one year

Okay, it's been a while.  I can't believe how busy things have been lately!  With my new job I've been working a good 30 hours a week as well as continuing with my full-time classes.  It's been extremely busy and sometimes I feel like I'm just constantly trying to catch up.  But most of the time, I love it.

Sunday was our first anniversary!  We celebrated by staying at an amazing bed&breakfast in Sacramento, going out to dinner at the Melting Pot, eating banana splits, and enjoying bubble baths & cuddles & the like.  I suppose I'm going to use this post to look back on the first year of our marriage.  I can't believe how incredible this year has been, and how quickly it flew by.

In 2012, we:

-Moved to California.  Our first military PCS (what a fun time...) and our first home together!  Spent a good month eating our dinners off of a 1-square-foot end table while we unpacked our lives and bought furniture :o

-Adopted our darling pomeranian Sheba.  We love her so much!!!!!!  She is our baby...we are so obsessed with our little pup.

-Got to know the wonderful area of our new home.  San Francisco is absolutely amazing, and our surburb isn't so bad either. :) Thank you husband, for being amazing and earning his top pick for duty station 0:) My hero!

-Found a wonderful new church to call our home, and new friends who we can grow with and enjoy life together!  So thankful...God completely delivered on my longings for community and friendship in our new city.

-Rick graduated from his tech school and did absolutely amazing!  Through all the stress of the Air  Force, working more-than-full-time while also going to school full-time to finish his degree, and continuing to train like crazy physically for his future job, he still has the time to love me, give me hugs, watch movies and cuddle with me, and treat me like a princess.  And I'm so happy I am here to support him and give him help when he needs it to get through all that stress!  He is awesome.

-On a more personal note, there has been so much growth in our marriage in just a year, and I'm so crazy thankful for it.  I cannot wait to see what God will do with the rest of our lives, if he could do so much in only a year.  I'm so glad God entrusted me with Rick's heart and I love how I can completely trust him with mine as well.  I cannot believe how blessed I am to have such an incredible husband--and to have been given him so early in life, so we can enjoy so many of these wonderful years together.  Life is so good.♥  Here's to the next, oh, 60-70 years :)

♥Samantha

cute clothes & working on it.

Sooooo, I dislike running.  I just get bored so easily.  But it is slowly getting better.

A couple weeks ago I saw some suuuper cute Nike leggings, but feel that I do not work out hard enough to deserve expensive/good workout clothes, haha (I usually just buy them from forever21 or something instead).  I told myself I couldn't buy them until I could successfully run a 5k without stopping, which would mean I was actually making progress.  So Rick and I went home that night and went to the gym, and surprise!  I made it through my goal of 5k.  What the lure of cute workout clothes will do to a girl......

FAIR ISLE PRINT THANK YOU VERY MUCH.  I knew these were going to come home with me sooner than later.  (I earn some nice Brooks shoes at 10k...that's going to take a bit longer!)

It made me pretty excited as I realized that, yes, my body actually is capable of running longer distances, and it is just my distaste for the amount of time it takes, that is making me want to stop earlier.  Haha.  And for the first time in my life I have started to actually enjoy running, and actually find myself wanting to make time in the day for it.  GASP....I thought it would never happen.

I started running more and trying to run at least 3 miles every time I worked out, but then I started having awful pain in a specific spot on my right knee.  I can barely walk on it for the night after and the next day as well.....I suspect that it is some IT band muscle that I am straining or hurting??  One of the reasons for that pain is upping training too quickly, and I basically started running 3 miles (every day or every other day) out of nowhere.  I am dialing back on my distance for a while and working up slowly now, which is a bummer because I just started actually enjoying running for a change.

My goal is to run the San Francisco Women's Marathon (the HALF for me, thank you) next October :):):)  I have almost a year to get from 3 miles to 13......I am optimistic.  I think it can happen.

Any more seasoned runners out there have some tips?  I am quite new to distance running!!

♥Samantha

giving thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family and blog friends!  We had a wonderful day today.  Since we didn't go back to Michigan, I took it upon myself to make every single one of my family's recipes for our usual Thanksgiving feast.  Usually there is tons of food and tons of people to gobble it up.  But.....here in our little home, there was tons of food and only two people. :o

So, we stuffed ourselves very full.  And now we are laying around pretty dead.  Here, enjoy some pictures. :)

I could write paragraphs and paragraphs about the things I am thankful for, but no one wants to read all that.  Let's just say, I am so absolutely thankful for God's grace and provision, and the way He is so faithful to us; my incredible husband who I fall more in love with every day; having a family that I genuinely adore and am best friends with; my puppy girl, who kept me from loneliness for many many months this year; a church community that is so from Christ, and finding the most awesome friends through it; an awesome job I can actually enjoy and smile about; etc etc etc.  Plenty.  My cup overflows!  God is good no matter what.

