LADDventure

5 years of blogging

I can hardly believe it, but it's been five years to the date since I dipped my toe into this world of blogging and hit publish on my very first post! At the time, I had this stirring to start writing, regularly, around the same time we had a stirring to move cross-country from Wisconsin to Arizona. It felt like it could actually happen, and it also felt like I should be documenting it. The move was starting to get real, and I knew it would happen quickly if we decided to actually take the plunge, so I thought the best way to keep friends and family updated and stay sane might be to start a blog. 310 posts later, here we are!

Even though I feel like I'm just starting to connect with a larger audience, this space means so much to me. It's this special digital scrapbook of the past five years. It's been an excuse to write, sometimes more regularly than others, and push myself creatively in all sorts of ways. It's also grown alongside my philosophy of living life with adventurous intention. They've happened simultaneously, and one has fed the other. Since that first post on June 30, 2009, the LADDventures have continued. I've moved across the country, quit my teaching job to pursue writing full time, traveled to New York City and San Diego for writing conferences, started another blog, launched a podcast, and written a book, and it all begins with seeing myself as a writer here in this little corner of the internet first.

The blog started as a documentation of our jouney west, and followed us to Arizona, where it's just crazy to me that we will meet our kids! Now, I am so grateful for this space to share the process of adoption, and becoming a family of four.

In honor of my 5 year blog-iversary I have one request: I'd love for you to join my email list by subscribing to get all the latest blog posts right to your inbox. I promise I won't spam you or share your email address. It's just my way of knowing who's reading, keeping everyone updated, and creating a community here in this space.

Finally, I want to say thank you for reading! Thank you for your comments and encouragement, and for sharing my blog with others. It means more to me than you will ever know, and I am so thankful for all of you.

This Time It's Easier

Our house in Wisconsin is officially on the market!  Mr. Ladd just returned from cleaning, painting the porch, and getting it ready for the sign in the front yard. Four years ago to the date, he was doing the same thing to get it ready to rent and join me here in Arizona. Today I'm re-posting my initial thoughts from when we first left our beloved house to move here.  I was sad to leave it then, but since we moved it's been rented by friends and then family, loved well, and is ready for a new family to love.

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Original Post from 8/16/2009

Goodbye House

Jeremiah and the dogs are heading out tomorrow to join me in Arizona! Although I am beyond excited for them to get here, I feel a deep, satisfied kind of sadness as I talk to Jeremiah on the phone today. He's telling me how the only thing left in the house are his clothes, the refrigerator is cleaned out, and the cupboards are bare. Everything is packed and polished and empty, and I cry big tears as he tells me this. I am sad to leave it, but grateful, for the times we've shared and the memories we've made in our first house. I love that it's the first home Jeremiah and I ever owned. I love it's creaky wood floors and arched doorways. I love the way our bedroom window would quietly rattle in a thunderstorm, making me thankful to be warm, and dry, and safe inside. I love the plantation shutters in the office windows, and the color I painted the hallway upstairs. I love the huge front porch that Jeremiah and I would sit on at night, being eaten by mosquitos and drinking wine.

I know when we get a new house out here, there will be fun "new house things" to be excited about, but for now, I'm a little sad as I picture Jeremiah driving away tomorrow morning.
Goodbye house, and thank you for everything!

4 Years Since...

August is always very nostalgic for me the last few years.  This month marks 4 years since we officially moved from Wisconsin to Arizona, which has been hands down the most life-changing, exciting thing we've done as a couple to date. This time of year, I always find myself reflecting about how crazy but thrilling that time was, and all that has happened since then.  I am convinced there are things that have happened in our lives that are a direct result of us being brave enough to take the leap and try something new.  

4 years since...

I was hired for a teaching job over the phone on Thursday and needed to leave for Arizona on the following Tuesday.

Mr. Ladd flew out to Phoenix for a job interview that didn't go so well the day before I would leave for Phoenix.  He literally slept in the guest bed the night before I did at our friend's house, unsure of what his job situation would be.

I left my magazines on the coffee table, my tomatoes in the garden, and Mr. Ladd to pack up our dogs and our life and make the drive out to Arizona 3 weeks later to meet me.

My friend Vicki dropped me off at the airport in Milwaukee with tears and two suitcases full of everything I'd need for the near future.

