My Saturday

I had a very good Saturday yesterday with Brandon, I thought I should share it! We woke up, ate some breakfast, spent a couple hours in the morning reading on the couch together. He finished his book and I chugged through my book fairly far. (By the way, I hate the book I'm reading, but I told myself I'd read it! lol It's New Moon, the second in the Twilight series). Anyway, then we got ready to go out.

We had an early lunch at Jason's Deli, a yummy organic deli restaurant with some great sandwiches! After lunch we went to see Transformers 2. I liked it! Brandon wasn't incredibly impressed, but I'm fairly easy to entertain. After the movie we went shopping and finally bought some side table lamps to go with our news bedroom set! Thank goodness!

We came home, ate dinner, hung out for a bit, then headed to Fort Benning for a Fourth of July celebration! Yeah, a week early, but it was fun. They had a fair thing going on, with games and booths with fair food. We had fun! They had bands playing, and at the end was the Edwin McCain Band (who sing "I'll Be", you probably know it). We watched them. It was awesome! And fireworks were shot off at the end too.

So we had tons of fun, I'm glad we went. :D

Friday Weigh In

June 5: 133.8
June 12: 131.6
June 22: 134.4

June 26: 133.2

I'm going back down! lol. We haven't eaten out since the in-laws left, though tomorrow we're going to lunch at a good restaurant, and then Sunday we have dinner with friends... but it isn't every day. I've also started to work out more again! My knee has been hurting, but it's good for me. :) So yeah, back on track with the weight loss.

In other news, I thought it would be appropriate to include here that three famous people died this week! Yesterday, Farrah Fawcett died of cancer at age 62, and then later in the day Michael Jackson was found unconscious and died in the hospital. He was 50 years old. Wow! I kind of feel sorry for Farrah Fawcett, since she was suffering for awhile and her passing was overshadowed by Michael Jackson's sudden death. RIP you two! Ed McMahon also died on June 23. I never even heard of his death until yesterday, which is sad, since he was a star in his own right. So RIP Ed :)

I've volunteered a couple times this week. It was boring, haha. I just feel burnt out. This summer was supposed to be my summer, not working, doing what I want, and writing, reading, you know? So I cut my volunteering down to one morning a week. They keep asking me to come in... but I mean, if they aren't paying me, I'm not going to spend all my time there, right?

As for writing... I've been reading writing books. I bought myself a fountain pen (should arrive in a couple days!), and plan on starting to write by hand soon. I found that I just can't type up a story unless I have it written on paper. I write my best stuff on paper. The bad part is that my wrist is hurt (doctor said I might have arthritis), so it hurts when I write. I put Icy-Hot on it, it helps a bit, but it still hurts. So that's something I'll have to push through!

Anyway, time to go do some work here. ;)

Monday Weigh In?

Whoops! I forgot my Friday weigh in!! I've been so busy!

So... June 22: 134.4

Ok, I expected that... I've been eating out a lot, and not working out at all. And I feel bloated. :P

Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! I need to call my dad, but I'll do that later, since it's only 9am here, meaning it's 7am where he is. :) Brandon's family is still here, so we're spending Father's Day with them!

Anyway, I've had a fairly good weekend. Friday, of course, was the grand opening of the museum. I saw Colin Powell and shook Gen. Hal Moore's hand! (We Were Soldiers, if you don't know). I still need to post pictures, so just wait a bit for it. They also had a great show with paratroopers and BlackHawk helicopters. It was fun! I left before I really had to do anything for the museum, I just was worried since there were so many people. They keep calling me to volunteer, it's becoming a full time job, practically!

Saturday we took the family to the museum. We spent nearly 3 hours there! The exhibits are awesome and very informative. We then had lunch at Jason's Deli (yum), went to the grocery store real quick, and came home. We watched Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was a great movie. Then had dinner (we made chili) and played Scrabble.

Today we are having a barbecue, swimming a bit, going to the Civil War Naval Museum, and I dunno what else! But I'm having a good time. :)

Life!

Ok, brandonchantal.shutterfly.com is nearly up and running!! I have uploaded all my photos onto Shutterfly (finally... that only took 4 days!), and now I need to attach them to the website. So keep checking back and I'm sure I'll get it done eventually.

Yesterday, I did training on the rifle simulator at the museum. It's the same program that they use for soldiers in training. It's a virtual program that uses real M4's, though just with lasers. It's fun! They want me to work there basically full time - not anywhere else in the museum. I'm not cool with that, since I really want to do tours. Brandon laughs because he said he would do the simulator all day. That's Brandon, though!