Even the animals could tell that today was a chill day...

Part of my feast....it wouldn't all fit in one photo.  I was so proud, hehe.  I took all my mom's recipes, including twice-baked potatoes, our wonderful orange jello, apple cider stuffing, crescent rolls, etc etc.....all from scratch, you know how we do.  ;)

 Letting Sheba check out the food.....she almost grabbed it!!

 Then she got her own little doggy feast......she practically inhaled that thing.

Enjoying a wonderful dinner with my best friend.  Definitely the most relaxing Thanksgiving, and it was super fun to make all the food!  Super thankful for my manly man husband who took care of handling all the "gross" stuff (lol) and also cleaned the whole apartment while I cooked all day!!!  0:)  He's the best.!!!

I hope everyone reading this had an amazing Thanksgiving!!  All glory to God who makes all things good.  Enjoy the weekend! :)

♥Samantha

goodbye october.

Happy Halloween friends!

We personally celebrated by sleeping through all our alarms and waking up 20 minutes before Rick had to BE IN his meeting this morning.  UGH hahaha.  But he made it in with one minute to spare!!!  Praise the Lord.

We are not doing anything today, but we have had Sheba walking around in a costume all day.....here are some pics from her costume photoshoot last week :)  We went to the museum on base, where there are a bunch of historic planes displayed, to take her little AF-pup pics.  And because we came up to this plane from a separate parking lot, we didn't realize they were actually roped off and you were not supposed to get that close...oopsie!!  We booked it out of there before anyone noticed us 0:) 0:)

You can see the rope in front of the plane here.......ooopy.

 Reporting for puppy duty.!

 MAKING THE SAME FACE.  I laughed so hard...I love them so much.

In other news I have a job interview tomorrow and prayers would be absolutely appreciated!  We've been praying for financial provision and pursuing getting a lot of things paid off so we can be free of them.  Me being able to bring in some extra cash would help us get this done so much faster!  Hoping it goes well, but who knows what'll happen or how many people they are choosing between.

Here's to a new season.  Also to winter coming, listening to Christmas music, buying lights, and drinking peppermint mochas :):):)

Getting back into this stuff.

Hey y'all, ok.  So blogging.  I inadvertently took a lot of time off from this.  It wasn't intentional, but I just "never had anything to write about."  It seemed like nothing was happening and I didn't feel like there was anything worthy to write down.  Maybe it was a comparison thing, that others seemed to have so much more exciting lives, and here I am just going to classes, doing homework, cleaning, cooking, and spending time with my husband, our pup, and the couple of friends I have here.  Which is PERFECT for me and I wouldn't have it any other way, but compared to others' lives I felt like mine wasn't really "blog-worthy."

Anyway, this morning while zoning out in my nutrition class (I will never understand why everyone so fervently take notes during a review that is literally the exact same information we already learned about) I decided that I am going to commit to writing things down more.  I have gotten into the habit of letting life pass me by, I think.  In constantly getting caught up in everyday things that don't seem very "interesting," the days turn into weeks and next thing you know--it's about time for Halloween, I log on here and see I haven't posted since August 3rd.  So I want to get more out of my everyday days, I want to observe more, learn more, and just appreciate things more.

I am getting back into this stuff by using this cute picture of a craft/DIY journal to prompt me to write something:

Listening; to a group of loud (and I mean LOUD) college kids shout and make a commotion in their everyday conversation.  For about the past hour straight.  Oh my oh my, how is it that at (probably) the same age, we could be at such different stages of our lives...?
Eating; nada.
Drinking; skinny vanilla latte...warm.cozy.happy.
Wearing; jeggings, uggies (as I call them), and a nice warm MSU hoodie.  After this blazing summer I have not really been prepared for cold-weather clothes, so it's a lot of the same every day.
Feeling; a little overwhelmed with school work and house work, while trying to balance things so that I have time to do the crafts and fun DIYs I am itching for.
Weather; overcast and 55 degrees.  Rainy season is starting and I am not really ready for it.  It's hilarious to me to think about how excited I was to have 55-degree days back when we moved here, in contrast to the below-freezing days in Michigan.  Now, a year later, I am absolutely "freezing" at 55, hahaha.
Wanting; to skip my last class and go continue my current read at Barnes and Noble.  But I think I'm going to sit through class anyway.....I feel too guilty.
Needing; to worry less.  God has shown so SO much faithfulness when I choose to trust him, and I need to get into the habit of worrying less & giving things up to God more.
Thinking; about how to hang my pictures on the wall, and create hooks etc on the frames that do not have ones attached already.  Wondering if my biggest frame/photo with the original mirror inside is too heavy to hang normally.  Hm.
Enjoying; texting my husband throughout the day. He is the cutest texter on the planet, especially with all of the Emoji pictures that constantly are a part of our conversation whether they belong there or not.  (Example: in my last text I felt the need to include both a snowman and an eggplant......)  He makes me laugh. :)

Okay, there we go!  Restart time.
♥Samantha

Fill in the blank Friday!

