Oh Baby, Oh Baby

Such a lot has happened since I graduated from Humboldt State in May! Life hasn't exactly been going according to plan, well, at least not according to my plan. But does it ever really? I thought that after graduation I'd be a shoe-in for some environmental company or department somewhere in the area, but my ideas of what life has in store for me must have been completely off. I've spent my time *complaining* enough about not having a job by now and I am on to bigger and better things.

First of all, let's get on with the big news that most of you already know by now....Oh, baby, we're having a baby!!!! Yup, not exactly the "get a job first, then have a baby" plan that we were aiming for. But honestly, we couldn't be happier and the timing actually seems pretty perfect right about now. I am currently 16 weeks and 4 days pregnant and loving every second of it. I've been very luck so far "cross fingers" because I've had it pretty easy. No morning sickness, no major fatigue, no food aversions (or at least none that have stuck!). Honestly, most days I don't even feel pregnant except for my slowly growing belly and pants that won't close anymore. This week at our Dr.'s appointment it really struck me that I was pregnant when we got to see out tiny peanut kicking it's chubby little legs all over the place. And considering that my tummy actually feels more like there's a baby in there and less like I've eaten too many corn dogs in the last few months, I'd say this is the start of realizing that, yes, I'm pregnant! Of course for Mike it's a little different, and overwhelming. He can't feel what I feel, so he is going to have to find other ways to realize that we're actually having a baby. He swears that it's a girl, but lately has been having cold feet....especially when I tell him that he is going to feel dumb if it's a boy. LOL. The Dr. tried to see if the baby was a boy or girl at our last appointment, but considering that I am only 16 weeks it was too hard to tell. After seeing the ultrasound however, I actually think it's a girl now. I had a sneaking suspicion before that it was a boy, but after seeing that image on the ultrasound I've changed my mind. we will find out with some degree of certainty on January 11th (unless I can weasel my way in for an earlier ultrasound), so I guess until then we wait!!!!

On other notes, considering that my life has taken a detour from my original plan, I've decided to challenge myself with some new goals. Since I have quite a bit of time on my hands, and I am currently a stay-at-home mommy-to-be, I see this time in our lives as a perfect opportunity to do what we have always talked about. BE GREEN! We have always thought that to be green we had to have money, considering that the coolest eco-clothes and organic food is usually the most expensive. But I a challenging myself to make our life a healthy, natural, and affordable one. I truly beleive that we can be green and frugal at the same time. So here goes my journey to being green, some might say that it is the road to sustainability. I see it as a challenge!!!

Along with my new enviro-goals, I've also decided to start up another blog so that anyone who so desires can follow our road to greenification. I've also started writing a book, the topic is somewhat ify...it could go two ways. But I've written one paragraph and I think it's pretty dang good! I figure I have to do something with my time, and making list of baby stuff and walking the dog just isn't fulfilling my goals anymore! Blogs, books, green challenges.... sounds like a pretty good life to me!

Stay tuned for more!

<3

I'm a Master....Graduation from Graduate School!

Long time no post! Hola! I am so very excited because this weekend I graduate from my Environment and Community program at Humboldt State University! I did it! My rather lengthy thesis has been edited, formatted, read, re-edited, re-formatted, copied, sent in, and accepted! Along with the thesis, the dreaded signature page (which was sent to Washington D.C., back to Sac, driven to Humboldt, and then sent again back to D.C., and then back to Humboldt) has safely arrived at it's destination in the graduate studies office with some minor changes and the same old signatures! I am so happy to finally be finished with this massive thesis, but also sad because it's all over. Mike and I moved so quickly from Humboldt that I feel like I missed out on my last semester of enjoying the beach, plaza, old-town Eureka, and redwoods. Although our move back to Sac and the job that was responsible for it was definitely a blessing, I still miss and sometimes ache for Humboldt. I keep thinking about the field trip that I took to Orleans to visit local farms. During that field trip I dipped my feet into one of the most beautiful parts of the Trinity river. Reminiscing on the last two years makes me happy, but I am also glad to have moved on, glad to have found my way back to myself again, glad to have grown into the strong, confident woman I am today. I am not boasting, just simply rejoicing in the fact that the last two years have put me and Mike through many trials, and we have emerged as stronger individuals and a stronger couple. Maybe I will finally get that career, maybe I'll go for my PhD at Santa Cruz, maybe we'll have babies. Who knows where we will be in two more years? Rumor has it that once you have touched the waters of the Trinity river you will find your way back sometime later in your life. Maybe that trip to Orleans was fate.

Wrapping it Up

Happy New year, 12 days late! Next week will start the last semester of my graduate program. I will not be attending any classes but I will be working on my thesis and working for my Professor studying hydroelectric power plants. Mike has been searching for careers in Sacramento and surrounding counties like a mad man these last two weeks and we can't wait to leave Humboldt, after-all, we have worn out our welcome and I think the county is starting to tell us that. As much as we have tired to make our little place a home, we are waiting for something better to come along. The thought of having jobs and being done with school is a thought that is unmatched in my brain right now. I am prepared to stay here until I graduate in May, and I still have prior commitments here such as a thesis defense hopefully sometime in April, meetings with my boss/professor, and meetings with my committee. But overall, I would be thrilled if we moved in May, April, March! Lately, I feel like there is no world outside of my little cave of an apartment. The table and the couch have become my office, and the only words that seem to drift into my mind are about the convenience of food, quality, price, organic, expensive, local, hydroelectric power, energy usage, small hydels, India, Nigeria, China, ah! I used to have hobbies. I used to talk to friends. I used to watch movies and think only about the images on the screen and not about the loads of articles I still have to read! But that was before graduate school. The other day Mike mentioned that he might want to get his graduate degree, maybe online, and all I could do was smile and nod, while really I was thinking, NOOOOOO! Haha, in all reality, if he wanted to get his masters that would be fine, but I think we both just want stability. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...it's so close that I can feel the sun, in this case it's not a metaphor for death but a metaphor for returning to life!