do not have a job!--but I am hoping it all turns out cute.  I will post pictures soon!

I am also working on knocking off a few more items on my "25 things to do before 25" list.  I found out about a pretty cheap cake decorating class AND made pasta for the first time ever! I made my own pasta dough and stuffed them with sausage, cheese, and onions and made a bleu cheese sauce for on top.  It was soooo yummy!  I will have to start taking pictures of my creations...I suck at that right now!

boredom.

Yep, that's right...the boredom of being in a new place with no friends and a working husband is getting to me again! I am not sad, mad, frustrated, or any of those emotions I have felt before when I have moved to a new place.  I am content...but bored. Like, I do not know what I do on a daily basis.  There is only so much I can do alone...but I am doing quite a few things around our new apartment and trying to get it more homey.  I am also looking into things that I never have before because we will be here for a long period of time.  I have been looking up house prices, good neighborhoods, places to explore, and of course JOBS.  I still have not even gotten an interview which is becoming quite frustrating.  I just keep sending in my resume and writing semi-convincing cover letters with the hopes that it will be picked up by someone!


When we moved to Naperville, we had quite a lot of big city culture shock.  This time we have not had much shock at all or much to "get used to" because it is fairly similar to Michigan and everything we have known for our whole lives.  So, before I made a list of things that shocked us about city life...now, I have made a list of things I won't mind getting used to in our new life...

1. Michiganders...everywhere! Virginia seems to be the place for people from the Midwest to vacation and relocate.  We have met countless people from Michigan since we have moved here.  There was a couple from Kalamazoo that we talked to for over an hour and a half in a local bar/restaurant (they even bought us a drink!).  My new pharmacist at Walgreens went to Ferris and recently moved from Ludington! It is so nice to have people who know what we are talking about when we say, "U.P." and "Yoopers!"

2. "Y'all"...everyone says it...and so do we now sometimes! It makes much more sense than other things that people from the North say...so I am jumping on the southern bandwagon and saying "Y'all"!!!!

3. Southern BBQ.  We went to a little party at one of Ryan's coworker's houses for the Fourth and it was sooo YUMMMY.  All of our favorite bbq foods...but homemade?!?!? I could definitely get used to THAT!

4.  Tourists. Coming from a touristic economy, we appreciate the tourists as much as we are annoyed by them.  They definitely fill this area up more than I have ever seen before. Weekends are a disaster on the local highways.

Ok...and now for a few gripes...

1. Speaking of the local highways...there is a reason that tourists clog them up on the weekends.  They are all two lanes and never expand any bigger when they should so traffic bottlenecks a lot.  But, I just read today that it is a known problem and the government is working on it.  No one goes the speed limit so traffic gets backed up behind two cars going 5 under. UGH!

2.  Bugs everywhere.  I got used to living in a built up area and now we live in the woods again.  We have quite a few spiders, which I hate...but there is also an abundance of lightning bugs, which I LOVE!

3. The heat.  It has been overly hot since we moved here.  The hottest day was I think 107 with a heat index of 115.  No big deal?! Unless you want to get anything done!  It makes it hard to do anything or get the courage to even step outside when it is that hot.

Virginia is so great, because even though I had three things to complain about...none of those things make me dislike living here.  I think it is because Southerners live so simply and slowly and enjoy whatever they are doing at the moment.

I cannot wait for more adventures in VA!