South Carolina Baby Shower

Last weekend, the 11th, Ryan and I made our way to South Carolina as his family were throwing our Bean a baby shower. We left Friday afternoon and made our way south, arriving in time for a lovely BBQ dinner with his mom, sister, and grandmother. Saturday afternoon was our shower and man did our little guy get spoiled! His mom's neighbor Christi hosted the shower for us and the guests included lots of family and friends from the neighborhood.

As you can see there were lots of tiny outfits gifted that I could not contain my excitement about. So. Tiny.

It seemed like everyone had a great time and we really enjoyed getting to see family and friends that we don't get to visit with as often as we like!

Plus they made me a fun hat with all the ribbons! Bean got first wear in the belly though.

The rest of Saturday we lazed around, eating leftovers and just spending time together. I get tired pretty easily these days so lying on the couch and going to bed early is fine in my book!

Sunday we took some pictures together before packing up the jeep on the hottest day of the year thus far, easily over 100 degrees and horribly humid. I did not envy my husband wrangling the crib into the car and was not disappointed when he turned down my offer to help!

We channeled our inner Zoolander a bit too.

Our Bean is definitely one lucky baby and he isn't even here yet! So much love. The next time we see our South Carolina family will probably be when the baby is born, so only a few more weeks!

Unfortunately we did encounter some car trouble on the way home. We were driving in the middle of nowhere South Carolina when suddenly our Jeep turned off while we were going 55 on the highway! Luckily we were able to stop ok, but remember me mentioning it was the hottest day of the year thus far? 100 degrees plus, middle of nowhere, fields, closed store, closed church, and a random hospital unit that I had to walk to at least once to use the bathroom. I was afraid to drink too much as it was a hike and we were waiting on the tow truck. After nearly two hours we somehow got the Jeep started again and just went on our way, calling AAA to cancel the tow (another ordeal in itself!). Our 4.5 hour drive ended up taking nearly 7 hours and man was I glad to get home. I was a sweaty, uncomfortable mess for sure! The joys of pregnancy!

Weathering the Storm

As I'm sure you've noticed things have been up and down a lot for me lately. Sometimes I just want to curl up and cry and others I'm almost too fine. It's crazy. I promised myself I would not let myself fall apart during this deployment. I've come too close for comfort some days though. 

But it's getting better. It is. 

I drove two hours (each way) to Myrtle Beach on Friday to go to the DMV. My manager at work told me to take Friday to go take care of it so I didn't have to wait another week, which I appreciated. At least the truck is taken care of fully now. The car is still a work in progress. 

I also treated myself to Chipotle and Trader Joes on said roadtrip!

I tried to be domestic and make apple butter. 

Fourteen hours and one sticky kitchen later I have three overly sweet and not quite as firm as I wanted jars of something. I tried. 

Today Ryan made me smile when he told me he got the care package I sent him... On Wednesday. The package I sent him in August hasn't made it (or any of the ones from his family) but the Halloween box made it in four days. Really?! I'm glad he finally got something but where are the ten boxes from the past month and a half?! Oy. 

Now I'm going to watch my Giants hopefully not become 0-7....

 

Oy

As frustrated as I am at this point I cannot help but laugh. Maybe only slightly maniacally.

Let me preface this by saying I love my husband very much and I miss him more than anything.

But man he is lucky he is not in arms reach of me right now! Because I would not hesitate to smack him upside the head. Not hard. Just a tap. But it would happen.

Let me explain.

Geico sent our new insurance cards today so after I got home from work I went to put them in the truck and the car. I put the one in the truck and as I sit in the car to put it in the glove compartment I glance at our registration.

WHICH EXPIRED IN AUGUST.


Since Ryan is obviously military the cars were always just his jurisdiction. He wanted to have them both with his home of record in South Carolina. When we were first married and living in the DC area this saved us a LOT of money in insurance and other fees... but when we moved to North Carolina my husband never changed our address with the proper channels in South Carolina. We realized this recently when the truck registration was due and we had to reorder it because it never arrived. But my husband only paid for duplicate registration, which meant no stickers. Which means until one of us goes to the DMV in South Carolina our lisence plate is wrong but at least our registration is right. Well Ryan told me he went online and changed our address so we should be good. We weren't good. Obviously.

I have been very, very lucky not to get pulled over driving without a registration for two months.

Back to today.

UGH.

