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Forty-five minutes on Google and I've got our entire cross-country trip planned out.

If this trip works out, it might be the biggest adventure of our lives. We'll need some serious chiropractic work afterwards, but I'm sure the memories will be worth it.

My question is, how long does one give themselves to drive across the United States with about six stops in between? Two weeks?

If anyone has driven across the US, please talk to us. Your tips will be appreciated.

Donald Miller's "Through Painted Deserts" comes to mind. If only we had a VW van... Hopefully my little Civic will make it through 3,711 miles.

Here's a big shout out to all our friends and family who don't know we're imposing ourselves yet.

Because "Motel 6" doesn't quite hold the same sentimentality.

Update on the Herbs

The herb garden is loving the California sunshine! Since my last update, I have added star jasmine, gardenia, lemon balm, and pineapple sage. The pineapple sage smells so delicious. They are baby plants right now, but I hope that in the next year or so they will take off. Now the garden just needs work- weeding, brick laying, pruning- to get it all ready for summer.

Boston University

Well, I am accepted to Boston University's graduate program in journalism. While things are still uncertain, I am excited about the posibility of pursuing a lifelong dream. The idea of relocating across the country is daunting, but we are ready for the adventure it will entail!

Time for Spring, I say!

I love California. I love how trees blossom in February, preempting Spring's grand entrance. I love that nurseries are bustling with anxious gardeners come March 1st.
Come July, I am cursing the ugly sizzling black pavement of a Sacramento summer. But for now, my infatuation for California is on a euphoric high.
Did you know that the ocean temperature at an L.A county beach in December is warmer (60 degrees) than an Oregon beach in July (59 degrees)? The baggage claim at the airport in Burbank, CA is outdoors. You can get a genuine tan 8 months out of the year, without succumbing to the rays of a bacteria-infested tanning bed or spraying UV sap on your body. These are a few of the reasons why I will probably always call California home.
Today I added a few more plants to the herb garden. I found Hibiscus at my local nursery. It was their first shipment of the year. Since Hibiscus is a tropical plant, I am safest to keep it potted for the first year or so to protect it from the frost of winter. So far, the tea garden consists of lemon thyme, stevia, lavender, hibiscus, chocolate mint, chamomile, and a few seedlings of lemongrass. They are all in pots on my patio and I seriously stare at them, thinking I will see them grow. I transferred them from the small nursery containers to larger pots, and they have since grown considerably over the last few weeks. The stevia plant tastes so sweet. I have pulled off a few leaves and enjoyed their sugary flavor. I am not the only one that has enjoyed their taste, however as I have noticed small holes in a few leaves. I obviously am not going to spray my plants, but does anyone know of a way to keep my stevia plant from being a bug's dessert?
Right now I am a woman of two very different jobs. I enjoy the change of scenery and the challenge each job presents. I especially enjoy pouring into college writers at the Warrior Writing Center. It feels like a very natural role for me to play. I can't believe I actually get paid to nag people to write better. ;)
I recently read "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places," a personal memoir of a girl who grew up in Vietnam during the "American Invasion." I found it to be an incredibly interesting and honest portrayal of the Vietnam war and the corrupt mess between so many people just fighting for what they thought was right. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about Vietnamese history, or wants to read a story of an incredible, strong woman who found in herself the power to overcome.
To balance the heaviness of that read, I found comfort by reverting to a love of my childhood. I am on a obsessive Disney kick. I think going to Disneyland last month really set me off. In the past, I have been prone to occasional outbursts of Disney fanaticism, but this time, it really is bad. Of course, with whatever I am interested in at the time, I pour myself into the research of the topic. So I guess at least I have learned a lot about the history of the company and about Walt himself. I'll post on some of this at a later point.

I officially welcome Spring, on behalf of its most beloved state in the US.

My Stance on Makeup

The other day a friend unintentionally gave me a great compliment. She was explaining to me why she has less in common with me than a few of her other friends. "You're more low maintenance then my other girlfriends," she told me. "You don't take much time to get ready and you don't wear makeup." I guess I hadn't really thought about it before. But I liked the way that sounded. Low Maintenance. I spent the next few days thinking about her words.

I remember when I first realized just how long women spent to get ready. It was when I first moved into college dorms. Other girls my age were spending an hour to achieve a certain look. This was so confusing to me. What could you possibly want to do to your face and hair that would take an entire hour? Well as I lived in the dorms for a longer period of time, I learned from observation what females do. Insecure and surrounded by pressure from girls my age who I found quite glamorous, I began to do what they did. I laboriously worked on my hair and makeup everyday before going out of the building, even if it was just for one class. It's just what everybody did. I didn't really like myself during that period of my life. It didn't feel like me.

My friend Julie never saw the point in wearing makeup. Of all my friends, I can't think of one that I have more fun with than Julie. When I was around her, I never felt pressured to dress up or look perfect. Her self confidence was contagious. With her, I could wear a t-shirt and shorts and feel so naturally beautiful. That competitive edge I felt with so many other female acquaintances was non existent.

If you ask my husband what attracted him to me originally, he will tell you it was how natural and fresh I looked compared to so many girls he knew that slathered on makeup. If there was ever a "low maintenance" period of my life, it was the summer that Josiah and I met. A friend at the time admonished me, telling me that I should attempt look more feminine. "I love you Carly, but you really should put more effort into your apperance," she told me. While these words hurt at the time, I laugh now because little did I know then that I had already caught the eye of my future husband. He apparently found me feminine enough.

Don't think I'm all that self-confident. I don't think I'm such a beauty queen that I look perfect without makeup. But I also know that if I look acceptable without it, why wear it? It takes time (would rather spend it elsewhere), effort (I am chronically lazy), costs money (and obviously a cheapskate), and the people that truly love me will accept me with or without it. I guess that is the definition of low maintenance.

I found a place in Vacaville that sells a wide variety of herbs. You can order online, and if you order in bulk you get wholesale prices. I found many of the herbs I need on their website.

Morningsunherbfarm.com

I found all kinds of fun mints like pineapple mint, orange mint, and ginger mint. All the plant guides have warnings about mint, that it is an invasive plant and will grow too quickly. I like this type of plant, maybe that means I won't kill it.

There are a few plants I will have to shop elsewhere for.

Hibiscus is going to be a difficult one to find. Because it is native to tropical environments, It is a tender plant here. I need to grow Hibiscus for that beautiful red color it gives the tea. And the flowers have a higher souce of vitamin C than citrus.

Stevia is a natural sweetener. The leaves zero calories and tastes sweeter than sugar. This is the secret of Yogi tea. I am drinking Yogi's Coconut Thai tea right now, and sure enough, stevia is an ingredient.

I think I am going to start with small plants in containers and transfer them to the ground in the spring.

Here is where the herbal tea garden is going to go. It's the only spot on our property that gets enough sun because of all the gigantic sycamore trees shading our yard. I don't know hardly anything about gardening, but I have picked herbs that supposedly grow well here in the Sacramento area and grouped them by how much water they need to flourish. If all goes as well as I hope (and of course it won't, right?), my herb garden will contain these herbs.

Lemon balm

Chamomile

Fennel

Geranium

Ginger

Hibiscus

Jasmine

Lavender

Mint (peppermint, pinnapple mint)

New Jersey Tea

Rasberry and Strawberry

Yarrow

Of course, the tea garden of my imagination also has a romantic iron bench, jasmine wrapping its fragrant blossoms around a white trellis, and butterflies flitting around the blossoms of my plants.

In reality, I'll be happy if I don't kill off the plants in the first few months of keeping them.