Happy New Year!

2010 has been a year filled with change and unforgettable events.  Micah started the year with a job offer from Sandia National Labs in January.  It took us a few months to weigh our options and decide what was the right decision for us, but we eventually decided we would make the move to ABQ in the fall when Micah finished his PhD.  While Micah tirelessly worked on his research and writing, I spent the spring and summer preparing to sell our house, going through the process of selling the house, interviewing and getting a job at UNM, planning our move, planning a trip to Europe (which we decided not to do since the India option came up) and helping our friends plan our trip to India. 

Amazingly, even though the year was incredibly busy getting ready for our move, we also took a lot of trips in 2010.  In January Micah went to Orlando for a conference, in January we also went to Phoenix for my marathon, in February we went to San Diego for a job interview for Micah, in April I went to Holland for a long weekend, in May we went on a cruise with my family, in September I went back to Holland for two full weeks, in October we went to India for two weeks, we stopped in Holland on our way back from India, we made a last minute trip to Michigan for Micah's grandmother's funeral at the end of October and we made it back to Colorado for Christmas.  

We were looking forward to our move to ABQ since we decided to move here last spring, and overall our move to has gone well.  We found a great house to rent in Nob Hill, the neighborhood we had our eye on before moving here, and we are enjoying living so close to many shops and restaurants.  We are both enjoying our jobs and we have begun meeting new friends.  We are also having fun figuring out where we will buy a house in ABQ.

2010 was a great year and we are looking forward to new adventures in ABQ in 2011!

Settling In...

We are finally starting to fall into a routine in ABQ.  We haven't had much of a routine since we decided to sell our house last May, and Micah and I both appreciate a weekly routine, so we have found the chaos difficult.  We like to have workout schedules, weekly meal plans, and social events planned in advance.  This is just not possible when you are packing a house, traveling, moving to another state, living in temporary housing, starting new jobs and finding your way around a new city.  But the routine has begun!

We joined the local climbing gym and we are now climbing 3 days a week.  We have also started running  a few evenings a week together.  I am writing our weekly meal plans again, which makes the week so much simpler.  AND, Micah promised years ago that when he started working full-time we would go out to dinner every Friday night, and he has held true to his promise.  This is a great new routine!  Although we only know a couple of people in ABQ thus far, we have enjoyed a couple of meals with them and we look forward to making plans with more new friends in the future.

Life in ABQ will be good.  We are both enjoying our jobs, we are starting to figure out which neighborhood we would like to buy a house in, and we are actively looking for a church home.  It will take time, but we know that we can make ABQ a great place to live if we spend our time doing things we enjoy.

The End of an Era

In an earlier blog post I may have made it sound like Micah already finished his PhD work, but in reality THIS IS THE FINAL PUSH!  Although he did the presentation portion two months ago, he has been editing his thesis since we moved to ABQ and we are both soooooo excited for him to finish!  The thesis is due Wednesday whether he is 100% satisfied with it or not.

Over the last few years he has often worked on his PhD doing research or writing until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m.  Although that may not seem late, one must take into consideration that he usually wakes between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. to go into work (be it his office at CU or Sandia).  Many nights Micah went to bed with me around 10:30 p.m., but in the morning I discovered that he could not sleep and that he had gotten up and worked for a fews hours until he got tired.  Through the years I have hardly ever heard Micah complain about the amount of work and the hours the PhD required.

Here is Micah in front of his computers in the office in our house in ABQ.  Yes, those really are all of his computers - I have my own computer on my desk :).  Oh, and our cat is sleeping next to him in her bed like she usually does!

Although I know that Micah will always work hard as he is passionate about his work and he is a very hard worker, I am very excited for him to be finished with the craziness of the PhD!

Micah - I am so proud of you!

Not Quite Ready

Most of the blogs and Facebook posts I read these days are about babies and children.  My friends and relatives all have absolutely adorable little ones who are doing adorable things and it is fun to read about, but I have to admit it often makes me a bit jealous.  When I read these posts or look at cute baby pics I feel like I am missing out and I'm not "part of the club," BUT then I remember that my life would be COMPLETELY different if we had kids right now.  Here are some reasons why I am THANKFUL we do not have children (yet....):

• Moving: It would be really difficult to move if we had kids - especially if they were school age.  It has been hard enough for us to adjust to our new surroundings.
• Flexible Morning Schedule: I do love having a routine but with our move it has been impossible!  I am waking up at different times every morning depending on if I want to go for a run, get Starbucks on my way to work, eat breakfast, etc. 
• Flexible Evening Schedule: I like to run errands after work or go for a quick run, which wouldn't be possible if we had to worry about daycare or school pick-up. 
• Travel: Okay, so we haven't traveled that much, but we did just go to India!
• Going out to eat: Since we are living in a new city we are going out to eat more because we want to try new things.  Plus, we have been exhausted so it has been a lot easier just to go out.
• Climbing: We have joined a climbing gym in ABQ and we hope to start going 3 times a week.  That would be a lot of babysitter hours!
• Traveling for the Holidays: Plane tickets are EXPENSIVE for Christmas, and it wouldn't be fun to buy more seats.

