Getting to know Pensacola

It's almost midnight and I should be sleeping. I'm trying to get back into reading again and just read the first chapter of a light-hearted (it seems) book about a high school student who writes an anonymous blog. Of course rather than continuing to read, my mind started to itch to write a post myself.

This is the third week of Jake being gone for some training. Only two-ish more weeks to go. (We don't have an exact date yet and it could extend at any point if something happens in the training.) I feel like this separation would be a whole lot easier if I were still in Provo. You know, complete with a job, fitness classes to teach, and people I know. I am definitely not settled yet and have no where near a schedule or things to do.

To me, Pensacola feels like a very big small town. Yes, there are things around but most anything is at least a 25 minute drive. I miss the days of driving my car once or twice a week and never needing to go anywhere more than 10 minutes away. Or just thinking, hey, let's get frozen yogurt. When that small outing requires 60 minutes round trip, it's just not worth it. I'll stay home.

In terms of teaching Zumba, I've found one fitness center that is within a 15 minute drive. I can do that. I'm on a sub list and been asked to sub two classes. The difference with these places and those in Utah County is that there are maybe a total of 4 Zumba classes a week. (As compared to maybe 4 a DAY at some places in Provo.) I still haven't heard anything about the locations on base so I need to follow up on that again. I've found that I really do have a hard time attending classes again. There's just something about NOT teaching that makes it not as great. I've only gone to maybe 3 classes since moving, but I think I'm going to have to suck it up and start attending regularly.

One thing about this new location is I need to start finding the things about THIS area to appreciate and enjoy. Granted, this would be a whole lot easier if Jake were here to do stuff with me. I think I'll try to like the beach more. Maybe combine that with trying to get back into reading. Try new restaurants. Go out of my comfort zone to meet people.

Anyways, that's a quick little update from Pensacola. More to come hopefully... :P

The Movers Are Coming!

It's 11:48 p.m. Our movers show up in the morning around 10 a.m. Things are getting real.

The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind, the latter week especially. This week was much much busier than I thought it would be. It's been go, go, go every single day. Most time has been spent finishing up obligations and such. Today has really been the first time I've actually had the chance to focus on packing and preparing. (Jake has done a little more.) And here I am tonight sitting down with a few minutes to spare in the day.

Our bags for the next two weeks are packed. We have a box for D.I. (plus the contents in the entire trunk of my car). We have a box for items for the road trip. We have a box of food items we are taking. We have a box (figurative) for items that we need to return or give to family and friends in the area.

We feel ready. I feel calm. That I did not expect. But I don't really know what to expect. I have never been professionally moved before and don't know how that is going to go down. Jake expects the move to take around two hours. I'm super excited to see that go down. Granted, we don't have a large home and it's just two of us. In my mind I envision a SWAT team type of approach: Six official men swooping in, taking charge, yelling orders, magically making our belongings disappear into officially marked boxes and then moving those boxes out in a relay line fashion. In, out, and on their way.  

No matter what, I'm definitely most excited to not have to move anything!

Obviously, we are really liking the concept of not having to do anything. In fact, we've even scheduled professional cleaners to come in the next morning and take care of the move out cleaning. That's the last thing I want to do after everything this week.

We're Moving!

Our moving date is inching closer and closer; although recently the days are flying rather than inching.

We've known this move has been coming officially for about eight months, and though plans and locations have changed, the idea of moving has always seemed far off. In March we received our first official orders and have slowly been finalizing the move...to Florida!

Recently I've been looking at the calendar and internally freaking out at how quickly everything is coming up. I'm experiencing a bit of weird acceptance, I suppose, because everything still seems far off and theoretical but I know it's actually not.

In fact, as of right now we only have about 40 days until the move.

And in those 40 days we are fitting in multiple mini milestones counting down to our departure are sure to make things fly by even more. This week is Jake's spring break (and he's in Arizona for some Air Force stuff) and we are heading to Moab this weekend. Then Jack has less than a week left of student teaching, and we have my birthday, Jake's commissioning and Jake graduation. (Plus family in town.) Then we only have a week or so before my last day at my BYU job and then my last day of teaching classes. Oh and our one-year anniversary falls in that span too.

