I feel like most personal blogs start with: "It's been awhile since my last post."  I'm not going to state the obvious, so let's shed a tear for my lack of sharing, and move on to...

This, here, now!  Time for an update:

So, let's see...Rob has survived his first semester of Med School (applause!!  Hugs!!  Kisses!!!).  He is currently trying to survive a segment called Neuro, which I think means learning about brain stuff.  Apparently, it's really complicated.  I try to sympathize, but secretly feel joy that it's not me that has to do it.  I happily flop on the couch to watch all of our favorite shows sans Rob (I'm a show-cheater) as he mopes in the corner.  "But I wanna watch shows," he says to me meekly.  To which I reply, "No.  You're going to save the world, one e-module at a time!"  A thought of throwing something at me crosses his mind, and then he reluctantly reverts his eyes to his computer screen.  See, I'm supportive!

He doesn't have time for much else outside of school, but overall he's doing well and staying sane.  I actually get to see him a fair amount (more than when he was in the Navy!), so that's a plus.  I made him watch "Flight" with me the other day, which by the way, was an AWESOME movie and you should go rent it.

I am happy to report that I have survived my routine, new city breakdown, which interestingly seems to happen just after I've crossed the sixth month mark living in a new place.  I start freaking out, doubting my life direction, feel lost and want to flee and start over again (like Groundhog Day!).  It always surprises me, but after a few days of unloading all my crap on Rob (not like he's busy or anything), I realize, "Aha!  This isn't anything to be concerned about!  I've been in Columbus six months. Guess I'm due for my new place freak out."

Despite my sobering confession, I'm actually doing really well and enjoy Columbus oodles and boodles.  I'm part of a Med Wives/Significant Others Group and we have Ladies Night once a week, which really helps keep all of us sane.  Our plights are all similar - dealing with being in a city we wouldn't necessarily choose to be in, away from all our family and close friends, having jobs that are not ideal, feeling stressed about money and unsettled about what our futures hold.  Where are our guys' medical residencies going to send us?  What if my guy chooses a speciality that makes it so I never see him?  Ladies Night saves us from our tricksy little minds.

As many of you know, I started my own business last August and I'm thrilled to report that it's going really well!  I now have about 15 students, and teach voice class as well as assistant direct some classes at a local high school.  I'm still figuring out how to move most of my work online, since I want to reach as many people as I can and understand that I will probably be doing a few more moves in the next few years.  

I've also been brainstorming a lot on how to bring together all my interests under one big AMY umbrella.  Which is tricky, because I've had so many incredibly wonderful and also challenging things happen to me in my life so far, that I just want to share it all and haven't found the right package yet.  Not only do I love singing and teaching singing, I love focusing on the healing aspect of music, meditation, breath awareness, and reality/perspective shifts.  But I also want to blog for days about my health struggles that include my constantly changing diet and health routines, and my experience with having to work really hard to have little ones (commonly referred to as infertility, but I dislike this term, because it's not accurate for most people who struggle with trying to conceive).  All the struggles are actually a blessing in disguise and have made me really grow and seek out things I never would have considered before.  But boy, it's tough sometimes.

Thankfully, I have a great health team here in Columbus who is helping me achieve my maximum state of health.  I've been on a new diet for about two months and am feeling GRRRReat!  I'm always hopeful and feel that my body is becoming happier and happier the more I do to help it heal.  Who knows why some of us struggle so much, but I'm thankful that my body is so sensitive, because it makes me take care of stuff now, hopefully before anything really huge or life-threatening happens to me.

Rob's also been on the diet with me and he's lost about 10 lbs so far.  We're doing a combo of Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution and Paleo, which is challenging because we want to be vegetarian, but it's little steps at a time to find the right nutritional formula.  Eventually we hope to be on a mostly vegan diet, but for the time being, we can't go there just yet.  I firmly believe that everyone's formula is different, and for me, my body loves chicken and fish.  Sad, but true.  Gots to make the body happy!

Well, if you've made it this far, I'm impressed!  I usually never spend more than five minutes reading things online, so I appreciate that you are so interested and caring!  You rock.