I am sure there are more things throughout the day that I don't even realize will be more difficult when we have kids, but the main thing is, right now we can do what we want, when we want!  

[Disclaimer: We do want kids someday and I think it is great that many of our friends have started their families.  I am simply trying to remind myself why it is great for us to have waited for 5 years (and counting).  Also, my 28th birthday is next month and I guess I always imagined having children by now.  BUT I believe it is best to live in the moment and enjoy the time we have with the two of us right now.]

Oh, and if any of my friends or family members with beautiful children want to add to my list of why NOT having kids right now is perfect for us, it may help :).

Our "New" House!

Micah and I were fortunate to find a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a 2 stall garage (very difficult to find in ABQ!) in Nob Hill (the neighborhood we wanted to live in!).  We have a 6 month lease, but we have the option to stay longer if we want.  It is an old house - probably built in the 40's - but it was recently remodeled so we have brand new appliances and bathrooms!

The movers came last Monday and we worked on setting up the house every night for the last week.  Although I do love to organize, it is EXHAUSTING to unpack an entire house of stuff!  On Monday I unpacked our bedroom, and Micah set up the desks in the office.  On Tuesday I unpacked the kitchen, and Micah set up the computers in the the office. On Wednesday I worked on the kitchen some more (I just kept finding more boxes!) and Micah continued to work on the office.  On Thursday I started arranging the living room, and Micah worked on the office.  On Saturday we went shopping to buy items we needed for the house - my main goal was a microwave and Micah's main goal was convertors so we could plug our 3 prong computer plugs into our 2 prong outlets in the office.  On Sunday I put everything away in the bathrooms and linen closet, and Micah finished setting up the computers in the office.

What I realized this week was that we unpack our house in the order we find most important.  I started with our bedroom as I appreciate having my own bed to sleep on and my clothes organized, then I went to the kitchen as I enjoy having food in the house and being able to cook meals, then I went on to the living room as I value relaxation, and lastly I worked on the linen closet and bathrooms as I just find that stuff annoying to unpack.  I do understand that Micah must finish his PhD thesis in the next couple of weeks so his computers are quite important to him right now, but I also found it quite amusing that I set up the entire house in the time that he set up the office!  To his credit, he did help me move boxes and furniture when I asked, but really.... one room!  Luckily, I really do like to organize :).

Can't wait to be "Home" again

It has been about a month since I lasted posted to my blog but it's not because I didn't have anything to write about.  So much has happened in the last month with our trip to India and moving to Albuquerque and there are many things I could write about, but the overwhelming theme for Micah and I right now is that we cannot wait to feel like we are "home."

We moved out of our house in Colorado on September 2nd - almost two months ago.  Since then we have lived with Micah's sister in Colorado (thanks Becca!), spent time with family in Michigan, traveled through India staying in different places almost every night and we are now living in a furnished house in Albuquerque for a month.  Although it was liberating at first to not have a monthly mortgage or rent payment and I liked the idea of living "simply" as the majority of our stuff is in storage including half of our clothes, we are starting to feel homesick without a place of our own.

After working at a non-profit for the homeless and spending a couple of weeks in India where poverty is even more extreme, I feel like it is selfish to want a permanent place to live.  After all, we are living in a fully furnished house with more space than we need right now that Micah's employer is paying for, so why are we complaining?  I think there is just something about your own space, your own furniture, your own bed, your own linens and your own dirt that is comforting.

I am very thankful that we are so blessed and we will probably never have to worry about having a roof over our heads.  I know it will take time for us to find a more permanent place to live in Albuquerque and start to feel at home, but I know it will happen.  And when I start feeling sad that we have moved and that I don't feel comfortable here yet, I must remind myself of others less fortunate than us.

Goodbye Colorado

I cannot believe that it has been almost eight years since Micah and I moved to Colorado.  Although the years passed quickly, when I think about all of the friends we made, all we experienced and all we accomplished while living in Colorado, it is amazing we did it all in only eight years!

Micah and I had already been 'dating' for four years before we moved to Colorado at the age of 20.  We had decided we were unhappy at our respective schools and we did not enjoy being in a long distance relationship, so we both applied to University of Colorado at Boulder.  Micah had actually considered CU when he was looking at schools in high school, but I never dreamed I would go somewhere so far from home. Although we were simply changing colleges, we both knew Colorado was a 'permanent' move for us.

Here we are in our first week in Colorado...

Since moving to Colorado on January 1, 2003 I have had SIX different jobs (coffee barista, nanny, teller, accounting intern, auditor and accountant III / accounting manager).  Granted I did have two jobs at once for awhile to make ends meet, but that is a lot of jobs for one person to have in less than eight years!  During that same time Micah has worked at several jobs as well, although I'm not even sure how to count them since he worked for the same employers several times (IT job at CU, Micro Motion intern, Lockheed Martin intern (twice), Sandia National Labs intern (twice), teacher's assistant at CU and research assistant at CU).  We were both so fortunate to always have jobs while living in Colorado!

