Weekend in DC

Last weekend Ryan and I drove up to DC for a small get away and to celebrate my friend Carrie's bridal shower. I am a bridesmaid in her wedding next month and I really wanted to be able to come and celebrate with her before the big day. Considering a six hour drive alone and pregnant would not be that fun I convinced my husband we could do a weekend together in our old stomping ground and he could go to the gym in the hotel while I was girly at the shower. He agreed! We left on Friday afternoon, hit some typical Northern VA traffic we did NOT miss living away, and rolled in to Old Town Alexandria around 9pm. It was a gorgeous night, in the high 70s/low 80s and we knew the weather was going to drop with the next day, so we went out and walked down King Street as soon as we arrived.

Our hotel was at the top of King Street right near the metro, so we just walked around the corner and down the street where we spent so much time as newlyweds. As soon as I saw the lights in the trees I had tears in my eyes (yes, pregnancy hormones do that). I sincerely loved living in Alexandria and I really do miss it. Ryan indulged me for some pictures and we walked the entire length of the street, all the way to the waterfront and back.

Being pregnant meant no bar hopping for us, like we used to do back in the day, but it was still neat to see which of our favorite places were still there and some new ones too. There was one bar that was completely Medieval themed that looked pretty awesome! Ryan also indulged my pregnancy craving of going to BGR and getting some delicious garlic fries. And we split a burger too... because, why not? At the waterfront we were happy to see the old man who plays the water glasses was still there and there was also a lady singing opera. Definitely a great evening.

The next morning we helped ourselves to the all you can eat breakfast before I gathered my things to metro into DC and go to the shower. It was cold and rainy but it was supposed to clear up. Ryan nearly had a heart attack when he saw the gym was closed due to a leak, but when I made him ask at the front desk for other options they got him to the gym at their sister hotel across the street. See, I can be right too :P In the above picture is our hotel and old metro stop, and the building there on the left with the green awning on top is where I worked when we first got married.

It was so wonderful seeing Carrie again and finally getting to meet the other bridesmaids. We had a room at a Mexican restaurant called Oyamel and did a really delicious tasting of all sorts of tapas. They even made special pregnancy cocktails for me and the other pregnant bridesmaid that were so delicious!

Carrie was such a gracious bride and host and it was an honor to "shower" her! We were neighbors when Ryan and I lived in Alexandria and got very close when Ryan moved to 29 Palms for nine months and her boyfriend, now fiancé, moved to Boston for grad school. We bonded over the far away boys, America's Next Top Model, our dogs, and many other things and I am so glad our friendship has endured in the four years (has it been that long!?) since I moved to North Carolina.

After the shower I met my friend from college, Cat, who was one of my own bridesmaids when I got married! We walked down to the National Mall since the monuments and memorials are always one of my favorite places. The weather cleared up even though it was still windy and a little cool, but the sun was warm. Luckily for me it didn't rain as my rain jacket doesn't button anymore! It was extremely crowded because of the kite festival so we did have to fight our way through tourists a bit.

Ryan came and met up with us and we walked around for a bit while it was sunny. Sadly we just missed the peak of the Cherry Blossoms but there were still a few on the trees for Bean to get for his first visit!

Cat has always been a great friend and I love that we can go months without talking and then pick right up where we left off every time. She is super intelligent and hearing Ryan and her debate and go back and forth is supremely entertaining for me as they both hold their own really well and don't get offended by different opinions.

Cat went with us back to Brookland, the area of DC where we went to college at Catholic University. When I first started there ten years ago (oh my...) you couldn't walk up certain streets even in broad daylight. In the four years I spent there they really cleaned up the area and made it safer, but that was nothing compared to now! My "unsafe" freshman dorm was knocked down and they built up the entire area with artist shops and studios, cafes, town homes, bars, and all sorts of other artsy things. Our tiny bookstore we used to have to go in to the bottom of the cafeteria for is now a CUA Barnes and Nobel where I did buy Bean a small Catholic University onesie! We had dinner together at a really good restaurant and then walked around campus a bit. I haven't been there in years so it was nice to see some of the changes there too. Our theatre we spent so much time in got renovated and spruced up a bit and we also ran in to a good friend of mine who was on his way to watch students in a showcase rehearsal... strange that he was a grad student when I was there and now is a professor with the music school! Ah, adulthood. After having some coffee at Busboys and Poets we all went our separate ways and Ryan and I took the metro back to Alexandria.  

Above is the Masonic Temple as viewed from our hotel room... we definitely had a great view! I took this Sunday morning before we left so it looks like a gorgeous day... but it was FREEZING. It was in the low 40s and the wind chill was awful! I was all bundled up in my CUA hoodie (as I don't fit in to any of my winter coats at present!) and the wind was brutal. We decided to go see our old apartment and walk around a little more but those plans didn't work too well...

Our first home :( Carrie warned me they were knocking them down to make way for, surprise, more luxury town homes and condos. The beautiful apartment that was our first home after we were married is gone. That building had so many memories. We made great friends with our neighbors, we used to sit outside on the stoop and smoke and drink together and have our own little parties in the parking lot. It is the apartment we bought Rylie girl home to for the first time. It had two years of memories and firsts, from our first anniversary to my first surgery to our first almost everything as a family. Now a newlywed couple would never be able to afford it unless they make double or triple what we made starting out. And it made me a little sad. We decided to just drive up to the park and walk along the river and nature trails for a bit before getting back in the car and heading back to North Carolina. It was the first time leaving DC I did not cry. It was nice to return to weather that was 20 degrees warmer and our house and our Dup Dup... but Alexandria will still always hold a special place in my heart.

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!

God Gave Me You

My husband drives me nuts. He knows how to push my buttons better than anyone else on this planet and in just the right combination. He can pick a fight with me from 3000 miles away and make me want to throw something at him... and that would be throwing something very far! And yet...

I love him more than anything else in this world.

He makes me laugh, makes my bad days better. There is a bond of safety and trust and friendship and love that is unparalleled to anything else in this world. He makes my heart skip a beat with a mere glance and makes my day with a simple phone call.

And yet the man drives me bat crap insane :P

That's love for you.

Having a three hour time difference is not the most convenient thing. We like to talk right before we fall asleep, but when I call him at 10pm or 11pm I end up being awake talking to him til midnight or later. And let me tell you, I do not do mornings well at all. I am one of those people who needs sleep to function or I am a nightmare! I cherish those late night talks, but I am not good at deep life altering talks as I am laying there half asleep. Finances, moving, where to ask to be stationed, should I move to 29 Palms if his schooling is extended, should we visit on this date, can we afford this and that.... not the best when you are half asleep. Especially when finances make you all flustered in general and then you snap at the man you love more than anything and are tempted to just hang up on him!

Am I complaining enough?

I love Ryan with all my heart. I do. I miss him terribly and because when we tend to be apart we bicker over stupid things. Sigh.

Regardless of the back and forth ADDness of this post, this song is perfect for how I feel about Ryan, which is the most important thing of all.



Link up with Goodnight Moon

Irene

Alexandria luckily was not hit too badly. I went to my audition Saturday early afternoon and hunkered down for the night. My neighbor Antoinette and I watched Ryan Reynolds movies and played video games as the night went on. Once it picked up we filled our bathtubs (so you can flush when power goes out) and made sure we were good to go.

It was quite windy and rainy, but not too bad. The major part of the storm wasn't expected til after midnight, so curiousity got the best of us and we bundled up and decided to go check out the river.
It was a little too dark for pictures but it was higher than normal even at that point.

See, very bundled. But still soaked through.

Ahhh wind!

So much rain.

News crew filming on the dock

Hurricane suit = Husband's work jacket + husband's swim trunks + wellies with cherries on them.
The rain was really starting to come down at this point.


Antoinette fared a little better than me in her gortex.

The view from our front door during the storm.

Like I said, Alexandria was very fortunate. Some large trees went down but the river did not flood over and our apartment never even lost power. I fell asleep on the couch watching a movie and was out cold for the worst of the storm. Like I said, we were lucky....

-----------

New Jersey on the otherhand got clobbered, especially with rain. The Raritan River, which is in walking distance from my old house, rose over 40 feet.

This is around the block from my old home.


You have to pass this to get to my street...

I drove over this bridge on a semi daily basis in high school.

Duke Island Park always floods in the rain, but I have not seen it like this since Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

I used this road to go home coming off the highway, like all the time. It is between the river and the cow farm and it floods, but not like this!


The Raritan River rose over 40 feet and flooded most of my home town and the surrounding areas.


Our Minor League Baseball Stadium, where I briefly worked as a mascot one summer, is under water


And our "highways" even are blocked, like near the IHop... which also did not do so well...

We have so many little creeks and rivers that have bridges connecting all the towns that a lot of people cannot go far. I know in 1999 we didnt have school for nearly a week since the school bus just could not reach us.


The Jersey pictures I borrowed from facebook and this website, but NJ got hit pretty hard and there is way worse damage than that. Irene was a serious storm. I am glad VA was pretty unscathed, at least by me, but I am keeping my thoughts on my old home.

Orders Continued...

Thank you all for your kind words.

I know our decision is not going to be something all of you agree with... but it doesn't matter. We made this decision together and think it is best. I got home from work and we sat down. We talked out both. We crunched numbers. We talked options. We went outside and talked to our neighbors (one of whom is in the Army and his wife is in Louisianna and he is here, for two years). Then we talked more. There were tears. We changed our minds. Then changed them back again.

