Category Archives: husband

Vacation to Oregon

It’s been awhile since I posted, because my husband and I made a long overdue trip to Oregon to see his family. We don’t make it out there nearly often enough, primarily due to the cost of flights. However, thanks to others trips over the last couple years (many of which are due to his job!), we had enough points on Southwest Airlines to make the entire trip on points. All we paid were a few taxes and fees that points didn’t cover. Score!

Portland, OR

Every time I visit Oregon, I fall a little bit more in love with it. My husband even commented that there was a different twinkle in my eye this trip, and I admitted I enjoyed the trip more than ever before.

Growing up in Texas and now living in Tennessee, I am most definitely a Southern Girl. With that, I’ve often visited Oregon and felt like (no pun intended) a duck out of water. This time, though, my eyes were wide open to how similar Oregon is, and how you find good people with great values everywhere you go. And isn’t that what matters the most?

Mt. Hood

On one of our first days there, we visited Manzanita, where an EF-2 tornado went through only a few weeks ago. We got engaged on Manzanita Beach, and it’s only a few minutes from where my husband’s dad lives. Every trip to Oregon has featured walks around Manzanita, taking in its charms. Seeing the damage from the tornado was unsettling, but what I truly took away from our visit was how friendly everyone was on the street.

Manzanita, OR

When I moved to Nashville, one of the things that made me love it was how friendly everyone was… you couldn’t walk into a bar or restaurant without receiving smiles and genuine hellos and, “How are you?”s. Over time, as we’ve all grown more and more weary of the changes coming to our city, I’ve noticed that friendliness has diminished. With that, the openness and friendliness stood out even stronger to me as I walked along the streets of Manzanita.

Manzanita, OR

A favorite moment, when a couple pointed out my Yazoo t-shirt.
“Did you take the tour!?” they asked.
“I work there!” I replied.
“What!? We love Yazoo! We were just there a couple months ago on vacation!”

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For anyone curious, it truly is a very small world.

And on another side note, Oregon truly is the home of great coffee and amazing craft beer.

Fort George Brewery

My husband and I also took time to explore a bit. We visited places he said that he himself had never gone, and others he hadn’t been to since a field trip in elementary school. How often do we fail to visit the places right in our own backyards? How often do we miss the beauty right around us?

Cannon Beach, OR

Finally, it was wonderful to reconnect with family. As I stated in the beginning, we don’t get out there nearly enough, so we take our trips out there very seriously. We also tend to visit in stealth mode… slipping in and slipping out before most people know we are even there. And it’s not because we don’t want to see everyone! It’s because we want to focus as much time as possible with family, versus spreading ourselves too thin. One of these days, we’ll go for a much longer period, and we will be able to see EVERYONE we wish to see. But on these shorter trips, our focus in on his family. As the years pass, we are keenly aware of the fact that these opportunities won’t be there forever. We want embrace the time we have with both hands, and we want to make memories we can share long after the opportunities fade.

picmonkey-oregon

Or more of my photos from our trip, visit my Flickr photo album. If you ever get a chance to visit the Pacific Northwest, go. Just go. And take in the beautiful scenery, and more sure to visit as many of the locals as you can. You might just make a new friend or two or ten.

Oregon 2016

1-2-3-4

1234About a month ago, maybe two months at this point, I started noticing the recurrence of “1234” around me. Mostly the fact that I had to crazy habit of looking at the clock at either 12:34 or 1:23. Or more recently 2:34. All. The. Time.

It actually have gotten to the point in which if I am confronted with any variation of that number, I go, “Of course it is!”

So anyone who knows me well know that I am a big fan of Googling things. (Hey, I’ve already diagnosed myself with every disease known to man at some point.)  And here is what I found…

From ANGEL NUMBERS – Joanne Sacred Scribes:

Number 1 encourages you to step forward and start something new, different and life-changing.  Number 2 sets you on your course with balance, faith and ability, and number 3 sees expansion of concepts and life-themes, and expressing and communicating from your authentic self.  Number 4 encourages stability working steadily towards goals.  Angel Number 1234 can be seen as a number of progression and/or steps along a journey or life path.

From Angel Therapy:

When you repeatedly see the number sequences 123 or 1234, it’s a sign to simplify your life. The perfect sequence of 1, followed by 2, then 3, then 4, signals that it’s time for you to make your life more predictable and simpler.

Finally from Spiritual Path:

1234, 234, 345 – If you are repeatedly seeing ascending number sequences such as 1234, this is a sign from your Spirit Guides that these are progressive thoughts. You will see this sign when thinking about an area of your life that you are concerned about and want to change, or when thinking about a particular subject. Seeing this number sequence immediately after these thoughts is a sign that your thoughts are progressive; your life will progress by following these thoughts and you will have your Spirit Guides support in its pursuit.

So long story short, I get the feeling my guardian angels are telling me its time to make changes and move forward. But where do I go? What do I do?

Perhaps this is a good time to do an update on my life and then where I see things going from here.

I’ve written about our plans and dreams to open a bar. That plan and dream is just as strong as ever. In fact, this whole number thing started not long after we got our business plan shipped off to investors. It also happened not long after we found out the building we’d had our sights set on was no longer an option. From a business sense, I totally understood. From a personal sense, its a bit overwhelming to know something you’ve spent a year working on, and are thousands of dollars in debt for, is on hold and you have no true direction at the moment.

I’ve chosen to accept this as a sign that building wasn’t meant to be, but the urge is still there. The dream is ever alive, and it WILL happen. I just feel like I have a lot more to learn before we dive into such a big endeavor with both feet. We need to be in a better place. We need to take steps to BE in that better place.

Snapchat-1558766510991349381So meanwhile, my husband is back to driving tour bus full time. He’d gone back to playing music as his focus for a period of time, because, frankly, he is a musician. Period. We will forever be a musician. It’s part of his DNA. I love that fact, and I’d have it no other way.

However, as I mentioned, thousands of dollars in debt. And while the music could pay our bills, it doesn’t dig us out of that debt. Thankfully, he’s found a permanent “seat” with a wonderful duet. They love him, and he loves the group. He even now has a brand new bus to drive. I think he’s pretty happy. In his heart, he’d obviously prefer to be playing music, but he’s absolutely found the best world he could be in driving.

As for me and that number sequence thing… I have so many directions I love and want to go! And somehow, three of them are really starting to come to light more again.

For one, I want to focus on writing. What do I want to write? I don’t know. But I’ve made up my mind I want to write and now I’m waiting for that spirit guide that has been throwing me numbers to give me some direction on that.

Until then, my love for photography is strong as ever. My 365 I’ve been doing on Instagram this year has been so much fun, but I’m missing quality time with my DSLR. This weekend, I get to embark on my first job as a second shooter for a wedding. This has been on my wish list of jobs for about four years, and it kind of came to me. I’m terrified. I’m excited. I’m thankful. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Snapchat-8421524050292611585-editedFinally, I’m a bartender. I can’t turn it off. I’m not the best bartender to ever sling a drink, but I think I’m pretty good. And I enjoy it. I’ve just been hired on a sub-bartender and tour desk attendant at my favorite brewery in Nashville. Another thing I’ve thought about for years applying to do… and trust me I got the ribbing from others about that. “You are finally here!” I love it. This brewery for some reason has a part of my heart, and I’m excited to officially be on staff representing them.

Meanwhile in all of this, I’ve officially been named President of the local alumni chapter, and I’m still active with the golf tournament benefiting CASA. I stay busy, and I love that. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Simplify my life (as Angel Therapy above)? No, I don’t think that’s the answer. I think the answer is to just be more proactive, and move forward. Something I am very excited to be doing.