Until next time, my friends!!  Which will hopefully be sooner rather than later.

Hugs,

P.S. The photo of us at the top was professionally taken by rob via his iphone.  My finger is pointing out how long his beard is!

I know, I know.  I've been bad about posting.  But I'm here now!  Yippee!

Columbus so far is awesome.  We are really liking it!!  The people have been so welcoming and friendly, the city has so much cool stuff going on, and Rob loves OSU.  He's already talking about wanting to stay here...for a long time...like more than four years.  This idea makes my heart jump because for the last 8-ish years, I've been moving every 6 to 36  months.  I don't think I know how to settle in and really become part of a community.  Imagine it - not having to re-establish, make new friends, network, or move...what does a world like that look like??

But Columbus is a pretty special place.  I am a little concerned about winter though since it seems like Fall is just a idea here. It went from 85 degrees during the day to 50.  I'm being a little dramatic, but why is it so cold already??!!

Rob is handling medical school as well as can be expected.  So far, so good.  He's stressed, sometimes panicked, and is constantly behind on his studies, but that seems to be the norm.  We've met a lot of people in the program and are making some new friends.  I laugh a little to myself sometimes because since Rob and I are a bit older than most of the med students and their significant others, we're in a somewhat different stage of life.  My focus for awhile has been on addressing my growing health issues and helping my body try to figure out how to make a baby.  Most of my new friends are in "the wedding phase." They are hoping to marry, are preparing to marry, or are recently married.  I feel like an old geezer when they talk about wedding ideas because I'm thinking, "Oh yes, I can vaguely remember my wedding...it was so long ago!"  :)

Rob is really happy because of all his cool new toys such as a stethoscope and ear-proby thingy (whatever that's called).  He's been asking often if he can practice on me by listening to my heart, looking in my ears, and up my nose.  I don't mind, although he did discover that I have a hole in my septum!  Yep, a whole right through it.  I either: a) Got a bull ring piercing and completely forgot about it, or b) The surgeons that did my nose surgery back in high school (I know what you're thinking!  It wasn't a nose job - it was a deviated septum) poked a hole through the whole darn thing!  I'm just upset knowing that I could have been rocking a totally kick-a** nose ring this whole time.

We do have one issue that has rocked our household.  I announced to Rob on Friday that I was planning to "show cheating" on him.  What's show cheating, you ask?  Well, like most couples, Rob and I have a few shows that we always watch together.  The most important ones are Dexter, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad.  Since Rob is so busy these days, he doesn't have time for shows anymore and I REALLY want to get caught up on what's going on!  I decided that I can no longer wait for him.  I'm not sure if a confession works before you've committed the act, but I just wanted it to be out in the open and be freed of any guilt.  "Sweetpea, I'm going to show cheat.  I know you're not going to like it, but I've confessed, so now I'm going to pop in this DVD and find out if Carl survives the shooting."  Words were exchanged, and eventually we decided that I could continue with my hurtful plan as long as Rob can still make comments and try to make me feel bad.  A deal was a made and it's worth it.

Sadly, I don't have any cool new photos to share with you this time around.  I was going to post a pic of Rob with his new toys, but alas, he's never home so I can't take one!  You'll have to settle for me...

P.S.  Several people have asked, so here you go: No we haven't voted yet, but YES we will be voting.  Thanks to that crazy electoral collage for making my vote count so much this year! 

Some of you may have already seen this video on my studio blog, and I apologize for the re-post.  But I just have to.  This performance is amazing.  It gave me chills all over and I broke into a good cry.  Oh Beyonce!

And a warning to you - I'm going to get a bit mushy before you watch the video...

I want to do something amazing and important during my life.  Don't we all want this? 

We want to matter, to feel like our lives are not a waste.  We are seeking meaning. 

If we stop for a moment and look around, there are hundreds and hundreds of other people just like us.  They are seeking the same things.  We all want to be happy and want our suffering to go away.  We want to matter and want to find what makes us special.  We want to contribute something...incredible. 

