The Armstrong's Go West: Day 1 and Penn State

FINALLY the long awaited photos from our road trip. Some of them, at least. After working an absurd amount this week and handling exams, quizzes, and a big project on top of it, I've decided to take a "half personal day" and not worry about anything but taking care of me after I got home from work today. It was much needed. 

Admittedly, I was on the verge of a minor nervous breakdown. I was scheduled to work 9 days in a row, on top of having a lot of school work that was time sensitive, and then got roped into staying in Santa Barbara for a full day shift after I was only supposed to be there until 1. I ended up pulling late nights on Saturday and Sunday to get my work in on time and with decent grades, but it was a long weekend and it's going to continue to be a long week. I needed a period of time for just me, a period of time that was more than just an hour. 

So, I spent the afternoon taking a nap, cuddling with the huz, and editing personal photos instead of client photos with New Girl on in the background. 

Hence, I present to you some of the photos from our trip home. 

Of course, in true Armstrong fashion, it was POURING the day we left. Poor James ran back and forth, inside and outside, loading up the u-haul so we could be out by 10. Between the two of us, he's the puzzle master (even though I AM pretty good at that myself) and took on the project of making as much of our stuff fit as possible. He was absolutely drenched by the time we left, but luckily he only had to deal with it for an hour. We drove down a little past Syracuse and stayed the night there before diving into the insanity we had in store. 

The next day, we woke up and loaded everyone back into the car. If you recall, that's the day Mo kicked Talos out of his bed and banished him to a tiny corner in the back seat. Mo moved from there after a while, but not after his tiny self slept in the dog's huge bed for a little. The five of us and our u-haul made our way down south to Penn State. It didn't feel right to go west and leave the east coast behind without visiting the campus and actually seeing where I go to school. I'm so glad we did. I can't stress that enough. Sometimes I am bummed that I don't get to go to a campus like everyone else, that I don't get to go to lectures and buildings, and that I don't have the traditional experience. It's occasionally hard, but then the moment passes. Things like campus visits, help, though, and it gave me more pride to be going where I do. 

The visit was short, though, and we had to keep moving. Our 10 hours of driving ended in Cleveland and we were ALL done by the time we got there. Mo was, by far, the most upset and I think he was the one who was most relieved to see a hotel room. I'm pretty sure that was the one time in his life that he was happy to be somewhere other than home. 

All the photos below are copyright of Danielle Armstrong and are not to be altered in any way or claimed as another's work. 

What are the Armstrongs Up to These Days?

It occurred to us the other day that even though we're in California now, our lives are still very much separate from that majority of our family as we live a few hours away from everyone. Don't get me (or us) wrong, we love where we live/go to school/work. Lompoc is the perfect suburb for the two of us and what we're looking for right now. Somehow, we've been blessed to live in a home with more space than we truly need, but enough space to give us what we want in a home. We're not squished into 600 square feet of apartment, we have a yard for Talos, and we have space for our own individual needs. I have room to workout and do homework upstairs and away from the television and commotion that occurs in the living room, which is something that I greatly need for my own reasons. It's quiet, too, and we have a relaxing place to come home to everyday after the business of everyday. 

And don't even get me started on Santa Barbara. It's perfect and I've easily fallen in love with it. My commute in every day is about an hour, but it doesn't even feel like it because I get to stare at the ocean for a good portion of the drive. Everything is easy to get to, the people are unbelievably laid back and friendly, and it's so well kept up that it's incredibly aesthetically appealing. It has a great community to it, the schools are excellent, and traffic isn't even bad (which for someone with my anxiety, you have no idea how much of a bonus that is). I can see us living here for another year or two in great ease and comfort. 

Aside from location, what's going on in our life? A lot. James and I are in full swing of school. We're both going full time with four classes each and it takes up the majority of our week. James spends 5 days of the week at school, and then we spend some of our weekend studying for things we have coming up such as exams, papers, and projects. 

On top of that, I work 4 days of the week and spend somewhere around 20-25 hours there, depending on if I pick up a shift or not. Since the holidays are coming up, I'm anticipating that, that number will increase as I have an open schedule. I really love where I work, though! I work as a sales associate, but it's not sales in the traditional sense. I don't fold clothes or have a quota to meet. I just help people find things they're looking for, whether it be maternity clothes or toys, and it just clicks. I fit into the environment really well, my coworkers are awesome, and it's so mellow that I look forward to going every day. I truly have been blessed in this area of life. Plus, Free People is literally right down the street and I don't think I could stress to you enough how much this excites me. James... not so much.

