Long Distance Lovin'

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile, but every time I come to this page I seem to get writer's block. After some nagging from my best friend and a day spent sick in bed, I think it is only appropriate that I finish this post.

Long distance is a very close friend of mine (pun intended). I am no stranger to long distance relationships. At first, it began with long distance boyfriends, but now it has turned into a long distance relationship with my family and friends. Long distance can be wearing on the soul. It can be an evil thing setting off fights over petty subjects, crying spells, and feelings of loneliness. However, long distance can also be a great teacher of several lessons a glimpse of hope or light at the end of a long day.

My first long distance relationship started my senior year of high school. My boyfriend at the time graduated a year before me and moved 2 hours away to attend college. This first relationship taught me a lot about what it meant to love someone. It taught me patience, understanding, and just how much a long distance relationship relies on truth and communication. I'm trying to make this sound all poetic and hopefully my audience understands what my measly little 17 year old brain was dealing with during this relationship. I admitted defeat in this relationship and broke it off when the distance became too much for me to handle (I would like to take a moment and pause at this fleeting thought as I sit in a long distance relationship who is 17 hours by car away from me... end pause)

I enjoyed single life for all of about 1 month before I got into my next relationship. This time, I was the one leaving for college. I told myself I didn't want to get into a relationship right before leaving, but again, let's take a moment to evaluate my life at this point in time: 17, just graduated high school, no responsibilities, life is awesome. SURE LET'S GET INTO ANOTHER RELATIONSHIP (this is me yelling at myself). My 2nd boyfriend and I managed about 6 months of long distance. We called and texted everyday. We managed trips to see each other every 2-3 weeks. I made him silly CD mixes and he gave me Tiffany's (smart, smart boy). Life was pretty fabulous and I thought I had FINALLY figured out long distance the second time around. I think there were a lot of things on my part that made this long distance relationship end on not so amazing terms. I battled clinical depression during this time in my life, which made communication and being so far away nearly impossible to handle. I think we were also very young and both at different moments in our life. We both dealt with the first year of college in different ways and our paths didn't necessarily align in the way we needed them to. I think I grew up a lot from this relationship and post this era of my life that I am extremely grateful for. I learned more about myself. I learned just who would be by my side for the rest of my life. I became grateful for my friends and family and just about everything in life. I appreciated the small moments and memories that filled my life.

About 8 months later, I met another boy who has slowly but surely turned into a man of great knowledge, passion, and understanding. I met Christopher when I least expected it, yet needed him in so many ways I didn't even understand. After 3 months of living in the same city, he moved back up to Oregon where we began our long distance relationship. I learned in this portion of my long distance saga that I enjoyed having "me" time and truly appreciated every waking moment I got to spend with my boyfriend when I did see him. Fast forward 3 odd years later (I will spare you the long story of how we got here), we are back together but even further apart now. Most people don't understand how much time goes into a long distance relationship, mainly because there are only a few measurable moments where we are actually together in the same city. Through of all our trial and errors, we've learned a few things:
1) Communication is absolutely necessary. Yes, my dear boyfriend, you are going to have to use your words to explain what is going on in your head even though you have a history of terrible communication.
2) Trust is key. Due to our past, I've had my moments of "what the hell am I getting into", but I think what makes me so certain is the complete trust I have in a man that I only get to see every so often.
3) The small things always make life a little sweeter. Voicemails. Sweet good morning text messages. Unexpected flowers. Snail Mail. I could go on forever about these small moments.

My list could probably go on forever about what makes a long distance relationship work. Granted, we are still learning things as we go and only looking so far into the future as the next trip that we are planning to see each other.

My series of long distance relationships has also helped me learn how to deal with the miles between me and my favorite people in the whole wide world. Moving to a city where you know absolutely no one is terrifying, yet exciting. I've lived in Baltimore for a little over 6 months now and I still love everything about this city. I do admit that not everyday is rainbows and butterflies, but rather stress and anxiety and moments of "Why did I move across the country". Countdowns, plans for Giants whooping Dodgers butt, and an immediate trip to In N Out with my best friend as soon as I land on June 29th keep me going everyday. My mother flies in tonight to Baltimore and I cannot wait to show her around and have her on the East Coast with me. I will hopefully update you with my travels from this upcoming weekend sometime early next week (or until my best friend bugs me again :)

My Absence

My absence in this blog stems from me actually LIVING and being SOCIAL. It's crazy to think that I moved to Maryland almost 5 months ago and I don't regret that decision for a day. Sure, there are days I wish I could be hanging out with my closest friends in California. Or days where I wish nothing more than to be eating and drinking with my mom and dad, however, this experience is so much more gratifying. I keep thinking about one day when I have kids or make new friends. I can tell them all about how I once spent sometime in my life living in the great city of Baltimore. This weekend I drove to Virginia and it was absolutely beautiful. I stopped in Old Town Alexandria to have lunch and walk around. I then drove the measly hour to get back to Baltimore. It is still insane to me that I can drive to not one, but many states within the span of a few hours. I have now made visiting every state in the US my number one on my bucket list, (yes, number 1, one, uno, if I could include every language for "one" I would...) so if anyone would like to help me with this goal, I would love you forever.

