Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

This first decade of the century was crazy. I started off in 2000 hardly an American! I was in 8th grade when the Y2K frenzy was going on. I was in high school from 01-05, graduating in June. Those were some transformative years. Then university from 05-09. Now it's almost 2010.

The September 11th terrorist attacks, the two wars, the iPod and touchscreen phones... tons of innovations, events, so much happens in a short ten years. We've had 3 presidents go through, all different and all controversial. We've had births, deaths and reunions. It's almost 2010!

2009 was a year for me! It started out rough, I won't lie, I had a very rough 5 months in the beginning. Brandon was gone to Georgia for training and I was doing fairly well with that, but it had its ups and downs. School wasn't even that bad either! ROTC was horrible... I couldn't run, my peers didn't like me and talked about me behind my back (no clue what I did to them), and it was a trial trying to decide if I would stay in or not. If I was to go out, what would I do with my life? I had no other ambitions. I'm slowly working it out now, though!

I moved to Georgia in May, finally free, and a weight lifted off of me. I was happy. Georgia was an interesting place to live. We met some wonderful people there! Then it was off to Hawaii in September, where we've been since. We've had our challenges here (mostly to do with flies haha), but it's been rewarding. We expanded our family with Winston and Dexter, Brandon started a new job, and I'm currently looking for a new job. I've almost finished my novel. What a year.

2010 should be interesting. I'm trying not to think of the negatives (Brandon being gone for 9 months of 2010), and instead look at goals I have. Here are some:

1. Drink more tea
2. Practice patience
3. Finish my novel
4. Publish my novel
5. Learn to play golf
6. Learn to play the drums
7. Get better at mountain biking
8. Train my dog! (Starting Saturday!)
9. Start a new blog (you'll hear more of this as the weeks go on)

And so much more. It's going to be a hard year, but a good year. I am certain I'll make it through with shining colors. I just hope I can keep a good attitude about it!

Bring it on, 2010!

Stuff

1. We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center yesterday. It was fun! Brandon got tired, he didn't enjoy it as much as I did - but I like dancing and singing. :) Good food, good people, fun all around.

2. Got a call back for the Dole Plantation job - I was one of 3 people called back. The interview went really well!

3. Saw Pres. Obama's convoy. Cool.

4. Went downtown today to meet Sarah, who I met while in Georgia. Brandon played golf with Luke, her husband, and his father, Tom. I shopped with the girls and talked and enjoyed my time! It was nice catching up with a real friend! Hopefully we get to see them again before they leave Hawaii back for Alaska!

5. I've been having a good time. Tomorrow a reflective blog is coming. Beware: Long. ;)

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas! We woke up earlier than usual, probably because I was excited or something, and then we went downstairs to open presents. We took our time, don't worry. :P We started with our stockings. Brandon gave me some candy in my stocking, including a chocolate orange! He also put a label maker in there (Yay! I've been wanting one for forever!). Brandon's stocking had lots of candy, some underwear, a back scratcher, some toy cars, and other trinkets.

We started opening presents. The big ones I got were a food processor (awesome!), diamond earrings (beautiful!), Super Mario Bros Wii (yeah!), the new Star Trek movie (woohoo!), a couple new books (yay!), some stuff for my bike, and a corkscrew and cheese grater. (Some of that stuff from Brandon's family). Jenny also got us a cool spinny thing that says United States Army on it!

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Brandon got a 154 piece set of Craftsman tools (fun fun!), new Army gloves, a t-shirt (Relief Pitcher), 3 new movies, the last Michael Crichton book, a gun holster, and some Dominos. He loves everything!

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After presents we called everyone we knew and then we made breakfast. I made fruit salad like my mom always makes, and Brandon made cinnamon rolls like his mom always makes. It was a nice combination of both our traditions!

Then we got to cooking dinner. We cooked most of the stuff the day before, but still had some stuff to do. We made the stuffing first and then prepped the turkey. We also made the onion topping for the green bean casserole, for later. Once the turkey was in we relaxed and played my new video game and just hung out. We were expecting only a couple friends and their son since no one else RSVP'd, but we didn't know if anyone would show!

