Not So Wordless Wednesday

On your birthday Starbucks gives you free drinks. The Starbucks on base doesn't use the app or whatever it is with the gift card reloadable thing (you can tell I do this a lot) but they still give you a free drink. I asked for a medium and the girl behind the counter told me to live a little, it was my birthday after all, so I ended up with a passion tea lemonade the size of my head! Plus they matched my new birthday present Ray Bans my mom found on major sale somewhere. So I took a rare selfie, especially since I had my hair curled, another rarity.

On 9/11 I didn't have work, so once Ryan came home we went to the 9/11 Memorial in Jacksonville. I am ashamed to say I didn't know it existed until that day and the base Facebook page posted about it, but I am glad we went. It is a piece of steel from the Twin Towers and you can see the notes and flowers people left throughout the day. We arrived just after it rained so it was just us for awhile in the evening sunlight. It was beautiful.

Football season started and I was super excited. Now both my teams are 0-2 and I want to bang my head on the wall. Sigh.

Last weekend my parents met us for lunch in New Bern and we tried a delicious restaurant called Persimmons, which we had never been to before. It was right on the waterfront and all of their food was made from fresh, local ingredients. Check out my fried green tomatoes (with regular tomatoes, goat cheese crumbles and balsamic reduction). Oh my gracious it was heavenly.

We walked around a bit then and just enjoyed the view and showing my dad New Bern since he hasn't been before. It was pretty hot so the breeze coming off the water was much appreciated.

I finally managed to snag something from The Enchanted Brush. I was way too excited and I already wore it! I ordered it Friday, it arrived Monday, and I wore it Tuesday. One day I will own a pair of her amazing shoes... when I can afford them!!!

I am back to the "Let's guess why your digestive system doesn't work game." with a new gastroenterologist. So far I like him, we have some ideas, but until I have an attack again they cannot do as many tests as they want. I am under instructions to go to the ER during my next attack and have a CT scan and blood work done... which should be fun. When I am in attack mode I can barely move or leave the bathroom let alone get myself to the ER in time, but we shall see. I cannot seem to go more than six weeks without an attack so maybe within a month we will know more. He did decide to test me for celiac's disease with a simple blood test after my appointment. I went to the lab and I told the young HN naval guy I have deep veins, just to give him a heads up. He felt around, said he found one and was good. He then stuck the needle in said, "Oh." and promptly pulled it out again. As blood trickled down my arm he went and grabbed someone else and said, "Can you tap her, I blew out her vein." Sigh. I warned you dude. Now I have a lovely bruise on my arm. The other arm where the other lady tapped me? Not even a mark. I also have a gastric emptying test scheduled for this Friday. I sincerely hope I get some answers anyway possible at this point. I am tired of these stomach issues... it has been nearly a year now! But I like this doctor and I feel like he actually listens to me, unlike the other one, so fingers crossed.

When I visited my mom over the weekend of my birthday I got a gel manicure that lasted me a full two weeks. My nails are never long so I wanted to keep it up if I could. I went to Target and got the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish since it was no light necessary. I really don't have the time to go get my nails done every few weeks so I was excited to try this. Sadly, it chipped in less than a day. My nails look a little extra ragged from when I removed the salon gels, but the chips weren't even in the same spots on some of my nails. So yea, kind of disappointed. I have done a touch up already and those have chipped too. Just in case you were wondering before you buy! It's a shame because the colors are gorgeous and they dry pretty quickly, but they sadly just do not last with me.

I am trying to get back to blogging regularly, so thanks for sticking with me and my random accumulation of thoughts... especially in this post in particular.

This is not a sponsored post in any way, all opinions here are my own in terms of restaurants, Etsy shops, and nail polish... just sharing what I experienced!

High Tech Pillow

Everyone knows one of the most difficult things about being a military spouse is the long distance separations. Whether it is bootcamp, school or a deployment there are long stretches of time when you are forced to be apart. Any long distance relationship can be wearing and sometimes the worst part is going to bed at night. Since Ryan has been away at school our Queen sized bed is too big. Half of it is cold and very empty. I try to fill it by stuffing his side with Bentley and Mutsy, my childhood stuffed rabbit and dog that wear one of Ryan's shirts. I make sure his voice is the last one I hear before bed... but it is not the same as him lying there with his arms wrapped around me.

I was facebook and on my super duber stalker newsfeed I saw my friends Aliee and Connie posting about this. Connie is a mom to a toddler who misses sleeping with her little boy some nights and Aliee had found this article and shared it. I promptly jumped in on the conversation. Could you imagine having a high tech pillow glows and pulses to your long distance loves heartbeat?



There are two pillows. When person A lays their head down on pillow 1, person B has their pillow 2 glow, and vice versa. Putting on a ring transmits your heartbeat.



My first thought was, "Wow... that is pretty creepy."

My second thought was, "Wow... I kind of want one."

I miss sleeping with my husband. I love the glowing idea, to know when his head is resting on the pillow next to mind. The heartbeat I could do without! I did share this with some military spouses on facebook and reactions were pretty similar to my own! One very wise milspouse even wondered "What if during the night one of us has a nightmare or something and wakes up to a fast beating pillow with no explanation?" Good point.



True there is the creep factor and the nightmare factor... but I cannot help but think it would be comforting. It doesn't mention fully how it works (like if it needs wireless or phone signal or what have you) but it does mention it is an insert that goes into a normal pillow and has a ring that you wear with it. Either way the product is not available yet. The company is UK based and is still looking for funds to kickstart the manufacturing process. But who knows, maybe they will be here sooner than we think! They have a paypal option on their website if you want to contribute and if they get enough (and you give enough!) you can be an early tester.


What do you think? Creepy? Cool? Creepy and cool and I want one regardless?




(PS - Little Riot does not know me or know I did this post. I did not get compensation for mentioning them or anything of the sort. They do not know I exist. Just a commentary from me! Pictures and information mostly from here.)