Here I am in my Bank One teller uniform :)

While in Colorado we have done so many triathlons, marathons and other races we can't even count them all.  Running and biking in Colorado is amazing and some days I regret that we did not get on the trails and roads more often.  We have been extremely fortunate to live in such a beautiful place with so many sunny days.

Here we are at the 2003(?) USAT Collegiate National Championships...

We got married!  After living in Colorado for two years we got engaged and eight months later we got married.  We quickly learned that we were in the minority being married so young in Colorado (I was only 22 and Micah was only 23) so it was a little difficult feeling so out of place for awhile, but over time we met some great married friends (and our single friends started getting married) and we eventually found our place.

Here we are on our wedding day!

We met some amazing people while living in Colorado.  Since we have been through so many changes with school and jobs over the last eight years, some of our friends have already moved away from Colorado, but we cherish each and every one of the friendships that we made.

We got college degrees!  This one is truly exciting as Micah is completing his PhD in Aerospace Engineering as I write this!  He has worked soooooo hard and I am so proud of him!  I can honestly say that neither of us knew he would be in college for TEN YEARS when we started dating 12 years ago (or when we moved to Colorado eight years ago), but I know that he loves what he does!  I also graduated with my bachelors, masters and became a CPA :).

We also joined a church, bought and sold our first house, got a cat, went on a few vacations (although we did go back to MI most of the time) and became an aunt and uncle!  Our time in Colorado has been amazing and we are definitely sad to leave, but we will always have great memories.  Luckily, Albuquerque is only seven hours from Denver by car, so we will be back to visit often!

Here we are this past summer at the same lookout we were at in our first pic at the top of this post (I know it doesn't look the same - I was surprised to see they changed the railing from wood to metal!)...

And we know God has a plan for us in Albuquerque, as everything has fallen into place so far, and we are very excited to see what what happens in the next seventy or so years ;).

Home

For the past two years I have worked at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.  Part of the organization's mission is to provide housing to homeless and low-income families.

Last week, we finalized the sale of our house and, since we aren't actually moving to Albuquerque until mid-October, Micah and I are suddenly "homeless."

Whenever I go to Holland, MI to visit family and friends, people ask, "When are you going home?"  I always thought this was an odd question as I thought of Colorado as my home since we lived there for almost 8 years. 

For some, "home" is easy to define since they have lived in the same house for many years, or at least have lived in the same city for most of their lives.  For others, "home" is more abstract.  Now that we are in-between our life in Colorado and our life in Albuquerque, though, I am suddenly having trouble defining "home."  

After giving it some thought I have realized that I actually define "home" as the place one lived as a child.  Even those that we call "homeless" probably refer to someplace as "home."  In reality, some people are "houseless" but no one is really "homeless."  

Some day, Micah and I might think of Albuquerque as "home," but for now Holland, MI is what we call "home." 

Beginning Anew

A year ago, when my friend Katie and I were training for our marathon, we discussed things we read on our friends' blogs and say we couldn't imagine having a blog....what would we write about?!?  Little did I know that one year later I would be finishing up my last week at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, looking forward to a relaxing two week trip to Holland, MI where I could rest while I was "unemployed," getting ready for an exciting trip to India with Micah, Katie and Ryan, AND anxiously awaiting the completion of Micah's PhD and our impending move to Albuquerque.

I have to admit that Albuquerque, New Mexico (nicknamed "ABQ" since the name is so darn long!) is one of the last places I ever imagined myself living.  The two reactions we get when we say we are moving to ABQ are 1) I love Santa Fe! or 2) Why??  Although Santa Fe is about 45 minutes from ABQ, we will not be spending much time there (I think those people are thinking "why" too, but they are trying to be polite).  The reason why we are moving to ABQ is because Micah has found a position at Sandia National Labs that he describes as a "good fit."  Surprisingly, it seems the higher the education one has the fewer the jobs that would be a "good fit," so the job locations are actually quite limited.  Hey, in my mind ABQ is at least a step above Huntsville, Alabama (no offense Melis :) ).

Some things we are looking forward to with our move to ABQ:
1. Being DINKS (dual income no kids) - we have been waiting 5 years of marriage for this!
2. Warmer winters - although ABQ is technically in the desert, the city does get a little snow in the winter
3. Shorter commutes - I should be able to ride my bike to work in 10 min (instead of 30-45 min in the car!)
4. Learning to love green chili - it is too hot for us right now but we know we'll have to learn to like it :)
5. ABQ sunsets - they are stunning!

I'm sure there are other things we are excited for, but overall I think we are just excited for CHANGE!  Although we are sad to leave our family and friends in CO, the thought of moving to a new place and beginning anew is exhilarating!