Chantal's Blog

I'm not scared!

2010-06-30T22:40:00.002-06:00

I'm not worried, I'm not scared. Bring it on, deployment! I won't let that calendar get me down and keep knotting my stomach. I'm gonna take this head on, just like the Aries/Ram I am, and kick some ass while I'm at it. ;)

In other great news, I finally uploaded a bunch of photos to that digital photo frame I've had for over 2 years. It's sitting in the kitchen corner where I can see it from nearly every angle in the rooms I hang out in. I love seeing those pictures of Brandon, me, Dexter, Winston, and our families. It brings a smile to my face with every silly photo I put on there. Yay me.

O Canada!

2010-06-28T12:24:00.002-06:00

In exactly one month, I go on a two week trip to Canada!

Can you tell I'm excited? I seriously haven't been to Canada for 7 (8?) years, and it's been too long. People always call me a Canadian and I haven't stepped foot inside the country for close to a decade. Geez, a decade? Anyway, I'm super excited. As many of you should know, I was born in Canada and moved to the US when I was 12. My entire family (save for my sisters and parents) live in Canada. Most of them in the greater Ottawa area. So that's where I'm headed!

My cousin is getting married July 31 and my sister, seeing as Brandon is deploying, suggested I go on a trip. I asked Brandon (I didn't have a job then and those plane tickets cost a bunch) and he said sure! He even said I should go for two weeks instead of one since I'm flying all that way.

I have plans to visit museums, Parliament, my old "digs" and of course, all that family of mine. I'm gonna miss my puppy (and maybe that cat...) but it'll be a wonderful trip and something to keep my mind off Brandon being gone.

Yay for Canada!

This is the week!

2010-06-27T20:20:00.006-06:00

Our past few weeks have been accentuated by lasts. Last four day weekend. Last time we'll go to this restaurant together. Last time we'll go to this beach or walk down this street. Last time to wash the car. Last time to grocery shop for two. Last Friday together, last Saturday, last Sunday...

I'm not worried. I've had the best couple of weeks with Brandon in awhile. We've been laughing together, sharing moments, making up new quotes to giggle about, checking out favorite restaurants and even trying a new place or two. We've been going on almost every night and we've been keeping the days busy. I don't want to say I don't enjoy every minute with him usually, but the minutes we've been having have been so wonderful I'm glad we're going into this deployment with fond memories of each other.

Life is a series of moments. A year is just a bunch of moments wrapped in a package. So what if I'm not spending it with my husband, the guy I promised to spend my whole life with? Just because he isn't beside me doesn't mean life ends entirely for me. I'm using this next year to grow internally, shrink externally, maintain great friendships, get the ball rolling on this writing career, and become a better me. When he gets back, we can become a better WE, but for the next year, it'll just be ME.

That's ok with me though! Brandon said it great today, "I think if we just keep ourselves busy a year will fly by." I hope so. The last few years have flown by for me.

Now, let me share a few pictures of us and of Brandon. I love this guy!!

I hated that shirt, but I LOVE those arms! This is our first photo ever together. We had been dating for two months now, but this was only our fifth date since we were 100 miles apart.

He finally brought me shooting! This was Sept 06.

Skipping forward to Halloween 2006. I was a pirate and he was a construction worker.

We spent the weekend after getting engaged at the Great Sand Dunes in CO. Brandon was resting on my leg after cooking us a steak dinner. I love his face in this picture.

When he got commissioned, a week before our wedding. Yep, that's me in my ROTC uniform. Remember, I did 4 years of ROTC too!

Brandon's grandma got us an underwater camera for our wedding. This is on our honeymoon. I think it describes Brandon well.

This one too, hehe

Ok, I added more pics than I expected, so I skipped a couple years to this, our babies! Brandon has been a great father to Dexter and Winston. I know he'll be a great daddy to a real baby, whenever that happens!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

2010-06-25T11:58:00.004-06:00

Before I get started, I'd like to say a big THANKS to all my blog followers! I appreciate your wonderful comments and words of advice. You're so great! Thanks for following this blog and thanks for following my other blog, which will be starting very soon. Just... thanks. :)

Wife of a Sailor has started a new thing called MilSpouse Friday Fill-In. Just answering some questions so we get to know each other better. I don't usually do these things but I felt like blogging today and since I didn't have much to say, here are some answers to some questions!

1. How did you and your spouse/significant other meet?
We were both in the same ROTC program at the same university. He was very shy (sort of still is) and I was a bit of a flirt to him, haha. He would stand behind me in formation and I would say "You stand there so you can look at my butt *wink*" and he would say "Nope, I stand here so I can see" (since I'm short and he's not!). We'd giggle, it was cute. I had boyfriend's though and even when I didn't, he was nervous about making a move.

That first year of school I have good memories of him, all with ROTC events. Like when we went skiing in February 2006 and he stayed behind with me. Or at Spring FTX and I realized I really really liked him. He was horribly sick, but he put up with me. Oh, and when I had surgery and he defended me because I couldn't run. I remember paintballing with ROTC, and him, and Brandon showing me the cool new pistol he had (and still has). He promised me he'd bring me shooting for my birthday (which he did in September after we started dating, even though my b-day is in April).

In May 2006, I ended up confessing my love to him ;). Ok, I called him and said I liked him. He then asked me out on a date. We got married two years later! Wow, this section was longer than I anticipated...

2. What is the best thing about being a MilSpouse?
The benefits? Hehe.

I think the best thing is the the community. I love that I have this great group of friends who are all in the same boat as me. It's hard for me to describe right now (mostly because I'm watching Brandon drag Dexter in circles with his rope toy...) but it's this overarching community in the military life that is just... awesome. I love that as a military spouse you can fit in so well on post, online, on a blog and a forum. The support the community offers is phenomenal. We're all in it together.

3. What is the hardest thing about being a MilSpouse?
I would say deployments, but I don't know if that's it. It's the anticipation of separation. I know he'll be gone and it makes it hard on life sometimes. It's like I'm scrambling for all the time I can get. I put life on hold so I can spend as many moments with him as possible. Military spouses aren't like regular spouses. We don't have tons of girl nights because we want to spend each night with our spouse. We don't like to miss any moments with them. This makes it hard.

4. What is your favorite dish?
The ones in the backyard that give me my TV?

Woo, I'm in a joking mood today! I just asked Brandon what my favorite thing to eat is and he said "Peas." Well, I do like peas... actually, I love them! Today I'm gonna say my favorite dish is the Fried Eggplant and Gorgonzola meal at Auntie Pasto's. It's so delicious! Now something I make? I have no idea! I make a lot of great dishes that I crave all the time. I've become a very good cook.

5. If you could change one thing in this world, what would it be?
This is a toughy. Today I say... corruption. I want to get rid of corruption in our world leader's. I'm not going to elaborate because I don't think I'm an expert on this (my knowledge comes mostly from Glenn Beck and my husband, haha), but the loss of corruption would help the world out a bit!

Hot!!

2010-06-22T16:34:00.002-06:00

Wow, I am hot!! I should've worn a tank top today because I just went on a walk with Dexter and I'm sweating like crazy. Well, I shouldn't have gone on a walk at the hottest time of day nor should I be wearing two shirts right now (tank top, t-shirt). I'm wearing shorts though!

The seasons change here without warning. In Colorado it was so much easier: You knew when spring was coming, when summer, when autumn and winter came. Brandon and I got a shock when Christmas was three weeks away and we were still in shorts and t-shirts. I couldn't believe it! No warning whatsoever. Summer kind of just happened too. I mean, we're living in a tropical place, but I'd like some warning so I know that summer is here. Now the temperature reads near 90F every day.

I can't say I hate it though. I love hot weather, I love being hot. I'm naturally cold blooded. I just get cold very easily. I think it has something to do with my hypoglycemia, but who knows? I'd rather be hot and sweating than freezing cold. This comes from the Canadian born, huh?

All is well here, just counting down the days to D-Day. Oh, that reminds me, I was going to write a little introduction on my other blog. Hm... here I go. ;)

Emotional Wreck

2010-06-20T12:04:00.002-06:00

That's me!

Someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm.
I know. It's been coming for some time.
When it's over, so they say. It'll rain a sunny day.
I know. Shinin' down like water.

Of course, this song comes on as we're driving home from seeing Get Him to the Greek and I'm being an emotional wreck. Seriously, don't know what's wrong with me. Ok, I do. Brandon is deploying. But goodness, I didn't think it was affecting me like this! I was going on my merry way, getting ready, and just recently I've been just wanting to cry and break down. I've been moody and snappy too.

So as we're driving home, I'm just filled with this sense that I'm going to cry. I'm giving excuses not to because really, I just don't like crying. "The gate guard will think something is up..." "My face will be all red and puffy!" "I don't want to be snotty...". I didn't cry too much, some tears got out. I told Brandon I wish I had some hormonal excuse to why I was crying so much lately, and being sorta mean too, but really, I don't. Bleh.

It'll go away soon! I don't want to be like this forever!

Has it been that long?

2010-06-19T21:25:00.002-06:00

- It's been 3 days since I blogged, and my last blog wasn't so exciting.
- I haven't written anything in novel/story form in a few weeks now.
- I haven't picked up dog poop or mowed in 2.5 weeks, or so.
- I haven't watched TV in like 3 weeks, except for small doses of The Soup, Glenn Beck and one episode of Glee.

Today we did professional photos. This is something I really wanted to do before Brandon deploys. We tried to do it last week but the girl ended up going to the hospital - yikes! She was great, though, and I'm excited to see how the photos turn out. Don't worry, don't worry, I'm going to post some online. It'll probably show up on my deployment blog!

This weekend is just filled with stuff, but it's enjoyable stuff. My friend had her baby shower today. Two of my friends are due the same day, both with boys, and I can't tell you how excited I am! They keep threatening me with baby sitting, diaper changing, and baby holding duties, but it doesn't scare me. I'm very excited to meet these little boys finally!

Tomorrow we're going to scuba dive Three Tables again. Have I mentioned that place yet? It's a great dive site! We're going with a buddy from Brandon's work. By the way, Brandon is no longer a Platoon Leader. He switched jobs back to HHC and is working in the S3 shop. That's fine, I like desk work for him when he's deployed! Oh, I can count the days on all my fingers and a few toes...

Monday is a day of doctor's appointments, errands and... well, that's all. It's super busy, you should see my list. I'm excited for Wednesday, though, because I'm meeting a friend at the dog beach. Yay!

All in all, life is good. D-day looming, I got emotional yesterday, but that's how it works. I'm not scared, I'm anxious to just get it started. The anticipation is worse. Though I imagine a couple months from now I'll be hating it. Luckily, I have a two week vacation a month after he leaves to keep me busy. That'll be good! I no longer have a writer's conference (got cancelled, boo), but I have a sister coming to visit in October and a trip back to Colorado for Christmas. Also, I have a great group of friends.

There I go, rambling again! I have blogs to read!

Coming quick!

2010-06-16T10:42:00.002-06:00

The day is fast approaching! And now the day might be changing. Well, that's the Army for you, right? Everything is always changing. I'm just prepared for it to change at any moment. If it does, then it does. If it doesn't, well cool, we'll keep to the original plan!

Yesterday we had an FRG meeting. They just told us a lot of the stuff that we should know: Where the guys should be going, when they should be leaving, what to expect for communication, when we can send mail, what would happen if someone died or was wounded. I tried not to let that last part get to me. There's just a few things I'd rather acknowledge with a passing glance and then continue on my way.

Otherwise, life has been going like normal here. Sunday we spent at the beach with some good friends of ours. Brandon tried to carry Dexter into the ocean and the poor puppy was scared out of his mind. Once Brandon let him go, Dexter ran onto the beach and kept running. I had to chase him down and get someone to grab him, haha. Never again! It was a good time, though. I needed to keep Brandon out of the house so he didn't experience too much of the Sunday blues.

I'm working a lot this week. Like 40 hours a lot. It's been good the last couple of days. I like my job because I get to talk all the time and share stories with people, as well as ask them where they're from and about their lives. My job is pretty easy. I'm still struggling with it, but that's the way it goes, I suppose, when you haven't worked for a year and jump right back into a new job!

Anyway, I'd like you to spread the word of my deployment blog. I'm warning you: I won't be blogging at this address while Brandon is deployed. That means, I'm switching to the other blog. I'd like you to come over and see what it's all about! It'll start soon, way too soon!

Fatigue

2010-06-12T21:55:00.002-06:00

I've been tired the last few days. Not like normal tired, like needing a nap/going to bed by 6pm kind of tired. Just exhausted. And seriously, I haven't done much (like lots of activities outside my normal range) to warrant this. So I turn to you, blogger world, to be my doctor today! Here are a few reasons for my fatigue I'm tossing around:

1. Just got done on Tuesday with 2 weeks of guests in our house and spending every day I didn't work driving around the island.
2. Not drinking enough water.
3. Sleeping... too much?
4. Eating too much sugar. If anyone knows hypoglycemia (which I have) like I do, you would know how bad sugar affects the hypoglemic. I admit, those brownies on the counter aren't helping. Nor is the yummy other sugary substances, namely ice cream, I've been devouring.
5. Eating too much in general. I mentioned guests coming... that means lots of eating out!
6. A couple pounds of weight gain over the last couple of weeks as a result of #5.
7. Not working since Monday. I know, work should tire me out, but spending a few days laying around the house could have adverse affects on me!

Ok, I mentioned a bit more than a few reasons, but what do you think? Anyone want to support these findings or add their own opinions? I'm tired of being tired!

It's been a good day

2010-06-10T22:51:00.006-06:00

So I want to tell you all about it. This might be long, so I'll try and add some photos for your viewing enjoyment. ;)

We started the day by waking up almost at 8 - which is super sleeping in for us! Then we spent the next hour or so chilling, playing on the computer, watching TV, you know. Then it was time to get moving. After our shower we went to ACS to get me a Blue Star Card (a card for families who have a deployed member). That was fairly painless to get. Next stop was the community center so I can sign up to get the yard mowed while Brandon's gone. All this was easy and fast, so we got home earlier than planned.

Then it was off to Barnes and Noble's! Brandon expressed interest in getting a nook for Iraq, and I said "If that's what you want, sure." Well we looked at them (this is maybe the third time we've been there to look) and then browsed the store for other things. Brandon got himself a journal to write in for Iraq. Then we went to the register and got not one, but TWO nooks!

I didn't expect him to get me one, but he didn't want me to get jealous because of all the cool gadgets he was getting. Fine by me ;). We're just waiting for them to charge so we can play with them.

Next stop was Whole Foods for some lunch. I got a delicious vegetarian Mediterranean sandwich and Brandon got a huge, yummy burrito. I also got a diet soda made with stevia (if you haven't heard of stevia, go look it up, it's great!) and Brandon got an organic soda. I love Whole Foods!

We started towards Waikiki next. We had reservations for a high-speed catamaran ride at the Outrigger hotel. Let me tell you, it was great. They played music, served great drinks, we rode the waves, got to see beautiful coastline, and soaked up the sun. All for $20 each! We're definitely going again. Once they found out Brandon was in the military they were shaking his hand and even gave him a free drink. I love the appreciation people show for the military. :)

We were on this thing:

Funny Story: They required us to throw all our shoes in a box. Brandon ended up having nearly identical shoes as another guy, so when we went to get his shoes, he had one of his shoes and one of the other guys shoes. Luckily we caught the guy in the hotel, had a nice chat about shoes, and got his pair in order. It was great!

We topped off the day downtown with pizza at Giovanni Pastrami's. There was a basketball game going on so the whole restaurant was real loud, but it was fun. We don't watch sports and definitely not basketball but since it was on the screen we both chose a team (Me: Celtics, Him: Lakers) to cheer for. My team won, btw. ;)

Now we're home! We're planning on watching a movie soon but until then we're enjoying some time outside. Oh, and I came home to this guy, could it be any better?

Of course, a blog can't describe what a great day Brandon and I are having, but I've tried. It's just been a good day!