Towards dinner time we got the rest of the food ready: Mashed potatoes, brown sugar carrots, more stuffing, pickle/olive tray, cranberry sauce, gravy, etc. The turkey came out and was carved soon afterwards. We put everything into serving dishes. It looked great!

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In the end, our friends came real late and we ate alone and watched Star Trek. They stayed for a little bit and we talked, but it was kind of an anti-climactic night. All the food we cooked (almost all of which was the first time we had ever cooked it) turned out awesome! We had a great dinner and now we have awesome leftovers.

Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree...

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This Christmas tree has seen better days. It originated in my older sister Jennifer's place, but she hardly ever used it, so it came to Brandon and I. Brandon wasn't totally thrilled at the idea (he didn't even want a tree at first) but it was our first Christmas in our apartment, so I wanted to set it up.

It's sparse, it's course, it's kinda ugly. It lights up when you plug it in.

Except the bottom part, where Winston decided to chew the wires and disconnect the bottom part from the top. Luckily, you can't see the bottom from out the window, so anyone looking in will still see a lovely little Christmas tree.

It's the only thing in our front room now, save for a bar stool, a lamp, Rock Band equipment, and some TV trays. (It's our everything room.) I plug it in every night and love coming out of my bedroom in the morning before the sun comes up to a red, orange, green and blue light filling the room.

It is covered with the 5 ornaments we own, and some candy canes that I can't eat anymore because they make me sick. Brandon has forgotten about them, so he doesn't eat them. There are no presents under the tree because my "children" will go and rip them apart. We don't have stockings hung up because it's our first Christmas without a fireplace. We'll toss them somewhere Christmas Eve!

The tree has been attached by the cat, chewed on by the cat, knocked over by the dog, and has been attached to a frantic and scared puppy, who ran around the house with half a tree around his neck before we subdued him. It has moved from Denver to Colorado Springs to Columbus, GA to Schofield Barracks, HI, without too much damage to it. Every year after Christmas we pack it up in it's broken box and stow it away for the next year. Then it comes out to some grumbling from Brandon and giggling from me.

Eventually we'll get a better tree, but for now, this tree will do. It's been through a lot with us and we couldn't ask for much more.

Except maybe a new wire so the whole thing lights up!

Winter Break!

Today is Brandon's last day before he gets a little over two weeks off for Christmas break. How exciting! It's just like being in university again! Except, of course, he only gets 2 weeks, not 4 or 5 weeks like we got. Oh well, it still rocks. He's excited for the break, he really wants it.

It's also the last real break he gets for the next year and a half. We're going to make the most of it.

I finished tutoring yesterday. I hate to say that I won't miss the majority of the kids in the class. It was a tough job, kind of unforgiving, I'm not sure if I love to do it. I definitely have difficulty teaching younger kids and having them stay on task. I still have some things I need to finish up with that job, but the classroom part is over.

Today I am going down to Kapolei to take a census test for a census job! I don't want to be a census taker (hello, white girl going to people's houses at night?), but I'd like to see if I could work in an office or something. We'll see what that holds. It'll help if I don't have a job, but you never know what the future holds.

Anyway, wrapping presents today, finally got them all... hanging out with Brandon when he gets off work early... just a good Friday, finally a break!

Manic Monday

I was busy yesterday!! It's so funny, I don't have a job, but I always find myself busy busy. I guess it's better than laying around watching TV!

First I got up and got ready. I had a job interview at the Dole Plantation for a temp job as Sales Supervisor. I think it went well! I dressed up really nice and was well prepared for the interview. They asked the typical questions and I think I answered them well. Hopefully I have a good shot at it! This way I'll have a job for the next few months (until April or so) and then I can keep looking for others.

The interview ran late, though, so when I got home I had an hour and a half to do things. I wanted to write, so I sat down outside for half an hour to write. Then I came inside to make lunch and gave myself the luxury of watching TV for half an hour while I ate. By that time it was time to go to tutoring, so I packed up the pets and grabbed my stuff and hurried out the door.

