Thursday Link Up with Good Night Moon

Link up with Good Night Moon!



Seeing my last entry I think this is appropriate for Ryan and I right now. We got this.

A Bad time to EAS…

As most of you know my husband’s EAS date is fast approaching. I have had posts for months now about him trying to switch his MOS or debating on what to do next… but we’re getting pretty down to the wire here. Ryan finally found something he wanted to do. Back a few months Ryan decided 0313 would be a good fit for him, it involves infantry and LAVs, so it is a compromise. He can still be infantry but from inside a big armored tank thing, both of us are happy. So he submits his package in early Februaryish.

And we wait. And wait. And wait. We find out it didn’t reach Headquarters until March 2. From there we had to wait 30 days to hear at least something back. This week once again we are down to the wire. Ryan has been going in to see the career planner everyday just to be told the same thing, “It’s still pending.” Well yesterday he heard something.

It doesn’t look good for us.

0313 had one open spot. One guy got offered it already and he has until April 6th to decide. If he doesn’t get it, another guy does and he has until April 20th to decide. Which means Ryan wouldn’t get offered it until then. We cannot wait 26 days. And I highly highly doubt both of these guys will not take it. I doubt the first guy won’t not take it!

No 0313 for us.

But, you know what might have been the reason my husband was third out of three for 0313? 2 NJPs. Yup. My husband got busted for underage drinking, not once but twice, and managed to keep his rank. He worked very hard to prove himself once again and in my opinion he has. Both of the NJPs were from 2008, three years ago now. And it is something he honestly can never do again (get it? Underage drinking? He’s 23? Sorry…). But when his reenlistment package goes in front of the board all they are seeing is Ryan on paper, not the amazing Marine he is. On that first page it says 2 NJPs. The first page. They could easily just close it without a second glance. And it breaks my heart. Mistakes my husband made when he was young are hurting us now. One happened before we met, the other when we were first dating. Three years. Since then he has earned a NAM, rose in rank, deployed to Iraq, and is acting platoon sgt! Does none of that matter?!

So now what? Ryan had his career planner try and keep his package going but for Radio Operator. Not much is open. In fact, only 233 spots remain in the entire Marine Corps for this year. See? Not a good time to EAS.

Even with Radio Operator there is a catch. Ryan’s grades from high school in the area of algebra plus his ASVAB scores need to equal a 115 for Radio operator. He has a 114. I kid you not. But! The career planner is going to make some calls and try and push for him since Ryan does have a top secret clearance, that may be enough to make up for that one point? Hopefully this goes through because if Ryan has to start from scratch with a new package it will take a few days to put together and we are just running out of time.

I need your prayers once again bloggers. Hope we can stay in the Marine Corps!

25 Facts About Me

I have seen a lot of bloggers doing this lately and since I don't have twitter (clueless on it!) I am going to jump on the bandwagon here! So, without further ado, my first 25 facts about me! Go link up (:

1. I am a righty and my husband says my right side is my “bad ass side”. Why? All my tattoos are on my right and when my nose was pierced it was also on the right!
2. Speaking of tattoos, I have two of them. I have a blue moon with two black stars on my right ankle and a four leaf clover on my back right hip.
3. I want another one but Ryan isn’t too keen on the idea!
4. I was born with jet black hair that turned brown and then red and then finally blonde before I was two months old. It has been blonde ever since.
5. Except for a month in 2008 when I dyed my hair red.



6. Since a month before my wedding I have had fake nails. Ryan loves them and fought me to keep them after the wedding as I didn’t care too much! So I have my pink and white gels still a year later!
7. My parents have a golden retriever named Princess Diana XIII. We call her Dippy. I am serious.
8. I just got my boobs chopped off. Ok not totally, but I did go from a 36DDD to a 36C. One week from today you can expect my before/after post as I will hit my 6 week mark finally!
9. I wear the same jewelry every day. Besides my wedding band and engagement ring I wear my class ring from college, claddaugh earrings, and a necklace my cousin gave me for Christmas.
10. I met my husband at a Saint Patrick’s Day party, which I love since I am a little bit Irish!
11. I love to travel. I have been to most of the eastern US as well as Canada, St Croix, the Bahamas, England, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, and Australia.



