Our Year in San Diego

After a several month hiatus, I am back with a blog post. Although I cannot be sure when my next update will be :)

In three short weeks we are moving to Chicago! This past year has flown by and it was been a really great year. I finished cosmetology school and got licensed, yay. I am two classes away from completing my undergraduate degree and will be finished by October 4th. Chris had a great experience working with Ranch Capital and is excited for school to start. 

Some highlights:

Back in December we went on a really fun cruise to the Mexican Riviera with David and Bonnie

Chris turned 30 in January, can you believe it? I turned 26 in July, but I still feel like I am 21.

We participated in a little 5k mud run in March.

• In June my parents' house was broken into and they stole my laptop, Chris's new laptop he had just bought for school, my dad's laptop, and my favorite necklaces. The necklaces were hardly worth anything but for some reason it made me so mad that they would steal that. 
• We have enjoyed loads of time with family
• Sadly, Chris's aunt, Monica passed away in June of cancer. The memorial was beautiful. It still doesn't feel real that she is gone. 

There are things I am forgetting, I know because I have been cursed with a horrible memory. We are grateful for the friends we have made in San Diego and excited for the next chapter. Bring it on Chicago. 

Another Brief Update

Just to let you know we are alive and well. Chris is still working at the Private Equity firm in Del Mar and I am still in cosmetology school. I hit over 1,000 hours today which means I have less than 600 hours to go. My expected grad-date is June 20th.

We are basically busy with school and work. We never take pictures so I have nothing to show you BUT we are happy and enjoying our time in San Diego. To all my friends: if you ever want to come stay in San Diego you are welcome to stay with us. We would love to see you!

We are getting more and more excited for Chicago, I think the only thing that I am nervous about/not looking forward to is the housing situation but it is what it is and it's only 2 years. We have been stocking up on our winter gear. I have done some serious research about what we should wear during a Chicago winter because I do not want to hate this experience.

Thanks for checking in :)

Brief Update

I apologize for not having pictures, I rarely read blogs that don't include pictures so if you won't read this, it's cool. Apparently I am similar to a six year old in my need to read things with pictures included.

I am averaging one blog post per month so this may just be it for September. I just wanted to write a few things we have done recently since they will inevitably be forgotten by me and my terrible memory.

The main thing that has changed for me is that I started hair school, or cosmetology to be exact. I have wanted to do this for a couple years but we haven't lived in the same place long enough for me to start. It is about a ten-month program if I go full time and since we are here for a year it works out great. I have a picture of me on my first day of school on my phone but since I don't have internet on my phone I don't know how to get it onto the computer. That will have to be a task for another day. School is from 8-4:30 Tuesday through Saturday and it has been quite the change since I spent the last 2 years basically just hanging out while Chris brought home the bacon. I have really enjoyed it so far.

We were able to spend some time with some of Chris's family up in Santa Barbara. The agenda was jammed packed with activities like going to the beach, the zoo, visiting Lanshe friends from Santa Maria, a beach BBQ, games, and Fiesta. It never seems like we have enough time with Chris's side. You Lanshes should just relocate to one place, preferably in the states, so we can get more face time with everyone.

We started attending the Olivenhain Ward, the ward I grew up in. Which is great and weird at the same time. Great in that I know quite a few people already, but weird that I am now interacting with these people as a married adult instead of as an angsty teenager. I wish i could say that people remember me as a happy and friendly child and teenager, unfortunately I was in a pretty grumpy mood for my four years of high school. When I was growing up in this ward I can't ever remember there being young married couples, however, there are now several couples close to our ages and we have already made friends with a few.

Ummmmm, if I think of anything else I will edit this post but that is all I can think of right now.

PSYCH! (Not the TV Show)

So remember how three weeks ago we thought we would be spending the next two years in Berkeley for business school? And remember how two weeks ago we thought we would be spending the next two years in Chicago for business school? Well, plans have changed again my friends. We are now going to spend the next year in San Diego and go to Chicago next fall. That is right. Let me tell you how our plans changed so dramatically in such a short time.

We moved in with my parents in June so Chris could start an internship with a private equity firm down here. He planned on just staying for the summer and hoped the few months of experience would be a good addition to his resume (any experience you can get in PE before business school is very helpful). All the while, we were making plans to move to Berkeley in August but Chris was still hoping to be accepted to Wharton or Booth. Two Mondays ago he was rejected from Wharton but the very next day he got in at Booth.

I spent a couple hours mourning over the things I was looking forward to in Berkeley: friends, warm weather, a nice town, San Francisco, and being closer to family. However, it quickly became clear that Chicago was the better choice for Chris so we accepted their invitation.