A Busy Two Weeks

2010-06-09T12:18:00.004-06:00

Wow! We were so busy! We dropped Brandon's parents off at the airport last night, came home, passed out and woke up 10 hours later (ok, I woke up earlier to let Dexter out... but then fell asleep again). We have been moving, moving, moving, and we are exhausted. I even got some breaks when I worked, but on the days I spent with them, it was exhausting. I got tired of the beach, tired of the car, tired of walking. I missed my TV, my clean kitchen, my freedom to walk around the house naked... ok, I don't do that very often, but Brandon sure missed it. ;)

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. The two weeks went by so fast we couldn't believe it. We spent more time at the beach than ever before. Got a few sunburns too. We got to do a luau, ATV and Ocean Voyaging at Kualoa Ranch, scuba diving, snorkeling, hiking. We got to eat so much good food that I don't want to eat anymore, haha. But it was fun. Here are some pics. ;)

Brandon and his sister on the Ocean Voyage

Brandon on his ATV

Brandon and I at the luau with our tattoos ;)

On a hike!

Brandon's family snorkeling

In the car the last day

Cloudy

2010-06-08T00:58:00.003-06:00

I think I had too much sugar today because I'm feeling myself slipping into more of a depressed mood today. I can't keep my eyes off the calendar. I'm not really counting the days until he leaves but I feel them coming closer. It's looming. There's this permanent cloud over my life, our lives, and we're hoping we can make it home before it rains because we don't have an umbrella. The cloud is about to burst.

It doesn't help that our visitors are still here. Right about now I want to curl up with Brandon, let him rub my back and make me feel better like he always does, but I can't. I can barely fit on the couch. It's killing me that I've lost total control of my house these last two weeks. All I can see is mess. And it's not even that messy. But that's what I see. I see the stuff on the counters and the pet fur along the baseboards. I feel the sand under my feet and the something stinky on the kitchen floor. I'm losing my mind!

Our guests leave tomorrow night. It was fun having them here, it really has been. I'm exhausted from doing tons of things, but it's been nice being a sort of tourist. I've let my emotions get the best of me sometimes. I have an issue with letting go on control (as noted in the above paragraph). I like things a certain way and sometimes I get whiny/snappy when they aren't. I've been trying so hard to be nice and be good. I really have been. I know I've slipped up more times than I'd like to admit and I'm sorry for that. I really enjoy having our guests. The problems all lie with me.

I feel the pressure of this deployment coming on. Sometimes I feel good about him leaving. I have a plan, I have friends, I can take care of myself. Then I think of cooking dinner for one, doing only my laundry, sharing a bed with only my dog and my pillows, and laughing at our favorite TV shows alone. I just wish it was here so I can just start it, already. But then I don't. I see myself holding out my hand and feeling each day, each hour, slipping by. I love him! It is what it is. This too shall pass.

Sorry if this is rambling too much... I'm just going with my train of thought right now... thanks for reading. :) Writing always soothes me a little bit and I know there's some of you out there who have been through this before who can give me some advice!

Ah!

2010-06-05T12:09:00.002-06:00

I follow too many blogs! With the in-laws here, I've hardly had time to keep up with reading them all. It makes me sad. :(

But hey, I have a few blogs, too. Why don't you check out this one? ======================>

Nope, the button underneath that one that says "Check out my deployment blog." Click that button. Good. :) I want you to start following that blog because soon, VERY soon, sooner than we all expect, I'll be posting solely on that blog. It's my deployment blog! It'll be the same stuff from Chantal's Blog, but in a more centralized place. The plan? Writing a blog every single day documenting my experience through my husband's first deployment. It won't only be about deployment, it'll just be about life. So please please check it out and follow it.

Hopefully everything will settle down and I'll be able to get back into my good old routine...

PS: I'm so tired of the beach! Even with these breaks I get when I go to work, I'm overloaded with beach. I don't think I'll go ever again when my in-laws leave. Haha, I will... but not for a week. I'm tired of the beach!

Free blog layout contest!

2010-06-03T12:08:00.001-06:00

Want a free blog layout? Check out this contest!

Food!

2010-06-02T15:53:00.002-06:00

So our anniversary dinner was AMAZING

I had to work until 6pm, so I was looking for a good restaurant to go to. A coworker suggested Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. At first I thought "Great!" then I thought about the price and was like "Hm..." and then I decided "Let's do it." (Pretty much). So I made a reservation for 8pm.

We dressed up (well, aloha shirt for Brandon, a summer dress for me), drove downtown and checked into the Hale Koa hotel for the night, and then walked over to dinner. We got seated in this comfy booth. The lighting was dim, romantic, the music wasn't loud, and it had a good atmosphere. First, the water guy came over and brought bread. He asked us if we'd like bottled water or ice water (huh). We just chose ice, it's easier.

Our waiter came over. He was a nice guy who we later found out lived in Colorado Springs for some time. We ordered a bottle of White Zinfandel, probably the cheapest on the menu but it's my favorite wine. He poured our glasses for us and continued to refill them, we didn't have to touch the bottle once! The manager even came over twice to help us out.

I had a coupon for a free appetizer (hey, I can bring coupons to fancy restaurants), so we got some calamari. It was fantastic. Then we both ordered a 3-course meal for $45. We got salad with a creamy lemon basil that was light and not overpowering. Then came our entree. Brandon got a rib eye and I got a veal chop. They both were cooked perfectly and melted in your mouth. The last part we had strawberry sorbet that tasted divine.

The waiter had asked if it was our anniversary, so at the end of our meal he brought over some chocolate covered strawberries and some sparkling wine, on the house. The strawberries were perfect! I was pretty full but I devoured it all. I loved it!

The great thing we liked about being there is that they didn't rush us. We had plenty of time between all our food to relax, talk and digest. We spent more time at that restaurant than we do anywhere else. It was comfortable, they were accommodating, and the food was excellent. After dinner we went back to the Hale Koa to relax and eventually made it to bed.

It was a fantastic anniversary!

Looks like we made it...

2010-06-01T11:30:00.006-06:00

Look how far we've come, my baby!

*cough* Sorry, I had to do it. Well, today marks my 2 year anniversary to my lovely Brandon. We've had a good two years of marriage and a good four years of being together. I couldn't ask for a better guy! He's smart, can fix things, is a good cook and can handle a vacuum like a pro, and he's just funny and makes me laugh every day. Sure, we have our moments of tension, but it just makes the good moments even better. I feels like yesterday we were getting married and here we are, 2 years later! I can't wait for another 100 years with him!

Time for a photo montage of our life together!

Ok, I tried to get the photos in order of our relationship, from most recent to oldest... but that didn't totally work out in the end. Ah well, I could fix it, but I'm lazy!

I love you Brandon!

All signs point to...

2010-06-01T00:36:00.002-06:00

Well, we went to the beach today. That was fun! Until Brandon came back from boogie boarding, sat down and said "Did I take the car key out of my pocket?"

Nope.

Thank goodness Brandon's mom had her cell phone in the bag, albeit dying, we managed to call the insurance company to get a car-unlocker out while also trying to contact friends to come pick us up (thanks mom for your help!). No one came to get us, but Brandon asked the car-unlocker guy if he could drive him home (a good 45 min away). The guy said sure! That was great. I had to sit in the newly unlocked car while Brandon got a drive home so he could bring back the spare key. Thank goodness we have a spare key.

The reason we didn't get towed was because 1) our house keys were in the car, and 2) it would have cost us tons of money to get a taxi from where we were back home! Well, I had some signs that this would happen...

Sign 1
As we were leaving at about 9:30am, I told Brandon "I hope we're not out all day." Well, we were. We didn't get home until past 6 because of this key fiasco!

Sign 2
As we were leaving the car at the beach I thought "I should bring my phone with me... nah, I won't need it." I so did... it's a good thing I know at least one phone number by heart: My mom's! (I also know my husband's, but that doesn't help)

Sign 3
Brandon's dad asked Brandon if he should go back to the car to get the other boogie board, which would have required Brandon to take the key out of his pocket. They decided not to.

So all these signs plus more pointed to us losing our key! Now we can't unlock the glove box, though we can start the car.

Five Question Friday!

2010-05-28T10:39:00.002-06:00

1. Is there something you've always wanted to try but just can't muster up the courage to actually do yet?

There's things I used to do but would like to do again, like mountain biking. I have this great mountain bike but still haven't hit any trails for fear of crashing and breaking body parts. When I was a kid, you could push me down a hill and I'd love it! Now... not so much...

2. If you had $100 handed to you in cash without your significant other knowing about it, what would you spend it on?

Can I tell him? Haha. I'd probably spend it on clothes, or maybe food... I love food.

3. What was your favorite piece of playground equipment as a child?

The swings, hands down. I still looooveee the swings! I loved going real high and coming back down. The momentum is great. Yep, swings are the best.

4. Do you prefer a sweet or hearty breakfast?

Sweet. My ideal, perfect breakfast includes lots of fruit and croissants. Maybe some bacon... is bacon sweet?

5. Are you a Neat Freak or a Messy Bessy?

Neat Freak. I get into a panic when the house gets messy (as it is now with our guests) and when it's clean, I feel at peace. I like having a clean, tidy house.

Well, I did have something to say...

2010-05-27T10:28:00.002-06:00

And I forgot about it. I've been busy lately! Brandon's parents arrived on Tuesday so we've been entertaining them along with us both working (Brandon's CO took his leave away for the last few days) and the normal stuff we do. It's been fun though. Today we're going snorkeling in the morning at Hanauma Bay, then we're having burgers at The Counter, might go shopping at Whole Foods for a bit, and call it a day in the afternoon. Brandon has to get a DA photo done and I have a Pampered Chef party tonight that I'm super excited about.

You know, most times when I have nothing to say, I post a blog post so my mom can know I'm alive. ;) It's ok mom, I'm just busy!

Brandon's deployment is looming ever closer. We have two dates he'll probably be leaving, but I'm not allowed to say exactly when. Let me tell you, it's about a month or so. Ah! I hate to say that. I got my work schedule for June and seeing it all planned out like that just... frightens me. I think I'm prepared for it though, but I need to jump in head first and see where the current takes me.

We're getting professional photos done in a couple weeks. I really wanted some before his deployment and I'm finally getting it done!

Anyway, I'm not scared of him leaving. I have a great support system here, I have plans and vacations to look forward to, and I've done very mini-deployments that give me a taste. At work it's great that people come in who have been or are stationed at the same base Brandon is going to in Iraq. I love it! I ask them al kinds of questions and it soothes me to know that he'll be alright. The base he's going to, if he's still going to it, is a good place to be. For Iraq anyway...

The sad thing, though? I'm going to Canada in a couple months and people keep telling me they're excited to meet Brandon. I have to keep telling them "Nope, he won't be there. Just me this time." Oh well, that's the military!

Hi!

2010-05-24T10:37:00.002-06:00

Wow, four days since my last post! It seems I go through phases where I write, write, write and then... nothing. So hello, thought I'd see how everyone is.

This weekend Brandon had 4 days off as a pseudo "Memorial Day" weekend, since his block leave will be over Memorial Day anyway. Friday we had to wake up early because Brandon had to get an MRI of his foot (he's been having some difficulty with it), and then we chilled down near Tripler, getting breakfast and browsing stores. We then met a bunch of our friends (and their dogs) at the dog beach. Dexter loves it there! I love it because it makes him super tired. After a scuffle with a big boxer, we went home.

Brandon had some issues with his jaw after his wisdom teeth surgery so we went to the dental office. I ran some errands while he got looked at. By the time we go home we had been gone for like 9 hours and we were tired! But we ended up going to a friends house for some dinner.

Saturday I worked for 8 hours and then hopped over to Old Navy to look at their sale. They didn't have any shoes left, but I did buy a cute bathing suit and some shorts and a tank top, all essential for Hawaii. Oh, I bought a zip-up hoodie, they're my weakness. We watched Avatar (it was alright!) and then went to bed!

Sunday I helped a friend with her webcam baby shower, went grocery shopping, Target shopping, Verizon browsing (ugh, I want a new phone but can't get it until July 21), cleaned the entire house (the in-laws will be here tomorrow), and watched 5 and a half hours of Lost at night! That was pretty good! I still have questions...

Today is another day of work, errands, cleaning and getting ready. Brandon has staff duty but that just means he's on call, and I work 8 hours, so I'll be relying on him to get some work done here at home. Ok, this post got longer than I expected, but that's my update!

Have you heard?

2010-05-20T10:41:00.003-06:00

Have you heard of a little blog called Six Sentences? If you haven't, allow me to explain. It's a blog that posts flash fiction, micro fiction, writing contests and more! Basically people submit six sentence short stories. Try to say what you want to say in six sentences.

Last week I got struck by an idea. So I wrote it down. I sent the result in. And today they posted what I submitted!

Check it out right here.

Tell me what you think! Part of me is very excited to be "published" here, and part of me is all nervous that people will actually see a snippet of my writing. Should I be proud? Embarrassed? I don't know! Anyway, I haven't mentioned my writing for a bit, so that's a little update that shows that I am working, don't worry. I'm writing a novel slowly right now as well as editing my big novel. I'm hoping to have that done by August 31 so I can bring it to the Hawaii Writer's Conference.

Enjoy!

New Discoveries

2010-05-18T10:26:00.003-06:00

I've discovered... a new work ethic.
The last few weeks of starting my new job, I've had a hard adjustment. I came from not working for a year to suddenly working again, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to. Well, when we were at the marriage retreat, Brandon and I (ok, mostly Brandon) made a deployment budget, factoring in the extra pay he'll be making, my new paycheck and also the expenses along the way. In the end, it came out to a huge total we could have saved up by the time he returns. That changed my mind about working! Money does wonderful things, huh? So I decided to be happier about working. Except for today when I have to do dumb customer service training at another post normally half an hour away... but I have to drive there in rush hour traffic. I'm leaving an hour and a half early. Wish me luck...

I've discovered... Chagrin Valley Soap & Craft.
On a military spouse forum I post on, one of the ladies mentioned this to me. I went to the website and read the testimonials about everyone else who is fighting with acne. Well, I was sold. So I bought a bunch of all natural soap and can't wait to get it! I'm all over this organic and all natural stuff. Let's hope it works wonders. :D

I've discovered... Taking Charge of Your Fertility.
No, calm down, mom. I'm not trying to have a baby right now. With Brandon leaving so soon, that would be insane! Haha. But on this same forum, everyone touts the wonders of this book. So I bought it! I've read the first part and am so excited. Basically the book is about natural birth control, which I don't really care too much about. I'm reading it for its information about my cycle, fertility, ovulation, etc., etc., for when we DO plan on trying for a baby. What can I say, I like to be prepared. I'm excited about this book, though, and am glad I got it! I've already been made fun of by a few people about it... but I guess I don't care. It's my body, I want to learn all about it. :)

New Rule

2010-05-16T11:30:00.006-06:00

This cat...

can no longer sleep in this room...

because he runs around, scratches the mattress and furniture, and makes this dog...

go crazy and hyper, making it hard for these guys...

to sleep. So from now on, Winston (aka: Winny, cat, kitty, that cat, freaking cat, El Gato), we will be closing our bedroom door so you can run around like crazy somewhere else and find another place to sleep... like here:

or here...

or here.

THANK YOU

Marriage Retreat

2010-05-15T15:32:00.005-06:00

Before I jump into all this, I have a couple things. First, does anyone know how to get those blog buttons done? I mean, I guess I can make one on my computer, but everyone has such pretty blog buttons I'd really like one! For this blog and my deployment blog, A Blog a Day While You're Away, which I'll be starting soon. Any help appreciated! Second, I have a lot of new followers, so if you haven't made yourself known, go ahead and let me know who you are! I love meeting new people. Third, I think I might be doing a blog giveaway once I hit 50 followers. Or maybe when I move to my deployment blog... hmmm....

Day 1: So we started the day at 4:45am. Yep. That's when the alarm went off. Brandon had off-site PT with the other officer's in his company (like 6 other guys), and since it was at Maunawili Falls (my favorite hike), he asked if I could go. Sure, I wasn't excited about waking up early, but I went and it was great! We brought Dexter with us and he had a blast. The hike only took half an hour each way because we're good hikers, though I am totally out of shape, so climbing the hills sucked, haha.