12. One of my goals is to visit each continent at least once. 3 down, 4 to go!
13. I want to own an Irish Wolfhound or a Great Dane. Hubby wants a Yellow Lab. Guess who is not winning?
14. I started blogging once I joined my first Yahoo group USMC_Gals. I joined it in March of 2009 and my blog started that June.
15. Which means I have been blogging almost two years! Crazy!
16. My blog used to be called Disney and Deployed….
17. Because I worked at EPCOT as an intern for six months. Best. Job. Ever. I miss it.



18. I hate talking on the phone but I basically do that for a living.
19. I adore where we live. Old Town Alexandria has my heart and may have it forever.
20. Lucky me has three little brothers. Well, half brothers. Sean, Shane and Stefan. 17, 16, and 14. Seeing those numbers makes me feel old.
21. Photography is a growing interest of mine, I wish I were better at it.
22. If I could go back to school it would be for either pastry chef/culinary, ultra sound technician, or photography.
23. My degree was specialized in the theatre, I want to win an Oscar. Damn I miss acting.
24. In high school I did a lot of sports but wasn’t too good at any of them. Tennis, cheerleading, track and field, and swimming.
25. I have been to most of the east coast, but I need to see more of this country.

Wordless Wednesday: Cherry Blossoms Take One

Update on Gabriel

My cousin having a sweet moment with her son.


Gabriel was born with spinal bifida. It was in his L-2 and the skin was closed, so things were a little better than expected. Gabriel is now off the ventilator and even was moving his legs this evening! As my uncle said, "The rest is now up to God and Gabriel".

So bloggy loves, I am keeping my hopes for prayers for Gabriel and Kim and Chris out there. Thank you (:

Gabriel David

This little guy is my cousin Kim's son. Kim and Chris have been trying for a baby for years. After three miscarriages this little guy came into the world. He was born today, a month early, and is going to need some pretty big surgeries very soon. Please keep them all in your prayers. Thank you!

Welcome to the world cousin (second cousin?) Gabriel!

What I was like in High School

I saw this post over at Mandy's Blog and wanted to write one too! To be honest, I really did hate high school. I am one of those people who came into their own in college… I didn’t care what people thought of me anymore and I made my strong friendships there. But I did ok in high school for the most part.

Actually, I went to two high schools. In the morning I attended what we in Jersey call a “vo-tech” or a vocational technical high school. My votech was a little different as they also offered an arts program. In the morning, when I went, there was acting and musical theatre, then in the afternoon there was dance. So I had the option of taking the bus to my “sending high school” aka my regular academic one and then taking another bus to votech, which was a process that went from almost 6:20am-7:40am. OR. My dad would leave the house at 6:40am and drop me off at votech and I would nap on the stretching mats for an hour until class started. Guess which one I did more?

So votech saved me. Those people were amazing. They were not only all uberly talented, yes there was an audition process to get in, but some of the kindest and most open people. We were from all over the county, most of us from different sending schools, but we bonded! Artists can be that way sometimes :P Out of the 12 people in my freshman class we grew and shrunk through to senior year, but in the end only three of us were there together all four years. There was level one, which was the first year you were there, and level two which were any years after that. So I was a level two for three years. Some people don’t go to votech freshman year; others come in during their sophomore or even junior years… so our class was always fluctuating. But out of that dozen or so I still talk to nearly all of them. One was a bridesmaid in my wedding, and at least five more were present at my wedding.



