HoBo SoUp

When you get off work and it's been a rainy, cloudy, cold day and all you want is some home made soup and you raid your fridge and pantry for things to make soup...

Todays consisted of carrots, celery, italian sausage (hillshire farms go meat!), potatoes, home grown oregano, and broth... sounds boring right? but with the right spices, and a grilled cheese with a tomato slice to go with it ... your good to go = ) as long as you always have cans of broth or bouillion cubes you can make soup anytime = )

WET DRILLS

Today PJ and I joined Mike while he and a few other coasties did wet drills. Which is where they get suited up shoot off a few "practice flairs" learn some survival techniques and ofcourse swim to a life raft then back while testing out their dry suits... AKA they got paid to put on sweet outfits and play in the water... PJ joined in the water action against his will ofcourse thanks to mike... Here are some pictures ....

Lil Pinoche a.k.a PJ

I proudly introduce to everyone... My baby Lil Pinoche (pronounced Pin-O-Chee) but for short we call him PJ.

And he's a 4 month old Miniature pinscher, yes I know he is small and chuhuahua like but he's one sweet dog. As of right now he ate his breakfast and is napping in my lap. Although Sticker(mike) had to get up to take a crying, scared, new puppy outside for a little bathroom walk at 5 this morning we still love him. And although I've been up since 5:30 in the morning cause ofcourse he had to see me too, I love him.

And he is mine. PJ is my early birthday present from Mike = )

so far everyone else loves him too!

So to PJ may you please let yesterdays little spiddle on the carpet be your last one, may you let us know when you need to urinate or poo so we may take you outside!

Most of all may you stay the most cuddly dog i've ever known!

FYI I officially sound like an insane dog lady don't I?

Humboldt County Update

So I haven't been on in a while which is due to a lack of time to post another blog. Plus i don't really think people are even reading this thing haha. So talking to myself anyways. Humboldt County is awesome. We've gone camping the past 2 weekends in a row. Saturday we drove to Ruth Lake. If you can look up a picture of it you will see how beautiful it is. Things are going good. I could be working more but atleast I have the 2 days a week that i'm getting right now. Things are lookin up for us lately. We are greatful to be apart of eachother's lives and enjoy seein eachother everyday. We've made some great new friends. Angela and Andre are awesome people. We went on a sushi date last night and had so much fun!

The death of me

These donuts have been a big part of my life growing up... me and my dad could demolish a whole box of these in one morning... but we wouldn't for the sake of the next morning.
Loving the fact that my mom nor my sister enjoyed these as much as we did there was always just enough for the both of us... Last night we were safeway-in it up and I came across these donuts... These are very rare in california now-a-days... But i found them, bought them, and tried my hardest not to rip open the box and have some last night... so I had 2 this morning... might I say I'm in the greatest mood ever considering it was 7:00 in the morning

Takin a break...

Takin a break from theknot.com
I've been on the computer all morning... and using the theknot.com since we set our date for the wedding tryng to get ideas of what we should do...

so far the hardest part has been what colors we should use... i'm to the point where I am about to do grey, black, and ivory...

I could DEFINITLEY use some advice!
Never mind trying to find reception locations via internet... but ofcourse I do have Mike's AMAZING sister helpin out on the east coast... Her and floyd are lucky because if there's any tastings we're relying on their taste buds haha = )

My Zebra Shoes

I just wanted to make a tribute to my favorite pair of shoes in my closet... I thank Khol's for having them on the shelf... and

Candies for making them. These shoes have been hiking, to work, and just worn around town ALOT... Let's hope these shoes don't decide to try to leave me soon cause I don't know what I would do without them... haha

workin workin and workin some more

So i've been working everyday (so far) since monday... tomorrow i finish my hallmark job, then it's off to the dress shop to look at some wedding dresses... I made a friend at work who's getting married in 3 weeks and asked if she would like to join me (considering we're both off that day) and she totaly agreed so excited i don't have to go alone! saturday working, sunday CLOSED so NO WORK woo hoo! A day to veg out! Or clean the house... VEG OUT ALL THE WAY haha...
Then back to my working starting monday...

I can officially say that I'm excited for work all the time... I enjoy my new job VERY much! even though my feet ache and swell as well as my knees.. it's worth it. I'm starting to do what I love...

So today ...

Is monday... We had our first house guest yesterday! = )
One of mike's friends he met at "A" school and his fiance are new to town (brand new just pulled in last night) and we let them use the computer to do some house hunting then grilled some burgers and had a pretty good time. We really need to invest in a dinner table/coffee table or extra chair or something!

BUT NOW....

Some random pictures of our rafting trip a couple weekends ago...

The first night of camping...

Our friend Dan's dog anchor....

We took this one on the drive home...

And my fav. from when we went to "wedding rock" at Patrick's Point state park...

Before work

So it's friday and I'm trying to talk myself into getting ready and just going and finishing this giftwrap revision for hallmark at the now CVS... It's alot harder then you think...