I have spent pretty much all of my post-college days searching for this meaning.  What do I want to do with my life?  What will make me feel alive and fulfilled?  What is my "calling"? 

I kept searching and searching. 

Sometimes, I would even go into little depressions feeling like I was failing.  At what, I'm not sure.  Maybe it was failing at feeling fulfilled with life.  Failing at being something great.  Some days, I felt like it didn't matter if I got up and went to work or not.  I wasn't doing anything special.  What was the point?

But it turns out, the answer that I was searching for was right there with me the whole time.

It was a huge step for me to take the plunge and start my own studio.  Do you want to know how I finally found the strength and faith to do it?

It came down to one moment in India.  I met a classical Indian musician and during our conversation I mentioned that I was a singer.  His face lit up with excitement and he started to tell me about this school that he teaches music at.  It's a school for blind children.  This type of school is extremely rare in India.  They have few schools available to children and definitely not specialized schools for ones with disabilities. 

He asked if I would come sing for the children.  He told me that it would make them so happy.  They live really difficult lives in India, and hearing someone sing would be an incredible gift for them.  It would be like an escape for just a little while, and a memory that they could keep with them forever.

And you know what is so sad?  My first thought was not that I would love to sing for the children.  It was doubt.  My first thought was, "I don't know if I can do that.  I haven't practiced in months - I wouldn't even know what to sing..."

And then it hit me, no matter how "good" I felt my singing was, I was able to sing and sing well enough that it would be enjoyable for them to listen to.  I could do something that would put a smile on a child's face and maybe, even make them fall in love with music.  This wasn't about me.  It was about the gift I could give them.

I finally pushed through the doubt and found a "yes" waiting there patiently for me.   

Unfortunately, Rob and I were only in town for one more day and the school was not able to change the schedule in time for me to come in and sing.

So I didn't get to sing for those children, but it was a lesson.  A HUGE lesson.

I have a gift. 

It will never be perfect, but it doesn't matter because that's not what it's about.  It's a gift.  And we all have one.

If I just open myself up and start sharing it, I may bring a little happiness to one person, even if it's for just a moment.  A little piece of something special.

I knew then that it was time to stop doubting.  Stop putting myself down and holding myself back.  It was time to start giving. 

I wasn't sure (and am still figuring it out!) how to share my talents in a way that is true to myself.  By chance, a friend mentioned a website to me and when I checked it out, I saw an interesting e-course on building a business.  I had read lots of books, but never had taken an e-course before.  I felt strangely pulled to it, so I decided it was time to try it. 

The course I took was called the Business Goddess E-course (you can learn about it here - http://tinyurl.com/8leychx).  It's focused on women, but the insight is absolutely incredible and something that a lot of us need to hear!  It changed the way I think about "work" and gave me the confidence I needed to step out into the unknown. 

Everyday I wake up, I have to remind myself of the lesson I learned in India and the many, many lessons in the Business Goddess E-course.  It's so easy to get swept away with the mundane routine of life.  We wake, we work, we eat, we sleep, we start again.  BUT - I have remind myself - every day I wake up, it is a new day.  I am thankful to be alive for another day and I can do my best to bring something beautiful and positive into this world. 

So here's the Beyonce video I mentioned in the beginning.  I hope that you find it as inspirational as I did!

When we were at Buddhism camp in India and even at our little retreat in New Mexico, we felt pretty proud of ourselves.  Man, we were really internalizing all those life-altering Buddhist concepts about compassion, root causes of suffering, the downfalls of attachment and self-cherishing, etc, etc.  We felt strong in body and mind and were ready to go back to "real" life and kick some butt.  Get stuff done!  Live life to the fullest!  It was going to be awesome.

Well.....it was so easy to internalize all those Buddhist concepts in the middle of nowhere, without much responsibility.  But now, oh now, we've been flung back into the real world and we are quickly falling back into old habits and are constantly losing our Zen. I'm already getting the itch to ditch it all and start traveling again, but that would just prove to be completely unaffordable and an escape from dealing with the inevitable things in life.  Now it's back to managing the to-do list: cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands, paying bills, exercising, working, studying, organizing, fixing broken stuff...all while making time to have fun, enjoy hobbies, feed our spirituality, volunteer, be social, make friends, and keep in touch with old friends.  It's quite exhausting!  How do we all do this?

