emotional

Every time I think I'm getting back in the groove with blogging, something pops up and seems to stop that progress.  I was all ready to blog through a busy travel schedule but didn't count on the news that we'd be moving and needed to find a house ASAP...in a different state...along with getting our house ready to put on the market. Oy. Definitely not the way I wanted to spend September. One of my favorite months and it blew by in a heartbeat. 

Don't get me wrong, lots of good happened during September.  I got to spend some quality time with a dear friend & play in the sand, visit my "happy" place, see a beautiful friend marry the man of her dreams, catch up with long lost friends & meet a few new ones, introduce my favorite nephew to his uncle's alma mater & see his eyes light up at the prospect of attending the same university, and hang with some of my favorite people while working in SF. Yep, it WAS a good month.  It was just also plagued with a lot of uncertainty, stress, and moments of feeling "broken."

I hate to sound like a broken record but I love living in Cleveland and having to move away from a city I adore & people I feel a kindred connection with is just plain hard.  It dawned on me today that this is the first time in my life that I've had to move when I didn't want to.  Moving to college was expected and a mere two hours from where I grew up.  From college I moved to Tahoe.  New & different, yes, but still close to "home."  Moving to North Carolina from Tahoe was incredibly hard because it meant that I was moving thousands of miles from my family but it was a move that my soul desperately needed at the time.  Leaving North Carolina was only hard because I had some great friends there & it would mean less time with my step-daughters...but I was READY to leave.  It was time for a new start and I needed to get away from the small mindedness of the community I was living in.  Our move from Shreveport to Cleveland was only hard because I had to leave some of my favorite people behind but it was time to leave & grow new wings.  Leaving Cleveland has me experiencing emotions I've not felt before (or in a super long time) and it's taking a toll on me.

I'm usually pretty good at looking at the bright side of things and I know there are A LOT of great things around the corner.  I know I'm blessed in that my husband has a job he enjoys and the work I do I can do from anywhere as long as there is an airport nearby.  I know that as long as we're together and our family is healthy that I truly have nothing to be upset about.  I know that (in my head) and I'm absolutely grateful. The problem is that my heart is hurting.  Will I get over it and move on?  Yes.  Will this cause great detriment to my life?  Probably not.  Will it cause serious stress to my life?  Possibly.  Will it all work out?  I certainly hope so.

I feel out of sorts and not like myself which, I guess, is what God wants for me right now.  It's when we're out of our comfort zone that we grow, right?  I guess God has something great in store for me and in order to become that person I need to do some growing.  Now if only I can keep that in my head (and heart) as the emotional triggers & stress of the move begin to get to me.

(Sorry for the rant but I needed to get this out before it ate me alive.)

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how fitting

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lessons learned

August, while stressful in the recent weeks, was good to me. I got up off my butt and accomplished the goal I'd set for myself...walk a 5k each day. I learned after walking at least that distance 8 days straight that my body was screaming for rest. I was afraid to take a day off for fear that I wouldn't get back out there. I'm happy to report that I did take that day off (along with several others throughout the month) but kept up with my goal of averaging a 5K for each day in the month by walking longer distances on the days I did walk. I really wanted to hit 100 miles walked and I did!!! My monthly total was 106.65 & my average was more than a 5K (3.44)!

I'm spending the weekend with one of my super sweet friends & her family at the beach (yes, I'm incredibly lucky) and decided it would be good to keep up with walking. There was a decent breeze this morning so I geared up and went out for a nice walk. Um...not. I'm clearly a walking-on-the-beach-in-the-summer-virgin. Want proof? I wore black workout capris, black hat, and black shoes - not exactly the best idea when it's blazing hot. Forgot sunscreen. Didn't realize just how hard walking on the sand would be (even the packed stuff). Thanks to the humidity I sweated out of pores I didn't even know I had! But I did it and that's a huge accomplishment for me. I've never been on vacation and chose to spend time exercising. Now if only I could stop eating fried pickles & sour gummy worms.

