Excitment

You will never guess what I have been doing this past week, let alone where I am sitting right now.

I know, the excitement is killing you, lol.

But in all seriousness, I spent the last week cleaning and preping and packing, and now I am sitting in LAX with my HUSBAND getting ready to go on a wonderful R and R vacation. That's right people, my husband finally got to take his R and R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will fill you in on all the details {from the pick up, to the trip, to the "see you later"} when we get back from our relaxing and tropical vacation spot.

For now, just image the biggest smile on a person you can =0D

Bowling

This last weekend I was lucky enough to get tickets to see my alma mater play in the Cotton Bowl. That's right, a major college football bowl game took place in my backyard at Cowboy's Stadium!

Eight of my close girl friends came into town to join me for a MAJOR football girls weekend.

We started off by tailgating when the parking lots opened at noon. Throughout the hours of pre-game madness, we saw so many people we knew, got to hang out with our schools mascot, and enjoyed the pre-game pep-rally.

Once inside we were blown away by are seats and the stadium itself. It was actually the first time I have even been inside an NFL stadium and since it is only two years old it still has that "new stadium" smell/look. As for our seats, we were in the lowest level possible 12 rows up. YAY!

It was an amazing experience even though my team didn't win. We all cheered our faces off, leaving me with no voice Saturday morning, and many of my friends voices leaving as well. The rest of the weekend was full of taking them around Dallas. Man, it was such a fun, much needed, weekend.

I almost forgot, my husband called me durning the game. Him, and a few of his buddies were able to stream the game and watch it with me. While it stinks he wasn't with me at the game, it was cool that he was watching with me somewhere.

Hello 2012

2011 was a roller coster. 

My husband graduated flight school, I got my first {dream} job, we got to actually live together for a month, he started his first deployment, I had finally got a clean bill of health, and those are just a few of the high lights. 

In honor of all of that, I am looking forward to what 2012 has to offer and am going to do a different twist on resolution thing. I actually found this list on another blog and love the concept. Hopefully I can keep these up.

1. Smile
2. Have Gratitude
3. Kick Comparison to the Curb
4. Set Some New Goals
5. Give Back
6. Do What You Like
7. Surrond Myself with People You Love
8. Feel Your Best
9. Create a Happy Environment
10. Focus on Your Strengths

Now for all of you, I hope your New Year is full of fun, peace, happiness and full of fun new adventures.

A Difficult Holiday

As you can tell, I have not had a post for a while, and once again it's because life has took a turn on me and my family. Last weekend, the weekend before Christmas, my aunt passed away. I was away with one of my friends at a wedding when I got the news from my mother. I was shocked, because it came totally out of left field. So once I composed myself, I continued to push through and be happy throughout the wedding festivities, but as soon as I got in the car it was on to planning getting me with my mom's side of the family.

I was quickly on a plane with the thousands of people trying to get home for cheerful reasons.

It was hard to see my mom go through the events that took place the next three days, but I am so thankful I got to be with her as a support, especially with my dad unable to get up to the upper west coast and my husband being gone with the deployment.

We then said our tearful goodbyes and headed back to Texas {I convinced my mom to just fly back with me and accompany me on my drive home}. So we then had a quick 24 hour turn around for me to unpack, then repack, and have a half day of work, then load up the dogs and drive back to Arizona for Christmas. No worries, I am still out of breath from the whole experience.

To make the trip even more interesting we got stuck in New Mexico for an extra day due to a massive snow storm that shut down I-10. Yeah, not so fun with two dogs, an emotional mother, and one tiny hotel room. We made due with what we could and finally made it back home one hour before our annual Christmas Eve party.

Needless to say we were both emotionally and physically drained.

The party was a success, even though it was more low key than years past, and it was great to be back in the desert after a year long hiatus.

As for Christmas morning, I received a great gift, a phone call from my husband saying he was going to open the gifts we send him with us as we opened ours. It made my day, and made my mom cry {happy tears}. The dogs even got in on the action, making wrapping paper confetti.

All in all it was a good Christmas and really got back to the heart of things with the recent death in our family. It made all of us even more thankful for the time we have together and those little moments that make everything brighter.

To all of you, I hope your holidays were full of cheer, laughter and light!

Jars

To begin with, that blah feeling I had last week has vanished. Ok, maybe not vanish, but it has for sure gone and hide for a while. I am not sure if it's the fact I get to go back to home for Christmas, finished our holiday note, started my marathon training so my endorphins are up, the fact I got to talk to my husband for 15 minutes this week, or a combination of all of these things, I am happy.

As many of you know when deployment hits it is your job to do everything on your own. I am a smart and independent woman, and have been able to handle everything that has come my way except one thing...jars. Yep, no matter what I do and at least once a week I can't open a jar. Tonight, it was salsa while I was trying to make dinner.

I used all the tricks. That round rubber thing that helps your grip, fail. Tapping on the side of it with a knife, fail {my mom taught me that one}. As well as a few other things things that were all fails.

