Life In Lake County: The One Year Mark

Tomorrow will be the one year mark of when we loaded up our belongings, left Las Vegas and started our new life is Lake County.

And now I'm here to give my official review on this place we call "home".

To be honest, I feel pretty much the same that I did after our first month of being here. Some days I love it and some days I don't.

I'm sure you've heard people say the following about Las Vegas: "it's a great place to visit, but I'd never want to live there." Well I would second that notion, but sometimes I feel like it applies to this place as well. I LOVED coming out here with Jake to visit his family when we were dating. I was in love with this place the second I arrived. I loved that it was beautiful, and peaceful, and that it just seemed so perfect. I held this same sentiment for many years, and then it became my permanent home. And that's when the blinders came off.

I remember when we first arrived I searched and searched and then searched some more for a job. I felt hopeless and discouraged and thought this move was a horrible mistake. And then I found a part time job, and still wasn't sold on the idea, but we made do. Then I found another part time job and things started to look a little better. Because let me tell you, no city in this world is going to seem appealing when you can't afford anything! So we settled into our lives and things got a little more comfortable.

Jake's business has been doing great, and even though I very rarely see him, I remain hopeful that one day the business will be booming even more and he will be able to hire more people to take some of the load off. And as of yesterday, I was able to quit my job at the furniture store because my other job is going to be full time! So on the job front, things are looking up and I'm so grateful for that.

Another positive is that we have Jake's family nearby. They are all so wonderful and have done so much to make the transition easier for us. I'm so grateful for this as well, but there are times when being around his family makes me jealous that I'm not around my family. I know that I'll probably always feel this way, but I also remain hopeful that we'll eventually be in a place (financially) that will allow me to travel home more often.

Another complaint I have is the lack of people our age in the area. To go from college where you're surrounded by people your age, and then to have jobs that employ a lot of people in your age group, to then move to a place where people in their mid 20's are the minority, well, it's hard. I'm not saying we're the only people in our age group that live here, but there really aren't a lot. Yes, we've met a few that are very nice, but you don't become friends with someone just because they're the same age as you. There has to be chemistry. Like dating.

Let's also discuss the lack of retail and food establishments in the area. Safeway and Kmart. Those are the only two places I frequent on a regular basis. Kmart has been making me angry though with their high prices so I'm considering switching to Walmart. It's a little farther, but I think I will end up saving money in the long run. I'm getting off track though...the point I'm trying to make is that while I might not be a big "purchaser", I'm definitely a "looker" and there is nothing to look at in Lake County. I also dislike that I don't have easy access to a craft store. I could spend all day in a craft store. And now for the restaurants....well I'm sure this doesn't require much of an explanation. If the only stores we have are Safeway and Kmart then I'm sure you can imagine what we have in the way of eating choices. One good thing I can say though is I'm sure we've saved a lot of money by not having anywhere to shop or eat. So maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Once we're rich though I'm sure I'll be even more annoyed with it ;)

Alright, I'm pretty much out of things to say, but don't want to end it on a negative note, so I'll reiterate how beautiful it is here. Because it really is gorgeous. Sometimes when I'm running in the morning I feel like it's not even real. Mountains, vineyards, orchards and overall beautifullness, but could someone take care of all those prickly plants that line the sides of the roads? Because they're annoying me like no other!

P.S. don't expect to hear from me for a while, because even though tomorrow marks the anniversary of making Lake County our "home", I'm leaving on Sunday to go back to the place that will always really be home.

My Lucky Day

So my obsession with Anthropologie is obvious. I think it's also well understood that I very rarely ever buy anything there because I can't afford it. It's fun to dream though so I'm constantly on the Anthropologie website wishing and dreaming. Well today I found the deal of the century. I check the "sale" section of the website obsessively and any time I'm lucky enough to actually be in the store I always head straight to the "sale" section there as well. I always enjoy the entire store and the entire website, but I know that if I'm ever going to make a purchase then it's going to have to be something that's been discounted. Well today I was perusing the website and stumbled upon something that I'm sure was a mistake on the part of whoever manages the site, but I jumped on it.

