Cali Girl to Cowgirl

Hit the Road Jack!

Six hours from now I'll be leaving my beloved home of 12 years in sunny San Diego. There will undoubtedly be change and transition, but I'm looking forward to every minute of it!

Here's what my car looks like right now:

Back seat is packed with boxes and bags.

Covered with my favorite blanket for the added security, or at least the perception of it. :)

Trunk filled with more stuff. Yet still enough room to store our duffle bags.

Freshly washed (but I'm sure it'll be splattered with bugs before long.)

Bottled waters, check. Snacks, check. Good music, check. Camera, check, Full tank of gas, check.
Steph and I are ready for good times and laughter. Here's to making memories!

Bon voyage West Coast!

No Guarantees in Life

I hesitate to write this blog entry for the sake of it being new and not wanting to position myself as a Debbie Downer (no offense to anyone named Debbie) from the onset. However I want to share what happened this week along with some of the things its caused me to ponder in hopes that perhaps it may help and inspire something within you too.

Early Monday morning I received a call from one of my best friends, Stephanie, telling me that Jimmy died in a diving accident off the coast of La Jolla. It's lobster season, his favorite time of the year, so he had been going out to catch "bugs" 2 or 3 times a week. Jimmy was the first man to capture Stephanie's heart and make her feel special, and they were in a relationship as of January 2011. I got to know Jimmy through her and thought he was a great guy. I had even anticipated having some of that fresh lobster with them that weekend.

In a separate story, another friend called a couple days later to share the news that he and his wife, a good friend of mine as well, lost their baby. This after having spent countless hours in prayer and hopeful expectation and thousands of dollars in IVF treatments and preparation for pregnancy. They are heartbroken.

I could share other stories but I digress in order to simply say this: There are no guarantees in life. Not even a free lobster dinner. But really, nothing is guaranteed! Jobs aren't guaranteed, money isn't guaranteed, the ability to have children and/or see them grow up isn't guaranteed, strong marriages aren't guaranteed. The list goes on.

The only thing that is most certainly guaranteed is that I can choose have an unwavering, deeply anchored hope in the Lord. No one and no thing can take that away from me. I believe God is guaranteed. He never changes and is steadily faithful forever.

Although I don't have it all sorted out, here are a few concluding thoughts these events have brought me to:
1. Remember to live boldly. Live on purpose. Live for God.
This is all the more reason for me to run head on into this next chapter of my life!

2. Tell important people in your life you care about them. It's so easy to overlook this and something I often forget to do. Treasure them for who they are, and enjoy the riches of friendships and family.

3. Remember to stop or pause to enjoy small moments in life, even the little things. For me it's laughter, or a smile, or the moon and stars, or a gorgeous sunset. The smallest things are often the most fulfilling things.

Needless to say my road trip to Nashville has been delayed a few days so I could attend the services for Jimmy and stand in support of my friend Stephanie who is also roadtripin' it with me as I embark on this journey.

Thanks for reading :)

So what's the story?

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog! I have decided to start this to document and share all the adventures of life as I leave San Diego to start something new in Nashville.

Yep, you heard me correctly: One week from today I'm boldly leaving sunny, beautiful San Diego (my home for the last 12 years) and moving to Tennessee! You may be scratching your head saying 'why there?'. Quite honestly, some days I do too. :)
Here's a little background behind it:

I have had a desire to move out of San Diego for some time now and began my quest to do so during Summer 2010. At first I really wanted to move to Asia, Singapore to be exact. I am drawn to that part of the world because potential is just busting at the seams in every way you can imagine- it is the future of business! I looked at jobs in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Seoul. Domestically I looked around in Los Angeles, Denver, Portland, Dallas, and even our very own San Diego.

Nashville never once crossed my mind.

Meanwhile in July 2011 the bank I work for announced plans to consolidate my office with another local branch. Our lease in the shopping center was coming due, and with a demand increase in rent when doing business in a community with an annual growth rate of less than 5%, it simply didn't make financial sense for the bank to renew. Another local branch 4 miles away would be poised to absorb our clientele.

Knowing this, I knew something in my life would certainly change by the branch closing date of Sept 30th- either I would continue at the bank or move on to another job. But certain doors kept closing and my desires kept changing. I just couldn't figure out where my next steps would take me. Talk about soul-searching...these past 6 months have been intense! (More to unfold in future blogs I'm sure.)

Needing a break from it all, I decided to visit a couple good friends in Nashville. While there I started to feel an uncomfortable tug inside. A tug that said there is something for me there and that I need to pursue some things in that city. That was 8 weeks ago.

Upon returning to San Diego that tug began to grow day by day, and a few weeks later I gave in to it and decided to start the process of moving there. I'm still unsure of what those 'things' are, but I'm trusting that the next chapter of my life will beautifully unfold in Nashville.

Here are some pics of my future home city!

Downtown Nashville with the building more popularly known as the Batman building.