Christmas Letter

So this was the first year I've written my own Christmas Letter to send out to friends and family. I don't think many people do this any more, but my parents would do this every year just to update everyone what we had been up to the past year. It's super brief, but how are you really supposed to summerize a whole year in one little letter?!  Keep in mind, a lot of my friends and family have no idea that we live in an RV. It'd be interesting to see some of their faces as they're reading this.Check it out.

Hello Family and Friends,

My parents finally kicked me off of their Christmas letter so I figured I'd write my own. I guess it's time anyway, since I'm engaged and all! It's been a pretty normal year with a few adventures thrown in.


I'm still working at SKLZ managing our website promotions. It's been a bit of a crazy holiday season so far, but we've been doing well. Lots of pressure to make revenue numbers with our new investment company.

Jonathan, my fiance, is currently working his own mobile detail and car servicing company. Since the weather is always nice here in San Diego, his business hasn't slowed at all with the seasons. He is from Puebla, Mexico, but has been here in the states for most of his life. We both love soccer, so we play several times a week.

Starting this summer, Jonathan and I decided to move out of our 2 bedroom apartment into an RV. We decided to do this for adventure, to try out minimalism, and to do something totally different and unexpected. We got rid of almost all of our STUFF and we now park by the beach every day and are enjoying life.

In August, we took a road trip up to Oregon in my new hybrid car. It was a beautiful drive past the coast of Big Sur, through the Redwood trees and into Portland to visit Ben and Mom and Dad who were also visiting from Colorado.

I hope you're enjoying you holiday season and having a wonderful year!

Laura

Thanksgiving in the RV

Two months ago, when we started thinking about the extra days off for Thanksgiving, I was thinking we'd go on an adventure trip for a long weekend. Why stay in town and get stuffed with food when you could discover a new cool place?

My brother decided to come to town for Thanksgiving, which is totally cool since we have a great time together. He loves Thanksgiving, so skipping the turkey dinner was not an option for him. First off, it was fun having him stay with us in the RV so he can get a real feel for how we live. He slept on the fold out IKEA couch and was comfortable and warm both nights, which were his worries.

Living the SoCal RV life!

Thanksgiving day we were still trying to decide what to cook for dinner. I had some ingredients to make a chicken/shrimp gumbo type of soup, but he wanted a turkey. The oven in the RV is obviously not big enough to fit a large turkey, and there were only going to be three of us for dinner, so we agreed on a whole chicken instead.

We ended up cooking the soup, the chicken, potatoes, asparagus, and cheesy garlic bread. The boys drank beer and I made a simple sangria type mix of red wine, brandy, and strawberry lemonade (DELICIOUS!). With a little team work and some patience, we had a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner while watching an amazing sunset over the ocean. iPhone pictures never do anything justice, but you get the idea.

Stuff the oven!

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you cook a grand dinner in your RV?

Where am I?!

You know that feeling when you're staying in a new or different bed and you wake up in the middle of the night having no idea where you are? It could happen on vacation in a hotel, staying on a friend's couch, or when you move into a new house. Well, I have that feeling every single night/morning.

This is something I didn't think about before moving into the RV. The first couple nights I definitely felt very disoriented waking up in a new bed and not knowing what street we were parked on. After 6 months, I still usually wake up not remembering where we are parked, but it doesn't bother me any more. We have a few regular sleeping spots that we park at night, usually by some quiet apartments or something, but sometimes, I will already be in bed when my man drives from our beach, day parking spot to our sleeping spot.

It's become something we laugh about. In the mornings, I'll try and take a guess at which neighborhood we're parked in before I take a peek out the window. No matter where we are, I know I'm always safe with my man, and we can always find our way back to the beach for the day.

Do you ever get that disoriented feeling when you wake up? How does it make you feel and how do you deal with it?