Well I've Moved

Both literally and figuratively. I now live in Chicago and I now blog at www.naphandlys.com so check me out there!

Pay to Blog for realz?

So my hubby suggested that I check out if I can get paid to write because apparently I'm not to shabby at it. I was writing a cover letter mock up for him and some basic pointers he should emphasize in his resume. So that triggered something. It could have been the handsome man speaking to me, or the fact that we are in dire need of money but I figured I'd seek it out...what's it take from me? A few words? My ideas? I mean really...not to shabby me thinks.
So I'm researching it and checking stuff out and think that a circus freak has a 3rd leg so why not?

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The Decisions We Make

Well we just have to be ok with the decisions we make right? That is what I'm struggling with right now. We had two choices. Stay in a small town while I worked full time in a call center. It was good pay but that didn't really matter since our cost of living was, ironically, so high. Such is the cost of living in an old drafty house, the rent may be cheap but there is a reason! So it was either work 40 hrs a week and be alone, in a small house, in a small town, with my closests friends at least 1hr away, and my husband on tour with the band for a month. OR move to Chicago on our tax return, be together for almost 2 weeks, have hubby leave on tour, have no income whatsoever but also have minimal bills (which don't seem so minimal when you have no income, get it?), look for jobs for over a month straight with no leads, but at least be in the city we know we're going to be staying in.

Difficult I know! Things have improved a bit. I have a job for about 8 hrs a week working with a concert production agency. This is great because it's in the line of work that I want to do. It's not great because it doesn't pay much, takes me 45 minutes to get there and I have to pay tolls. But at least it's something right? So I've gotten a call back from two retail stores and finally have an interview with good ol' Starbucks for a management position but I'm not holding my breath. Both retail stores are part time. In fact one called me and offered me the job but said I was over qualified and thinks that I should decline, which I did because they couldn't pay me enough for us to live. The other retail store has me on an interview tomorrow but again, it's part time and they probably aren't going to offer me enough for us to survive in the city. I'm holding out for coffee connection.

I was talking to Naph about this the other day, how it's hard for me to see other couples who've been married half the time we are doing twice as good. Generally this is because the dude in the relationship works full time and we agreed that if Naph was going to pursue the band thing then he wouldn't be able to work, at least not at the beginning. So now he is finally available to take part time jobs but again, it's a hard economy. I think he'll find a job faster than I will because he has mad skills in design and has a great portfolio, but again, he can't work full time.

And in this current climate, generally women get paid $.70 to ever $1.00 that men get paid and I'm really seeing that reverberate in all the jobs I've checked out. It's discouraging. So how do we see God in all of this? How do we know this is what we're suppose to be doing, and where we're suppose to be? When will we get our own place? When will we get jobs? When will I be able to start the career I've been thinking and praying about for so long? Everything seems so elusive. When will I even get time to send out our support letters so that we can go on the missions trip we've already guaranteed being part of?

I mainly wanted to bring you in on this because I really need prayer. The longer we go with waiting the smaller my faith gets. I need to be in the word and on my knees a lot more but my discouraged heart finds it hard to even do that. I know for a fact that I'll look back on this one day and see how much God has been in control of things, but right now my blinders are on!

Either way, my heart is hardening and this isn't good. My husband is trying to console me and my mind tells me he has no idea what he's talking about even though I know for a fact he does. I need a little reality check, a blessing check, and a faith check....

The New Irvin's

well I had the opportunity to be a bridesmaid in the wedding of one of my dearest friends. You may remember the engagement shoot that I did, yeah...it's that couple. Anyways, they got married last weekend and it was awesome! You know when there are two people in love that marriage is just the natural next step for them, yeah these two people are like that!
So I did a few pics for them when I wasn't bridesmaidzing. Luckily they had a real photographer there so the pressure was off.

Anyways, enjoy these pics and I'll write an update tomorrow on how the transition is going with our move to Chicago and my sweetheart's major festival tour is going.

Lovies

Awesome Abigail

So I've told you about this fantastic girl.

She is an awe inspiring lassy let me just say. So here's how the story I've been dying to tell you goes:

Abby is currently homeschooling with these awesome parents of hers:

They also happen to be Naph and my kind of life coaches, mission trip leaders, reasons that we think we can be cool someday and all round Godsends.(They are also champions at the game Ninja pictured above.) They are also amazing parents. Rebecca did, for a fact, go to school to become a rocket scientist..yeah...she's wicked smaat (Smart for those of you not from Maine).
So anyways, Abby took this test. This test is unlike any other test I've heard of in my life and if I ever had to take it I would crawl into the fetal position, cry and loose all self respect in my level of intelligence.