Here's a pic from the first time I went:

We rushed from Maunawili Falls, on the other side of the island, to the kennel to drop Dexter off. Then we hurried home to shower off the mud from the hike, change into nice clothes and finish packing. We were ahead of schedule but we ended up being a little late because of traffic. The marriage retreat part was kind of boring at first, haha. We were talking about communication and stuff like that. Anyway, we got out at like 1, so we have tons of time to hang out afterwards! We laid by the pool and read, swam, drank and went down the water slide a few times, hehe. We got a lunch and dinner buffet, which were pretty good. Since we got up so early, we passed out around 9 and slept well!

Handsome Husband!

Where We Were!

Day 2: We woke up to the sound of waves, went to breakfast, and then had a full morning of classes. Brandon was really into the financial one and spent pretty much the whole time working on a deployment budget for us. I can say that if all goes as planned, we will have a BUNCH of money saved up. I love this idea! Plenty of money for a down payment on a home. Anyway, the rest of the classes were about Issues & Hidden Issues, Communication, Forgiving & Having Fun. Brandon and I worked through a couple issues we've been having and I'm very grateful for it. :)

After the classes were done we headed down to the pool again! Funny how we live in Hawaii but we go to the pool, huh? Well, we go to the beach all the time, but never the pool! This time we spent reading for hours. It was very comfy. Around dinnertime we went back to the room to change and about 20 minutes before the sunset, found a spot by the ocean with a perfect view. It was amazing! It was a perfect end to the end. Oh, and as we walked to dinner, we saw a couple get engaged. Aw.

Let me mention that the food yesterday was AMAZING. The omelets at breakfast were fantastic, so were the croissants. Lunch was pretty good too! Dinner was so great I wish I could've eaten more. It was all Hawaiian food, so we have Poke, Lomi Lomi with Poi, Sushi, Kalua Pork, Prime Rib and the delicious Purple Sweet Potatoes.

Lounging by the pool:

Us:

Beautiful Sunset:

Day 3: Ok, today we were supposed to go to the beach, but decided we were tired... so we went home! We went to pick up Dex but found out he hadn't gotten his bath yet, so we went over to Borders while we waited for him. They had Bargain Books as BOGO so I had to get a couple! 4 bucks for two books? Yes, ma'am. Oh, and I got 2 books that I ordered from Amazon in the mail today too. It was great. Anyway, now we're chilling and catching up on shows before a Hail & Farewell tonight.

Overall, the marriage retreat was great. The classes were fairly fun, but most of all the free vacation was so fantastic. The resort was beautiful and I'm glad we got to spend some time together!

Blog Award!

2010-05-14T10:48:00.005-06:00

Thanks Marissa at Living the Life of an Infantryman's Wife for giving me this wonderful blog award!

The only rule? Pass it along! So here you go...

Sarah at G.I. Joe's Wife
Manda at My explosive life... as an EOD tech's wife
Courtney at Cochran Family in Hawaii

So... congrats!

I'm having fun at the marriage retreat. Woke up to the sound of waves crashing on the shore. Beautiful. I feel like I'm on vacation, even though I'm only half an hour away from home. I love it!

Oh, and happy 200th post to me!

Dexter

2010-05-14T00:19:00.005-06:00

No, not the show. Or the other show. Nope, that's my puppy. I love him. It's probably some unnatural attachment to him because I watched him grow up in front of me (and heck, he's only 9 months old), but I love him. Oh my God, he pisses me off. He chews, he digs, he bites, he barks and barks and barks. But that dog has made me laugh, given me company while Brandon is away and cheered me up on gloomy days.

First off, I feel bad enough that I started a job and can't spend as much time with him. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend time with this guy?

Today we started a marriage retreat. It's been pretty cool! We're very grateful that the Army is paying us to stay at a beautiful resort, paying for all our meals and our room, and giving us some helpful marriage advice along the way. Goodness me, though, I hated dropping that dog off at the kennel. Now this kennel is top notch. He's basically in a "doggy daycare" sort of kennel where the entire room is open, he's not put in a cage, and he plays with dogs all day. Can't beat that! This morning we even went on a long hike with him. When I dropped him off he wanted to come with us and not go in the room with her. Broke my heart.

Look at him as a puppy and tell me he wouldn't break your heart:

When he was a baby, I could only take pictures of him when he was sleeping, he was always moving. Now, I can get him to sit still for the picture! He's a good boy.

The best part about this top notch kennel? It has webcams. Oh goodness, I am addicted. I can watch that dog of mine play with other dogs, or just sit there, or sleep, all from my resort. Yep, unnatural attachment. I can't even go one day without my puppy. I know he's a handful (he's a Border Collie puppy, what do you expect?) but he's my Dexter and I love him. Now how's about some more pictures?

His ear sticking up:

Laying around:

My puppy and I:

At the beach! A couple of my fave pictures of him:

A to Z - All About Me!

2010-05-10T20:33:00.002-06:00

A few of the blogs I follow have posted this. I used to love doing these things and since I have a bunch of new followers, I figured I will do it!

Note the new "Check Out My Deployment Blog" button on the side. Sadly, the picture isn't square enough... so I need to fix that... but for now, you can click on it and it'll lead you right to my new blog A Blog a Day While You're Away.

A. AREA CODE: 808 right now, though a 719 in cell phone and in my heart!

B. BED SIZE: Queen. I like this size. I don't think we'll ever go bigger, and we definitely won't go smaller. I'd like a new mattress though!

C. CHORE YOU HATE: Folding socks. Just don't like it. Number two is unloading and reloading the dishwasher, just because I do it every single day.

D. DOG'S NAME: Dexter Ikaika Oke Leo, or Dexter. Dex and Dexy for short. I love him.

E. ESSENTIAL "START THE DAY!" ITEM: Gum. Always need gum.

F. FAVORITE COLOR: Purple!

G. GOLD OR SILVER: White gold :P

H. HEIGHT: 5' 2"

I. INSTRUMENTS YOU PLAY: I played the piano for a few months once...

J. JOB: I work at ITR! Yay! And I'm a writer.

K. KIDS: Not yet, but they'll be coming sooner than you think.

L. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home in Hawaii with Brando, Winny and Dexy.

N. NICKNAME: Chanty is pretty much the only one.

M. MOM'S NAME: Jan (Hi mom!)
 
O. OVERNIGHT HOSPITAL STAY: Not since... like my birth....
 
P. PET PEEVE: I have a lot of them. I don't feel like listing. Maybe when Brandon takes his clothes off and leaves them in the middle of the floor.
 
Q. QUOTE FROM A MOVIE: "Mr. Darcy, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Darcy..." from the end of pride & Prejudice.

R. RIGHTY OR LEFTY?: Righty

S. SIBLINGS: 3 sisters, 1 stepsister, 3 stepbrothers

T. TIME YOU WAKE UP: Hm... usually between 6 and 7 am. More towards 6 these days.

U. UNDERWEAR: I need some new ones lol

V. VEGGIE YOU DISLIKE: I really will eat almost everything. I can't even think of one I don't like!

W. WAYS/REASONS YOU ARE LATE: Never late. Always on time. (Ok, sometimes late because of Brandon)

X. XRAYS YOU'VE HAD: Ankles, knees, teeth, wrists....
 
Y. YUMMY FOOD YOU MAKE: Oh, I make some good food. I make a mean meatloaf, banana bread, scalloped potatoes, spaghetti sauce, etc.

Z. ZOO ANIMALS YOU LIKE: I like the giraffes at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo!! They're fun.

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy

2010-05-09T10:53:00.009-06:00

Dear Mommy,

Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks for giving birth to me, for changing my diapers, for carrying me when I couldn't walk and holding my hand when I just learned. Thanks for reading me books right before bedtime, letting us have fun toys in the bath, and buying me cool sheets for my bed.

Thanks for letting me cry when I needed to, yelling at me when I deserved it, and laughing with me in between. Thanks for helping me with homework, bringing us on awesome trips to Charleston Lake and Disney World, and buying us Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo.

Sorry for breaking lamps, breaking windows and hitting my little sister on several occasions. Sorry for the sick nights (even if I couldn't help it), for peeing in my bed, and for driving you crazy sometimes. Sorry for telling you to shut up a couple times as a kid, for being a mean teenager, and for not trying as hard in school (I guess I'm just lazy, lol). Sorry for being so talkative when I'm sure you just wanted to rest!

Thanks for being a loving mother. Thanks for talking a lot, because we always have good conversations. Thanks for not being too strict but not being too lenient. Thanks for letting me learn on my own.

I want to thank you for this deployment bracelet. When I opened it, saw who it was from and what it meant, I got tears in my eyes. You are so thoughtful and so sweet. I'm glad to know that you'll be here for me when Brandon isn't. You'll never know how much this means to me. I love you!

Babies!

2010-05-08T10:54:00.002-06:00

Through another blog I found this:

This week's "Show Us Your Life" with Kelly's Korner is Baby Names! Now, this is right up my alley, I couldn't resist. I looooveee names. I ask people their names, I research names, I even am part of an online forum all about baby names. Yes, I'm a geek. Especially now that I'm married and will be starting a family in the next couple of years (that's a whole other topic that Brandon and I are excited about ;) ), I've been trying to find names that we both can like. However, it's hard with a last name like ours (that starts with the evil Sh-), and it's even more difficult with a husband who hates all boys names.

Anyway, this is what we've come up with.

Girls

Victoria Marie-Ange

Brandon suggested Victoria nn Tori and I kind of liked it. My contenders were Caroline Marie-Ange and Anna Rose. We like classic names. I think Victoria will be our first daughter though. Oh, Brandon also likes the name Olivia, and despite it's popularity, I do too!

Boys

Thomas Kyle/Brandon

We were laying in bed playing with names when I suggested Thomas and Brandon clung to it. He really likes it. Now I don't LOVE the double S's (Thomas Sh-) but when you say it fast enough, it doesn't really run together. We're not sure which middle name we'd use, but I know for all our children I'd like to use family names. This is the only name we can agree on for boys. Every boys name is either too Biblical, starts with a vowel, he knew someone with that name, or he just doesn't like it. My short list for boys, and Brandon hates all these, is Samuel, Isaac, Adam, Evan, Owen and Nathan.

So there you have it. Baby names. Let's hope Brandon doesn't back off on Thomas without an alternative!

Contests!

2010-05-07T10:19:00.004-06:00

Finally I'm getting around to entering these two contests I found. With my new job and with Brandon being around all the time, I can't find time to get a simple blog written! But here it is.

Contest #1

I just started following The Journey of a Navy Wife's blog when I stumbled upon this new Military Spouse contest!

I'm supposed to say what being a military spouse means to me, but to tell the truth, I don't know yet. I mean, it's been a way of life since I got married, though I entered this military spouse business a different way. Originally, we were both going to be military spouses! I was in Army ROTC and set on being an officer. However, I got injured and even though we tried to fix it, my feet were ruined and I couldn't continue on. This meant a whole different ball-game - I went from being the military member to being the spouse (my husband graduated ROTC a year before me).

What does being a military spouse mean to me? It means great benefits - health care, tax free shopping, living on post, a constant paycheck. It means great opportunities - tuition assistance, moving all over the country and the world, other programs and activities. It also means missed opportunities - my husband leaves for training every few months, he gets to be deployed this summer, and we've never had a full year together in the 4 years we've been a couple.

I love being a military spouse. I can't believe the wonderful women I've met so far. They are strong willed and strong minded, fun to have around and always ready for advice. It's such a unique and insane community I'm a part of. There's nothing like being a military spouse. It scares me when Brandon does get out because there is certainly not a community like this. Nobody is in the same situation as you. This military community is so unique it rivals all others.

I'm not saying I love being a military spouse all the time. Like I said, my husband leaves all the time. But that's how it works right? I know I've gotten a little thick-skinned when it comes to him leaving. Let's see how this deployment goes, huh? ;)

Anyway, I wish I could write something more insightful, more meaningful, but I'm still trying to figure out what it all means to me. I think it'll take me leaving this community to realize how special it really was to me. As for now, I'm going to try to concentrate on the positives and enjoy being an Army Wife!

Contest #2

This one is easy. The Life of an Army Wife is giving away an Emily Griffin book to one of her commentators! I, of course, am trying. So if you want to give it a try, head on over to her blog.

Oh, and Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day!!

Crazy Tuesday

2010-05-04T20:39:00.004-06:00

Alright, so the day began at 4:45am when Brandon got up. He came back to bed after shaving and changing for a few minutes, then he was off to PT early this morning. However, because of his wisdom teeth surgery and a hurt foot, he didn't have to do PT. He was home at 6am! I didn't notice, I was passed out upstairs with the cat. Dexter went down to investigate, though. ;)

We relaxed all morning until we showered, I ate, and Brandon marched off to work. Again, he didn't have to stay because he had surgery today. Everything was going well! I wrote, I edited, he played games, Dexter ran around in the backyard, Winston slept, what a morning!

Around 11 we had to get up and moving. Our first stop was the kennel where we'll be boarding Dexter next week. He had to go today for a trial-run to make sure he'll be OK. They do an open-room kennel, so all the dogs are running around together, and we had to make sure Dexter would be OK. When we get there they first tell us we needed to pay for a bath because he was dirty. Seriously, his paws were a little brown from running in the red dirt outside, but do we really need to pay for a bath? He wasn't even that dirty! Then they ask if he's gotten the Bordatella shot. I was sure he had, but it wasn't on his records... sooo...

That was frustrating. We left him there and hopped off to Tripler. We had to wait awhile because they were backed up, so we sat in the waiting room. Then Brandon got taken back and I was sent up to get some medicine for him. I did a pit stop at the food court and grabbed a corn dog, macaroni salad, regular salad, yogurt and sweet potato fries for only $3.90. Score. Then I had to walk a mile to the outpatient pharmacy with a heavy backpack to get his pain meds and some mouthwash.

After I hiked back, I spent an hour or so in the waiting room studying for my Substitute Teacher's Course exam tomorrow, reading other stuff, playing games... and then they called my name. I went up and had to walk the mile back to the pharmacy to pick up some antibiotics. Ugh. So again, I trekked across Tripler to get him some meds. What we do for love!

By this time it's almost 3 o'clock. Mind you, I had to pick up Dexter by 3:30 and we're at least 15 minutes away without traffic. Yikes! Luckily Brandon came out shortly after 3. Poor guy was swollen, bloody and groggy from his surgery. We hurried through traffic and got to the kennel by 3:35.

Good news though: I figured out that Bordatella is actually the kennel cough vaccine, and Dexter has gotten that! He got it from another vet so it wasn't on his main records. Yay! Oh, and they didn't charge us to wash his dirty feet. Score #2.

Brandon is home now, hopped up on pain meds, but he actually looks good. He can open his mouth almost all the way and he's eating mashed potatoes right now. I expect a quick recovery. Heck, he isn't even that swollen. I'm sorta jealous that he's feeling so good when I didn't feel as grand after my surgery. :P

Wisdom Teeth!

2010-05-03T12:10:00.002-06:00

Brandon is FINALLY getting his wisdom teeth out on Tuesday. He was supposed to get them out a couple weeks ago but when we got to the Schofield clinic they said they were only going to use localized numbing. Brandon was tempted to get it done then just to get it over with but I urged him not to. I'd rather have him happier and knocked out!

So he went down to Tripler for a pre-op appointment last week and made his appointment for tomorrow. We're loaded up with soup, jello, bananas, fruit for smoothies, and loads of potatoes for mashed potatoes. I did pretty well after my surgery (I do well after all my surgeries), but I haven't dealt with Brandon after a surgery... I suppose we'll see!

Today we both have the day off. We have some errands to run but I think we might go snorkeling if we decide the cloudy weather won't deter us. Tomorrow during Brandon's surgery Dexter goes to the kennel for a "test" for 2-4 hours to make sure he gets along with other dogs and can handle being away from us. I bet he'll be fine! Next week is our marriage retreat - we're super excited!