Got to the school, did make-up tutoring for 4 of the students, and then rushed back home. It was about 4:30 now. I had another hour and a half before I had to leave again, so I did some chores, allowed myself to take some deep breaths and relax, and read my new book. (Going Overboard: The Misadventures of a Military Wife, by Sarah Smiley). Then I had to pack up the pets again, wrap an ornament and grab some Christmas cookies, then rushed off to the FRG coffee.

The coffee is basically a meeting with other spouses to discuss things and get together and chat! There's always food and always a raffle to make some money. I haven't won one yet :P. This coffee was hosted by a wife in Brandon's platoon down near Tripler, so it took me like 25 minutes to get there. It was fun though! We talked for a long time and enjoyed food. We had an ornament exchange, and I got a beautiful Hawaiian etched glass globe.

So it was 8:45 when I left there, came home almost by 9:15 and then relaxed with Brandon, since I had hardly seen him the entire day. It was busy, but it was a nice day!

My first blog award!

Yay! My very own blog award! I got it from Amie at The Thoughts of Household Six. It's the Happy 101 Award:

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The rules for this award are:
1. List 10 things that make you happy
2. Tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day

10 things that make me happy:

1. My little family (Brandon, Dexter, Winston).
2. Christmas cookies.
3. The smell of fresh air.
4. When Brandon is happy.
5. Writing.
6. Peppermint hot chocolate.
7. Pizza!
8. Getting things accomplished.
9. A clean house.
10. Hiking, biking, swimming, snorkeling!

10 bloggers that brighten my day:

Jesse and Marissa's Blog

Happy Life as an Army Wife

PostSecret

Cake Wrecks

The Thoughts of Household Six

Hawkerswife

Becoming...

Gail Carson Levine

Mama Bear's Den

Follies of a Fat Girl

Sweet Saturday

I had a good Saturday with Brandon! Even though he barely slept Friday night because he worked all night (staff duty), he was still in a cheery mood the next morning. I enjoyed that! We took it easy in the morning, hanging out and playing games, watching TV, just relaxing the two of us.

We got ready and decided to have some fast food for lunch at Popeyes (yummy, but bleck at the same time!). Then we had to go shopping for a few things for dinner at the commissary (Brandon really wanted steak, I really wanted to make potato wedges), and then we had to run by the PX for me to buy an ornament for an exchange at tomorrow's FRG coffee.

After that we came home, played some more video games, and then decorated some cookies! I made a special icing Brandon's mom makes and he loved them. I also decorated some Gingerbread men. I'd post a pic, but I have no clue where my camera cords went... we got our nice camera back though! No more using a phone!

Afterwards we took a walk as the sun was going down with Dexter around the neighborhood for half an hour. Then we got to BBQing the steaks and ate them while watching the movie "Passengers". Brandon was super tired by then, it was 8:30, since he hadn't slept hardly at all. We went to bed, though I stayed up for a bit to read my book. Then we slept!!

Today, Sunday, we're going to the beach, bringing my bike in to be fixed (the gears stopped working :( ), and just relaxing more before Brandon works tomorrow!

Christmas Cookie Crazy

Ah! I baked a ton today! I have never baked so much in my life. It was fun though! As soon as I got into the zone, it was really easy.

It didn't start out well. I slept in and wanted to keep sleeping, but drug myself up to get to work. I did make breakfast and took a moment to eat so I wasn't hungry and have low blood sugar. Then I started making the dough for the gingerbread men. First, I realized I would have to refrigerate basically all the cookie dough for 1-4 hours, and I was not anticipating that! But that was ok, it was only 9am. I was fine until I got to the baking powder... which I thought I had but didn't.

Ugh.

So I climbed in the car with Dexter in tow to the commissary (thank god it's right there) and ran inside to get some baking powder! Once I got home I made all the dough for the 6 types of cookies I was making (sugar cookies, stained glass sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms, peanut butter cup tarts, gingerbread men and snickerdoodles).

