A Super Exciting Announcement

Hi everyone!

I wanted to take a break from your regularly-scheduled guest post programming to let you guys in on some super exciting news over here at Chez Roblin.

A few months ago Rob informed me of his desire to pursue a position with a Hotshot crew.  You can read more about Hotshot Crews here, but in a nutshell he wanted to be a wildland firefighter.  Naturally this admission met with some hesitation from me (I'm not sure why the man enjoys finding new and creative ways to make me worry), but ultimately I know my husband well enough to know that when he wants something he is damn well going to get it.  It's one of the many things I love about him.

Anyway he applied to several locations and as of yesterday we found out that we will be moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico this coming March.   I for one am thrilled, as Santa Fe was my preferred location due to more daycare opportunities for Cypress and more "keep Caitlin busy" opportunities when Rob is out on assignment.  Rob is just excited to be getting out of Maine and out of school, and to be doing something that he will certainly love.

So my blog is about to get hopefully more interesting as I chronicle life in a new state and life as a wildland firefighter's wife. 

I hope you all have had a wonderful week and Happy Holidays!

Weekend Camping: Cold Temperatures & Full Hearts

This last weekend Rob and I went to Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island for some cool, crisp-aired hiking and camping.  Prior to this little excursion we'd never actually gone camping just the two of us, so this was long overdue.

I've also been under a lot of stress lately, both with work and personal issues. We're coming up on a lot of future plans and possible changes, and as you probably could guess I don't do very well with the unknown.  Suffice it to say a little getaway completely sans cell reception was needed.

We gathered up all of our camping gear, including 40-degree sleeping bags and Robbie's Army poncho liner, as the temperatures were due to reach 45 or lower, and headed out with our favorite traveling companion.  I thought it was appropriate that my favorite song to listen to when driving with Rob ("Far Side of Nowhere" by Social Distortion) was the first song to play on shuffle.  And yes, Rob still has his first-generation iPod mini from circa 2005.

We stopped at a rest top on the highway for some lunch and relaxation, and finally we were on our way to the MDI.  We visited one of the many campfire stands to prepare for the fire at our campsite.

Once we settled in at our campsite, we drove to the national park for some hiking.  Typically Acadia is positively packed with tourists, so we expected to wade through groups of people to get to the top of some of the mountains.  To our very happy surprise, we saw nary a soul and had the whole trail and summit to ourselves.  Rob, who has endured my camera attacks for years, finally took over the photographic duties and captured some extremely awkward pictures of me.

I really enjoy hiking with Robbie and getting to enjoy Maine's most beautiful season.  Acadia National Park is one of the spots in Maine that all tourists visit but that not as many Mainers have ever seen. 

 

 

After our hike we drove to Bar Harbor to pick up some gluten-free pizza* and returned to our campsite for dinner and quality time.

Once it got dark we finally curled up under one sleeping bag (and on top of another), and under Rob's warm army poncho, to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 on my iPad.  I didn't bring my camera into the tent with us but let me assure you, it was a lovely little scene.  Sadly I didn't get a ton of sleep because side-sleeping and camping don't really mix, and it was approximately 40 degrees outside of our warm little sleeping bag bubble.  Also sadly, Cypress didn't get a ton of sleep because she was completely confused as to what, exactly, was going on.

In the morning Robbie made me yummy gluten-free chocolate chip pancakes.

All in all it was an absolutely lovely weekend.  I can't put into words how much I enjoy these quiet moments with my husband where it's only us and our gorgeous little beastie.  I'm always reminded of just how awesome my husband and I are together and how excited I am to share this life with him after being apart for so long.

If you made it through this insanely high-photo post, my kudos to you.

*We basically only got pizza so that we could do the following.  If any of you can catch the reference I am making in this series (read left-right), you will win 10,000 blog points.  Also, if any of you can make me a GIF of it WITH WORDS, you'll win something cool.

That's What I Like About You

Rob: Is it bad that I learned everything I know about talking to girls from "Top Gun"? It's also where I get my style, if you didn't notice.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Me: You always like really strange flowers.
Rob: That's why I love you. You're a strange little flower.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Me (after tossing and turning and seeing that Rob was also awake): Why are you awake?
Rob: If you're awake, I'm awake.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Me, after a particularly difficult day: What do you want to eat for dinner?
Rob: Whatever a lady wants. You can say any meal, I promise I won't say no.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Really glad I locked this one down.