It's finally Friday, yey!  Rick and I are celebrating by going to the gym soon.  The joys of having an awesomely in-shape husband is that I get healthier by association...haha :)

These are from thelittlethingswedo.blogspot.com, and I always mean to do them, but get too busy to get them done on Fridays.  And you just can't post a Friday post on the Sunday you finally remember it exists :o

1.  I am proud of  our cutie pup Sheba!!!  She is learning tricks lately and so far she can do "turn around," "stay," "shake," and my personal favorite, "slam dunk"!!  She is intelligent :)

2.   This weekend I will   be waking up without an alarm, going to enjoy breakfast at The Original Pancake House with my hubby (yumm), going into San Francisco for a little shopping and a good coffee shop to study at, and going to church on Sunday.

3.  A secret dream I have is   to start a bakery whenever Rick retires and military moves are over.  Either that or to franchise a Biggby Coffee...if they don't have it where we live I'll MAKE it be where we live.  Hahahaha.

4. I can't handle    when military girlfriends etc. liken their relationship to the movie "Dear John."  Umm, think about what a "dear john" letter actually is, look at what happens at the end of that movie, and then we'll talk.  I don't have many pet peeves but this is a big (and very specific) one.

5. The most annoying thing in the entire world is   bad traffic, especially when you've actually got to be somewhere....eeek.

6. The most relaxing thing in the entire world is  BUBBLE BATHS with Lush bath bombs, while watching House Hunters.  Haha.  Probably while also drinking a Biggby iced chai...I haven't had one at the same time before but I assume that would just put the whole thing over the top in perfection.

7.  I think everyone should  eat yummy things.  We should definitely also keep our bodies healthy, everything in moderation, making good choices and staying active, but also...life's too short not to enjoy what you eat.  Things can be pretty healthy and also delicious :)

New things.

I really enjoy new routines.  Things that start just as something you decide to try out, then become part of your everyday, your "thing."

Thankfully, putting on a pot of tea has become one of my things.

  Thanks to wedding registries I got all I needed last year.  Shout out to my sister for the teapot and my old college roommate Amanda for the DISHWASHER SAFE teacups....now that's what I'm talking about.

I am a devoted coffee addict, and while I always enjoyed a good cup of tea every now and then, I never really got obsessed with it until I started drinking the loose-leaf stuff.  You know, the fresh stuff, that hasn't been sitting in the grocery store (in a little bag inside a little box) for who knows how long.  That boxed stuff was okay, but when I started drinking loose leaf tea is when I really got hooked.  I used to load my tea up with milk and sugar, and now I love it so much nearer to its original state, because that original state is already so so good and flavorful, it hardly needs improvement... (okay...I still haven't kicked the sugar.  But a couple teaspoons for a whole pot of tea isn't awful, I don't think.)

I mostly get my teas from Teavana, which is in basically every mall in America.  A little overpriced?  Yeah, a little.  Overbearing store associates pressuring you to buy more and more?  Oh, definitely.  But the flavors are just SO good; and it's accessible.  So Rick and I recently headed out to stock up on new teas.  And, yes, we did leave there having spent $20 more than we originally planned.  Whatever, Teavana. You win this time.  Jerks.

But really though, a pot of tea goes for every occasion.

I just woke up?  Tea for breakfast, and Scripture.

It's 10 o clock at night?  I'll just put on some tea, and we can unintentionally finish the whole pot 0:)

Dinner time and it's still 85 degrees inside?  Well how about I heat up some water, and by the time the air conditioning kicks in good, we'll have some nice hot tea to keep us cozy...

Finished the first pot?  Well I better make another and put it in the fridge, everyone loves iced tea...

One would think that with the amount of tea in our lives right now we would not be drinking as much coffee.....unfortunately that's not the case.  Still spending hours on end in Starbucks and the Huv a Java on base, still giving the lovely Keurig its money's worth......it's not that easy to kick an addiction.