For about two weeks, Rob has been living in "The Cave" (aka - our basement turned into a study area).  He's already looking a bit overwhelmed and frazzled.  Every time he emerges from the depths, his eyes are wide with panic, his hair looks like he's been electrocuted, and he starts pacing like a caged lion.  Oh goodness.  The madness is setting in.

I'm making good progress in the professional arena, but on the home front, I'm not quite adjusting back yet.  We don't have a washer or dryer and can't afford one until our next loan payment comes in (the joys of student poverty!), so I've been hand washing all our clothes or going to the laundromat when too much has piled up.  I have a handy-dandy little "manual clothes washer" tool that I got from Emergency Essentials.  At least we'll be set when the zombies come or the power grids fail.  And I get an upper body workout during the whole washing and wringing process.  I'm trying to think positive.  I think the main problem is that I'm incredibly distracted by TV shows (there's so many to catch up on!!), so there's not as much getting done as there could be...where did my self control go?  Did I really just watch four episodes of Arrested Development?  But I HAVE to because the new season is coming out and I need to remind myself about the previous seasons...

Somebody should have warned us. 

Monday was Rob's official "You're in the Club" ceremony where he got his white coat for medical school.  Doctor Rob has arrived!  We weren't really sure what to expect at the event, but the whole thing was pretty awesome.

It was all the new class members - there are about 200 - with their friends and family.  They took the Doctor's Oath and were sworn in as medical professionals.  Then they each were called to the stage to receive their coat.

There were a few speeches, which were really what made us tear-up.  The school is so focused on compassion and right motivation.  They said that Rob's class had all the best academic and social markers; they have the highest average MCAT score of any OSU entering class, they have the highest average GPA of any class, and had all shown commitment to service through volunteer work and activities.  But, they said, that wasn't enough for them to beat out the other 3700 applicants that did not get chosen.  They chose these students because of who they are.  They are compassionate people who really want to make a difference in the lives of others.  To help the sick because that's the natural thing for them to do.  They also were chosen because they welcomed the search committee in to their lives by sharing stories of their family and friends, how these people have become such an important part of them, during the interview process.  Rob talked a lot about me and my always adventurous journey to health.  See, I come in handy! :)

It was so exciting to realize that those 199 other medical students are like Rob.  And the faculty gets them.  The values are the same, the focus is the same.

Rob is finishing is orientation week today and he said that during one of the talks this week, they were told, "In order to graduate from this medical program, you must at the very least, show complete compassion and care for patients.  That is the bottom line.  We will not graduate you if you have not shown this fundamental skill to us."  Rob is in the right place.

Here's a video from the ceremony! 

So selling all our furniture last May to embark on a yearlong journey around the world was awesome, except now we’re back to “normal” life and we have no furniture!  It’s kinda developed into an emergency situation, since Rob starts school on Monday and Amy's studio opens on the 20th, in which people will be coming into our house.  We have clothes thrown all over the place.  There are boxes of homeless books just waiting for a place to live.  It’s been awful.  The only thing we’ve bought since we moved in were some pretty sweet couches off craigslist.  Other than that, it’s been pretty bare-bones around here.

So what’s the answer?  IKEA!!  The closest one to us is in Cincinnati, so we decided to take our first out-of-town adventure and make it into an Ikea run. 

Want to know how to make a 30-year old woman break down into a 2-year old tantrum?  Leave her at Ikea for 7 hours!  Yep, we were there for 7 HOURS!  It was a marathon.  Literally, since we had to sprint to the finish.  The store was closing and we still we hadn’t picked up all our items.  We were the last ones to check out and to load our car.  They even turned off all the parking lot lights.  Any of you who have been to Ikea can probably relate.

