The SoCal Adventure Begins

It's been hard to find the time to post, but I decided to give it a try. Nicole is clearly the blog expert, so I'll keep this entry to a simple recap of our lives over the last three months.

Settling In

We completed the move into our new apartment in Santa Monica in early August. I'll save you the painful details (painful mostly to me and my sense of thrift), but we packed a 24' truck full of our furniture and made the haul down to southern California. We quickly realized that our seemingly large one bedroom apartment was going to be overcrowded with all of our furniture and gear. After utilizing our extensive storage and getting creative with the couches, our apartment now bears the adjective "comfy".

I forgot to mention that before we moved our stuff down, we went to town on the apartment. We painted the walls in most rooms, acquired some new furniture, stained existing furniture (eventually) to match, fixed a dishwasher, and had our carpets cleaned.

I think I speak for both of us when I say that we love our home here - it could be bigger and we could have a dog, but that will have to wait for our next phase.

Visitor

Nicole's mother, Mary, graced us with a visit in late August and we had a blast! Some highlights include two star sightings (Ed O'Neil and Paris Hilton), an open-air, sunny bus tour of Hollywood and the westside, and an intoxicating trip to Santa Ynez wine country. Thank you for visiting, Mary!

Weddings

Jam packed into our post-Africa / pre-MBA schedule was three weddings. We drove up to the Bay Area for a quick weekend to attend an amazing wedding of our great friends Colby and Kathy. Beautiful setting and good people. Number two was for my good college friend Carlos and his bride, Lisa. All of my old college pals were there with their adorable children in tow. I had a great time and am really happy for Los and Lisa. Finally, we headed up to Tahoe for Nicole's close friend Amanda and her husband, Noah's. The wedding was beautiful and included a room with four beds and all-you-can-karaoke. Good times!

MBA School Commences

During this hectic time, Nicole dove head first into school. Well, first she went to summer camp, followed by boot camp. She spent a weekend whitewater rafting with some new colleagues in northern California. She'll have to update you on the trip, but it sounded awesome. Soon after returning, she went through what probably more closely resembles a leadership summer camp. She climbed the trust tree, played children's games, got hoarse with her serious spirit, and partied. She also met some amazing classmates.

After the fun intro, she got slammed with work - finance, accounting, econ, statistics. It's supposed to be the hardest quarter, and she's taking it pretty seriously. She's already had midterms in all classes and is doing great. I'm very impressed at her work ethic and the direction that she's steering.

Work Commences

Generating zero income since May was starting to take a serious toll on us, so I was very eager to find steady work that pays the bills. After somewhat felt like a desperately long time, I landed a job with Amgen. Pros: the work is familiar and I was able to jump right in and apply my skills, it pays well, and the hours are very flexible. Cons: the commute is horrible (for me it's horrible - but for people in the area, it's normal) - I drive about one hour each way, more or less depending on traffic. Although we are off to a slow start, I'm confident that it's going to be a great experience, and will keep us afloat until we go on our next adventure.

What's Next

Jeremy: I decided to run the LA Marathon again - so I've been running and running. I'm dreaming of a 3:33, but I don't think I can maintain for an 8 min/mi pace for more than a few miles. We'll see how the training pays off. Aside from that, I'm getting pretty good at helping with the chores!

Nic: Nicole has a busy fall. She'll be taking her 2nd midterms, and then right into finals. Although she claims that she is going to step up her studies even more, I'm optimistic that I'll get to see a lot of her. She's done an amazing job of balancing school and family.

The End