But I've been thinking about this whole wedding thing... and how much huss and fuss goes into it. I mean the only thing I care about is WHAT IT'S ABOUT... the vows, two people coming together as one before their family and friends, making vows to eachother and promising to never break them... then afterwards celebrating by eating and dancing the night away ofcourse.
But the hardest part to our wedding... the family part...
Getting my family to understand why we want the wedding to be in Massachusetts... Why I dreamed (from the second I saw it) of having the ceremony in the front yard of his parents house in the garden with Mt. Wachusett as our backdrop... It's breath taking!
And it's not for another 2 years.
IDK... I've decided to write a letter to everyone explaining our reasoning... but i know, with certain people in the family, it's still going to be an issue...
That's what throws me off about weddings... It's about Mike and I and the vows and promises we are making to eachother that day...

I guess i'm just a little down just thinking about it... wishing that people could really just understand and accept it.

New job

So today I was hired at a salon/salon supply store... and it is going to be AMAZING!

But other then that... I was taking a look at some of our road trip pictures and stumbled across a couple that I absolutely LOVE and realized... These are most likely our "Engagement" photos = )

Happy 4th of July!

So it's been a while since I've been on...
I've been super busy job hunting and working for hallmark.

I did get hired to work for a company called vector marketing as a customer service associate... turns out I was trying to sale Kutco Cutlery to people... NOT so exciting after all.
BUT yesterday I had an interview at a salon/store called North Bay Salon... With this job I would get paid hourly PLUS commission for selling Bare Minerals make-up... but not only selling it I would get 15 hours of FREE trainning on learning about the product AND how to apply...
SO EXCITING! I have my second interview tuesday and the guy who interviewed me is only part owner of the company so thats why I have to meet with the other owner... Hopefully she likes me as much as he did!

But on another note... I've been looking around online at different locations to get married at in Humboldt county when I came across a place called wedding rock....
IT TOOK MY BREATH AWAY and that's just in pictures...
Tomorrow me and sticker are going to actually go see it for ourselves... be expecting pictures!!!

Just think beautiful look out over the ocean... and HUGE BEAUTIFUL redwoods behind you... and thats weddin rock~!!!

Happy Father's Day

Well since we're no where near our father's and we have no children for him to celebrate... we decided to do some work around the house... I got this "gardening table" for free at a yard sale and some lime green paint as well for free... so what did I do I painted it = ) but ofcourse after sanding it properly and cleaning it .... just like daddy taught haha... But the highlight of my day had to be Sticker... So determined to get this jungle of a lawn mowed... the $20 lawn mower he purchased (at a garage sale) of course couldn't touch the lawn until being taken apart,cleaned, and put back together by him... after many door slammings, mummbling of angry words towards the thing, and evil stares when I so nicely asked what was wrong (while laid back finishing my twilight series i'm on breaking dawn for any of the twilight fans reading this) sorry dad I know you are NOT one of them... but anyways... I'm sitting in here getting to the good parts in the book... I hear this lawn mower start up... so ofcourse I jump up (carefully save my place in the chapter) grab the camera and run outside to find this

He felt like no lawn mower could ever cross his path!

and ofcourse after downloading 948 pictures we had sitting on our camera I came across this one...

A picture of my best friend Aunt Jacquie at our engagement BBQ... This picture alone is another post in itself...

Love you and miss you tons Aunt Jacquie!!! Can't wait for you to come visit me = )

Beautiful Saturday

So today we decided to spend our first saturday in Humboldt Bay garage selling it up! which is one of our favorite weekend hobbies... and we came across a GREAT deal we couldn't pass up... HP computer about a year old... and an hp all in one printer (copier, scanner, faxer) all yes atleast a year old for only $300 for all of it... which is what i'm currently using right now.. mind you the monitor is a 22" which to us is like a big screen t.v. haha but anyways back to what my post is really about... I was going through old pictures I have on my SIM card for my Cannon... and found my innocent a little over 1 (in the pictures) neice Madison... and how innocent she really looked... really made me sad to think that this 3 year old going on 30 used to be so sweet and innocent and could barely say a sentence... now you can't get her to shut up and quite frankly sometimes she can still be just downright MEAN... but she's still my sweet innocent neice none the less... JUST not THIS sweet innocent madison anymore....

McKinleyville, CA

So we finally made it to our new home Sunday June 13, 2009. We have a cute little 1 bedroom 1 bathroom duplex. with a garage so sticker is a VERY happy camper = ) I could complain because the stove is just about as wide as me and straight from the 70's but I won't because it's better then nothing. We just got out internet turned on today so i thought i was due for an update.

We will def. have pictures up soon.

In N Out

So today My dad, Adda, and I introduced Sticker to IN N OUT!
and coming from somebody who HATES fast-food... he LOVED it... I also took him to miguels yesterday and just like everyone I know he LOVED it as well =)
I mean if he didn't enjoy miguels i might have had to kick him to the curb haha... but luckily for him he enjoyed it.

