2011 has been a year of change for our family. We started the year with Harley in his last semester of his masters program at USC and Adrienne substitute teaching. Between class, work, and our community involvement we hardly had time to sleep. We kept our noses to the grindstone though as we knew we had exciting changes to look forward to in the coming months!

Over the last couple years we both decided that California was not the place we wanted to spend the rest of our lives and raise a family so had begun plans to make a getaway. We decided the summer would be a good time to make a clean break from the state. After weighing our different options we decided that moving with Harley’s current employer (The Aerospace Corporation) to their Chantilly, Virginia offices would be our best choice.

In April we found ourselves in Northern Virginia for a week to find our future home. The hunt was exciting and stressful at the same time as what appeared to be ideal options came and went. However, we could not have asked for more things to work out for us in the moving endeavor; one evening during our house hunting trip, we were out strolling through what was to be our future neighborhood. We met a neighbor walking her dog and began chatting with her. She ended up being a teacher at a nearby high school. Learning that Adrienne was an early-hire in the district, she offered to introduce Adrienne to the principal of the school in hopes that Adrienne could be selected to work there in the fall. It all worked out in the end as we got the house that is just a couple miles from our two work places and in a great neighborhood.

Upon return from our house hunt in Virginia. Harley worked hard on getting his civil rights organization South Bay Open Carry ready for our departure.Thankfully several strong leaders stepped forward and volunteered to take over the leadership roles. They have continued the work we started and the organization has grown larger than we ever imagined it would.

Before we knew it May was here! Harley finished his masters degree. The celebration that followed allowed us to celebrate with family who came from all the way in Washington, as well as those friends and family close by in Southern California. It was a very long graduation ceremony, but it was followed by a wonderful reception at the home of Harley’s Uncle Marc and Aunt Jeannie in Redondo Beach.

Prior to recovering from the graduation festivities, we were packed up and on the road to Utah, where were to spend a week camping in Zion National Park and a week in Bryce Canyon National Park. The weather report had called for sun, but we were met with a lot of rain and cold weather, and even snow up in the mountains. So we cut our planned two week camping expedition’s losses and ran to the desert. We found refuge in the warm canyons of the Valley of Fire Nevada State Park where we dried out and warmed up in the hot Nevada sun.

With less than a week left before the moving truck was to arrive, we returned home and began our final preparation for the big move. Adrienne did a fantastic job at plotting a course for our cross-country tour.  The trip allowed us to have plenty of stops at interesting points of interest along the way, and included plenty of cities with dog parks for our dogs to play.

We began our week long drive across the country in the beginning of June. Our journey took us across the southern route, passing through Tuscon, AZ; Las Cruces, NM; Austin, TX; New Orleans, LA; Atlanta, GA; and finally to Virginia. We were able to meet some of Adrienne’s high school friends and some family along the way.

The summer months were spent working on our new house. Adrienne had grand plans for the house, which together we worked tirelessly to achieve. We ended up painting the entire interior of the house, replacing all the outdated light fixtures and much more. Since we had moved from a tiny beach bungalow in Hermosa Beach, all our belongings could fit in the living room of our new house. Needing to furnish the rest of the house we spent our weekends hunting through yard sales and swap meets. We acquired a new appreciation for the deals one can get at yard sales this summer as we found many great items at fractions of the cost to buy them new.

This Fall Adrienne began her career as a high school math teacher at Westfield High School, which is just a couple blocks up the street from Harley’s work, the same school she had met the principal at during our house hunting trip! Harley continued working in the same department. Now being based on Chantilly, he has been able to work on a new set of projects that have brought new challenges and opportunity for growth in his career. Of course Adrienne is not to be outdone, so as if starting a new job as a high school math teacher was not a big enough challenge and change, she has now begun a masters program in Education.

As this Christmas season begins we are so thankful for all the blessings we have received this year. Everyday we seem to find new things that make us appreciate being here in Virginia even more; whether it be more affordable cost of living, tax rates that are half what we had in California, a home with three times the space and a great yard that we would never have dreamed of having in a decent neighborhood back in Southern California. We are also thankful for Adrienne’s new job, where none would have been available due to budget shortfalls and layoffs in the once golden state. Despite leaving many wonderful friends and family behind the enemy lines we have felt more than welcome by the new friends we have made here.

It is our sincere hope that you and your family too have had such a blessed 2011 and wish you all the best for 2012!

Merry Christmas!

– Harley, Adrienne, Noah, Molly, and Lando

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Announcing the Graduation of Harley S. Green

With great pride I announce my Graduation from The University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering with a Masters of Science in Computer Science, specialization in Computer Security.

Please help celebrate my achievement at Commencement Exercises on Friday, May Thirteen at the University of Southern California.

USC General Commencement Ceremony, 9:00 a.m.
Alumni Memorial Park
3550 Trousdale Pkwy
Los Angeles, CA 90089

Lunch at Manas Indian Restaurant, 11:30 a.m. (No Host)
2323 South Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90007

Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Ceremony, 2:30 p.m.
(Where I will receive my diploma.)
Galen Center
South Figueroa Street and West Jefferson
Los Angeles, California 90007

Dear Friends and Family,

This year has been an amazing whirlwind of adventure for Adrienne, Harley, and our animals (Noah the dog, and our parakeets Lando and Cindel). We started the year enjoying ourselves in Hawaii on our honeymoon for two weeks split between Kauai and Oahu. Shortly after returning from Hawaii we decided it was time to get our own place away from roommates so we moved just down the beach to Hermosa (from Manhattan). It was a perfect opportunity for us to add to our family with the adoption of a fluffy white terrier-mix Noah, whom we adopted from a shelter in Long Beach. Noah is just a bundle of love, always eager to give you kisses, to which I’m sure all of you that have met him can attest.

Over the summer we took a family vacation to Yosemite where we were joined by Yvonne and Lydia. We greatly enjoyed the beautiful scenery with grueling hikes and relaxing times spent floating down the river. Noah kept himself busy on high-alert chasing squirrels and any other creature brave enough to get near our camp.

The fall brought on a new meaning of the phrase “keeping busy”; Adrienne and Harley enrolled in classes for their teaching certification and masters in computer science, respectively. Adrienne amazed even herself by managing to keep working part time at the community college, tutoring SAT/ACT students, running the book business (See It’s Me Books), setting the curve in her classes, all while taking great care of her family! Harley kept busy with his classes, helping Adrienne with the book business, and working at Aerospace. At work, Harley received several performance recognition awards and was even flown out to our nation’s capital to present a briefing to the director of SIGINT for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

Once again in October Harley and Adrienne found themselves right back in one of our favorite places, Kauai. We were graciously invited by Yvonne and our grandparents (Eldon and Barbara) to join them for part of their vacation in Hawaii. The perfect weather we enjoyed provided great opportunities for hiking, snorkeling, and boating. Something special must have been in the water because we both saw more Hawaiian Sea Turtles up close while swimming than we had ever seen before, what a treat!

Sincerely,

Adrienne, Harley, Noah, Lando and Cindel