Here we are!!!  Join J & I as we learn to blog :) So many journeys have brought us to this, all culminating (as they tend to do!) to our 'Here & Now'. We are both entering brand new travel territory with this adventure - tackling the East Coast in our beauty lil camper, Rhonda. Together, we are looking for "our" town....  A place to call home. Will we find it? Part of me is secretly afraid we won't ever find "our" spot; always searching for a perfect (unrealistic) combination of all the places we have lived. But alas, facing fears is part of it... and I am also afraid of how I will cope with only 3 little compartments for clothes! LOL the struggle is real.

J & I will both share in creating posts. We hope you can enjoy our different outlooks & writing styles; his & hers perspectives. We want this to be a space to share our journey with you.  I want to share the good (of course!), but also the challenges & frustrations.  I know J is excited to share a lot of the tech & construction side (i.e. the amazing solar power set up). There is inevitably going to be yoga going on, and I sure hope we get to do some water sports too!

After our nearly 22 months USA visa process - read "a lot of time apart as we couldn't live & work in the same country" - we are beyond stoked for this adventure together.  Not just being happy & excited FOR each other, but being really stoked WITH each other about the same project. People always asked how we managed the distance. Well the answer is that we were always working for a common goal - us. We were just coming at it from separate angles. But yeah... YEAH! Just a little bit excited to be back at this thing called 'life' side by side again :)

First thing's first, I guess - to start at the beginning. Our beginning. If you know us already... feel free to peace out, since you probably already know this part! I'll try to make it a quick & trimmed mash up of the last 8 years. Our friendship started doing a waterski show in Malaysia in 2007. We skied together again later in 2007 in Germany, and then found ourselves both working at Seaworld in Australia in 2008.  Our romance started sometime then, in the spring of 2008, which was really the fall, since we were in Australia.  We fell in love really quickly, and had moved in together before the end of the year.  When the waterski show at Seaworld came to an end-of-an-era closing - having their last show after 38 years - we flew back to North America in August 2009... Not without an extended layover in Fiji, when J proposed on the beach! 2010 had us back in Germany, waterskiing at Holiday Park for the last time and planning our Hawaiian wedding. October 12th, 2010 we said 'I Do' next to the ocean in Maui with 55 of our closest friends and family there to celebrate with us. A real dream come true!  Within 6 weeks of the wedding, we were both offered a 13 month contract performing in Waterworld (the longest running, #1 live action stunt show in the world) at Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan.  This was another dream come true - talk about dharma, for my yogi friends out there. We wound up staying in Japan for 3 whole, unreal, amazing, incredible years! The end of our time at Universal Studios Japan coincided with the start of my Spouse Visa application which would (finally, eventually, maybe even any day now) allow me to live with J in the USA. This process is now 21 months and counting.  This "visa period" has been strange for our marriage, but also a time for personal growth.  J went to do Waterworld in Singapore. I went to India to study yoga and obtain my teaching certificate. I went back for my first Canadian summer in 13 years, where I waterskied for Canada's National Show Ski team, and started Suptopia - my SUP yoga business.  In the fall I headed back to India to teach yoga, while in the winter J moved to L.A. to be one of the few performers who has done Waterworld at all 3 locations. We spent most of the spring together in L.A., but I took time for a few yoga courses in Texas & Florida, before heading back to Canada for Suptopia's second season.
Throughout about the last half of this story, we have continually been asked "where will you settle down?".  Honestly, we haven't had a clue! The East Coast seemed to be nearby-ish to most of our family and we often talked about an epic road trip to find a great spot to settle in. Our definition of 'nearby' got somewhat looser after living in Australia, Germany and Japan, lol. When J came to visit at the end of August "the" East-Coast trip came up again... Was it time? Should we do it?? A couple bottles of wine, and a shared twinkle in our eyes decided that we should.

Next blog post, we promise to properly introduce Rhonda, our 1984 Bonair "glamper" - in all her magnificent 80s glory :) The full tour.