Never Stop Learning

Just about everyone from my graduating class has winded down their job searches and landed that entry level position. I, on the other hand, got married and moved down to Florida. I'm ready to move on with my life and start my career once we've settled down into our new home (wherever that might be.) Without a job, I'm left with a lot of free time and it's slowly driving me insane because playing The Sims 4 can only get you so far in life. 

I've realized that if I were back in college right now I'd be in class, discussing last night's reading, and probably getting ready to write a midterm paper. As stressful as that sounds, I miss assigned reading and discussion. I want to be able to keep my brain active and learn something new, not because it's a requirement for my major, but because I truly want to learn the material. So here are 10 ways to keep your brain learning and active so that it doesn't turn into a Florida swamp.

1. Read // When I majored in English I was asked about my opinion or interpretation of a plethora of books I'd never read. Each time I'd have to answer with "I have yet to read that book, but I have been meaning to." Now's the time to read the books you've been putting off. Pick up classics, poetry, biographies, fiction, how-tos, non-fiction, histories, mysteries, and maybe even some Irish literature (I'm a little biased), or anything you can get your hands on. If what you're reading inspires you and has you asking bigger questions, you've picked a good book. In the future, I may just join a book club, but for now my goal is to read 50 pages a day.

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2. Documentaries // I'm a self-proclaimed Netflix documentary binger lover. In my last semester of college, I  spent my weeknights either going out, working on my thesis, or watching documentaries with Danny and a bottle of wine. I never thought I could get so excited about documentaries, but it turns out I was laughing, learning, and crying along with these films. Three documentaries I recommend and can say I definitely walked away learning something new are Terms and Conditions May Apply, It's A Girl, and Secrets: Richard III Revealed.

A postcard I received in 2012 from a woman in France

3. Languages // I began learning French in Kindergarten in an Immersion program. I continued learning the language up until my sophomore year of college. I may have retained some fluency throughout the years, but my grammar is appalling. In college I visited my professor on Tuesdays to go over verb tenses and it really helped in the end. I can still go that extra mile now by playing Duolingo, watching French films (with French subtitles because reading subtitles in English won't help me) and writing to French pen pals from Postcrossing or with the friends I made at college who won't have any problem pointing out how bad I am at writing. I may use the Rosetta Stone-like program the Navy provides to learn a new language like Spanish, Japanese, or Arabic.

4. Computer Literacy // I know how a computer works. I took keyboarding in high school, I can use Microsoft Office, I know what do with most Adobe products, I took advanced computers in college and I can design a website and a database. But when was the last time I revisited those skills? I probably can't type as fast anymore, Photoshop and Microsoft Office have since updated, and I cannot for the life of me remember how to code. I need to keep these skills fresh and take a course and dive more in depth into a program or even learn web design fully. Gerred's offered me a few books he still has from USNA on C++ and I may enroll in one of these classes: Treehouse,  Lynda.com, Learn to Code HTML and CSS, Codecademy, or Mozilla Developer Network.

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5. Fleet and Family Classes // I always pass the Fleet and Family Services sign on my way to the gym on base. I see they offer tons of classes and plan to attend a few myself such as Holiday Spending and How to Move since both of these are coming up.

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6. Fitness Classes // I love taking a variety of fitness classes. On Thursdays, I like to go to Spinning class at the gym, but I've noticed there are a few other classes out in town I'd like to give a try. Pure Pilates in Downtown Pensacola offers one free session for your first class. Gerred and I are thinking of just trying it out for a day. I've also heard a lot of buzz about Purre Barre. There's one coming soon to Pensacola, but it won't be built until after I'm long gone. I do plan on trying this at least once to get a feel for what it is. I'm most excited to try a running form clinic. I know Running Wild offers them every 4th Thursday. I would love to work on proper running technique someday.

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7. Museums and Tours // There's no greater way to discover a place than learning it's history and culture. In the remaining time I have in Pensacola, I would like to visit the Pensacola Museum of Art, Pensacola Mess Hall (Is this for kids? Possibly. But it might be super fun too,) West Florida Railroad Museum, National Aviation Museum, and take a Historic Pensacola tour. Two years ago I visited the Pensacola Light House and Fort Barrancas when I came to visit Katie, Phoenix, and Gerred. Now that it's Halloween, I may revisit the light house for the Pensacola Light House Ghost Hunt. There's a lot of history in this area and I'd like to absorb as much as I can.

