If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that I’ve been traveling all over the place! Today I thought I’d fill everyone in on where I’ve been, where I am now, where I’m headed to next, and WHY :)
While I’d like to think that the main things that define my life are my faith, my hubby, and my passion for my job, lately I’ve learned that what most dictates my life (and the path it takes) is the fact that I’m an Air Force spouse. I didn’t just marry my husband, the pilot, I quite literally married the military, and have had to learn how to plan my life around moving (4 times in 5 years!), deployments, training dates, long trips, etc. I realize it might sound like I’m complaining but I’m totally not – The Air Force and military life thus far has been SO good to us! We’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of new places, meet friends from all over the country (and world!), build our savings, and so much more.
While people might think it would be hard to move so much, I actually find myself getting a bit restless when we haven’t moved in a while. I’m always wondering what adventure will be next, and excited to make some more friends and memories :) Well, the time has come and no more wondering here: Jake and I found out a few weeks ago that our next stop is McChord AFB in Seattle, Washington! This was our first choice for a new base assignment and we couldn’t be happier. Not only do we have TONS of family and friends up in the Northwest, but from a web design standpoint, it is such an ideal place for me to be located for creative inspiration and networking. As of now,we will be heading to the Seattle area sometime in September – Can I get a “woo hoo”?!
Okay, now to switch subjects… At the beginning of the year (prior to knowing about this move), Jake and I made a wish list of all the places we want to go together and things we want to do in California while we live there. Granted, I’ve been to most of these places having grown up in Cali, but we’ve never been to these places together, or at least not for a long time. I figured we’d have at least a year to cross these trips off the list but now our time is running out fast! We’re now trying to schedule every weekend we can with something on our list :)
To further put a time crunch in completing our “list”, Jake found out in January that the AF would be sending him to Alabama for 8 weeks in March for Squadron Officer School (SOS). Since it’s a quick 2 month training, most military wives opt to not go with their husbands, but since I have a job that I can do from any location in the world – well, as long as there is WiFi – it seemed silly to force an unnecessary separation from eachother. So, we found a furnished, dog-friendly apartment in Montgomery and started preparation for the long haul driving across the country.
Before we left though we decided to take one more quick opportunity to cross an item off our list: To go to LA together for a weekend for the first time since we graduated college down there! It was a super fast trip, but we managed to squeeze in everything we wanted – a beach day at Huntington, a trip to Biola to reminisce on our college days, a visit to our very first apartment together, a double date night with good friends, and a fun afternoon in Downtown LA, which included shopping at the Grove, celebrity hunting, and dinner at SUR (my most recent “Bravo” obsession, haha… no shame people!).
We also took another weekend trip to visit family and friends, celebrate my baby brother’s 10th bday, and celebrate Jake’s 27th bday! I’m going to miss being only a few hours away from “home” when we move.
A few days later we packed up our bags and piled into the car (dogs and all!) to start our 5 day trek across the U.S. to Montgomery, AL. Thankfully we had gorgeous 70 degree weather the whole way!
Now we’re all settled into our apartment, both back to work, and have been having a good time meeting new friends out here. One thing we’ve quickly learned is that the Air Force is seriously a small world. Literally everyone we’ve met knows other AF people that we know, and surprisingly most of the other wives I’ve met so far are actually from California so we have a lot in common! We’ve already joined an awesome couple’s bible study on base and have made weekend plans for Florida, Nashville, Atlanta, and *hopefully* New Orleans! Add working every weekday, going to the gym, multiple daily trips to the dog park, and AF social events in there and whew! We’re definitely not going to be bored during these 8 weeks :)
And things don’t slow down after that! In May, Jake graduates from his Master’s program (YAY hubby!!!) and then we head back to CA for 3ish months where Jake will step back into a busy flying schedule, and I will soak up every minute of the amazing California sunshine and summertime with my friends and family. Jake and I will also be crossing off our “CA adventure list” every possible chance we get and will definitely be taking a few quick trips up to Washington for house hunting.
So what about work during all this “life” stuff? Well, I definitely have to take a second to say how thankful I am for my job, my incredible business partner, my awesome clients, and the ability to work seamlessly no matter where we move or travel to. Most of my life, I always thought people were being fake when they claimed to “love” their job – but holy cow, I totally get it now! I have found something that I am truly passionate about, and that without I would be a much lesser version of myself. Yes, work is going awesome, and our Hello Monday biz continues to grow and flourish! One thing for sure about working in a design career-field is that when I take the time to really live and experience life, it shows up in my work. Definitely be sure to check out our Hello Monday blog on a regular basis to see all our new, fun projects!
And now you are all up to date. In short: Always on the move; life is good :)
