2013 in Review- Part 1

As you can tell by my absence and lack of posts Josh is HOME!  To be clear, he's been home longer than the amount of time he was away.  So needless to say, my free time has been spent catching up with my husband.  We've had a BLAST spending time with each other, with family, going to weddings, soaking up the Southern California summer sun, traveling; its been pure bliss.

The homecoming was such a mix of emotions.  I was nervous, excited, anxious, overjoyed and tearful (happy tears of course).  Josh's mom was with me to welcome Josh (and his dad who had joined Josh on the last week of the deployment) home.  I'm so thankful she was there because I know I would have been a ball of nerves sitting there waiting for him by myself.  I couldn't wipe smile away from my face: pure bliss.  The pictures pretty much sum it up.  And I promise you the homecoming was just as amazing as all those ones you see on commercials on TV.  The ones that make you cry and fill your heart with so much joy and love.

Josh's AAV coming off the boat onto the beach (butterflies were at their peak for me at this point)

Almost home!!! 

The above photo was my first view of Josh after 8 months.  I have never felt so happy, nervous and excited all at once.

Home home home!!!! Never letting go!

We kicked off the "Josh is home" festivities with a trip to the Dominican Republic.  We spent a week on the beach lounging around in the sun with a tropical drink in our hands.  It was exactly what we both needed after 8 months apart and was a great chance to celebrate our one year anniversary (since we were apart for it last November).

This was our view for a week.  I know it looks fake or like a painting, but this is real and there is #nofilter ;)

While there we ziplined, kayaked and got to experience a little bit of a hurricane.  The hurricane turned out to be more of a tropical storm and it pretty much bypassed us.  And as a shock to many, I went swimming in the OCEAN!! Yes, its true!  Typically, I HATE going in the ocean.  I've lived in SoCal for almost 3 years and I've never been in the ocean here.  I absolutely LOVE the beach but I hate the water.  It's cold, there are gross fish in there, its salty and I can't see the bottom.   I'm a great swimmer but there is just something about the ocean that grosses me out and frankly scares me.  However,  give me a warm ocean that is crystal clear, turquoise blue and I will go swimming, more than once!  It was glorious!

Where we spent most of our days, the cabanas!

Josh was quite a fan of the cabanas... aka "nap time"

This beach lover was in beach HEAVEN!

Post Ziplining.  Take note of the huge smiles! Such a fun time!

Traveling thru the city, exploring 

Last day in paradise! Boo!

A summer wouldn't be complete without a few weddings.  We got to travel to Santa Barbara for a gorgeous wedding of good friend of Josh's, Stephanie "formerly" Rogers now "Ayers".  The wedding was at a home on the cliffs of Santa Barbara overlooking the ocean.  The views were stunning and I felt like I was at a swanky celebrity party.  It made Josh and I want to move to Santa Barbara, to a house overlooking the ocean naturally (we can dream right?).  Well even if we can't exactly afford a house here, we will definitely be back to vacation.

The breathtaking views from the Ayers wedding.  I swear it was something from "The Bachelor".  The only thing missing was a helicopter ;)

A pool that overlooks the Pacific Ocean?  Check!

There was another epic Sullivan wedding with my cousin Jessica and her now husband Edgar.  They got married at the gorgeous USD Cathedral (where Jessica went to school) and had their reception at the San Diego Marina.  Anytime all the Sullivan's get together you know its going to be a good time with lots of fun stories.  I love my crazy family; boy do we know how to tear up a dance floor.

One of my favorite moments that night was when my cousin's son, Michael, decided to burn off some little boy energy by running in the courtyard during the speeches.  After every speech when everyone would clap he would come to his mom and say "Mom, they're cheering for me!" and she would say "I know sweetie, good job!  Keep running!"  Which, I might add, was a BRILLIANT idea!  And Josh, being the little kid at heart that he is, decided to get in on fun and did a few laps with him.  So cute!

Beautiful view from the reception of the San Diego Marina

Alright, so that gets us thru the summer 2013 (yes this is very belated).  Part 2 will hopefully get us thru the holidays.  Note to self, keep up on your blog posts.

The City So Nice They Named It Twice

Last week I had the pleasure of taking a mini-vacation to NYC.  My dad was on business there, so I met my parents in the city for a few days.  I've been to NYC once before (that's where Josh and I got engaged).  For obvious reasons (ie engagement ring!) NYC was fabulous the first time.  And I have to say this trip's "fabulous factor"was up there.  New York at Christmas time is magical, truly magical.  With all the lights, the store windows decked out in holiday cheer, the holidays shows and the decorations on all the buildings, its such a festive place to be for the holidays.  I think the only thing that might have made it a little better would have been cooler weather (it was in the upper 50s the whole time) and some snow.  I know that might sound crazy to some, but when you live in Southern California where it stays in the 60s during December, the idea of bundling up for cold weather and walking around in snow sounds fun, but just for a few days.

