All Over the Place

Time has been a tricky thing for me lately. With Ryan in cycle and me back at work it feels like there isn't really a set schedule for anything anymore... it's strange. I am now almost six weeks post op and feeling much better. On two occasions (naturally at four in the morning) my stomach rebelled something and I was up and sick for awhile and then off kilter for a few days, but I am just watching what I eat and going from there. Red meat and I may never have the same relationship, which kind of stinks. I only seem to handle the very expensive ground beef or burgers (93% or 97%), but roast beef, steak and anything else is a no go. I guess I can live with that.

Ryan is now in his second cycle as a combat instructor and this one is much better than the first (which was his training cycle). We still have periods of time where we don't see each other for a few days but there are those wonderful few that we get to hang out and spend some time together. After this cycle he will have some time on a normal work schedule since the busy season for SOI is over, which I am looking forward to.

I've been doing a lot of meal prepping on my days off, trying to cook lunches and dinners for the week for two people and doing the laundry and cleaning and grocery shopping; let's just say I remember days off being more relaxing than they have been as of late! Sometimes I feel like he is deployed again, but instead of maintaining a house and a life for just me it is for him too. He ghosts in exhausted; eats, showers and sleeps, and is gone again long before I wake up. I try to keep food in the fridge and the laundry clean and the house not a total disaster. I try not to get frustrated when mud tracks across the floor I just vacuumed or the laundry pile magically reappears as soon as I fold the last load, but it isn't easy. Not trying to complain by any means, I'd rather have him home in this capacity instead of deployed, but it can be exhausting at times trying to keep all the plates spinning.

Besides that my poor blog has been suffering for the past year or so. The community I was welcomed into years ago has drastically changed. I never have been one to blog for profit or into the business side of things, but I wonder if I missed out by not doing that. All the bloggers I started out with have pretty much stopped blogging. My readership is way down, comments and page views alike, and it is a bit depressing. I unfortunately do not have the time (and truth be told motivation) to go on a social media blitz or do some of the other things that extend into uber readership. I remember when blogging was more about sharing your story and personal relationships than networking and graphs and such. It's intimidating. I see blogs with thousands and thousands of followers and almost feel dizzy! That's a lot of pressure! Sometimes I think, I want to blog about this! but before I know it a week or two or three has passed and I have no idea what happened. How have I not come back to the space that was once my ultimate sanity?

I know this is all over the place... but I am still here. I am still trying to find my voice and write it down.

I hope you're still here too.

Real Real Estate

My mom told me buying a house is one of the most exciting times in your life. You spend hours searching for your dream home (or semi dream home on a budget) by pouring over real estate sections of the paper, looking online and meeting with realtors. Of course, my mother is not a military spouse and did this twice. Once for the house I grew up in and once for the house they now retired to. Something tells me my experience may be a little different...

Most people know military families move around a lot. Every three to five years you can expect to be sent to a different base, possibly even a different state, time zone or country. Depending where you are headed, living off base may be more financially practical (or if you're stubborn like my husband the ONLY way to go) but it is a whole different can of worms.

Since finding out last month we received orders to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina my husband and I have been in a frenzy trying to find a place to live. House hunting under normal circumstances can be stressful. I have friends already stationed down there who are looking for houses during all of their spare time and not having a lot of luck. Meeting with their realtors they are going from house to house and crossing their fingers hoping for THE ONE.

I'm kind of jealous.

At this point, I have never met my realtor. My dad has though! My mother in law found him through the network of lawyers she knows down in the area. Ryan has spoken on the phone with him multiple times and I have emailed back and forth with them as well. I had my first phone call with them this week when we were placing an offer.

My husband is in California. I am in Virginia. We placed an offer on a house we have never laid eyes on based on what we were looking for, pictures online and pictures and word of mouth from my dad.

Is that crazy?

Ryan and I both spent hours and hours looking at houses online. Whether on the laptop or on our iphones using the realtor.com app and zillow we compiled a list of twenty plus houses. My dad eventually went last week and looked at about seven of the ones we narrowed it down to. Two were under contract before he got there. One had foundation problems. Three were in not the nicest of neighborhoods. One was a short sale that would ba amazing but had 8 other offers on it and would probably dry up our savings account trying to heat and cool! So what now? Desperately we searched again and emailed more listings to my dad.

