I spoke too soon.

It's been a while since I posted last. I guess it's been a busy couple of weeks. I'm working in a new section at work and that involves me doing a lot of researching so that has been keeping me from realizing how fast this month has flown by! I don't even know where the last three weeks have gone.

The day after my last post I got a phone call from KC. He was in the hospital. He's ok, but he had a piece of shrapnel from a grenade go through his leg near his knee. It lodged really deep into his leg. Up into the bone marrow deep. I'm so thankful he is ok, but was a slightly freaked out because I had just posted an entry about how I was feeling better about the whole situation, and how I was missing him more than usual though. While I was writing about that, he was going into surgery and I had no idea. I try not to put much thought into this, but it's hard not to. It makes me feel more cautious when saying things. It's almost like I don't want to jinx him. After I went through the slew of questions making sure this was a short term injury I felt a little better, and lets face it: he won't be out with all his guys for a while so I feel he's a bit removed from chaos. For these few weeks that he's recovering I can breathe a little easier. I hope this is the only injury he has to deal with for the rest of the time he's there. We hit the 1/3 mark a few days back. It feels good to finally be getting time under our belts and making progress on getting closer to him coming home.

I went out to lunch with an Army wife yesterday, and let me just say how amazing it felt to hang out with her for a couple of hours! I'm pretty sure I had diarrhea of the mouth with all the things I haven't been able to talk to anyone for the last three months, but she was so great and let me get it all out. Her husband is coming home from his nine month deployment in less than a month (SO jealous and excited for her at the same time!).  We spent the entire time talking about our soldiers and everything Army. Seems a little overkill? Not when you're me and you have no other girlfriends who are involved in the military. I felt like a total weight had been lifted off my chest. It was so awesome to have your thoughts and feelings validated by someone who is in the same situation as you. I feel less like a crazy person now :-) I really hope I can meet more amazing milspouses/girlfriends in the future because I think that's the only way I'll keep my sanity!

They said it would get better & it has..

I don't recall exactly where I read about the timeline of a deployment, but it was probabley in one of the many (probabley hundreds!) of blogs I have read that involve military and deployment. They said it would be rough the first two months, and then after that time you would start to be back in your routine, and able to carry on with life better. They were right.

Being that this is my first experience with deployment I had no idea whether there was any truth to that. I couldn't imagine ever shaking the feeling of always worrying that KC was okay. For those first two months I was terrified and physically sick to my stomach if I didn't hear from him throughout the week. During the first two months I had one chunk of time where I didn't hear anything for over a week, and was told I would hear from him. I think that makes it even worse; being told you will get a call from your soldier on a specific day, and that day comes and goes and more pass by and you hear nothing. You start to fear the worst.

When you least expect it you get a call at 4am, and it's him. You forget all the fear that sat in the pit of your stomach, because it doesn't matter anymore. He's safe. Slowly, but surely you start to adjust to having him over there, and the terrible fear that was at the front of your mind moves slowly to the rear..just a little bit.

Although it's been almost three months since I last saw him, I still miss him as much as the day we last touched, if not more. I know for a fact I miss him more with everyday that passes, but I think I have learned how to cope with his absence. The last two days have been rough though. I really miss him. It's not the terrified feeling that I have had in the past, it's the longing type of missing someone you love. I'm starting to really miss the small things. Hanging out at home doing nothing. Going out for our usual Saturday morning breakfast. I miss being able to touch him, and laugh with him. I miss seeing the look on his face when he sees me. The look that makes me feel like the prettiest girl in the world.

Even though this is not an ideal situation for a relationship, it still works. Military relationships don't make sense to those who have never experienced them. I for one will be the first to admit that my view on military families has completely changed. I just wish that it didn't take me being in a relationship with a soldier to see this. I think that we would all look at the world a little bit different if we all saw the world through a member of a military relationships' eyes.

NAIL FILES: Ruby Ritz

HAPPY FRIDAY! I don't even know where this week went, because it FLEW by! I won't complain though..