So after realizing the registration was expired as of AUGUST I go on the SC DMV website and get directed to the treasurer/auditor for my husband's home county's website. I call a few numbers and a very nice guy in the Auditor's office helped me out. Basically if it was just paying the taxes we would have been fine and could have paid it online and gotten it done. But South Carolina has a new tag fee this year which now also has a late fee... that cannot be paid online.

The final solution we agreed to is he will mail the tax form my mother in law, his home of record, she will go in to the treasurer to pay it, take the receipt and go to the DMV and pay that fee and the late fee and then mail me the registration and the sticker. I will then mail her a check for whatever the final total is. In the mean time I will have to drive the truck, broken window and all, to and from work every day. Yes, the gas is going to suck as is trying to have a cigarette in traffic when I can't roll down my window (but my husband will fix it when he comes home, or so he says), but at least the truck has a valid registration. The tags are not valid but if I am pulled over I can pretend I didn't realize it and promise to order the sticker as soon as possible. My next week day off (which is NEXT Thursday) I am driving to North Myrtle Beach, which is the closest DMV, with my Power of Attorney to take care of the damn sticker situation with the truck. None of the six DMVs in the state of South Carolina that have Saturday hours are within five hours from here so that is my only option.

The reason all this happened? According the auditor guy our Virginia address was in their system so in July/August they sent the tax forms there, they were returned with a forwarding address but you cannot legally forward tax forms. So we just never received our bill. He has removed that address from the system completely so at least at this point only the SC address is on there. I guess when my husband changed our information with the DMV the tax office didn't get it.

I am beyond frustrated at this moment. I am very thankful my mother in law is willing to help us out and run around and pay up front for a lot of this until I can send her a check. I am also glad I haven't been pulled over because it is a $250 ticket for driving an unregistered vehicle. Yes I looked it up.

I just hope this is resolved fast. I hope the mail is fast and I just want to fast forward already. I've said that a lot lately. I am SO ready for this deployment to be OVER.

PCS - Part 1

Wow... I don't blog for two weeks and blogger looks totally different! I am a little confused on this new interface thing but I hope I get used to it soon. I cannot believe tomorrow we will have been in our house for two weeks. We are finally settled in and Ryan checks in on Tuesday to start work. I have definitely gotten spoiled having him all to myself the past few weeks. Considering I am not working yet (nine applications out so far, no response back at all on any) I am wondering how I will feel once it is just me in the house. Anyway, back to the beginning! The weeks leading up to the move involved my mom coming to help for a week, a drive to Jersey to see the family, and a semi college reniuon at a local bar to say goodbye to everyone!

Ryan was due to land at Reagan Airport at 11:30pm the night before the movers were due to arrive at 8am. No big deal. We lived literally right down the street from the airport. I could turn left out of the apartment and drive for ten minutes and be there. Well.... when my husband flew from Palm Springs to LAX they sat on the runway in LA for over an hour since no gates were available. His flight door CLOSED EARLY and refused to let him on the plane even though it was still fifteen minutes until take off (the rule I believe is ten minutes). After being bounced around from person to person he got another flight into Dulles Airport, both Reagan and BWI were not an option apparently. Dulles is a good forty five minutes from us and his flight was landing an hour or two later, but what can you do?

Then his flight got delayed again. And again. And again.

Long story short I went to bed at 11:00pm, woke up at 2:00am and drove almost an hour to Dulles to meet Ryan when his flight landed at 3:30am. Naturally his luggage SOMEHOW got on his original flight so none of his bags were at Dulles. So at 4:00 am we are driving to Reagna to pick up his bags. Naturally my grand nine months apart reunion was a little different than expected (aren't they always?)! Between my sleep deprivation and his annoyance at everythin from airplanes to the state of California as a whole, we were both kind of cranky. By the time we got home hit was about 5:30 in the morning and the movers were due in less than three hours. Ryan's reunion with Rylie girl was downright adorable though....

We were home so late/early that our neighbor Adam was leaving for work and stopped to chat with us. Finall around 6:30 am we collapse into bed, I didn't bother changing out of my jeans, and tried to sleep. 8:00am on the dot my phone rings with the movers being ten minutes away. Before I could get up and get Rylie outside, they were there. Four guys and a big truck to pack up our entire lives... except for my husband still sleeping in the bed. Ugh. I had to go in and yell at him (three times) to get up and he ran and got breakfast for everyone. We played with Rylie girl outside and tried just to stay out of the way mostly. By noon we were down to what was coming with us in the truck.