Monday Mondayyyy

Today we finally get to relax for a change. No HAVING to drive anywhere... HAVING to do things all day.... the only thing planned is dinner later at my Dad and Adda's ... So I think today ... i am going to sit on the couch watch t.v... and when sticker finally wakes up get in contact with the movers. etc. etc.

But... I am very excited for dinner tonight = )

MOAB, UT

SO FAR ON THIS ROADTRIP MOAB UTAH IS BY FAR MY NEW FAVORITE PLACE IN THE U.S.

GETTING LATE... NEED SLEEP WE HAVE A LONG DAY TOMORROW... GOING TO ZION NATIONAL PARK!!! WOO HOO!

BUT BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR NEW PICTURES ...

HERE IS A TEASER I TOOK TODAY ON A HIKE...

Pictures and Videos

I had to share a couple of pictures I took the day before we left.

This one is of Grace with her new puppy Bo. In this picture grace is actually bathing her feet in watered down juice out of her sippy cup... In a sense you appluad because she realizes her feet are dirty and she is in need of a tubby. But she messed up by using the juice.

This is a close up of Bo... Cutest little puppy

We went through connecticut before this...

Realy cool sunrise in Missouri.

Trying to cover up the bags under our eyes for a quick pic.

I believe this was taken in ohio?

Letting the Pilot take a nap.

Big Tires

Me prepared to take a nap... I knew he was going to try and pull a fast one on me... So I covered up !

Where we currently are and do not want to leave!!

Now here's some video footage of some AWESOME lightning!

UPDATE ON ROADTRIP

So here's an update on our trip...
It started off in Ashburnham, MA... but that night we were driving through ohio and hit the craziest thunder/lightning storm i've seen in a LONG time... Sticker's NEVER seen anything like that in his life... Poor guy has been deprived of natural entertainment his whole life ... it definitley kept both of us awake and very much entertained... Like a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat till the end. But since my photography skills aren't that good I got some video footage = ) Right now I'm sitting at a starbucks (yuck) in Fort Collins, CO (AMAZING) me and sticker both agreed that if we could we would NEVER leave this city... Last night we ate at this place called Noodles & Co. the name says it all... nothing but Pasta & Noodles... I was in CARB HEAVEN! Today we are going to visit the New Belgium Brewery then head to Zion national park... crossing our fingers it's not raining so we can camp... then thursday morning we are heading to Oatman, Ca go visit some relatives... then home sweet home REDLANDS, CA... Probably won't be able to update very much more until redlands, Unless there's magically a wifi coffee shop in a ghost town haha. So now I leave you with pictures and videos = ) ENJOY!

PIG ROAST!

So yesterday was the pig roast... and like I predicted was TONS of fun! Everyone had a great time! Today is relax day... everyone just takin it easy... But unfortunately tonight will be our last night in Massachusetts, come monday morning we will be hitting the road.

Here's the plan... go straight through to Colorado. Stop relax take a little break. Then we're cutting down to Zion National Park hang out there for a day. Then we're taking a restroom and snack break in oatman, Az maybe give some donkeys some carrotts. Then we will arrive in Redlands, CA either late thursday night or friday night. Once we're done in Redlands we will be heading up to our new home in McKinleyville, CA.
But until then here are some pictures from the pig roast... hope you enjoy = )

Uncle Joe and Sticker

Little Nick

Nick Sr. and Sticker
my favorite dog... MAG PIE (new finland)
Nick and Me

Nick, Tommy, Me, and Sticker
Grace earlier in the day.

Madison Lynn and Jacob Daniel-Ray

The two people I REALY miss right now from back home... My neice and nephew. They grow up way too fast. Just in the 20 weeks I was home jacob started crawling, standing up, has become more opinionated haha... madison in the year I was gone has turned into this little woman. She is 3 going on 30. It's just crazy to me how time flys by...

PIG ROAST TODAY!!!

So today is the annual pig roast at the Hollenbeck house! I am VERY excited for today. Yesterday we all hung out and helped with getting everything prepared for this event. But nothing compared to the 150 people that will be there tonight hanging out. I was going through pictures and looking on Carly's (sticker's sister) facebook and found a picture of me, grace, and sticker. and LOVED it. Again it shows all the personality this girl has.

But I will definitley be posting some pictures later of the festivities that shall take place today!

Hope your excited = )

FYI that wonderful jacket I am wearing was given to me by my wonderful fiance Sticker... it's his class sweater (80-09 was his class' number) the back of it was designed by one of his classmates... def. is my new favorite sweatshirt.

Grace "peanut pie" Marie

We had the honor of watching Sticker's neice Grace (peanut pie) yesterday... well words can not describe how awesome this little girl is... so here's a video for all to see!

We also painted...

and she looked at me like I was crazy when I used my fingers instead of the paint brush...