Back to that number I mentioned, it also doesn't include time I spend editing photos from sessions or events. I've finally finished editing wedding photos, which has taken up a huge chunk of time in general, and I'm just about done with the session I shot two weeks ago, which is going to free up time for me immensely. James is used to me being either at work or on the computer, at this point. That's just how days are for us. If time's not spent in Santa Barbara or driving, it's spent doing homework, trying to get in some extra sleep, or working on side jobs. I've gotten to edit some AWESOME pictures, though, which I'll post below:

We haven't even come close to finishing unpacking because of all this. If you've been feeling like we've been avoiding spending time with you, we're not. We're just incredibly busy and adjusting to life as a completely civilian, college-student family who just moved across the country. The grind is real, folks. We're working on getting settled in, still. Our house is a wreck and half in boxes. We're not avoiding, I promise. The cats are pretty happy about this, though. Penelope has claimed 10 boxes, or so, as her castle and she sleeps on the highest stack everyday, as if she's sitting above her kingdom and looking down on all her peasants.

Because of this insanity, my lack of blogging has continued, which saddens me. I'm going to try to increase it, though, especially since we both are lacking in the "friends" department. It's weird not having our normal group of friends from New York here with us and it's been... a challenge to find people similar to our lifestyle considering our environments. James doesn't quite mesh in with the "just out of high school" crowd and I work in a kids and maternity store, meaning my coworkers all have kids and are in a slightly different phase of life with different priorities for their time. Because of that, I'd like to utilize this and talk, so to speak, through this. Air things, document things, etc. We both know that this will change at some point, it just can take some time. It took me over a year to really find friends in New York, so I know this won't be much different. That's just how life goes, though. Things are slowly, but surely, starting to come together and it doesn't feel so uncomfortable here, now. 

Though, I'm still depressed that it's 75 degrees in the fall and that we won't get to go to a "real" Christmas tree farm and have a white Christmas like we did last year. I'm still trying to cope with that. 

Hello, California

Missed me? 

I know, I haven't blogged in forever. I fell WAY behind on my project 52, also, but for good reason. If you all recall, we were headed to California at the end of July and we ended our time with the military. So, here we are at the end of...September! Two whole months. I think it's time for a bit of a life update. By the way, I have very few photos edited and ready to share from our road trip, so there will be a separate and more detailed post to follow once things calm down even more. 

So, yes. We made it to California in 7 days, and that was with leisure time! We stopped in tons of states, enjoyed time with James's grandparents in Iowa, blasted pokemon music through Nebraska because it was so boring and flat, had a nice night for the two of us in Vegas, and literally gained 10 pounds from gorging on food we haven't had in a year and a half. We also didn't kill each other after spending 7 days next to each other in the car with three animals, so that's a victory in itself. 

Life in California has been...challenging, to say the least. We arrived here only to find that no one would rent us a house because neither of us had a job at the time and the military dropped the ball (no surprise there) on giving him proof of funds for his GI Bill and from the VA in a timely manner. Having a dog and two cats was a challenge, as well, because very few apartments allow dogs here. Renters also rarely accept animals because most of the time, their properties get way damaged. It took us weeks to find a place to live. We eventually did (and we love where we live - it somehow worked out for the best), but it wasn't without its challenges. 

I was also in the middle of my summer semester, meaning that I was taking exams, quizzes, and writing papers at the end of each travel day. Not fun and I wouldn't recommend it. 

James had his own trials with school. As mentioned before, no proof of funds or anything from the military, making it hard for him to register for classes without all the proper paperwork as "payment wasn't confirmed." We spent the better part of a week driving back and forth between Santa Clarita and Santa Barbara just to sort that out. 

On top of all that, my car got totaled. In the middle of having no home, no job, no income, finals, and trying to work out James's school (which is a big portion of our monthly income). The story doesn't need to be told again because I'm still somewhat sore over the loss of my first car so suddenly and I miss it quite terribly. Which, I know, sounds dumb and "first world problems," but it was the only stable thing I had at that point besides my husband and pets. It was also a secure car that was comfortable to drive and there's still a very strong sentimental attachment to it. 

So, in the middle of all this chaos, we had to buy a new car so I could continue to go on interviews and job hunt. Getting things like groceries and just transportation in general is kind of important, too. 