We would spend the morning doing Meisner exercises like walking the grid or repeating exercises. There were days of diction classes, technical theatre, movement, dancing for actors, singing for actors, monologues, and when we were in productions actual rehearsals. We did an informal and formal show a year. Informals were in the studio and involved a monologue, sometimes a song or dance number, and were smaller. Formals were full scale productions. I was in Exploring Shakespeare, Class Action, The Laramie Project, and Joseph Andrews. We would also tech for the other classes, level one teched level two, level two teched MTs (musical theatre), and MTs teched for level one. So I got to run lights, manage props, and other things. During formals we’d have rehearsals at night, usually around 6-10pm, on top of all of our normal days!

Once I left that bubble though, I went to my high school. I didn’t take any electives *(including gym!)* since votech took those from me. I did go crazy and try lots of sports as I never did them growing up. Freshman year I played tennis, did cheerleading (and lettered for varsity), and track and field (pole vaulting and long jump). Sophomore year I cheered again, Junior year I quit cheer and joined the swim team which I carried into Senior year. Often times I would go from a swim meet to votech rehearsal after trying in vain to not reek of chlorine and our British costume lady Kate would yell at me for making the smell stay in our rented costumes! Freshman year I was in the chorus in Sugar, the musical that my regular school put on. So not the same as votech. I never did the show there again.

Dating, eh not so much. I dated one guy freshman year (he was a junior at the time) but he put way too much pressure on me and then ditched me for a good friend of mine when I would not comply. Nice right? I had some vacation flings but otherwise that was about it. I did have a crush on one guy all four years, not the one I dated, but to this day he never knew! Haha. I was a total dork and very awkward around most guys. We also had been together since 2nd grade in a small town, it just was not going to happen!

For me, romance was not meant to be in high school. Maybe that is half the reason I was so shocked when in my junior year of college Ryan came into my life like he did. It just was not the sort of thing dorky me had happen! I had convinced myself, through years of experience, that I was undatable and uncool. Why would someone so attractive be interested in me?

But, that is a post for another time.

My best friend Sam was a year above me and did swim team with me. Jay went to votech and my sending school with me and was my other best friend, but he graduated early. Senior year was rough without them but I made it. We had open campus lunch sophomore year on up, so we could walk/drive to tons of different restaurants. It was wonderful. Senior privileges fourth marking period were awesome too; if you had a study hall you could leave campus then too. My last marking period was kind of awesome.

See, senior year I could finally take electives again. So I opted for Wood Shop I. I had built some sets at votech and wanted to learn more. When I walked in to class the first day people thought I was lost. Not only was I the only senior in the class, I was the only female! I was the lone lady in a class that was 90% freshman boys.

Oh boy.

The teacher seemed impressed I was there, but it wasn’t that big of a deal to me. But he retired after midterms and they didn’t find anyone to replace him. So we all were given a study hall. I already had one of those…so my schedule became amazing. I would go to votech in the morning, then I had study hall, lunch, study hall… which means from 10:30am-1:30pm I didn’t have to be on campus! I would drive to the mall or meet my mom for lunch, then go back for senior English, creative writing, and psychology. Hard right? :P

It was senior year before I could drive as NJ driving laws kind of stunk, but at least I got to drive in high school! I had to use street parking as I did not have my license the first day of school when they did the lottery for spots. Why not? Well, I turned 17 the second day of school, so I missed it by one day!

So I was the drama geek who tried a lot of sports and different things before hitting her stride in college when she just struck to the acting thing.

I don't have many pictures I can access from work but...


Votech Kids - summer (during college) reunion


Votech kids again


This picture appeared in the paper when Class Action was about to start, my show Sophomore year. My hair looks like a very weird color but it was the lights, I promise!


What were YOU like in high school??

What's Your Song Link Up 5

I downloaded this song back when I first got my ipod and I would scan around on itunes for free songs of the day. Normally I wouldn't download this one, but I found it to be very catchy and ended up loving it! It is called Wound Up and the band is called Office (which also got my attention since it is my favorite TV show!).

Head on over to Goodnight Moon to join in the music partyyyy!

Wordless Wednesday: Strawberries and Champagne

...and an Amaryllis (: