Christmas Greetings from California! We take this time to remember our blessings and our amazing friends and family, and as we reflect on our year, know that we love you and are thankful for you!
Angela and I began another new year in Florida with Hokie football, and after a saddening loss, we rushed back to Blacksburg to move across the Commonwealth to VA Beach, where we would spend six months, as I completed my Naval training. Continuing our nomadic lifestyle, we moved in with the Burley’s, and added our sixth “address” to our list since getting married! During our short time in the 757, Angela worked as a GA at Regent University, where she is currently finishing up her Masters degree in Education.
Before our trek to the Wild West, she took the opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic with a non-profit, building a home and teaching English. She has been ready to go back since the moment she returned! After graduating from my Navy ‘school,’ I decided that it was time for me to play Navy and actually go to a ship, as I had been in the Navy for 8 months without floating on the water. I received orders to report to the USS Tarawa in San Diego, CA, a ship we would later find out was being decommissioned. At the end of June, we headed out West, literally driving from coast-to-coast. We were particularly excited about moving to San Diego, as Angela spent much of her childhood there, and we both agree that Anchorman is perhaps the greatest movie ever made.
(If you haven’t seen it, stop reading immediately, and watch it!) We took advantage of our 3,000 mile drive and visited as many national parks as we could, including the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forrest, Montezuma’s Castle, and of course, all of the new Holiday Inn Expresses! We knew we had arrived in California when the gas was almost $5.00 a gallon and we had to smuggle plants through the inspection border. AJ was perhaps the most excited about arriving in San Diego, as he decided after four straight days of being in the car that he would show his anger intermittingly between crying and sighing.
We were welcomed by the Wilson family, friends of Angela’s from middle school, and we stayed with them for a week while we found a place to live. Soon we were moving into an apartment across the street from Qualcomm Stadium (home of the Chargers), as we decided our love for football was a sufficient enough reason to pick a place to live. Before we had finished unpacking, I was deployed to Panama to take part in a 19 nation exercise. Though we were out to sea most of the month, I did have the opportunity to spend some time on land, touring the canopy of a rain forest and zip lining down a waterfall. The views were spectacular and it only reinforced my desire for us to move overseas.
I finally really felt like I was in the Navy! While we are enjoying San Diego, the most important thing during any Fall is Hokie football, and we are definitely missing Blacksburg. We have found our little piece of Blacksburg in So Cal, at a bar in Pacific Beach where Hokie alumni come to watch games, and drink away the sadness that comes with not being in Blacksburg. In November we flew home to Virginia for a whirlwind week of family, friends, and of course a trip to Lane stadium. Who would have thought the Duke game would be a good one to get tickets to? While we were home, Angela was offered a great job at a Language Center at San Diego State University.
She began December 1st, and is excited because she can ride the trolley to work. We are now decorating our three trees (including Angela’s PINK tree!) and getting ready to have our FIRST real Christmas together as a married couple. After two years of moving around the country, we are finally acting like adults with real jobs. (Though AJ is sad about being left home) We are thankful for our blessings and we pray this winter finds you well! We would also like to extend an open invitation to come and visit the beautiful city of San Diego! We would LOVE to have you! Love, James, Angela, & AJ
A few weeks ago, my parents were able to come out for two days to visit us. My dad had a conference to attend, and my mom came along for the ride. Even though it was so short, it was awesome to see family, and we actually did quite a bit in such a short amount of time. I didn’t really have time to take off of work yet, but I was able to leave a little bit early one of the days, and go in late on the second day, since I had to stay till 7:30 for a meeting. 
My mom took the trolley everywhere, which is nice, since she came to visit me for lunch on campus. I showed her the green parrots and all of the awesome plants and flowers that are everywhere. When my dad was done for the day, we went out on the town for dinner. You can’t come to San Diego without getting amazing Mexican food, so we spent our first dinner getting full on awesome chips and salsa, and then incredible home-cooked Mexican! My mouth is watering as I think about how awesome it was. 
It was an eye opening night for my parents, as we introduced them to the magical world that is IKEA, and we showed them the chair we were buying for our guests. (It turns into a single bed, and has an awesome mattress on it!) It still has yet to be tried…and we won’t be in San Diego forever! For those of you who haven’t been to an IKEA before, it is a massive showroom of household rooms, which always gives me great ideas for our future, one-day home that we will buy in the mountains of Virginia. The next morning, my mom and I woke up early and headed out to the place of my childhood, Pt. Loma. 
Pt. Loma is probably my favorite place in San Diego, as it has childhood memories, Top Gun shots, an amazing view of the city, the Cabrillo lighthouse, tide pools, Sunset Park, and Trader Joes. I mean, really…what more could you ask for? We visited the lighthouse first (which was my first visit since we moved here in July), and then headed down to old NTC (Naval Training Center), where Top Gun was filmed. It has since been turned into a shopping center and museums. 
I love that they left the architectural history and the naval tradition of the base, and have interwoven both of these unique aspects into everything about Liberty Center at Old NTC. It was a beautiful day and I was sad I had to spend the rest of it in an office that doesn’t even have any windows. But I enjoyed the sun and the view while it lasted. Though it was a short trip, it was a great one!