Here we are with our 3rd place winnings: $15 gift card to Mellow Mushroom

8. Trivia // Trivia is my thing. In high school, I participated in It's Academic, a Jeopardy-like game show in which high school teams to compete against one another. So far, I've gone to two trivia nights down here with Gerred and James and each time we've won 3rd place! We may not always know the answers, but it's always fun to have the thought on the tip of your tongue. Then there are times when the answer comes rushing out in the last second when I finally write down "turnip" or "Robert Louis Stevenson." Trivia is a great way to test all the miscellaneous tidbits you've picked up in life and to learn more.

My latest attempt at watercolor

9. Art // I love art and am sad I did not pursue it as much as I would have liked. Consequently, it's been awhile since I've picked up a camera, pencil, charcoal, or paint brush. I'd love to get back to it and keep an art journal, learn to watercolor, experiment with my camera, or even take an art class (that doesn't just talk about shapes and lines.) I also may take another wine and paint class some day.

10. Cooking Classes // I have the creativity to cook, but I'm lacking the skills. Ask me to cut vegetables? It'll roll around the board and I may lose a finger. But I can certainly combine some random things and hope for the best. Will it taste good? 25% of the time it does. Basically, I'd love to take a cooking class, like the ones offered at SO Gourmet in Pensacola. Hopefully, by the end of the class I won't just have a recipe, but a few techniques as well. Plus, it makes for a fun girls night or date night.

I'll be trying these from here on out, trying to keep my brain alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic. Know of any other opportunities to learn? Are you learning anything new at the moment? And what do you want to learn?

Pensacola Beach Day

I made a decision last week to finally embrace the 81 degree weather here in Florida (only after complaining about my need for Fall of course.) This weekend, Gerred and I packed towels, sunscreen, and snacks, and made our way over to Pensacola Beach.

When it comes to the beach, I conjure up the shores of Bethany Beach or OBX. I see yellow sands and waves of dark green water. But, the Gulf is a completely different beach from that of my memories. Pensacola's sands are white and the water is inexplicably clear. I thought I was on a tropical island with how blue the water was.

The days we spent at the beach were so relaxing. We napped in the sun, Gerred played with his new iPhone 6, and I read The Old Man and the Sea. Reading Hemingway's novella by the same Gulf Coast where the book takes place was really something. I heard the waves crashing, felt the sun, and saw the sands in the book. I felt I was there in the boat alongside Santiago as he tried to catch the Marlin. Reading the book in a place I could truly imagine the setting really made the book pop for me more than it would if I read it, say, in bed.

It's these little relaxing days that change my view of the beach. I think I am getting used to this permanent beach life.

Bringing Fall to Florida

How am I supposed to feel the seasons change around me if the leaves won't even change color? The trees have held tight onto all their green leaves. They won't let go or turn to shades of red, orange, or yellow. There's no chance of even a yellow-green and it's troubling. I guess I never really paid much thought to the autumn season when I knew that it was a standard part of the year. But now that it's gone I'm desperately trying to incorporate this lost season into my life as much as possible.

I'm bringing back fall primarily with the taste of Pumpkin. Yes, it's what we'd like to call basic, but I'd like to say I've exceeded this descriptor as I've tried everything under the sun that's pumpkin flavored including pancakes, oatmeal, donuts, and certain Starbucks drinks and I don't even drink coffee. Gerred also made 8 pumpkin pies to give to friends before we move because we want to share Fall that much.Word of advice, do not try the pumpkin Oreos. They taste like yankee candle play-dough. Just pick up a fall candle instead. I've got Autumn Wreath burning right now and it is both heavenly and autumnal. 

Ever since we moved here I've been asking to go to an apple orchard or a pumpkin patch. Well, there are no apple orchards in Florida, so we set our sights on the pumpkin patch. We visited Sweet Season Farms in Milton and I discovered just how Florida does their version of Fall.

Sweet Season Farms had a corn cannon, an animal barn, and a hay ride. They also served a corn cob dunked a gazillion times into butter, seasoned in either salt, ranch, parmesan or old bay if you're me and handed out on on a foil stake. Gerred and I shared one but felt we were slowly dying of Paula Deen poisoning.

I will say Sweet Farms did have a fantastic corn maze. This year's maze was styled after the local masters champion, Bubba Watson. Do I know he is? No. But, what made the maze ah-mazing was that they gave us trivia passports to take with us into the maze. I took Girl Scouts and Gerred took Scripture. Good thing I love trivia games because throughout the maze we reached several marking points that would have you answer questions about either the Girl Scouts or the Bible and it would tell you whether to turn left, right, or turn around depending on which answer you gave. Luckily I was a Daisy, Brownie, and a Junior Girl Scout and knew how to direct us through the maze with my answers. For the record, I helped Gerred with the Bible answers as well and have Foundations of Western Lit I: The Bible to thank for that.

