Oops, Hello Blog!

So when your mother calls you and says, "Allie you haven't updated your blog since Friday. You are being a slacker blogger!" you know that you're a bit behind. Properly chastized indeed! So here I am filling you all in on the past few days so my mom doesn't drive down here from Jersey and ground me for a lacking of blogging!


Friday apparently was the last time I blogged... since then Ryan and I have been spending a lot of quality time together before he goes to school. He has leave so he has been doing a lot of errands around the house and such and nights and weekends we do as much as we can! Friday we dragged a whole bunch of neighbors out in front of our building. It was literall 105 degrees, even when the sun went down, but we had wine and beer and liquor flowing so it was a blast! The dogs were out, people were chatting, cigars may have been lit, we had so much fun.

Saturday we slept in (finally for me!) and then went with our neighbor Adam to the indoor shooting range. We had about a two hour wait and once we got in there it was BOILING. Apprarently the fan or the AC was not functioning, so we literally had sweat pouring off of us. Icky. I was so hot I honestly had a hard time aiming, I did much better in March when it was cold! :P

When we got home I made Ryan these amazing grilled cheese jalepeno sandwiches that I borrowed from another blogger and he liked it so much he asked me to make them for his going away party on Saturday! Done deal my love. I am also making cheesey cornbread ala secret family recipe since I love you so.

Sunday was church, IHOP (tradition!) and then we went and saw Friends with Benefits. Hilarious at times, predictable at others.

Monday we hung out at the apartment, watched season 6 of Weeds on Netflix, then went and finally regsitered me at our church. We'd been going since January but we thought we were leaving, now knowing we, well I, have 8 months left I might as well.

Yesterday we had a delicious steak dinner, curtosey of my husband and George Foreman. It was so nice out we decided to walk down the street to King St and get some ice cream at Pops. We sat down at the waterfront and enjoyed that. Going back Ryan realized he had never ridden the free trolley, so on we went!



We snagged a seat and Ryan had his arm around me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. The old lady behind us smacked his arm saying, "Stop that!" It was hilarious, she was joking around so it wasn't creepy I promise. I said, "I can't take him anywhere." to which Ryan looked quite affronted as the woman offered to call security! :P

We got off the trolley at our favorite bar Murphy's where they were having TRIVIA NIGHT. I was pretty stoked. I love pub trivia nights, even did one at my bachelorette day! We didn't win and ended up being out way too late for me (since I do have work in the mornings)so I was totally dragging today!

Tonight I am going to see JOSH GROBAN! So so so excited.

Tomorrow Ryan and I are going to Busch Gardens, gotta love places that let military in for free!

Notice how I am being upbeat? Trying not to panic that he is leaving in about four days? Yea... we'll pretend that is really working!

Thursday Link Up

I feel like this song is oddly appropriate for this week.

I started reading Harry Potter when I was barely 11 years old (fitting huh?). I was off to another summer at Girl Scout sleep away camp and my mom told me she found this book about a boy who was a wizard and a detective. I was so not interested. But my mom sneaked Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets into my trunk. I heard for some reason that the second book at first was more available in America, hence the reason I started on number 2. Number 1 wasn't here yet!

Needless today I read it three times those few weeks. I was addicted. Sure I was a little confused at first but I soon was immersed in the story and totally did not care about the missing piece or two. I realized then it was the second book and my mom and I hunted to find the first one. I read that, then the second, then again and again. Each book release I was there. A few I was at Borders at midnight ready to go.

Then the movies happened. By this point my best friend Sam was just as immersed in the books as I was. When I heard they were making a movie I scoffed at the idea. Why ruin such a great book by turning it into a movie? (pretentious little pre-teen, wasn't I?) Sam and I were at the movies seeing something when the preview first played. It was one of those theatre's with big screens in the lobby that plays previews while you get popcorn, and I remember we were walking under it and we stopped, backed up, and watched the preview in silence. We then looked at one another when it was over and said, "Ok maybe we'll see it."

I became hooked on the movies too. I learned very on not to compare them too much to the books. I know every movie could not be eight hours long (a girl could dream) so I just learned to love them in their own right, separately from the books. I went to midnight premiere after midnight premiere. Sam and I skipped school to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and even made tshirts to wear! It had Sirius Black's prisioner number on the front with the name and date on the back. I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when I was in Rome (it had been out two days since all the English shows sold out fast!) and we saw it with Italian subtitles. I have the US versions of all 7 books plus the British ones of One, Three, Five and Seven... coincidence all them being odd numbered. I also have the third one in Greek (because I was there and wanted it!) and the first one in Spanish... which I have tried hard to read.

The seventh book came out when I was studying in Greece, actually on the island of Crete. I went to five bookstores on the island before I found the one that carried the book. I sat with my nose burried in that thing for nearly 48 hours straight (between sleep and study abroad and a test). I cried in the Starbucks when one of my favorite characters died and I cried a bit (for a different reason) when I finished the book.

For the past twelve years this story has been in my life. I cannot believe it is ending so soon. Ryan and I have tickets to the 9:55pm Friday night show (since midnight showings are not ideal when you have to be up for work at 7) and I am both overly excited and slightly dreading it. What will we all do now? :P

I guess there is always Pottermore...