Have a good day everyone :D

Milspouse Blog Hop!

2010-04-30T20:40:00.002-06:00

Everyone's doing it!

About Me:

Hi, I'm Chantal. I was born in Canada but am an American citizen now. I have 3 sisters, 4 stepsiblings, 4 parents, 1 dog named Dexter, 1 cat named Winston, and 1 husband named Brandon. I have a BA in History with a minor in Philosophy. I was going to be an officer in the Army but got injured, so now I'm concentrating on my writing. I met my husband while we were both in ROTC. He commissioned in May 2008, we got married June 1, 2008, and we were off! After a few months at Ft Benning, GA, we got stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. I love to read, write, play at the beach, go on hikes, ride my bike, spoil my puppy and spend whatever time I have with my husband. He's deploying later this year - that will be an adventure!

So hey, if you want to join the Blog Hop, check out Riding the Roller Coaster and follow the directions!

<3 Me

A big D in the distance

2010-04-27T12:12:00.003-06:00

So you know that whole light at the end of the tunnel thing? Well I think we're nearing the tunnel. The light isn't even in our sights yet. But I can see that tunnel and it's coming fast!

Brandon has been home from NTC for what, 4 weeks now? Why does time fly so fast when he's home? I feel like the days are wasting away and we're hardly getting anything done. His parents are coming to visit in exactly 4 weeks and that means that will be his block leave and THAT means... Deployment.

I don't think I realize it yet. Sometimes I look at the calendar and think, crap, that's pretty close. Sometimes I just go about my day like normal. What else can you do, right? I know this deployment is coming but I'm sort of in the denial stages. I think it's because we've never been through this before. I'm not having too much anxiety because I don't know what will happen. I do feel sad, I do feel grumpy and angry, but I push those feelings away most of the time because I can't waste my time with them.

I have been feeling anxious about having this job! I just started work yesterday, doing training. But it worries me that other coworkers whose husbands are leaving with mine might take time off to be with them and I'll be left to pick up the pieces. I don't want to be working those last few days when Brandon is leaving. That scares me.

Some business: When the deployment starts, I'll be switching over to a new blog. This one will still be around but I won't be using it for a year. My new blog is called A Blog a Day While You're Away. I'll basically be writing a blog every day while Brandon is gone. So please click on the link below, sign up as a follower, tell your friends, and be ready for some blogging action when I start it.

A Blog a Day While You're Away

Have a good day, everyone!

Sunshine Blog Award!

2010-04-24T21:49:00.002-06:00

I have received a blog award, courtesy of my friend and fellow blogger Marissa at Living the Life of an Infantryman's Wife. Thanks so much Marissa!!

The rules of the blog award are...

1. To put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
3. Let the nominees know they have received the award by commenting on their blog.
4. Share the love and link the person who gave you the award.

So I follow tons of blogs of people who definitely don't know me, but I'm going to pass the award to them, because really, who doesn't want some Sunshine?

1. Sarah at G.I. Joe's Wife
2. Kathleen at Hawkerswife
3. Sara at Welcome to the Blog of an Army Wife
4. Cheryl at Boots in the Doorway
5. Margo at Margo Kelly
6. Blind Without Him at Blind Without Him
7. Mommy2Be at Diary of a Mad, Bedrestin' Momma To Be
8. Cari at Follies of a Fat Girl
9. Just Another Navy Wife at Fumbling & Bumbling
10. Manda at My Explosive Life as an EOD Tech's Wife
11. Amie at The Thoughts of Household Six
12. Jackie Smith at Jackie M. Smith Romance Author

Pretty Flowers :)

2010-04-20T15:07:00.005-06:00

I told Brandon I wanted a garden. He thought I wanted to do vegetables and herbs. Well, yes, but really I just wanted some pretty flowers. I wanted something bright and cheerful to look at! So yesterday we finally made it to the NEX Garden Shop. We decided to just buy some pots for the flowers. We got 3 pots, 3 flowers and a Colorama (what category is that in? Haha). I already had one pot at home. We got Zinnias and Marigolds, and some other tropical flower that I can't remember the name of... Anyway, I'm loving it! All weekend we worked on our patio doing some landscaping. We moved rocks, got some more patio stones and extend our patio a bit, tried to fill the holes Dexter dug, and moved the dishes a little. I think it looks nice, what about you?

Here's are zinnias and marigolds:

Colorama:

Tropical Flower thing:

I love it! So the next plan we have is buying a trellis and putting it somewhere in the backyard and then planting flowers that will grow up it. It'll look so pretty. We also plan on doing an herb garden but we need to decide if we just want to have those in pots too or have them dug in the ground. I'm excited!

Hello, World

2010-04-17T11:11:00.002-06:00

I feel like I should blog. I had a great idea a couple of days ago but when it came down to it, my mind went blank. I just want to give you a little update and news, I suppose!

Brandon has another 4 day weekend, which is both nice and scary. I worry we won't have enough stuff to do and we'll get bored! So far, so good. Yesterday we went to Mokuleia Beach on the North Shore to play in the sand and let Dexter run out some energy. It was definitely too cold and windy and wavy for swimming. Then Brandon brought me out to dinner in Haleiwa at a pizza place that serves hamburgers ;). The burgers were so great! Horribly juicy, I made a mess, but it was great.

Today we're going on a bike ride around post. I like going on bike rides with him, it's a good bonding experience. I get a good workout too because he's faster than me. I don't know what else we're doing today... I'm doing some laundry though! Might mow the lawn. No clue, actually. Tomorrow we might have some friends over for a BBQ and a game night. That will be fun!

Everything else is going well. I hate editing my book, btw. It's just such a boring process! Not as much fun as writing or even reading it. Now, I have to think about it. So I'm crawling through this process. I think maybe this weekend we will start work on the garden I want. I have no clue where to start with all that but I think I'm just going to jump right in. I'm sort of excited!

So, how are you guys?

So... what will you do with a history degree anyway?

2010-04-14T23:53:00.003-06:00

Join the Army, of course!

Ok, that used to be my answer. Now we all know that particular thing didn't work out (um, thanks plantar fasciitis), I have to come up with a new answer. So usually it goes something like this:

"So you got a degree in History, huh? What are you gonna do with that?"
"Hm... *chuckle nervously, look around* Well, I was going to be in the Army, but then I got injured, so instead I stay at home and write."
"Oh, write, huh?" Usually followed by skeptical looks.
"Yep, I want to be a writer. I just finished a novel a couple months ago, actually, and I'm in the process of editing it."
"That's awesome!" (Followed by a far off look of wonderment I don't deserve :P)

Anyway, yes, that's how it goes nowadays. Awhile back when I told people what I majored in they would automatically assume I would be a teacher. Because really, what else can you do with a History degree? A lot of things, actually. Most things deal with clerical work, but there's some cool jobs like museum curator, consultant, writer of fantastic things, and the list goes on. I scoffed at the idea of becoming a teacher (hm, much like I scoffed at the idea of becoming a professional writer).

Now that I've started this Substitute Teacher's Course I'm sorta, kinda, really loving it. I know, I haven't even stepped foot in a classroom yet... but still! I love all the ideas I'm getting for teaching my very own high school history class. I keep coming up with projects, activities, lessons, etc., and it's making me excited.

So let's see what happens, right? Let's see me doing some subbing first and then maybe consider a career in teaching in the future. I obviously wouldn't do it here (ok, maybe not obvious to you, but I won't go into it), but maybe when we get back to Colorado I can look into it. I wouldn't want to do it while our kids are real young... I'm planning for the future again!

Let's see what happens. ;)

"The Marriage Project" Book Review

2010-04-13T19:10:00.002-06:00

So about a month ago I got an opportunity to read and review a new book. I waited anxiously for it to arrive in my mailbox (what can I say? I don't have a job!). Needless to say, I was super excited when it arrived in my mailbox at the end of March. I opened it up and began reading that day.

The book is called The Marriage Project, 21 Days to More Love and Laughter. It was written by Kathi Lipp. Check out her website HERE. While my marriage doesn't really need any help, I was pretty excited to read this book to see what fun activities it would suggest. The basic premise of it is every day for 21 days you and your spouse do the project for the day. Easy, right?

Let's talk aesthetics first (thanks Amazon for the picture of the book I lifted unceremoniously from you!). I am, sadly, one who judges a book by its cover. I like a book that looks pretty, something that sticks out on the shelf, and when you open the pages it looks easy to read. This book had all of that, thank goodness. And I was pleased that it wasn't super long!

Now, the content. The first third of the book is in preparation for the marriage project. It outlines what to expect, why you're doing this, and everything in between. While I found this part a little too long, it was also helpful. Throughout the whole book she injects personal stories of either her marriage or others and ties them into the whole Project.

The rest of the book deals with the Projects. There are 21 projects, 3 major projects and 3 bonus projects. Basically each day there is a project to do and every week there's a major project, which is a date with your spouse. The projects are so easy to do I couldn't believe it. For example, Project #6: Get Active Together, turn off the TV and connect through exercise; Project #11: RESPECT, write down the reasons you respect your husband; and Project #19: Text or Email Sweet Nothings. These are all things we can do every day with our spouses but we can never "find the time" to do them.

I only have one complaint, and this is just me... it is a Christian-centered book so the entire thing is filled with Bible passages and prayers and talk about God. This does not mean that if you're not Christian (just like me), you can't read it. You definitely can! I knew when I was getting the book that it was being published under Christian non-fiction so I wasn't surprised. Anyway, I guess it isn't much of a complaint, just something I wanted to get out there!

In the end, this book was really well written and I was excited as I was reading through it. I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks to jump right into the Marriage Project and see how it works for us. I recommend it!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2010-04-09T11:23:00.002-06:00

1. I got a job! It's part-time, on-call, so I'm expecting not to work much, which is what I want, haha. It's at the ticket office on post. I'm kind of excited, though I think Brandon is a bit more excited. He wasn't as accepting of my job as a stay-at-home-wife/writer.

2. I started my Substitute Teacher's Course earlier this week. It's pretty cool so far! I'm more excited about being a substitute than the other job so if I started getting a bunch of sub jobs I'll quit the first job. And anyway, I make more money as a substitute. Like $150 a day. Wee.

3. Our living room is getting a makeover! I admit, I was excited about it until it changed then I got some anxiety about the whole thing. I just have trouble with change. So Brandon bought a surround sound system for the living room, which is great. Then we decided to move Goliath, our big rear-projection 65" TV, and replace him with David, our smaller 40" flat screen from upstairs. We were just getting tired of Goliath taking up so much space in the living room. That's the biggest change that I'm still having problems with, just because it's a very noticeable change. Oh, and we're going to be getting a new couch, hopefully. These ones are seeing the end of their days and I'd really love something of our own, you know? After the couch we'll be pretty much set on furniture!

4. Dexter has been a sick puppy the last 3 weeks. First neutering, then diagnosed with mange, then a UTI, followed by a broken foot, and lately he's been puking and having diarrhea. Poor puppy. I hope he gets better!

5. Brandon's home. That's a big change. My house is a mess because of it! But I expected it, so I'm not too surprised. ;)

Happy Birthday To Me!

2010-04-05T11:03:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was my birthday! It was a good day, not too many complaints. It started out real early thanks to Dexter not wanting us to sleep past 6am. So we got up and went downstairs. Brandon was trying to figure out something for the internet so he spent a couple hours walking around the house on his project. I watched TV, read, played on the internet, just relaxed.

We had a Sunday brunch to go to at my friend's house. So we dressed all nice and headed down to her house, followed by a couple of other friends who didn't know how to get there. All my friends were there! I had tons of fun. The food was great and we just stood around and talked. Very good time.

Afterwards we wanted to go to Target to buy my birthday present (since Brandon was gone until April 3rd it was kind of hard to buy a present for me). I wanted a new hairdryer and bath robe, nothing too fancy! But Target was closed! Darn Easter. I just didn't expect that considering Hawaii is such a touristy place, you know? Anyway, I was sort of upset about that. Oh well, we'll have to buy my stuff later.

So then we went home and watched some more TV. Brandon made reservations at PF Chang's for dinner. We headed down to Waikiki around dinnertime and spent some time walking around the stores before going to dinner. The food was great! We each got a cocktail, then some lettuce wraps, some soup, and then some spicy chicken and beef a la sichuan. Dessert was the mini-desserts. It was a great meal and it was so wonderful to be there with Brandon. We just had tons of fun!

After dinner Brandon wanted to go to the Apple Store to check out the iPod Touch and the iPad, which he has fallen in love with. The store was insane busy but we managed to get in to play with a few things.

After we played for a bit we decided to head home. We were originally going to go sit at the Hale Koa bar but the combination of pouring rain and being full and tired it was time to go home. We aren't party animals anymore! Haha. Plus Brandon is still catching up on some sleep. When we got home he basically passed out on the couch so I made him go upstairs to bed. I read a bit but then I fell asleep too. It was a good day!

One bad thing: The rain made the road slippery so when I was crossing a crosswalk I slipped. It happened really fast but my left knee hit the ground and now it's bruised and it hurts when I moved it! Oh well, I'll survive ;)

He's Home!

2010-04-03T15:49:00.001-06:00

It's only been just over 6 weeks since Brandon left, but he came home today not-so-bright but very early this morning. I could hardly sleep, I must have been anxious, and when he texted me at 3am to tell me he was back on Schofield I got up. I didn't actually pick him up until about 3:45 and then we had to go get his bags. We got home after 4am and we were both awake, so we watched some DVR'd TV and he had some coffee. Just before 6am Brandon was hit by exhaustion (he hadn't slept at all!) and we went to take a few hour nap. Now we have unpacked his stuff, showered, made breakfast and we're relaxing on the back patio now. It's nice to have him home!

Quick Hello

2010-04-01T11:19:00.002-06:00

Hello!

I've been busy with friends lately, preparing for our husbands to come home. Brandon was supposed to come home today and there's actually still a chance that he might be put on a flight today. I doubt it though, I think he's still coming home when they originally said. I'll let you know! Today we're making Easter sugar cookies :D

Poor Dexter hurt his foot!! Maybe sprained it jumping off the bed? He is limping everywhere and I carry him a lot of places. He just looks so sad. I don't know what to do for him...

I've slowly been writing and editing. It's getting there!

Oh, and I got selected a couple months ago to review a new book! I received it yesterday and I'm reading it right now. It's a book on marriage and so far so good. I'll be posting a full review once I finish it. :)

Balancing Act

2010-03-29T13:30:00.002-06:00

Today I'm going to start the ultimate balancing act for my budding career - I'll be editing a novel while writing another. This is completely new territory for me and I'm a bit nervous. I mean, concentrating on a book and writing it is one deal, but trying to write one book while editing another is a whole other monster. It's kind of scary but I suppose there's nothing I can do except jump right in!

So here's the plan. With my first novel I wrote 1500 words a day. Well this one I won't jump right in like that. I think 500 words a day for a little bit is good and when I'm comfortable, I'll bump it up to 1000 with an ultimate goal of 1500. I'll write first and then jump into editing. I'm not sure what my daily editing goal will be for my other novel so I'll see after a week of trying this out what works best.

I'm nervous about the novel I'm writing. It's the sequel I came up with while writing Calista. My mind has been bouncing around trying to decide which novel to work on after Calista and I guess I'll be doing this sequel. I'm still feeling it out and I'm unsure where it's going exactly, but maybe that's good, huh?

The next few months will be hard for my writing. Brandon will be coming home and preparing for deployment. His unit will be having a bunch of 4 day weekends and half-days for April to May. That kind of cuts into my writing time! Brandon is more important than anything though and I won't sacrifice what little time I have with him to work on my writing. A military wife's priorities are a little weird, I'll admit!

Speaking of Brandon... his flight coming home from NTC got pushed back a day and a half. That's the Army for you! He isn't too happy especially since he has absolutely nothing to do between now and then. I hope he can keep occupied alright!

Happy Sunday!