I sat in the airport staring at the gate, unable to read or listen to music, just numb in a nervous stupor.

I stepped off the plane in Phoenix to 113 dry degrees and waited at the curb for Jess and Erik to pick me up.  We went back to their house (our home for the next four months) and drank blueberry mojitos, and I found the beautiful note Mr. Ladd had left me on the guest bed, telling me how he couldn't wait to join me and was so excited for our new adventure.

Since then...

We got the chance to live with some of our very best friends for 4 months, reliving college years and cementing a very important friendship to us. 

We bought a gorgeous house, and have appreciated every second of a great backyard, sometimes unable to believe it's ours, and that we moved in next door to such amazing neighbors!

Mr. Ladd has had the opportunity to work from home and travel to India and Malaysia.

I've taught special education, 3rd grade, and 2nd grade, before taking a break from teaching to pursue writing full time, and am now writing a freaking book!  (Sorry that one I really still can't believe)

We have fallen in love with our Jeep, off-roading, the mountains, and even camping. Believe me, that last one took me by surprise.

I am certain the smell of rain and citrus blossoms are two of the best smells, live in flip flops and in the pool all summer long, have to hunt for leaves in fall, and get real excited when I get to wear a sweater and scarves in the winter.

We have met amazing new friends, and even older family and friend relationships have grown stronger in some cases with distance, meaning visits are intentional, and conversations are longer, when we don't have the luxury of proximity to take for granted.

Most importantly, Mr. Ladd and I have truly become a family- making our marriage the priority, learning so much about ourselves and each other, going through hard things together and coming out on the other side stronger, braver, and more willing to try other hard things.  So, Happy Arizona Anniversary to us!  And, if ever you get the chance to move across the country on a whim, or anything else that seems crazy at first, you might just want to do it.

Five Minute Friday - Belong

Traveling back to Wisconsin always leaves me with questions of home.  Where is home now?  Which state do I call home?  This time back it felt different and strange and uncomfortable in some ways.  Where do I truly belong?  But then I spend a day with this guy and I know that he is home.  We are high school sweethearts so we share hometown memories, favorite places, and all the ridiculousness and loveliness that is "back home."  We store up our mutual experiences and the life we've created in a big us box.  When I'm feeling a little torn between the two worlds, I come home to him and know I'm right where I belong, sharing life with this guy I've been lucky enough to love for over half of mine.

Most Fridays, I link up with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five Minute Fridays, where we write for 5 minutes unedited on a one word prompt and hit publish.  Join us.

When Mom Comes to Visit

My mom and dad were here from Wisconsin for their annual visit a couple weeks ago, and we celebrated my mom's birthday while she was here.  Her actual birthday is February 29th, Leap Day.  So, she only gets a real one every 4 years.  She's like the Olympics.  While they were here, we took a little overnight trip to the mountains so we could truly catch her birthday...that elusive fraction of a second between February 28th and March 1st where her real birthday lies. We showed them Prescott and Jerome, and stayed at the Prescott Pines Inn Bed & Breakfast, which is definitely a favorite of ours. 

My mom is my favorite coffee buddy and one of the few people I like to do some serious shopping with.  Usually I prefer to shop alone, but my mom and I have it down to an art form.  I have inherited her big smile, obsession with throw pillows, and her manic energy when it comes to decorating, especially for Christmas.

Something I've always loved and admired about my mom is her creativity.  She sewed clothes for us when we were little, crocheted, and seemed to always be making some project for the house long before the days of Pinterest. To this day the smell of Hobby Lobby - eucalyptus and unfinished wood - reminds me of the many hours I spent wandering amidst the fabric and art supplies at her favorite craft store.  Now she's pursuing art more seriously and has turned my old bedroom into her studio, and gifts from her almost always include something handmade.  She started it out of necessity I think, because it was cheaper to make clothes at the time, and she needed fresh ways to spruce up the house without spending much money.  I don't think she realizes the gift of creativity she has passed down to us.

While I miss my family back in Wisconsin almost daily, there are benefits to living far away and getting to spend a week at a time with them.  I love when they come visit, because I get to see a different side of my mom.  She got married and started a family very young and sacrificed a lot of herself at times to stay at home raising four of us.  It was probably just survival mode at times with us growing up.  But, she was commenting just how much she is enjoying being a parent now to grown kids.  She loves her new role as friend, advisor, and Nana.