So Abby needed to know seven subjects. She found out about this test and decided she wanted to make a run at it...four weeks before the actual test. Now you say, "silly Alyssa, tricks are for kids. And that is way enough time to study...psh I study the night before." And to that I would say "Well you're better than I am, I study 10 minutes before." BUT This is not just any ordinary test...this was an Oral Test...and  its a Rebecca Larsen FACT that, if you did not breath you could complete this test in approximately 2 hours. Abby finished it in 1hr and 30 minutes...yeah..awesome #1.
Before I go into these subjects it is worth noting that this was quite the feat not only for Abby but for her ever supportive padres. They had to help her memorize and learn tons of information! So, to commend her for her brilliant efforts, they gave her a precious gift! The charm bracelet below.
Rebecca made an agreement with Abby: for each subject she passed she would get a charm and when it was time to tell her sweet papito she would simply show him the charms that reflected those subject.
So OK, if you quickly flip through these pictures you say " Lys, darling, you said there were seven topics but you show 8 charms."
Well let me tell you. Most students had a whole year to prepare for this test. Abby did it in 4 weeks.
About a week before the test "those people" said that now, in order for a student to receive a certificate, they would have to pass the test 100% rather than a lower percentage that they had stated at the beginning of the year. DEFEAT, I CRY, DEFEAT! Rebecca said at this point Abby would get most of the stuff right when they quizzed her at home but there were still some things that were very difficult for her.

Well they kicked it into full gear, day and night and night and day they toiled and memorized and danced and pulled out their hair. THEN Test day came!

Before going into her test Abby's sweet supportive Mommy gave her this charm:

It represents the amount of heart and umph that this girl showed. Rebecca & Eric wanted Abby to know that going into that test she had already succeeded because she decided to try. Even if she didn't get all her subjects her parents would still be so proud of her for even having the nerve. She wasn't allowed to come out and say what she didn't pass but rather would come out saying "I came, I saw, I conquered...even if I didn't pass all the subjects."
SO Let me show you what subjects she passed and what she had to know to pass them. Remember this was an oral test. (You may already know because well..I always give too much away, story of my life.)
1. Eiffel Tower

Subject: Geography. Abby had to know all the capitals and countries of pretty much the whole world. Her hardest part was South America which Naphtali and I vicariously helped her with due to our extensive and exciting lives in SA. She may have also learned a rap that was even more cool than us...but that is neither here nor there. She also had to know most lakes and rivers and large bodies of waters...globally!
(I would already have failed)

2. Fleur De Li's

Subject: Latin. This was the only written part she had and she had to know..um...I think 30 different Latin words. She could either recite or write, she chose to write.

3. Key

Subject: History/Christian timeline: Abby had to know 160 events in history, in order starting from creation and ending...well I dont' remember where..my brain hurt after they told me she had to know 160 of them.

4. Crown
(The charm for this one fell off but has been replaced)
Subject: History sentences: She had to know 24 sentences regarding history. And I don't mean Alyssa sentences. They were long winded run on sentences that I can't even remember.
She also had to know all the presidents. In order for Abby to retain this her mother wrote a SWEET poem. I shall have to get that and post it...or she shall have to copyright it and produce it because its SWEET!

5. Fish

Subject: Science: Oceanography, animals plants etc:: She had to know anything there is to know about the animals that live under the ocean, the plants and habitat and all these other facts that I can't retain in my brain.

6. Dice

Subject: math: times table 15, squares and cubes, geometry: OK..so math is my worst subject and I wanted to kiss her feet after this.

7.Little Girl

Subject: English: She had to know all the crazy things about the English language.I don't even remember all the things she needed to know for this but she still can recite them and she does it so quickly you have to kind of look stupid while you're trying to comprehend them all.

So...as you can see, she got all the charms because she got 100% on this test!
She passed, quickly, correctly efficiently and she's retained it!
She rocks my socks. Not only because she passed, but because she passed of her own accord. She wasn't pressured she wasn't forced, she just wanted to, so she did.

So now you know why I've been so humbled not only academically but my determination level and confidence. This girl's got it! And she couldn't have done it with out supportive parents. Which she had 100%. They are her biggest fans. The coolest thing is that Rebecca loves learning so much that she finds great ways to teach and she really circles it around the type of person she's teaching not the material she's teaching so each person is treated individually for what they can do. It's a formula for success pretty much..pretty much.