But at least I am able to add to it!

 Sorry girlie, it's not for you :o

“What does it mean to be a man? Christ is the supreme example. He was strong, and He was pure, because His sole aim in life was to be obedient to the Father. His very obedience made Him most manly- responsible, committed, courageous, courteous, and full of love. A Christian man’s obedience to God will make him more of a man than anything else in the world.” 

-Elisabeth Elliot

Our week in instagrams.

Life is so so busy lately!  We have had back-to-back company visiting us and, after this weekend and the second group of visiting coming to a close soon, I am quite tired and have a lot of cleaning to do.  Haha.

HOWEVER we got to spend five days last week with my brother Davy and his wonderful girlfriend Lauren (her blog!), which was so much fun!  I didn't document our time very well on film, but all four of us have our iPhones handy for pictures, so most of what I have to share is simply through our collective Instagram accounts.  So here we go...

Hi Sheba!!!!  We drove down to LA to pick Davy&Lauren up and bring them back up to NorCal with us.......it was a long drive, but not awful.  It did, however, make me extremely thankful that we live so close to so much, rather than being in the middle of nowhere like so many of these towns in California we passed.  Eeeeek.  Three cheers for bay area!!!!!

That's my brother...he was trying to block Sheba from jumping up into the driver's seat from the back.  She did not like this very much...hahaha.

On our drive up we stopped in San Jose for the night, because my wonderful husband was participating in half-time for the San Jose Earthquakes vs. LA Galaxy game at Stanford Stadium!  Soccer is definitely a bigger thing here in California than it is in Michigan (relatively, I mean, since this is still America we're talking about), which is good because we both enjoy it a lot.  Anyways, it was military appreciation night, my cutie hubby was one of the guys carrying that big flag out there, and I made it up to the stands JUST in time to see him!!!!  I mean, JUST in time.  Davy, Lauren, and I got stuck in traffic, had to go pick up our tickets, walk all the way around the gates, I ran up there and literally one second later the Air Force block marched out.  I think that God influenced the soccer-people to decide on 7 whole minutes of stoppage time, so that I could make it up there in time to cheer for my husband 0:)

 

I'm sure these pictures could speak for themselves, but... :)  The next morning we went into San Francisco for the day, and took Davy and Lauren to our very favoritest restaurant on the planet...PLOW.<3  Honestly, we are more than obsessed.  That is my perfect melt-in-your-mouth French Toast right there, with an apricot-lemon compote and mascarpone on top.  YUM FOREVER.

As usual we also went to Farley's in the morning during our 45-minute wait for a table at Plow.  This is my brother's mocha, and I love latte art very much, so I am including this :)  The coffee here is so stellar!!

Enjoying fro-yo is an essential part of any visit and we took Davy and Lauren to our favorite one of those as well :)  It's called Cultive and it's the bomb.  That's my tart yogurt + strawberries + blueberries + raspberries + organic granola that Sheba is trying to steal!!  Good to know she appreciates yummy food at least.

Davy, Lauren, and I went to see the big redwood trees while Rick was at work one day!  I was totally surprised to find out that military gets a free national park membership, so none of us had to pay to get in. :)  Such a blessing!  That was the first time I'd been out there and it's definitely crazy.  It's really hard to show in pictures how humongous those trees are!

The four of us also did a lovely & very satisfactory amount of shopping, with Rick being off work on the 4th of July.  We carried Sheba into the shops with us, and she definitely enjoyed being held and pampered.  Crazy babygirl, she is so spoiled!!!

I love him :)

I am so thankful that we got to have some fun hang-out time with them.  We never really got to all spend time together, even when Rick and I were in Michigan.  So it was definitely awesome and made us very happy!  Yey, good times :)

Alright world, I'm off to go move laundry to the dryer, it's been sitting in the washers waiting for a good two hours at this point.  Eeeek I'm a failure.  If any of y'all are on instagram, by the way, come find me @ samanthamcenhill!  Byebye!

new cities and old friendships.

One thing that is super difficult, being over 2,300 miles from our hometown, is maintaining relationships with people who we were close to back home.

Entering a life with the military means that we will consistently be moving new places, becoming parts of different communities every few years, having to say goodbye to old friends and go find new ones in new places, while friends back home grow distant to us and closer to each other.  It's definitely something that took a while to adjust to, especially for someone like myself who thrives on relational and emotional things.