At this point we were both deliriously tired and wanted to blow up our air mattress and pass out. Here, I goofed. I forgot to buy an air pump... major wife fail there. So in the car we go, we return our cable box to Comcast, grab a quick lunch ala drive thru and run to Walmart for said air pump. By 2pm we were passed out! We napped a few hours and the next few days were sort of hazy. We took Rylie girl on walks together, went out to dinner with Adam and once by ourselves to our favorite restaurant, and said goodbye to Alexandria. We strolled King Street and the Waterfront, played with the pup at the park and basically did a lot of walking. When you have no TV (and um, no furniture) it makes you go out more!

Saying goodbye to Carrie was very difficult for me... honestly it was the only time I shed a tear during the entire process. She came over with Poncho and we all hung outside for a bit, like always, and then we walked her back up towards her apartment and walked to our favorite Italian place for dinner. As soon as she went one way up the street and we went the other I had tears running down my cheeks. Carrie got me through these last nine months, it would not have been the same without her and she has easily become one of my best friends.

Before I knew it, Monday morning rolled around. Naturally things went wrong. Rylie gets carsick and needs Benadryl to be ok in the car and we couldn't find it. Ryan went to four gas stations and then just waited to CVS to get more (it was in the trunk of my packed car in case you were wondering). We wanted to be on the road by 8 and didn't get on the highway until well after 9. Oops. I was nervous about the drive, I've never been the driver alone in the car for more than four hours really so the six to eight we were looking at had me nervous, but I did it! I followed Ryan who followed his GPS down 95 and the backway through Farmville.

We stopped a few times, to let Rylie out, grab food and get gas really. I had a moment where I was rocking out to my iPod that turned out kind of funny. I'm blasting *NSYNC and singing and dancing (fist pumping and waving my arms may have been involved) to Crazy For You when suddenly I get a text... "You having fun back there?" Busted. I look at the truck and I can see my husband laughing hysterically in the sideview mirror. This happened more than once. A rock the size of a small meteorite also hit my windshield less than five miles from the North Carolina state line on 95.

It scared the bejeezus out of me, but luckily it didn't hurt my visibility and I could still drive fine. Not fun to have happen on moving day though. We had to be at our closing by 4 so we were pushing it regardless! My parents and my brother were already in town to help us move, clean and settle, so we met them at the house around 3pm. Of course it was locked but I got my first sight!

We handed Rylie girl to my parents and jumped in the car again. We got a cashiers check at the bank and squeaked into our closing with the lawyer and realtor a little bit after 4. I signed my name on more pieces of paper than I ever though possible and then we were done. We have a house! Chris, our awesome realtor, took us back to the house, opened it and let us inside for the first time. He also gave us a welcome mat, some decorative lights, a watering can and a wonderful card as house warming gifts.

Looking inside we had a LOT of work to do.... but that you shall see tomorrow!

 EDIT 12/15/14 PERSEC

Thanks Thursday, Way to be like a Monday!

Yup, that would be the back passenger side of my door. A stupid mini van of vacationers wouldn't move, I was blocking traffic in the garage, and I had to go. I hit the concrete pole on the side. Fail. Then the helpful garage attendents come tell me I need to make a wider turn there.

Ya think!?

And the mini van guy did nothing, just drove off without a care. Whatever.

Long day, cannot wait to go home.

Oh, did I mention I got stuck in the elevator too? It was only on the first floor and luckily the door managed to open after a few minutes of me pushing to "door open" button, but geeze Thursday, work with me here!



Anyone getting up for the Royal Wedding tomorrow? I think I may sleep through it and watch the highlights. All day. :P I do have to make muffins for the mini wedding party we are having at work tomorrow though. I have to admit, I am pretty excited to see her dress!

For my link up with Goodnight Moon I needed a feel better song... what better than Huey Lewis and the News, the Power of Love? It is from my favorite movie (BTTF) which also helps!


Also, enter one of my favorite blogger's contest, it is amazing. For chocolate. I'm serious. Michelle at A'etonu Family Adventures is serving in the Army in Germany with her husband and adorable daughter and she has yummy German chocolate to share! Enter now!

Happy

Can I just say, I am so happy!

Literally this weekend I had this bubble in my chest that resulted in random giggling abd big smiles and me smacking my husband's arm in pure excitement. Yes, I am a dork.

