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....

 

Spring Swap!

Beckie over at Turn for the Nurse was my partner for this Spring Swap and I am so excited by my goodies!! We exchanged emails for ideas and Beckie totally hit the nail on the head with me.

Everything was in my favorite color, blue. It was cute with springy tissue paper and even a gorgeous little spring card. (My swap partners always show me up with packaging and cuteness, but I am trying to get better! She also satisfied my chapstick addiction with Pomegranate Burts Bees, the best kind! I also got some springy blue candles, which Ryan loves as he is tired of my cinammon/fall ones. There was a book, Hummingbird Lane, that I am going to read during my lunch breaks in the near future! Beckie said it was about a pediatric surgeon, so I will be sure to let her know what I think! Then my inner chocoholic danced for joy! A box of chocolate goodies (like chocolate covered pretzels), chocolate peanutbutter frogs, and a Truffle pig candy bar. SCORE. So loving the chocolate!

Thanks for sending me a great bit of Spring Beckie! I hope your package gets to you soon (parts one and two, I finally got the thing I got you on etsy and in the mail yesterday!) and that you like them.

Fall Swap

So my wonderful partner in the blog swap BethAnn from Bella N Chief completely spoiled me! I need to get better at my care packages as all the ones I have gotten so far are fricken awesome!!! I got a gorgeous blue pashmina, lotion, a pumpkin and leaves to decorate (they are now up in the apartment), some fun pink things for Breast Cancer Awareness month (very great cause, near and dear to my heart!), cards, snowman post its, and an off duty sleep mask. Too cute! We may have to do a cookie exchange soon eh? ;)

I hope there is a winter one to follow!

Summer Essentials Swap!

So thank you Nicole @ Flip Flops and Combat Boots for hosting the Summer Essentials Swap!



My swap partner was Michelle @ ~A'Etonu Family Adventures~ and I was SO excited to get her package. I hope mine was even considerably as close to as great as hers.



First off, sorry for the bad quality, I took the picture on my phone and sent it to my email to post it here! Complicated but my camera was MIA and I wanted to post this! Now, the card is GIRAFFE which is my favorite animal. Coincidence I am sure, but still awesome. She also sent me an adorable bag, a shower gel/loofah/lotion set, a REAL SIMPLE recipes magazine, a purple magnetic note pad, two fun colors of nail polish, and an awesome beach towel and pair of flip flops! Thank you Michelle!!! I am so glad I have gotten to know you through this swap. She and her husband are expecting their baby any day now, so check out her blog and say congratulations!

Busy Little Worker Bee

People always want to know, when is the best time to come to Disney World? NOW. After Labor Day and before Halloween. The parks have people, but the crowds are so small! On a peak busy day EPCOT gets between 45,000 and 50,000 people, last thursday we had 13,000. A few days later we had 16,000. Like I said, you want to plan a future vacation? Do it in mid-late September!

So Friday... Guess what?? I got Ryan's letter! Or should I say letters! Oh they were wonderful, he is such an amazing writer and I cried reading them. He is a gifted poet and I read them all the time. They are now safely in my pillowcase so I can feel him there with me whenever I sleep. Corny or not as that is to do so I know it will make it super easy to dream of him that way. I miss him so much sometimes I can't even breathe, it hurts more than I can put into words. When my room mate Kayla texted me at work saying his letter arrived I literally jumped up and down. I was so excited to get home and read it and I literally ran up the stairs and into my apartment and tore into the envelope. I cuddled up in my not so comfy chair in my not so comfy costume and read it before doing anything else.

Friday at work I was kind of an idiot. So I get to work with about half an hour to spare and I go to clock in and the computer says, "It is too early to clock in for your 13:30 assignment." I mixed up Friday and Saturday's schedule! I didn't have to be in until 1:30! UGH. Luckily they needed help and they just let me clock in early and have a few more hours on my pay. I just felt bad because it meant I could have talked to you longer this morning! Damn damn damn. This morning was soooo busy too. EPCOT had what we call Extra Magic Hours tonight. Basically if you stay at a Disney Resort you can stay at the park after it "closes" at 9pm and stay til midnight or so. Basically we had a lot more people in the park than earlier this week. Usually we have a show going on (we can sit 30) and a show waiting... sometimes stragglers will come in and we will say the next show is in fifteen minutes and they leave and come back. Today we had a show in, 2 full shows in line, and stragglers waiting for a third! I like my show... but I would not wait 45 minutes to see it. Sorry! It isn't that amazing. Then of course this afternoon when I got back from my break, round the time I was supposed to come in at, it was normal once more. Typical.

Rumor alert! We have the possibility of an early homecoming!!! Some other girlfriends and wives were saying their guys all are sending their winter gear back now so they won't be needing it because they are coming home. Some are sold on October, but Ryan himself mentioned November/December isn't impossible. Oh. My. God. That would be amazing!! If they do not get another mission after this one they should be home. Keep your fingers crossed! I am still thinking February and trying to tune them out, but it is hard!!!! I feel so out numbered. Heck I know half the guys could even come back and Ryan might still be there. I would be pissed if that happened. I miss him so much.

AND Ryan finally got my pacakges! It only took them two months to get there. And one is still on the way, apparently. But yay! And the cake in a jar was good when it reached him. Small blessings.

Ok, I have to pause with this weekend. This is a long entry any way, so more to come....

Magic Kingdom and Training

On Monday Sam came over and we explored Magic Kingdom together.... it was a great day. We did a lot of talking and officially caught up in one anothers lives. We went on tons of rides, had Captain Jack Sparrow flirt with us, and had a princess lunch at Cinderella's castle. It was a small splurge but totally worth it. We got pictures with Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine! I think I threw the poor girl who plays Ariel through a loop. She saw Sam and I were sitting just the two of us at a table for four and wanted to know where are princes were. We told her they weren't there and she said, "Well they better be protecting you or buying you jewelery, that are the only acceptable reasons to not be here." And I honestly could say my Prince was out protecting me. So she asked where he was exactly... so I said he was a Marine deployed in Iraq at the moment. Her response? "Oh my goodness! I hope he is alright, you make sure to tell him I say hi and to stay safe and come home soon." So like I said, I must have put that poor girl through a loop. I doubt she gets that answer too often! But the lunch was so good! We got five photo copies printed there (with Cinderella) included, as well as a wishing star, magic wand (boys get swords) and an appetizer, main course, and dessert for about $45 a person. Not a bad deal at all! And we lucked out not having a reservation and just managing to get in and get a table! We also met Stitch, Mickey, and Minnie!

We did some shopping, I got stuff to send Ryan in his first Florida care package and then I started a pin trading necklace. Then we got hit.... a huge thunderstorm settled over us and like typical Florida rain it didn't leave after an hour. It stayed. We were in the Monsters Inc comedy show when one of the screens went out. So we had to get the show cut short and we learned nearly all of Tomorrowland lost power in a power surge from the lightining. Boo. We decided to venture home a little after that... and we got soaked. And we had an umbrella!!!

I had work today and yesterday, still training, from 7:30am-4:15pm. Long days!! I am so tired! I need to go to bed early tonight. But I did Storm Struck for my first live audience today! It was so exhilirating, it reminded me why I love going up and performing in front of people. I didn't even mess up, I was pretty excited about that. Cinnamon is trying to convince me to do my assessment tomorrow and check out early, but we shall see how the morning goes. I think I could do it but I am not sure.. meh.

Ryan called me yesterday!!! The first twenty minutes were rough because he kept losing the call every five minutes or so. Then we got it to work and talked for a good 45 minutes! It was late for him, 6-8pm for me is almost 1-3am for him! He said they had been outside the wire all day and took a new dangerous route that had me worrying to hear. And he said, "Don't worry Sweetie, we haven't been hit yet." It was the yet that killed me. Plus the fact I found out the team he replaced was hit two weeks before he got there and other teams at his COP got hit. And weren't completely ok. Allie = Nervous Wreck. Moreso than before!! Ugh. But it was so good to hear from him and talk to him and to hear him laugh!! Oh that was amazing. He was a little jealous when I told him in my email to him that Captain Jack Sparrow hit on me and Sam, but we had a fun running joke out of it during the phone call.

Ok, enough for today. I need to have some food and get to bed. Not sure if anyone reads this thing, but just saying thanks and I appreciate it if you do!

Oh Deployments...

There is nothing in this world like getting a phone call from your Marine. It is amazing. Even when it cuts out four times and he has to call you back. Or when it ends with, "Oh crap Sweetie I got to go. Now. Loveyoubye." *click* (Don't worry I got a message an hour later on facebook that he was fine and not to worry, does he know me or what?) But it is still amazing and totally worth it.

I made these today...

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cake-in-a-Jar/Detail.aspx

I am so excited to mail them to Ryan. I managed to get about seven of them. They are cakes in jars! Basically you bake any cake mix, one cup in a wide mouth mason jar, and then you boil the lids. When the cakes are done baking you take the lid out of the boiling water and screw it on the jar. As it cools it seals and it will keep for about a month. Hopefully!!!! I got this on the USMC_gals website and I am so excited to see if they make it to him! I made chocolate cake and I got a can of chocolate icing to put in the box as well. Then thanks to another idea I saw I am going to decorate the jars and call them "Jarhead Cakes". I am a little too excited about this craft project!!! I love making care packages and I think he will really like this one. You know, if it makes it there! My first care pacakge sent July 20th still has yet to arrive... oy. I sent another yesterday or so and this one tomorrow. Actually probably two. Haha. And I am putting a box together for two of his close friends, I just need one of them to get back to me with his address. The other I have.