Praise God though that there are some relationships in our lives that have not changed with the distance.  Rick has a couple of awesome best friends from home, who may not be able to spend as much time together now--but when they are together they pick up as if zero time has passed.  And it just so happened that one of them, Andrew A, had a show with his band out here in Santa Rosa this weekend!  This show was on a Sunday night right before my husband had to wake up at 4am the next morning...but we worked our butts off on Saturday to get everything done ahead of time, and ended up driving out to Santa Rosa after church in the morning.  And the reunion made it totally worth it!

 (Missing a bro, sad day!)

It is just funny how little inconveniences in our life make things seem so difficult.  On Saturday night we were so stressed out and frustrated with the timing of things, and it didn't really seem plausible to make it out to Santa Rosa; but yet on the drive home Sunday night we just talked about how thankful we were to have made the time to get out for the show, and how happy it makes my husband to get to invest in his friends' lives.  The earlier frustrations were totally worth it, and yet we didn't fully understand that until we sucked it up and chose to make time where we thought there wasn't any--and remembered that there are some friendships in Christ that don't fade.  And that in turn makes for a successful weekend :)

The band is We Are Leo, and they are totally awesome.  They always put on a stellar show and their music is amazing.  Check them their latest video RIGHT NOW! 0:)

 

That's all for now, I suppose.  Talk to y'all soon :)

-Samantha

A brief (well, it was originally) introduction to my favoritest person in the world.

The other day I saw my brother's absolutely lovely girlfriend Lauren write a post introducing my brother (her boyfriend, duh) on her blog.  And it was so funny and cute!!!  So I decided to do a similar thing about my cute hubby :)

This is my husband, Rick...

(He took me to the San Francisco Ballet and he actually enjoyed it with me!!!!  I could stop right here and you would already know that he is the most perfect kind of man.)

He is many wonderful things.  Including the following:

-Freaking gorgeous.  I mean, COME ON.  Just look at the guy.  It's kind of ridiculous, actually.  But for real, your spouse is always your standard of beauty and that is so, so true in my case.  ;)  Total perfection!

-A really amazing man of Christ.  He has the most encouraging faith and grounds me in so many ways.  I am such a worrier and a lot of the time he just brings me back down and reminds me of God's grace and provision.  He has this super sound trust in God, a huge amount of spiritual maturity and wisdom, and a honestly humble spirit about his life and the seasons he has gone through.  He is super duper patient with me, constantly shows me so much love through his actions and words, but also loves me enough to kind of give me a (metaphorical) kick in the butt when I need it.  Haha.  He is really inspiring to me :)

(He is also a tattoo enthusiast, three of which you can see here while cuddling Sheeby :)

-A sports star.  Haha, for real though, and he'll never tell you that himself, he's way too humble.  Try going to the gym with this guy, and you'll feel real pathetic real fast.  Haha...  (but, yknow, he also encourages me through my lack of athleticism, which is great!).  Besides being amazing at every sport he's ever played, he was also this ridiculous hockey star in high school.  He was was on the USA team for like, whatever the world-tournament-for-under-age-hockey is called...I have no idea...all I know is that he was totally awesome.  And that he runs like twice as fast as me, which makes me feel sad when I am on the treadmill next to him at the gym.  Hahaha.

-Super smart and ambitious.  My cute hubby has goals to become a doctor or a PA in the Air Force.  So much so that, even though he was offered multiple full-ride scholarships to universities for both hockey and football, he chose to turn them down, because he wouldn't have been allowed to be a pre-med major (they wanted him to have an easier major)...seriously, intelligence is sexyyy.  Now he's working towards going to IPAP at Fort Sam Houston Texas, where he will then be commissioned out as an officer and masters-degree-holding PA for the Air Force!  That's really cool.  I'm excited for his (and our) future and it's super encouraging to me, to see him just have a spirit of excellence and hard work in everything that he does. :)

(I like hugging him!)

-A total family man.<3  Seriously, everything he does makes me melt when I think about what an amazing dad he's going to be someday!!  I can't wait.  He is so caring and totally silly and sweet, and the most loving, giving person you could ever meet.  He has the biggest heart, especially for me and our future family.  I know it's going to be stellar. :)

-He is also my perfect & destined best friend.  Haha, but for real.  I was reminded of this fact after one thing he said maybe four months ago (and if you know me at all, you will understand):
         Rick: "Remember when I lived next to Texas Roadhouse?  Well sometimes I would just order
         a big order of the rolls for like $2, and take them home and just eat them all."
         Me: "WE WERE DESTINED TO BE BEST FRIENDS."

0:)  Haha.

I love him so dearly!!!  It still amazes me the way that God brought us together and is growing our marriage and our love.  So, yey hubby!  Yey for him being wonderful in so many more ways than I could fit on this page!!!!!

