life in the city:)

the last time i posted, i spoke of a new journey. it has begun and it is happening and i am feeling so grateful. i live in the city now, SF that is, and every day there is something new. life here is not what we expected it would be, it is not necessarily going along with the goals we had set for ourselves but during this time, i have learned and am learning something very important. one day at a time. one day at a time. that is the most important life lesson anyone can learn. i really do believe this. it is also the hardest one and i think i will have to continue to learn it and relearn it at future points in life. i am ok with this fact. things never turn out how we expect them to. at this point in my life, i am glad that they don't. because if they did, i wouldn't be where i am with zack.
let's move right along. we live in the most lovely home. i have not posted photos so here are just a  couple:)


it's such a sweet and wonderful home with character and now that chloe and toby are here, it is so fun:) we live in a part of the city that is sort of removed from the hustle and bustle. it is a treasure. there are the streets that are staircases and they lead to a location where you can see the entire city AND there are slides! random slides! zack took me on a walk when we first moved in and it was the perfect way to get acquainted with our neighborhood...and i went down a slide...duh:)

the weather here is wild:) i went from nearly hot weather year round to wearing jackets in august. i love this. i forgot how to layer my clothes so i am slowly learning again! zack is helping me a lot- he bought me my first comfortable pair of city boots and i love wearing them. they are so lovely but mostly, they keep my feet warm:)
in the few months that we have been back on the west coast, my body has been on a slow mending process. just a few months before we left florida, i found out that i was allergic to a lot of things, most native to the state, and it explained why i had been sick for months. sick doesn't really do it. i lost my voice and was devastated at the idea of never being able to sing again. well, fast forward to now, and i am happy to say that i feel good. i can't say great yet but i havent been able to say i feel good since january so good is amazing! AND my voice is recovering and i can sing and i am grateful.
i had to stop eating a lot of things. seriously, a lot. the hardest thing--- bread. BUT i can honestly say that a diet change and an environment change was just what the doctor recommended and it's doing my body a great deal of good. AND i can eat some bread:) well, one kind:
my sweet mom loves me. she searched and searched until she found a trader joe's that carried a yeast free and gluten free bread! and it's not gross and it doesn't make me sick!!! she sent two loaves up with zack and it will last me until thanksgiving:) zack is also becoming quite the specialty chef. he has found great recipes for things that i can eat- my favorite is the pizza!
so as my body is getting older, it is speaking to me and i am glad it is. there are so many things i can't eat now but it is for my own good and i will take it. 
last month z and i celebrated 15 months of marriage. it's so hard to believe that it has been 15 months! i came home to lovely flowers:) they have been wonderful, these 15 months. they have been real and we have grown so close and can talk about anything even when we don't agree and are actually best friends and it has been good:) we are good together. i am learning that more and more with each day and am so grateful for the way that our Creator works all things together for good. even things like a relationship. zack and i. i know that we are being used here together and as individuals and i know that will continue. 


PS- if you're reading, please remember that i tend to be very scattered when i write:) 






music, music, muzac 2:)

way back when i wrote about music. what it is, why it is so important, how much i love it. i am writing about it again:) why? because a couple days ago i heard a funny story about students looking at a teacher strangely because he asked them if they liked jazz. i laughed a little bit because i know what a lot of young people think about music today. or at least that they know what the good stuff is:)

a new journey has begun...

hello, hello:)
and you will have to forgive my extended break…like a year long or so since my last post. oops. i considered starting a new blog being that so much has changed since i last wrote anything worth reading. i am so sad that i hardly had time to write about anything…especially since the past two years have been so meaningful to me. i am hoping that as i remember things, especially from the past year of my life, that i will write about them, BUT i also want to focus on the now. every day from today on. i will be writing from san francisco- a city that means a lot to zack and i…a city that we will now call OUR HOME. yesterday i told zack that it will be at least six months before i will be able to embrace this reality… perhaps even longer. it is something i have hoped for but never imagined being a reality…but luckily i serve a Creator who is bigger than my desires, imagination, me:)
so here we are and it is real and everyday is giving me something different, something new.
a recent something new- i have a niece now and she is the sweetest little lady in the world. her name is olivia jane, she is going to be really tall i think, and i love her a lot. her parents created an email account for her so that we can send her notes and videos and photos and such. i am taking full advantage of it…she is going to love me:)
today, my experiences led me to blog. i have been meaning to for days now…months i guess, but one thing or another has kept me away…today was different. this morning, i went to get coffee and to read this book i started yesterday. if you know me, you know there are few things i love more than books- reading books. it is called no longer a slum dog. it is about the caste system in india and the lifestyle it has created for a large percentage of the people of india. it is just breaking my heart. it deals with the issue of bondage and its many faces but the major story in the book is hope. something we all long for and need no matter where we come from. i am reading about the selling off of children, prostitution circles, starvation… ugly injustice basically. but there is hope and people talk about being freed from life's bondage and it is beautiful.
there is another part to this story but i still have to process it. it happened after my morning coffee and well, i guess i just need to think about it before i write about it. i am learning a lot about poverty. spiritual and physical and how it has so many different characteristics.
i am so grateful that zack and i get to be here. i love it- the people, the places, the food…the food:) i think it will be hard but i think every moment will be worth it. i am glad we will grow together in this new chapter in our book. i am glad that God is moving us, that He is refusing to allow us to get too comfortable. i don't want to be too comfortable. it's nice sometimes but i don't think i was wired to be like that even if i long for it sometimes.
i will write again soon about friends, work, food, other people, lessons on life, other things.
i hope today is lovely for you, rain or shine, 100 degrees or 75, just enjoy it:) find something positive to dwell on. don't say you can't.
love,
roxi

ps- please have mercy and remember that my writings tend to be pretty scattered:)

i will update so soon:)

so much. since christmas. oops:)

enjoy this for now:

a new year!

happy new year:) a few days late is better than never, right? i have a great deal of holiday updating to do and hopefully that will all happen this weekend. for now, here is one update that is really near and dear to my heart. today was the first day of classes and they were really great and i am glad to be back. there is one new class that has been added to my schedule and it is one i have hoped to teach for a very long time and never could have imagined it would happen at MVA:) today, i taught my first Holocaust class and even though it was only the first day it was so good and i just can't wait to get to teach this class for an entire semester to high school students. i love all of my classes so much but this one has a special place in my heart due to the subject. God is so faithful in the big things and in the little things.
happy tuesday.

Merry Christmas to you:)

love,

the Piankos