Valentine's Dayyyy

First of all this was the weather! So I was pretty happy.


Then my boss got Georgetown Cupcakes from her husband... and shared!

But when I got home the chain was on the door. I was locked out! I hear, "Hold on a second!" Now I am curious. Ryan lets me in and makes me close my eyes. So he guides me to the living room and I see this set up, but with lit candles!



All from this wonderful guy....




Who also got some magnets from me in his card that looked like this because I could not resist...



We then went to my FAVORITE restaurant for dinner in Old Town. We even walked like old times this summer since it was nice out! It is a greek restuarant that I just love. Usually it is closed on Mondays but it was open for Valentine's Day and Ryan got a reservation. We had saganaki, an amazing bottle of red wine, and the sampler platter for dinner (yes we ordered the same thing, but it is my favorite that I always get!). It comes with Moussaka, Pastitsio, Dolmades (my absolute favorite), Soudsoukakia and Spanakopita (Ryan's favorite!). YUM. Plus bread and spiced olive oil and I am full. We sat for a long time talking and finishing our wine. As we were just about done the owner gave all the tables a free glass of dessert wine (or port?). Oy. It was just amazing. I love that restaurant and if I could go there once a week, I totally would!

We had a very full, slightly tipsy walk home where Ryan told me to pick out a romantic comedy on Netflix. Really??? So we watched When Harry Met Sally because I thought he actually would like it. He did. But scarily some of the things Harry said in the movie are SO Ryan it kinda weirded me out. I made this dessert the night before so we ate this too...



It is a mini cake with raspberry jam and toasted almonds inside, covered with a chocolate-y shell. I may share the recipe (it is pretty simple) if anyone wants it! My mom sent it to me.


And thanks to Liv at Simply Sunshine and Daisies for the awesome Valentines! They definitely made me smile, especially the Mickey and Minnie one!




I couldn't help but take more pictures of my flowers this morning.

Man Oh Man...

Have I been slacking or what?

I mean, blog-wise.

Life-wise, ohhh nosiree Bob. (Ever wonder who bob is anyway? It's like no way Jose... I actually said that to my friend Jose in Disney once and nearly lost it... anyway, focus Allie, you're blogging. Ok got it.)

So backing up a bit, last Friday I opted not to have lunch and left work an hour early. Ryan and I then went over to the Gaylord National and saw the Ice Exhibit of the Grinch. It was AWESOME. I'll have to post pictures tomorrow. You would not believe this entire thing was made of ice! Except for maybe the fact that it was 9 degrees in there and we had to all wear borrowed parkas. Aside from the cool (no pun intended) sculptures there was also an ICE SLIDE we could go down!! Fun fun fun.

We then went out to dinner at Cadillac Ranch for amazing burgers before heading home. Sadly the hubster had duty Saturday so it was the day for me to be extra busy. The apartment got a much needed cleaning, presents were wrapped, Ryan took laundry with him which I picked up and put away at the end of the night... it was quite a busy day.

Sunday we went out to breakfast, saw Tron, got Ryan a new jacket (note: the mall is insane the week of Christmas, just to let you know...) and I made meatloaf for dinner.

Otherwise work has been crazy busy. Tons of mailing and packages and billing to boot... so I am trying here! I am still reading all my blogs, but I am just bad at writing at the moment.

Thanks for sticking with me! Two more days of work!

Busy Week!

Work was killer this week!

First on Wednesday our phones died for two hours. When your job primarily revolves around answering and transfering calls that is a big problem. It wasn't just our phones at the front desk though, all of our clients had no phone access either. Bad news bears indeed.

So Thursday has to be better right? You would think. Our internet was out. All day until 4:20pm. Man oh man were people pissed, and rightly so! How can a company not have a back up system??? In all fairness it was not our company's fault but the provider losing a giant server in Atlanta that we were somehow linked in with, but people were not too concerned with the reasoning, just the results! Ugh. We could do our job too well either. Our schedule for booking meeting rooms? Online. Our billing? Online. Luckily we had our outlook email up and running since it is operating on the server at our headquarters. Emailing clients, cancelling appointments... oh it was brutal.

Friday I thought had to be better! We came in early Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to set up a beverage service (aka coffee) for a client, so I got some overtime doing that, but Friday I came in at normal time and had phone and internet! Then around 10am one of our clients came in with a project for me, also known as an Admin project. They pay the company for it, I do the work. He is a lawyer and just inherited a bunch of cases from another lawyer who just retired. He needed the papers relating to each case organized and re-filed. Man. Oh. Man. I had to divert from the phones to just do this project. I worked from 10am until 5:30pm finishing it. Loooong day. He was very nice and appreciative so I honestly did not mind doing the work, but it was Harry Potter Day! I had to get to the theatre!

I flew out of work and to the theatre, glad I got tickets ahead of time, and met Ryan, Russell, and Lauren. Russell and Lauren got their before us so they were in line and got us some good seats with them. The movie? Fantastic. I won't spoil anything, but I enjoyed it. Some things were left out but it could have been worse. I cried once. And now I cannot believe I have to wait until July for the next one!!!! Oy.