2010-03-28T11:40:00.002-06:00

And Happy Post 180! This will be a short one, I think. I don't know what I want to write today but I feel the need to type a blog every few days. I've been busy with my friends, keeping ourselves occupied while our husbands are gone. Good news though: Brandon comes home this week! While I'm not really allowed to say exactly what day (online, anyway), it's definitely before my birthday. Yay.

On Friday we saw "The Bounty Hunter" and then had homemade lasagna at one friend's house. Yummy. Yesterday we went to the beach and hung out with other friends, though that's a whole other story I don't feel like explaining right now, haha. We ended the night with some pizza and a Netflix! Brandon got to call me on Friday night. It was great! He sounds so tired and sick but he'll be home soon and I can nurse him better.

Dexter has proven to be extra expensive lately... I brought him to the vet on Wednesday and found out he has mange. Basically every dog has these mites on them and when they're growing/stressed or something, these mites can start irritating. So as he was growing his mites grew too and some of his hair fell out. He had to get some skin scraped to check, poor guy, and he does have it. I need to go through all his hair soon to see if there are any other spots. I'm not too worried about the mange really. I got some cream to see if that helps. Poor puppy knows what it is now, though, and he fights me before I put it on! Haha.

And then on Friday he peed in the house twice. He hasn't peed in the house in a long long time so I got worried. One friend said it could be a UTI and after he peed a second time, I figured it might be good to go to the vet. Well after way too many expensive tests to see if his kidneys were ok, we find out that yes, it is a UTI. I got sent home with some antibiotics and a chunk of money from my wallet. This dog is turning out to be super expensive!

Alright, time to feed these pets. I hope you all have a good Sunday :)

Time keeps on slipping...

2010-03-25T20:52:00.002-06:00

Today marks Brandon being gone for 5 weeks. Not too bad! Three years ago, 5 weeks would have been torture. Now after some test runs, 5 weeks is a piece of cake. Sure, I get lonely sometimes, I get angry, but really, I can handle 5 weeks. I'm nervous about a whole year!

Brandon gets to call me tomorrow night or Saturday morning. Can't wait! I haven't heard his voice for two weeks. It's funny, I feel like I've forgotten somehow. Like when he's gone I push the "married" Chantal out and go back into "single" mode. Laundry is all girls clothes (except for the boxers I wear to bed sometimes, hehe), the dishes are all small spoons and forks and plates, and it is much cleaner. There's always an adjustment period when he leaves or comes back but it's manageable. I can't wait for him to come home!

I reflect on 5 weeks sometimes, though. It isn't really that long. Some days I feel like it's been an eternity since he left but most days it's like "Oh, he only just left, ok." I dunno, it's hard to explain. Time just goes on as normal and some days it's quick, some days not (um, like yesterday when I watched TV all day. Darn cold).

Anyway, I'm excited for him to come home. Not so excited for him to see the credit card... (Hey, I haven't been buying a lot, but I've been eating out more and I found some cute shirts on sale! Can't keep me away from a good sale).

Nothing

2010-03-22T18:42:00.002-06:00

I had a little panic attack earlier at the store thinking "When did I last update my blog?!" Come to find out, it was two days ago. I guess I don't have much to say, then.

I got hit with a little cold yesterday. Sore throat, cough and achy head. I swore I had meningitis but I think that's passed... yes, the hypochondriac in me comes out at the worst times - usually when Brandon isn't here to tell me to stop being dumb. My cold will pass, it's just annoying. I can't remember the last time I had a legitimate cold. Oh, I take that back, right as I was typing that I remembered. It was when I was staying at my mom's in May for 3 weeks before moving to Georgia. They lovingly gave me a horrible sickness. Thanks mom. ;)

As you know, I finished my first novel edit Saturday. I went and printed it out at the UPS store, all 255 pages. It only cost $15 though! When I picked it up it felt, I don't know, fulfilling. I can't wait to take my pens and get to work. I have 4 different colors, I wonder what they'll all mean!

Oh! Brandon emailed me today!! He grabbed someone's computer and shot me an email. I responded but it was no use because he was gone by then. Still, yay! He's miserable but he's still alive, and he can't wait to get home. Poor guy. I get to finally hear from him on Friday/Saturday. Can't wait!

I've been spending tons of time with my friends. I don't think I've been this social since high school. How did I do it then? I'm exhausted these days! Today was a ME day, which I spent cleaning and watching TV. A good day in my book.

Dexter is doing good from his surgery. No pain or anything. He's a trooper. Winston is always annoying me but being cute sometimes. There are chores that I need to do but I don't want to. I think I'll go nurse my headache now and watch "New Moon."

Edit #1 Done!

2010-03-20T17:34:00.003-06:00

So just right now I finished my second edit of my novel, Calista. This edit was just a rough edit - I wanted to go through, cut out the worst sentences and words, and get a feel for my novel. There's some good potential there! Some parts suck (you can definitely tell my bad days) but some parts are pretty good. I'm excited for the next part, where I'll be super duper editing it! Hopefully that won't take forever.

Current stats for this stage:

Began: March 1, 2010
Ended: March 20, 2010
First Draft Final Word Count: 103,613
Second Draft Final Word Count: 99,600 (-4013)
MS Word Pages: 255
Chapters: 26

I'll take a couple days break and then actually print it out and jump into it!

Ten

2010-03-17T13:01:00.002-06:00

So I was tagged by Marissa at Living the Life of an Infantryman's Wife to list the ten things that make me happy. So while I'm procrastinating working on my novel (because it's incredibly loud around my house right now), I'll let you guys know what my top ten are!

1. Brandon: How could Brandon not go first? We've been together for nearly 4 years, been married for nearly 2, and I just can't imagine life without him. Sure, we aren't perfect, we fight sometimes, we annoy each other, but that's married life, right? I know I love him truly and deeply. I'm excited when he calls me, I'm excited when he walks through the door. His smile makes me smile, his laugh makes me laugh. He's handy to have around the house too! I love him, he makes me happy.
2. Dexter & Winston: Ok, Winston doesn't make me happy most of the time... but he will cuddle with you during the night and when he meows it's just cute. He does make me smile. Dexter, though, is the love of my life! Haha. I love that dog. He frustrates me (um, jumping from moving vehicles?), but I love that face of his. I love playing games with him because he just looks so happy. I love when he comes and sits by me and I pet him. He's a good puppy!
3. Nature: I wanted to put Mountains and then the Ocean, but I'm lumping it all into Nature. I get kind of giddy when I go on hikes. I like being in the forest, smelling the flowers, feeling the wind through the trees. I like going to the ocean and tasting the salt in the air and feeling the sand under my feet. I like to look out on the mountains in the background. The blue sky makes me happy, rain makes me smile, and I can't complain about the sun!
4. Good ol' Colorado: I moved to this state when I was 12 years old. I remember the mountains breaking the horizon. You just can't beat seeing those things for the first time. It's the place where I grew up for the most part. I love every part of that state!
5. Including... Colorado Springs: This is my adopted hometown. When people ask where I'm from this is the city I say. I spent 4 years here, graduated college, met my husband, had great experiences. It has such a great feel to it. It's a small city so you can drive around it easily, but it's big for those small-town folks. It just has a good feel to it. It makes me happy :).
6. New Recipes: I love cracking open the cookbook and finding a new recipe to try. It's kind of exciting, like starting a new adventure. Even if it doesn't turn out quite right, I still have fun doing it.
7. Music: I love music and I don't listen to it enough. Right now I'm listening to Pop Opera! Haha. Anyway, I feel a certain connection with music, it's hard to describe. It makes me feel good. I listen to the lyrics and connect with them. Music makes me laugh, cry, smile, depressed. It's everything. Now if I could sing well that would make me even happier!
8. My Family: I usually describe my family as "crazy" (and it's pretty true), but they make me happy. I know I can always rely on my sisters to give me advice or even just someone to talk to. Same with my mom! They frustrate me a lot but I love having them all around. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have all of this family!
9. Learning: I miss university sometimes just for the learning aspect. I loved sitting in class and listening to my teachers tell us new things. It's like they're telling us stories. That's probably why I like history so much, because it's just one big story. Learning new random facts makes me especially happy (I'm gearing up for my surprise appearance on Cash Cab). I don't think there's any substitute for learning some good, hard information. ;)
10. Writing & Reading: This is basically my job now. While I haven't read much in the last month (reader's block?), I've been working on my writing. I can't remember a time when I wasn't writing new stories. Ok, I guess that would be when I couldn't write... but even then, I was making up stories for all my toys. My mind has always been in its own little story world but I like it there. It makes me happy to explore my stories, to find out things about my characters or about their world I didn't know before. Without writing I wouldn't feel fulfilled. Even if I don't make it as anything big, I know I can still have my writing there as my own personal escape.

So there ya go! Wow, as I got to the end I wanted to do more! My job now is to tag 3 people to do this so we can continue the chain. I choose...

Mrs. Monje
Stephanie "Z"
Brittany M.

Dog Beach Disaster!

2010-03-16T18:39:00.003-06:00

I suck you in with my titles, don't I? ;)

It wasn't a disaster but it could have been. I'm driving up to the beach on the dirt road in the dirt parking lot, about 50 feet from where I usually park. Dexter is in the backseat crying because he's so excited he wants to get out. So I roll up the front windows and I'm rolling up the back windows when I look at my side mirror and...

Dexter is halfway out of the car!

I slam on my brakes right as he jumps out of the window and takes off down the beach. I say a few swear words, keep the car running but put it in park and take off after him swearing even more. He's all excited and oblivious to the fact that I'm so angry with him. He finally runs back and I drag him to the car so I can park. We have a time-out until my friend arrives.

Ugh! He could have been run over!!

After the dog beach my friend and I eat lunch and chat down the road. Well I'm walking back to my car and see something underneath. It's a stray cat. When Dexter went near it the cat hissed and went further underneath my car. So I'm thinking great, I'm going to be stuck here. I don't want to run it over! Finally it gets scared and runs off.

Geez, what an exciting day!

What a weekend!

2010-03-15T12:13:00.002-06:00

Since our husbands are gone with no communication, us wives have been banding together to keep busy. I was super busy all weekend and the time is just flying by, I can't believe it. Let me give you the rundown.

Friday: Brandon called at 3:30am for his last call, aw. In the morning I went down to the Pearl Harbor area to the dog beach. I go every week now with my friend Michelle so our dogs can run around. We stood out there for two hours, got sunburnt, and then went to eat some lunch. Maybe 4 hours together? I dunno, we spent the whole time talking. Afterwards I had to head home to shower and get ready for a dinner with the Battalion Commander's wife. She invited all the LT wives to dinner. It was expensive (average of $15.99 per meal), but whatev, and I felt out of place because I wasn't dressed as nice (what, tshirt and jeans don't work for everything?). Anyway, it seemed everyone there was best friends except me, but I knew a couple girls so we chatted it up. Finally I got myself out of there and managed to go home to rest.

Saturday: In the morning Dexter had his AKC S.T.A.R Puppy Exam. He passed (it was ridiculously easy), yay. We went home and waited for a bit. Then my three friends and I got together (Michelle, Courtney, Christina with her 5 month old Marcus), and we headed down to Barnes and Noble where there was a book signing for Dog the Bounty Hunter! Sadly, we didn't see him because the line was long, the rules were dumb (had to buy the book, no posing, no talking really...), and we just didn't feel like it. Instead we walked around the mall, ate at this wonderful build-your-own-burger place, and then went off to Babies R Us (since all my friends have babies or are pregnant!). Then we grabbed a pizza from Costco, had a movie night where we didn't even watch the movie (how do you get anything done with a bunch of women in a room?), and called it a night late.

Sunday: I finally cleaned my house a bit before my friends drug me out to the Farmer's Market. After that we went to the beach and laid around for a little bit soaking in the sun. After the beach it was back home where I did some laundry, watched a movie, relaxed mostly. Then it was back to Christina's house for dinner and watching The Pacific and Minute to Win It, neither of which we watched really. Back home, relaxing, then bed. Wow, what a weekend!

Now I need to get some work done on my novel before yoga, then more work, and then in the afternoon we're going in search of the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean, and maybe some malasada's for a treat. Yum. :)

Two Year Blog

2010-03-15T12:10:00.002-06:00

I thought it would be good to mention that 2 years ago today I first blogged on my blog! Here's the link: March 15, 2008

Now sorry, mom, because I was mad at you so I said so in my blog :P. That was two years ago though! I love you! After the March 15 blog I didn't blog again until July 13, then blogged all summer, then not again until the winter, but since December 2008 I've been blogging pretty regularly. Wow! How time flies!

So it begins!

2010-03-12T10:39:00.003-07:00

Ok, I don't want to sound too over-dramatic because it really isn't a big deal (yet...). Today Brandon had to turn in his cell phone for the next two weeks, as did pretty much everyone there, because they are finally getting into the more intense training in California. We knew it was coming for a couple months now but it's odd to actually reach the day.

But it's only two weeks.

I've never gone two weeks without speaking to him. No letters, no emails, no phone. Wow, gotta love technology, huh? I'm not too worried though because I've programmed my mind to think that, while it is two weeks, it's only two weeks. After those two weeks are done Brandon gets his phone back, and then after that he'll be home within the week. That's a cheery thought to keep in my mind!

The last time I went a long period without hearing his voice was in the summer of 2007. We had just been engaged and he was sent off to LDAC (the course they need to do between junior and senior year of ROTC) for a month. He was in the field for ten days. I laugh when I think back to those 33 days we spent apart. I was so heartbroken! It was the first time we ever spent a long amount of time apart (except for our first summer dating when we lived 100 miles apart, but I don't count that because we weren't as attached then). But I laugh at 33 days because after that I went 6 weeks, 7 weeks, and 8 weeks.

8 weeks is the longest so we'll see how I do during this deployment, huh?

Anyway, what I've learned is everything is surmountable. Sometimes time feels so slow but time continues on, second by second, minute by minute, etc. I take something from the Bible... "This too shall pass" and tell myself that if I'm feeling particularly depressed, because it's true, right? Everything passes. Everything has it's season. (Oh, I feel poetic all of a sudden! Haha.)

I can do two weeks. It feels like I can. Maybe check back with me in a week... but for right now, Bring It On!

The Dentist Loves Me

2010-03-09T16:58:00.002-07:00

Nothing better for an Aries than to inflate her ego!

I've started to love going to the dentist because of the compliments they give me. Well, they give my teeth. They tell me I have wonderful teeth, Superhero teeth (heard that one today), and are amazed that I only brush them once a day and don't ever floss and have never had braces. Yep.

I guess I should thank my mom (thanks Mom!) for my beautiful teeth. She brought us to the dentist a lot and got us some sealants to keep them protected. Oh, and the genes help a bit too.

Anyway, today was a good dentist day. I had a guy hygienist for the first time, like, ever. He was funny though. He tried tirelessly to convince me to floss but I told him I'm not doing it. I'm superstitious and stuck in my ways. My only complaint were some sensitive teeth but they couldn't see anything wrong so they suggested Sensodyne. Sounds good to me!

It was a good dentist visit. My ego is inflated for the next 6 months. ;)

Better Day

2010-03-09T12:54:00.002-07:00

Today is a better day, weather wise. Lately it's been cold (yes, cold. I don't care what anyone says, it gets cold here. Mid-60's is cold for Hawaii, especially when you add in the humidity, which makes it colder) and rainy. The rain isn't too bad but it kind of disrupts my day with Dexter, since we spend most of the daylight outside running around! Ok, he's running, I'm writing or reading or chilling. ;) It's also been super duper windy, like Colorado windy. That's pretty intense for here!

Anyway, today is a better day. The sun is actually out, I see blue skies, and the wind isn't as ferocious as it was before. It's still fairly windy but it feels nice. Maybe because I worked out today? I decided to do a spin class. It wasn't as bad as I remembered it though there were times where my legs were burning bad and my butt hurt! (Those seats are hard!) I came out of it feeling energized and ready to do more!

Came home, had a shower, and now I'm here on my stoop about to get down to editing. I was having trouble editing before but I think it's because I didn't have a daily goal. I found out I'm goal driven. I wrote well when I had my goal of 1500 words. Now I'm editing well when my goal right now is two chapters a day. Easy enough! Some chapters are shorter (what a relief and surprise) and some are longer (slavery!). It's fun though. I'm feeling better about my novel.