This is what my kitchen looked like as I made everything. It was a mess and I had to have fortifications so the kitty wouldn't jump on the island!:

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Close to lunch time the first batch went in: the peanut butter blossoms, Brandon's favorite. Here they are finished:

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Then I made the snickerdoodles, since they were fairly easy to do, and then on to the sugar cookies, which took forever since I had so many!! I also did the stained glass cookies. Here they are:

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After that were the peanut butter cup tarts, made in a muffin pan. They looked good!:

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Finally, I made the gingerbread men. It was hard at first because the dough was solid, I thought I did something wrong. But I worked the dough a bit and it loosened up and I was able to make the cookies. I sure was tired, but they turned out well:

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I'm glad I did all this! I had Christmas music playing the whole time and Dexter was keeping himself entertained outside (he refused to come inside, silly dog). I had a few difficulties but I did well. Of course, I have a whole load of cookies, so I'm going to be sharing them with neighbors and Brandon's platoon. :) We still have to decorate them, but that will be for another day when Brandon is home.

Now the next Christmas challenge... making Christmas dinner for Brandon and I. AH!

My Day Today

4:27am - Winston crawls on the bed and onto my face, trying to play with my hair, like every morning. Like every morning, I push him away several times until he gets the picture.

5:00am - Brandon wakes up, turns on bathroom light, I groan and roll over. Dexter wakes up.

5:18am - Brandon is about to leave. Dexter is in his crate whining because he wants to get out. I get up, half asleep, to let him outside.

5:30am - Dexter won't come back inside so I leave him out there and go back to bed.

5:40am - I hear Dexter scratching at the door and whining. I drag myself out of bed again and let him in. He comes upstairs and I put him on the bed, and he sleeps right next to me. I'm not longer angry at him because he's too cute. :)

6:00am - Alarm goes off. I snooze.

6:20am - I was going to go work out at 6:30, but I feel sick from low blood sugar and just don't feel like it. Heck, I don't have to if I don't want to! I read my book for a bit but decide I need to eat something or else.

6:30am - Eat, hang out on the computer doing my regular stuff. Apply for some jobs. Sit outside, decide it's too cold, go back inside.

7:45am - Make coffee for Brandon, he should be home soon.

8:20am - Wonder where Brandon is... then he shows up. He had to find somebody and talk to them so he stayed behind at work. Oh well!

8:30am - Shower, then breakfast, and switch the laundry.

9:10am - Brandon leaves, I go outside to write a bit. It goes well, though I hardly write 1000 words. I need to stop taking breaks and start writing more! I want to finish my novel by Christmas.

9:45am - Put Dexter away, hop on my new bike all excited, head down to occupational therapy for my wrist. Almost fall over once while riding. It's all good. I need to practice more. :P

10:33am - Done with therapy, hop on my bike again, almost fall over twice, get home fairly quickly. I am happy. Fold laundry, let dog out, put away laundry, print stuff out for work, come downstairs to do some Facebook and Cinchouse stuff.

11:25am - Sit outside, wait for Brandon to come home for lunch (if he is going to), and contemplate reading a book.

11:45am - Brandon comes home, we eat lunch together, hang out, play with pets.

12:30pm - Brandon leaves for work, I put the laundry basket over Winston just for fun.

12:32pm - Remove basket, go outside to read and watch Dexter play.

1:20pm - Get everything ready for work, cut up some apples for a snack, put Dexter away.

1:45pm - Get to the school, meet with coworker to chat about work, then start getting to work tutoring the kids.

4:30pm - Finally come back home. I was going to go to Wal-Mart for cookie cutters but decided since I'll be down there tomorrow for a haircut, I'll just drop by tomorrow. Makes more sense anyway! Once I'm home, I bring Dexter out for a much needed walk.

5:10pm - Almost get arm ripped off by dog chasing after someone while I get the mail. Mad.

5:15pm - Get about 3 phone calls at the same time. Yikes!

5:30pm - Cleaned all the bathrooms, finally, and put the water bottle holder on my bike. Now I'm ready!

6:22pm - Finally made and ate dinner. It was turkey breast cooked with string beans on top of a regular salad. It was very good, filling, and healthy. I've lost almost 6 pounds in the last few weeks thanks to the Richard Simmons diet. The first 4-5 pounds came off the first week!

6:30pm - Sat down to watch some shows I've DVR'd. Brandon won't be home until later, he's working late tonight with his troops.