It is almost 3am. What am I doing up?!!? I want to go visit friends in NYC tomorrow so I need sleep.

PS - On facebook do not get the Farm Town application. It is so fricken addicting!! My mom started me on it and I can't stop!

Back in NJ

Whew. I am officially no longer in the DC area :( I miss it already! I mean I love being home with my family, but I love DC and I miss being there. This picture was taken last week when Cat and I went down to the mall to just hang out. We went to the two Sculpture Gardens and played travel Scabble as we watched the summer kickball and softball leagues play on the mall. Then I mentioned in my last entry Cat and I climbed (er, took the elevator) up the Washington Monument on Tuesday so I feel like I've seen the National Mall at all angles! I was there during President Obama's Inagural Concert and for Inaguration (in freezing cold weather from 5am-3pm!), for protests, to hang out with friends, to watch them film movies, to celebrate my 19th birthday... I have so many good memories over the last for years in this one place alone in DC I can't believe I can't just hop on the metro anymore and be there in like half an hour. I am about four hours away now! It feels so weird. Sometimes when I am away from DC I feel like my whole life there doesn't exist, and vice versa. In DC home in NJ seemed so far away. It's strange.

Anyway. Friday my dad was at my apartment around 7:30am. I was up until 3am cleaning and packing my car, so it was not a good wake up call! We packed up the van and we were out of there by about 9am. We stopped for lunch at my rest stop, the Maryland House on 95, and I was home by 1pm. Driving through Philidelphia I saw about six Marine Corps billboards and every single one made me think of Ryan and how much I love him and how proud of him I am. I got a tiny bit teary around the fourth one and fell driving behind my dad and sneaked a cigarette so I could keep going! So we got home and Mom helped us unload the car and then we just hung out for a bit. My Babci (grandmother) sent me a shoebox of pictures she found so my mom and I went through them and then I napped for an hour. We had a huge thunderstorm system thing move in during my nap, so it went from sunny and hot to torrential downpour!

Mom and I decided to drive and see Babci and Poppy since she got released from the hospital today. We stopped at a park near their house since my Mom wanted to smoke with me, it was funny. It was the park she and George (my biological father/asshole of a guy) took their wedding photos in, which was weird to be back there. But we went and had dinner with my grandparents. My Babci's sister, my Aunt Ceil, made pasta with meat sauce, zucchini quiche, and chocolate cake that also strangely enough had zucchini in it! I don't like zucchini, but this was all reeeeeeally good!!! We visited for a few hours and I napped again for an hour in the back room with my Poppy, side by side in our arm chairs! It was apparently a funny sight. Then we drove home.

Today I got up, went shopping with Mom, picked up my dad and brother after they kayaaked the river nearby, and then came home to talk to Ryan! I got about an hour online with him (: After he left I got ready and we went to Church. I don't know what started it, but as we were getting there I got really upset with my dad. I think it started in the car. I mentioned Ryan was talking about the Health Care plans on the news and all and my mom said she doesn't like the idea of the government paying for abortions which I don't care for either personally, but she went on to say something about not just abortion, but euthanasia and birth control. That threw me. I was like, "Wait a second, why is Birth Control up there with abortion and euthanasia??" And she started talking about the Catholic thing and I said I knew she used to take it, she knows I do... and she said stuff about absitnence etc. I said, "Yea, I am sure everyone in our church is doing that mom. If they were we'd all be in families of 18 like that Duggar reality tv show. I'm sorry if I feel like at 21 I don't feel ready to bring a child into the world so excuse me for using Birth Control." To which Stefan, my 12 year old brother, pipes up "What's birth control?"

Oops.

Well we averted that by ignoring it in the heat of our argument and we were almost at church when my mom mentioned my icky neighbor across the street came over today to deliver our mail she got by mistake. She was my former algebra teacher and a rip roaring bitch. This is where I got uspet. Dad started teasing me sort of about her son Matt, the creepy kid who is her son. He sort of had a crush on me way back when and was a bit older than me and he was just Weird with a capital W. So Dad was like, "Hey maybe Matt talked her into it. You should give him a call, hang out." And I said no thanks I'm taken, kept walking. And he kept going. My Mom was like, "She is in a committed relationship Bill. Stop it." And my dad was like, "Yea but Ryan isn't here, he wouldn't know." I swear to God I've never felt any real bad feelings against my dad before, but for the first time in my life I wanted to hit him. I was telling him to stop but in that one I said it again with an edge in my voice I don't think I've ever used before. I started tuning him out as he was talking to my mom, "Yea you heard what your dad (aka my poppy (grandfather) said)..." and went on to say something about some Sgt who cheated when he was stationed elsewhere so I am not the only one to worry about etc. I honestly felt tears in my eyes and I turned to my mom and said, "Seriously, make him stop, now." And I guess she did. I didn't say a word to him until halfway through dinner later tonight. I was just so angry. My mom said he was just teasing me and trying to get a rise out of me, probably didnt even realize how upset I was, but it still hurt regardless.