So about half-way through, Amy got “the angries” which means that nice, pleasant Amy has gone MIA and angry Amy emerges.  She stares down Rob in a sort of, “Careful, mister, I could rip your throat out” sort of way, starts complaining, pouting, and is on the verge of throwing herself on the floor and screaming.   Rob just slowly backed up, raised his hands in surrender, and led us straight to the nearest food court.  The angries are no match to snack time, and wouldn’t you know it?  Ikea not only has every furniture item you could ever want in your house, they also have a yummy cafeteria and bistro.  Haleluja!!  We were both saved from craziness.

So here’s what we left with: 2 dressers, 3 desks, two tables, a bar (for mixing drinks in the dining room), a storage unit, and many décor items and random useful crap.

What happens now?  We get to spend the rest of our weekend assembling furniture!  Spare a thought for us whenever you’re enjoying that nicely assembled table or desk at your home.  At that very moment, we’ll be screwing ours together, pouring with sweat, and missing the Olympics.  But don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of snacks to keep Amy in check, and Rob will be well-beered, which will make things interesting! :)

Oh, and P.S. - Amy's studio website is now up!  Check it out at www.studioRmusic.com.
Also, this blog will have a new look soon, so be ready for that!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

I'm back in Ohio after my vocal pedagogy certification course in Virginia!  It was exactly what I was hoping for, and so much more.  It's philosophy is the most straight-forward and comprehensive I've come across as a singer and singing teacher, and at the same time, so inspiring.  I'm ready to open my studio and start working with some students!!  Btw - I'll be announcing the launch of my website in a few days!  Yay!

In other news, today is an awesome day!!  What to know why?  It's because on this day, six years ago, Rob and I celebrated our marriage with friends and family in Las Cruces!  As they say, time flies.  Anniversaries are always a fun time because you get a chance to reflect back on all the incredible experiences you've had together.  I'm always left in awe, because I couldn't have asked for a better partner to share my life with!  Times have not always been sunny, we've been through challenges like everybody, but it's these challenges that really bring you together and make your relationship so much deeper and stronger than you could have imagined.  I'm so lucky and can't wait to see what happens for us in the next six years!  I'm no psychic, but I anticipate us being very busy and going through a little bit of Sweetums-Sweetpea withdrawal - since we've had so much time together the past year and we'll have to get used to having just a few hours a week together again!  At least we've been through this before, when Rob was in the Navy, so we have some idea of what to expect.

Thanks to everyone for your love and support of us over the years!  We are who we are today because of all the generous guidance and help we've received.  We hope we have been able to return some of that to you!  XOXOXO

Do any of you frequent the public library?  It’s one of my favorite things I do.  And let me let you something, our new Ohio town has the most awesomist public library I’ve seen yet.  They are up-to-date on their technology – touch screens for catalog searching!  There are rows and rows of DVDs and all the popular TV shows you could think of.  They have wireless internet and printing.  When I walk in, I hear angels sing.  It’s a dream come true!  I just got caught up on Dexter, Season 2 of Glee, started the first season of House, and have holds for True Blood and The West Wing... 

This is what life is about my friends, watching good shows – among other more “serious” things of course.  Should I be cleaning or organizing our house instead?  Nah, I’ll watch some show.  I like to consider myself an Investigator.  I’m just investigating TV shows and searching for the best ones.  Hm…maybe this is another e-book I should start writing!  “Amy’s Favorite TV Shows and Why.”  This would make the hours of TV watching much more legitimate.  Although, I’m not sure if anyone would read it considering I do love “Roswell.”  (Don’t judge until you’ve tried it!)

In other news, I am going on another road trip to Virginia.  Unfortunately, I won’t be anywhere near where family and friends are, so no visits this time.  I’m going to a vocal pedagogy certification course outside DC.  I’ve wanted to take this course for awhile and decided that now is my chance.  I’m doing a really crazy thing and taking all three levels back-to-back!  It’s going to be intense, but very rewarding. 