We're in such a good place right now. Even with Ryan's re-enlistment still pending, we're happy. The weather is starting to get warmer too, which makes everything better! Saturday we went to get my car back from the shop after getting the body work done from my car accident this past fall. But... my car was making a funny noise. It was running really rough and I got nervous! I needed my car back to get to work and to get to the doctor Tuesday! The only engine thing they did was an oil change so we got the body shop to refun the oil change and drove to Jiffy Lube. Anytime we stopped and idled we threw the car in neutral. My bubble began to get a little deflated, what was wrong with my car? Wrong oil?? Something?

We finally get to Jiffy Lube, the guy Sal looks at it for two seconds and sees my PCV valve got knocked off. The person changing my oil last must have done it. He gave us a new hose, for free, and put it on for us. Ryan slipped him $10 for being so awesome and my bubble re-inflated fully!

After we tried to make it to the Old Town Saint Patrick's Day parade but we're too late. So we settled in at an Irish pub with this super sweet woman who actually works at Walter Reed as a psychotherapist and was willing to share the table! She was so sweet and we had a great conversation. After Ryan and I walked to the Torpedo Factory and walked around for a bit. At home we had a quick dinner and then went to my favorite bar, Nick's. Nick's is a country bar, they offer free line dancing lessons if you get there early enough (some day we will!) and usually have live music.

I couldn't really drink since I was still on antibiotics from surgery but Ryan and I had a blast. He forced me to do kareoke (NEVER. AGAIN.) and we sang Picture by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. Oy. Then I made him dance with me. Nick's has a lot of people, old and young, and sometimes watching the older couples on the dance floor is so intimidating. They know what dance to do with EVERY song! Man I need to learn!

Sunday was pouring rain but we ventured out to church, then IHOP, and then to grocery shop. Man was it raining cats and dogs, but we trudged through. After we went to the mall to get me to Nordstroms. Their bras were highly recommended to me by Sarah to go for a fitting, pricey yes, but worth it.

Standing in the dressing room I was pretty nervous. The woman had me take even my surgical bra off to get fitted and I was worried I was going to freak her out with my stitches (I have a lot!). But she was wonderful. She measured me and gave me bras to try on.

And I cried.

I stood in the dressing room looking at myself in a three way mirror with tears rolling down my cheeks.

I was wearing a 36C for the first time since I was 14 years old.

Yes, tears of joy!

I tried on a few pretty bras that Ryan had me get (the fitter had me show him since I was so excited) and I cannot wait to hit the six week mark so I can wear them.



I am happy.

I am healing. My back doesn't hurt. I am standing up straight.

I have a wonderful husband I love more than anything. We are close to our one year anniversary!

My car is fine and back in business! No more climbing over the console from the passenger side to get in the car.

It is getting warmer.

Work is good.

I love where we live.



I am so happy.

Re-Enlistment, Recruiting, Re-Evaluating Take Two

First of all I have to thank all of you who commented on my last entry. I really really appreciate all your insight and support. So thank you thank you thank you!

So, here's the update/current situation.

Last night we talked about the possibility of Ryan doing recruiting. I even shared some of your comments with him! He really wants to do recruiting and go back to South Carolina for a few years. He would be great at it, I know it. He could talk the fuzz off of a peach if he had to and he loves the Marine Corps. I was a bit jealous that we might end up in his home state, with his friends and family nearby, and him doing the job he wanted. I would be further from my family and friends, have no job at first, and again be in a whole new place! I have visited SC obviously, but living there is a whole new ballpark! We talked about it though. Tears were shed. Compromises made. We went to bed on a good note.

Ryan decided to go in and try and put in for it today.

Full. Zero Boat Space.

In fact, everything is full... except intelligence. Infantry had one space in 0313 (he is 0311) but if he took that, well it would be it. He couldn't lat move again after that and it isn't what he wants. Now with intell he is worried. Ryan has two NJPs on his record from a few years ago for underage drinking. He is afraid that will severely hurt his chances. Plus he needs to write an autobiography as well as a paper on the current events in Egypt (with his opinion on the matter) then go before a selection board. It is an awful lot of work for something that can be so hit or miss. But he doesn't have much of a choice.

Ryan keeps saying if he can't re-enlist in the Marines he may try for the Army. Wait... what?? Since when was that an option?? Well now it is. He wants to try and become an MP or something. Oy. I don't know how you Army Wives do it, but the idea of year long deployments makes me want to hide under our bed with the suitcases and the dust bunnies. :(

*sigh*

I guess just keep us in your thoughts. We'll have to wait and see what happens at this point.


