Lucy and Eva – Bitter Sweet

Last weekend, Chris and I traded in my long time car and friend Lucy and brought home our new ride Eva.  We had been looking for a vehicle that would drive us into the next stage of our lives for a while and when we finally found the right one, we went for it.  But the experience wasn’t without it’s heartache. 

Lucy, my green Pontiac Grand Am, had been my car since I was 17.  She and I had a lot of fun over the years we spent together.  She drove me through many good times and many rough times in my life.  She was always there for me.  I always tried to take as good of care of her as she did of me.  Some of my favorite memories with Lucy are tired to a bottle of Pine Sol, a can of Coke, and a spider. 



Lucy!  My first car - I still remember the day my Daddy and I went and picked her out :-)



One time I forgot a bottle of Pine Sol in Lucy’s trunk.  It was the summer and the bottle busted.  At first my car spelled nice and I didn’t really connect to two… I had no idea the bottle had busted.  But over time the spell got stronger and stronger.  I finally figured out what the problem was and cleaned out the remains of the Pine Sol bottle.  But by then, the smell was so strong in my sweet Lucy that I had to ride with the windows down for almost a week before the smell subsided!

Another memory I have with Lucy is when I thought I was shot.  Yep, SHOT!  I was driving down the road and talking on the phone to my big sister and I heard a loud bang, just like a gun shot.  I screamed because it startled me.  I pulled over and felt something warm and sticky on the back of my neck and head.  I actually told my sister that I thought I must have been shot.  But then I figured I couldn’t still be talking on the phone if I was shot so I started looking for another source of the big bang and stickiness.  I smelled the sticky mess and realized it was Coke.  Then I remembered the Coke I had left unopened in the backseat cup holder.  The warm weather and bumpy road had caused the can to explode!  Poor Lucy!  I spent the rest of the weekend cleaning up her interior from the sticky remains of the Coke.

Once a friend of mine and I were driving to the beach and a little spider crawled across the front windshield.  We both started screaming like girls do.  Luckily we were at a red light so the card was stopped.  We didn’t know what to do so we started swatting at the spider.  I hit the spider, killing him.  The only problem was I used the back of my hand.  I wasn’t swatting hard… I couldn’t get much force due to the angle I was at but my ring cracked Lucy’s front windshield.  The spider died and I am just lucky my hand didn’t go all the way through the windshield!

Lucy was the best first car a girl could ask for.  She drove me away from hurt and towards happiness.  She even introduced me to my husband… in a strange sort of way.  Lucy was always very reliable.  I was driving home after visiting my parents for the holidays.  When I was about 4 hours away from home, I stopped to have dinner with a friend and her husband.  As I pulled into the restaurant, Lucy started smoking – a lot!  It turns out her radiator had blown.  I had to spend the weekend in town with my friend and her husband while Lucy was repaired.  That weekend, Chris came over to play cards and the rest is history. 

I will miss Lucy and all of the wonderful adventures we had but I will always have the memories.  I hope and pray that Lucy finds happiness in her next owner and spends the remaining days of her life on the road where she was most happy and free.  I hope they take good care of her and have amazing adventures together.  I know it is silly to think of a car as a living friend but that’s part of who I am and Lucy will always be my friend… my first car.

Trading in Lucy was bitter sweet.  I said goodbye to a good friend but I met a new friend who will drive Chris and I into our future.  We had been looking at larger SUVs for some time and had decided that the Buick Enclave was the car for us.  We searched and searched and couldn’t find the perfect car. Then on Saturday we found Eva.  She is a 2009 chocolate brown Buick Enclave with tan leather interior.  We drove 3 hours to pick her up and after a week of her being ours… she was totally worth the long drive.  She has everything we wanted.  It’s kind of crazy to think that this will be our family car for the next decade.  This is the car we will hopefully move forward in life in.  I see Eva and I see the vehicle we will drive our first baby home from the hospital in.  I see the vehicle we will take family vacations in and trips to church and soccer practice.  Another great aspect of Eva is that Chris, the girls (Koda and Precious), and I can enjoy the more space and amenities of Eva now!

Eva! Our new vehicle and the first big purchase that has both Chris and my name on it!  Kind of exciting! :-)

Chris named her Eva because she has a nice tan and a big rear!



I look forward to getting to know Eva and making memories with her.  I have a feeling we are going to be great friends.  I know many adventures await us!

New Year's Resolutions

So I realized after writing my last post and talking about one of my new year's resolutions I had never written them down.  I guess it will be one way to help me be accountable.  Some will be easier than others but I am going to work on all of them.  We will see how 2012 goes!

1. I will read a daily devotional and spend my time with God each day.  I want to strengthen my prayer life and my Bible knowledge.
2. I will not take on any new projects - for myself or anyone else.  I must focus on my dissertation.
3. I will spend 8 hours at a minimum on my dissertation a week.  Any hours not accomplished during the week will have to be made up on the weekend.
4. I will get back in shape.  This includes working out and eating healthier.  When my body feels good my mind will be stronger.
5. I will work to save money this year.  We will tighten our belts to save for the bigger things we want in life like a family car, a house we fit in, and to travel at the end of the year.

Wish me luck!

Seeing things more clearly

Chris and I have been working hard on keeping up with health lately.  It was one of our New Year’s Resolutions.  He is better at eating healthy than I am.  I have a major sweet tooth.   I am probably going to be snacking on something unhealthy as you read this post.  But we are both working out and following up with doctors etc. 

