This weekend was the weekend of my 10 year high school reunion, however I decided not to attend. The reunion planning committee decided to hold the reunion at a bar in downtown Atlanta, a little over an hour away from where I live. I had thought about going, but when the people I would have most cared about seeing had decided not to attend, I decided it wasn't worth spending $70 for a ticket when I wouldn't exactly be getting my money's worth out of it, not being able to fully take advantage of the open bar given the fact that I would have had to drive myself back home that night to take care of my dogs. And I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to eat that much in whatever appetizers they were serving throughout the night. Maybe if they had arranged for a sit down meal of some sort, it would have been a little more worth it. They probably then would have also gotten a better turnout that way as well, as there were many people from my class who were not happy with the plans.
So instead of paying to spend a few hours making small talk with people I haven't seen in ten years, I decided to have a quiet weekend largely at home... working out at the gym, running a few errands, going to church Sunday morning, reading a bit, and then partaking in my own form of high school reminiscing by listening to music from some of my favorite groups from my high school days while cleaning up around the house & doing some baking. I'm sure my dogs didn't exactly care for me cranking up my iTunes while dancing around my apartment, but it sure did make washing dishes and putting laundry away a hell of a lot more enjoyable!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Dreams
Like I'm sure is common of most mil-spouses going through a deployment, I tend to have dreams at least once or twice a week that my husband is home with me again. Last night I had a dream that my husband called me to let me know that there was a chance the Army could be sending him home two or three weeks early. Funny thing about some of the dreams I have at times is once in a great while, they come true and I find myself in a deja-vu moment in real life, usually several weeks later, if not more (I had one of those moments when at my mother-in-law's house earlier this month).
Sadly this is one dream that I know will not come to fruition. And my husband actually laughed at me this morning when I told him about having this dream. At least I'm not having dreams that I cannot discuss, like he is. After asking him how he slept the night before, he said he had some crazy dreams. I asked him what it was about, or if he could even say since there are so many things about his days that he cannot tell me, and was told that it was about work and so he couldn't share. He then chuckled at himself in disbelief that he's now having dreams that would be considered classified. We all have dreams about work from time to time, it just so happens that his work is all on a need-to-know basis.
But boy would it be nice though if my dream actually came true... I can wish, right?
Sadly this is one dream that I know will not come to fruition. And my husband actually laughed at me this morning when I told him about having this dream. At least I'm not having dreams that I cannot discuss, like he is. After asking him how he slept the night before, he said he had some crazy dreams. I asked him what it was about, or if he could even say since there are so many things about his days that he cannot tell me, and was told that it was about work and so he couldn't share. He then chuckled at himself in disbelief that he's now having dreams that would be considered classified. We all have dreams about work from time to time, it just so happens that his work is all on a need-to-know basis.
But boy would it be nice though if my dream actually came true... I can wish, right?
Friday, July 13, 2012
ABC's of Me
I saw Liz over at The Optimistic Army Wife share this a couple weeks ago, so I thought it would be fun to fill out myself and share some tidbits about myself.
A. Age: 28
B. Bed size: Full -- we really need to upgrade, as a full sized bed is barely big enough for two people, let alone two people and their two dogs & one cat
C. Chore you dislike: Cleaning bathrooms
D. Dogs: I'm all sorts of in love with my two corgis... even when they misbehave
E. Essential start to your day: 6 out of 7 days each week, I have a mocha or latte to drink not too long after waking up
F. Favorite colors: Blues (especially shades with some green in them like teal, turquoise, & aqua) as well as red
G. Gold or silver: Silver, or white gold
H. Height: Just about 5'8"
I. Instruments you play(ed): Violin
J. Job title: I primarily perform business manager type duties at work
K. Kids: We just have our three fur babies right now, whom we refer to as our kids
L. Live: In a town I'm kind of tired of in Georgia
M. Mom's name: Mom
N. Nicknames: The only ones I really respond to anymore are ones my husband calls me, none of which have anything to do with my actual name
O. Overnight hospital stays: None to speak of as of yet, and I've only been to the hospital once in my life thus far (*knock on wood*), to get stitches for cutting my chin open during a bicycle accident when I was 10. It took 20 stitches to close it up.
P. Pet peeves: Drivers who cannot maintain a consistent speed; people who complain about not having much money but still find a way to work into their budget funds for things that are not absolute necessities (i.e. getting hair professionally dyed and/or straightened, getting nails done, buying cigarettes, buying things for the house, etc...)
Q. Quote from a movie: "I shall call him squishy, and he shall be mine. And he shall be my squishy." Sorry... like I've mentioned before, I'm a huge Finding Nemo dork
R. Righty or lefty: Righty, for the most part (I throw left handed - I'm slightly ambidextrous, which I believe I get from having a mother who is a righty and a father who is a lefty)
S. Siblings: I have a younger brother, and if you add in my in-laws I have another brother and 3 sisters
T. Time you wake up: Between 6 & 6:30am during the week, depending on how many times I hit snooze, and between 6:30 & 7:30am on the weekends, depending on how early the dogs decide to wake me up (thankfully they tend to sleep later in the winter since the sun doesn't rise as early as in the summer, which means I get to sleep later as well!)
U. Underwear: I've got some on... usually your classic bikini cut
V. Vegetables you don't like: Peppers, and mushrooms unless they're diced up really small (I like the flavor of them, but the texture weirds me out)
W. What makes you run late: I'm usually really early unless I'm waiting on my husband
X. X-Rays you've had: I believe I had one when I cut my chin open as a kid (see letter O), but otherwise the only other ones I've had are your standard dental x-rays
Y. Yummy food you make: Cheesecake
Z. Zoo animal you like: Monkeys
A. Age: 28
B. Bed size: Full -- we really need to upgrade, as a full sized bed is barely big enough for two people, let alone two people and their two dogs & one cat
C. Chore you dislike: Cleaning bathrooms
D. Dogs: I'm all sorts of in love with my two corgis... even when they misbehave
E. Essential start to your day: 6 out of 7 days each week, I have a mocha or latte to drink not too long after waking up
F. Favorite colors: Blues (especially shades with some green in them like teal, turquoise, & aqua) as well as red
G. Gold or silver: Silver, or white gold
H. Height: Just about 5'8"
I. Instruments you play(ed): Violin
J. Job title: I primarily perform business manager type duties at work
K. Kids: We just have our three fur babies right now, whom we refer to as our kids
L. Live: In a town I'm kind of tired of in Georgia
M. Mom's name: Mom
N. Nicknames: The only ones I really respond to anymore are ones my husband calls me, none of which have anything to do with my actual name
O. Overnight hospital stays: None to speak of as of yet, and I've only been to the hospital once in my life thus far (*knock on wood*), to get stitches for cutting my chin open during a bicycle accident when I was 10. It took 20 stitches to close it up.
P. Pet peeves: Drivers who cannot maintain a consistent speed; people who complain about not having much money but still find a way to work into their budget funds for things that are not absolute necessities (i.e. getting hair professionally dyed and/or straightened, getting nails done, buying cigarettes, buying things for the house, etc...)
Q. Quote from a movie: "I shall call him squishy, and he shall be mine. And he shall be my squishy." Sorry... like I've mentioned before, I'm a huge Finding Nemo dork
R. Righty or lefty: Righty, for the most part (I throw left handed - I'm slightly ambidextrous, which I believe I get from having a mother who is a righty and a father who is a lefty)
S. Siblings: I have a younger brother, and if you add in my in-laws I have another brother and 3 sisters
T. Time you wake up: Between 6 & 6:30am during the week, depending on how many times I hit snooze, and between 6:30 & 7:30am on the weekends, depending on how early the dogs decide to wake me up (thankfully they tend to sleep later in the winter since the sun doesn't rise as early as in the summer, which means I get to sleep later as well!)
U. Underwear: I've got some on... usually your classic bikini cut
V. Vegetables you don't like: Peppers, and mushrooms unless they're diced up really small (I like the flavor of them, but the texture weirds me out)
W. What makes you run late: I'm usually really early unless I'm waiting on my husband
X. X-Rays you've had: I believe I had one when I cut my chin open as a kid (see letter O), but otherwise the only other ones I've had are your standard dental x-rays
Y. Yummy food you make: Cheesecake
Z. Zoo animal you like: Monkeys
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
A Little Getaway
This past week I took some time to get away from home for a little bit and visit with my in-laws up in Virginia. My mother-in-law had asked me several times if I'd like to visit, starting immediately after my husband left on his deployment. After we found out in May that his time in the sandbox would be extended another month, I decided to take my MIL up on her offer to spend some time at her house to give myself a much deserved and needed summer/mid-deployment vacation, and then began working lots of extra hours throughout June to build up comp time so I wouldn't have to use any of my annual leave hours.
