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 :)

Customer Service

**DISCLAIMER: this is a rant and if you do not like rants, do not read this.**

What happened to good customer service? Does it still exist? Prior to joining the Navy, I worked in customer service for 5 years (my first job was at a restaurant and I worked in and out of restaurants, retail stores, gyms, etc). I have always been a big tipper in that I generally don't do the math because if my bill was only $17, I feel bad leaving $3.40 (20%). So I will usually just leave $5 and call it a day. You have to REALLY piss me off for me to leave anything less that 25% in most cases. Also, I suppose that I have been spoiled by living in Northern Virginia for so long. The restaurants generally provide good customer service, and I let them know their service was good by a) leaving a solid tip, b) leaving a nice note on the back of the receipt for our waiter, and/or c) asking to speak to a manager, which inevitably always freaks the server out, but I let them know that we had a great dining experience and will definitely be back soon. I then go home and write a review on the restaurant. Mike thinks I put way too much thought into this, but the way I see it, when you go out to eat and see your friends the following Saturday night for drinks, rarely are you like, "OMG we went to Chili's and had the most AMAZING service ever!" No...you're like, "OMG we went to Chili's and waited for 30 minutes while there were 7 dirty tables and then our waiter didn't greet us and it took 20 minutes to get WATER and our food was cold and my steak was overcooked....blah blah blah". You get my point.

So moving to Andrews AFB has been a little bit of a shock for me because though living on base is nice, like little suburbia, the surrounding area is less that satisfying. When I first got stationed here Mike and I went to Applebees about 4 miles off base. It was a Sunday night and Mike had just gotten off duty so he was still in his uniform and I was in regular clothes. We get there and notice a cop is at the front door and I think, "He's probably just getting food to go or soemthing." Mike goes to the bathroom (and of course I wasn't greeted for 10 minutes). Mike returns and says, "Umm we are the only white people in here....." I say that seems normal because we live in a predominately African American area. So the meal goes on, we each have a drink, the cop is still at the front door, and Mike asks for the check. Check comes, hand over credit card, brings credit card back and instead of walking away and giving Mike the privacy to tip at his discretion, the waitress stands hovering over him with her arms crossed waiting for him to write in the time amount and sign the receipt.

**ARE YOU KIDDING ME? RUDE!!!**

So Mike just looks at her like, "Really?" So she gets the hint and turns around, hands now on hip, and Mike tips (30% more because he was afraid she was going to beat his a** if he left her what she probably deserved). He puts the pen down and no joke, she whips around and grabs the receipt as if it's going to *POOF* and disappear.... So I'm like, "Do people skip out on checks a lot or do other servers steal tips from others..? That was weird..." So we just shake it off and head out and the cop is still there. That's when I realize that he is an off-duty cop posted up at the local Applebees on a Sunday night to deter crime. WOW....

We've saved a lot of money by not eating out anymore because of that experience, because the closest place to us that actually makes me feel like it's a real date is National Harbor, which every date there you are guarenteed to spend at least $100 for the two of us. Annoying...

So in addition to the restaurant thing, I have had to forfit shopping at Walmart here. Mike and I have always been huge fans of Walmart. (I truly prefer Target but Walmart is generally cheaper and more convenient.) The first bad experience we had after shopping at the Walmart right off post was that we bought a book case. Obviously we knew it was not top of the line quality but it was $30 and we needed one more for the office and it matched out other stuff. So we get home and put the thing together and right at the end we realize we are missing the last 3 pieces of hardware needed to put it together. So we go to Walmart and explain this at customer service and she says that we have to put the whole thing back in the box and bring the whole thing back to return and buy a new one. So Mike does it the next day. Of course they don't have any more of this bookcase so he leaves with a store credit. Several shopping trips later and many, "Damn! Where is the ___?! It's on the receipt...I paid for it..." I can't tell you how many times I have paid for something at that Walmart and it has not ended up in one of my bags! and of course I'm too lazy to go back up there and explain what happened so I'm probably out like $50 at this point from all the lost crap.

So two weeks ago we go to Walmart for THREE THINGS: poop bags for Max's leash, dog treats, and sports bras for me (gaining weight again. Lovely.) I forget the poop bags and dog treats and they have no sports bras that fit me. I don't realize that I have forgotten the other two things though because I am so distracted by, "Oh we could use this. Let's by this. No it can't wait til next pay day." So we get a filing cabinet so we can finally organize the office and a small book shelf/cubby looking thing for the living room. I go to work the next day and Mike calls to tell me that every single piece of that cheap wood is broken or cracked for the book case. I say it's okay and I'll return it on my next day off and ask him to please set up the filing cabinet and start organizing. Not 10 minutes later he calls to say that the filing cabinet was clearly dropped because the back is bent and he can't even get it out of the box.