Two passed the test.

Looking at the pictures he sent, one stood out.

We put in an offer.

Ryan called from California to North Carolina with the offer. I signed and used my power of attorney to fill out paperwork and scanned it from Virginia to North Carolina. They counter offered. We offered again. They said no. We tried one more time and they accepted. This involved a series of phone calls from North Carolina to Virginia to California to get everyone on the same page... and it happened somehow.

Now the inspection needs to happen and the appraisal. We have to apply officially for the mortgage we were preapproved for. We know the roof needs to be patched/possibly replaced. Carpets need to be replaced. Painting needs to happen. Ryan has to graduate, come back to the East Coast and we have to pack up our lives (with help from the military) and move to North Carolina and hopefully settle in the house that sold us by pictures alone.

I hope it passes inspection. I hope we can get the repairs done in time. I hope it all can be ready for mid April when we want to move in.

I hope we like it and will be happy there.


For at least three to five years.

Unlike other couples who buy that dream house, we know this one is temporary. In a few years time we will rent it out to other Marines or sell it and go through it all again.

Hopefully next time we will all at least be in the same time zone.

Fingers crossed!

He's Catching Up

My Vegas post will have to wait as today is a very special day...



Someone is having a birthday!!

Who?



That would be my husband!! He is finally caught up to me at the ripe old age of 24!



He is my hero, for all the right reasons.



Someday he will make a wonderful father.... (ok you have to cut him some slack, we were married maybe six hours at this point!)



He can be as dorky as I am and always makes me laugh. He is my best friend, now and forever.

Plus he has a way with animals...



... that just has to melt your heart! I need to get more pictures of him and Rylie when we are all together again. I bet cuteness will ensue!



(This was pre-Rylie when we dogsat for our neighbor)



He works harder (and crashes harder) than anyone I know.



And he is forever, my only one.


Happy Birthday my love! Even though we missed the actual day I am glad I got to have this weekend with you! I love you!

Quality Time

After my surgery, when I was recovering and Ryan was on leave, we had a big realization... it seemed that our quality time together diminished. Once my drains were removed and I was able to move around we took a day and drove down to King Street and sat by the harbor and talked. As we were doing that we realized it had been so long since we could just sit and talk with nothing else rushing us. No deadlines, no work the next day, no need to go to bed early, no stress... it was just us. Talking and being together.

And we loved it.

With re-enlisting, both of us working full time, my upcoming surgery, family matters, and other things we were just both so distracted. We talked, but we didn't talk. We spent time together, but we were distracted. Having all of those removed it got to just be us.

So the past few weekends we;ve done our best to preserve that. We have been doing chores during the week and using the weekends to just be together. This past weekend we did just that. Friday we were both exhausted, but we cleaned up the apartment and then just watched Netflix. Saturday we slept in and then went to Mount Vernon. After a delicious lunch at the restaurant there (and a bit of a wait) we toured the grounds and then the mansion. I'll post pictures soon!

Then we found our new favorite obsession. Enter: 3 Buck Chuck

When my mom was here for my surgery she told us about it and that it was sold at Trader Joes. We have one down the street so naturally we had to check it out. Officially it is Charles Shaw Wine, but it costs $3.29! My mom said it used to be 2 Buck Chuck and it went up in price, but it is still pretty good. That is how Ryan and I ended up buying SEVEN bottles of wine for $23!!!! (One of which was a $2.29 bottle of Sangiovese for those who may be doing the math)

The rest of the night was spent at La Madeline (a good french cafe), hanging out in the cigar shop, watching Sweet Home Alabama, and drinking our wine. We were up verrry late and had a wonderful night (:

I woke up early Sunday but let the hubs sleep in. We watched more Netflix, ate left overs, and then went for a loooong walk up the trail near our apartment and into the marsh. It was beautiful at first, but once the sun went down the wind picked up and we were freezing!!! I was in a light sweatshirt and jeans and Ryan was in shorts and a long sleeved button up, so we were warm at the beginning of the walk and freezing at the end! Our plans for the evening went out the window as we didn't want to leave the apartment again once we warmed up! Instead we watched Despicable Me and snuggled on the couch.

Now Ryan is microwaving some s'mores and we are watching NCIS (never saw it before yesterday, its ok if not a little gory at times) and I am loving this time with him!