We're at the barracks now doing laundry. Being the adult I am I woke up at 8:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. So I watched the rest of one of my favorite movies (Under the Tuscan Sun), ran to the bank, and then grocery shopping. Go me.

Happy weekend!!!

Step One - Check!

I meant to write about this yesterday but work (my usual blogging time when it is slow :P ) was crazy when I got there!!! Now if you read these posts you will be mostly up to speed...

So I had my appointment with the plastic surgeon today. I actually ended up being late thanks to the filming of Transformers 3 all over DC. Yes, that is awesome, I want to go watch some if it if I can, but not when my husband and I are running late for my appointment!!! Yikes. I was so nervous too. I was shaking and jittery all morning.

Well we get to the hospital and I met with my doctor and... he approved me for the procedure. Yes it was awkward being in a room topless (with an open front gown really) with my husband, a male doctor, and a male student doctor. I focused on the back wall and went to my happy place and tried not to blush. But Dr. Ducic said I am a good candidate. I am actually a DD, not a D, and asked what size I would want. I said the B/C range and asked his opinion. He said closer to C may be better and more proportionate for me but that is just his opinion.

The whole thing happened to fast. I gave the nurse my information, the doctor came in measured me, looked, discussed somethings, and it was done.

Basically my right one (which apparently is bigger, I had no idea but Ryan said he knew that... heck he looks at them more than I do so whatever) would get 700 grams taken out and my left one 600 grams.

I have to quit smoking three weeks before the operation and for three weeks after (heck if I do six weeks I may as well quit) and Ryan cannot around me either. In the words of Dr Ducic, "Do not smoke near her. Not in the car with her, in the same room with her, or anywhere around her. No smoke. At all." Ok then! He also mentioned he has never once had a complication with a breast reduction surgery and I would not be the first! Statistics were discussed, usually 20% of women are unable to breast feed but none of his patients have ever had that happen. Good stuff.

It is a three hour procedure and I would be kept overnight for observation. He then recommended I take two weeks off of work (yikes) and then no heavy lifting or strenuous activity for six weeks post-op. I would have drains the first three to five days that would then be removed. After fifteen days my stitches would come out. Again, yikes. Ryan offered to take leave to stay with me and my mom offered to come down too if need be.

After the consultation I had pictures taken with a photographer in the studio down the hall (thankfully female) and then met with the nurse. TriCare only gave me a referral for a consultation so the nurse said I had to go back and get one for the treatment and surgery and other visits. Cue 45 fricken minutes on the phone with Dewitt Army Hospital and still NO appointment and NO results. UGH. I will call again Monday and keep trying. I need the referral so the nurse can submit my package to TriCare for approval. With my back problems, physical therapy, xrays, medication... she thinks I am pretty much a shoe in.

TriCare please please please do not screw this up. I am tired of back pain and dents in my shoulders and skin problems and people staring at my chest not my eyes. Thank you.

After we grabbed McDonalds, dropped Ryan off at work and then flew to the office myself. It was billing today so I was adding up things for clients and inputting data (skipped lunch to make up for way lateness) all day! I took half hour lunches (vs an hour) all week to make up for it and need two more next week. Got my nails done, came home, end Friday!



Step 2, my PCM's approval, to follow. Fingers crossed!

Brrr!

It got cold! How did that happen?? Yes we were all waiting for fall but this feels almost wintery! Geeze.

Yesterday Ryan and I were going to go on our traditional nightly walk (since there is finally no rain!) and we made it as far as the curb before saying, nope, too cold having a cigarette and going back inside! Ryan made yummy chicken fajitas for dinner and we opted to snuggle onto the couch and watch movies.

After the end of You've Got Mail we start browsing the channels. I see Halloweentown is on the Disney Channel. Before I can stop myself I blurt out, "Oh my god! Halloweentown??? I love Halloweentown!" Then I realize my big bad Marine husband probably would rather gouge his eyes out than watch a kid's movie on the Disney Channel but to my surprise he says, "Halloweentown! Oh wow I remember that movie! Let's watch it!"

Jaw hit floor here.

So that is how my husband and I ended up curled up on the couch watching a classic Disney Channel movie from the era when they were amazing, unlike now. The fact that it came out 12 years ago (1998! wow!) made me feel a bit old. We also have a date for Halloweentown 2 tonight at 8 and I am kinda psyched. (:





OH! If any of you want a free Blue Star flag for your home/apartment/whatever click here! Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.

Weekends aren't long enough...

Weekends are so precious.

48 hours to do whatever you like. Sleep in til noon (or nine if your body is magically reprogrammed now as an adult). Eat big meals. Go places. Party. Lay on the couch with your husband for hours on end.

The 5/2 weekday weekend ration so does not cut it for me. Switch it please? Or maybe even 4/3 would be nice.