So Brandon has been having a long break and he's been enjoying it. Sleeping, resting, walking, talking, shopping, eating... that's the life! Everything kicks into gear Friday when he gives up his phone and he gets to work. We won't have any communication for two weeks. Eep! Oh well, I'll be blogging lots during that time, I'm sure!

Didn't go as planned...

2010-03-07T00:21:00.003-07:00

...but that's ok! Tonight I hosted a potluck. I invited 4 friends (like my only friends here...) and the theme was "Hometown." Basically bring something that's close to your family, home, etc. I planned on making some bison chili but the commissary was totally out of ground bison! Of course. So I settled with regular chili. I also made some poutine (with real cheese kurds!) and some brownies, just because I wanted them, hehe.

Then one friend never RSVP'd and the other got sick so she couldn't come. I only had two people coming over. I was so afraid it was going to be a disaster but it really wasn't that bad. We had some cheese fondue and potatoes and sweet tea to add to the mix. It was good! Then we chatted for a bit and played some Scrabble. It was a good night, regardless of the issues.

Poor Brandon isn't feeling well. He's been hit by a horrible cold and sounds so bad on the phone. His voice is gratty and low and nasally. He constantly sounds tired and worn out. I feel so bad for him but there's nothing I can do, which sucks even more. All I can do is command him to go to the doctor's and get some medicine. On top of that some guy in his platoon lost some important equipment and because Brandon's in charge of him, he's getting in trouble. They can't find the equipment anywhere and the pressure is on. Brandon is not feeling good!

Everything else is ok here. I'm tired but don't feel like sleeping. Maybe I'll try to sleep... I dunno. I could take a bath but I feel hot already! What can I do? lol.

I Hate My Feet

2010-03-05T12:02:00.002-07:00

Truly, deeply, I do. It's been a battle I've been fighting for how many years? Since I was a Sophomore in college so... wow, this past February marked 3 years since it really started, but it's been over 3 years since I've been battling my feet.

Let's review. First it started with some foot pain but nothing extreme. Then in February 2007 I got a stress fracture. Once that healed my plantar fasciitis really kicked in causing immense pain. Podiatry, physical therapy, almost getting kicked out of ROTC but not. Then December 2007 I had a cast on my right foot for 3 weeks, hoping to stabilize my foot. Nothing. More pain, more heartache. Surgery on my left foot in April 2008, then surgery on my right food July 2008. Pain, more pain, then feeling so much better! Then suddenly it hits me again once it's healed completely. Of course. May 2009, medically dropped from ROTC, graduate, move, feel happy, problems behind me.

Nope.

I'm ok with not running. Sometimes I want to run but it's ok, I don't need to. I can bike, hike, walk, etc. As I said before I started fitness classes. Today I couldn't last 15 minutes in a step class. From exhaustion? No, from burning pain in my feet. I stopped and walked around for a bit, feeling kind of embarrassed. The pain didn't go away so I packed up my stuff in front of everyone and left. When I was doing the kickboxing my feet were hurting. During Yoga it wasn't too bad but mostly because I wasn't moving. When I do Wii Active, my feet hurt!

They've been hurting in the morning when I get up. I spent a couple weeks where I could hardly walk or go down the stairs because of them. I can't wear flip flops anymore because they hurt.

I'm tired of it! I don't want to be 40, 50, 60, hardly able to walk and keep up with people. I don't know what's left to do though. I'm trying to get another appointment to a podiatrist because maybe my last doctor missed something (he said he might've, he was as stumped as I was before I left). It's just frustrating, you know? All I can do to workout is bike. That's fun but I want variety. I want to do whatever everyone else does. I don't want to solely rely on spin classes to get me sweating... Frustrating.

What's going on?

2010-03-04T15:20:00.003-07:00

Hey! My life has been going good so far. Brandon has been gone for two weeks but it's flown by thanks to keeping busy and having some friends around. Every day it seems I see one of my friends, whether it's at the dog beach or walking or shopping. We watch movies together too! It's just been great.

I started some fitness classes this week. I did Yoga on Monday - ouch! I haven't done it in so long my muscles were not happy! Then I did some Cardio Kickboxing on Wednesday. That was super fun though I'm feeling it today. My back hurts from twisting so much! I was going to go to spin class today but with my hurt back I dunno if I want to. I need to ease myself into working out... lol. Tomorrow I might go do a step class in the morning. I'll tell you how it goes.

My cat has been... well, he's a cat, so he's pissing me off. I can't do anything but spray him with water. Dexter's been depressed because it's been raining the last few days and he hasn't gotten his time outside. I've been leaving him out of his crate a lot lately to see how he does when I leave. He does so well! No chewing, peeing, pooping or anything. I'm proud of him. :)

Well, I should go eat some lunch. I'm hungry!

That's how much, you say?

2010-03-02T19:07:00.003-07:00

Getting Dexter neutered is turning into a money fiasco. I decided to do the "Neuter Now" program they have here - you pay $50, get a certificate, go to one of the clinics that accepts it and get him neutered. Easy enough, right? I chose a clinic that looked clean and was close-by. The first appointment was great, I met the vet, she's awesome! Then she says he needs to get the kennel cough vaccine before getting neutered because it's policy. I say ok, shoot him up, whatever. When I go to the front desk to pay it's $70. What? Well, too late now, I pay.

Today I go again, get the second shot, so I'm expecting $70 again. He has to get blood work done so he's healthy and I didn't figure about paying for that. At the front desk again and she says $127. What? Is it rude to say "Hole crap, that's expensive" to the receptionist? Because I did. Well, too late now, I pay.

It's just turning out to be MUCH more expensive than I had anticipated. I know I shouldn't be surprised about having a puppy but I've gotten used to stuff on-post where you can get a bunch of shots for real cheap. I know I should've just gotten the kennel cough on-post but I didn't think of it. How could the prices be so different, I thought? I shouldn't be so naive! This pup better get star treatment...

Other news... starting fitness classes again! I did yoga for the first time in months and months. It hurt but felt good! Tomorrow is cardio kickboxing or spin class. Decisions decisions...

Goodbye February, Hello March!

2010-03-01T11:41:00.002-07:00

Last March I remember I was depressed and right about now flying to Georgia for a one week vacation with Brandon. Then we spent two weeks apart and I went back for Spring Break, for a week. Wow! Look at us now, we're in Hawaii (well, I guess Brandon is in California now...). Time flies? It doesn't even seem like it was that long ago that we were separated - him in Georgia, me in Colorado. Of course, this month we won't be able to see each other at all, and hardly even hear each other's voices... it's the life I've chosen!

Some updates: I'm starting a new blog called "The Organic Diary" about my adventures as a modern eater who is trying to switch to all organic food. I think it'll be pretty cool! Of course, I'm keeping this blog for my regular personal updates. Oh, and don't forget to check out my website www.chantalmshelstad.com for my writing updates! (One will be coming today).

Winston is annoying me, Dexter barks too much, I'm hungry, but life is good. I need to eat and then go shopping real fast before I start any real work today. It'll be an easy day, I've been so busy with social engagements that I need a day of not going out! Haha. I've been able to talk to Brandon a lot lately, poor guy is sick, so I've been happy.

I think I'm going to go eat breakfast now!

Success!

2010-02-28T11:57:00.003-07:00

Maybe?

Last night I did an experiment! Mostly because I was tired, but really because I've been wanting to do this since Brandon left. I didn't put Dexter in his crate last night. We were planning on not doing that until he was a year old but I was really tired of him asking to be let out in the middle of the night. Sooo... I left him out!

He growled asking if he could go on the bed (he's so nice, he doesn't just jump up. Good training on our part!). I let him jump up and he got comfy and fell asleep. Then I feel asleep! It was weird at times because he would be trying to push me off... but really, it wasn't bad. We both woke up around 6am and I was very surprised that he hadn't even gotten up once during the night. He just slept calmly on the bed.

So I know I shouldn't be teaching him that the bed in his bed, but I'm so glad he didn't even get up once during the night. When he got up at 6am he went down to chew on a rawhide I had brought to the bedroom. It was a nice night!

Tsunami?

2010-02-27T17:26:00.002-07:00

Non-existant!

I got woken up around 4:30am by my phone ringing... I get excited, thinking it must be Brandon! and then see that it's my friend Michelle. I automatically start worrying because why would she call at this time? When I answer she asks if I've seen the news (no, sleeping) and then mentions that there was an earthquake and they were evacuating the coastline because of a tsunami. Could she, another friend Ashley, her neighbor Mandy (with her mother, 6 year old and 1 month old daughters), and 2 dogs, come over?

Sure!

So I'm up, organizing, watching news... there was a pretty large earthquake in Chile (right near where one of my Mormon friends is doing a mission! Yikes!) and it triggered a tsunami warning in Hawaii, among other places. Already by 5am there are cars on the roads, people evacuating, gas stations full, lines in grocery stores, wow! I'm not panicking though.

My friends arrive and we start watching the news. When the news gets old, we watched random TV shows. Then we'd switch back to the news to see if anything is happening. It was mostly a morning of waiting. I gave them food, drink and accommodations and they were all so grateful!

The tsunami was due at 11:05am on the Big Island. We waited, then waited, then waited. By 11:45am we were hungry, and seeing as nothing was happening, we walked over to the PX to grab some lunch. There were tons of people there, mostly people who got evacuated, waiting outside or eating lunch. When we got home we watched some more news and after an hour or so discovered that the tsunami warning was cancelled and they could go home.

Anti-climactic.

I'm happy, though. I got to speak to Brandon finally! He called me on someone else's phone and then used his own when it was charged. Two calls from him! It was hard to talk because it kept breaking up though. Oh well. Also, my friend's houses weren't destroyed, which is good. Disaster averted!

Bleh, I'm lonely!

2010-02-25T22:39:00.002-07:00

I just want to talk to Brandon! I'm usually ok during our separations but geez, this sucks this time. I've been spoiled every separation we have because we get to talk all the time... this time he called me a couple nights and then it's like nothing. No warning or anything. He would text me and say "Busy day!" and hardly anything after that. Yesterday I heard from him a couple of times... and then today all I heard from him was at 12:45am when he said he just got... somewhere... and is only going to get 2 hours of sleep. I miss my husband! I just have to suck it up, I guess. I think his phone is dead too because none of my texts are getting through. Hopefully I hear from him soon!

Exhausted!

2010-02-25T10:48:00.004-07:00

It seems my sleep dilemmas have disappeared for the time being. Other than still being woken up early by my lovely dog and cat, I've been so exhausted by the time I go to sleep. It's a combination of getting up early and keeping really busy.

Socializing wears me down! Tuesday I spent much of the afternoon with my friend Michelle at the dog beach and then at lunch. Yesterday I spent the afternoon with her again at Petco, Ross and Target... and then spent the night with my new friend Courtney at her house watching TV and eating homemade pizza. Granted, I love it and am grateful for all the socializing. But geez, I'm getting tired! I'm not 16 anymore, lol.

I got Dexter groomed yesterday and now his front paws are all dirty again. Useless lol.

Other news... haven't heard Brandon's voice for a couple days. He's been super busy. I've hardly gotten texts from him! He texted me in the middle of the night and surprisingly my body woke me up. I answered him but he never read it. I'm sure his phone is either dead or off now. Oh well, that's the life. I've gone longer without hearing his voice. Not that I like it!

Also, something is wrong with my right foot. I think it's just my plantar fasciitis but it's killing me. When I wake up in the morning I limp real bad and can hardly make it down the stairs. I've forgone working out on my Wii Active because that calls for me to be standing up or jumping or running in place and my foot can't handle it in the morning. I'm contemplating going to the doctor's, but what are they going to say? Take an X-ray and see nothing? I dunno. It's been hurting since Brandon left and I went to the dog beach and ran on the beach... maybe I got a stress fracture. It's not as bad as the first stress fracture I got. Geez, my feet are so dumb!

And lastly, with all this stuff going on, I've had difficulty concentrating. I can write for a bit but when I sit down to read, I just can't! All my brain wants to do is watch TV or play games - something mindless. I need to buck down, there's 3/4 books I'm trying to read right now.

I'm feeling good, thanks!

2010-02-23T17:38:00.003-07:00

The last month or month and a half I've been feeling kind of depressed at times. I don't know why, I just felt out of it, not wanting to do anything, just blue. I still did what I needed to do and felt happy most of the day. Something was missing. I think I've discovered it!

I'm a social person by nature, but this staying at home and writing thing didn't offer me many chances to interact with people other than my husband or the cashier at the grocery store. However, I've joined a spouses club and have already made a couple friends through it. One of those ladies lives right down the street from me - wonderful! I've also made friends with the wives of a couple officers my husband works with. It's been great.

Yesterday I went on a walk with the girls I met through the spouses club. It was great! Today I spent a few hours at the dog beach and having lunch with a friend of mine. I just feel good. I guess I need friends and I need that interaction. Granted, I don't need it all the time, I do like my alone time, but with Brandon gone it's nice to have others to talk to. I hope we all become good friends!

So if you were to ask me how I'm feeling... well, I'm feeling good, thanks!

My Writing Website

2010-02-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

I've finally worked a bit on www.chantalmshelstad.com. Please check it out!

I figured I needed to do SOMETHING with it because I did buy the domain name and all... I finally sat down to figure out the layout, theme, pages, etc. It was actually easier than I expected. I'm still tweaking it and messing with it and the theme might change sometime (though I do like the arrangement of this one), but it's still pretty good so far. Tell me what you think. :)

Books & Boredom

2010-02-21T10:29:00.003-07:00

Currently I'm reading "On Writing" by Stephen King. It's a good book with some good advice from a good author. I'm soaking it all in and trying to remember all the little tips he has thrown in there. Almost done with it too!

Next up will be "Self-Editing for the Fiction Writer" about, you guessed it, editing. I need all the help I can get! I have some foundations and idea of what I need to do for editing my novel but there is still so much I need to find out. This book was written by real book editors so I can be assured that the tips are well worth it. It's come highly recommended.

Another book I'm reading is Andy Adams's "The Log of a Cowboy." It was written in 1903 and is basically a semi-autobiographical story about the authors time driving cattle through the western plains. I'm reading it for research for my next novel, though it's actually quite interesting. It's set in the same time of my novel so I'll be using it as my main reference.

I think I might start reading another fiction book sometime soon...

Anyway, since Brandon's been gone my day has been filled with boredom. I try to stretch out everything I have to do so I fill the hours so it's rather hard sometimes! I have a thing planned for every day this week but most days it'll only take an hour or so at the most. The rest of my hours are spent writing, researching, TV and movie watching, dog playing and internet surfing.

Last Thursday I was at my second Spouse's Club luncheon. It's nice! I met a nice girl there and we're sort of becoming friends. I joined a few clubs (Book Club, Adventure Club, Wine Club). The Adventure Club is meeting on Friday for an easy hike and I'll definitely be going. It's nice to get out of the house!

Today I might go down to Borders and Old Navy... I've been wanting to go to Borders to do some research and wander around a bit but I'm wary about going on a weekend. I think I'll go anyway. The Farmer's Market is open today too but I don't know if I really need to go... might be fun though!

Energized Again!

2010-02-18T11:06:00.002-07:00

Ever since I finished my novel I was wrestling with what I wanted to do next. I had a few options:

1. Start the sequel I came up with while writing
2. Work on other novels I have
3. Just do some short stories and stuff like that

They're all good options. The first option I wasn't sure about because all my other novels I've been working on for years and this one is so new, I'd be afraid to just jump into it before I'm ready. Who's to say when I'm ready though? Option two is good but I have so many other novels, what should I do? Option three is also a contender and I can also submit those stories for publication and contests.

I did some soul searching and decided to follow my heart. This is what it was saying: Work on some short stories and do the sequel to the novel. I found I was always thinking of the sequel and story elements. Yesterday, I began research on the sequel and even after a brief period of time, I was energized again! I was writing notes on the time period and setting, writing down plot elements, names were coming up, and now I have two story ideas that I can work with for this novel.