Now...go and feel stupid and know that a 12 year old can totally kick your butt in any subject. At least I know Spanish...wait...she's learning that too...danget.

I Want His babies

You know how you and your spouse set up a "5 year plan" until you think you will be ready to have children? Well that was our plan, it's been all along and it isn't changing any time soon. *Hint hint* I'm not preggers. But I have to tell you about something that just melted my heart into pieces and, as PW would say "I died." So here's the scenario. My amazing husband and I were hanging out this weekend with some dear close friends of ours (they did our marriage counseling and are pretty much the main reason we are as awesome as we are...really it's by association.) Anyways, they have these four marvelous girls, yes four...all under the ages of 12, four girls, two parents, one house and us. This is our birth control...except for this last trip. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First I have to tell you that I'm going to be writing a little blog about the oldest Larsen daughter who is an amazing woman! Let's just say she puts anyone who ever wants to learn anything about school to shame because she just rocks. Pretty much. 

Anyways, so I was hanging out with Larsen ladies 1-3 when I was trying to figure out where Larsen lady #4 was. She is five, her birthday is the day before mine, she is the baby of the family and she steals my heart. We quote her often in the NM household. Anyways I had been snapping shots of the Larsen ladies #1-3 and went to find #4. And this is what I saw:

Can I have his babies now please? Oh my word, seriously, he was teaching her how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...which, by the way, he didn't know so he learned it on the spot for her. Ugh...I"m in love and my ovaries just flipped.
Ok..that is all I wanted to share with you. I promise to become much more dedicated to these blog posting, I have quite a bit to show you! Lovies.

6 Years for Realz!

So I have done lots of editing for my favorite newly engaged couple, but, first and foremost, I wanted to let you in on a new link of ours. Alas it is not the new website yet, but that is in the deep throws of development and hopefully will arise glorious and beautiful very soon!

BUT seriously, the site I wanted to show you was our new Flickr account because I just don't want to inundate my whole blog with so many pictures in a smaller format so you can't really see them. So you can check the full M & T album out at here. It is our new Flickr account. Apparently I had this one from way back when which has our favorite wedding and honeymoon pictures (apparently way back when was less than two years ago) and then I deleted my Yahoo! account. I tried to get back in so we could take that Url off so we could use it on our new Flickr account, but alas yet again...no such luck.

Now on to what really matters...my hubby and I. (Well for this post at least).

Today is our 6 year anniversary, not marriage but dating. We met way back when in Ecuador South America and since then we've been to Maine, Alabama and all the states in between and even some beyond, Malaysia, Spain (I was there vicariously), Chile (where my heart lies) and the Dominican Republic. We've lived in two locations since being married not to mention the handful with our respective roomies before we got married, we've been to lots of festivals, wasted lots of miles on our car, traveled to Chicago and back too many times to count and joined in the frequent miles club with Amtrak.

We've been in the biggest fights with each other, with others, with ourselves. We've been to concerts, pubs, restaurants, parks, parking lots ;-), beaches, mountains, churches, friend's homes whew..we've been every where and back again (Thank you Bilbo).

I intend to write our story on here at some point. It will be a chapter by chapter deal (copying PW is what I do, she is my blogging role model). There is so much to put in there, so many stories, feelings, conversations that it will take a while and, to my great demise, I am way to detail oriented when telling stories.

*One time Renaissance Man asked me to write out how he proposed to me and it took over three pages. He made me get it into 3 paragraphs. It wasn't as good as the original. *

Anyways, I just think back on how many years we've dated and how we're going on two years of marriage and it's just flown by. Life is ever changing for us. We've been in some what of a stagnant place recently with our current location but from it we've learned patience, faith and trust. We've had time to grow with each other and spend quality time with each other.

I know many couples who in the first several years, if not over the course of their whole marriage, they've only been separated a few times by work trips, tours, etc. But in our relationship RM is on the road several weeks most months, and when he's not gone for weeks he'll be gone for a few weekends. So we've had the torture of separation but the ecstasy of reunion. That feeling, when he walks in the door even if I haven't seen him for 4 days, is just the best. He is SO HOT!

Learning to take part of my alone time as time for me rather than time for self pity and loneliness has been vital to getting through those times. Which will be a whole blog unto itself.

But all this to say, the man I fell in love with 6 years ago and married almost 2 years ago, is still stealing my heart away each day.

Well, I could write a novel more but I will stop here b/c I'm sure many of you are just about the hurl. Thanks Renaissance man for picking me. *He would say "I didn't pick you, we were predestined to be together ;-)*