I left after work last Monday and drove a few hours that evening to break up the drive a little bit, eventually staying in a hotel in North Carolina with my pups. As always, my dogs were very happy to ride in the car and get to see other people.
The last couple times they went on a long car ride and stayed in a hotel, they got to see their daddy, and I actually got the feeling after we were at the hotel for a few hours that they were expecting to get to see him again. Our dogs are very expressive, and my husband and I have learned quite a bit about how to tell what they're thinking or feeling based on their facial expressions, body language, and sounds they make. Thankfully they both perked right back up the next day when I arrived at my MIL's house and they got to see more people they know, as well as meet some new friends who enjoyed giving Kiba belly rubs (Saki received head massages).
For the 4th, our whole crew got together to partake in the usual Independence Day traditions of eating tons and tons of food and then going to see a fireworks show at a local park nearby. We had toyed with the idea of heading to Washington, D.C. to see the big fireworks show, but quickly decided that we really did not want to deal with the headache of being surrounded by thousands of people at the National Mall, not to mention the traffic of trying to get in and then back out of the city.
During our get-together, I ended up having a little emotional break down, when someone jokingly made a comment about my dogs that struck a nerve and resulted in me crying profusely over missing my husband so much. I'm pretty sure I freaked out just about everyone there, until they realized that while I did not care for the comment that was made, my crying actually wasn't about the comment itself but rather something deeper. After talking about it with my mother-in-law, she then started to basically beg me to quit my job, leave my apartment, and move in with her for the remainder of my husband's deployment so I won't be alone any longer. Aside from the many logistical problems that would make moving difficult, it wouldn't do anything to fix the underlying issue of needing to be with my husband.
On Thursday, my MIL decided to take me into into the city, since my only real exposure to DC was when I flew into the city several years ago to interview for a job in VA. We spent a couple hours there, walking around to see most of the monuments and memorials in the area.
After the long walk circling the around all of these memorials in the 100+ degree heat, we decided to retreat to the car and then drove around the rest of the National Mall, past all of the museums so I could then ultimately see the Capitol and the White House from the comfort of our air conditioned vehicle.
We had decided to have a girls' night that evening and after having dinner as a family at Bonefish, the guys went their own way and the five of us girls went to the movies to see Magic Mike. None of us expected much out of the movie, however we were hoping for at least a little more from it than was there. If you haven't seen it but are interested in seeing Channing Tatum show his moves from his earlier real life stripper days (which are actually pretty good), then I would recommend hitting up your local Redbox kiosk after the movie is released on DVD.
The most memorable part of the movie for me was during the 4th of July strip club scene, after the guys started dancing on stage wearing camo pants & combat boots, when my mother-in-law whispered to me that I should have my husband dance/strip like that for me when he returns home. Definitely not a comment I expected my husband's step-mom to make to me!
On Saturday we drove up to Maryland to visit with my MIL's cousin and meet her family. After overloading on yummy appetizers and Chinese food, we then went out to this little park area in the middle of their neighborhood to view a wonderful fireworks show that was put on for the neighborhood residents.
This little neighborhood show was seriously wonderful. Definitely better than the local city show we went to see on the 4th!
Other highlights of the trip included finding a new addiction after trying Nutella for the first time ever (and instantly regretting not trying it sooner!), visiting a local winery and doing a wine tasting (I love me some good wine), and making a lot of progress on the current book I am reading, Fifty Shades of Grey. After hearing all of the buzz about it about a month or two ago, I decided to download the first book on my iPad and give it a read. I've gone back and forth a bit about whether or not to read it while hubby is gone, as I've heard often that you'll want to have your husband around after you're done with it, but recently decided to just continue through and finish up the book, as I'm very curious to see how the relationship between Ana and Christian develops.
I made the 8.5 hour drive home on Sunday, driving straight thru except to make pit stops for me and the dogs along the way. It surprisingly wasn't too bad of a trip to make in a single stretch. The dogs were very well behaved and slept for most of the drive home. While driving through the Richmond area in VA, I found an amazing radio station that plays all of my favorite alternative songs/artists from the 90's thru to now (I enjoyed it so much, I made a note of the station number so I could pull it up to listen to online while at work or home). And then I got really excited when I had to stop for gas in South Carolina and filled up my tank for the cheapest I've gotten gas in many months...
$3.13/gallon for premium gas! I was really jealous of the people whose cars don't require premium, as regular gas was $2.85/gallon. But I'll take what I can get! I've been paying around $3.50 around where I live lately, and the last time I got anything less than that was when I was in middle GA last month and filled up for $3.27 while I was on base at Robins AFB for a bit.