I found this for $9.95!!! It was originally $68! Go there right now and get one for yourself! It's also available in red.

Our New (Old) Dresser

About a week ago we mentioned to mom #2 that we needed another dresser. She has a couple extra ones in the garage, but they're pretty big so she suggested we take the one from the bathroom at the office. So we did. And it's so cute and looks great in our room.

Speaking of our bedroom, remember when I got all of those calendars at the beginning of the year, but I didn't think I'd actually use one of them because I wanted to frame some of the pictures? Well I did. I think I made it to March before I couldn't wait any longer.

My grandparents gave us the calendar for Christmas. The pages are covers of old OSU football programs. The one in the middle says TCU vs. A&M because OSU was originally Oklahoma A&M. Don't confuse it with Texas A&M. It's not the same.

Speaking of OSU, I'm going to be making a trip up there when I'm in Texas. It's only going to be a day trip, but I convinced one of my old roommates to ride up there with me. We're going to meet a couple of our friends for lunch and walk around the campus. I know it's kinda crazy to drive 4 hours one way just to have lunch and walk around, but I miss it so much and haven't been back since I graduated so I'm willing to spend 8 hours in the car.

I'm getting so excited for my trip home. It's been way too long!

The Silent Film Festival & Two Triple D Places

Our Saturday started out a little disappointing because we weren't able to go flying, but the rest of the day more than made up for the disappointment. We headed down to San Francisco at about 8:30 and stopped in Santa Rosa so Jake could get some clothes at Kohls. We made it to San Fran about 11:00 and stopped for lunch at Tommy's Joint, a Diner's, Drive in, and Dives restaurant. Jake had a pastrami sandwich and I had a turkey enchilada. We were less than impressed with this place, but we were able to scratch one off of our list so it was still a success.


After lunch we headed downtown to do some shopping. I found a shirt for $5 at Old Navy and some shorts for $14. Then, at The Gap, I found a shirt for $7 and a skirt for $5! I also spent a long time in Anthropologie, but talked myself out of everything that I loved because it was all too expensive.

The shopping made us tired and we had some time to kill before the silent film so we stopped for some frozen yogurt. Now, I'm not usually a "take pictures of your food" type person unless something is really amazing. And this yogurt was really amazing. It wasn't one of those places were you put unlimited toppings in your bowl, but the special flavor they had that day more than made up for the lack of toppings. It was grapefruit sorbet and it was so wonderful. Jake didn't like it because he doesn't like grapefruit, but if you do like grapefruit then this stuff is for you. I want some more right now.


We headed down to the Castro after our snack and got in line for our movie, The Strong Man. It was made in 1926 and was directed by Frank Capra. I guess he was a big deal during the silent film era. The movie was actually really funny and I didn't miss the voices at all. There was a man playing the piano to go along with the film and he was so talented. The music definitely tells the story in a silent film. Well that and the exaggerated movements of the characters.

This is the kind of picture you get when you ask a stranger to take one.

After the movie we headed down to Pier 23 to go to another Triple D restaurant. This one was MUCH better than the first one of the day. We sat outside and watched the boats, ate some calamari as an appetizer and we both had fish tacos for our entree. Yum, yum, yum.


We headed home after dinner and were exhausted by the time we finally made it back. It was a great day though and I'm excited for our next adventures.

Chateau Montelena

Our visit to Chateau Montelena was amazing. It was so beautiful and the wine was great. Our friend that works there gave us a tour and we felt very VIP because they don't do tours for the public anymore. The winery is a huge castle and there's a lake on the property. We never knew any of this existed because it's not on the side of the road. It's hidden back in the middle of the vineyard and looks like something straight out of a fairytale.

Exciting Weekend Ahead

It's been a pretty uneventful week, but fun times are coming....

When 2:00 rolls around and I'm officially free for the weekend we're headed to Chateau Montelena for some wine tasting. One of our friends works there so we'll be visiting with her as well. I'm so excited to see the castle!

Then, if it's not toooo hot we'll go to the Friday Night Concert in the Park in Lakeport. They've had this every week for the past month and a half, but we haven't made it down there yet.

On Saturday morning we're waking up early to go flying! I haven't been flying with Jake yet so it should be interesting. We're taking off from Sonoma County Airport and will land at Mendocino County Airport. We aren't staying long though because plane rentals aren't cheap. Let's hope that the weather is nice and that the coastal fog doesn't change our plans!

We also can't stay too long because we have to be in San Francisco by 4:00 for the Silent Film Festival! We're seeing The Strong Man. Seeing a silent film is on Jake's list of 50 things to do before he's 50 so he's really excited. I'm hoping to make it to a Triple D restaurant while we're down there, but we'll just have to wait and see how that goes.

I'll try to post pictures of all our adventures on Sunday!

I Don't Shop At The Mall

I shop at mom #2's house (or the Salvation Army, but it's one in the same). Here are some treasures I picked up the other night.

We were most excited about Heidi. We're going to have a little girl one day and name her Heidi. And a little boy named Holden. Everyone be on the lookout for a vintage version of The Catcher in the Rye.

And I've saved the best for last. Welcome to my very own Sunglasses Hut!

My old pair of sunglasses were from Wal-Mart. They were $5. These are all super fancy brands. I've just inherited pairs of Brighton, Ray Ban, Cooper, Tommy Hilfiger, BCBG and Serengeti. I feel so cool when I wear them! Sorry ladies, she only had one son so she can't be your mother in law too.

Oh, and then she sent these home with Jake the other day

They're flowers from her garden, not the expensive florist! And she told Jake we can keep the vase!

Don't be fooled though, she's only gives us things because she wants us to take good care of her when she's old ;)

We Live in the Country

And this was our entertainment on Friday night:

Not quite like the PBR in Las Vegas, but it was still fun. My camera battery died during the event so I only got a couple pictures. Luckily I managed to snap a shot of my favorite thing during the entire rodeo:

It's a mini horse! I have to have one of these. It was the cutest thing ever! I'm going to train it to live inside the house. It's basically like a big dog, right?? I'm sure Sydney would love it too. I haven't sold Jake on the idea yet, but I'm sure he'll come around.

The rodeo is a big deal in these parts. They had a parade for it on Saturday morning. I was at work, but could see part of it from the window. They also had a dance on Saturday night that was free with admission to the rodeo. I definitely wanted to go, but we already had plans so we decided that we're going to learn how to line dance and go next year. I'll probably need to get a cowboy hat and some boots.

What I've Been Reading

This is another one of those books that I've had forever, but never got around to reading. I'm so glad I finally did though. Augusten Burroughs is hilarious. He's VERY similar to David Sedaris. I know this book was published several years ago and the movie came out a long time ago, so I'm sure that most people have already read this, but if you haven't then read it now!

After reading Running With Scissors I got on Amazon and ordered this one and Dry by Burroughs. I haven't read Dry yet, but Possible Side Effects was just as great as Running With Scissors. While Running focused on Burroughs childhood and adolescence, Side Effects focuses more on his adult life, with some childhood stories thrown in.

This is a very special book that I've been meaning to read for a while. Jake's Grandma wrote it! It's a compilation of stories from Papa Charlie's childhood. Papa Charlie was a wild little kid. My favorite stories from the book are when he convinced his sister to parachute off the roof of the house (more than once!) and when he put actual bombs underneath his house. His poor mother.

Chelsea Handler had Justin Halpern on her show a while back to promote this book. Halpern's claim to fame came from a Twitter account he set up to document the ridiculous things his dad said. He accumulated thousands of followers and then a publisher contacted him to make a book. The book is a compilation of quotes and very short stories. It's definitely a book that will make you laugh out loud.

Grapes and a Garden Update

The grapes are growing! The grapes are growing!

