Monday, February 20, 2012

Whewwww it's been a while since I posted. Well actually, not that long, but a lot has been going on! This might actually be a long post...

So on the 3rd Beth and I went to a WMZQ event sponsored by the American Heart Association called "Girls with Guitars and a Piano Man" featuring Sara Evans, Phil Vassar, LeeAnn Womack, and Sunny Sweenie. We met a few of our girlfriends up there and a great time was had by all. Unfortunately Sara Evans got sick but thankfully Easton Corbin stood in for her which ended up being waayyy more entertaining anyways!
Beth, me, Jessica, and Allyson

On the 4th my best girl friends had a little party for me. We started the night at on of my favorite restaurants, Bonefish Grill for some seafood and drinks and laughs. It was Me, Beth, Rhya, Blair, and Blair's boyfriend, Zack. It was great to have my best friends there! Big thanks to Rhya for driving all the way up from Virginia Tech just to spend my birthday with me :) She never fails me! And to Beth for giving up a night at home with her dear Audrey. And to Blair for being awesome and organizing my party :)

The girls at dinner.
After dinner we drove to Arlington and went to my favorite bar, Spider Kellys. Unfortunately they redid part of it since the last time I was there and now they replaced my favorite place to sit with SkiBall Game machines which is annoying. Anyway, we found some place to lounge and have drinks. After Spiders we went to Clarendon Ballroom which was a blast! I had never been there before but it was so much fun! So much dancing and good music and I was all about it! It was a good turnout of people too; a few of my work friends showed up, as well as Jessica and some other girls. Mike's good friend Pat came towards the end of the evening to escort us home safely :-) Thanks Pat!!

The next day was the super bowl and I went to Beth's and then the family came over for some food and to watch the game which was fun.

Then the real work started the next day. I've been waiting for a few months now to switch positions at work and move to a day-shop instead of doing shift work and that finally happened for me on the 6th (my birthday!). Well I thought it was going to be this amazing shift and I guess it's true that the grass really isn't always greener on the other side. Basically it's M-F 10-6pm and I thought I'd love it. Well....not so much. I actually really miss shift work! I had so many days off and yes, I do get weekends now, but I really only worked about 15 days out of the month with my old schedule. This schedule has worked nicely since Mike is out of town all month and Max doesn't have to hold it for 14 hours, but other than that, I'm not too crazy about the hours because it's not really 10-6. It IS the military so naturally is 10-whenever your supervisor says you can go, which within the past two weeks has averaged to be about 7-8pm. But it has its pros too... I get holidays, so I had today off. I don't know, maybe I'll like it more once Mike is home and I can actually spend time with him once I'm off work, instead of just coming home to an empty house and being alone.

Speaking of Mike being gone, he's been in California since Feb 3 and will return on Mar 2 so only 12 more days to go! The alone time has been nice for sure, but I do miss him. To keep busy I have been doing minor upgrades to the house. Not actual upgrades, because we live on base and it's a rental, but just like decorating and making it more of a home. When I first made our "I love you because ____" board, one time Mike wrote "I love you because you make this house a home" and it meant a lot to me so I try to keep up with that and try to continue adding little things here and there. Though I seriously doubt that Mike reads my blog, (1. Because he doesn't like reading and 2. He thinks my life is very boring and doesn't understand why anyone would want to read about someone else's life when they have a life of their own. -- I told him it's because that what girls do... read about other girls' lives) I don't want to post pictures of what I've done until he comes home to see them for himself. I've been making quite a big deal of "all the surprises" I have in store and I really want him to be surprised. Since my blog is linked with Facebook, I don't want him to see all the projects. Anyway, I've been keeping very busy with work and my projects so it has made the time go by a little quicker. 

For Valentine's Day Mike sent me flowers to the house right before I left for work. I thought it was especially sweet, seeing as he is 3,000 miles away and still made my day special. I love my honey!