Not my picture, from google, but you get the idea...

Oh. I went out to go to work this morning and my tire had a bubble in it again. Different tire. Smaller bubble. I had to go to the barracks last night for Family Welcome Night (when I have been dating Ryan 2 years and married to him nearly 1 and he was stationed here all the time... but if we both went he earned a day off!) and I parked in the free street parking but on top of this weird asphalt bump. I even asked Ryan if that would damage my tire and he said "Only if you parked there all day. Two hours will be fine."

Flash forward to this morning and there is the bubble. I know I cannot drive on that so I started walking to work. Brr. I called my boss to tell her I'd be late and she insisted on coming to get me. I will most likely walk home in three minutes as Ryan is stuck in traffic somewhere.

Is it Saturday yet?????

Oh what a weekend...

My brain is fried right now. Work was super busy yesterday and the weekend was jam packed with happenings and today the phones went down at work so blogging definitely hopped into the backseat! I don't even know where to begin. The only think keeping me sane right now is that I am listening to Josh Groban's new album Illuminations and it is of course fabulous (and has the same name as the EPCOT fireworks show, which I love!).

Where to begin?

Let's start with this:


That is my car. Remember my car accident a few weeks ago? Well Saturday I go to Geico to get an estimate done. Well Ryan decides to meet me there because we are going to go to Great Falls after. Long story short we decide to leave my car there and come back for it later, but my husband apparently does not know how to back out of a garage and my driver's side is now banged up. I have no door handle. To get in my car I have to open my back door or passenger door!

And what is his reaction?

He laughs. It is soooo ironic. The door I am claiming damages on gets more damages... at the claims place! Needless to say I punched him. In the arm. Hard. I was so mad at him! More so that he kept laughing at it, he eventually apologized, but this is my car! If it had been his I doubt he would have laughed. He keeps saying this is why I need to learn how to drive stick (NO) so I can use his car. UGH.


We had a blast at Great Falls with Russell and Lauren. I will post pictures later as I have something else important to mention.



The D-Word has arisen.

Deployment. It is still something he is looking in to, but he wants to go. Again. 8th and I is a nondeployable unit. The way to deploy from there is on a Security Task Force, which is what Ryan did last year when he went to Iraq. It is not a fleet deployment (with him being infantry I SO do not want) but a security task force. Basically they stand post on the FOBs and Bases and do relocations and maneuvers outside the wire in MRAPPS.

When Ryan was on duty and I visited him his friend Randy was there. He was like, "Hey did you hear about the task force starting to train up?" I turned around with my massiva bag of laundry and looked Ryan dead in the eye and said, "No. No. No No No."

"But I didn't even get to talk to you about it yet!"

Ugh.

So we've talked. It is a good time for him to go. No kids. No pets even. We're in an area that is close to family (ish) and I wouldn't have to move. We love the area we are in. I have a good, steady job. His re-enlistment bonus could be tax free if he does it in Afghanistan. He can pick up Sgt quickly. He has done this Security Task Force before. He knows the protocols and what to do and when to do it. We would help out our savings quite a bit. He wouldn't be fighting with a fleet unit right up front.

All the positives.

The negative?

He will be gone seven ish months and I will miss him and don't want him to go.

Can't compare right? I am a military wife. This is what I agreed to. It is almost petty to try and talk him out of this, that is not what we do. I just didn't think it would be happening again so soon. He was going to re-enlist, go to CID (six months on the job training then five months at school) .. then maybe deploy. I had over a year just to be with him and start our lives. By the time he deployed, in my mind, we'd have been married nearly two years. Now it may not even be a year. Or just barely.

Nothing is definite yet. He is still looking into it, investigating. Then there will be a work up for however many months then he could go.

Gosh, even the possibility just makes my stomach hurt.

Ugh.

See why the brain has been fried? I will keep you all posted, as per usual.


On a brighter note, we watched all six Harry Potter movies and are all caught up for Friday. I am bummed being a working adult means I cannot go to a midnight showing, but we are all going right after work Friday. Have tickets already too! SO excited!

Long Weekend, Long Survey.

Oh what a long, long weekend.