Window shopping... at Tiffany's of course!

The first day in NYC we woke up early and headed to the "Live with Kelly and Michael" studio to line up for "stand-by" tickets.  My mom and I are HUGE fans of the show; we both DVR it and watch it everyday.  We requested tickets a long time ago, but never got any.  So our only hope of getting into the show was the standby line.  Luckily we were the 10th and 11th people in line out of a total of about 50 people, so our chances were pretty good we thought.  As we approached show time, only 6 minutes away, we thought maybe we wouldn't get so lucky.  BUT... they called our numbers and we got in!  My mom and I were escatic!  We couldn't believe we were actually in the studio of the show we have watched for so long.  We got to see Hugh Jackman, Howie Mandel and Arthea Franklin performed.   Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan were the nicest people.  During commerical breaks they chatted with the audience, took pictures and shook hands.  It was such a fun experience!

Central Park

A lot of our time in NYC was spent strolling, no actually fast-walking at the pace New Yorkers go, through the streets of New York and also through Central Park.  Along 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue all the window shops were decorated for Christmas with elaborate decorations.  My favorite were the Great Gatsby themed windows.  Central Park was gorgeous at this time of year.  Some of the leaves were falling off the trees, there were ice skaters at the rink and people were sipping hot chocolate as they listened to a saxophone player playing in Christmas carols in the park.  After being in the city I have this itch to go live in a big city somewhere and be a city girl.  I think I could be a "city girl", but yet I think this after being in the city for only 3 days; living there would probably be a whole other ball game.  But I could totally picture myself catching the subway for work, shopping on 5th Avenue and going for a morning jog in Central Park.

Skating in Central Park

Saxophone player in the park playing Christmas carols

One of the highlights of the trip was going to see "The Nutcracker" ballet at Lincoln Center.  When I was little I was in the Dallas Ballet's "The Nutcracker" as an angel and a toy solider.  I have so many great memories of being in the ballet including: getting into costume for the ballet, getting to wear makeup and then coming home late on a school night after the ballet and picking at my mascara as we drove home.  Funny the things we remember as kids.  Although I got to be in the ballet, I've never actually seen it; so I was in for a real treat!  The ballet was FABULOUS, even better than I thought it was going to be!  And the Lincoln Center is a pretty spectacular place; the ballet, Metropolitan Opera and symphony are all within feet of each other with the Juliard School just across the street.  Talk about a lot of talent in a small area.

Mom and I at the Nutcracker

Mom and Pop outside The Metropolitan Opera

After the show we met up with one of my best friends, Anna, who happened to be in the city at the same time as us.  She and her boyfriend, Scott, were both there for medical residency interviews.  I was SOO happy to see her; it was such a happy coincidence!!

Meeting up with Anna & Scott in NYC for drink... such a happy coincidence!

The next morning we had another early morning because we had to get to Good Morning America! This is another show my mom and I try to watch every morning.  I've actually been to the Good Morning America show before.  When Josh and I were in NYC I dragged him to GMA bright and early and made him hold a sign that said "We're Engaged!!" and "She Said YES!".  The poor guy, he was so embarrassed but it did get us into the studio and we got on tv.  Mom and I stood outside the studio and got on TV a few times during the broadcast.  Between stories, the newscasters, Josh Elliot and Sam Champion, would come behind the monitor and wave to us.  We stayed during the entire 2 hour broadcast and during the second hour we kept waving and were yelling for Josh Elliot to come take a picture with us.  To our surprise he mouthed through the window "I will I promise" and then whispers something to the show's producer.  Next thing we know a security guard comes out to get my mom and I and we are escorted into the studio! Once inside they kept calling us "the ladies Josh requested".  We got to watch the second half of the broadcast from inside the studio and got to be on TV a couple more times.  It was so so much fun, and so cool that we got personally invited into the studio by Josh.  Thank you Josh Elliot for making my mom and I's trip so memorable.

Inside the GMA studio!

NYC trip was too short and I can't wait to be back.  Hopefully I'll be back again this year, but this time with Josh.  NYC will always hold a special place in my heart because its where Josh proposed.  Going back brought back so many happy memories and during this trip I was able to create some more happy memories with my parents. 

Thankful

 
I have probably said it before, but I'll say it again: Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  There is no pressure of gifts like at Christmas, and its simply about being together, cooking, eating good food and reflecting about all there is to be thankful for in our lives.  Can't think of anything better than that!