We didn't even do that much this weekend, but it was still great. Friday I wasn't feeling well so we went to bed early. Slept til 9. Then we went over to the barracks as there was a big festival over on 8th St. There was a cook off between the chefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and the White House among others. Sadly the Marines kinda let us down and didn't even make the top five! Ah well. There were lots of politicians advertising (of course), cupcakes (new shop opening called Hello Cupcake!), lots of food, music, theatre (someone's awesome husband got someone at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre to give them their card so their wife can send in their tech resume... (: ), and a trapeeze school. I totally took a brochure and plan on trying it out. Who's with me???

Sunday we got so much done. We were up late watching Good Will Hunting (LOVE Robin Williams) but somehow got up early, had breakfast and went about our merry chores. I went grocery shopping iwth $86 and managed to only spend $73 getting what we needed, and cleaned the apartment while my husband did laundry and went to the gym. We walked to church and then came home, had dinner (yummy broiled steak and vinegar stringbeans) showered and were in bed by 9 as someone had to be up at 5am. Luckily it was not me.

But regardless of how much sleep I got I was so Mondayish this morning. Forgot my engagement ring, class ring, lunch, and a brush today. Also no umberella or jacket and it is raining. I have a first rehearsal tonight at Catholic to go meet the cast... I am the production Stage Manager for The Magic Flute at the end of next month so I have to meet everyone. It is a sweet deal, I have to be there tech week and the week of the show and that is it! It is a great credit for my resume and I am getting paid.

How was your weekend? Are you with me on the 4/3 ratio? Let's petition....

(Offer still stands for give away help! I only need five more people before I can do one... if anyone wants to go in with me or has an idea plase email me! imyewneek@yahoo.com)

Incidentally Enough...

First... can I just mention I am SO flippin excited for this!?!?




Second. I finally heard back from the doctor last night. Now it turns out the spot was there, but it is still an incidental finding. On the phone he was throwing out a lot of big words I didn't quite catch (like enterior portion, limbus fetibra etc) but here is the gist. As a kid your bones fuse together, well apparently one part of my spine didn't want to cooperate and an extra piece of bone fused to the outside of my spine on my L3. I think it is called having a secondary osefication center. Whatever it is, it makes the part of my spine have a different density. He said a lot of people have them, most commonly in their feet or even chest, but it is rarely ever a problem. Where mine is it is not located near any nerves or my actual center spinal column so we are just going to leave it.

If I start getting really bad pain or pins and needles again we may investigate further. Until then I am still waiting on my referrals to a physical therapist and a plastic surgeon (yay thanks for being prompt TriCare!). If I don't get it Friday I am calling and harassing them again on Monday.

But thank you all for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. At least it all wasn't for sh...crap. We now know one more thing that is not causing my pain. That tends to be the trend with me whenever I am sick... we eliminate everything it is NOT but rarely get around to what it is. Oh well. Next step ahoy!

Attention Wifes/Fiances/Girlfriends of Deployed Men!

I had a comment on my blog from someone who is working on a documentary/reality show about the reuniting of men coming home from overseas. It is about how the wives prepare for the homecoming and the homecoming itself. If you or anyone you know is interested in participating in the project check out the website www.roadtoreunion.com and you can find all the information there. They are filming all across the country so do check it out. Fortunately Ryan is stateside, so I had to let them know I couldn't partake, but they did ask me to pass the word on to others!

Let me know if you check it out!

Day 13

Day 13 - A Fiction Book

Just one??? I can't choose! I love a lot, I am a shameless fiction reader. Harry Potter, (and I hate to admit I read Twilight too...), Lamb the Gospel According to Biff Christ's Childhood Pal, and if you want some awesome books by British or Irish authors I recommend Cecilia Ahern (If You Could See Me Now, P.S. I Love You...) and the books Amanda's Wedding and Talking to Addison.

Just if you need some suggestions!

Tonight my good friend Kristin, who is back from Chicago for two months, came to see the apartment. We had some awesome Thai food and then went to see Eclipse. It is a small theatre on King St in Alexandria and with active duty discount tickets were $7! Then the catch, you have to buy one drink (alcoholic or not) with each ticket. A $4 soda or $6 beer suddenly makes it all not quite so cheap. But it is still a cool theatre, older and they didn't start the movie until we were all seated inside and ready!

One more day, than the weekend!!! Saturday the family is coming down with Fernando and I am pretty excited.

Day 2 - Your Favorite Movie

Another tough one! I have to say I will always be a die hard fan of Back to the Future! All three are actually wonderful. Most people say the third one, in the Wild West, is awful, but I think it is hysterical. The second one going into the future is just awesome, and the first is a classic! I had a huge poster in my dorm all four years of college and I flirted with the idea of being Marty McFly one year for Halloween. My dream car is a DeLorean, I even debated fully throwing myself into driving stick (*shudder*) to do it. Two years ago when Angelyn, Anna Laura and I went to the National Mall for the 4th of July I was ecstatic because Huey Lewis and the News played and totally sang Back in Time. Amazing. The kitchyness of the 80s in this movie also cracks me up a bit. The orange puffy vest and the music and the shoes... so cool.



My other favorite I have to mention is Under the Tuscan Sun. Diane Lane is just wonderful in this movie and it makes me want to pack my bags, move to Tuscanny, and find a cool villa. It is funny, it is a great story, and it always makes me feel better when I am in a terrible mood. One time when Ryan and I were still dating we had a huge (and very stupid) fight. In a mess of tears I called my best friend Sam. We talked for a bit and she told me the movie was on Oxygen. I didn't get that channel but I popped in my DVD and we sat quietly together on the phone watching it, her in Florida, me in Maryland. After we hung up I put it back to the beginning and watched it over and over until I could fall asleep. Now whenever I am sad or down I always pop that movie in and I feel myself just getting much lighter and happier. I really want to go to Tuscany with Ryan. He is such a wine buff that he would be in heaven. The food would be amazing and the scenery would take our breaths away.

Someday.

One More Theory Tested...

So I went to another doctor today as mentioned in an earlier entry to test out my mom's theory about my thyroid possibly being funny. I filled the doctor (a regular old general doctor, no more specialists for me!) in on my extensive medical history for the past year or so and our theory. He agreed to test my thyroid but he also asked me if I ever had lyme disease. I said yed I did, in third grade. So he said he'd like to test me gor that as well, my symptoms may be from that, it could have reoccurred or even I am just unlucky and could have gotten it again. Fingers crossed that it is something to give me an answer already!

After I met Danielle, Sam (my Maid of Honor)'s little sister for lunch. I am glad we have gotten much closer over the past few months. We've always been friends I think, but maybe just more through Sam than in our own right. Now we definitely are. We have had a lot of great talks and she has helped keep me sane here in NJ. After lunch she came over and helped me organize and go through a lot of the junk I had stored in the garage and the bridal shower gifts.

We went to her house for dinner with her mom who made pizza and watched Pirate Radio. If you like Rock n Roll at all you MUST see this movie. The soundtrack is killer and it is hilarious. I highly recommend it!

Easter

What an Easter. The Easter Bunny (aka Mom) outdid herself! I cannot believe there was an iTouch in my Easter Basket!!! Absolute insanity. Thank you Mom!!!! Stefan got a PSP and we both got a whole lotta candy between us. Mom and I also built a pretty darn good basket for Ryan, if I do say so myself.

We have a family tradition when we wake up Easter morning there is a plastic egg waiting for us on the kitchen table. In that egg is a clue which leads to another egg and another clue and so on. Our last clue leads to our Easter Baskets! My dad did the clues this year... for Ryan, Stefan, and me! My dad is a hard clue giver. I got stumped at one point when I figured out the clue was in my closet but just could not find it! It was shoved in my sneaker but I got pretty frustrated and kind of snapped at people. Oops. I was just doing so well then got stumped and the boys beat me!! Ah well.

My basket was in the cooler on the shelf in the garage. Ryan's was shoved in the tip of one of the kayaks. Stefan's was in the filter box for the pool. Ryan and I then did a lot of grown up talk about budgeting and whatnot before driving to Babci and Poppy's for a HUGE Easter dinner with the family. SO good. But Ryan remembered to show me the video of the apartment, since he couldn't send it, and I wasn't paying attention so we missed the exit for the Turnpike! So we were all turned around trying to get back to the highway and yelling at one another, but we eventually figured it out and laughed about it. Ryan left from there after dinner to go back to DC and I miss him already!

Otherwise we just did lots of quality church time, he got his 100,000 mile check up on his car and some work done, and we saw Clash of the Titans.

Happy Easter!!!

Back a few days...

So Monday my room mate Kayla and I went to Typhoon Lagoon, the water park. We went on all the slides and swam in the wave pool and MAN that was a workout. Swimming against those waves and floating in the deep water made my arms and legs almost hurt from all the effort! After that we went and got Halloween costumes so we can go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Kayla is going as a flower child/hippie and I am going as a 20s flapper girl. I will have to post pictures of it later..

BECAUSE I got another camera. Yea, sadly, my camera officially bit the bullet. I was not happy since it is the one Ryan gave me for our one year anniversary. I used my Disney discount and I got a discount using my visa so yay for saving money. Then I walk out of the store and I check the reciept and I realize I was charged $2.13 for the camera. Yea, very wrong. So being that I am me I go back in the store and say I think he rang me up wrong. Sure enough.... basically the man thanked me profusely and said he would have lost his job and not many people would do that blah blah blah. I couldn't walk away with something like that! No way. Who could!??! Well, I am sure people could but I defintiely couldn't.

So we got dinner and then went grocery shopping, I did laundry, and then we started cleaning. We have our first apartment inspection Tuesday. I now know how Ryan felt the night before field day! But when I was taking the garbage out to the dumpsters I tripped over a parking cement thing and literally tore off the tip of my big toe. It hurt so much. It is all bandaged up and throbbing. No fun.. At all.