We were sitting around the table talking the first day they were here, comparing the sunny morning to the snow back home in Wisconsin, when she told us how she noticed a snowflake land on her sleeve the other day.  She said it was the first time she had noticed one with the perfect symmetrical detail people speak of.  My dad and I were a little shocked that this was the first time she had ever noticed it, and she was saddened by the realization that she had missed so many magical snowflakes in her life.

My mom has been through a lot, and did not grow up in the best of circumstances.  It's exciting to see her at a point in life where she is really enjoying it.  I feel like she's seeing things with fresh eyes these days - parenting, art, faith, snowflakes, and I'm enjoying getting to know my mom in new ways from across the country.

Thankful Thursday - Raindrops and Reading

I woke up to gray skies and a dark bedroom later than usual.  For the first time since I was an infant, I am able to allow my body to go to sleep when it's tired and wake up when it's not, and I am discovering that my body naturally wakes up with the sun after about 8 or 9 hours of sleep.  I realize every day how thankful I am to get real good sleep for the first time ever, and I am soaking it up.  I know it won't always be like this.  Brian Williams was just talking about how we are a sleep deprived nation last night on the news, and I realize just how sleep deprived I have been these last few years.

Here are some other things I'm thankful for as the smell of rain floats in through the window and the gentle raindrops puddle in the pool:

The fact that our version of a cold snap here in the Phoenix area was 5 days in a row with lows around 20.  People of the Midwest, you don't have to live like that!  -2?  For a high?  Who wants to come visit?

The reinstatement of a regular date night, where we take turns planning, share a bottle of wine, and discover great food in little hidden neighborhood spots.

Phone calls on the road from my brothers and this hilarious blog post from my sister that reminded me just how much I adore that crew.

Books that I'm loving lately:

• The Young House Love DIY book that just arrived in my favorite kind of smiling box, full of ideas and inspiration. 
• The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.  I opened it up and immediately found 2 yummy recipes to add to the menu for next week.
• The Book Thief - man!  This sucker is deep and profoundly written and full of so much meaning.

Have a good Thursday.  Take a nap maybe.

Happy Birthday Jess

It is my friend Jessica's birthday.  That's her name, Jessica, but I don't like calling her that.  To me she is just Jess.  It fits her and fits our friendship better.  Jessica seems too formal for our relationship because Jess is my sweatpants friend.  Do you have a sweatpants friend?  Do you know what I mean?  She's the kind of friend you can hang out with in sweatpants, no makeup, and not even necessarily showered and it doesn't matter; in fact it's preferred.  She's the kind of friend who comes over for a pool day and you don't care that the rest of your house is a mess, or what you look like in your swimsuit.  You just mix up some fruity drink and make fun of cellulite together. 

Let me back up and let you know how we got to this point.   Her husband, Erik, and Mr. Ladd met in the dorms their freshman year of college back in Wisconsin.  They became friends and later roomates, meaning the three of us became friends as Mr. Ladd and I were kind of a package deal.  Then Erik met Jess a few years later and the rest is history. 

They moved to Arizona about a year before we did, and are really the reason we started to think about moving after this visit.  They were our incredibly generous hosts for 4 months when we first moved out here and were looking for a house, and I wouldn't trade those 4 months for anything.  It was like college again, and when you live with someone and your husbands and your 3 dogs total, you see the good, the bad, and the ugly, and you become sweatpants friends.  

We have had our arguments, I mean knock down drag out arguments, but that's part of what I love about Jess.  She will say what she means, and you can fight about it and then talk about it more calmly the next day, and then you can move on.  This is not a common trait in people unfortunately.  Relationships would be stronger if people were able to move on more frequently after the argument.  

She is passionate about almost everything and makes the best cocktails around.  Some of the funniest moments I have ever experienced have been with her.  Together we  have laughed until we can't breathe frequently, developed a bit of a secret language and accent, consumed an obscene amount of cheese, and often wonder why everyone else can't just be normal.  We have celebrated holidays together, gone on vacation together, and house hunted together.  She is family.

She even celebrates her birthday passionately, starting at the beginning of the month and usually going until the end.  So Jess, on your actual birthday here's to you, my sweatpants friend.
Cheers!  Love you!