27 of the last 48 hours were spent in a dark theatre hunched over a tech table and a score in a binder that weights a good ten pounds. Light cues. Media cues. Fly cues. Calling the show. Writing cues. "HOLD!" Music stops. Caffeine. Doughnuts. Pizza. McDonalds. Quiznos. Sugarfree Redbull. Sneaked cigarettes. Bleary eyes. Not enough sleep. Hard theatre seat from the 1970s. Neck cramp. Back ache (what else is new?). Dragging heavy platforms. Yelling at late singers. Cursing.... Listening to the Queen of the Night nail her famous aria. Seeing the stage look like it is a rolling ball of flames in the temple of fire. Laughing at the comedic characters' reveal and romance. Seeing the serpent slink out to open the show. Watching the leads find one another and be safe and together for a happily ever after. The stage positively ringing as 55 amazing voices sing out into a darkened theatre in perfect harmony.

That is tech weekend.

There is the good, the bad, the exhausting, and the tedious. But it usually ends up being worth it. Being in the theatre was adventure enough, but let us compare evening notes, post-rehearsal.

Friday Night

I went and watched another run through, pre-tech. I was supposed to get light cues but as usual we were way wayyy behind schedule. At least I got to see it again. I go home a little after 11. I get home around 11:45 or so. I sit down and make Ryan his "honey do list" (as he calls it) for the weekend. He had his first dinner with the Masons the night before (yes THE masons, he wants to join) and really wanted to tell me about it. I was exhausted and knew I had to be up super early but I knew he was excited so I agreed to go with him for ONE cigarette. We sit and talk for a bit about it and he goes to have another one. I am freezing in some baggy sweats and slippers and totally exhausted so I stop him. We get up to go inside and he looks at me and goes...

"Do you have your keys?"

No keys. No phones. No answer at the leasing office. Buzzing our ONE neighbor who has her doorbell hooked to her home 3 times and one hour later we get back inside at 1:30am.

I was ready to kill him. I may have punched him hard in the arm once. Or twice. I was so cold and tired and I had to be up at 8 to run errands pre-rehearsal. He got to sleep in.

He did try and help me fix my back though (sitting on a stoop for an hour did not help back pain) since it was too late for me to take my medicine and still wake up in the morning.

Flash forward 14 hours to Saturday Night

Long long day in the theatre. I finall get to go home at 11:30pm after being there since 9:30am. I am driving on North Capital St in the center lane. I am going slow as I know it is a sucky place to drive so I am being careful. Guy in the left lane was not. All of a sudden I lurch to the right as his front bumper hits me and scrapes the entire side of my car. I try to get out of the way and nearly get hit by a bus on the other side who honks at me as the guy who hit me tries to gesture at me to pull over.

My first car accident.

We pull over on the side of the road and I get out of my car shaking and crying. Damage is all cosmetic and I am shaken up but fine. The guy claimed full responsibility from the start and gave me all his information as he apologized. We both have GEICO so we call and get the claims in and finally after midnight I get to go home again. My mom was on the phone with me when I got hit (in a hands free device down in the middle counsel, promise!) so I called her back and filled her in. Then I had to call Ryan. You know any phone call that starts, "I am ok..." usually is not good. But he told me if I was ok and the car was ok just to come home. I walk in the door and he just stood and gave me a hug and I cried for about twenty minutes.

I really never want to go through that again.

It also made tech yesterday feel very long. But Ryan came and sat with me on dinner break and then stayed to watch us tech act two. He shocked me more when he said he couldn't wait to come back and see the show finished! Not bad since he sat there three hours and watched them sing in German with no translation.... he also did all the grocery shopping, a huge clean of the entire apartment, and laundry. I love him!

Two more minutes working here than off to the theatre til 11:30pm again.

This time next week it is done! Cannot wait to sleep.


I did this earlier to stay awake, feel free to do it if you're bored! I got it from Bella N Chief's blog.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disney World
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - not the top but lower level....
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill not in this new job though
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors one of them anyway, sort of
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing

What happened to 49?

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie stud
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving in a windtunnel....
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person - does from an airplane count?
80. Published a book - I had a poem published in one?
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House - not inside, but outside?
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - fish count?
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee


55 definite dones and 5 maybe. I want to do a lot of the things on this list so who knows what the future will bring? Somethings I definitely can go the rest of my life without doing, like bouncing a check, but most of the travel related ones I definitely want to do!

Nineteen...

At the barracks again, doing some laundry and abusing internet access... but we should be getting it this week hopefully!!!!

So you're probably wondering, why nineteen? Well, I'll tell you!