Speaking of Brandon, he graduates Infantry Officer Basic Course today! So he is officially an Infantry Officer. I'll be sure to get pics up on Shutterfly, and maybe clip one onto here (though they come out wrong, I'm still sort of sorting that out). We picked up his parents yesterday in Atlanta... long, boring drive to Atlanta... and ate dinner at Cheddar's, which is a yummy restaurant. Now we are waiting here for Brandon to either come home from work, or us to just go to the graduation, which starts at 2 this afternoon.

I now need to cut up a cantaloupe and do my hair. :)

:)

I have finally found a photo hosting website I am comfortable with! It's Shutterfly, and I'm in the long process of uploading all my photos. You can check it out at brandonchantal.shutterfly.com. Don't expect anything. lol. It's not done!

I spent the weekend hanging out with Brandon. We really didn't do much! He left Saturday night to play Axis and Allies with some friends, so I hung out at home. We watched some movies. Yesterday we went shooting, which was fun, but then it rained! Sucks.

Wow, I felt like I had more to say... oh, I'm officially out of ROTC. My medical board came through. It's done now! I feel relieved that I can move on for sure now. Thank goodness.

Friday Weigh In and Photos!

June 5: 133.8
June 12: 131.6

Hm, that's good! I think I've been eating less and I know I have been working out way more, so that is probably how I lost some weight. I don't weigh myself any other days than Friday, so I know I'm taking a chance, as I should be averaging the weeks total. But you know weight can fluctuate day to day. So I've been keeping fairly average! Tuesdays and Thursdays are my intense workout days, where I do Yoga and then Spin classes. It's tough, but I can feel me getting stronger and leaner. Maybe I'll reach that 125 goal sooner than planned!

On my computer, the photos I post cut off halfway through. Does that happen to you? I use Photobucket for all my photos, and am in the process of putting them all up there. It just takes forever! I'm trying to weed through some and take down the ones I don't like. Here's the url: http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/HappyKatcha/

I might be switching web photo hosting sites, though. Photobucket has been kind of pissing me off lately. So I'm on the search for the perfect one! I'll keep you updated!

Bedroom Set

Just a quick update. I wanted to post piccies of the bedroom set. :)

Culmination Exercise

Today I went out to Fort Benning to see Brandon and all the men from the IBOLC class do their Culmination Exercise. It was fun! The wives were on the roof of a building in the middle of the village where they were assaulting, so we could watch all the guys. I wasn't going to go originally, but Brandon really wanted me to go, and I'm glad I did! It was really loud, with explosions and firing from everywhere. The smoke floated up to us and made it hard to see, though, and all our throats hurt. I got to see Brandon though at the end! First he waved at me from a building window (I knew where he was going to be), and then when we were leaving he was there. So I included his picture below :D. Before the exercise, I did yoga and spin. I've been busy!! The summer is super hot now, too. Bedroom set comes tomorrow though, I'll try to include pics of it! :)

Atlanta Trip

Yesterday I was gone aaallll day! The Army Wives (7 of us) got together and carpooled up to Atlanta for a day of shopping and fun.

We left Columbus at 10:30 and got to Atlanta at about 12:30. We went to Chipotle first - yum yum. I love Chipotle! I told Brandon we'd come to Atlanta so he could get some Chipotle before Ranger School :). Afterwards we went to Atlantic Crossing (I think), which is an outdoor shopping center. We went to tons of stores, like H&M, Victoria's Secret, DSW Shoes, Guess, American Eagle, etc. Just lots of clothes stores. I bought some new Converse shoes that are so cute, a cardigan, a t-shirt, and some underwear. It was great! We then had dinner at PF Changs, yummy. Though it took them forever to seat us... maybe it's just the South.

Anyway, I've been having a great time here. One girl works at Red Lobster and might see about me getting a job there, if I decide so. I start volunteering tomorrow at the National Infantry Museum. I have no clue what I'll be doing, though I know I'll be doing some training. Georgia is turning out to be great!

Friday Weigh In

June 5: 133.8 lbs

Not too surprising, really. I've been hovering between 133 and 136 for the last year or more, now, it seems. Though this past summer I got down to 128 until Brandon got home! I was happy about that. Just last week I weighed 131... but I'm sure it was a fluke. 133 seems right. So that means 8.8 pounds to go until I hit that 125 mark.

Working out is killing me, haha. I did the Core & More class today. It was hard!! Especially after doing Spin yesterday. But totally worth it. I can't wait to work out more and more. It's an addiction now, for sure. A healthy one, though!

What doesn't kill you...