It has happened to me a few times before and as lame as this sounds it's been my best option. I go next door to the sweet older {late 50's/early 60's} and ask him to help me out. If that fails, and trust me I wish this was a joke, I take it to work with me and have one of the guys I work with to open for me.

Lucky for me tonight, my neighbors were home and he was able to get it open so I had a great dinner.

My goal by the end of the deployment, open any jar without help.

Sigh

This past week I have just been in a mood. I am not sure if it's work related, family situations, Christmas coming up, or the deployment finally catching up with me, but I am just blah. Not to mention, I am struggling with myself.

Hopefully I can figure it out soon.

Thanksgiving Weekend

When my husband and I got married we decided to split the holidays between our families. It would be easier due to everyone living in different states. Thanksgiving was my husbands families holiday, however, this year, with some unseen events happening, we did not have that traditional family Thanksgiving so I was "alone" here in Texas.

Lucky, I have made a good support system and, from co-workers to friends, I had numerous offers to spend the day with people.

To make things easy, I just went with the person that asked me first. The evening was wonderful. We watched a football game and then we all just sat back as my friend finished preparing all of the food herself. The food was really good and I was so proud of her for doing it all on her own, she was very, very nervous it wouldn't turn out.

As for the family I was adopted into for the day, it was my friend, her husband and in-laws, her parents, brother and sister in-law, and their two little girls {one 5, the other 3}. Of course I made quick friends with the little ones, especially when they found out I could draw and color. I also warmed up to the rest of the family, and them me, quickly.

Overall, while it wasn't what I thought would happen this year, it was still nice to be in a family environment when I felt welcomed and thankful for everything I have.

I hope all of you had a lovely Thanksgiving!

Call me crazy...

...but I am officially running a half marathon at the end of March!

My friend and I were talking last night about how we needed to get to running again and, while both of us have done numerous 5Ks, we both have "run a half marathon" on our list of things to do in life. So, we looked up a get in shape and run a marathon or half marathon class and found one that starts Dec. 11.

I'm a little worried because I am out of shape. Right now I can run an eleven/twelve minute mile and, right now, I can do about 3 miles without passing out.  This training camp will have us running 15 miles a week before the half marathon.

Although it's a little daunting, I am very excited to do it. This will also help keep me busy and my mind focused on something other than deployment. Not to mention I will meet some more new people and maybe get some good friends out of it.

So here we go, starting tomorrow I am going to run 3 miles every other day just to get my body prepped for our first day Dec. 11.

Happy running!

Deployment Upadte

I know I have to be vague on deployment details, but I realized I have not given an update in a long time.

My husband is doing as well as he can be, minus the hit or miss communication and 10 min showers with {sometimes} not enough water. He is even starting to connect and make friends with guys in his unit, which I am very, very happy about. My husband is kind of shy, and with him being one of the youngest, making some guy friends was one of my biggest concerns. To help with the guy bonding, my husband has started a weekly football game with the guys. Not only does that help them all connect and get some much needed energy out, it also helps pass the time over there.

As for the fighting, well, we really don't talk about that too much. I don't want to hear about the malfunctioning helicopters, people getting hurt, or some missions. It helps keep my mind calm and, unless it is something major that effects my husband a lot, makes me think things are all good. Yes, I know that's not the best, to live in this dream world, but I think it helps us both because he talks about other things and I can not worry as much.

The guys are actually getting ready to mobilize and move somewhere else soon, but of course I don't know those details, and even if I did I wouldn't be able to disclose them on here.

Luckily for us, this movement does not affect his RandR. We are still unsure what the exact dates will be, but we know for sure it will be sometime closer to the start of the year. Trust me, as soon as I get a date, the count down will begin.

If I think of anything else to report on the deployment update I will post it quickly so I don't forget. Now, it's time to make some dinner and watch some more football.

How Are You?

I don't mean to sound, I don't know, jerkish with this post but with this whole deployment thing and people asking me "How I am"...I have gotten to the point where I am "over it."

Yes, emotionally it is hard, but that first two months of sadness and wondering how I am going to get through all of this is now gone and I have hit "survival mode" phase.

I am going through my deployment life realizing that I need to focus on the things I can control and realize I am not alone in this, have a support system, and remember that technology has made deployments so much easier, I get to hear his voice and even see him sometimes.

Apparently, even with me finding my deployment skin and sharing my thoughts people are still overly concerned and don't {really} believe me when I say I am doing ok. I don't know how to get that message through their heads. From my mother in law to friends to co-workers, they all ask me every week how I am doing and if I'm ok.

...not going to lie, my response is about to be "I was ok until you asked me this for the 400th million time"...

Yes, over reaction, and I need to realize that the people around me and in my life are going through this too in a way and are just trying to figure out how to support me. But I have hit that wall and just have to hope that they will get to a good point with all of this as well.

So for all of you out there I am doing well and if I need something/you, I will let you know and thank you for asking how I am.