7:36pm - Sit at computer, browse internet, contemplate reading again. I want to finish this book soon!

8:35pm - Brandon finally comes home. Yay!

9:00pm - We're tired, we go to bed. What an eventful day :)

A new bike, a good weekend, and a breakthrough!!

We'll start with the breakthrough... twice now, Dexter has gone into his crate without me forcing him to! Before, he knew what it meant, so he would avoid me and I would have to carry him and place him in there. He usually was good afterwards, though, he just hated going in. Well yesterday, I said "Let's go!" and went upstairs and he went straight into his crate and sat down. We were shocked! Also now if we're upstairs he goes and lays down in his crate just to rest. I'm so proud of my puppy!!

So this weekend was good. Brandon got a whole four day weekend again, because they missed Veteran's Day while training. Thursday I had a doctor's appointment and work, so we didn't really do much. Friday we spent the afternoon Christmas shopping for our families back on the mainland, it was fun! Got lots of stuff that I'm sending off today.

Saturday morning we went on a hike to Kaena Point (picture of the ocean below). It was beautiful! The ocean was to our right and to our left were large cliffs/hills. The "dirt" road was totally a 4x4 road, covered with large muddy puddles and dips. Dexter loved to run through all the puddles. We went down to the beach a couple of times, but the waves were so huge and ferocious, we tried to stay away. Brandon once went out of a rock and a wave nearly knocked him over! Anyway, we walked about 4 miles or so altogether. We couldn't make it to the point because dogs weren't allowed, but we plan on going back with our bikes and seeing if we can do it. :)

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Speaking of bikes... I got my NaNoWriMo bike!! It's the bike Brandon promised me for finishing NaNoWriMo. It's a Specialized bike, which is a very good brand, and is all decked out with cool gear shifters and disk brakes and a shock system I can turn off. It's also incredibly light and fits me perfectly. I love it. I can't wait to hit some trails or even just ride down to the doctor's for a check up!

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My new 1Lt!

It's hard to believe that it's been nearly a year and a half since Brandon commissioned and we started this journey in the Army. I feel like we've hardly gotten anywhere, but look at us! We've moved from Colorado to Georgia to Hawaii, I've graduated university , and now Brandon is the leader of a platoon.

Today also marks 18 months of marriage! Wow it's gone quickly! I love him more and more each and every day. :)

So congratulations to Brandon on his promotion (and a lovely pay raise, thank you), and congrats to us on our healthy and happy marriage!

Right before:

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A new 1Lt:

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Brandon and I:

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Happy Birthday Mommy!!

It's my mommy's birthday today! She is in North Dakota visiting Shannon and going to Fargo for the day, so I'm gonna call later. But for now, pictures of my mother. :)

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TEXTAREA_ID

Vendredi Noir

Today is Black Friday! I'm not really partaking in it because frankly, there's nothing I need to buy. I am, however, going to Old Navy because they have jeans on sale for super cheap, and I thought I'd see what's up. Other than that, nope.

Today Brandon has staff duty so he has a 24 hour shift... gone for 9am to 9am! I'm planning on writing, maybe cleaning a bit, bringing Dexter to the dog beach for some fun, and then Old Navy. It should be a good day, though maybe a little boring at times. Hopefully not too bad.

Yesterday we had dinner with new friends, Joe & Ashley, Tyler & Amanda, and Will & Michelle. It was at Tyler and Amanda's house, who live right beside Joe & Ashley. Tons of food!! The turkey was so tender and the stuffing was so good, I even had some. There were casseroles and potatoes and corn and bread, yum yum. We all ate our hearts out and sat around talking. It's nice to have people our age to hang out with and chat with. Only Tyler & Amanda have a daughter and are expecting another in early February, though Michelle is pregnant now and due next summer. It's nice though! Ashley is super nice and her birthday is one day before mine. :)

Dexter kept me up last night whining so I didn't sleep as well as I had hoped. He whined at one point and I brought him out and he didn't need to do anything, ugh.

Anyway, tomorrow we're going downtown and then to see Dane Cook, exciting! Sunday we plan on hitting the beach and just enjoying the weather, if it turns out good!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for...

A handsome, smart, funny, wonderful, couldn't-get-any-better husband!
Two entertaining pets whom I love
My health and sanity :)
Being in Hawaii and all the adventures I've had so far in life
Satellite TV and my DVR
My books and novels and writing ability
The sky, the sun, the clouds, the ocean, the ground, the birds, the fish, the trees, the flowers...
Good people and bad people!
All the soldiers in the world, especially us Americans!
Canada
My family and all its quirks

And so much more!

I won!

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I have surpassed 50k words!! Yay me! My novel is chugging along great and I am fully committed to finishing it and publishing it. I am so happy!

I'm dreaming of...

A new Diamondback Lustre 2 in Gloss White River.

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It's the bike I saw at Sports Authority and I fell in love. The seat is a little high, but if I move the reflector, I should be fine. I love it. It's light, durable, pretty, and fits me well. I want it!

Sleep?

I dunno, I think my pets are practicing for me to be a mother or something! We're trusting the cat more and more lately, so we're letting him stay out of the laundry room at night. The problem is that he jumps on our bed and purrs in our faces or plays with our feet or plays with my hair. It's impossible to sleep through that! He also taunts the dog, who is in his crate, and who also begins whining as soon as he sees the cat. Sleep?

Dexter, since Brandon has gotten home, has needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I think maybe it's because our schedule has been messed up since Brandon got home. I feel bad because I haven't been paying him as much attention with Brandon home and he hasn't gotten his energy out enough. But yeah, I'm the one getting up in the middle of the night to let him out because Brandon can't hear him. Sleep?

I haven't written hardly anything this weekend because the time I do have to write is when Brandon is catching up on TV shows and it's too distracting to me. I need silence or classical music, that's all! So today I need to write like a madman to catch up. I wanted to hit 50k by today... I'm just a little past 45k...

Yesterday we have a sort of game night at these new friends, Joe and Ashley. He's in the same unit as Brandon. There were three other couples there beside us two. It was fun! We didn't play many games, we actually chatted most of the time, but still had fun. The food was great - they had deviled eggs! I hope we all build a friendship, they all seemed like nice people.

Ok, I want to sleep. Maybe I could take a nap on the couch...

Brandon's Home!

I feel bad being so excited about Brandon being home since he was only gone for just under 3 weeks. By the end of the 3 weeks, it didn't even feel that long, but I guess that's how most separations go. His bus came home from the airport at about 6pm, so I brought Dexter with me to go pick him up. He was so excited to see Brandon!

Brandon was also very excited to be home. He desperately needed a haircut and a shower (even though it had been only one day since his last shower). We waited on the haircut until Friday morning. That night we watched a couple TV shows I had DVR'd that he had missed and we hung out and I made him a quesadilla for dinner.

Friday was a good day too. We slept in then cut his hair, and he went to work at 9. He came home before ten though because there was nothing for him to do. We did some laundry, watched more TV shows, played some WoW and once had to leave to go get a new ID card for Brandon. Oh, and he also drove me up the road to Kolekole Pass (it's a road that links Schofield to the western part of the island). We didn't go all the way through, but it was a pretty drive and so cool to see that part! Before dinner we brought Dexter on a walk, right after we had spent maybe an hour hanging outside together talking.

Today we are going to the beach. Finally! I haven't gone to swim and snorkel for weeks and he hasn't either. I mean, I've been to the dog beach, but all that gets wet are my lower legs, while Dexter has all the fun! We decided to hit up a new place this week: the Ko Olina Lagoons. They are manmade lagoons with good swimming and great snorkeling. I can't wait!

On Sunday we're going to a BBQ and game night with a bunch of other LT's and their wives. Hopefully we can start making some real friends here!

Excited!

So Monday Brandon told me good news... he's coming home two days early! So he's coming home tomorrow! I was so excited. It's always nice to have your husband home with you. :)

Also on Monday, my dad emailed me to say that my stepmom and he have booked flights to come visit us. They arrived January 8th into Honolulu. I don't know any other details, he didn't give me any other! Haha. I did email him back asking for more information, but he doesn't check his email that often, so I have to wait.