It will be a while before they're edible, but I can hardly contain my excitement. I've been waiting so long.

In other gardening related news, some of our plants are doing great, and some of them are just awful. We definitely planted too early and most of them could not recover from the numerous freezes. The tomato plants are looking good and some of the pepper plants are doing okay, but it looks like our dreams of amazing salsa will have to wait until next year.

Fourth of July Fail

On Sunday evening we headed down to Lakeport to watch the fireworks display over the lake. I was really excited about this and was so surprised at the massive number of people that were in the park. We got there a bit early so we walked around, enjoyed a sno cone, and then walked about a mile to the grocery store to get some sandwiches. Then we walked back to our car, grabbed a blanket to sit on, and headed back to the park. We found a nice little spot to put our blanket and then we sat down to wait for the show to begin. And then we waited, and waited, and waited some more. Finally at 10:00 we'd had enough and decided to pack up and leave. Jake had to wake of early the next morning and we were tired of being in a crowd of people. Then, when we were driving home, at 10:07, we noticed that the show had started. We turned around and pulled off on the side of the road to watch. And we were glad that we hadn't stayed. The show was pitiful. We then decided that the Forth of July should be our designated travel time each year because I'm pretty sure that every other show in the country was better than the one we witnessed this year. However, I was grateful for the sno cone and the opportunity to spend time with Jake so the night wasn't a complete failure.

Wedding Album

It only took me 9.5 months, but we finally have a wedding album! Yay! We actually purchased this album forever ago, maybe even before the big day, when Michael's was having a sale on albums. I also got the scrapbook paper a long time ago as well (during another sale), but it was the darn uploading of the pictures to the CVS website that took me so long! Here are a few pictures of our pictures ;)

Sydney says "hi" again!

I know it's not as fancy and cool as some of the professionally made albums that you can get these days, but I think it's perfect for us and it really reflects the feel of our wedding. I can't wait to show our kids one day.

I also put pictures in this cool box type photo album that we received as a gift. It's perfect for holding the pics that didn't make it into the album, as well as pictures that were take by friends and family.

Hanging Around....

Life has been pretty uneventful lately. There are a lot of activities going on in Lake County during the summer though so hopeful we will be able to do some fun things in the near future. But for now, please entertain yourself with things that we just hung up around the house:

1.) My plates!

I wanted to hang them in the living room/dining area, but Jake put his foot down on that one. They're too "old lady" for him, but he compromised and let me put them in the kitchen. He typically isn't one to say "no" to something so I know that these things must really bother him. I don't really love the 1st or 3rd plates from the left so I think I'll look for replacements the next time I'm at the Salvation Army.

2.) Weird bird painting

This is the picture I mentioned in a previous post. Mom #2 found this at the Salvation Army a few weeks ago. It's very festive and is hanging in the kitchen.

3.) Wedding Pictures!

I finally had our wedding pictures printed. I'd done a few of them before to make mini albums for our families and to give others away as gifts, but I finally sat down, went through the disk and uploaded all of them to the CVS.com photo center. Word of caution though...be careful when you type in the quantity desired. I meant to type "2" on a particular picture, but accidentally typed "22". So if anyone wants a picture of Jake reciting his vows then let me know!

We received most of these frames as wedding gifts and I love how they look all grouped together. The picture in the middle is the official Pear Festival Poster from a few years ago. Also given to us by mom #2. P.S. about the Pear Fest, I contacted some organizers a few months ago to see how to go about entering the poster contest and they said they aren't having the contest this year, they're just using a poster from a few years ago. This made me sad.

I got these two frames at Bed Bath and Beyond for $7.49 each several months ago. They're smaller than I'd like, but I can't really complain for $7.49!

I should really get some curtains for those windows....
And Sydney says "hi"

Here are some close up shots

Well that concludes our tour of "things hanging around the house." Hope you enjoyed. Tomorrow you can look forward to pictures of the wedding album that I made!

Oh, and Happy Forth of July!!