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life is funny

I love Cleveland. I was smitten from the moment we moved and head over heels in love about two months in. I've mentioned this love on any outlet where people will listen - Facebook, twitter, and here on the blog. Seriously, I can't say it enough. Just last week I posted about just how blessed I felt to be a part of the CLE community (I'd link back to that post but am blogging from my phone and have no clue how to do that from here). One day after that post I learned there's a super strong possibility that a move is in our near future. Yep, one freaking day after that post. Life is funny...or not.

I don't have all the details just yet so can't post anything about the move but will definitely share when I know more. The news clearly knocked me for a loop and, quite honestly, I think I'm still in shock. Cleveland felt like home to me and I really believed it was where we were meant to be. Needless to say, I'm having a hard time adjusting to the news and tears have been making an appearance at random moments. In all of my moves over the years, this one will be the hardest.

I know that God has a plan for us and we need to have faith in his plan and his timing...but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have moments of struggle. I keep reminding myself that there are SO many worse things to have to deal with and as long as I have God and my family at my center I'm in great shape.
Love. Trust. Have Faith. These are the words I'm clinging to right now.

I think these "words to live by" I saw on pinterest (and pinned before all of this happened) pretty much sums it up...

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words to live by

found on pintrest | original source here

It's been a long time since I posted words that inspire me and figured now was a great time to bring back this feature.  Hope you enjoy and they get you to thinking as well.

Happy Friday!

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community blessings

NOT our house but one of the many we love to look at

When I learned we'd be moving to Cleveland I immediately started checking out houses for sale in the area. I knew nothing (at that time) about the Cleveland area so the only starting point I had was where the two properties my husband would be working at were located.  I needed to find something fairly close to both so he wouldn't have too far to travel in the snowy winters.  Most homes in the area were built in the 1920's and I immediately fell for their charm.  We looked in several towns/neighborhoods but we were smitten with Shaker Heights & Cleveland Heights the most.  The streets are lined with trees and most homes have gorgeous curb appeal.  So, yes, that's how we narrowed down the area we wanted to live in.  It was a combination of practicality (commute distance) and love at first sight (tree lined streets)...or so I thought.

Now that we've been here almost 18 months I can honestly say that I love living here.  You've all heard me go on and on and on (...) about the amazing food & all the things here to do but what it really boils down to is how at home I feel here.  The people are beyond friendly and super sincere.  I love being able to walk out our front door and have several great areas to walk in...including a lake & a trail covered in trees (which is crazy given I live less than 10 miles from downtown Cleveland).  I love that the people I see out walking smile & speak to me.  I love the sense of community I feel here. I've lived many places (Northern California, Lake Tahoe, North Carolina, Louisiana) and while I loved people there...I've never been as smitten with a place as I am with Cleveland (except for Tahoe but that's a while other blog post).  I find it quite ironic just how much I love it here given when I learned it would soon become our home it had just been listed in Forbes as the #1 worst place in the U.S. to live.  Now I just laugh when I hear people bad mouth CLE because of just how little they must know.  Most people I know that live here love it just as much as we do. 

Anyway, last weekend Lee & I signed up through the church we've been attending to help hand out food donated by the Cleveland Food Bank to an area that needs a little love.  We were part of a very eclectic group of people and as I worked side-by-side with them & handed out bags of beans, squash, peppers, corn, tomatoes, watermelon, squash, and zucchini I felt an overwhelming sense of community wash over me.  The people I met that day were so gracious and sincere and happy and while they didn't have as much as others, the did have the love of their family and a sense of community.  That got me to thinking...how did I get so lucky to end up in such a fantastic community?  Then it hit me...it wasn't luck that got me here, it was a blessing from God.  One that I'm incredibly grateful for every day. 

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giveaway time!

Super excited to announce that if you pop over to Fabulous K (one of my favorite daily reads) you'll be able to enter a giveaway for a $50 Stella & Dot credit! And...if there are more than 100 comments I'll also be giving away a pair of these gorgeous Gigi Studs to a second winner (choice of orange or black).

 What are you still doing here?  Run over here right now and enter!

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