I also have several classic Provo/Utah activities I want to fit in before we leave. Oh and people to see. And I guess we'll have to fit in actually packing and cleaning. Oh that. (Although we will have movers - yay!)

There's a lot going on, but Jake and I are both excited. (I think I will be even more so when things finally really set in.)

We are facing a lot of unknowns and firsts, especially working through the process of moving within the military. We have applied for housing and contacted the moving department, but don't have anything set in stone yet. I'm learning we have to sit back and wait for things to fall in place, i.e. we can't plan things out as far as I'd like.

I have been connecting with other spouses in the area we're moving to and getting an idea for the area, housing, and Jake's program. (Everyone is really positive and loves the area.) I'm also connecting with the Zumba community and hoping to quickly pick up some classes. It will be interesting to adjust and explore the new opportunities. Good things are in store.

So, I'm working at BYU

Guys.

Months.

It's been months.

I haven't been here in months.

I'm trying to figure out why.

Life has been super, super busy lately. That's probably a good reason why I haven't posted. But my life has been just as busy so many times before. Blogging and in essence writing have always served as a release and form of expression—something that I always need amid busyness and stress.

I have so much going on. So many fantastic great things. And I haven't taken (or had) the time to take a step back and evaluate, even appreciate, the day-to-day events here. I want to do that. I very often find myself itching for time to type and share. I too often brush that aside.

I last posted in October. A lot has happened since October.

Perhaps the biggest change in my life (and one I totally thought I had shared on this blog) is that I started working part time in another public relations position. I love the opportunities this new position has provided (and I know Jake has appreciated that the job gets me out of the house and interacting with others). The job kinda just fell into my lap and worked out so seamlessly. However, any excess downtime I had while working from home went out the window.

In this PR position with the BYU College of Humanities, I work at least 20 hours a week. This seemed like a great fit with my 8-10 fitness classes and business work. I pretty much am always working a full 40 hours/week but often go quite a bit over that when I have a higher work load for my business.

Even though I am busier than I'd prefer, I'm really thankful once again that I have always been super blessed in the career realm. I never, never have found myself needing a job and not being able to find one. (And I'm talking great jobs comparable to my experience and background.) When I accepted this part-time position, I wasn't in a place where I was really looking. But this position was a great fit and things just worked out. It's that simple. Even with Jake graduating and our pending move in (at the time) anywhere from 6-10 months after starting.

NOW we are less that two months from Jake's graduation and our move is right around the corner from that. I'll touch more on that later. For now, I'm satisfied touching in and am heading to bed. Yay.

Five Minutes Make ALL The Difference

Last weekend Jake and I had no choice but to dedicate our Saturday to cleaning, organizing, and otherwise getting on top of all household needs.

Both of our schedules had been go, go, go, so we had at least five loads of laundry to wash, fold, and put away, two sinks full of dishes to clean (with a possibly broken dishwasher to inspect), shelves to dust, and an entire apartment to tidy and vacuum. And while we were in the mode, we wanted to organize dresser drawers and get rid of...anything and everything. I've been in a total stuff detoxing mode and am more freely letting go of so many things that I simply don't need. (Or don't want to need.) Yes, this girl is down to half of a small closet....like 2 1/2 feet of hangers. Jake actually has equal space! Three years ago I alone filled two walk-in closets.

So we stayed focused most of the day and were able to make our apartment presentable and, in all actuality, livable.

I did not want to let that amazing-clean-apartment-environment slip away.

So every night, we decided to simply tidy our apartment for five minutes before we'd go to bed. That five minutes allowed for cleaning any dishes, putting away clothes, wiping down bathroom sinks, folding blankets, or even emptying the trash.

My goodness, our simply technique worked amazingly.

Enter Thursday night.