I started my job yesterday as a Creative Writing tutor. Wow it's hard! I think the next session I want to work with middle school or high school. Most of the kids in this class are first grade, so we're really working hard on spelling and grammar and having them pay attention! It's hard to get kids to do work right after they've done school all day. I'm sure it'll get better over time!

Life is going. I got my 9 books I ordered from MilitaryOneSource. I don't know if I said anything about that, but you can order up to ten books for free from them. And they're good books too! I got books about deployment, after deployment, and basic books about being a military spouse. One book was different than one I ordered... but it's one I want, so whatever. I think I might start reading the shortest one today, called "Help! I'm a military spouse and I need a life too!"

I also ordered my all-time favorite book, Ella Enchanted. I've been reading it again the past couple days, I'll finish it today. It's nice to re-read your favorite childhood book!

Brandon and I ordered tickets to see Dane Cook on November 28 (my mom's bday! Hi Mom!). I can't wait! We also got invited to a BBQ this weekend with an LT and his wife our age, and the same people invited us to Thanksgiving. So we're going!

All around, it all seems to be working out. I'm enjoying life this week! A few setbacks but mostly excitement!

Holiday Giveaway

A friend and fellow blogger from Cinchouse.com is having a holiday giveaway!

http://blackhawkhunnie.blogspot.com/2009/11/holiday-giveaway.html

She is giving away a "game" called Table Topics. It is basically a box with a bunch of ideas for conversation starters, which would be great to get through some tough evenings or break the habit of the typical conversations! So I have entered to win, and in order to get an extra vote, I have to post it on my blog.

Here's a quote from the website about Table Topics:

"More than just a family question game or party game, TableTopics Family Gathering Edition will help you start a new tradition around the "extended" family table and give young and old alike a chance to share. These questions are designed to encourage conversations between grandparents and grandchildren, aunts and uncles with their nieces and nephews, all the cousins too; the whole family."

"It's perfect for reunions, holiday gatherings and special family events. These fun, family ice breaker questions are a great birthday or anniversary gift idea too!"

I think it would be great! Especially since we'll be having some visitors, we don't want it to get too boring. But I think it'll be good for just Brandon and I to do. I'm excited to maybe win!

Shots

I don't mind getting shots. They don't hurt too bad, I'm not scared of needles, and it's quick and easy! In the last year and a bit, though, my body has not enjoyed getting shots.

It first happened when I got the Gardasil shot at the doctor's office. I got it, it was all good, and then I woke up ten seconds later to the nurses freaking out about how I didn't tell them I pass out when I get shots. I said "I don't!" but they didn't believe me, especially after I told them I passed out once when giving blood. (Hello, it was towards the end and I had no blood left in me!). They warned me that I had to warn whoever was giving me a shot that I pass out. I said ok whatever.

I gave blood a couple weeks later and I passed out again. It wasn't even a lot of blood, just one vial for some testing. Then I gave blood again another time and passed out. Luckily, I didn't pass out with the other two Gardasil shots, but I had warned the nurse and she was so quick I barely felt it. She also made me look away and breathe a lot.

So today I had to get a test for TB for my new job (a requirement for anyone working with children here). Easy enough, I went and they gave me a shot in my forearm. Then I felt light-headed. I thought, I haven't warned the nurse that I pass out when I get shots, and now I'm going to pass out and crack my head open! So I told her that sometimes I pass out and asked if I could sit there for a couple minutes. She let me and was very concerned when I left. I probably left too soon, I still felt woozy, but I wanted to walk.

So what gives, body? I'm not scared of needles! Brandon doesn't pass out and he hates needles! I think part of it is probably because I'm anticipating passing out so I get worked up. But geez, I hate it!

Jessica is Engaged!

My little sister Jessica is engaged to Andy! They got engaged last night over a nice dinner and she's very giggly about it all. I'm happy for her, because she's happy :).

I still see Jessica as a 16 year old, probably because when I left home, she was 16! She'll always be my little sister and it's so amazing to see her growing up like this. I wish her all the best. :)

And now, some photos of us to remember! (In no particular order)

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