(P.s.- now that we are together here in CA, we get a takeout order of 2 huge salads & rolls from Texas Roadhouse nearly every weekend.  We've sadly become regulars...)

“Maybe that’s what it all comes down to. Love, not as a surge of passion, but as a choice to commit to something, someone, no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way. And maybe making that choice, again and again, day in and day out, year after year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all.”

-Emily Giffin

Goals...

Seeing as it's going to be 97 degrees outside this Friday, I think it's safe to say that summer is starting.  Weee!

My first two goals for this summer 2012 are as follows:

1.  Getting more consistent in the Word and spending time with God...D.I.S.C.I.P.L.I.N.E.  As always when life gets busy and crazy--especially in getting a job recently--I find myself failing to spend a lot of time and commitment in my relationship with the Lord, in comparison to how I can usually spend time with him.  Praising God today that he is constantly faithful to me even when I am not faithful to him.  It's such a bummer to have to say that I have been letting life get in the way of my time with God and growing my relationship with him.  It's embarrassing to have to say that and definitely humbling, it's so not where I want to be.  But I mean, praise God that, while we will never live up to the standard of perfection (and I have definitely fallen short) He still loves us and chose to save us and come into our hearts.  Living in grace is my world.  Taking today, brushing the dust off, and getting back up.  So, in short, my goal is more spiritual discipline.

2.  Getting just a couple of days off of work...one day a month is my goal!  My new job is awesome and I absolutely really enjoy it.  However, I am the single full-time worker for every weekend, both Saturday and Sunday.  Which means that, between the two of us, Rick and I do not have a single day off, to go away, have our fun adventures, etc.  I would like to hopefully get maybe one day off a month just simply to go into the city, or go to the beach, or anything of the sort.  I am really hoping I do not end up feeling resentful of my job simply because of our conflicting schedules, that we do not ever have a day off for the both of us.  Definitely going to be praying that this does not happen and that I can remain as positive about it as I am now!!

I'm not sure what else this summer holds so far but that's what I know right now is important to me!

Also--happy (belated) Memorial Day from Sheba and us ;)  Honestly praise God for our military and the sacrifices that they make.  I'm really thankful!!

-Samantha

Birthdays, life lessons, and the greatest hubby ever.

So...it's my birthday this week.  I'll be 21, yey!  I've never really been one at all to make a big deal out of my own birthday.  It just never seems like a big deal to me, but I'll definitely always be cool with the fun shopping money and all else that my mommy wants to lavish on me this month :) (love you moo!!)

However, when I saw the adverts in January for the San Francisco Ballet's production of Don Quixote--and then found out that the program was happening the week before my birthday, I not-so-subtly hinted to my husband that tickets for this incredible show would be the PERFECT way to celebrate.  Hehe 0:)

So, in the greatest-hubby-ever fashion that Rick is so good at, he followed through with awesome seats to the ballet (we were in the very front of the first balcony, right above the boxes--so worth the money).  On top of that, he planned out a whole day of adventures for the weekend, for us to have birthday fun in the city!  His work and school keeps us way too busy during the week, so the Saturday before was our solution.  And I have to say, it was pretty adorable watching Rick try to follow directions all by himself to keep our destinations a surprise...usually it is a team effort 0:)

We left bright and early (well, for me it was early--8:30 is sleeping in for him...) and started our day at our very favorite restaurant in the whole world--PLOW.  It is this tiny little breakfast/brunch place in the Potrero Hill neighborhood, and is literally the greatest.  Ever.  So we stuffed our faces, spent time talking to each other about how much we love Plow, and left feeling about 10 pounds heavier.  It was pretty perfect. ;)

Perfection on a plate.

After leaving the neighborhood with some yummy coffee, I was taken on another fun drive to an unknown destination!  Down the highway, along the beach and AMAZING ocean waves, and I finally saw a sign that said simply "zoo -->"!!  The San Francisco Zoo, that is :)  My hubby and I enjoy freaking out over animals' cuteness together, so we had a wonderful afternoon cooing at the snow leopards, bears, and specifically a baby gorilla who was learning to do somersaults!<3  BUT.  The highlight of the visit was still to come...

Fact about me for those who do not know: goats are literally my favorite animals on the planet.  I think they're the cutest things in the world and I just want to hug them all.  So, as we were entering the "children's zoo" area, I told Rick multiple times, "I wonder if they have a petting zoo.  I would literally die."  So, imagine my surprise when we made our way to the Family Farm, a FREAKING PETTING ZOO with the cutest little goats ever.  From a distance I could see people standing in there and petting the goats, and I literally doubled over and started crying for a second (a la Kristen Bell and the sloth coming to her birthday party).  No shame!!  Rick bought me a ton of petting zoo food, and I got to hang out with the goats and hug them and pet them and take pictures with them, ya know :)  It was awesome!!