We have been working with a team of experts to get Chris’s sleep issues worked out.  He doesn’t sleep well, he is very active, and then he is extremely tired during the day.   We tried one sleep doctor and she was a little crazy.  She had it in her head what was wrong before we even finished the initial appointment.  So guess what she diagnosed him with?  The thing she originally thought… no tests, nothing.  So we decided to get a second opinion.  I love our new sleep doctor.  He has worked with Chris and we don’t have any concrete answers yet but he has started Chris on some treatments and we are seeing improvements.  Chris is so excited to not be so tired during the day and I am thrilled he is resting at night.  I know only time will tell if everything is working out but for right now it seems to be improving!

My handsome hubby and our sweet doggy Koda!

We also both had our yearly eye doctor’s appointment.  I have never needed glasses.  Chris has worn them since I met him.  I think he looks handsome in his glasses.  Well we went through the little eye exam thing and wouldn’t ya know… I now need glasses!  I have astigmatisms in each eye.  It is not a big thing… in fact the doctor says that the prescription is so small most people will pick them up and think they are simply for fashion.  But I can actually really tell the difference.  I use them mainly for working on the computer and for when I have to switch focal points rapidly like looking from a book to the television or a book to the computer (something I often do with all of my research).  I love my glasses even more when my eyes are tired.  Sometimes my eyes still fight the glasses and hurt when I first put them on but then they relax and the glasses help.  Chris says it will get easier the more I wear them.  I asked the doc if I wore the glasses more could I prevent my eyes from getting worse and he said no.  In fact, he doesn’t think they will change, get any worse, for the next 10 years or so.  He also informed me that it wasn’t anything I did like sitting to close to my computer to cause astigmatisms.  It’s just life.  I am really happy to have my glasses.  They help me focus and stop my eyes from getting so tires so quickly.  I am definitely a fan of my eye doc!

My new glasses!

I guess that pretty much catches my blog up to current times.  I still can’t believe it is February already.  I just turned in my draft of chapter 1 of my dissertation.  So that is chapter 1 and 2 drafts done.  I am now starting on chapter 3.  Goodness I am ready to be done.  I cannot wait to have my life back and not feel guilty for doing things other than my dissertation.  Not only that, but everything in the next steps of Chris and my life seems to depend on my dissertation being completed.  I guess I better get back to writing it!

The Holidays and the New Year

I have been thinking about this blog post for a while… life has been so crazy I just haven’t had time to type it up.  Well and I guess I also put it off because I have had so many ups and downs and part of me hates blogging about downs.  I hate when people are mean and cruel.  I almost feel they don’t deserve my blogging attention.  Plus, I am afraid of what I will say!  LOL!  So in this post I will try and recap the many blessings and the other various events that have happened in the last 2 months or so.

We went to San Diego for Christmas.  It was pretty fun.  The house we all stayed in was interesting… we found out about half way through the week that it was infested with fleas!  Yuck!  But we survived.  The best part of this trip was seeing everyone.  I loved catching up with family and my best friend from childhood AF.  It always amazes me how we can go months, even years without talking or seeing each other and then when we do we pick like we haven’t missed a beat.  

While in San Diego we threw a baby shower for my big sister and her husband.  It was pretty fun.  I wish more of her friends could have made it to the event but I am thrilled they threw their own showers to celebrate the birth of my new niece.  Those who did come to our shower seemed to have a good time.  We played games, had tons of food, and the happy new parents were blessed with some great gifts.  Everyone had also worked really hard to complete a quilt for the new baby.  Everyone made a square and then we crafted each into a quilt for the new baby to keep as a tangible memory of all those who love her and her parents.

Quilt made with love!

After returning from California, Chris and I kind of hibernated in our house.  We hadn’t spent a weekend at home in over two months and we just really needed to stay home… I just really needed to stay home.  So we picked up the dogs from the in-laws and then stayed home.  While home we celebrated our 1 year anniversary.  We had originally planned to go on a romantic weekend but honestly staying together in our home, relaxing was the best gift.  I just didn’t want to pack up, and load the car, and sleep in a different bed.  So we celebrated in our home and it was perfect!  We stayed up until midnight and exchanged gifts.  Chris got me the most beautiful Lladro statue called “First Anniversary”.  It is gorgeous!  It is a little bigger than my wedding statue but looks great with it.  I am so blessed!

I love all the details in Lladro statues!

Also over the holidays Chris’s brother, S proposed to his girlfriend K.  They will be married in October.  The in-laws are thrilled.  They are currently house hunting.  The house they like and have put in an offer on is really nice.  It looks like it will make a great first home and a wonderful place for them to start their life together.

Then in January another great blessing came… Lily Aurora was born!  My sister never looked so happy and beautiful.  Motherhood is good for her.  It scares the living daylights out of me.  But she fits into it perfectly.  Lily is pretty perfect.  I cannot wait to meet her.  I don’t know when I will get to fly out there but hopefully soon.  The grandmothers were there for the birth and then my little sister went out to help.  I am so happy that God made it possible for the new parents to have so many helpers.  But part of me is a little jealous.  I wish I could hold that new baby and share in the excitement.  I know my day will come and I will get to meet that amazing little girl.

Lovely Lily Aurora



Oma, Mom, and Lily on the day she was born!



New Family!



This is one of my favorite pictures!

I will have to continue catching up to the present in a part 2 blog post.  I will try and get it written this weekend.  I love blogging... it feels good to get back in the swing of it. More to come!