Of course, I plan on working on some short stories. I really need to get back into them! I have a couple ideas I'll be exploring. I'm just excited that I have something to work on now, even if it's only research at this point. "Calista" will be in the editing stages starting March 1 (I figured it's a good date to start, just over 2 weeks since I finished).

See, even with Brandon gone I have something to look forward to.

Last Day

2010-02-17T14:17:00.002-07:00

Brandon found out yesterday that he's leaving tomorrow morning. And by morning he means 1:30am. We decided to not even try to sleep because really, what's the point? Luckily today he has only a half day (if everything goes well) and then we have errands to run, laundry to do, last minute packing to finish and figuring out what's for dinner... then he leaves. Of course in between we'll watch his last Netflix and last night's episode of Lost.

I feel like I should feel more panicky by now. Maybe I'm just used to him leaving. Isn't that sad? There's also the fact that even though he's leaving we've been through it before so we can get through it again. It's only like 7 or 8 weeks, right? I can handle that. There are worse things in the world than that.

Like I said before, I'm more worried about being bored. However, I did get a call back from the Outdoor Recreation Center here to be a guide on adventure tours around the island - how fun! We'll see if that pans out. It won't pay much but it'll give me some money that I can use towards my trips and my writer's conference.

Other things I have planned for when he's gone included...

1. Starting that awful revision of my novel (you'll be getting a copy to read early March, Mom!)
2. Playing some video games (Hours and hours can be spent on Sims2 and WoW)
3. Working on other writing projects
4. Reading lots and lots of books
5. Watching TV and movies, haha
6. Working on my website, www.chantalmshelstad.com (Don't worry about looking, there's nothing there)
7. Training that darn dog of mine
8. Wearing that dog out with some hikes and beach time and fetch time at the park
9. Trying to make some friends, joining clubs, volunteering, etc.
10. Oh, and working out and stuff.

Doesn't seem like much but it'll keep me busy for most hours of the day. I'm sure there will be some days that just drag on but at least I'm expecting it!

Ugh, that darn dog of mine is eating poop again...

What a sweet dog!

2010-02-16T12:35:00.003-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

I'm amazed I actually got a really good picture of him. I was about to take a picture of him looking out the window but he turned his head right as the camera flashed. Perfect!

Other news... Brandon now leaves a day earlier than planned. Only two more nights with him. I should be sadder but I guess I kind of expected this. I'm actually more upset I wrote it on my calendar than he's leaving Thursday but then he wasn't so I crossed it off and now he is! OCD anyone?

Also, my birthday is in a month and a half. I'm not expecting anything from anyone but if someone were to buy me something (hint hint) I'd really just like some money to go towards the Hawaii Writer's Conference in September. I super duper want to go to it and it's $500. Of course we can afford it, but could always use some help, especially with all the flights I'm buying to Canada and Colorado. Oh, and I wouldn't mind some area rugs to throw around the house to control some of that dirt the dog brings in...

What I did this weekend

2010-02-15T21:54:00.003-07:00

Brandon had a four day weekend to commemorate Presidents Day. I believe we had a very good weekend!

Friday: Friday was kind of an errand day. In the morning we lazed about before going to the library (to find a book that wasn't there), to Brandon's work (to pick up something he forgot) and then to the seamstress (to sew some stuff of Brandon's before he leaves). Then that afternoon I drug Brandon out to the beach I went to before with Dexter, Mokuleia Beach. We had fun! We swung by Matsumoto's to get some yummy shave ice before going home. Then it was more TV watching then watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Bedtime.

Saturday: The morning saw dog training. Brandon didn't want to go so I went alone with Dexter. He's doing real well! I talked to the trainers about his pulling and they suggested I get him a prong collar. I spoke with the trainer who sells them and she fitted one for him and showed me how to use it. Let me tell you, the difference is amazing. He hardly pulls anymore and if he does it pinches him a little so he backs off. It's wonderful to walk him now! Alright, so after class we had lunch and then chose a new beach to go to: Kawela Bay. It was hidden and surprisingly enough, on a Saturday, there were 11 people there. It's a good beach! Saw turtles, swam a bit, read, walked, it was great. And it's another place where they filmed Lost ;). Home, TV, Bedtime.

Sunday: Valentine's Day! Just an ordinary day, I suppose. We spent the morning again lazing about, but it was so beautiful I said we needed to go out. So we went down to Petco to return something I bought then wandered around Office Depot, Sports Authority and Target. Then we went home to play some fetch with Dexter before having dinner at Cholo's in Haleiwa. It's a Mexican restaurant. The food was ok, the margaritas watery... but I wanted to go and I enjoyed going out. We came home to watch a love movie! We chose Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. A different kind of love story I suppose... And bedtime :)

Monday: Brandon started to get depressed because he has to work tomorrow. :( I tried to keep him occupied though. We've been watching Season 5 of Lost so we did that all morning, then I drug him out to go grocery shopping. We hardly had to buy anything, which saved us some money. Then we came home to eat and lay about. We had decided the day before to go on a hike so we packed up Dexter and went way out to Makapu'u Lighthouse, a hike up a big hill. It was hot and very beautiful! The water color was amazing and the views were spectacular. You could see the reefs and even some whales. You have to see it. Dexter loved the hike and now he's been sleeping all night. So we came home to watch more TV and make some ribs for dinner. Except the grill ran out of propane. So we just ordered pizza!

Brandon leaves on Friday and won't be back until sometime after my birthday. I have stuff planned for when he's gone but otherwise I'm a bit nervous... mostly of being bored... but I'm sure I'll be ok. I'll be sad during March because he won't be able to call me at all, but I should just get used to it for when he deploys! Anyway, time for more TV ;)

THE END

2010-02-11T13:32:00.002-07:00

Sooo...

I finished my first draft today!!!

Here's some stats:

Began: November 1, 2009
Ended: February 11, 2010
First Draft Final Word Count: 103,613
MS Word Pages: 262
Chapters: 26

It's been an awesome ride. I've had doubts from time to time but in the end, I finished what I started. It's a good feeling.

The next step is to let it sit for at least a couple of weeks and maybe work on something else so I can clear my mind. Then I'm jumping into editing. I'm scared to do that because I've never done it, but I'll spend a couple weeks reading up what I need to and get to it. I plan on spend some time editing until I'm comfortable with it, then starting to query and find myself an agent.

WOW!

Losing steam!

2010-02-08T12:05:00.003-07:00

I fear I'm losing steam on my novel. I guess I feel better today because I did take a 3 day break over the weekend, but today I'm nervous. Maybe it's because I'm so close to finishing my novel, I don't know. Right now I feel as though my writing is horrible and I'm missing so much stuff and I'm losing focus.

I just need to reread my novel and become re-acquainted.

Anyway, life is good so far! Friday we had a Hail & Farewell which we missed (Brandon thought it started at a certain time, we got there at the end, haha). It was downtown, though, so we went for a walk around Waikiki and went to the Swatch store... where Brandon bought me the watch I wanted!! It's for Valentine's Day, even though we weren't going to exchange gifts, I said he could get this Army vest thing he wanted, so he decided to get me the watch. I love it. It's an analog watch, silver, the flattest watch in the world, with etched flower designs. Here's a picture: http://www.swatch.com/zz_en/watches/ss2010_corecollection.html (it's the Climber Flowery watch)

After that we met some friends at the movies to see Dear John. It wasn't great, but it was fun to be out with friends. The next day we did dog training like usual, though Brandon spent the training cleaning up the puke in the backseat, ick. After training we went to a BBQ on the other side of the island hosted by Brandon's platoon sergeant, where some of his guys and their families were. We brought Dexter and he loved it! He loves the beach and playing in the water. It was a fun afternoon.

Sunday we sat around basically all morning, then did some errands, then sat around all afternoon watching the Superbowl. Brandon explained football to me a bit more and I'm understanding it now. It isn't too bad of a sport now that I get it lol. That night we made some ribs and played fetch with Dexter and watched a movie. It was a good weekend.

This week is full of stuff! I'll keep you updated :)

Yesterday's Adventures

2010-02-05T12:27:00.003-07:00

I was depressed yesterday. Most likely caused by an excess of girly hormones because of PMS. Everything was making me angry, nothing was working out, I was pissed at Brandon for no good reason... all bad.

So after talking with Jessica on the phone for almost an hour I decided to go on a drive to the North Shore. So I packed up Dexter in the backseat and we headed through the country north. I decided to go to the beach with him, a beach on the west side of North Shore across from the airport where they do skydiving. This beach is called Mokuleia Beach and it's where they filmed large portions of the show Lost (which made me excited, because I'm all over that!).

This beach is pretty cool because, even though there are huge waves on North Shore, there are reefs so hardly any waves crash on the beach itself. The big ones are further out to sea. Here they are tons of kite-surfers, people who attach surfboards to their feet and then use the wind with a kite type thing to propel them around the waves. It's neat to watch. The beach was all but deserted except for the kite-surfers on the waves.

Dexter had never seen waves before, so that was an experience for him. When we got close to the water he freaked out and didn't want to go close. Finally, once I showed him it was ok, he got the courage to go close. He became really brave and started attacking the water, barking at it and jumping at the waves and biting the water. It was hilarious. I wish I had my good camera with me to videotape it! I took him off his leash at one point and he ran back and forth, chasing the water, biting it and running to get out of the way.

He was tired so we started back to the car. I noticed an old surfer guy parked beside us and he said hi then started talking about how his wife wanted a border collie. He was really nice. He said that this beach was a perfect place for dogs and it was very dog friendly, so I plan on coming back again with Dexter and Brandon.

On the way home we swung by Haleiwa, driving through town and then stopping at McDonald's for a McFlurry. I had been craving ice cream for so long! After that we started home. It was a great afternoon, I was feeling better!

Then half a mile from home, Dexter puked in the car. He puked A LOT. I don't know where it all came from! And dumb me, I had forgotten to put a towel down on the backseat before we left. So now I have this huge puke stain on my backseat, it's horrible. This morning I bought a waterproof backseat dog travel cover for the car for Dexter, and this weekend we're buying a steam vacuum to clean the car (and for the rest of the house, we've been wanting one for awhile). Oh well, the joys of having a dog ;)

(BTW, I'm outside right now and Dexter is sitting by the fence and trying to lick/eat something off of it. It's kinda funny)

Click here to view these pictures larger

Building my platform

2010-02-03T10:26:00.002-07:00

I now have a fanpage on Facebook for my author-ing! I'm excited, I invited all the people on my friends list and so far 74 are my fans. People are excited for my novel and encouraging. Awesome :)

I've also started getting tons of fans on Twitter. I am following this YouTube video that was recommended to me that gives 7 very easy steps to get 500+ followers in a week. So far just from yesterday I went from 18 to 41. It's amazing! I have a lot of work to do but I'm loving it.

I'll be working on a website soon, something I've never done before. I suppose I'm procrastinating because it's unfamiliar territory. This website will include yet ANOTHER blog of mine. Don't worry, I'm not leaving this one! This is more of a personal one while the other blog I'll concentrate more on writing than anything else.

I'm feeling great. I'm feeling nervous. I'm feeling anxious. Once I finish this novel I'm going into unfamiliar territory: Revising, querying, publishing, marketing. This is all new to me. I've finished a book before but I've never gone beyond that. It scares me! But I can do it!

What's Happening?

2010-02-02T10:25:00.002-07:00

So my sleep is still not good yet. It doesn't help that for the last week or so Dexter has been getting up in the middle of the night, making lots of noise and then whining because he needs to go outside. I'm the one who gets up every night with him and let's him out so my sleep is further interrupted. Even when I take medicine my dreams are still crazy and I don't feel totally rested. This morning I woke up at 5am with Brandon and didn't go back to sleep. I was wide awake.

I haven't felt exhausted in a long time. In college that was practically every night. Maybe because I was busier: Waking up before 6am, going to PT, then home, then class or work, then home for dinner, then bedtime at 9. Now I don't have such a busy day and I have tons of time to think. My mind is always going a hundred miles an hour. And then I force myself to bed at 9 or 9:30 when Brandon goes to sleep because I like to go to bed when he does. I read for a bit but then I feel bad for having the light on while he's trying to sleep.

Maybe I'll be exhausted tonight.

I guess life is good otherwise. I feel as though my writing isn't up to par but I'll find out when I reread my novel. I feel like it's lacking something. It's only my first draft though, my job right now is to just get everything out, and then I can go back and edit.

I've been working out every morning and feeling great about it. I restarted my Richard Simmons diet after a couple week hiatus. I didn't gain much weight at all but I have been feeling sick because I haven't been eating healthy enough. Though tonight the diet is on hold because I'm making perogies - yum!

Brandon leaves soon and he just told me that for almost a month he won't be able to call me. Not too excited, but I guess it's the life I live! I'll survive, there are worse things in the world. It'll give me more time to think, huh? ;) I'll be blogging a lot while he's gone I'm sure, just for lack of having someone to talk to every day other than my dog...

I need some friends!

Winston is 6 Months Old Today!

2010-01-29T11:07:00.003-07:00

Happy 6 Months Winston! We've had some trouble and we still do (darn peeing on things...) but he's been fun.

Of course there's more pictures of him because he knows how to stand still ;)

Click here to view these pictures larger

Happy 6 months Dexter!

2010-01-28T12:24:00.003-07:00

My lovely little border collie puppy is 6 months old today. Half a year! He's grown so big (from 9 lbs when we got him to 28 now) and he's still as lovable as ever. Next step in the next half year: Neutering. ;) A new quirk of his: I got him a racquetball (he can't destroy those!) and now he drops it from his mouth, watches it bounce and then chases after it. How cute!

Here are some pictures to show how he's grown:

Click here to view these pictures larger

Vivid Dreams

2010-01-28T10:45:00.002-07:00

Somebody help me! My sleep has been interrupted the last week because of vivid dreams. Ever since I was little I would have very in depth, crazy dreams, so it's not a new thing to me. It's really just an annoying thing. It's like I'm awake all night and I toss and turn and wake up frequently feeling like I've hardly slept. It's almost like I can't get into a deep sleep.

This phase will go, I know. Since I've had it for years and years, I know that eventually the dreams will subside and I'll have boring or no dreams at all. It's just annoying now! I mean, Dexter woke me up at 12:55 last night and I swore it was 4am. It sucks.

But I guess I'm making it through the day :). I hit a slump while writing yesterday, maybe because the scene I was writing was boring to me, but I still made my word count of 1500 words per day. Today should be interesting, I have a big scene to write. I'm so close!!

I've also come up with a freelance article that I might pitch to a magazine. Scary! And I found a literary magazine to submit one of my old short stories - Problem: It has to be 1500 words or less and my story is over 1600. I'm going to see if I can rework it.

Brandon has been stressed at work, poor guy. They're expecting him to do things he just can't so it wears on him. He just doesn't want to disappoint anyone.

Life is good here otherwise. Been living the dream ;)

2010-01-27T12:25:00.002-07:00

Today I was struggling to come up with something to blog about. I feel as though I should blog more, but I haven't done anything too interesting to talk about! Yesterday I did have a friend come over for a puppy playdate, that was fun. :) Anyway, otherwise life is going as normal and I'm writing a lot.

I actually wanted to talk about something political. Just maybe my opinion on it. I want to speak about abstinence-only education and how it is linked to the rise in teen pregnancy. You can find some information here.

Here's my view: Teenagers are going to have sex. There is no way to prevent this, other than locking them up (and then when they get out, they'll just go do it!). This doesn't mean all teenagers will have sex, not by any means. I'm just saying that many teenagers will have sex. They know what it is and they know how it works and they're in a rebellious, hormone-filled stage where anything goes.

The problem with abstinence-only education is that it isn't helping the teenagers that are having sex. That sex education teaches one thing only: You shouldn't have sex. That isn't effective for the ones who are already having sex. Those teenagers aren't getting the information on contraceptives and STD's and it's leading to a rise in pregnancies and abortions.