Besties, you know how we do!

I was then taken for some time to relax, dog-watch (another of our favorite activities), and shop in the adorable Hayes Valley neighborhood--and eat cupcakes at Miette.  We shared a chocolate cupcake with strawberry buttercream...it was an unlikely combination but still delicious.  I refuse to get the same thing twice at Miette until we've tried them all, so I've still got a few more visits to go :)

So yummy!  Miette never disappoints.

Finally, we headed to my most anticipated event of the day...well, the only event I anticipated, since it was the only part I actually knew about ahead of time, haha!  We headed to the San Francisco Ballet for very last evening performance of Don Quixote.  It was absolutely A.MAZ.ING.  The main part of this Don Quixote story, which premiered here 9 years ago, revolves around two different characters (less important in the original version) and their love story; Don Quixote and Panza stay around more as supporting (and extremely comedic) characters.  It was so light hearted and fun, full of cute comedic moments and totally beautiful Spanish music and costumes.  The orchestra was absolutely divine and Ludwig Minkus's Spanish-style score was literally perfection.  And, of course (as it is the SF Ballet) the ballet company was absolutely incredible.  To someone like me, who is not actually skilled in it, the dancing looked literally perfect.  I was just super happy and transfixed the whole time watching it!!  Rick honestly enjoyed it too, which was definitely a good thing, considering the amount of money we spent on tickets ;)

Such an amazing performance!  Vanessa Zahorian © Erik Tomasson.

We like dressing up nice :)

With that lovely final act, we concluded our day of adventure!  We drove home and fell asleep within five minutes of getting home...tell tale sign of a long and successful day :)

So, life lessons learned this weekend:

1. If you can afford it, more expensive/closer-up tickets are definitely worth it for the experience.  (In all my past years as an orchestra/theatre/ballet/opera patron, I'd never followed this lesson before this past weekend...I think I've seen the light.)

2. My husband is the greatest.  For real.  He knows my heart and he takes advantage of it to the fullest :)

My new favorite things: Travis AFB edition.

I CAN'T BELIEVE it's already May and we've been here in California six months. Time has gone by so crazy fast.  It's crazy to think we'd already be over halfway done with our time in CA if Rick's orders hadn't changed...thank goodness for that!  I'm sure Mississippi is great, but we sure love it out here and are super excited to stay here a few more years :)

Rick and I share a car, so whenever I need to get somewhere, I come with him to the base, drop him off at work, and then go where I need to.  So I've spent quite a bit of time just hanging around on base, waiting to pick him up from work or PT.  And from the time that we've spent out here, I've fallen in love with a few different aspects of Travis.  Here's my top three:::

I am currently writing in this blog from my favorite corner of my favorite place around...and that is:

1. The Starbucks on base!  I've camped out in quite a few different ones around the area and this one's pretty much the greatest around.  It has 13 comfy chairs spread around (yup, I just counted), and it's totally chill and quiet all the time (that is, until retreat at 4:30).  And my chai is de-lic-ious.  I.love.it.so.very.much.

2.  The commissary.  We usually just do our grocery shopping off-base, since we live off-base.  And I thought we had a great-priced grocery store that we usually went to.  HOWEVER...last week I started going to the commissary for our groceries, and was pretty much just astounded by the amazingly low prices.  It's absurd.  Everything is cheap and nothing hurts (hahaha).  On Monday I bought a week's worth of dinner groceries, including a big package of chicken (which is pricier because I refuse to buy bone-in chicken), for $15.  Well played, commissary, you've earned my loyalty.

I got this 17-pound bag of cat food there for $10...when I had already been spending $7 on a THREE POUND BAG from our nearest grocery store to our apt.  Okay, commissary.  You win.

3.  Also--retreat itself.  For anyone who isn't familiar, at 4:30 (or whenever the end of duty day is on a base) retreat plays over the speakers, and then the national anthem.  And servicemembers salute, civilians stop and hold their hands over their hearts, and cars come to a stop on the road.  I just really enjoy it.  I enjoy the fact that no matter what busy day everyone is having, whether they are rushing somewhere or whatever--that for those 2 or 3 minutes, everything stops and respect is paid.  Yeah, it's the rules and you have to do it, but besides that, I just enjoy the way that everyone just stops no matter what and honors the flag, our country, each other.  I like it a lot.  Also--one time I was pulling right up to Rick to pick him up, then retreat started playing, so I stopped the car and got to stare at my sexy husband, looking so very ~military~ (haha) at attention, saluting in his blues ;)  So yeah, that was definitely the highlight of my week.