You're effing kidding me right?

So he returns it all and I give up and went to Ikea and bought new shit for the same price and guess what? All of it was in perfect condition and looks great in our living room.

I know this was ridiculously long but I have been thinking for a while now about what I have wanted to say. I don't know what it is about this area, but no one gives a rats a** about providing good customer service. I feel like I have to drive back to Fairfax just to have a pleasant Walmart experience. There is another Walmart experience that I really want to bitch about but I'll just save it....you get my point. -_-

*SIGH*

No More Resolutions

So it's a new year and every year I make the same resolutions:

1. Quit Smoking
2. Drink less alcohol
3. Work out more

Well, this year I decided to not make any resolutions because I always give up like 3 weeks into the new year and then I feel like a failure. So I just decided to do what feels right, and if I quit, then I quit; I didn't fail. By not making any resolutions this year, I've actually done all three of those on my own.

I quit smoking November 2, 2010, so I'm 11 weeks smoke free right now. I feel so good!! Not only do I feel great, but I don't stink like cigarettes anymore, and I am saving lots of money. Well, not really saving, but I guess just spending it on other things, hehe ;) I calculated that when I was smoking I was spending anywhere from $25 to $40 a week on cigarettes alone, depending if I worked a lot that week, or had a lot of time off and was drinking alcohol. (Like most people I smoke more when I drink.) Well anyway, it's been 11 weeks and this actually leads to number 2....

I've cut back significantly on my alcohol use. The biggest reason is because of #3 (working out more). Mostly because alcohol has made me gain a significant amount of weight and I'm down to one pair of jeans right now, which I have to unbutton as soon as I sit down anyway because they are so tight and uncomfortable. So now, I have quit drinking on work nights and have cut back even on my days off, leading me in to #3...

I am so proud of myself! I got myself back in to the gym on my own!! I have decided that I want to run a half marathon next spring (13.1 miles). A lot of people have said it's ridiculous that I'm giving myself a year to prepare and that any normal person could prepare for a half marathon in 12 weeks. That may be true, but maybe they don't realize how bad I am at running. I have always hated running, until recently. I'm not saying I enjoy it yet, but I'm not completely miserable either. Because I was a dancer for so long, my body has great muscle memory and running is something that gives me instant gratification. I can already see my body changing and that alone makes me want to take even better care of my body, leading back to #2, me drinking less.

So without making "resolutions" -- I guess I'll just call these "goals". Lifetime goals. All three of these things are intertwined somehow and I feel better than ever. My goal is to lose 10 pounds, so I have 6 more to go. But really more than the weight loss, I just want to start feeling good about myself. I've been wearing yoga pants and long sleeve tshirts since September and that doesn't really make myself feel to attractive or fashionable or anything, so I kind of splurged this week and bought a few new tops that make me feel pretty and kind of raise my confidence. That sounds dumb that I need new clothes to feel confident, but, please don't forget, I am a girl and I like to feel pretty  :) and if new clothes and a newly-changing body are what make me feel pretty, I'm okay with it.

Oh, and a side note, we told everyone we eloped on New Years too. Hehe, lots of people were shocked. Some were mad, some were sad, and some were happy. A lot of people have judged us for it. All of those are okay with me (and Mike). At the end of the day though, I look my *husband* (hehe, I love saying that!!) and I know that I am the happiest I ever been in my entire life. Mike, Max, and I make the perfect little family for now :)

Speaking of Mike, he was told on Saturday that he is on a deployment list to Afghanistan and is scheduled to leave in March or April. Normally I would react more but seeing as the last time he was supposed to deploy, they cancelled it two weeks before his departure date, I am not going to react at all or become emotionally involved until something is more final. I prefer him here in the States, but I know he wants to deploy badly, so I will be supportive of him no matter where he is.

Also my camera died like 2 months ago and I haven't been able to find the charger but I finally found it yesterday so it's finally charged so I'll just add a few pictures down below....

Mike, Me, Katie, and Chris (Mike's sister and brother-in-law)
They came to visit for Thanksgiving

Miss Kayla -- Mike's Niece. 

