Power of Friendship

I got a phone call a few days ago from one of my college buddies, who after graduation, got a job in New York City. Turned out she was coming into Dallas for work function, had some free time, and wanted to get together. I was thrilled!

She was that friend who whenever you would go out with her you had a blast and could get into a little trouble with. Not only that, she has this great spirit about her and is one smart cookie.

Anyway, we had a long lunch today and it was exactly what I needed.

Someone who has known me since my freshman year in college, before my husband and I ever met. That was with me through some hard times and extremely happy moments. Someone who can read me, and is not afraid to call me out when they know something is up. Someone who will be completely honest with me, and never judge.

I bring this up because she asked me how I was really doing with everything going on in my life. From the move to the new job, from making friends to my Army life. To avoid her "calling me out" I told her that I am struggling a little bit with all of those things.

Work is now at it's slowest point since the sports season is ending so it is making me realize that my nights are lonely and I don't have my husband to talk to. Then that lead to my friends. Yes, I have made a few really good ones, but because my job was so demanding for six months I did not really have time to go explore, join groups, or branch out to make new friends. While I can now, I explained that it's hard and I am still trying to find a support system here and people like her and our other friends where it was just an "easy" friendship where things just clicked.

I also told her that I am starting to think about things that might happen throughout this year of deployment. I am nervous that my husband and I will be at two different places when he gets back {I know there will be a transition, but I am talking about as a whole in the long run}. That I will have had a year without him and that I will have had so many experiences and grow so much that he might not like what I was without him and nervous that him coming back into my life I have made here will be to difficult on him.

This is why I love her {along with my other close friends}, she talked me through it. She let me vent it all out and asked me tough questions that needed to be asked. She made me feel ok again, and reminded me that everything happens for a reason and God would not put us through all we have already been thorough to make things like finding friends/a support system, and my husband coming back harder than it needed to be.

I feel so refreshed now and like I can make it through. A friend like her was exactly what I needed right now.

Two Years Ago I Said "I Do"

Two years ago today, I was laughing with my best friends in the entire world, eating mexican food and getting our hair done.

Two years ago today, I was checking flower arrangements, table place cards, and trying not to eat cupcakes.

Two years ago today, I was in the bathroom with my oldest friend as she laced me up.

Two years ago today, I was making my mother, and four other close friends tear up as I walked out in white lace and my grandmothers pearls.

Two years ago today, I took a deep breath as we lined up in the hallway of the country club.

Two years ago today, I was walking down the aisle, holding my dads hand, watching my soon-to-be husbands face light up as he saw me in my wedding dress for the first time.

Two years ago today, I was saying my vows in front of close family and friends.

Two years ago today, I was having my first kiss as a newly wed.

Two years ago today, I had my first dance, had cheers, ate a delicious meal, cut the cake, and partied like like there was no tomorrow.

But most importantly...

...Two years ago today, I was marrying my best friend and the love of my live, changing my life for the better.

Two years ago, I said "I Do."

First Gift

So I finally figured out what to send my husband to start of his deployment, a journal.

Now, I know what you are thinking, a journal, really? Well I think it's a little more special than that, more cleaver too. Here is what I did:

• I picked out a rustic journal that had as many pages as I could possibly find.
• Then, I brought it home, pulled out my pens/markers/pencils, put photo paper in the printer, powered up my computer, and got to work.
• I found quotes, stories, special dates, picture of us, the family and his friends and compiled them all together, and printed out the photos.
• Once I had more than enough, I start picking random pages and designed/wrote a quote or put a story and had some form of artwork on the page. Either a photo, cool looking text I created or a little drawing.

I am hoping that as he writes in it all of those things bring a smile to his face. Also, I hope the journal and the little messages throughout remind him that there are many people out there in the world thinking about him, praying for him, caring for him, and ready for him to come home safely.

It has been mailed out and I can't wait for his reaction!

Fill In

Wow, it has been a long time since I have blogged and there has been so much going on, as well as so many emotions.

To start with I am fully back at work and have the go-ahead to start working out {moderately} next week. The puppies will be happy with this fact because they will start getting a real workout again too. Now back to work, things are starting slow down and I am getting antsier by the day. With this slow down, relationships are starting to go into friendships and we are actually hanging out with one another outside of our building.

As for my husband, I saw him for the last time this last weekend. It was hard at the going away ceremony but for me it was harder to see everyone else, especially the kids spend those last moments with their mom or dad.

We were lucky enough to get to spend the evening together, dogs included. We just cuddled, watched movies and tried to get time to slow down. I would love to go into more details, but honestly, it is just a big blur. I do know that I cried a lot on my way home and these last few days I have been trying to stay as busy as possible and settle into the newest norm...little to no contact and never knowing when I am going to get it.

I do look on the bright side, this time next year he will be home.

Summer to Fall

Tomorrow I head back to work after a full weeks rest/recovery. I am doing much better, although I still have some pain and discomfort. Part of that is due to the fact my mother is home and I have had to take care of the puppies on my own so I am moving around a lot more.