The dogs were both completely exhausted after we got home and slept amazingly well Sunday night.
They were so tired that I actually had to wake them up to feed them their dinner that night, and usually Kiba starts bugging me each night about 15 minutes before dinnertime in hopes that she'll get food early. As for me, I'm still recovering from being on the go so much last week and the trip home, but I hope to be feeling better rested within this next day or so.
Overall, it was a really nice trip. I only wish I had gotten to spend some more quality time with my brother-in-law and his fiancée, as unfortunately a lot of their time was accounted for with wedding planning appointments they had scheduled. Thankfully we're working out plans to get together at some point in the next month or two.
I left after work last Monday and drove a few hours that evening to break up the drive a little bit, eventually staying in a hotel in North Carolina with my pups. As always, my dogs were very happy to ride in the car and get to see other people.
The last couple times they went on a long car ride and stayed in a hotel, they got to see their daddy, and I actually got the feeling after we were at the hotel for a few hours that they were expecting to get to see him again. Our dogs are very expressive, and my husband and I have learned quite a bit about how to tell what they're thinking or feeling based on their facial expressions, body language, and sounds they make. Thankfully they both perked right back up the next day when I arrived at my MIL's house and they got to see more people they know, as well as meet some new friends who enjoyed giving Kiba belly rubs (Saki received head massages).
For the 4th, our whole crew got together to partake in the usual Independence Day traditions of eating tons and tons of food and then going to see a fireworks show at a local park nearby. We had toyed with the idea of heading to Washington, D.C. to see the big fireworks show, but quickly decided that we really did not want to deal with the headache of being surrounded by thousands of people at the National Mall, not to mention the traffic of trying to get in and then back out of the city.
During our get-together, I ended up having a little emotional break down, when someone jokingly made a comment about my dogs that struck a nerve and resulted in me crying profusely over missing my husband so much. I'm pretty sure I freaked out just about everyone there, until they realized that while I did not care for the comment that was made, my crying actually wasn't about the comment itself but rather something deeper. After talking about it with my mother-in-law, she then started to basically beg me to quit my job, leave my apartment, and move in with her for the remainder of my husband's deployment so I won't be alone any longer. Aside from the many logistical problems that would make moving difficult, it wouldn't do anything to fix the underlying issue of needing to be with my husband.
On Thursday, my MIL decided to take me into into the city, since my only real exposure to DC was when I flew into the city several years ago to interview for a job in VA. We spent a couple hours there, walking around to see most of the monuments and memorials in the area.
 |
| FDR Memorial |
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| MLK Jr. Memorial ; View of Jefferson Memorial from MLK Jr. Memorial |
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| Korean War Veterans Memorial |
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| Lincoln Memorial |
 |
| Lincoln Memorial |
 |
| Federal Reserve Building |
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| Vietnam Veterans Memorial |
 |
| Reflecting Pool (empty for construction) & the Washington Monument |
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| World War II Memorial |
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| World War II Memorial |
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| Jefferson Memorial |
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| Jefferson Memorial |
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| Tidal Basin, from in front of the Jefferson Memorial |
After the long walk circling the around all of these memorials in the 100+ degree heat, we decided to retreat to the car and then drove around the rest of the National Mall, past all of the museums so I could then ultimately see the Capitol and the White House from the comfort of our air conditioned vehicle.
We had decided to have a girls' night that evening and after having dinner as a family at Bonefish, the guys went their own way and the five of us girls went to the movies to see Magic Mike. None of us expected much out of the movie, however we were hoping for at least a little more from it than was there. If you haven't seen it but are interested in seeing Channing Tatum show his moves from his earlier real life stripper days (which are actually pretty good), then I would recommend hitting up your local Redbox kiosk after the movie is released on DVD.
The most memorable part of the movie for me was during the 4th of July strip club scene, after the guys started dancing on stage wearing camo pants & combat boots, when my mother-in-law whispered to me that I should have my husband dance/strip like that for me when he returns home. Definitely not a comment I expected my husband's step-mom to make to me!
On Saturday we drove up to Maryland to visit with my MIL's cousin and meet her family. After overloading on yummy appetizers and Chinese food, we then went out to this little park area in the middle of their neighborhood to view a wonderful fireworks show that was put on for the neighborhood residents.
This little neighborhood show was seriously wonderful. Definitely better than the local city show we went to see on the 4th!