And a picture of Max...just because he's handsome :)

The Newest Robinson

So for months now I have been begging Mike for a dog but it always came down to the fact that we just can't afford one. I was getting lonely and bored though and so we decided to take the plunge and make a new addition to our little family. Though costly, Max has made the perfect addition to our family. We adopted him from a rescue agency, Lucky Dog Animal Rescue, and they worked with us to get us the perfect dog.

Our First Family Photo

We promised ourself we would get a non-shedding dog due to Mike's allergies but once we met Max that went out the window. ALL HE DOES IS SHED. There is hair everywhere!!! Mike has adapted well though and doesn't react to him much but we are going to get him on prescription allergy meds anyway, just so he is more comfortable. I swear I vaccuum and within minutes you would never even know. We've deshedded him multiple times and bathed him and brushed him, all to no avail. Oh well, he totally makes up for it in cuddles and kisses! He is fantastic on a leash and does great with other dogs.

Last Saturday Mike was out of town so I took Max over to Beth's and he and Dora had a great time together. I was glad to see Max kind of break out of his shell and wrestle with Dora. Max gets tired pretty quickly and wanted to lay down but Dora just wanted to play, play, play!!! While the dogs and Audrey napped, Beth and I had a nice lunch and once everyone was awake we took the dogs to the dog park in Centreville. Max was SO overwhelmed by all the dogs and that he could run around in this big open space. He really stayed by Dora's side because she seemed to know what she was doing! He was totally tuckered out by the time we got back home.

Max and his baby after a long day of chasing tails!!

This past Saturday we got our Christmas picture taken with Santa at Petsmart. Max was a little apprehensive about the man in red.... but he tolerated the photo for Mommy because he knew it was very important to me :)

After Santa pictures, we went to Battery Kemble Park in D.C. which is an unofficial dog park, notorious for the "best sledding in DC". Dogs have pretty much taken over the park and you're not supposed to have them off the leash but everyone else was doing it so we followed suit and let Max free. He was SO GOOD. Didn't even run away. There was an Irish Wolfhound there named Lizzie and MAN! Did Max have fun with her or what?! Lizzie is HUGE and just wanted to romp around all day with Max, but again, Max got tired and walked away after a few minutes, but much to our suprise continued to go back for more! They played for about 45 minutes and then we packed up and headed home.

Max and Lizzie the Giant

Once home, Mike made some chicken wings and we watched the Army/Navy football game. No surprise that Navy beat Army and completed the "Decade of Dominance" :) Womp womp, poor Army :(

At night Max just wanted to cuddle and it was the perfect end to our day <3

My littlest love bug <3

Smelling the flowers....

Two days before we found out Mike's deployment was cancelled, Mike sold his car to a guy that I work with. Meaning we were down to one car. Since I am pulling 12-15 hour days at work, and we were living over an hour from work, we decided to move to Maryland to resolve a lot of that! I am now 7 miles from work, which allows Mike to take me to work and pick me up when I get off so that he can have the car during the day. Right now he is applying for jobs....trying to get anything he can find but right now he isn't having much luck. If we can just make it to January we will be fine! (We will be fine no matter what.) In January he is going to go back to George Mason to finish up his last semester and hopefully start his packet to commission as an officer in the Army. In February he goes to California for a month for two different Army schools, which will be good because it's a month's worth of income, and it helps him get closer to his E-7 advancement. He's been in contact with some active duty recruiters too so hopefully something will come through in the near future.

So about those 12-15 hour days at work....not for much longer!!! :) Our schedule just changed to 10am-10pm (or 10pm-10am if you work nights) BUT I am on the day shift until the end of November and then will be switching shops (departments, essentially) to become part of the briefing team that briefs the Commanding Officer in the mornings. That schedule is going to ROCK. 10am-6pm M-F...I am so excited!! I still have to work Thanksgiving and Christmas since the schedule was already made but I am excited to go work a different schedule with some different people. :)

As far as wedding plans go, well, we have none. Since the deployment got cancelled our funding pretty much went out the window. I continue to look at venues and ideas, but it's all talk right now since we can't take action. We are still hoping to have a June or September 2013 wedding. I'd like to have a barn/farm wedding but it's so hard finding a farm in Northern Virginia that doesn't charge $12,000 just to take pictures with their damn fence! Anyway, we'll figure it out eventually.