Thankful Thursday - New Year

Given my motto for 2013 - being intentional about life, a Thankful Thursday is fitting.  It's about taking a minute to purposely reflect on what I'm thankful for, and give myself some instant perspective.  How's that for intentional?  So today, here's what I'm loving:

A growing,loud,wonderfully weird family to have spent the holidays with, and new traditions that made it easier for so much more time with them - less rushing, more lingering, puppy kisses and laughing.

Kissing this guy at midnight on New Years for the 16th time

Great friends to celebrate with, who understand that pizza and pajamas are the best way to ring in

     the New Year sometimes

Learning the secret to making a great old-fashioned

Chilly, frosty nights in Arizona.  Winter is something to be enjoyed around here, preferrably

     with slippers and red wine,  heat lamps and layers while it lasts.

2012 - The Year of New

I'm back! I think the teacher in me is still used to a long Christmas break of doing nothing particularly productive.  So, I've been absent from writing  (among other things like laundry or anything else that didn't sound festive).

But, I wished for presence this holiday season, and I got it. I was present on a 12 day trip back to Wisconsin for an early Christmas with my family; present in a quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in our house for the first time at home in Arizona, just the two of us! Can you tell I thought it lovely?  Then I was present playing hostess to Jeremiah's family right after that for our Christmas with them.

So now that the cookies are gone (mercifully), the guest beds are empty, and the world is returning to normal...I am left to linger in 2012 for one last day and reflect. It can be all too easy when the tree needles are falling and the house is quiet again to jump into resolutions, and what you need to get done or be better at.  While I love the opportunity for a fresh start and improvement after cleaning up the tinsel (Does anyone still decorate with tinsel?), I don't want to miss the chance to ponder all that has happened this year.  Resolutions without reflection on where you are and how you got there seem kind of pointless to me.

So, I have dubbed this past year, 2012, the Year Of New for the following reasons...

New Career

This was by far the biggest of the new things that happened this year.  After a very difficult 2011-2012 school year, I needed a change, not just a job change or school change, but a chance to work at something new; a chance to pour all that energy into other pursuits, myself, and my family.  So we decided that I would not sign a contract for the following year and that I would take an indefinite break from teaching to pursue writing full time.  It was not an easy decision, and it has been an adjustment, but I can honestly say I have not regretted that decision once, and feel so incredibly lucky to do what I do every day.


New Health

With the career change, came major changes in my health.  I started seeing a chiropractor back around the time I decided to quit teaching.  She helped me realize that I needed adjustments in more areas than one, and just how much stress was contributing to very poor habits and poor overall health.  I now have very few migraines, get 8-9 hours of sleep a night, and literally have not been sick one time since I started going to the chiropractor back in March.  While there is much room for improvement and other health goals, I am happy about taking control of my stress and finding some peace and balance in 2012.


New Adventures

We invested in our new favorite hobby, modifying our Jeep to turn it into a bit of an off-road beast.  So, we hit the Rubicon Trail in California for our summer vacation this year.  We got really dirty, climbed huge boulders, almost got eaten by a bear, and it was awesome.

I went to my first blogging conference, BlogHer '12, in New York City for the first time by myself.  Still processing everything I learned about blogging and myself on that trip.

I got my first tattoo with my sister on her visit out to AZ in February.

New Friends

We are getting to the point where we are really getting to know the many acquaintances we first met when we moved here, and growing some friendships.  I'm looking at you bloggy buddy and next door neighbor :-)


New House Stuff

With extra time for creativity, the interior of our house that we've now lived in for 3 years is finally starting to shape up.  What was a glorified hallway of a front room is now full and inviting, and finishing touches like rugs and curtains are falling into place in the rest of the house.


New Niece News

Aidee Asuncion Luis was born on November 6th this year and I got to spend some snuggly newborn time with her.

Also, 3 of our other nieces started kindergarten this fall, and this former kindergarten teacher of an aunt can't get enough of their first day of school pictures and school stories.  I know full well how magical that year is for learning.


New Focus

We have begun really focusing on starting a family this year.  We're not sure exactly what that will look like just yet, but we know we both want a loud holiday table of our own someday filled with kids and grandkids, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow I'll be back with some goals for 2013, but tonight we are celebrating the end of a great year with great friends.  There will be homemade pizza, pajamas, and champagne.  

Happy New Year everyone!

Wordless Wednesday