I am working all the rest of this week. Seven days straight. So yay for lots of hours and money, but it is pretty exhausting. I worked 11-19:30 Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday 9:30-17:30. Friday and Saturday are shorter days, like 13:30-17:30 or so, then Monday is a whammy... my first twelve hour shift! Eek! I will be there from 8:45-21:30 then have Tuesday and Wednesday off. Is it bad I am looking forward to those already? (:

There is this sweet little old man at work who is literally the Innoventions Grandpa.... Grandpa Gordon. I've talked to him a few times, and today we sat and talked about Guardian Angels. He said if I lay in bed at night, quiet with no distractions or cellphones or tv, and just pray and ask my guardian angel to tell me their name, it will come to me. He said maybe not right away, but within 24 hours or so a name will pop into your head and you will just know. His is Abraham, and he prays with him and talks to him all the time. Everyone needs a guardian angel, Ryan is my guardian angel in camis, but I think I may try tonight and see. I was touched he told me about all that, Grandpa Gordon mentioned he has not told many people about that, but he knew it would mean something to me and felt like I should know.

My friend DeiTos (Kristin) emailed me saying she, Heather, and possibly Jason may come visit me soon. That is pretty exciting for me, I hope they do. I would love to have people around from school to hang out with. It is a plan in the works so we shall see.

What else? Not much truth be told. Oh! We got the white glove award for our inspection!!! Basically we were one of the rare few to get a high pass and our apartment got a huge box of ferrero roche chocolates and our picture taken in front of the door to be in the office. Sadly I was at work when this happened so I am the only room mate not in the picture. Damnit. But yay for us being overly neat/good cleaners. I literally put my blood sweat and tears into this, my toe still hurts like hell. Especially after being in work shoes and on my feet all day. It is not too happy with me at all.

Plus we also had a "suspicious object" found on a bus so all bus services were suspended while they checked it out. Nothing was wrong but we had a lot of irate guests who were stranded places. That one was on the news.

Tuesday at work I also got very sick. Chills, achy, fever, so needless to say they sent me home. After two hours into a ten hour shift. I didn't ask, I was told to leave! So I went home and slept. A lot. I read Ryan's poems before I go to sleep every night so I did that and it made me really miss him.

After, on Wednesday, I felt better so I returned to work. Worked Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and now it is Saturday. Oh, last night a group of about seven of us went and saw The Informant, a movie with Matt Damon. It was funny, but it got to be so confusing near the end. I was so confused I really had no idea what was going on. The business lingo was way above my head. It was about price fixing and embezzlement and I totally missed it. And of course after the previews and before the movie when it is dead silent and dark in the theatre I sneeze causing everyone to laugh and shout bless you at me. Oy. I was kind of embarassed for that, especially since the first bless you came from the back of the theatre and I had no idea who that was. But it was cool to hang out with people from work again and not be in a work setting!

I am feeling better today, managed to eat normally and finally feel close to myself again. I think today after work I will do my first gym venture! I finally feel up to it, so wish me luck. Ok, done being long winded now.

Not much change...

So this week has been pretty standard. I usually wake up around 7am or so and talk to Ryan for a bit and then go back to bed. If I am lucky I catch him again around 3pm and of course we have our emails. I still have yet to hear his voice, just in the saved voicemail I have on my phone for eleven more days.

Yesterday, Cat and I had a nice late pizza lunch and then we went and walked from Chinatown to the mall. We walked through the sculpture garden at the museum and put our feet in the fountain. Then we crossed the mall to the other sculpture garden and walked through it. In there they had this project started by Yoko Ono, you know, the wench who broke up the Beatles :P Anyway, it was called the Wishing Tree and it was this beautiful tree and next to it there was this box. Inside was paper and pencils and you write your wish on it and hang it on the tree. The have them in a lot of major cities apparently, it was beautiful. I wrote one wishing for Ryan and TFE to come home safely from Iraq... so I was definitely thinking of him as usual.

Some of the wishes were very silly, some typical, and some sad. There was one wish on the very bottom of the tree that said "I wish I were taller"! And one that wrenched my heart said "I wish no children would have to suffer from cancer" in pencil, then in the same handwriting under it said, "Especially my own". Others wished for love or fame or forture... and oddly a lot of them wished for puppies! You could tell a lot of little kids visited that tree!

After that we walked on the mall and watched the kickball and softball teams. If I ever live in DC again, and part of me hopes I do someday as I really do love this city... I want to join one of those leagues in the summer. They look like so much fun! But we watched them a bit and then we played Scrabble on a bench nearby. Cat had a travel edition we were itching to break out! It was a good game, we didn't keep score and managed to get all the tiles on the board. We then walked down to my favorite memorial, the WW2 one, and took a few pictures along the way. We then walked back to Chinatown and we saw that Navy band playing near the metro stop at the Archives so we listened for a bit before heading back. Then we all headed to my apartment and Anna Laura met us there. Coincedentally the 5th Harry Potter movie was on HBO, so we watched it and snacked on some chips and chicken nuggets and just talked. Then we went to the movie.

The movie was really good. One of the better versions of the book I've seen, so I was pretty happy about most of it. And it was looooong! We got out around 2:40am and I just got home, around an hour later. I drove Rich, Nick, and Cat home since they live by campus and the metro was obviously closed. But we had a good time. I heard that Darius Rucker song Ryan likes on the radio as I was driving, the one with "I've got a roof over my head the woman I love laying in my bed and its alright..." and I thought of him. It made me smile and kept me awake as I made the last leg home.