Anyway. We went to dinner at this restaurant called Old Man Rafferty's, which was really nice. A glass of prosecco (Italian champagne) later I felt better and I started talking to my dad again without realizing it. We're past it now so I guess it is ok, I let it go. After dinner Mom and I went to Wegmans and did some grocery shopping, in the pouring rain of course. My friend Cat called to say hi and see how I was doing at home, I miss her! The picture over here was from a week or so ago when we went to Great Falls VA and hiked around for awhile. I love that park. It is about 15 minutes outside of DC and you'd never expect to find such awesome scenery so close to a city!!

Then Mom and I came home, worked on putting a care package or two together for Ryan (: and wrote some letters. Stefan leaves for camp bright and early tomorrow so she was writing him a card or two to have when he gets there. After that we went in the hot tub, smoked a bit, and just talked. My mom was telling me all about how she put my scrapbooks together for my college graduation present, just what the process was and how much work went into organizing it and how the lady that taught us how to scrap book helped her put it together. She is thinking of doing one for Stefan up until 8th grade for him and all his stuff... which would be cool.

Then I came upstairs, uploaded my pictures to facebook, which finally took! I had been trying for days and it kept failing but I got them up at last! Then I emailed Ryan. Now I am going to head to sleep... hopefully sleep in tomorrow! We might go visit Babci and Poppy for dinner but tomorrow is pretty open. Next weekend, Sunday the 9th, is their 62nd wedding anniversary. I can't believe it! 62 years....

I hope someday I can say it is my 62nd anniversary ;)

Bound to happen...

Yesterday I went to meet my friend Anna Laura for lunch at IHOP. I am half way there when my mom, Ryan's mom, and our friend Dell all text me saying Ryan is online. I am nowhere near a computer! I was so upset I was tempted to blow off lunch but I couldn't do that to one of my good friends, it wouldn't be fair. So my mom ended up calling me and during some of lunch she relayed messages back and forth for us. I would say something on the phone, she'd type, Ryan would respond, Mom would give me the message... etc. Then Ryan's mom said he would try and wake up early that morning to talk to me but as I found out later a sandstorm happened so he didn't come on. I waited until after 3am my time for him. Then at 7:30am I got a text saying he was on!! So I did get to talk to him this morning for an hour or so, which was wonderful as usual. Thank god for facebook chat. And technology in general.

Backtracking a tad... Sunday I woke up and I went to church. I was pretty proud of myself for sticking to my promise to myself to go every Sunday while Ryan is gone. And yea I know it is only the second one, but so far so good! But I am kind of convinced God sent a guardian angel for me. You know in Catholic Masses when you do the sign of peace and everyone shakes hands and hugs and says "Peace be with you"? Well, usually when I go to church by myself that is kind of awkward. Everyone usually turns to their family first and I kinda shuffle around until someone turns to shake my hand. Well, today I was next to this old black lady and the instant the priest gave the word, she turned to me and gave me a big hug and said, "God be with you. He is watching out for you and loves you, and I love you too sweetie." I was just extremely touched and it made me smile. I wasn't crying or anything in church this week like I did last week with my mom (especially at the militart intention) but this woman must have just known. As I watched her shake hands with everyone else around her I knew someone was watching out for me.

Care packages sent: 2

I sent one yesterday, all stuff from me. Sunflower seeds, beef jerkey, cards, glowsticks, a yo-yo, little capsuls you put in water that turn into sponge animals, magazines, a notebook, oens, word puzzles, sour patch kids, mini oreos, asprin, chapstick, a protective case for his ipod, and the most perfect card ever. Remember the post I made where he said when he looks at the stars he thinks of me? Well I found one that was a little bear on a hillside looking at the moon and stars saying "No matter where you are...", then inside it shows the little bear's heart on its chest and says, "You're right here with me."

The second package was sent today and mostly from my mom. Baby powder, sunscreen, antibacterial lotion, wet ones wipes, chapstick, more sunflower seeds and beef jerkey, two hackey sack type things, tons of mike and ikes and razzles, and another deck of cards.

I waited up again hoping for him to somehow come online at 3am, 10am for him, but no dice. Maybe I will get another 7:00am phone call or text telling me he is online if I am lucky. I do love that we can chat online, but I do miss the sound of his voice. The one voicemail I have from him that I saved before he left expires in three days. I tear up listening to it... just hearing him say he can't wait to see me tomorrow and he loves me... it makes it feel like he is still here and not so far away.

Guess I just really miss him. 222 days to go?