While this was happening, the bosses at Chris’s internship asked him if he would consider deferring school for a year to continue working for them as a full-time employee. It seemed easy and harmless to fantasize about staying here for a year because the chances of getting a deferral are very slim. Shockingly, Booth agreed to allow the deferral! Before, when I thought there was no way we would actually stay it seemed so perfect, but once they agreed we actually had to really consider if this was a good decision.

You would think since I am the one from San Diego and I am the one with family here I would be the one that was really pushing to stay. Au contraire. My mind was spinning! Mainly, I just wanted to be sure that Chris would be happy at this company for a year and he would not regret putting school off another year. Chris seemed cool as a cucumber through this process and assured me that both options were good, it is not as if we were choosing between bad and good here. In my opinion, the fact that both decisions are good made it that much harder. After Chris reassured me many times that he thought staying here would be beneficial and he would be just as happy going to school next year, my mind was at ease, mostly.

I know some of you might think this decision is crazy since Chris has worked so hard to get into school for two years now, but we have been very prayerful about it and feel this door was opened to us for a reason.

So I will be spending the next year stocking up on my winter gear and enjoying this wonderful weather and time with my family before we head to Chicago next year. If only we could convince my little sister and her husband to live here for a year too!

At the beginning of the year I told Chris my motto for 2011 was going to be, “good things come to those who wait,” and I feel like that has definitely be true in our lives. I also feel like this sudden and extreme change of plans might be a foreshadowing of the rest of our lives. Yikes.

Birthday Time

Holla! I am 25 now. I had a great birthday this year, especially compared to last year when we had been in Shanghai for about 8 days and...I'll just leave it at that. This time I got to celebrate a few days early with my family, and my bff Shelly, in a combined party with my brother (he turned 29). Chris surprised me with a Kindle! I have been reading books using the Kindle app on my ipod for a while, which has been fine, it just means turning the page much more often so the Kindle has been a great improvement.

On my actual birthday Chris treated me to a fine Italian dinner in downtown Encinitas. After dinner we walked a few blocks to the beach to watch the gorgeous sunset.

This summer has been wonderful. I don't think I'll ever get the chance to spend the summer with my family (unemployed and without kids of my own) again. The days have been filled with swimming, games, food, a little golf, and lots of fun, and there are only a few weeks left before we head off to business school. I don't ever want to leave.

We're Moving! Again.

In our three and a half years of marriage we have moved four times and in the next few months we will add two more moves to the list. We will move to Encinitas for the summer and move again in the fall for business school.

Details:

Chris's last day at LEK is this Friday. Holla! He just landed a summer internship at a private equity firm in San Diego so we will be living with my parents for two months. Chris got accepted to Haas (Berkeley) for his MBA and is wait-listed at Booth (Chicago) and Wharton (Philadelphia). We are pretty sure we'll be headed to Berkeley for the next two years and I am really excited.

The summer internship starts on Monday, one week. The move will be a gradual one since we are still paying for this apartment and one week is not enough time for me to pack everything.

After our experience in China I have learned to like LA a lot more and I will really miss the friends we have made here. But starting in the fall, if you ever need a place to stay in the San Francisco area give us a call.

Can You Tell?

That I have lost my enthusiasm for blogging? Truthfully, I just don't feel like I have anything worth putting up here. No kids, I am not doing anything crafty, and I think I have taken a total of 5 pictures since we have been back in the states.

We do have some good news though. Chris got accepted to Berkeley for his MBA! After being wait-listed at Chicago and Wharton we were beginning to think that business school was not meant for us. The idea of not being two hundred thousand dollars in debt starting to become very appealing though.

Even though I haven't been taking pictures we have been doing fun things.

Back in February:

• We went to a murder mystery party. It was my first one and I had a great time. Both Chris and I were guilty in the murder. I actually did takes a couple pictures there!
• I got called to be the head of the Enrichment committee and Chris is the Ward Speech Festival Specialist. He thought they made up the calling just for him because he likes giving talks so much.

March:

• I went to a couple baby showers and we also attended a concert of classical music with my parents.
• Our only friends with a house hosted a great barbecue and game night. Thanks Smiths!

April:

• I went to some more baby showers
• We drove up to Berkeley for Chris's interview and spent the weekend there
• Saw the new Jane Eyre movie
• Another great barbecue
• And we spent Easter weekend with my family. It was the first time everyone was together since we've been back from China and it was fantastic.

We've also had friends over to play Just Dance 2, enjoyed dinner with friends, family has come up to spend time with us, and we've done other things I didn't write down in my calendar.

I am so glad we are back in the states!