Tomorrow I think I am driving down to Quantico to hang out with Nadia for the day. I think both of us could use the distraction. She is pretty miserable as she doesn't get to talk to Spencer (her husband) as much as I do to Ryan. And the kids keep asking her where Daddy is which breaks my heart.

I am a little nervous. Ryan told me he has a new mission now, different from before. He can tell me about it maybe when it is half done or not til the end. I am praying for them all and I know they know what they're doing. I know communication will be rough once he is off base so I am really cherishing these emails and facebook chats. I am also dorkily saving them all! So when there are days I can't talk to him I will be re-reading them religiously. I can promise that.

Oh Babci's surgery was today, hip replacement. I know it will be fine, it is the recovery we're all worried about. I love the woman but she can be a pain in the ass! Especially with stuff like this. Poor Mom is going nuts! My Dad picked up Babci and Poppy and bought them to our house only to have them realize they forgot Babci's X-Rays! So Mom had to drive an hour to get them and an hour back because they cannot and will not do the surgery without them! She wasn't too happy about that.

Oh! My room mate Caitlin is moving out today. I will officially be the only person left in my apartment!!! Weird! I feel like I live alone basically anyways so not much will change, but it will be weird. Kinda lonely too. Boo. At least its only for like two or three weeks. I have to start packing and organizing and now I can throw anything left behind without wondering who it belongs to. If it is left it is either mine or gone!

My adventure today was small... Anna Laura ran out of gas so I went to get her! Then I read outside by the fountain for an hour before coming back to the apartment.


Gosh I really miss him today. Today is one of the worst days since he actually left. I feel so... lonely.

It's so hard to say goodbye...

Well I cannot believe how quickly this time has flown. He's gone. I guess I need to back track a little. Wednesday I ended up not going down to see him since he called to tell me that we had more time than expected! Which was great. But I had rehearsal and then Mom came into DC and I picked her up at Union Station, she came in at 10:30am so it was an "early" morning for me (up at 9!) but I was at her gate waiting with coffee so I did well. We spent the day together, did some shopping (pretty shirt in the picture is evidence) and monument hopping. That and this AWFUL late dinner thing at this french cafe... we had a pizza thingy that was ok and then this meat/bread/cold/overspiced thing that made us both pretty sick! Ick. The next day Mom came to rehearsal with me and Redrum is kind of a death trap. 12 lighting instruments, holes in ceiling and floor, no bathroom in the building, light board with no memory and two faders I slide manually for cues (ignore techy talk, if you don't get it just realize it is old and difficult!), and hot! But she liked what she saw and after that we braved rush hour for the drive to Quantico.

2 Hours later we made it! Ryan shaved his head as per pre deployment tradition and he had that whole Keanu Reeves (ala Matrix) look about him! Friday was parents meeting day. My mom got to meet his mom, Bob, and his grandparents and things went well! We all had dinner (at Sam's again!) in Q-Town and then hung out behind the barracks in typical weekday night style. We had some beers and Ryan and I played horseshoes (I lost 5-3. We were so bad we only played to 5) and sat and talked and smoked. My mom and I stayed a little longer after Ryan's family left which was great for me to spend just a little more time with him. Then the MPs (Military Police) and were checking IDs... then they saw my mom and just laughed and lightened up on the whole thing!

We then went to my mom's friend Suzanne's house for the night since she was local and it was free. It was nice to stay there but I got a little time warped/confused and, well it stunk to have happen. In the morning Ryan called at 11am and said head over whenever since originally we were to be there at 1pm. I also wrote Ryan this long card and got ready and things happened and by the time we got to base it was after 1pm. I thought they were leaving at 9pm but there was a communication mix up and he actually was in formation by 3pm and gone on the busses by 3:30pm. So I only had an hour and a half with him. I felt awful and so incredibly guilty. To top it all off, I love my mom dearly, but she can't be the designated photographer anymore because this is the only front on picture of the both of us. She cut Ryan out almost completly! You can see the tshirt I am wearing, it has the Eagle Globe and Anchor with the words, Is It February Yet? And Mr Dave, Ryan and his room mate Josh's old boss came to send off. He was incredibly sweet and it was very nice to see him again. You could tell he really cared about both of them and he was sad to see them go. And he gave them each a medal for their dog tags which they both promptly put on. I also re-connected with a woman who is a wife of someone Ryan deployed with. Nadia has been keeping me up to date whenever she hears anything so she has been amazing.

Three o'clock came way, way too quickly and before I knew it I was hugging him goodbye.

You can't really see him hugging me back since they were all issued their weapons before send off. But his arm was tightly wrapped around my shoulder and holding me tight. Kissed him goodbye, told him how proud I was of him and I loved him so much and he'd better come home, handed him the letter, and that was it. Said goodbye to Josh as he went towards formation and watched them all stand there. It was like a tease! They were right there and we couldn't hug them or talk to them!

There was a motivational talk and then they were on the busses. I got one last glimpse of him and he was gone....