What are y'all's new favorite things lately?

Real talk: God provides, always.

So...

Lately God has been teaching me a lot about his provision. Sometimes I let my own pride get in the way and I try so hard to be self-sufficient. I try so hard to take care of things myself without stopping the crazy pace of life to seek God's will on things. If you know me you know I've been going insane job-hunting for a couple of months, nonstop. I had gotten so frustrated (honestly, PRAISE GOD for my loving and encouraging husband.) But on Friday I randomly decided to stop in a store and check if they were hiring...turns out they were doing interviews that weekend, he took my application right then, we went through a whole interview, and he made it sound like I would most likely be getting the job after he gets my background check back?? I am really trying not to get ahead of myself. If there's one thing I've learned from this job hunt is that I definitely CAN NOT do things on my own, like I try to do in my own sinful pride. When I turn it over to God he takes care of it however is his will for me. So now I am just praying for favor in this situation and that things work out!! It is out of my hands.

Learning to rest in honest trust that God will provide all that we need, is a lesson that I feel like I've re-learned so many times in the past--only to somehow get back to the same place of trying to rely on my own strength, trying to keep things in my own little hands rather than giving them to the one who has his hand on this entire world. It's disconcerting to realize that this has once again happened lately...I know it's because I have let the busy-ness of life get in the way of the important things. I heard someone say this once--if satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. And it's so true. The never-ending buzz of busy days is the dumbest--and easiest--way to pull us away from the close and amazing constant fellowship with God.

It's super humbling to realize this and to admit it on such a public place. But I'm human and I am so, so imperfect. So, although it's not the ideal place I'd like to be in, it's also not a surprise, not to me and not to Christ; he knows how much I suck on my own, and that's why he chose to save me. But even through my times of selfish pride, God's love for me never wavers. His faithfulness to me never wavers, even when mine does.

...that's awesome.

Anyways, lately I have been just trying to slow down. Get so much more intentional in relying on God instead of trying to take care of things myself. And it's funny that the day right after I repented to God about this, and asked him to change my heart and use me how He wants here...I walked into a store on a whim (with no hiring-sign in the window or anything) and happened into a good 2 to 3 hours of interviewing and working out possible scheduling. Whether I end up getting the job or not, I don't believe that was a coincidence...

God is good, always. He provides!

And here's a freaking cute picture of Sheba for good measure :)

First real post...fill in the blanks friday!

I first saw these on http://thelittlethingswedo.blogspot.com and decided to join the trend...

1. Today is a great day because, It was sunny and 90 degrees out!! Honestly, I have been waiting for the rainy season to be over for what seemed like forever. I got to wear a new summer dress today and just enjoy being super warm :)

2. Tomorrow I will be going to San Francisco with Rick. We volunteer with the Marine Mammal Center on Saturdays and it is a great reason for us to make sure and get out and enjoy the city whenever we can.  I absolutely love it there, gosh.

3. My favorite time of day is the evening, because I get to make Rick dinner and help him unwind from his long days. I really like being there and being able to serve him through household things & cooking. I think that is definitely something that God blessed me with (cooking that is, not cleaning particularly...HAHA), and it's a way that I can serve my husband and be a Christ centered wife for him :) so it makes me really happy to be able to do that for him each night.

4. Sometimes you just have to change plans a good 4 or 5 times before something works out. Education plans+military complications, I'm looking at you...

5. A song that I just can't get enough of lately is "The Sweater Song" by Hedley. It reminds me of military life and makes us smile when we think of future deployments.

6. My favorite accessory is a bow or flower headband in my hair...and my rings of course!! My favorite accessories of all time 0:)

7. My favorite thing about this week was taking Sheba to the park yesterday. She was so excited to be let off her leash that she literally TORE around in tight little circles, running as fast as she could until she was practically sideways to the ground. I was dying laughing. It was awesome.

Hello, world!

This is my first post on blogspot! I have been craving a place to document life that isn't interrupted by "cute photos" and all the random things of Tumblr. So here we are.

My name's Samantha! My husband is Rick. This is us. :)

Rick is an active duty USAF Airman, and I am a student and housewife extraordinaire...for now (I am riding the struggle-bus on the job hunt). We're stationed at Travis AFB, about 45 minutes outside of San Francisco. This blog will basically just be somewhere for me to post my thoughts, my life in recipes, what is going on in our lives, & what God is teaching us. So. Hopefully I stick with this.!