Wake Up and Live

We're still trying to be healthy and active. I've been trying to cook lighter dinners through the week than what we were having during those cold, winter nights when Boyfriend first moved in. Dessert, other than berries, is only on the weekends now. And most importantly, we have taken this time which is hopefully the only time we'll ever both be unemployed like this until we are retired, and used it by enjoying each other's company and going on long beach walks a few times a week. Boyfriend amped it up on Monday morning by doing beach bootcamp with Croc on Monday. Then Wednesday morning I decided that while they did bootcamp, I'd do a big beach walk. It was overcast and windy, but once I got going I warmed right up and was glad to be out so early and have the beach basically to myself. Tomorrow is supposed to be another overcast morning, for which I am glad because Boyfriend said that on Monday it got really hot at about 6:30 after the sun was up, so we will be up by 5 and out by 5:30 to start our day! I'm not sure I look any different or if I have lost any weight, but I feel healthier and hills and dunes are starting to seem a bit easier to climb so I'm counting that as a victory.

After our workout tomorrow, LC is supposed to pick me up so that we can go wedding outfit shopping for a friends' wedding the following Saturday. Boyfriend is out again all Saturday for the groom's Buck's/Bachelor Party- they are going to the races and probably to Hooters afterward (I feel it's a good concession because the boys don't want to go out in Sydney/don't have the money for strippers and this way they still get to ogle some boobies!). I was going to go to the Hen's/Bachelorette Party on the same night, but didn't have $80 for the charter bus/stripper show, plus all the other money needed for food and drinks in the City and something new to wear because after nearly 8 months of not being at home and having access to lots of stores I love, my clothes are all looking pretty tired. It would've been fun and Boyfriend said he'd pay, but I can't justify that much money on one night right now.

I might have some new pictures to post in the next few days...maybe those elusive Stockton dune pictures from months ago and maybe some pictures from our beach walk on Tuesday. We went to a neat state conservation area and there were some incredible look out spots. The beach was also a nude beach and why is it only ever old, presumably gay men at nude beaches? Don't worry I don't have any old man doodle pictures to share with you, though I have now seen enough to last me a lifetime!

Unity, As One Stand Together

So really, who knew it was going to be this hard to find a job?? Back home I see that others my age are in a similar situation...moving back in with parents and working shitty retail jobs until the economy changes and they can find work in the field they got degrees in. Living in a foreign country and being jobless and slowly running out of money comes with its own challenges. Mainly how do I continue to live in that foreign country without much money and what to do about the boy I've fallen in love with?

Boyfriend and I are your typical first children...we strive to please our parents and avoid doing things that would disappoint them. That is, until now. We are also both fairly traditional people for our age. We had always said through four years of dating that we didn't want to live together before marriage. After discussing it for a few months and my bank account shrinking further and further, we realized that we didn't want our relationship to have to end because I was having trouble finding a job. Why should we be punished personally just because I was suffering financially? Things between us have been going well and we don't want it to end until we've exhausted all of our possibilities.

Boyfriend struggled and stressed trying to work up the courage to tell his parents that he was moving out and in with me. He put it off until the very last minute, the day I had to tell my real estate agents if I'd be moving out. He did it and it didn't go over very well. His Dad said he didn't and wouldn't accept it and he said his Mom didn't say much. It was horrible for Boyfriend and he was really upset. I felt really bad for him, but also was thankful that he had gone through with it and obviously really wanted me to stay.

I told Nae before I told my parents. I wanted to wait to tell them until after Boyfriend had told his parents, just to make sure it was really, really happening. Well Nae didn't know this and was telling our godsisters about it and my Mom overheard. Nae says her reaction was "What??!!" Followed by "She's a big girl. She can make her own decisions/mistakes" When I spoke to her on the phone, she said it isn't what she and my Dad want for us, but Boyfriend and I are both adults and it is our decision to make.