I agree that it is partly the responsibility of the parent to teach their children about the risks of having sex. And I agree that abstinence and the power of the word "No" should be taught in sex education as well. But I think that teenagers today should be learning about all the different forms of contraceptives that are available to them, and where to get them. They should be taught that sex is ok and a natural thing, but they shouldn't risk their futures by engaging in unprotected sex.

Abstinence-only sex education hasn't helped teenagers at all and hasn't helped the problem of teenage pregnancies. We need to take a step back and examine how we're doing things and change the programs so they benefit our children.

My Dexter :)

2010-01-25T19:09:00.002-07:00

I think Dexter has the best personality. Maybe I'm biased though. ;)

I know exactly what type of mood he's in, even better than Brandon. I know when he's being mischievous (almost always!) and when he's hyper and when he's sad. I know when he's asking me for something, and I know exactly what that is most of the time. Sometimes it's food (even food he doesn't like, like lettuce...), sometimes it's to play, and sometimes it's to lay on the couch. Just today I was reading on the couch and he was laying on the floor. He sat up and stared at me. I looked at him and said "Alright, jump up" and he climbed right onto the couch and laid beside me to sleep.

I really love this puppy of mine. He drives me crazy but he's the light of my life! He keeps me laughing all the time and keeps me on my toes. I love when he gets excited about playing fetch or the look on his face when I say leash. Brandon loves him too, and Dexter worships Brandon.

We're such a great family!

I'm feeling energized!

2010-01-23T16:20:00.003-07:00

I'm feeling energized and I'm feeling accomplished and I'm feeling excited about my future!

When my Dad and stepmom Kat were visiting I received my first issue of "Writer's Digest," a magazine for writer's. I put off reading it and when they left I dove into it. It's so wonderful! There are great articles about writing, about the craft, about publishing - really, all facets of it. I can feel it now, I can feel that my goal is attainable. I'm going to be a writer!

So then Thursday I got this idea for an article to write. It's about listening to your past to determine your future. I showed how I was stubborn and ignored my inclinations towards writing and history, but when I finally followed my heart it was the best thing for me. I think it's a fairly good article that I'm going to send off to people. How exciting!

This whole week I've been sticking to my goal of 1500 words a day. Yesterday I was sucked into a scene and just had to finish it... 2689 words later, and only a little over an hour, I was done. Wow! That's such a boost in confidence!

I've joined a few writing forums now, have looked into a writer's group here in Hawaii, and have applied to a good looking website to become a freelance writer. I'm taking control of my future and it feels so great. I have ideas and plans running through my head I can hardly sleep at night. This energy is coursing through me and I don't want it to leave!

Workout Day One

2010-01-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

I started my Wii Active workout today! I haven't worked out since, like, November, so it was time for a change. I told myself as soon as Brandon started back up at work and my dad and stepmom left, I would start. Well, Brandon's four day weekend (thanks to MLK Jr. Day) ended yesterday and it was back to work for both of us today!

It was a hard workout! I did the medium-intensity and now I think I should've gone low-intensity... Well, I'm sure the medium was fine for me, I'm just a little wimp! :P Anyway, it started with a run in place (hurt my feet but I did it) and then continued to a combination of arm exercises and leg exercises. TONS of squats. My thighs and butt hurt. But it's a good hurt.

I'm doing the 30 Day Challenge on the Wii Active. Today is Day One... I should weigh myself and then keep track. I don't totally need to lose weight as much as maintain my weight. I'm back to eating healthier (does enchiladas count?) and I'm back to getting my schedule in order. Life is good!

Time to apply for jobs now...

The rest of the trip...

2010-01-18T11:50:00.003-07:00

So Thursday was an easy day (ok, they were all easy days). First we went to Target to buy me some chair cushions for our chairs. We finally found some! We wanted to go snorkeling afterwards at Hanauma Bay but when we drove all the way out there, the parking lot was full. Frustrated and hungry we drove off in search of Subway. My lovely GPS brought us high on a mountain in a neighborhood to the supposed Subway where I promptly found it on my phone and we went to the real Subway.

After Subway we were going to drive to another beach to swim at. As we were driving by Hanauma Bay, though, the parking lot was open again! So we went right in. It was great to snorkel with dad (Kat went with dad afterwards since we only had two sets). I scratched my leg by accident on some rocks/coral, though it didn't hurt too bad. After a couple hours of swimming and sunbathing we went home and got stuck in horrible traffic!

Friday we wanted to do a hike. We decided on Manoa Falls down near Diamondhead (we were going to do that hike but the stairs would be too much for Kat's knees). It was a pretty hike! It was short and easy to do too. We wanted to go to the beach so we went to Hickam AFB... and found out there was a huge party going on so the beach was packed... Instead we just went home to do errands and laundry and hang out (it was already mid-afternoon anyway). It was a relaxing day!

Saturday was a busy busy day. Brandon started the day by bringing them early to Waimea Bay to watch the waves and surfers. I stayed home because of Dexter's puppy class. They went to shop and have breakfast in Haleiwa after the bay. Puppy class went great for me! We met up after the class and got ready to do to Kailua where we were going to kayak.

Kayaking was terrifying for me. I almost drowned once and since then it's been a big fear for me. The waves freaked me out and so did the close coral underneath. It was hard for me... I sea turtle scared me! lol. We saw a few of those on our trip around Kailua bay. We kayaked for a couple hours (Brandon jumped out and snorkeled beside us for a bit) before turning in the kayaks and heading home to clean up.

After cleaning up we decided to get dinner downtown. It was a Saturday night, of course, so it was horribly busy everywhere we went. We found a little restaurant with hardly any wait and decided to go there. After eating we went to the beach bar at the Hale Koa and listened to some live music. It was time to go to the airport after some time so we packed up and went there. Brandon and I got home about 11 o'clock!

It was a good trip. They were great guests! It's nice to have our house back. Now we need to catch up on all the shows we DVR'd during the week haha.

(As always, all photos can be found on our photo website: brandonchantal.shutterfly.com)

Jessica & Andy's Wedding

2010-01-18T11:47:00.002-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

So Jessica and Andy got married Friday, January 15, 2010. I haven't posted anything for it yet because I needed to steal some photos!! They look happy and great and the wedding went well. Brandon and I are very happy for them. :) We wish we could've been there, it would have been nice...

Anyway, my little sister is a big girl now! Haha.

Their visit so far

2010-01-13T16:38:00.002-07:00

On Monday we decided to go on a hike in the afternoon. It was a hike to Maunawili Falls, which I heard was really cool. Well since it had rained the day before, the path ended up being horrible muddy! We brought Dexter on the 1.5 mile hike and he had a blast. I took him off the leash so he could run without almost pulling me into the mud!

Anyway, by the end of the hike we were completely covered in mud. We had to cross a couple of rivers and the falls were great on the end, it was a good hike overall. Dexter of course had lots of fun!

In the morning on Tuesday we went to the Pacific Aviation Museum, which was built in a hangar that was in the Pearl Harbor attack. It was pretty cool to be in the middle of all that history! Dad bought me a couple of books and bought Brandon a toy helicopter (and he loves it!).

In the afternoon we wanted to go snorkeling at Sharks Cove but the waves were so huge on the North Shore. So instead we decided to go on a drive up the coast and watch surfers here and there, and stop a few times to take pictures of the huge waves. It was surreal! Then we stopped at Matsumoto's in Haleiwa to get some famous Shave Ice. Yum!

This morning I had to go to the elementary school for an interview to be sponsored to become a substitute teacher. It went well! I went off and signed up for the class, which goes from March 22 to April 21. Then after a bit more, I'll be a sub! Yay!

Dad, Kat and I went to Wal-Mart. They wanted to go golfing so we stopped by a local golf course to check prices. That's where they are now! I've been worrying that they aren't having fun, even though I feel like I'm doing all I can! But anyway... I can't do much about it.

Hopefully Brandon gets home early and so do Dad and Kat and then we can so to the italian restaurant that we love. Otherwise I'm making homemade pesto. I can't wait for some good food!

So far...

2010-01-10T20:56:00.003-07:00

We are having fun! My dad and stepmom, Kat, are perfect guests and are helping us with everything. They say since we're giving them a place to live and not have to rent a car, then they can spend more money on us, haha.

They got here Friday night, so we didn't do anything except talk and drink, but Saturday we went to Bellows Beach. First, in the morning we did dog training (they came with us and went walking around the Mililani Shopping Center while we trained), then it was off to the beach. My dad had fun boogie boarding! Saturday night we made a steak dinner.

Today it was rainy so we didn't go to the beach, and since Brandon had staff duty and couldn't leave post, we didn't go very far. In the morning we went to a farmer's market in Mililani and Kat bought us some great food (it was so fun! We're definitely going back). We even got some local honey and starfruit and Hawaiian peppers (HOT!). Then we came home and decided to go to the Wahiawa Botanical Gardens. It was so pretty! Then the downpour came, so we stayed inside and played games. So far it's been a great day!

Since Brandon's working, I'll be shuttling them around touring the island. We have a few hikes planned, some kayaking and some snorkeling. It'll be a good week!

TV Shows

2010-01-08T14:23:00.003-07:00

The other day Brandon and I were at the grocery store. It was Sunday morning, so it was football time (of course it's in the mornings here in Hawaii because of the time difference). Our bagger, as we're walking out, was asking us if we watch football. I said no, but we watch tons of TV shows. I proceeded to tell him some and stopped myself. I personally follow so many shows it's ridiculous (online, DVR and Netflix). I want to list them because I need a reality check!

(in no particular order...)

Heroes
House
Cake Boss
Chuck
18 Kids and Counting
Table for 12
Say Yes to the Dress
Bones
Fringe
Community
The Office
30 Rock
Glee
American Idol
America's Next Top Model
Dexter
Weeds
Lost
The Soup
The Tudors
Biggest Loser

Ok, maybe that isn't too bad? I'm probably forgetting a show or two... These aren't counting the shows that are now over that we've fully watched, or the shows that I don't follow religiously but I watch when I'm bored (i.e.: House Hunters, Cash Cab...). Wow! Too much time on my hands!

:)

2010-01-07T19:34:00.001-07:00

Update: Brandon came home with a surprise, tricked me, and when I opened the bag it was Wii Active! I don't think I'll be working out much while my dad's here, but afterwards I will! I'm so excited!!

On Writing and On Reading

2010-01-07T13:01:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I ordered Stephen King's On Writing. Apparently it's a very well done book about writing, so I thought I'd get it for my collection of books! Hopefully it arrives quickly, though of course I have so many books to read, I don't know when I'll get to it.

This comes a few days after I told Brandon I won't be reading anymore books on writing. At least not the kind that tell me how to write. I've come to realize that there isn't any "proper" way to write, other than my own, so I've decided to stop getting those books that tell me that I should write a certain way. It makes me upset, first of all, because I feel like I'm not doing it well enough, and second of all, I like the way I write! So after I read On Writing and another writing book I have (since I have it, I should read it, right?), I'm done with writing books.

Of course, some writing books I'll read. Those are the ones that don't tell me how to write but more are encouraging in other facets, like developing good habits. I read Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and it didn't tell me how to write, but more encouraged me just to write. I guess it's hard to explain. But those are the kinds of books I will read!

My novel is coming along great. I'm almost 75k words in with a goal of at least 85k. The way it's developing, I have a chance to surpass 85k. 85k words at 250 words per novel page is 340 pages. That's pretty good for a historical fiction novel! I'm happy with it. I want something that's substantial but easy to read. :)

I'm happy with my writing. My stepbrother Matt (who sends me random articles and comics about writing) introduced me to Ommwriter (http://www.ommwriter.com/). It's basically a meditative writing program for Macs... it has soothing music, sounds for keystrokes, and has a background that blocks out everything but your writing. I LOVE IT. I can write more and faster without distractions. Before I used to write for a few minutes, then stop, then go again. Now I just write. It's amazing! And free ;)

It's a beautiful day outside. I can't wait for when my dad's here and for us to go to the beach. I can't wait for dog training on Saturday. I can't wait for Brandon to be home and for us to go to the PX today! I'm having a good day. Are you?

Work out? Ha!

2010-01-06T11:41:00.004-07:00

I told myself once Brandon started work again that I'd get back into my work out routine. You know, getting up when he gets up, then going to the gym across the street for some cardio and lifting weights. I stopped it back in December when Brandon got home... mostly just because of being lazy.

Here's a problem: Brandon gets up earlier than before now. Like 5:15 not 5:45. This sucks! So I decided to let myself sleep for a bit before getting up to work out. But I sleep and sleep and sleep. It feels so heavenly too. I usually let Dexter up on the bed after Brandon leaves and we nap together. Sometimes I sleep until right before he gets home, so like 7:30ish. But I feel so great! I have the whole bed and it's so cozy...

So I decided I want something I can do at home. Maybe that'll give me incentive to get up. I'd love to have Wii Active to work out to... and I've been trying to convince Brandon to get it for me... maybe this weekend?

Also, I've finally lost my Christmas weight. I gained about 4 pounds then started back on the Richard Simmons diet this week, and I'm back down 4 pounds! Yay. Maybe I'll lose even more. :P

Life has been going good. Brandon has started pre-deployment stuff. He started with medical things yesterday, but thank goodness he didn't have to get any of the shots! He's also done a mental health assessment. He's waited in line a long time!

Weather has been good - rainy, but good. My dad and stepmom get here on Friday, so we're kind of excited. Today I might hear back from the Dole Plantation job. Wish me luck!

Doggy School! And other things...

2010-01-04T10:06:00.002-07:00

Dexter started school on Saturday. I was so excited!! He was overstimulated by all the dogs and smells and just being outside. The first day was mostly telling us what to expect, what we'll be learning, stuff like that.

We did learn a couple basic things though. The first was a way to settle down the dog (get him to sit facing out between your knees while you kneel, then tell him Settle while holding his collar with your right hand and petting him with your left. It works, seriously). The next was the release command (we use OK). The last was a basic sit command, which Dex already knows, but we had to get him perpendicular to us and do a "tuck sit", where he doesn't move his front legs. Thank goodness he does it well!

My highlight of doggy training on Saturday was we were standing behind another border collie puppy who had the same eyes and face as Dexter, though he was tri-color (had some brown on him). The lady came to us at the end and asked where we got Dexter because she thought they might be brothers. Come to find out, they were born from the same mom on the same day - Definitely brothers!! They were jumping on each other and just being so cute. I love it! Now his brother is in the same class as us!

The rest of the weekend was nice. We spent Saturday afternoon with friends of ours from Georgia, Sarah and Luke, who are here from Alaska with Luke's family. We made them some Mahi Mahi and then went to get some shave ice on the North Shore. It was a good afternoon! It was so nice to be able to talk to someone other than Brandon for a change haha.

Sunday was a relaxing day because Brandon starts work up again today. We played games and then went to Barnes and Noble (there's only one on the island) because he had a gift certificate from his birthday to use. He bought two books (Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card, and Next by Michael Crichton). He let me get a book, so I bought The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, a book I've been wanting for awhile. Then we came home and played games.

Today I was going to start working out, and almost didn't go but then my phone went off and I couldn't sleep anymore. So off I went! Halfway on my walk to the workout area in the community center I saw the lights on and people on all 3 machines. Whoops, no working out there. I came home to try my yoga/pilates DVD that I got with my yoga mat. It was nearly impossible to do with Dexter licking me, jumping on me and laying on the mat. I quit after that! I really want Wii Active... I'll talk to Brandon today about it.

We're back to normal again. Brandon working, me doing my thing during the day (writing especially), and just living our lives. Not too much longer now before everything starts getting a little more serious!

(Sorry this was so long, I always have so much to say!)

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

2009-12-31T10:54:00.002-07:00

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

2009-12-30T21:17:00.002-07:00

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!

2009-12-27T10:46:00.005-07:00

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!

Click here to view these pictures larger

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...

2009-12-21T10:13:00.002-07:00

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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!

2009-12-18T10:16:00.002-07:00

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

2009-12-15T11:38:00.003-07:00

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!

2009-12-14T14:11:00.004-07:00

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

2009-12-13T09:36:00.003-07:00

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!