So, I’m heading out and will be gone for 10 days.  It’s a 6-hour roadtrip each way, which I have to do on my own this time.  I have lots of audiobooks to keep me company (thanks, library!).  Rob will be all alone, taking comfort in his anatomy coloring books.  Pobrecito!

So now you know to expect a little blog absence from me.  I’ll write as soon as I return!

Thanks to everyone who has followed our blog so far! We feel so loved that you take the time to stay connected with us.  In this day and age, it is hard to know what to spend our time doing; we have to sort through it all and decide what’s worth our effort.  We are humbled that reading our blog is on your list! :)

When I started this blog a year ago, it was to document our year of travel.   Now we are entering our “settled” time and I have spent much time considering what to do with our blog.  Should I stop here?  Should I keep writing about our new adventures?

I feel compelled to continue writing.  I’m discovering that I really like this blogging thing, and like that I can keep in touch and connect with people through this platform.  However, in order make the blog still relevant, I need to make it more expansive and encompassing of our life as it is now. 

It will now include normal day-to-day successes and failures, possibly some spiritual talk, a journey through medicine, and hopefully some more travel.  As I open up this blog to our lives, I want you to know where we are coming from. In the past, Rob and I weren’t sure what we believed or where we stood on important issues, but after this year of travel, we have figured it out.  We have found “what we are.”  We are Unitarian Universalists who follow a Buddhist path, so that is the perspective we see from.  Regardless, I say now that I respect your point of view, I respect what you believe, and will always keep that at the forefront of my mind when I make any post.

Our new move to Columbus is bringing with it much change.  Rob starts medical school in August and I will be starting my music teaching business in August as well.  These are huge leaps of faith for us, but we are ready and eager for this new path.

When we were in India, the word “faith” kept coming to me.  Have you ever experienced that?  An image, word, feeling, person, etc. just keeps appearing to you?  At this point, I guess I had opened enough spiritually to allow the word “faith” to re-enter my life.  I went back to its roots and really asked myself, “What is faith?”  I think there are many answers for this, and it depends on what angle you are coming from.  

Because “faith” is so often associated with religions, I had closed it off from myself for a long time.  But now, after an eye-opening year, discussions with people from all over the world, and seeing true humanity flourishing in the most difficult of situations, “faith” has definitely re-emerged in my life.

I am proud to say that for the first time, in a long time, I have faith.  And it feels amazing.  I have faith in others – with their ability to love and be loved.  I have faith in myself – that I can create beautiful and important things.   I have faith in the universe (my term for “God”) – that it is a complicated and mysterious thing that I am trying understand.

So here is my BIG leap of faith:  I am starting a teaching studio (voice and piano) out of our home and am currently writing several e-books (on various topics) and singing e-courses that will be available online.  It is scary to go out on your own and open yourself completely to everyone, but here I am.  I will post details for my music website very soon!!

So here’s to a new beginning and a new chapter in life!  We are thrilled you are on this journey with us. 

Much love,

Amy + rob. 

So...a lot has transpired since my last post!  We spent two weeks living at the Value Inn outside Columbus.  It worked out really well, but we were ready to get into a place of our own.  After incessantly checking Columbus Craigslist everyday - and after viewing lots of houses that were alright, but not available until mid-August or September - I saw a post go up for a cute duplex in Upper Arlington that was available for move-in immediately.  Wholly bananas!!  So we headed out, took one look at the place and new it was right for us. 

We moved in last Tuesday and have been spending every waking moment moving crap, cleaning crap, organizing crap, and just generally doing lots of crap.  All the while...Rob is studying anatomy and I begin teaching lessons for a local academy tomorrow.  It's been nut-zo around here!

However, we happened to have found time to visit a couple Columbus festivals - Columbus Pride and Comfest.  They were both so much fun and we definitely are lovin' the city so far.  It's pretty unique and welcoming.

In other news, I will be starting a voice studio in August teaching lessons out of our home and eventually, I will have some courses online that people can take.  I am very excited about this step in my life.  After all our travels, I have learned that I want to spend my energy and time sharing my gifts with others.  This is me making my dreams come true!!  I'll post more info later as the time gets closer.  :)