Grateful

Lately J and I have been going through what I am now thinking of as our "greedy phase."

My Mom has always said that your 20's and 30's is your "acquiring" phase. Your 40's and 50's are your "content with things" phase, and your 60's and beyond are your "quit hoarding it" phase (at least in her opinion of the current generations). I am apt to agree with her based upon my limited knowledge and life experience.

It all starts when you get your first place and first paychecks. Time to fill up the place, right? Then you get married (or maybe you got married first, doesn't really matter...) Wedding registries are consuming: towels, linens, china, appliances. Maybe it's me, but I was pretty shocked when recently a friend of mine registered for DVDs and board games. What?! anybody else seen this breech of etiquette? OK, that's beside my point.

J and I are living off of my income while he is in graduate school. We are pretty good at sticking to our budget, but temptation is always there.

We have a beautiful 1 bed/1 bath 800 sq. foot apartment that we love. BUT, we are now thinking about a house. And of course, we don't really like any that are within our budget, and suddenly our conversations have begun to stray to looking at houses, say $25K above our budget. Can we make that payment work? Can we dicker down the price? I think we are being unrealistic with the house idea, currently. But it feels greedy to me when I think about how lucky we are to be living in our current apartment, and to even be able to think about buying a house right now.

We both drive cars manufactured in 2008. These cars have at least 10, if not 20 years left in them. But guess what? Now we think we want an SUV.  I especially do once we have kids. I know that plenty of people with kids drive cars, but I just want one, and if I can justify it by saying it's for our future children...

We both enjoy expensive hobbies, and while it isn't necessary to have all of the current and "best" supplies and equipment, that's what we want. Even though we are more than equipped with what we currently have.

We had a long discussion about this in the car the other night. We both agree that we are being greedy and are both going to make a conscious effort to be grateful with what we have.  So far, it has been a good thing. That night in the car we each listed off 5 different things that we are grateful for and why. It, surprisingly, was a bit harder than we had expected.

One of the first things I did was unsubscribe from receiving retailers e-mails. I still get a couple of my faves, but losing a lot of the others has made me not think about what is "missing" from my closet for a while--and I love it!

The house, eh who knows. The SUV, tabled. The budget, sticking to it fastidiously.

I am grateful!

Sleep

or lack thereof.

Alcohol makes me sleepy before it makes me goofy. 1-2 glasses of wine/drinks makes me want to nap immediately, 3-4 glasses of wine and I've got the giggles.

But, no matter how much or how little I have, I never sleep well. I fall asleep quickly, but within an hour I've got to pee, and the next hour I'm too hot, and the next hour who knows why I'm looking at the clock, but I am, etc. If I go to bed around 12-12:30 and have had a drink, it's pretty much a guarantee that I'll be up the next morning at 6...and grouchy.

I know there have been multiple medical studies looking into alcohol and sleep and many of them have shown that alcohol interferes with sleep quality. Yep, that's me for sure! and I don't like it.

J and I very much enjoy meeting up with friends for a drink around 8-9 pm, relaxing for an hour or two and then bed. I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to be the party-pooper who orders water at the local tavern. Boo!

We are not big drinkers, and in no way am  I a lush. I just really enjoy my 1-2 drinks per week, I'm just sad they don't like me back.

Vacation!

J and I have booked our first vacation as a married couple since our honeymoon. In March, we will be heading to the island of Maui, Hawaii for 7 days. This trip will be a celebratory vacation for us: my birthday, our second wedding anniversary, and J's graduation from graduate school. We are beyond excited!

We will be sharing a condo with my parents, but my parents are very active and easy-going people. We find them to be great travel companions based upon previous trips. J gets really bored on vacations if we don't have activities to do. I'm usually very happy on a beach with a mai tai and good book for a week, but marriage is all about compromise...

Anyone been to Maui before? Any recommendations for activities and restaurants? We will be staying in Kihei. This gives us easy access to the town of Lahaina and the posh resorts of Wailea.

Here is the view from the lanai of our condo from its listing on VRBO.

Is it March yet?

Camping

Over the 4th of July we went camping and hiking with a group of friends. 11 humans and 2 canines. It was a glorious day. Yes, day. J and I did not actually stay and camp with the group. Our weekend was so full that we could only camp for the day. (But that's OK, I enjoy sleeping in my own bed!)

As is typical in the Pacific North West, summer doesn't start until July 5th, so yes we were wearing jackets and sweatshirts quite a bit.

I love this picture of us. We look so natural and like we're truly having fun. (Notice my crow's feet...when did those appear?!)

Oh, and there was still snow. Lots of snow. We gained a lot of elevation in our hike. I thought I was in decent shape, this hike taught my otherwise. My glutes and thighs screamed for 3 days!

The ladies. Thank goodness for the ladies, they are so awesome!

Our entire group with Mount St. Helens in the background, partially obstructed with clouds.

J in front of Mt St. Helens and Spirit Lake, which was obliterated when St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. Spirit Lake has since refilled, regrown organisms, and now acts as fertilizer for the regrowth of the area.

That divit in the mountain towards the top right of the photo is the crater. Below is a much better stock photo of the crater with steam plume escaping. 

photo credit here

Iron Creek Falls was near our campground, so we stopped by and took a quick hike down to revel in its beauty. 

 Back at the campsite, J and Acer became great friends. This is a man that needs a dog...once we get a backyard...

What a fantastic day! Worth all of the long hours on the road and screaming leg muscles. Can't wait to do it again. Maybe next time we'll stay and actually camp!

Book Report: One Thousand White Women

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus was an exceptional book!

May Dodd led an extraordinary life. Committed to an insane asylum by her family for co-habitating with the father of her children, May leads a bleak life. Until, the Cheyenne Indians and President Grant make a peace treaty involving the trade of one thousand women for one thousand horses.

May is chosen to be a part of the program and travels to Cheyenne country to meet her husband, Little Wolf and to bear his children.

May and the other white brides must learn to assimilate to the Cheyenne's nomadic lifestyle, while trying to teach their new people about the WASP lifestyle as reservation life is looming...

One Thousand White Women is written in the form of May Dodd's diaries. Between her journals, a letter that made it home to her children, and a Catholic monk, May's great-grandchildren are brought together as a family, and learn her story.

The book synopsis from Fergus' website:

 One Thousand White Women begins with May Dodd's journey west into the unknown. A government program, in which women are brought west as brides for the Cheyenne, is her vehicle. What follows is the story of May's adventures: her marriage to Little Wolf, chief of the Cheyenne nation, and her conflict of being caught between two worlds, loving two men, living two lives. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.

Be sure to read all parts of the book: author's note, introduction, and epilouge.

COHEN