Man oh man did I bawl. I cried the entire way back to DC. Mom drove. I called Poppy and he talked to me a bit and then Mom took me to a movie to distract me; UP. It was good, a little sad in the beginning but mostly very funny. One line got me teary again, the little boy said, "It may sound boring, but it is the boring things I miss the most." It made me think of Ryan, because it really hit home. It is the little things you miss. The hand holding, the silly jokes, the traditional couple things. We then got some cupcakes in Chinatown and went back to the hotel. It took me ages to finally fall asleep, besides the fact that my mom snores. Like a freight train! I made her take allergy medicine last night but it didn't help too much. Then Nadia called me around 8:45am to tell me she heard from her husband and that they were in Germany. Mom and I had breakfast delivered to the room, we were lazy, and then went to church. In church when they did the intercession for all military personnel I started crying again. I prayed for Ryan, and Josh and Mic and everyone else. There are so many people on this end praying for them and for a safe return. After church we briefly went to my apartment and I checked my email before we left. I was ecstatic to see one from Ryan waiting. He was saying he was in Germany and loved and missed me already. It was soooooo good to hear from him, even if it was just an email. I took Mom to the train station and dropped her off after that.


Then we had our first show. Life in Death. The Fringe festival kind of screwed us, they said in the program our show was Saturday, not Sunday, so we had four people in the audience! No major train wrecks, mostly it was hot and the singers got a bit disorieented and screwed up lyrically towards the end and I battled some hard light cues, but we did it! After the show we all walked around the corner to have a beer and just relax. I talked to Ryan's Mom on the phone for a bit and she told me you were in Iraq probably by now, not Kuwaiit (like originally thought for a few weeks). I had a BLT (with cheese!) and a beer, then went home. Where I had another email waiting! This one said he (and his gear) made it to Iraq. I signed on to facebook and saw he updated his status and I must have missed him by two minutes!!!! I was so sad. But I did have an email so I snapped myself out of it and sent him a nice long one back.

Since being home I uploaded my pictures, read my emails, and updated this. All as my room mate is moving out. Laura left before the 4th weekend and now Jackie is going... so it is just me and Caitlin til the end of the month? Not sure. The past nights were rough. I haven't slept too well and I keep having small moments of panic when I think about it too much. It really is such a long time. It terrifies me. I literally get this electric shock through my body and almost can't breathe when I think about it too much. I try not to. I tell myself I can do this and we can make it. I just wrap myself in the prayer shawl the ministry at church made me (and for Ryan's mom) with each stitch done with a prayer. And I cuddle with Mutsy, my stuffed puppy in Ryan's tshirt that smells like him and I update it with his cologne. Then I can calm down. I can do it. 2 days almost down, a lot to go. Is it next year yet?





I miss him so much.

Just Another Tuesday...

You know, when that Tuesday is probably the last time you're going to see your boyfriend for seven months. I didn't have rehearsal yesterday and Ryan got off work early so I drove down to see him. It took me about an hour and a half thanks to traffic but I got there early enough to beat rush hour at least. I helped him pack up some of his stuff in his room. He has been trying to pack all week but everytime they get something packed their section leader wants to do an inspection so they have to unpack to do it all again! Well, their idea of packing is rolling something into a ball and shoving it into the bag and standing on it or punching it until it is compact.

After packing for a bit we went for dinner in Q-Town at this place called Sam's. It was pretty good, I got some stuffed shells and loved being able to sit and eat with my Marine in his camis. He's too adorable in them.

We went back to the room and hung out a bit more. It was so surreal that this may be the last time we're together besides the send off. It was really hard to wrap my brain around. I just loved being with him, I kept the tears in check the entire time and just enjoyed being with him. A bunch of the guys ended up wanting to watch the Big Lebowski so we started that but it started getting late. Halfway through the movie I knew I needed to go if I was going to make the trip home.

I offered to stay at the Crossroads, the hotel on base, so we could have one more night together. Just to fall asleep with him at my side. But he said no. It was a waste of money and things would be harder for him if we did that. So I respected that and left. He walked me to my car and we said our goodbyes. I was doing pretty well until he said, "I'll see you at send off." I got in the car and waved goodbye and as soon as he was out of sight I started crying. I called my mom and talked to her the entire way back to DC. I don't know what I'd do without her.

Thanks to road work I got home at around 12:30am. I texted Ryan to tell him I made it home and say good night and got a text back. Then he texted me again saying he was a dumbass. I replied, Why??? He basically went on to tell me that he thought it would be easier if he didn't spend the night with me and now all he wanted was me lying next to him one more time before he goes. I replied to him that he would not have said that originally if he didn't know deep down it was true and that it was ok. I didn't feel it really but I was sort of telling him what I knew he needed to hear, because lord knows I just wanted to be with him! And he replied that he just didn't know, he was so confused. He knows he wants to be with me forever but he can't so he is pushing me away which is the opposite of what he wants. I told him again it was ok. He could push me all he wanted I am not going anywhere. And we can be together. We will make it through this deployment and have time for one another fully once more. I even offered to drive down tomorrow night (aka tonight) to spend it with him when I got off rehearsal if he wanted me to.

And that was kind of where we left it. Tack on an I love you and that was it.

Today is our one year and two month anniversary.