In May, I am going to visit Christopher again and we've decided to make a trip to Memphis, Tennessee. It started with me just dilly dallying at work, trying to find something to do in Little Rock for my long weekend when I stumbled upon the fact that Memphis is only 2 HOURS(!) away from Chris. My dad told me Graceland was there and I was sold. Who wouldn't want to see the King of Rock's great estate?! I'm pretty darn excited. Thank god Christopher is okay with me dragging him to visit other states and cities. We're also planning on making a day trip to Philly to see the great historical sites, oh, and eat an infamous Philly Cheesesteak. Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked on the next few months!

Anyway, I will try to post more soon about life, food, work, whatever comes to mind. I hope this finds you well!

xoxo

Adventures with Cooking

Tonight was by far the biggest struggle to make dinner. After a long day at work and an even longer time waiting at the doctor's office followed by grocery shopping,  I drove the struggle train trying to make dinner. However, after pushing myself to try and eat healthier, I didn't want to ruin today by eating mac and cheese (even though it's one of my top 10 favorite meals).

I decided to make Turkey Stuffed Peppers by Skinny Taste. I've been finding a lot of awesome meals on this website and in my quest to eat healthier/learn how to cook, this is my go to. I'm hoping tonight's dinner looks like this:

Skinnytaste.com

Although I'll be happy with pretty much anything at this point.

New Year, New Me

Along with a new city, new work, new daily routine, new cooking skills, I decided to add a new hairstyle into the mix. I've been growing my hair for about 3 years now. My very fine, typically blonde hair was starting to hate me. I'm sure picking at my split ends probably didn't help either. A few days ago, I walked into the Phillip Michael studio that is a few blocks down for my house for a simple consultation and walked away with an appointment to chop and color my hair darker. I can't tell you much lighter my head feels without all that hair weighing me down, not to mention how much easier it will be to blow dry and straighten my hair now!

Before

After

The weekend before last, my handsome boyfriend, Christopher, came to visit me again in Baltimore. We spent the weekend traveling to Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware, Rohoboth beach, watching the 9ers and Ravens games, drinking, sight seeing, and enjoying each other's company. Long distance is definitely not the business, but we already have plans to see each other for the next few months and in about 2 weeks I will be making my first visit to Little Rock, Arkansas. Enjoy pictures from our weekend!

This treehouse was sold on ebay for $1 and was originally assembled by a couple of people at Burning Man every year. They eventually got tired of hauling the pieces back and forth and decided to sell it. So, the owner of Dogfish Head bought the piece for $1 and then had to pay some ridiculous amount like $300,000 to ship the parts. He then flew out the people selling the treehouse to construct it on the property 

Chris at Fort McHenry

At Fort McHenry looking out at the Harbor 

Birthday Dinner!

Christopher getting to experience the insanity that was the Ravens going to the Superbowl

Snow!

It finally snowed in Maryland! I've received many questions about how I feel about the snow, how the Californian is doing in the weather, etc. etc. I'm actually doing really well! It's surreal to see snow falling on my car and while I'm driving. Enjoy some pictures:

I'll update tomorrow about last weekend when my boyfriend came to visit!

Birthday Festivities

Yesterday was my 22nd birthday and despite being so far from home, I had a fabulous day full of flowers, treats, and far too many drinks. My friend Rachel was so sweet and made a birthday card that held signatures from most of the people I work with. My amazing boyfriend sent me gorgeous flowers. My mom and dad sent me a gorgeous bouquet of roses and lilies that smelled absolutely amazing. My bestest sent me delicious chocolate covered treats from edible arrangements. I went to dinner at Burger Brothers, a great burger joint in Towson (not too far from my work). I topped off the night with far too many drinks, which didn't make for a pleasant morning. Overall, my first anniversary of being 21 was everything I could have hoped for!

Birthday Sunrise 

Birthday flowers from Christopher

Line up of birthday shots for the bar

Rachel, our new friend Katie, and I

Too. Much.

Beautiful flowers from my parents