When Mike proposed at the orchard we also picked out a pumpkin so we carved it together. Cowboys themed, of course! I had to work the Saturday before Halloween which is when everyone did their partying but I was off on the 31st, which was a Monday, but we decided to go out anyway. We knew we'd be alone is our costumes but we got dressed up in our long-planned costumes and when out to National Harbor for a drink and an appetizer and then just went home. Pretty uneventful but it was fun :)

 Osama bin Ladin and SEAL Team 6 :)

Our Dallas Cowboys Pumpkin :)

Mike's birthday was Sunday and I had to work so he stayed home and watched the Cowboys game. We celebrated on Friday night at Old Glory in Georgetown and had a great time. A bunch of Mike's friends showed up, and some of mine did too. It was a great time, had by all. I even saw my Dad's name up on the wall for the Bourbon club! That was pretty neat :)

 Us at Old Glory

Dad's name and year that he tried all the different bourbons at Old Glory



Our lives are kind of all over the place right now and it feels kind of chaotic but right now we are both really happy and just "smelling the flowers" and enjoying what we've got and what will come. My commute is better, my schedule is getting better, and most of all, we just love living by ourselves. Living with roommates was getting to be so frustrating and we were just ready to have a place of our own. :)

Life is a-changin'!

I know it's been a while since I updated but we have been super busy lately! First things first: Mike's deployment to Afghanistan has been cancelled! This is excellent news and I am ecstatic!! He is disappointed because he was really looking forward to deploying again and having an income again but there are definitely worse things in life than finding out he won't be in a war zone! :) About two months ago we had reserved a weekend at a cabin in the Shanendoah Mountains as our "last getaway before deployment". So even though it really was not our last weekend together, we went anyway and had an incredible time! It was up this huuuuge mountain deep in the woods with no cable or internet, no cell reception, nothing! It was so quiet and peaceful and all the leaves had started changing colors.

It was super cute with a loft upstairs with a bed, a nice kitchen and a fireplace. The first night we went to a little family pizza shop and got it to go, went home and watched a movie and just hung out. With all the hustle and bustle of his deployment and my terrible work schedule, we really don't get to just hang out anymore. It was wonderful. The next morning we drove about an hour away and went horse back riding on this awesome farm. Mike's horse was ginormous!!

Horseback riding was really long and we went back to take a nap and then went back in to town (way too much driving that weekend. Took about an hour to get anywhere.) and we got Chinese food to go! Again, just went home and watched two movies and hung out. Overall it was an awesome weekend with just the two of us, not talking on our phones and dealing with other stuff that awaited us at home. We need to have get-aways more often!!

Still have more to update but I will do that later... stay tuned :)



The Search is Over - He Proposed

I had been thinking of starting a blog for a while but really couldn't think of what I would want to write about, but after Mike's proposal, I decided I wanted to include everyone in the story, and of our rapidly changing life!

Yesterday I got off work around 8am and was soooo tired but Mike insisted we go apple picking in The Plains, Virginia with Blair, since she was still in town from school. I was super stubborn and cranky because I was tired but I agreed. So we packed up a picnic and picked up Blair and headed out. We got to the orchard and they were CLOSED and I was so bummed out because I totally could have been sleeping in bed instead of driving an hour to No-wheres-ville, Virginia. So when I was ready to say, "screw it" and go home, Mike said there was another orchard across the street so we went there and thankfully they were open! (Mike later told me he was FREAKING OUT inside when he saw the first one was closed because apparently he had this planned out since February!) Unfortunately when we got there, we were told all the apples were picked over the long holiday weekend but we went up onto a biiiiig hill and unpacked our picnic! We were taking lots of pictures when Mike said, "Come here, let's a take a picture there." So I got up and we posed and then right before Blair took our picture Mike got down on one knee and told me he loves me more than anything he's ever loved before and wants me to be his wife! I started crying, naturally and was hugging and kissing him and finally he was like, "Are you gonna let me put the ring on you???!!!" and it was awesome and perfect and so much better than I could have ever imagined.

Needless to say, I said yes. No wait, I SCREAMED YES! And I CRIED YES! And Blair told me to, "Shut up and smile!!!!!!" So that's what I did...... :)

Later in the night we went to Glory Days, where we had our first date, and we sat in the same booth and I felt all oogily-googily and butterflies like I did the night I met him. It was the best night ever :)

I can't wait to start this new chapter of our beautiful life. He is my best friend, and am so glad this search is over.... ;)