End of the Week Positivity

Can I just say how happy I am that it's Friday? We have a very full weekend planned, what with session #2 for my matryoshka tattoo and getting together with these ladies again for some homemade Chipotle meals.

It's been kind of a tough week filled with poisonous thoughts about my own inadequacy.  I'd write a huge post about it, but you guys have seen many of those from me and this would probably be more of the same.  So in lieu of an epic depression/anxiety post, I would like to focus on what made me really happy this week:


1. Going hiking with Robbie and the ladies again at Saddleback Mountain. Because Amie is recovering from a sprained ankle, she and I only hiked the first two miles and then chilled out by and on a serene pond while Rob and the Sara(h)s hiked the remaining 3 miles, did actual work, and then hiked back to us.  It was a really relaxing day and Amie was great company.  Plus I like coming home at the end of the day and feeling actually tired, rather than feeling only pure mental exhaustion.

2. The fact that I said, "tell me what the rest of our life is going to be like," to Rob while cuddling and laughing on the couch and he responded with, "this." Exactly the answer I was looking for.

3. Our Hannaford has been selling corn from a local farm here and it is delicious.  You guys, seriously.  Sweetest, most flavorful corn ever. We've been modifying our meal plans to accommodate more local corn.

4. My husband coming home this afternoon from work saying, "I get a whole weekend with my lady!"

5. The fact that I cannot hide anything from Rob, and how he knows before I even do that I'm upset about something.

6. Getting pizza after our hike with some of the ladies, and Rob insisting that he make me a gluten-free pizza since our favorite restaurant was out of gluten-free dough.

7. Tattoo session #2 for the matryoshka lady tomorrow (yeah, a repeat, what?)!

8. Salad night with Robbie!  I had caprese salad inspired by this lovely lady.

9. Receiving really sweet, uplifting Twitter messages from Ashley, Sarah, Maryam, Joyful Sparrow, and Lindsay after expressing sadness that I lost a few blog followers (I know, wah wah wah). Thanks ladies, you are all so lovely.

10. This song coming on Pandora and Rob saying to me, "So are you going to dance with me and Cypress or what?"  Keep in mind that this occurred in the middle of writing this blog post.
What made you happy this week? I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Sisterly Good Times

So today I finished up with work (one awesome thing about the consulting I do - Monday-Thursday schedules!) and drove the two hours to my older sister's apartment. We see each other relatively often, given the fact that we work for the same company (nepotism what what?) but she still is 8 hours away from me at any given time, so I really enjoy the time I do get to spend with her.

After arriving we quickly went to Wegmans to stock up for delicious gluten-free snacks, then to Moosewood for a yummy vegetarian dinner, margaritas, wine, and smoothies!

I took some pictures, but I didn't have my super awesome fun-time camera so all I got were phone shots.

This is Megan (we don't really look alike, I promise we're sisters):

Water! And menus!

As an appetizer we had chips with cilantro salsa (cilantro = crack, face it):

For an entree, I ate a Chilean casserole thing with a cheddar-egg custard and more cilantro crack:

Megan had stuffed eggplant and pappadum:

And of course, a blackberry margarita that was amazing.5:

Yeah, I drank most of it before taking this picture. Judge away!

We came home, and Megan gave me my belated birthday gifts: money to NY&Co (one of my favorite stores of all time because it fits me so well) and this 1st edition book about marriage written by the people who wrote "The Berenstain Bears."

I was a huge fan of The Berenstain Bears so this...was a pretty perfect gift.

Plus, I think it will go well with our other 30s-40s married/dating guides that so enhance our bathroom. Seriously, we have like three of them.

Perhaps a comment on our marriage? Nah.

And of course, we're spending the night with wine, vodka cranberries, and 30 Rock.

For the record, I am basically a less witty, less gorgeous Liz Lemon.  These are facts.

Anyway I am loving spending time with my favorite older sister and best friend, despite the fact that we are at least 78% sure that most people around us think we're a couple (short hair, tattoos + lovely young lady...creepy, but true).

Another fact: I just opened a Dove chocolate and the message was "Be free. Be happy. Be you." What a good message for all of us!

What did you do this Thursday?