I did my first spin class today! It was hard, but I feel awesome afterwards. I'll be doing it every Tuesday and Thursday after Yoga now, barring I don't have volunteering during those times. I am getting addicted to this working out thing, haha. Maybe I'll lose my weight faster! But I'm trying to keep with the plan and just get to 125 by October 1. If I hit that goal earlier, maybe I'll try for 120! We'll see, it is only the first week, right?

Brandon didn't clean his shower once really... it was gross. And it isn't completely clean yet. It'll kill me!

Tonight I'm going out to dinner with the wives, followed by a game night at a girls house. I plan on writing a bit today, but I think I'm gonna relax for about half an hour... I'm tired!

Busy!

Ok, I finally got my calendar set. I thought I might not need to use my iCal during the summer, but it's looking like I have to! I have exercising, errands to run, writing projects, other random projects, my ChaCha job, and my volunteer job, to keep track of.

Speaking of volunteering, I am now a volunteer at the National Infantry Museum. I don't know when I start... I could start on Friday, but I need to buy a pair of khakis for it, and I don't feel like it yet! And besides, I had plans to work out with some Army wives on Friday. Anyway, today I had my basic volunteer orientation, and then I worked out and had lunch. After, I went back to the museum for another museum overview, for those who want to be docents (tour guides). There's a whole lot to learn!! Over the next couple of weeks until the museum opens, June 19th, I'll be taking classes and taking tests to certify myself in areas around the museum. There's so much to learn, but luckily I love history, so it's easy for me. We didn't get to walk around the museum today, but from what I can see, it's amazing. I get all antsy to explore more.

I met some other volunteers as well. Most of the volunteers are three-times my age and wrinkly... but they're nice. I hope I don't work TOO many hours there, especially since I'm still getting used to the fact that I'm volunteering and not getting paid. I'm excited to work there and put it on my resume, though.

I previously mentioned I'd speak about my stories and which ones I want to choose. I started reading a book about writing and found two stories sticking out in my mind. They weren't typically what I write, but they were always ones I planned on writing. So I chose the one dearest to my heart. Tell me what you think.

Working on Heaven: In a small town, the lives of six friends are changed forever when one of their own commits suicide. Now the six must cope with this tragedy while continuing their own lives. Evan, the twin brother of the deceased Eric, is left now as the only child of the mayor, a man who hopes his son will continue in his political footsteps. Rose, the girlfriend of Eric, who has lost her first love and one of her best friends. Julia and Alex, two teenagers in love who find themselves in trouble when Julia gets pregnant. Josh, the son of the pastor, a boy battling against the religion he grew up in and his own feelings on faith. And Camille, who is relatively new to the town, and finds herself in deep when she begins an affair with the police officer who found Eric's body. The six friends must go through their senior year of high school facing adversity, pain, and the future, while trying to decipher who Eric did what he did.

I got this story idea in my senior year of high school. That year began with a suicide, ended with a suicide, and there were four or five in between those two. It was a weird year... almost one suicide a month. Anyway, it brought me into this story, and I've developed it in my mind over the years. The title came from my friend Kathleen when I said that sometimes I think these stories might be where I end up when I die, and she said I was "working on my own heaven." I think the title fits in this story.

Anyway, thoughts? I know it's kinda morbid, but I think it'll be a good story!

Goodbye, my perfect car!

I took back the Ford Fusion today and hopped back into the Mustang. Not that I can complain that I'm driving the Mustang for the next week while Brandon is in the field. He told me to be extra careful. That doesn't make sense. I have never ever been in an accident... just a few speeding tickets, but whatever. There's no reason not to trust me with the car! Oh well, I've got it now. :)

Anyway, the National Infantry Museum called me today to ask me to attend their volunteer orientation. How exciting!! I'm getting closer to volunteering at museums! I can add all this to my resume. Bad thing is that the opening is June 19th, the day after Brandon graduates, and his family will still be here. They want me to volunteer for the opening. Colin Powell will be there that day! I dunno if I can pass this up, it'll be a big deal... whatever, Brandon can take care of his family while I work. I know I'm not getting paid, but it's important.

Workouts have begun. I biked for half an hour. I'll do a weigh in every Friday on my little scale in the bathroom :). We can track my weight progress! The goal is 125 lbs by October 1. That's four months, easy easy. I might go weigh myself now, since I forgot to this morning. Tomorrow is Yoga. They have tons of fitness classes and I want to try and take one maybe every day. Then I can workout more afterwards. Yay. Working out is SO much better when you can decide what you want to do. I don't HAVE to run or do pushups or situps!! It's liberating.

Writing hasn't even started... I need to start reading this writing book so I can start my mind flowing. I have some good short story ideas, but where will that get me? Hopefully I can write those on the side and work on the big novel.

Speaking of which... maybe a blog tomorrow... what novel will I write?