This year I'm feeling particularly thankful.  Yes, Josh is gone and I could be sad about that, but having him away really puts life into perspective and makes me appreciate the little things.  Like being able to eat dinner together after a long day at work, running errands together and even just making him breakfast in the morning.   I used to dread waking up at 5am on my days off to make him breakfast.  Now, I miss that and when he gets back I will never complain about it again.  I'm also feeling VERY thankful for my family and friends.  I would never have been able to get through this deployment with a positive attitude without their love and support.  They have kept me busy, called to check up on me and have lifted me up when I've had some rough days.  I could go on and on because I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  In fact, I have a "thankful" journal where I jot down something I'm thankful for at the end of every day.  I highly recommend it to everyone! Start today; its the perfect way to put a positive spin to even the worst of days.  At the end of the day, no matter how tough there is always something to be thankful for.

The dogs waiting patiently for something to drop as Pop carves the turkey

This year we had a pretty healthy Thanksgiving because my uncle is on the "Paleo" diet and my parents are now eating "gluten-free".  The combination of these two diets meant no stuffing, no mashed potatoes, no Pumpkin Pie; pretty much everything delicious about Thanksgiving was out of the question.  However, I revolted a little and made some stuffing anyway.  I just can't imagine Thanksgiving without at least stuffing!  In place of mashed potatoes we had "cauliflower mash" which was surprisingly very delicious and a dish I will probably be incorporating into future family meals/Thanksgiving dinners.  Yes, it was that good!

Mmm... brussel sprouts!

For dessert we went to a family friend's house.  I like to call her Martha Stewart, because she always hosts the best parties; her house is always perfectly decorated and the food she serves is always to DIE for!  For those of you who read my bridal shower blog she's the one who hosted my AMAZING bridal shower.  I think there were probably 4 different pies, 3 or 4 different kinds of cookies, brownies, whoopie pies and probably a few other desserts there!  I felt like I had to try one of each dessert; and boy were they delicious and decadent!

Desserts galore!

Thanksgiving was a hit, and a blast as it always is! Good food, good company just as Thanksgiving should be.  And to top off the weekend my lil' sis got MARRIED!  It was a beautiful wedding of two beautiful people!  Congrats to new Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Cooper!  The weather was spectacular... highs were in the 80s! It was so warm, my dad and cousin Iggy even went for a swim in the pool.  They didn't last long though; I think the water was only in the 60s.

Walking the dogs and enjoying the beautiful AZ weather!

Going for a swim, in November!

July Updates

Since I've been so behind on posting, I've decided to do one post for all the July happenings. 

Josh and I have been gone for most of July; its been a busy busy month!  At the end of June we traveled to Sedona, Arizona for my lil' sis, Mara's, wedding (lil sis from my sorority that is).  It honestly feels like just yesterday that we met during sorority recruitment and now she's all grown up and getting married!  Cole (her now husband) and Mara are pretty much perfect for each other and to see them so happy, so in love and getting married now is just the icing on the cake.  The ceremony was BEAUTIFUL!  It took place on a cliff overlooking the beautiful red rocks of Sedona.  The wedding ceremony (a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony) was even more beautiful than the picturesque location.  I literally had goosebumps even though it was like 110 out... I was that moved!  Mara and Cole incorporated a lot of personal touches, including advice from their family members and vows that they each wrote.  Being at the wedding definitely brought me back to my own wedding and made me reminisce about the feelings I had on that day.

Gorgeous ceremony site overlooking the red rocks of Sedona

Gorgeous Bride & Groom

View from the ceremony site... take my breath away!

Loved seeing my fellow Chi O Vice Presidents!! Just missing Melissa Beaver!

Family!! My lil sis and gran lil!! Love you both!

All the Chi O girls with the new Mr. and Mrs. Hirschfeld

After the wedding, Josh and I road tripped up to Lake Tahoe, California.  We decided to split up the normally 10 hour drive by stopping in Vegas for a night.  I'm not a big gambler, but I do like all the glitz and glam of Vegas.  I think I'm just too cheap to waste good money on gambling.  I'd rather spend my money on shopping and get something good out of it :).  But despite this, I did decide to "splurge" on the penny machines.  However, my patience ran out quickly (after losing $2) and I forgoed the penny machines I was on.  My mom swears by the Monopoly machines so I took my crack at one and won a couple bucks (BIG WINNER!).  Someday I may get up the courage to bet more than $2, but until then I'll stick to penny slots.

$2 richer, Josh and I hit the road again and headed up to Lake Tahoe to meet my parents and friends at their cabin.  I don't know how it happened, but we ended up taking the backroads the entire way up to Tahoe and for about 50-100 miles I swear there was nobody or nothing around.  We saw a few ranches with some "happy cows" grazing, but that was pretty much it. We were so "backroad" that there were even a few times when we (well probably more me) thought we would run out of gas.  I HATE this feeling and I hate those "No gas for the next 60 miles" signs even more.  We were doing all our calculations to figure out if we would make it.  By the grace of God we did make it!  Alleluia.   We did take advantage of the open roads and Josh decided to test the limits of my car (also read, Josh decided to see if my car could do 100 mph).  Don't worry mom and Uncle Bryan (who is also a California Highway Patrol), we were very safe about it and we won't be doing that again anytime soon.

