Mike and Jess

So, my original vision for this blog didn’t really include us posting about once a quarter year, so my apologies that Jess and I don’t write more often. I hope you all can find it in your hearts to forgive us. (Notice: the previous line included a healthy dose of sarcasm.)

It’s fall, the leaves on the trees are turning and falling, the Central Valley fog has been hanging around, the weather has been cool, and sometimes cold. I must say, I am enjoying this Northern California weather a bit more than what you SoCal people get. I know that many of you would most likely disagree with that sentiment, but I’m fine with that . Our heater, like our air conditioner, isn’t really the best, but hey, what else are blankets and sweaters for? As a result of this, our cats have been what’s most likely the cuddliest they have ever been (no doubt solely as a survival mechanism, they think they are so sneaky).

We had a really great time seeing most of you Thanksgiving weekend, it’s unfortunate that we can’t see each of you more often, but that’s how things go I guess. And most of you are probably thinking, “Well then what did you think was going to happen after moving even further away than you already were?” and all I can say is ¯\_(o.0)_/¯

Anyways… onto the meat of why you read this: info on the glamorous lives and Mike and Jess Small!!!!

Most of you know the majority of happenings up and coming for us from our conversations had over Thanksgiving weekend, but I thought I’d fill in those who either we weren’t able to see, or maybe don’t remember what we said, for various reasons. Jess, alas, is not going to start the Masters at Sacramento State University due to the irresponsibility of not one, but two college professors that did not provide Jess with her letter of recommendation on time. The nerve of educators, so irresponsible sometimes! (Love you, Mom!) So Jess will just be working and things of that sort until the fall.

I am going to be taking a class or two at the American River College, which is a local community college, starting in January. I’m getting general units out of the way at a community college and then plan on getting into the Viticulture & Enology program at UC Davis. For those that are unsure: Viticulture is the study of growing grape vines and Enology is the science of fermenting grapes to make wine. I’m really excited about this program and this is really the first subject that I’ve come across that has given me a desire to go back to school and spend all of that money. Yay debt!!

We’re still somewhat lacking in the area of friends up here in Sacramento, and that has taken its toll in some ways. So if you think of us, I would say that that is one area that Jess and I could really use your prayers and/or well wishes.

On another note, Jess and I have been talking about taking up fishing since the American river is just a few miles from us and there are other areas close by as well, and my good friend Randy, who lives in San Francisco has hooked us up with a fly rod and reel. So I’ve gotten a few books from the library on fly fishing and have been practicing my cast and such and Jess is looking to acquire a regular spin reel and rod, so I have to say that we’re both pretty excited about starting to fish up here. It’s something that both us have always wanted to do more of and it would be a shame to not take advantage of our convenient surroundings.

So…. that’s about it, I guess. Hope you all are doing well, and we hope to see you all soon!

-M :/

4 Comments | In: Regular Happenings | tags: cats, cold, December, fishing, friends, thanksgiving. | #

Mike and I haven’t gotten around to uploading photos like my last post mentioned, but we’ll get to that eventually.

Life has been busier lately for me. It took me quite a while to find a job here, but as of a few weeks ago I have not one but two jobs! I applied at a few Starbucks stores and got hired at a store only a couple miles from our apartment. I wanted to work at Starbucks so that when Mike and I go back to school, we can still get health benefits — and at Starbucks you only have to work 20 or more hours a week to get benefits! I also accepted a job at a tutoring company, and do group tutoring at the location Monday thru Wednesday. Last week I finished my training at Starbucks, and I have had some early morning shifts — we open at 530 so we have to get there at 430 when we have an opening shift. It’s weird to work that early and I hope I get used to it, but I’ll always look forward to working later in the day. Our store closes earlier than some, so we get out at 10pm, which is not bad at all.

Mike is still working from home — he misses seeing his coworkers at the office, but it’s going pretty well for him. In our spare time we have gone to the American River a few times and walked around, and gone to the movies once or twice. I have been gardening in our patio and saw my first few morning glories last week from the seeds I planted, which was very exciting for me! This Wednesday is my birthday, and being excited about finally having work, I forgot to request the day off. I’ll be opening at Starbucks and then tutoring in the afternoon, and if I have any energy after that we will be going out to dinner. Happy working birthday to me

Hope you all are well.

- Jess

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This post is long overdue …

Mike and I got into Sacramento as of June 15th, after a long day of driving. We made it safely, and two of our friends who live in Oakland met us at our new place to help us unload the Uhaul truck. Let me tell you — unloading is so much easier than the tetris-like puzzle of loading a truck, as I’m sure most of you know. We did have quite a few friends in San Diego help us load the truck, and thanks to all for the help!