Other than that conversation my parents have been fairly quiet on the issue. Last night we went to Boyfriend's parent's house and I felt like I had been ambushed. We were having a quick dinner there and then all headed out to see a family friend perform in a play. Once again, our situation was brought up and we were told how much they didn't like it and that if she was my Mom she'd want me home and I'm just not finding a job. Boyfriend stood up for us again. When she left the room, I was quietly crying. Then she popped back in to the room to announce to us that even though she had asked us whether or not we planned to get married, to not get excited about that either, because she didn't think we were ready and basically it wasn't her condoning that idea either! Then she left again and I broke down crying. I asked Boyfriend if we could just go home and he said he wished we could, he wished we hadn't gone over there at all, and that he really didn't want to disappoint the family friend by not being there (especially as our seats were in the front row) so he gave me a kiss and told me how sorry he was and I wiped off my face and put on a neutral face for the rest of the night.

There had been discussion last night, as well, about how Boyfriend was going to get to the train station each morning. They don't want him leaving the pick-up truck at the station and I don't have insurance so I can't drive it to drop him off and pick him up. They said they'd be picking it up this (Sunday) afternoon. Boyfriend does have his own car, but it's a classic car from the 1960s, and sad to say it but the area is so ghetto that he's afraid it'll get vandalized if he leaves it there while he is at work. So it's 9:30 Sunday morning here and I'm waiting til about 11am to try and call Croc and some of our other friends to see if they have any old bombs that we could rent from them each week for now just to be driven to the station and back each morning. Boyfriend is even talking about riding his bike to the station in the morning (no idea how many miles that even is and considering it's winter, it would not be a fun ride at 6am).

We get it, they don't like the situation, they're going to make it hard on us, hoping that we will give up and Boyfriend will come home. I really hated that I had to be a part of the reason that Boyfriend's parents were disappointed with him. Boyfriend is still really bummed about the whole thing but strong in his conviction that he wants me here and wants to be with me. I told him to look on the bright side of all this; that I guess it meant his parents really love him and can't bear the thought of him not living with them anymore.

My parents said to me before I left, about being out of school and really being on my own for the first time, that this point in your life is supposed to be uncomfortable and a struggle. They weren't saying it in a mean way, just that this is the time when you really find out who you are and figure out how to make your life work for you. Boyfriend and I are in the struggle right now for sure. We've got each other's back. I hope that we make it out the other side of the struggle and will be devastated if we don't.

Kind words, thoughts, and prayers are much appreciated right now.

Coffee, Mate?

Never ever in my life have I bought CoffeeMate back home, though some of the holiday flavors they have always tempted me to. Well, last week I really started craving iced coffee, being poor and not having a Starbucks near by (or really any cafe for that matter) I looked in to whether or not CoffeeMate was sold in Australia so that I could add it to my own iced coffee at home. It is, in fact, but only in the powdered form or in those a 10 pack of those little cap sized containers and at like $4 for a pack I figured I could make my own at home with "real" ingredients rather than chemicals and stuff and maybe for cheaper so I did some googling and here is the recipe I came up with, modified from ones I found online. I have been having an iced coffee with breakfast and lunch for the past two days and they are so delicious (and doing it this way with the skim milk products, not too bad for me, either)!

Vanilla "CoffeeMate"

2 cans of skim sweetened condensed milk

3-3.5 cups of skim milk (depending on how thick and sweet you want it to be)

2 tablespoons of vanilla extract*

*if you wanted to make an almond flavored one, you could add 2 tablespoons of almond extract instead, or 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to make a chocolate flavored one, or 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and a tablespoon of either mint or raspberry to end up with chocolate mint or chocolate raspberry flavor, the possibilities are pretty endless

I poured all these ingredients in to a washed out milk container and then just shook it vigorously (cap on obviously) until all the ingredients were combined. If you don't do that, the condensed milk won't mix in and will just sit on the bottom of the container.

This stuff will supposedly keep for 2 weeks. I only made half the recipe and I will be out of it before the week is up I'm sure so I won't be able to test whether or not it really does have that long of a shelf life yet.