As per my usual Nail Files post; my pictures are somewhat blurry. I had two different Shellac colors put on my nails this week. The first was a red, and the second one is a red glitter one. One of them was called Ruby Ritz, but I can't remember which one it was. That's not important though. What's important is the facts that they're the perfect Christmas nail color. I just wish you could see all the sparkle!

As a side note: I love the fact that my nail lady acts like I have had an affair with another nail salon if I don't make it in to see her every two weeks. She really flipped when I went to Julep. "Why you go some place else? You know we do best job at best price!" It worked out to my benefit though when she gave me an extra stamp on my card...Free pedicure obtained early :-)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Weekend Memories

I had a wonderful last few days. On Thursday night I drove myself down to the waterfront to pick up my friend L who had hopped the ferry over to Seattle. She had originally flown in earlier in the week from out of state, but was spending a few days catching up with old friends before spending the weekend with me. Unfortunately she either caught a 24 hour bug or a case of food poisoning the day before so we decided we would lay low on Thursday night because we had a jammed packed weekend ahead of us.

Friday was spent up in Washington wine country: Woodinville!

 We made sure to hit the big players in wine making, which included Chateau St. Michelle. We were the only ones on the noon tour and because of that we had our own tour guide that truly personalized it for us. Rudy was awesome. He was very knowledgeable. L doesn't have much experience in wine, and she couldn't believe how much she learned. The more I am around good wine, the more I learn too. It's become more of a hobby these days, which seems totally crazy, but I like it. Makes me feel classier too :-) L & I each went home with a few bottles of wine, and had to take a nap when we got back into Seattle.

 After an afternoon of watching my life is a lifetime movie, and napping we peeled ourselves off the couch because we had more activities awaiting us!









Next on our agenda was a trek up to Cap Hill for a friend's birthday celebration. We swung in to the restaurant Smith for some delicious brews and food first. I always love the dark and rustic vibe of Smith. It took way too long for a table, but a seat on the bench while people watching made it a little better. After we finished up we went down the hill a few blocks and popped in to say happy birthday to a friend of mine. The weather was horrible that night. It was pouring all night. Alternating between raining hard and harder. Needless to say, we were ready to go home early, throw sweat pants on, and watch tv. Plus, we were continuing the fun on Saturday morning. It would be a touristy day on Saturday.

Have you ever heard of the gum wall in Seattle? It is quite the site! Let me tell you about it. The gum wall is located in Post Alley, which is a small cobble stone lined alley that runs on both sides of Pike Place Market. Only a small section of the alley is covered in gum (thank God!), and for some reason it attracts a good amount of attention. L had heard about it and put it on her list of places to visit. As you can see, there is a massive amount of gum that lines the wall, and of course we had to add our own to it. We then walked around Pike Place Market, and looked at a bunch of the booths and little stores that pack that market full.

 We hopped the monorail when we had enough of all the tourists at the market and since the monorail only takes you one place: we got off at the Seattle Center and made our way over to the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit next to the Space Needle. Dale Chihuly is a native of the Pacific Northwest; Tacoma specifically. His work is made up a variety of pieces, but he is known for his awe inspiring glass work. He blows glass into these bright, twisted, unbelievable creations. Many of them are over ten feet tall! As you can tell from my pictures, these pieces are incredibly unique and beautiful. His work can be found all across the country in not only museums, but in public places as well. My university is lucky to have scored a huge piece that looks similiar to the one in the 2nd row of pictures of the right.

Sunday was more relaxed. I dropped L off at the airport, and then went for a run. In the afternoon the roommate and I drove out to the middle of nowhere, in the rain, to cut down our tree. You would think that if you are driving out to some tree farm in the middle of nowhere and cutting down your own tree, you would save a lot of money. We were wrong in our thinking. The trees ranged from $65-80 bones! I'm thinking I should start a tree farm as a retirement business! YEESH. We sucked it up though and cut down a beautiful tree, and got out moneys worth by drinking lots of free cider and eating a bunch of their cookies ;-)

Only in the PacNW do you need an umbrella when heading out to cut down your tree!

Sawing away!

Like the vest coordination?! Christmas colors, and we didn't even plan that!

Anyone else get their Christmas tree this weekend?