Where the maze was over the charts, the pumpkin patch was a different story. It was a joke and Gerred and I kept laughing at the fact that Florida's version of a pumpkin patch is a field with placed pumpkins probably from the grocery store. But Gerred had never been to a pumpkin patch and was happy with the one we visited. 

So even when I can't see "Fall" I can still seek it. In the meantime, however, instead of fighting the seasons I've decided to just accept I'm having an extended summer. So I'm off to the beach today.

Currently

It's October, but it's somehow 70 degrees. I've got a military ID and a new last name.  Stuck in an empty house in the South, I'm ready to share with you all the musings that are currently going on during this changing time in my life.

Trying to revive this blog. It's been awhile and a whirlwind of things have happened between the last time I posted and now. I finished my thesis, graduated college, planned a wedding, spent time with friends and family, got married, and moved down to Florida. Now that all the thesis writing and wedding planning are over, I'm finally finding the time to breathe again. I'm ready to come back to this blog and share with you my life as it happens right now. Where have I been while I wasn't blogging? Instagram. I'm always instagramming my life.

Living in an empty house. The day after Gerred and I got married, we packed my car with only a few summer clothes and headed down to Milton, Florida. At the time, Gerred's two other roommates were living with us (every newlywed's dream.) But they've since moved and the house is completely empty of all furniture. No tables, chairs, couch, plates, or cookware. All the furniture we have is still at my house in Maryland and we won't have that until our next move. In the meantime we like to pretend we're urban camping while we use paper plates and plastic forks for our meals.

Proud of Gerred for finishing his last flight of flight school. After 2 years, he's gone from API to Helicopter School with his nose in the books and his head in the sky. He's studied hard and tackled some difficult tests and flights. Well done Gerred, can't wait for your winging on November 7.

Moving to God knows where? Seriously, it's killing me. I'm so ready to move, find a job and a home, and finally settle in. Gerred put in his preferences yesterday so it's not even in our hands anymore. It'll only be another 2 weeks to find out where we're going, but oh do I want that time to hurry on by.

Missing my house, family, friends. I miss the familiarity of waking up in my own room. But love that I get to share this one with Gerred. I miss walking around the house and seeing my Mom, Dad, and Grandma downstairs. I love that they all call, text, and Facetime me as much as possible. I miss a furnished home one with chairs and pots and pans. I keep tell myself I've only a month before I'll have everything moved into our new home. I miss Danny coming over for wine and documentaries. But I'm glad we still Skype in for our movies. I miss Katie since we're in the same boat with all this Navy business. I am grateful she calls me everyday to make me laugh and reassure me that everything will be ok.

Forgetting what Fall is like. The Florida Panhandle is a hot swampy place. This week the temperature is clocking in the high 70s and I can't even fathom it. I'm sorry, but October to me is supposed to be cold enough that I shouldn't be wearing shorts and flip flops any more. What even is Fall? Pumpkin Spice? Leaves? Cool weather? I don't recall.

Working on my fitness. I may have neglected working out after the wedding was over so I'm ready to run again (It's not ungodly hot anymore,) lift weights, and try some classes at the gym. Like tonight Gerred and I are going to try the spin class. I'd also like to add that I love that the gym on base is free. It's a great transition from the free (well it's included with tutition) gym at Washington College.

Exploring as much of Florida and it's surrounding areas as I can. Despite my distrust of the weather and lack of stability between moves, I do actually like Florida. Gerred and I try to spend our nights out in Pensacola at Gerred's staple bar, World of Beer or visiting different restaurants for our food passport (more on that later.) We've even been able to take weekend trips to Disney World and New Orleans that have been absolutely fun. I cannot wait to continue to explore more exciting spots and events during our limited time left in the Florida Panhandle. If you have any suggestions let me know.

Loving the time I get to spend with him. It's great to finally spend more than just a weekend with him again. We cook dinners, do chores, cuddle, watch shows, and go on dates and it's wonderful. I love the comfort of knowing that he's next to me and not on the other end of the phone. I love that my long distance relationship is over with my cat. Oh, did you think I was talking Gerred. Oh yeah I love Gerred too.

There you have it, my Florida life up to the minute. Get ready for this blog to explode again.