Thursdays are my long days of teaching. And my last day of teaching for the week. So I'm usually exhausted by the otherwise early 7 pm I get home. If I sit down...I don't get back up. Jake works until 9:30 pm and had also taken two tests that day and then had to stay out later working on a paper. Needless to say, neither of us managed to dedicate five minutes before we crashed for the evening. (I may have fallen asleep by 8 pm on the couch.) This also led to us missing the five minutes Friday night. And here it is Saturday. A Saturday that Jake entirely spent in an 8-5 class and then 5:30-2am work shift, and I spent 8-6 doing an instructor training and then grocery shopping and errands.

And I wish hadn't missed those 15 minutes. It's crazy the difference it makes. Luckily, we have tomorrow schedule free and another opportunity to start our five minute technique once again.

On Paper vs Reality

The other day, Jake and I headed to the bank together. Since getting married we have been working on getting our finances streamlined in the best banking options for us. I personally had three savings accounts, three checking accounts, plus additional business accounts. Then Jake had his old accounts, we had opened a joint account, AND later decided to move to an institution that would be easier and more beneficial for us long term. Let's just say it's been a bit of a mess.

So we headed to the bank to close accounts, move things around, and withdraw anything left over.

We waited for a few minutes before a banker came to greet us. He was of some Latin ethnicity with a Spanish last name. After shaking our hands and getting an idea of what we needed, we headed to his office where he asked for a name on the accounts.

"Karianne Ortiz," I say.

He looks up. And glances from me to Jake and back again.

"Ortiz?" He addresses Jake. "So your last name is Ortiz? Is that..." He trailed off.

I pipe in. "Oh yes, he's half Puerto Rican. And he's the only one in his family who doesn't look it."

"Do you speak Spanish?," he asks Jake.

"Nope."

The banker laughs and then goes on to tell us how one of his children is dark and one is light.

Then, while working on our accounts, he notices the nickname on a couple accounts.

Zumba Checking
Zumba Saving

"Oh, do you teach Zumba? Like salsa, merengue, cha cha?"

"Yep."

"Wow, you guys really have the Latin thing going for you."

Jake replies. "Oh yes. On paper we totally do. Until you meet us in person."

On Paper

Last name: Ortiz
Ancestry: 1/2 Puerto Rican
Profession: Zumba Instructor

Reality

White. White. White.

Life As Of Late

I have chuckled to myself on multiple occasions when I think of my last post about Jake and his military service. Why? Because the day after sharing that, I had a future-military-wife breakdown of sorts. I even tried to fool Jake into believing that I took that post down. Jokingly, of course.

Jake was offered a different position within the Air Force—a position that seems, to me, a lot more dangerous with potential more deployments. Initially we were offered four hours to decide. FOUR HOURS.

I don't make decisions well under pressure. I get stressed. I get frustrated. I just want to get out of the situation and not decide. I'm the kind of person that takes months to decide certain things. I make charts. I make lists. I think about every potential outcome. Four hours does not accommodate that process.

While we were able to extend our deadline over the weekend, that initial pressure resulted in a version of Karianne that was not exactly supportive about the military career decision.

Using that extra time, I found my own personal calm, and we made the decision. I know this field is something Jake is passionate about, and I too am excited about the various opportunities we'll experience as a couple and family.

As Jake's graduation date creeps closer, we are getting more and more information about his career, training, and where we'll be for all of that. I didn't expect to find out ANY timeline details until early 2015, but, while things can DEFINITELY change in the coming months, right now we are looking to head to Pensacola, Florida in the early summer of 2015.

Yes, that move makes me nervous. Even though I never planned to stay around Provo—or even Utah for that matter—I've been living here about ten years on my own, and I'm comfortable. I know the area. I know all the good restaurants. I have my connections. I've built up my careers in this area (communications, Annesali, Zumba/UJam)...and I know our imminent move means I start back at square one (at least in some regard).

That said, I'm excited. I know Jake is excited. I need these type of changes to push me out of my comfort zone and offer opportunities to grow and experience different things in life. So here's to 2015...and exciting changes!