Dramatic California!

Andy and I have officially been living in California for 3 whole months now! Whoo, yeah! It was 3 months and about 6 days ago that we were packing our moving truck in the back of our Virginia house. It had just snowed lightly and some of our friends had come over to help us pack the truck. I ran out to grab some doughnuts and hot coffee to help us through the loading process. It was a chilly morning spent with good friends. Us girls huddled around our coffees nibbling on doughnuts, while the guys steadily worked on loading our life belongings into the moving truck. Now that I think about it, it seems so far away. Alas, it was only 3 months ago... Since then, we have been loving California! We miss our friends and family dearly, but the gorgeous scenery and abundant adventures have been keeping us busy. Here are some of the more dramatic photos that I have taken of our adventures over the last 3 months.

Prints of these photos are available in my Society6 store.

5-Things...That make Me, Me

This post topic has been circling around the blogosphere, so I am going to take my turn. I originally saw the post at Jen Loves Kev, so I'll give her the credit. If you are reading this and you also write a blog, you are officially tagged, you're it, now go share 5 things about yourself.

Here are five things that make me, me:

1.) I can't lie
Seriously, I cannot tell a lie. When I was younger, I was a fantastic actress. Not that I lied a lot, but I could definitely get away with it. Since then, something has changed. Now, if I lie or say something that isn't true my face turns red all over. Not only is it embarrassing, but it is so obvious! Some people know this about me and try to take advantage of it. They find it hilarious. (I don't.) Not being able to lie also makes it hard for me to play games where I need to keep a poker face...yeah, just can't do it.

2.) Palm trees
I LOVE palm trees, just love them! When I was younger, palm trees always meant vacation to me. Over Christmas each year, my family would go to a little missionary family resort in a hot place filled with palm trees. Since then, my love for palm trees has only grown. One of the best parts about moving to California has been seeing palm trees every day. They make me a very happy person.

3.) Center part in my hair
For as long as I can remember, I have had a center part in my hair. I have very straight hair that won't do much, so it falls into a center part naturally. Since I am fairly low maintenance I tend to just leave it that way. Growing up, it was easy to tuck behind my ears. In college, I played around with side parts. Through the years though, my center part is the look I have been known for. Maybe I'll get bangs one day...but I wouldn't be surprised if my hair still did a natural center part directly through the bangs, ha.

4.) Camera (photography)
My most prized possession, my baby, is my camera. I have a canon 30D that I have used since college. In fact, I took out a special 'education' loan in college just to buy my camera. That way I could use it for classes without having to rent one. It was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made...despite the high interest I paid on that loan! Since buying my 30D, it has gone everywhere with me. All over the world in fact. I prefer to see life through the lens of a camera, rather than through my own eyes. Ridiculous right! I am trying to teach Andy how to use it, but he doesn't see the point.

5.) Papua New Guinea
I couldn't leave this one out! I grew up for the first 12 years of my life in Papua New Guinea. My parents were missionaries and I was a beloved missionary kid. We lived in a missionary center half the time, and in our jungle village the other half of the time. We came back to the US every 4 years to see family and supporters. When I was 12 years old, my parents decided they were done being missionaries, and we moved back to the US.  I always thought I would go back to New Guinea, but I've never been back...yet. (I'll write a more in depth post on being an MK sometime.)

This is me trying to help the villagers when I was about 3 years old.

Palm Springs

Last weekend Andy and I headed south to Palm Springs. We had an unexpected 3-day weekend (Presidents Day), so we opted for a spontaneous trip. On Thursday night we quickly planned it out and made reservations at a hotel. We got lucky with hotel reservations because once we were there we found out everything had booked up really quickly due to the holiday weekend. Lucky us!

Andy left work at 4pm on Friday and we started the 7 hour drive. Most of it was in the dark, so we had no idea what the surrounding landscape looked like. The next day we woke up to crisp clear blue skies, and a plethora of palm trees. Palm Springs is truly an oasis in the desert.

We did some slot canyon hiking (more in a future post), and relaxed by the pool. We also visited a date farm. We thought it was a palm farm, but it turns out that dates grow on palm trees. I had no idea! Did you know that? There was a great date center with information on how they are grown, samples of dates (12 different varieties!), and a restaurant full of date dishes. We decided on their famous date-shake and enjoyed it outside among the green lawns and date trees, aka palm trees.

It was a fantastic weekend! Taking this spontaneous trip to Palm Springs was the best idea that we have had in a long time. It was neat to see the California desert and the oasis in it, not to mention all the relaxing we did there and the fun that was had.

He's always willing to pose for a picture...just not in the most graceful way. :)