A ranch in the middle of nowhere (Josh's dream, not even kidding)

Open Roads

 
After many many ours of backroads, we finally made it to Tahoe!

Tahoe in the summer is almost, if not more beautiful than Tahoe in the winter.  The weather is gorgeous, you can boat on the lake, hike, camp, picnic; its paradise.  Well, paradise quickly turned into anything but paradise when I was woken up from a nap in the cabin by my mother who said "Sasha wake up there is a BEAR!".  Immediately I jumped out of bed and said "What? Where? What am I supposed to do??"  Looked out the window and there was a brown bear; yes, a real live brown bear!  I've never really been a fan of bears.  When we went to the zoo earlier this year I couldn't bring myself to stand by the bear exhibit long because I swore they were going to jump out of their cages and come hunt me down.

BEAR!  Only feet away!

So, back to the bear.  I guess he had managed to roam around the open garage and found a closed container full of food.  He pulled the container out and smashed through it to get at all the food.  This bear had no fear!  Luckily we were above the garage in the balconies watching it all.  Although he did charge up the balcony once to try to get my parents' dog!  The house is on the main road that runs around Lake Tahoe, and people had stopped on the walking trail to watch the bear.  Seriously people?  I would have started to walk as far away from that thing as I could.  Eventually the sheriff came with his rubber pellet gun.  He had to shoot the bear a few times to get it to finally go away!  Apparently, this same bear has actually come into the house before to raid the fridge and he has broken into cars to get food!







After the bear encounter I was a little less excited to go hiking in the woods, so we opted for a day out on the lake instead.  For me, a day on the lake is a little frightening because I have a slight fear of boats (I have crashed/sunk too many boats for my liking; if you ever have time I can tell you all about the houseboat crashing, the Catamaran sinking; those are just a few) but I braved the water and ended up having a GREAT time on the lake.  Josh and I even ended up kayaking later in the day.  All and all, Tahoe was a great success (as it always is).  Hopefully I'll be back again this winter for skiing (fingers crossed for some good snow).

Our boat captain for the day!

Boating around Lake Tahoe

July, also means...  my birthday!  I'm not a huge birthday person, but my birthday does happen to fall close to my Poppop's which makes it special.  This year Poppop and I had a joint birthday party and celebrated a combined "100th birthday" (my 25th and his 75th).  All the Sullivans got together and in true Sullivan fashion we had BLAST!

It wouldn't be a party without a little icing fight!

Some of the cousins with Poppop

Oh, so I usually wouldn't do this (brag) and I'm not a big gift person, but I did happen to get spoiled this year with a lot of pretty awesome stuff.  First of all, since Josh was going to be gone for my birthday (more training), we celebrated early.  Josh took me for a day at Balboa Park and then dinner and at the end of the evening he surprised me with tickets to "Wicked".  I was SOO surprised and so excited!! Josh also surprised me with a GORGEOUS closet which I now can't help but just sit in and stare out.  Seriously, he did such a good job and I'm currently trying to recruit him and his talents for other parts of the house.  I knew he was going to do this, so I gave him a few ideas, but he pretty much did everything himself.  AND... my parents got me a Giada cookbook, but not just ANY Giada cookbook.  That's right... it was a SIGNED Giada cookbook.  My mom had waited in line for over 2 hours to meet her and have her sign the book just for me.  I'm not one to be starstruck or have celebrity crushes.  But... if there is one celebrity I would just die to see it would be Giada.  I pretty much would love to be her or just be her friend or just meet her; I'd be ok with any of the above.

Birthday Presents!!

This month Josh was also gone a lot doing a few training exercises on the ship he'll be deploying on.  He has a total of 3 training exercises before the deployment each lasting between 2-3 weeks.  He's been training a lot and working hard.  When he comes back from his last training exercises in August he'll have 2 weeks off and then he'll leave for deployment.  This is Josh's 2nd deployment and he'll be on the U.S.S Green Bay serving on the 15th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit).  He'll be sailing around the world and their ship will serve as a "disaster response team" essentially.  I am so proud of what he does and all the hard work, time and sacrifices he makes.  They really don't pay these guys enough for what they do. 

My Marine hard at work briefing his Marines before a mission

As I was helping Josh pack for the field, I couldn't help but try on a few things :)

So until Josh's deployment, we'll be trying to make the best of our time together.  We'll be visiting family and going on a few mini vacations.  Hopefully I'll post again soon, but I may have to do another "month" update in August.