"I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself." Maya Angelou

Thank you Maya Angelou for perfectly describing how I have been feeling in the depths of my soul lately.

I have just wanted to be home so much lately. It doesn't matter where I am or who I am with, most of the time I am anxious to finish and get back home. I'll be at work, wishing I was at home. I'll be at the store, rushing simply because I am anxious to get home. I'll be out with people, and I will get excited  thinking about the fact of when I get to go home. It's like I have a crush on my home ;) Mind you this desire has nothing to do with who I am with and what I am doing, it has everything to do with the fact that I love having my OWN home for the first time in my life. I don't have to share it with random roommates, or people who have their own agenda. I get to share it with my one and only. ;) Who is, at this very moment, comparing me to a guy he knows who has a super nice car but wont settle down and get married and John said, "He can have his car, I want my wife!" Glad it was me and not the car that he chose... for his sake ;) Anyway, honestly Maya nailed it for me, I long to be at home wherever I find myself.

After John and I had been gone for Thanksgiving for 2 weeks, we were really anxious to get home. When we walked through the door, it was crazy how even though we had only lived here for 3 weeks before Thanksgiving, walking through the door it really felt like home. It was good to be back.

Here, let me show you around my home...

When you walk through the door you enter the living room...

While I was in CA for Thanksgiving, my oh so talented mother helped me with my drapes! And I love them soooo much! Seriously, if happiness came in the form of drapes I would be satisfied. Haha. I am so grateful for my mom and her talent as well as her willingness to teach me. She is seriously Amazing.

The fun happens at night when it gets all romantic and stuff. I love twinkle lights and want to have them all year around. Here is them sneaking into my home decor. They definitely give a warm feeling to the room at night. It makes it alllllll cozy in here.

After the romantic drapes, you can go into the dining area that is as big as this table. We found a tall table on craig's list. I wanted a tall one so badly and when we found one, we were super excited. Then we started using it and we realized a few things. First, It is a little difficult to get in and out of it since our feet don't touch the ground. Second, we can only invite one other couple over for dinner or whatever because we only have 4 tall chairs. Otherwise we have to eat in our living room... which isn't a bad thing, I just worry about food and a light tan couch.... maybe I'm a little crazy.  *This picture is from right when we moved in, the decor has changed but you still get the idea.

After the table you can turn into the kitchen. This is a favorite place in my house for me. I have dreamt of having my very own kitchen for YEARS. And here it is. It is still a little work in progress, however I am still in love with it. Don't mind the fact that I have NO room for storage and still have unused gifts in boxes up top the cabinets.

Also, you have to have a sneak peak at my stove. I FINALLY HAVE MY OWN STOVE!!!!!!! AHHHHH!

My next favorite place is my closet (which is also still a work in progress). I seem to have a bad case of the stripes... since this photo was taken christmas happened and I got an even worse case of the strips.

My last favorite place is my bed. I seriously look forward to climbing in every night into my soft sheets and comfy bedspread. Seriously, Married people beds are sooooo much better than college beds... seriously. Way Better. Times a million bajillion.

Well, Thanks for taking a tour with me around my little home/ apartment. It is soo fun to play house for real now! I know you want to come over and be at home with me! ;)

Happy Holidays from the Hitchins... and then some.

Happy Holidays from the Hitchins!

These first 3 photos were taken by the amazing Amelia Lyon! John and I got lucky because she had scheduled a couple to be her models in order to teach someone her ways and that couple cancelled last minute. John and I just happened to be at the right place and the time and she asked if we would come model for her. I was so excited!! Anyway, these are three of the many she took and I would have picked one of them for our holiday card. Too bad I was lame this year because I lost track of time and did not get Christmas cards out! So here they are, and Happy Holidays!

I briefly went over a few things that happened this past year in my last post, but I wanna go over some more things that happened that are worth noting. (If there are repeats, sorry!)

The biggest thing that happened last year was that John and I got married on July 15th! It was a beautiful summer day in Southern California. The weather was 70 degrees with a light wind. It was perfect weather for a Garden Reception. It was such a special time. I am so grateful for such a perfect memory!

After our wedding, John and I were supposed to move to Las Vegas for my job. Well that whole plan flopped when the hospital I was supposed to work for dragged their feet for 7 months too long. John and I had a tough decision to make about what to do. At that moment in our lives, we were living with my Mom and Dad (Ingram) just waiting for a call (any day as they would say) from my company telling us we could officially move to Vegas. The call never came. John and I had decisions to make in regards to his education, his green card information, and where were going to move to because we couldn't live with my parents for forever. Ultimately, the decision made was for me to quit my job, pack up and move to Rexburg, Idaho where John was already enrolled at BYU-Idaho. It was a great decision! We are happy here in Idaho (other than the cold) and look forward to the next few years of our lives here while John finishes school. The bad move that we made was to move all of our belongings ourselves. We probably drove back and forth between Utah, Idaho, and California about 6 or 7 times in 1 month. Bad choice. One good thing that came from it was the discovery of damnyouautocorrect.com. Thank you, Thank you to whomever created this website! It saved us while we suffered hours in the car traveling!... Below is one of our favorites! 

If you have ever been to Rexburg, Idaho, you know that there isn't much here. There is a lot of farming land, which means lots and lots of fields and flatness. Also, there aren't many stores around Rexburg to suffice the average shopper (aka me). The best shopping is 30 minutes away in Idaho Falls (IF) where one is still limited in its variety. However slim the shopping may or may not be, there is always SOMETHING to see along the way, whether it be the junkyards, the house where you know the old man is a horder, the random horses, cows, or llamas in peoples yards... almost anything and everything is entertaining! The best thing John and I experienced was the find of good old Bruce, the Camel. He loved John. He tried to kiss John like 3 times. We only saw him that one time, even though we have attempted to find him a few times. The thing is, there are crazy things in Idaho... but a CAMEL?? So incredibly Random! Bruce was a funny/great/interesting/one for the books find!