Part of this movement included doing laundry and in the process it got me to thinking about my wardrobe.

Though Texas doesn't really follow the "traditional seasons" August and the other summer months are almost over so I need to start thinking about fall. Time for a change in clothing color and time to bring out the boots. This has also got me thinking I should go through my entire closet.

A lot of my clothing is stuff I still had when I was in college and is very on the worn out, plus I have lost some weight so a lot of things don't fit right. I will, of course, donate all the clothing and shoes I can and the rest maybe use as rags or make some homemade puppy toys.

After I go through things, this means I have to fill some wardrobe holes. Yay shopping!

I wont go totally crazy, already have a plan. For every three shirts I give away/get rid of, I can get a new one. For every two pants/skirts/shorts/bottom halves, I can get something new. As for dresses every three, I can get a new one. Shoes are trickier. I just need to make sure I replace the ones that I get rid of that are really worn out. An example of this, my black heals that I have had since my freshman year of college are totally done so I will get a new pair of black heals.

I am also going to focus my shopping on the Texas fall season. Yes, things like shorts and skirts will be on sale since the stores are trying to make room for the new merchandise, but it would be a waste of money because they don't fit into the autumn.

Hopefully I can get this done next weekend when I am back to my full self and have some new outfits for work and who knows, I might have to go get my hair cut to help finish the look.

Happy Surprise

So I have been home from the hospital for a few days now and am finally of my pain meds enough to get some restful things done, like blog.

A quick blog for now, but around 1 p.m. I had a knock on the door of my apartment. The dogs went nuts and my mom was finally getting a shower. I hobbled my way to the door and when I opened it, there was a guy with flowers in his hands. Not expecting anything, I told him thank you, brought the flowers inside, and shut the door.

I grabbed the card and for an even better surprise, the flowers were from my boss and my co-workers. It brought a huge smile on my face and made me feel even better.

Busy Busy

This last week has flown by because it has been jammed pack with work and getting ready for my surgery. Not to mention, my parents {on the way to their vacation} called me up and asked to go out to dinner because they had a very long lay over.

I have a few more things to finish up at work so I am going to head in this afternoon, then I have a half day Monday, then off to pick up my mom from the airpot and get ready for surgery.

She is going to stay with me for my "week of rest" to help me take care of the puppies and make sure I can get back on my feet. One thing I am excited about with all of this, is that I will be able to relax a little bit. I can catch up on my blogging, watch some TV shows that have been DVRed for way to long, and get some nice home cooked meals.

A Smile to Wrap Up the Day

After the day I had today — lots of stuff put on my last minute at work, forgetting something that is near and dear to my heart, and dealing with the emotions of deployment — this just made me smile.

Key Caller

About three days ago I received a phone call from my husbands units FRG leader. She said she heard I was willing to help and asked if I would be a key caller on the phone tree. I said I would, I mean I was looking for a way to stay in the loop and be there for the other women go through the deployment, and this was it.

I had a conference call with her and the other key callers, and lets just say I found it entertaining in many ways. The biggest is the fact these other women are excited to get volunteer hours, enough to win a service award from the Army. They talked about how to get it for about 10 minutes.

For me that's not what I signed up for.

I don't care if I am on the phone for 500 hrs. in a month, as long as I am there when people need me and I can get the correct information out, that's all that matters. I also learned that a lot of the ladies in the unit are alreay tiered of my units FRG and what they stand for. Yes, I expected there to be some hostility from the stories I heard about from the last deployment, but now it sounds like they are trying to give support to ladies that need it in different ways other than constant.

Finally, since I am "officially" apart of the FRG many of the women have started asking me to be friends on Facebook. I have excepted but think I am going to have to change some settings. After two days of their status' it's getting tiering for me too.

Oh well, I figured there would be these type of things but really I just wanted to feel connected and be there for people when I could. Phone tree calling starts within the next week so I will let you know how it goes.

Car Cookies

We got into an interesting conversation this morning at work in regards to weather. Being an Arizona girl all the guys on my side of the office wanted to know if I have ever cooked an egg on a sidewalk/pavement. The answer, yes, yes I have, and believe or not it works, fast.

This lead to a bunch of questions about what other things I tried while growing up. I named a few things off and randomly said, "never tried baking cookies though." Oh me and my big mouth.

All of a sudden they guys took out their phones and started looking up how hot it was supposed to be today, the answer 109. Then one of them decided, on his lunch break to go home quick, grab a cookie sheet, go buy a roll of cookie dough and try making cookies by the time we left this afternoon. The key to this, they had to be edible.

At 4:40 p.m. he walks in with a plate full of cookies and, since I was the one that brought it up, got to try one first.

Guess what?

THEY WERE GOOD! THE CAR COOKIES WERE GOOD!

It was an awesome experiment, and since they turned out so well they are already throwing out other ideas...oh boy.