I'm not scared!

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!

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!

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

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!!

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

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?

- 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!