Josh, Ryan's best friend, and his girlfriend Richie are staying with us for a few days since she is in from Louisiana. It has been great, we share the cooking responsibilities, play Battle of the Sexes and Scrabble, and last night went for a long walk along the river. Aside from the mosquitoes it was great. So this morning Josh and Ryan go off to work and Richie and I go back to sleep. We send the men off at 0630 or so and pass out til 9 or so like normal people! :P

The guys text us asking if we want to meet them at the barracks for lunch at 11. So we get dressed and I grab the laundry and we head out to the parking lot of my building. Josh and Ryan took Ryan's car to work so we had either my car or Josh's truck. Richie wanted to take the truck since Josh has the DOD sticker so we walked down to his car and see a police car hanging around nearby. We walk around and as I stand at the passenger side to be let in I notice Josh doesn't have a window...

Yep, the truck was broken into. So the cop comes over and talks to us, turns out between 1am and 5am nineteen cars along the back row of the parking lot were broken into. NINETEEN!! Luckily nothing was really stolen from Josh's car, except for the Marine Corps Marriage PREP class certificate of completion from the class the four of us took last week. Why they stole that, we have no idea...

Strange thing, my car was in that row and left alone. Sure my car is an old POS thing but it isn't that bad! A 97 taurus! Ryan's apparently was fine as well, since he and Josh went to work this morning without a hitch. Apparently three cars, including Josh's, were just broken into with nothing stolen, another girl was saying her cash was left but a bag of Budweiser tshirts were taken, and her GPS charger but not her GPS itself.

Weird?

Anyway, that is the story of nineteen for now. I am going to wait for the laundry to finish up and maybe Richie and I will do something productive til the guys get home from work. We went to the zoo yesterday but its rainy today so we'll have to think of something.

Ryan and I may go to Virginia Beach this weekend for Memorial Day and I am SO excited! Fingers crossed it actually happens!

Silly Cars

So my car has decided lately it wants to sort of start and then stall out two or three times before actually starting. I was getting my oil changed today so I asked them to check it out and I needed a new air intake filter (pump? valve? something) and new spark plugs.

The amount of money that has gone into this damn car the past two years or so could buy a new car (and by new I mean a new to me/used working car)! Let's see:

New Starter
New Tires (2 flats thanks to a random screw in a parking lot and a curb, that one was me)
New Rotors
New Brake Pads
New Brake Lines
New Cylinders (Front and Back)
New Air Intake thingy
and New Spark Plugs

All together easily almost $5,000! UGH.


On a more positive note I had my make up trial today and Denise did a wonderful job! I am glad that is one more check I can make on my list!

And my little brother has a terrible stomach bug. With how much trouble I have had lately with my stomach let's hope I don't get it! I've used enough sick days to cover me the next three years.... fingers crossed!

Maybe May?

So things have been super busy, my writing here has been pretty slim! Since the engagement things have been happy mostly! There is that whole issue with my car needing a whole new braking system but that is a story for another paragraph. Am I insane for maybe planning a wedding for as soon as May? A Catholic Church Wedding nonetheless? I think I am.

With Ryan receiving orders soon and the possibility of an Afghanistan deployment in our future this is the best chance we have. I have to talk to my dad tomorrow but so far everyone seems on board with it!

Ryan has talked to the chaplain and everyone he needs to. We're going to meet with my priest Father Tom when I move back to NJ in two weeks... and if everything can get approved we're going forward. Usually in the church you need at least a year to plan a wedding, but they make exceptions for military, pregnancy, and illnesses. So hopefully our military situation will work well enough to let us fast forward a bit.

If the church is situated I am still lost! I mean, I can't even think of a color scheme let alone plan a wedding! I just wanted it in my church with everyone there and a fun gathering after. Ryan wants an arch of swords. Would I like to go crazy and have a huge lavish affair with a dress from Kleinfelds and a band and ritzy decorations? What girl doesn't? But I won't. It will hopefully be modest and nice and the best day of our lives regardless.

Everything is so expensive though, I am pretty worried. I am still having zero luck finding a job in NJ while here in Disney.

And my brakes died on my car. Ryan mentioned when he was here that my brakes sounded like they needed new pads. Well I go in today, on my first day off and not only do I need new pads, to flush the fluid, new brake lines, new cylinders.... $1275.00. Ugh. So not happy about that.

So... a wedding. In May. Maybe if I just had a color scheme I'd feel better. Or any general idea at all! Ack!