A Date with Myself and Other Thoughts

Rob is in the thick of finals right now and they are pretty intense. I’m actually stressing out for him because he doesn’t stress about anything, and god dammit, with a neurotic dog and wife one of us has to stress to keep this family grounded.

Or something.

Tonight we were engaged in our typical Sunday-night routine, which is comprised of me on my computer watching Sunday-night Fox shows and Rob on his computer, except this time he was knee-deep in an excruciating Physics final. He kept asking, “Can you turn that down?” even after I’d turned it down twice, so I figured it was time to get out and give him a good half hour or so to work on his final in peace and quiet.

So I convinced myself to go on a solo gelato date!

Last year at around this time a new gelato/café opened up in the next town over. I almost peed myself in excitement when I saw that ON THE WINDOW they announced that they had gluten-free gelato and food! Turns out the owner has celiac disease and is therefore very aware of gluten and cross-contamination. Epic win for my upper intestine and immune system!

Anyway I made the trek to gelato magic and ordered myself a combination of orange and chocolate sorbetto. I did this in honor of my dad, who is the best father any girl could ask for, and who loves the strange combo of orange sherbet and chocolate ice cream:

The gelato store has this map in the corner of the store with a sign asking each person to pin a piece of paper on a place they’d most like to visit, along with 3 words or less describing why. I saw some pretty cool ones and some pretty pretentious ones (we do live in a college town, ha) but in general I thought it was a pretty awesome idea.

Here is my extremely enlightened pin pinned on the great country of Russia:

Mine's the one on the right, though I'd like to meet the other peson, since she was the only other person who chose Russia (and Regina? HELL yes).

And here is something cute I found on Antarctica:

Ahem, the rules were 3 WORDS OR LESS.  College kids.

It felt really good to get out of the house on my own. While my husband is lovely and awesome and while the majority of activities are better with him, with the exception of, say, a pelvic exam or while using the bathroom, it felt nice to just be alone with my thoughts for a bit. I woke up in the morning in a severe funk, exacerbated by my ever-worsening allergies. I felt like I just wanted to curl in bed and not face the day; every tiny disappointment, from learning I have to travel for work one week or feeling like my blog isn’t interesting enough, turns into a giant weight on my mind and I feel as though I can hardly breathe.

I’m having a hard time actually tracing the funk. I think in large part I’m just kind of bored…we’ve been living in this part of Maine for 3 years as of May 20, and I’m getting antsy for what’s next. Because we live in a rural area, most of our days are spent at home or walking the dog in one or two locations. As I mentioned in my previous post, I don’t enjoy city living so I’m not sure that would actually fix the boredom either.

Ultimately I think what I need to do is to learn to be happy in the present moment. I am quite guilty of always looking ahead, a recurring symptom left over from Rob’s time in the Army when we spent 2-hour phone conversations fantasizing about what our life together would be like in a few years’ time.

I’ve dealt with anxiety and depression over the course of my entire life (as you have read about over the last few days) and only recently ceased taking medication to treat both. I decided that I would take the opportunity to start fundamentally changing myself, how I think about my life, and how I choose to live my life. It’s been a difficult road and I often have difficulty prying my mind out of the worry-rut that it so easily falls into, but I think that I have gotten a little better with time. Some days like today, however, the depression overtakes me and I need to reevaluate my thinking all over again. It’s a process. By the way: I don’t mean to speak disparagingly of those who choose to take medications for anxiety and depression; this is only my experience so take it what it is worth.

Anyway, my “date” was lovely and I’m glad I got the chance to do it. Truthfully I think that I should do it more often to spare my husband the constant back-and-forth of my inner dialogue. He’s been pretty amazing, I should say—it’s a wonder he hasn’t left me with the constant indecision, anxiety, biting of lips, and tears.

As part of my exercise to focus on the now, here are some things that made me happy this weekend:

1) Seeing my older sister, who I rarely see and with whom I have much in common.

2) Tons of quality time with my husband.

3) The look on Cypress’s face when I picked her up at daycare today.

4) Cypress playing with two of her “best friends” at a local field-slash-informal dog park.

5) Black cherry Calypso lemonade sold at the gelataria.

6) Eye drops that help make my eyes stop itching from all the pollen in the air.

7) 60 degree weather and sun.

8) Fun blog posts and comments.

What made you happy this weekend? Do you find it easy to live presently?

Also, this is my 100th post! I’m sure that means something somewhere, right?