Other highlights of the trip included finding a new addiction after trying Nutella for the first time ever (and instantly regretting not trying it sooner!), visiting a local winery and doing a wine tasting (I love me some good wine), and making a lot of progress on the current book I am reading, Fifty Shades of Grey. After hearing all of the buzz about it about a month or two ago, I decided to download the first book on my iPad and give it a read. I've gone back and forth a bit about whether or not to read it while hubby is gone, as I've heard often that you'll want to have your husband around after you're done with it, but recently decided to just continue through and finish up the book, as I'm very curious to see how the relationship between Ana and Christian develops.
I made the 8.5 hour drive home on Sunday, driving straight thru except to make pit stops for me and the dogs along the way. It surprisingly wasn't too bad of a trip to make in a single stretch. The dogs were very well behaved and slept for most of the drive home. While driving through the Richmond area in VA, I found an amazing radio station that plays all of my favorite alternative songs/artists from the 90's thru to now (I enjoyed it so much, I made a note of the station number so I could pull it up to listen to online while at work or home). And then I got really excited when I had to stop for gas in South Carolina and filled up my tank for the cheapest I've gotten gas in many months...
$3.13/gallon for premium gas! I was really jealous of the people whose cars don't require premium, as regular gas was $2.85/gallon. But I'll take what I can get! I've been paying around $3.50 around where I live lately, and the last time I got anything less than that was when I was in middle GA last month and filled up for $3.27 while I was on base at Robins AFB for a bit.
The dogs were both completely exhausted after we got home and slept amazingly well Sunday night.
They were so tired that I actually had to wake them up to feed them their dinner that night, and usually Kiba starts bugging me each night about 15 minutes before dinnertime in hopes that she'll get food early. As for me, I'm still recovering from being on the go so much last week and the trip home, but I hope to be feeling better rested within this next day or so.
Overall, it was a really nice trip. I only wish I had gotten to spend some more quality time with my brother-in-law and his fiancée, as unfortunately a lot of their time was accounted for with wedding planning appointments they had scheduled. Thankfully we're working out plans to get together at some point in the next month or two.
Monday, July 9, 2012
MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #73
So, I'm obviously a few days late this month with my fill-in, but for good reason as I was out of town for most of last week visiting my in-laws. Better late than never, right? I'll be sharing some of the details of my trip this week!
1. What's one thing in the past month you would have changed? There's actually not much of anything from June I would have changed, at least nothing I can think of at this point. The month flew by fairly quickly for me, which is always great!
2. What was your favorite thing that happened in June? Getting to Skype with my husband for the first time in a month. I missed getting to see him.
3. What did you do to celebrate Independence Day? I spent the day with my in-laws and some of their friends. We cooked up and ate tons of food, hung out, and then went to a local park to watch fireworks.
4. When you PCS, what items do you take with you and not let the movers pack (and if you do a DITY, what do you take with you and not box up). When we PCS, I'll be packing in the car our important documents, my jewelry, our laptops and iPads, a bottle of port wine that hubby and I are trying to age, anything we will immediately need for our pets, and then of course as much of our clothes as I can then possibly fit into our car.
5. What are you looking forward to in July? The two things in July I've been most looking forward to are hitting the half way point of hubby's deployment and visiting with my in-laws, both of which have now passed!
Linked Up @ Wife of a Sailor
1. What's one thing in the past month you would have changed? There's actually not much of anything from June I would have changed, at least nothing I can think of at this point. The month flew by fairly quickly for me, which is always great!
2. What was your favorite thing that happened in June? Getting to Skype with my husband for the first time in a month. I missed getting to see him.
3. What did you do to celebrate Independence Day? I spent the day with my in-laws and some of their friends. We cooked up and ate tons of food, hung out, and then went to a local park to watch fireworks.
4. When you PCS, what items do you take with you and not let the movers pack (and if you do a DITY, what do you take with you and not box up). When we PCS, I'll be packing in the car our important documents, my jewelry, our laptops and iPads, a bottle of port wine that hubby and I are trying to age, anything we will immediately need for our pets, and then of course as much of our clothes as I can then possibly fit into our car.
5. What are you looking forward to in July? The two things in July I've been most looking forward to are hitting the half way point of hubby's deployment and visiting with my in-laws, both of which have now passed!
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Happy Independence Day!
Happy Birthday to our great nation!
And many thanks to my husband, and all of the other men and women who are doing their part to help keep our country safe and free.
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