Things have settled down some, though. I have a job! I'm working part time at a kids and maternity store called Peanuts (which I absolutely love) and it's a load off my shoulders, to say the least. I probably went on about 15 interviews before I was offered a job and searched for about a month. And, we do have a home that we're renting. James's paperwork finally came and his school got all sorted out. I also started my semester and it's all going along very smoothly, even with a job and a long commute. I also photographed my first wedding (and realized I have a bigger interest and knack for it than I thought) and finally am able to get back into a routine for working out. We still have things to take care of, like finding a newer and more reliable car for me, but I'll take the small hurdles over dealing with 5 major life dilemmas at once.  

Project 52 l Week 25 and 26

week 25 ; dreamy

week 26 ; old

No crazy or creative captions for either of these. It was more about how these came out post processing. Week 25 just had such a beautiful, dreamy feel to it. It helped that it was of a soccer net, the sport I literally dreamed about since I was like 5, so there's that. 

And Week 26 just came out with this really pretty, old, and classic feel to it. 

Weekend Trip with Friends

A couple of weekends ago, we decided to take a trip with some of our friends up to one of the wineries up here. I'm sure you'd never guess that there are wineries up here seeing as we have gnarly winters that, literally, last 7 months, but there are actually a LOT of them up here. And a lot of them are not only beautiful, but very well known and fairly large. 

In our quest to just do everything we possibly can in the month we're still here, we said, "why not?" and made the drive up there with our friends for the day. The one we went to, Thousand Islands Winery, is up in Alexandria Bay, which is a gorgeous and fun little town. Some of you may recall my trip to Boldt Castle a couple years ago while James was deployed. This winery and the Castle are in the same city, as well as many quaint, little shops and restaurants. It's just a great place to be during the summer. 

As expected, it was quite the experience. We got to take a tour of the winery and see the tanks in which all the wine fermented (which was a trip for my science loving husband), see the four kinds of grapes they grow on the premises, and look at all the local products that they sell along with their wine. While I am a five year old when it comes to food and what I eat, James was IN LOVE with all the different local jams and dips they sold. There was even a mustard one that I liked, and that's a pretty big deal. 

My favorite part, though, is that I have friends who WANT to take pictures and let me photograph them! In the short time some of them have been up here while we have, I've grown so fond of them and had so many memorable moments with this group. I hated this area when we first got up here, but I've actually grown to like it quite a bit and I've gotten incredibly comfortable. I have to say, I will miss it here when it's time for us to leave, especially the people we've met and become friends with. Just like this trip, I hope we're able to take advantage of more of these kinds of opportunities, regardless of the activity. Time is too precious to waste.

New Camera Snaps

Not too long ago, I took a big step. I bought myself a NEW CAMERA! 

I'd been feeling incredibly limited by my old camera body for months and finally, I saved up enough money to buy a major upgrade. It's still not as high caliber as I'd like, but it's a huge step up from my beginner camera. Don't get me wrong. It's served me well and if you know how to use your camera, you're going to get great images. I had just outgrown it. 

Once my card converter came in, I (obviously) took pictures as soon as I could. For the most part, that meant pictures in low light, but I was cool with that. I actually have a camera that I can use in low light without getting major grain and I was anxious to try.

These are just a few shots I've taken in the week or so that I've had my camera and been able to use it. There are plenty more images I have and some more themed posts, but I wanted to share a few snaps. 

Project 52 l Weeks 23 and 24

Week 23 ; Blur and Week 24 ; Motion

Missed me? Life has been busy in the Armstrong household, especially if your name is Danielle. I started my school semester about a month ago and am currently averaging reading 4 chapters, two to three quizzes, a discussion post and response to the post immediate after mine, two lectures, and a few worksheets each week. For two classes, mind you.

And I squeeze in some photo sessions in there, attention for my husband and three fur babies, anywhere from 30-90 minutes for working out (this does include walking Talos), editing photos from sessions, and still trying to have a social life and enjoy the small amount of time we have left here with friends. Oh, yeah. Throw in planning a move across the country, too. 

My plate is (kind of really) full. Hence the lack of blogging. But, I am trying to catch up! And I am staying on top of Project 52 for the most part. I was late this past week, but only because I just haven't had a moment to edit personal photos. 

I do have a few posts to blog once the photos get edited, which I actually have a moment to do right now! I have a "light" week in terms of school work this week, so that means I actually get time for me. Insert the thought of, "wait, what's that?"