But deep down we know we made the right decision in the end.

Ryan will go to 29 Palms for 8 months. I will be here.

He will focus on school, live in the barracks and study and not be distracted. I will work, contribute way more financially than I could otherwise, and be in Virginia. We will call, text, email and skype.

It sucks.

Going into this the orders were originally unaccompanied. This is what we planned for. Then to have the option threw a wrench at us. I love my husband and he loves me, we talked this over and over. I won't put our discussions here in detail, but we have many reasons for each side and this was our decision.

Please keep us in your prayers these next few weeks, if you don't mind. Ryan is checking out of the barracks next week and going on leave a bit. I will try and get a few days off before he goes to California and just spend it with him.

We can do it.

Orders

They came in. Seriously. Waiting and waiting and waiting and... my husband got orders today.

He texted me this morning "Orders! Orders! Orders! Report in on August **!" And nothing else. So I'm texting him back saying "What? What? What? Just you? Me too? What?!" To which I get the reply... "Call me please."

So I get up from my desk and call my husband. As far as we knew he was going to school, it would be about six months, 3,000 miles away, and unaccompanied. Well, we were wrong. It is eight months, two schools back to back, 3,000 miles away and may be accompanied. What do we do? Do we move across the country, slash our BAH in half and live on base (or off base in unfamiliar territory) for eight months just to PCS again? Would I be able to find a job? Would any place even hire me for that short of time? Would we see each other?

Right now I have a good job. I make good money, have great neighbors and friends nearby, and family not too far away. If I move 3,000 miles we take a huge hit to our budget and I am unemployed in a place where I know no one. Especially since Ryan has this huge aversion to living on base I'd be living off base knowing no one. As much as I want to be with Ryan, it isn't the sensible decision. As one of my clients put it, "The military will give you a lot of separations you cannot choose. So why choose to have one when you can avoid it?" to which I had to excuse myself and go cry in the rest room a bit.

Because Ryan and I think it is best for me to stay here. I have support, a job, we have an income and savings. Half of me wants to say SCREW THAT and go with him and cling to his ankles for dear life. Lord knows we will have deployments and moving in our future... but this feels so difficult. Me moving unnecessarily for 8 months and losing half of our income just to move again... but to spend another 8 months on a semi-daily basis with him. He will be in school and have training. He will be learning a new job, studying, getting acclamaited and adjusted. The last thing he will want is to come home and deal with a wife who is lonely or bored (just speculating here). Even if he comes home at all... nights will be spent at the barracks and training will happen and I will be on my own any way.

I thought we made the best decision. For me to stay and we'd PCS together when he graduates. I can visit, we can call and skype... but why does my heart still feel like it is four tons in my chest? How do we know if this is the right decision? Do finances and the needs of one spouse override the other?


Sorry, this post got a little all over the place. I am so happy Ryan got orders. He needs to get out of the barracks before he loses it. It just sucks that he has to go so far. I know I know, it isn't a deployment. But we'll still be apart for a long time, which sucks no matter who you are or what you're doing. Sigh. Time to put on the big girl pants and get over it, huh?

Oy

Sorry all. Work has been crazy since I've been back and I had 327 blogs to read on my google reader!! I have 100 or so left but yes I'm reading every one of them. I think I've been so busy reading blogging itself got lost in the shuffle. We are just settling in at home and adjusting to the cold again. Ryan goes back to work tomorrow since he took a few more days off to gather himself and get the house in order.

I'll update more soon (and tell you all about the White House!). Thanks for sticking with me.

7 Days!!! One WEEK!

I cannot believe it!

Today Mom and I packed up my car and Dad's (since Dad had the van in DC with the boyscouts) and drove to the apartment. We hit some roadwork and traffic on 95 but it wasn't a bad drive. We stopped for lunch on 95 and made decent time. I kept randomly losing mom since she didn't like to go as fast as me, but you know on 95 it is every one for themselves!!! So I had to slow down a lot for her to catch up. But we got everything into the apartment and I took mom over to the Air Force Base. We walked around the exchange and intended to go to the comissary but it close at 1700! Never would have made it. So we went to the 7 day store an held up the line with our ridiculous purchase (aka the staples for the apartment).

Once we got the groceries away we drove back home. It was a long drive but it was nice to spend it with mom. Not sure when we will get to do another road trip so I really enjoyed it... even if it was a LONG time in the car!! Thanks Mom (:

Ryan is in South Carolina having a semi bachelor party this evening. No drunken phone calls yet... let's see how the night goes!

We have a LOT to do in the next three days (all of which are supposed to be rainy) since we want to try and have it all done by Wednesday. We so got this!

Wedding Weather Update

Clouds are ok. I can do some clouds. As long as nothing leaks from them.