This weekend, on Friday, we had Girls' Night so I dropped Max off at Beth's for the night and then a few of us went to a girl's house where we had some drinks and then went out to Clarendon again and had a blast. Later we went back and hot tubbed for a bit and I must say.... I am so glad I have girl friends again! It is so important for girls to have girlfriends! Husbands/boyfriends are great and all, but nothing beats a Friday night with a bottle of wine and just catching up (okay, gossiping) with your girlfriends! It was a really fun night!

Umm I think that's it for now...hopefully something eventful will happen soon that I can write about....

xo - L



Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Our ever-growing zoo....

Haha, so I have been told before that I am manipulative. I agree; I am. However, I never directly witnessed the effects of my manipulation until........ I convinced Mike to let me get a cat!

That's right everyone... my allergic husband who hates cats finally caved (after an incredible temper tantrum, of course) and said that when I was ready, I could get a cat. I didn't waste any time and immediately got online and starting searching local rescues and Craigslist ads of people trying to rehome their animals. I found "Slurpee" (what the heck kind of name is that...) on a local shelter's website and decided I would go see him the next day. And 2 hours later, he declared himself master of the house.

Hi everyone! I'm Winston and I'm a LOVER!

Winston is great. He's totally comfortable in the house and has made it a home. Mike has tolerated him very well and has hardly had any reactions to him. The main thing is that we don't allow Winston in the bedroom because dander on the pillows could pose a very large problem for Mike and the truth is, I kind of like Mike and don't want to him to stop breathing in his sleep ;) Even yesterday he admitted that perhaps Winston is starting to grow on him. I know he is :)



Anyway, enough about Winston. Max is also doing great. I'm still a little mad at him for eating my favorite moccasins and I remember every day because they were my freaking favorite and I wore them with every thing!!!!! UGHHH!!!!! Oh well. I got him a new bone today because he's been extra well behaved recently, and especially tolerant of Winston entering his kingdom.

As far as training for my half marathon, well I was totally sticking with training calendar until Saturday when I went on leave. Now it's been five days since I've been to the gym and I've gained 3 pounds and just feel like a total slob. The way I see it though, I've been working my ass off and have really enjoyed this week of vacation and doing absolutely nothing. I'll get back into it when I get back to work on Monday. Which is actually my 22nd birthday. I feel old. When did I get like this? I might as well be 25, which might as well be 30. OMG stop.

So on Monday we drove to Pennsylvania to see Mike's friends Jarred and Drew, whom he was in Iraq with in 2008. They grew really close and have maintained a great friendship despite all of them being deployed since then and just being far away and moving on with their lives, etc. We met at Jarred's at 4 and had a few drinks and then moved over to a great restaurant and I listened to the boys reminisce about Iraq and what they've all been up to since then. Drew just got back from Afghanistan right before Christmas. For being in such a shit hole, they sure had some fond memories, but like they said, when you're in a shitty place you either make some friends and make some memories, or you get sick and stay miserable for a year. You pick. Drew had to go home that same night but Mike and I (and Max!) stayed with Jarred and his wife, Sarah, for the night. They were so hospitable and I know the boys enjoyed drinking and joking and hanging out.

Mike started school about two weeks ago. He just has this semester and next until he is finally done with his degree, which he has been working on since 2003, but has been deployed so much that he has had to take so many breaks. He leaves for California on Friday for a month for some Army courses and thankfully all of his professors have come up with a way for him to make up the work/keep up with the syllabus so he doesn't have to take yet another semester off. I know he is ecstatic to be so close to completing his degree so hopefully nothing else stands in his way. I am so proud of him.

Well that's about it for now... Looking forward to this weekend. Mike leaves Friday morning and that night  my sister Beth and I are going to a country acoustic show. Then my birthday party is Saturday which I think will be a total blast so hopefully that holds true!!! :)

See ya latterrr!

Oh and one cute picture just because I love my husband so much :)