PNW Life

Born and raised in Ohio. Moved to Georgia for the first time at age 23. Flew 4,703 miles to Hawaii. Had our first child and found another Husky. Now residing in the Pacific Northwest. I never imagined my life to be like this (in a good way).

I wish I had taken the time to blog more about Hawaii (or when I was living in Hawaii). There were so many experiences and wonderful people I had met. Do I miss Hawaii? Of course, it's fucking gorgeous there. Would I want to go back and live there? No. As beautiful and friendly the locals were, I don't think I could live there. Why?

Growing up, everyone around me wanted to move out of Columbus, Ohio and into a major big(ger) city. For me, I really didn't care. I didn't mind living in Ohio and knowing where all the backroads to take. I didn't mind my city because it's my home. I loved my home. I love Ohio.

Hawaii was compact with too many people and tourists (hence the traffic). There was only 1 way to get to Town (Honolulu) and that was H1. Being on the mainland, I enjoy the convenience of driving to my destination without being limited.

I also enjoy the convenience of driving short distances to a Korean grocery store, Michaels, Panera, Marshalls, JCPenny, etc. Also, our poor truck has been through enough abuse since the parking spots in Hawaii are very skinny (lots of dings, scratches, etc).

Being in the Pacific Northwest for the past 6 months has been pretty cool. The weather here is total opposite from Hawaii, of course. There's hardly any humidity here (THANK YOU JESUS) and I haven't been eaten up by mosquitos while sitting on my back porch. The Huskies are loving it here and enjoy the cool breeze. My husband and daughter especially love the cool breeze here. Both of them hate being hot, haha. Plus the outdoor recreation is my husband's type of a good time (shooting, hunting, hiking).

Mount Rainier is the bees knees. It was Kato's and our daughter's first time playing with snow! They loved it. These photos were taken this past May and they still had snow up at the top! It took us about an hour to reach the entrance of Mt. Rainier and then another hour or less to reach other spots around the mountain. Definitely worth it.

My goal is to discover more places around here before we move again. I am so grateful for the experience. Living in different coasts has really opened up my eyes to a lot of different things. I'll try to remember and post another entry of what I had learned the past 6 years.

Paulina's Sweet 30th Birthday

What an exciting day! Only because I've finally sat down to blog on this thing. It's been forever. I used to blog all the time. Wrote diaries since I was in elementary school (don't know where they want went, oh uh).

Happy day! Today I'm blogging about a photoshoot I did a few weeks ago. I am an amateur photographer, I know. So don't judge too harshly. I personally like my photos! But am always striving to be better, do better.

When I first met with Paulina, I intended to hire her as my babysitter. Evidently, it turned out that she needed me to take her 30th birthday photo's! She looked through my previous (personal) Facebook albums and loved the photos that I took while I lived in Hawaii.

Since she is my first client, we spoke through Facebook messenger and had a "laid back" plan on how we wanted to set up. This was low budget but I think with what we worked with turned out beautifully. Just let that sun work it's magic and just be happy!

Isn't she so cute?! Can you believe she is 30? I can't. Her family genes are strong in this one. 

I had a great time with her. She appreciated me helping her walk around those rocks with high heels on. Then I convinced her to take a photo closer to the water. She is a really sweet person and works really hard for what she has. I'm really honored to get to know her & to take her photos. Especially for her birthday!

Happy 30th Birthday, Paulina!

Personal Growth at 26

(I would like to point out that this is an old post that I had typed up right before or right when I had moved to Oahu 2013)

The first time I moved away from home was when I was 23 years old. I was born and raised in good old Ohio. It's not like Ohio was a super hick farmer-like state (not all of it). I lived in Dublin,  15-20 minutes from Columbus. I loved growing up in Ohio, I had a wholesome childhood.

It was September when I moved down to Savannah, Georgia. I had a friend from Akron to help me drive down (12 hour drive in my old RAV4). I will never forget her kindness in helping me. I was moving to Savannah and for 2.5 years I was fighting with my inner dark thoughts.

I was lonely.  I have a ton of friends back in Ohio. Friends that were in my wedding, who came to my wedding, friends whom I never wanted to lose touch with. Distance shouldn't ever change friendships but it does. But life goes on. That was and still is one of the hardest life lessons that I have ever gone through. In the beginning you and your friends try their best to keep ion touch with you. They'll call or text you. I reply back and sometimes pick up their phone calls. But then I started to feel really down that I'm not home to go out (some of my friends went clubbing every weekend & some still do now). I felt like I was missing out and eventually they were all meeting new friends; which was hard for me because I didn't know who those people were. The calls and texts started dying out pretty quickly and all I felt was loneliness and doubt. "I'm not around, so no wonder they wouldn't hit me up."

What hurt even worse was when my other close friends couldn't make it down to visit me during my time in Savannah. No matter how hurt I was I knew they had a lot going on in their life and my bff was working at a new job (which required her to work hard for some vacation days). I was fighting within myself that I knew if they had the chance they'd come see me. But there were events where some have proven me wrong. And I was so shocked it hurt. That pain grew an even larger distance from me to them. 

I had such a hard time about this but I didn't know who to seek for advice. Of course I've expressed my grief to my husband and he tried his best to make me feel better.  But I just felt so alone. I talked to a few of my friends about it and they gave me their best advice that they could. But nothing could fill in this void. Sometimes I would wake up and cry. My husband felt guilty, thinking it was his fault for moving me away but it wasn't. I honestly felt like I was the "out of sight, out of mind" with the group of people who I thought were my closest. But they ended up being the farthest. Those were some tough years. 

In the end, I seeked God for help. Every night I would cry about not being able to find a job (finding a job in Savannah BLOWS) and that my closest group of friends were not around. One day I was back home in Ohio and I went to a Friday night Bible study. I can't remember which passage my KCC Pastor read off but basically it filled my void. I had no reason to be sad like the way I was. God has given me so much relief and weight was lifted off my shoulders! I needed to wake up! So, I  woke up. I finally stopped crying and feeling so down. Eventually in the coming months my husband and I found out that we were being sent to Hawaii. We made some time to make a trip back home and I had a one-on-one with my best friend. I  told her just about everything but not all of the harsh details because I didn't want to make her feel guilty or less of a friend. I told her how hard it was to stay in touch and how lonely I was. I told her that its not everyones fault for losing touch but also mine as well. I felt I was replaced or looked passed. We are doing better but I know it will never be the same as when I'm home. I've realized that we are all on different paths and I am at a whole different stage in life than her/everyone else. And that's okay. Whenever her and the rest of my friends decide to settle down, I can give them all the support they need. I jumped on the married life wagon first, ha. Soon my husband and I will want to start a family. And even with that I'll gladly help them if they ever asked. 

There are no hard feelings as to how our friendships become. I never imagined this when I was peacefully at home but times have changed and I have grown to accept it. 

Always remember that no matter what life hits you with, you are never alone. I came home to Ohio a few times and surprisingly I've met people who were going through the exact same things as I was going through. People I never thought would go through the same shit as me and they ARE. 

So, here I am again. Moved to another different state where I've never been to. But not feeling as alone as I did 2.5 years ago.