Mike and I hadn’t actually been able to view our new apartment before we moved in (though we saw two other models), so I was a little nervous about how we would like it. When we got the keys and grabbed the tired kitties from the car, we saw our new home! It’s bigger — it’s a two bedroom with more storage space and a big patio. The apartment complex is huge, has lots of trees, two tennis courts, and three pools. The kitties were really out of it at first (they were sedated for the car ride), but within a couple days they had checked everything out and found it suitable, well, I put words in their mouth
Also, our new place has a dishwasher, which sounds silly to mention — but after 2 and a half years of not having one, I was soooo excited to get one. And as if all that wasn’t enough, we are paying less than we were for a one bedroom in San Diego! Eat that, SoCal!  … Don’t mind me, I got bitter about housing costs while living in San Diego.
So far we’ve been spending our time unpacking and getting to know the area. Mike has been working from home, and while he misses seeing his co-workers, it’s going well. I’m in the process of looking for a job, and getting my letters of recommendation for Sacramento State University so that I can attend in January. We’ve also spent time with my grandma, aunt, uncle, and cousins who live here in Sacramento. On the Fourth we went to the American River and  a nearby pond and did some walking. I have never lived so close to a river (10 minutes away), and we are both excited that we can hike or fish whenever we want. Even though we are close to nature, there are all the stores and restaurants we could ever want within a  two mile radius — pretty amazing!

I still have to upload photos. Be looking for those in the next week or so
Feel free to post questions about our move! We’ll happily answer them.
- Jess

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For those of you who may or may not know, Mike and I are moving to Sacramento next month. We’ve been planning on moving for quite some time, but we wanted to stay in California for the time being, and Sacramento was our decision.

Why Sacramento, you ask? It wasn’t an arbitrary decision, I promise. We both want to go back to school, and paying out-of-state fees isn’t our favored way of wasting money. So we wanted to stay in CA, but live in a place where the rent is cheaper and where there are also good Universities. Since Sacramento possesses those qualities, and I have some family there, we decided to relocate there. On another note, we aren’t going to miss the beaches or the “temperate” weather here in San Diego: we never go to the beach, and last summer our apartment was so hot (what with San Diegans “not needing” A/C) that we want to move before the real summer heat kicks in. Yes, it is ironic that we are moving somewhere that the summers are hotter, but we will actually have A/C in our apartment! What a novelty!

Things are moving along speedily. We put in our 30-day notice and are making a trip to Sacramento this Saturday (5/31) to look at apartments. We plan on making the move with all our belongings and our two cats on June 15th. It will be a long drive, but there will be a bigger apartment with more amenities waiting for us at the end of the trip, and we are excited about the move!

- Jess

2 Comments | In: Regular Happenings | | #

So, Jess and I wanted to make this entry a while ago, and as much as I’d like to say that we were too busy, that’s not entirely true. But anyways… Our trip to San Francisco was a lot of fun. We stayed with our friends Randy and Autumn who live in the Richmond district. We arrived up there on Thursday evening and had a good time catching up with them.

We then left on Friday, bound for Napa. And I just have to say: Napa was amazing. If you have never been, I very highly recommend it, even if you don’t really care for wine. The weather there alone was absolutely gorgeous and the air was possibly the most amazing air I’ve ever breathed into my lungs; it was clean, salty, and just plain invigorating. It was like the air on a beach, but without the beach (if that makes sense). Here’s an example of the beauty there:

(for more pictures of our trip, check out the Photos! link)

Our favorite Winery that we went to was Peju, a smaller artisan winery. Aesthetically, it was amazing and the wine itself was the best wine I’ve ever tasted. I highly recommend Peju if you ever find yourself driving down Hwy 29 through Napa. We stayed the night in Napa, did a little more wine tasting on Saturday and then headed back to “The City” Saturday evening.

On Sunday, which was my birthday, we walked to the Haight Ashbury district from Randy and Autumn’s which took us through Golden Gate park (on a side note, we walked partly because Randy and Autumn’s car broke down on our way back from Napa, luckily only about 6 block from their house). It was a beautiful day out, but we didn’t really take into account the fact that 4/20 has sort of become the unofficial Pot Smoking day and that we were in San Francisco. It was an interesting walk, but the day was a lot of fun.

We flew back home on the next day and overall, there was a good time had by all on the trip. I mentioned it earlier, but be sure to check out our pictures of the trip at Photos! .

That’s all for now!! Bye!!

M :/

2 Comments | In: Vacations | tags: birthday, Napa, wine. | #

So for my Bday we’re taking a trip to San Fran, or “The City,” and we’re actually sitting in the airport as we speak…. er …. type. We’ll be spending four days there wandering around with our friends Randy and Autumn. We’re going to go up to Napa Valley for a day and check out some of the wineries there. So, we’ll try to take lots of pictures and we’ll be sure to post some when we get home.

M :/

8 Comments | In: Regular Happenings | tags: airport, San Diego, San Francisco, travel. | #

Hey everyone. Jess and I thought that it would be a good idea to get a little site together to keep friends and family up to speed on what’s going on with us and things of that sort. There are going to be pictures and other postings and all kinds of fun stuff coming along so keep an eye out and we’ll post soon!

1 Comment | In: Regular Happenings | tags: first, start. | #