Ch ch ch changes!

So its been pretty crazy around the Dranderson household these days.  Our lives took a pretty hard left turn last November when SP lost her job.  We didn't publicize it too much because it didn't really matter - it was just another drop in the bucket.  But after several months of being a stay at home wife and job hunting let's just say that SP's rope was fraying pretty damn fast.

Which is why I am very happy and proud to announce that SP landed a sweet new job at a very prestigious company up here.  She beat out several other contenders and starts TOMORROW!  It's a great job that has normal hours and weekends and holidays off so we may actually see each other regularly and be able to travel and make plans ahead of time!  And it seems like it will be a great place to work and in the field of SP's choosing!  Needless to say, we're pretty happy about this development!

And to really send things over the crazy cliff - the same week SP had her second interview for her dream job,  I interviewed for a new position.  And just recently found out that I got it!  I will be starting my new job part time in June (and staying part time at my current job until Nerd Camp is over in August) 

So it should be a pretty nutty few weeks (months?) around our house.  And poor crazy pup is going to have to learn to be home alone again :(  But it's really all for the best.  I should have known since I've been whining and whining about how things were NEVER going to change and we'd be stuck forever.  And then essentially everything changed at once.

But we did get to spend a really nice relaxing weekend with my (not so baby) baby brother.  Greek food festival, walk by the river, bratwursts at the local beer hall and the new star trek (SWOON)  I definitely carbed my way through the weekend.  But it was so worth it!

This is the part where the Greeks made me dance!  Italian is practically greek right?

There are no small portions at the Greek Food Festival!

Baby Brother and Bratwursts!

Let's talk about my love of pretzel rolls, vegan brats, and cheese sauce.  CHEES SAUCE. AMEN

Hope your long weekend was just as relaxing as ours!  

And of course - Many many thanks to the service men and women who have given so much!

XOXO!

Dear Mr. Sandman...Seriously?!

A terrifying yet accurate portrayal of how I feel right now

I've never really been a great sleeper, its true.  Even when I was younger I was always an early riser.  The sleep overs of my teen years found my friends sleeping until noon and me in the other room reading an entire book.  Or me and my one other early riser friend making ourselves breakfast, reading an entire book, taking a walk, doing a little dance, and our other friends still not being awake.

It got a little better towards the end of high school.  My terrifying nightmares stopped (thanks crazy brain) and I was exercising a freakish amount (thanks water polo) and doing so many extracurriculars that I was so insanely physically exhausted I could always sleep.  I even took naps after school.  Oh Naps.  I wish I had that capability these days.

In college I learned to sleep like the dead.  I spent a good 6 years of my life living in residence halls and let me tell you what - when you live with anywhere from 150 - 500 18year olds who have just recently discovered their new found "freedom" you learn how to sleep.  Like sleep through a tsunami/hurricane simultaneous earthquake sleep.  

But my old age is setting in apparently.  And ever since moving out of the residence halls and learning to love the life outside (I LOVE IT!) and enjoying peace and quiet and a relatively normal schedule - I can't sleep.  A full, good night's sleep is really a rare commodity these days.  Yeah I probably get 5 hours of unadulterated sleep on a regular basis (which I know is really good for some people)  But 7 or 8 hours?  Of really deep good I feel rested in the morning sleep...almost never.  And on some nights, like this current one per say, I get about 0 hours of sleep.  Like I've been looking at the clock since 1:45am.  No joke.  And as I write this it is 4am.  And there has been no sleeping.  NO SLEEPING.

I don't know what to do.  Because I am tired.  Oh trust.  I'm tired.  And I exercise.  And I don't drink caffeine at night (and really rarely in general these days), and I try not to get to hyped up before bed, or read in bed or do anything you're not supposed to do to mess up your sleep cycle...and yet, I'm awake.  Again.

So, anybody got any suggestions.  I'm pretty game for anything these days short of needles in my eyeballs (wait...I might even try that)  Animal, vegetable, mineral.  I'm in.  Give me the goods people or find me a Sandman stat!

Yawn.

Wanderlust: The Morro Bay Edition

Real life things have been plaguing me a lot lately.  You know those "adulty" things that everybody always talks about (nonsense I say). But jobs and finances and a crazy dog and future children and houses - they've all been on the "topics for constant consideration" list lately.  Its pretty exhausting, I'm not going to lie.  I understand why people check out of their responsibilities sometimes and do things they shouldn't.  Because sometimes it really does feel like a lot.

So that's what we did on a monumentally smaller scale than many often do.  SP and I shirked all life duties, packed up lots of chips and other horrible for you foods and drove 4.5 hours to Morro Bay to meet up with my highschool teacher turned close friend and some other long lost highschool buddies.

I'd never been to Morro Bay prior to this trip.  And I have to say - its pretty great.  Cute little seaside town, quaint, nice people surrounded by really lush hills and THE ROCK - massive and sea lions and water.  It was lovely.

We spent Friday night eating chips and drinking (way too many) beers and playing muppet uno - which I can't recommend more for some good times - and just catching up with one of my all time favorite people.  And Saturday morning exploring downtown Morro Bay.

Saturday afternoon was a Farm party.  Yes, you did read that right.  One of my friends from highschool is now a farm manager.  He is the crunchiest, granola-iest, happiest farm guy ever and he invited us up to his farm for THE farm party.  And let me tell you what.  That was an adventure.  First of all honda civics - not really meant for the rough terrain but we made it, alive, up the mountain to the farm.  Where there was music and organic plant clippings and tempeh tacos and an Argentinian cowboy named Jaime grilling esophagus on a huge outdoor grill.  We baked in the sun, ate the most amazing ribs maybe ever (yes I am still a 99% vegetarian but you don't say no to Jaime the Argentinian cowboy's ribs - so I ate them and I loved them) and listened to live music while sitting on bales of hay in the middle of a farm.  We drank home brewed blueberry beer (yum) and I contemplated giving up all of my life's possessions and responsibilities and moving into nature.  And then I went to the bathroom.  And let's just say, that dream went down the toilet (or hole) along with the cup of woodchips I had to pour in after myself.  

It's been almost 10 years since I graduated from high school (yikes!).  And I am happy to report that it definitely was not my peak (thank you God) but I do have some incredibly fond memories from those times.  And clearly added a few truly fantastic people to my "friends list."  It was funny to see these guys, men, who I had laughed with and grown up with.  To see where they (we) are now.  Everybody thinks you change SO much after you leave high school...but I'm not so sure.  Obviously we change.  But those fresh faced, smiley boys I new in high school, they were still there.  Wrapped up in the smiles of the great Men they've become.  Its like we're all still us, but a little bit altered, just slightly around the edges.  We're US 2.0.  

It really was a fantastic trip.  Full of great food and reminders that true friends never leave you, they're in your heart forever.  And people who know you.  Who know your history and the fibers of your true being - they are some of the greatest blessings.  There is nothing more freeing than feeling like exactly yourself.

Laughter and Muppet Uno don't hurt either.

Happy Sunday My Friends!