Then Christmas came! It was wonderful. I already explained a little taste of our christmas in a previous post, but here is our tree. I was absolutely obsessed with it! The colors, the lights, the location of it in our apartment. It was beautiful. I almost kept it... I considered keeping it all year. I would lay in bed devising plans to keep it... like: its a plant so all it needs is water and light.. therefore I could keep it all year! But, when push came to shove, my better half realized that a Christmas tree is part of what makes Christmas, Christmas. It is a symbol of Christmas and if I had kept the tree all year, it would lose the symbolism (at least for me). Also, let's be real, it wouldn't last longer than maybe another week. Ultimately, the tree came down. Until next year tree! (notice the tinsel... I had never used tinsel before but my mother in law said it would make it look good, and boy was I glad she suggested it! I love the tinsel!)

Five Crowns became a holiday game favorite. Luckily, these cards don't symbolize Christmas cause I'm playing them all year long!

And something fun and random that I got for Christmas from John were these fun nail polishes. It is so cute to me thinking about him standing in Sally's Beauty Supply trying to decide which nail polishes I would like the best. 

We had a wonderful year with such new experiences together! It will be the first of many and I look forward to it! 

I hope you all had a great year and holiday season!

Hello World!

Remember that tune when you were little that you would sing from the movie "Little Rascals" when you got a dollar? ("I gotta dollar, I gotta dollar, I gotta dollar, hey hey hey HEY!") Well, that is the song that came to my mind as I was making this blog. However, instead of "I gotta dollar" I changed it to "I gotta blog, I gotta blog, I gotta blog, hey hey hey HEY!" Take that Little Rascals!

Maybe I should introduce myself a little bit. Wait, anyone who is reading this should know who I am. So I think I take back that whole introduction idea and I will just tell you how my Christmas went.

This Christmas was my first Christmas away from home. I spent it with John and his parents. Since John cannot travel out of the country (he is in the green card application process), his parents were kind enough to travel to us in good old Rexburg, Idaho. It has been SO much fun. Since his parents were coming, they asked us to wait to purchase any gifts or Christmas decor because they wanted to come and take part in all the festivities. John and I did our best to hold out for them to come before we did anything to celebrate the Christmas Season. We did however, notice that Gap was having an excellent sale and we went in and picked out some items that we went home and wrapped for each other and put under the undecorated tree ( graciously donated by James and Heather Georgianna), even though we picked them out ourselves. Surely, there is still fun in tearing open the wrapping paper even if you know what's in it!

The night that John's parents arrived, we picked up some brightly colored ornaments and some new LED twinkle lights and headed home to decorate the tree. It was nice to finally have a tree decorated, seeing as it was December 20th and Christmas was nearing its end. John's mom Ayse (pronounced: eye-sha) took over the kitchen with cooking and baking like it was going out of style. She made yummy sweets and delicious meals. Ayse is from turkey and John has been telling me since the beginning of time how great her cooking is and it wasn't until this visit that I was finally able to experience her yummy Turkish food! Seriously, go find some turkish food some where and eat it. Its YUMMY!

After food and tree came christmas shopping. There is only 4 of us so the essence of surprise was an interesting task to tackle. We are 30 min away from any kind of civilization that yields great shopping, so we would travel together and mostly end up at the same stores (since we were in the same car and were limited on where we went). It was fun. There was a lot of "Don't you dare look in the trunk!", and "Don't look at me!" while they held the gift behind them as they walked, and since our apartment is small there was lots of "can I come in there yet??" haha. Needless to say, Christmas was a surprise (for me at least) and a success! And memorable at that!

After Christmas came relaxtion, and TONS of old black and white movies. This is a tradition that John and his parents have. They often watch old movies together. I am coming to LOVE old movies. Especially the slap stick comedies with Bing Cosby and Bob Hope! I definitely recommend these to anyone and everyone. You wont regret them!

I have truly enjoyed spending this holiday season with John and his parents. It is nice to get to know them since they do not live close. After this visit with them, it may not be until June or July of 2012 when we travel to Turkey. That is INSANE!!! I cannot wait!

Another thing on my mind is New Year's. What in the world!!! It is freaking tomorrow. TOM.OR.ROW!... Where has this year gone! It has been such a wonderful year. I married the man of my dreams and it was the best decision of my life.  In fact, what a year to be remembered!!! I am so grateful for what this year brought. Last year at this time, there were so many uncertainties in my life. John and I were on the edge with each other, and I felt I had no direction to what life was going to bring me. I sat in the living room of my Sister in Law (SIL) Whitney and we discussed options and possibilities. She eased my burdens just by guiding me to make lists. (Love me some lists!) And I made a big decision to move to Idaho where John was. It was a scary move, not knowing how he was going to respond, but it all turned out positively. John came home to CA for my brother Chad's wedding, and two days later he proposed. It came as SUCH a surprise, but an extremely desired surprise at that. This year took a turn that I had only hoped it would take. Ultimately I feel at peace. Thank you 2011 for bringing me peace.

What will 2012 bring, I wonder?

What are your list of goals for this year? I am looking for something different to put on my list other than: gym, eat better, run more... etc. I am thinking this blog may be a goal of mine. I would love any suggestions if your willing to share.....

Time for bed... its 2:37 AM. yuck.