Keep on Running...

As much as I hate it when Jimmy has duty...I sure do get a lot done. Today I decided to look at wedding dresses. By myself. Yep...I got that sad smile from everyone who saw me and I had to explain that my bridal party and my mother are all 3 hours away. I had a great time at a boutique in Providence that I thought carried a certain line but apparently they don't anymore. No worries...I still found a few dresses to try on. I laughed with the sales girl about how I couldn't fit into most of the dresses (sample sizes ran around a 10 on average), but not to worry, I planned on doing the whole starvation thing right before the wedding haha. Well I found two dresses that addressed everything that I wanted...ivory, some form of sleeve, a-line, and simplistic. The more I think about them the more I am leaning to one dress. It's a little pricey but the fabric is wonderful and it looks great on me. So basically I told my mother she needed to come up ASAP so I can take her and we can buy it. I also went to David's Bridal since their dresses are cheaper and I had a question about bridal party stuff. I had heard mixed reviews about them and after today, I don't think I want to buy my dress there. The salesgirl kept trying to tell me that a huge veil and blusher would be best (I don't like long veils) and that petticoats would fill it out (I HATE poof). Then when I found one that was ok she wanted to go ahead and order it....without my mother being there. "It could be a surprise for her". Ugh. Pushy salespeople piss me off. So my mom will be coming down in a couple of weeks and I'll show her the two that I like and hopefully we'll have a dress!!

Tomorrow it's back to looking at houses. I'm hoping that we come to a decision tomorrow. We have one possible candidate that Jimmy likes and I'm not too thrilled with but will make do with it if I have to. Houses, and weddings oh my! Shoot me please :)

P.S The dress comes with attachable cap sleeves which I plan on wearing :)

Letter from Michelle Obama to military families

I read this and was kind of touched by it. I'd post the whole letter but my blog is being a hooker.

http://www.military.com/spouse/fs/0,,fs_MessagetoFamilies,00.html?ESRC=mscc.nl

Wedding Pics

Busy Bees...

So my apologies for not updating recently, but Jimmy has been on leave and well, we've been busy. We had a fabulous time last weekend in NH for my cousin's wedding. I was the maid of honor so we went up early on Friday and took a detour to the Long Trail brewery in VT before rehearsal festivities. The brewery is basically across the street from where I used to live in VT and it is fantastical (my new favorite word). We had a great lunch and got to see my favorite beer, blackberry wheat, being made. The rehearsal and dinner was a good time. A lot of people got drunk at dinner (not us) and thought it would be funny to steal the decorative drink cups from the restaurant. My cousin left her purse there and the restaurant held it hostage until the cups were returned haha. The wedding was beautiful and my cousin looked incredible...as did her groom in his white and red pimp suit. Jimmy looked hot in his new suit from Bahrain and the tie that I got him for Christmas. We danced a lot that night and I got so many compliments from my drunk family members on how I picked a good guy...then of course Jimmy got the "you better treat her right" speech by my uncles :) I caught the bouquet and told Jimmy that he HAD to catch the garter....did he? NOPE. So I had someone else reaching up my dress putting the garter on. Highly amusing. The drunk lot of us decided that swimming would be a good idea after the wedding. So I figured I could swim in my underwear and a t-shirt. Jimmy told me no...like really told me no. Chalk that up to the first time he's been protective of me. We had a blast beating each other up in the pool and J and I won in a chicken fight against my brother and his gf Bridgette. All in all, a fantastic weekend!

This past week we've been busy looking at engagement rings (I found one!) and houses. We've got three houses that are in the running and are looking at one more candidate next week. Then we'll figure out which one we like best and put an offer in. Let's hope this time it works. Jimmy went back to work today so I get a full day to do whatever I want....which will probably consist of cleaning, and maybe going to the movies. I will try to update more...especially on engagement and house stuff!

Homecoming Pictures

About Time

As I'm sure most of you know Jimmy is home now. He came home Saturday afternoon to a cold and snowy Connecticut. I surprisingly got 6 hours of sleep the night before, made sure the apartment was spotless, got beautified and headed to Sam's for breakfast and mimosas (mmm). I made myself stop drinking after four...his first sighting of me didn't need to be a drunk one :) So we stood on the pier for what felt like FOREVER (probably because it was so cold that I couldn't feel my toes) and then they lowered the plank and the men started piling off. Wouldn't you know it that I was one of the last ones waiting for my man :) Then I spotted him, can't mistake the molest-a-stache he was sporting, and I attacked him :) Poor guy had roses for me that I crushed...I just didn't want to let him go. In spite of how angry I was about him buying a 2k rug (which we talked about and got over....though I plan to use that as the running joke of the year), my anger melted away once I saw his goofy smile. 

He is on leave so we were able to go home right away. Floyd was so excited to see his Daddy and they went back to being best friends in no time. We opened Christmas presents and he got me some lovely things from the countries that he visited. Perfume from France, an evil eye bracelet from Turkey, a stuffed monkey from Gibraltar, and....a matching diamond and sapphire necklace and earrings. Sapphires are my favorite and they are gorgeous :) I got him a bunch of cds that he wanted, Wall-E, some new ties to match his new suits, and beer! We sat and played on our new Mac for a while then I cooked stuffed sole, asparagus, and brown rice for dinner and we watched a David Gilmour dvd and went to sleep eventually ;)

We have stumbled back into our routine with almost no weirdness. A few times we've been short with each other and I swear if he leaves the seat up one more time I'm going to stick his head in the toilet! Other than that we've been having fun! We went to Providence and looked at rings and went to Dave and Buster's for lunch and games! I kicked his butt at Mario Kart and he smoked me at air hockey. We've resumed our hunt for a house and are already pre-approved for our loan. We start looking next week :) This weekend we're off to NH for my cousin's wedding. Our trip to NYC has been cancelled due to Steve Winwood being a dick and cancelling his concert....Jimmy was none too happy. Other than that just enjoying each other's company and talking about our wedding at the end of the year. I guess you could say I'm engaged now:)

Horoscope for the Day....

So I read my horoscope and laughed hysterically at how ironic it was: Keep your friends and family informed as to what you are thinking of doing today. Five minutes earlier I was wondering how I was going to update my blog in a tactful manner. I try not to air out relationship issues over my blog because it's completely one-sided. Then again, this is my blog, and is more or less an online diary of sorts. Needless to say, with homecoming being uber close at hand, Jimmy and I are probably in the worst argument of this whole deployment. Great timing....and no I didn't plan it...it's all his bad timing. Basically he made a HUGE purchase without discussing it with me and tried to hide it by using a different credit card than normal. I lost my mind because we are getting married, buying a house, going to CA, I'm going back to school, I'm only substituting right now, ALL IN THE SAME YEAR. So to say I am upset is sort of an understatement. In marriages (and yes I know we aren't married yet but since our finances are combined, we are financially) I assumed that couples talked and decided on big purchases together. I think anything over a few hundred dollars is in need of joint approval. Apparently I am mistaken...or Jimmy just thinks that doesn't matter. So now I've come up with a great revenge scheme that doesn't cost us anything, and in the end will be saving some money...and no it's not the "no concert" rule I was originally thinking of. It's better. He doesn't understand why I'm upset which makes things worse. I plan on basically greeting him on the pier then punching him in the balls. I would like to thank my wonderful family and Samantha from talking me off the proverbial ledge. I am praying that we can move past this and that he will never, EVER do this again...because frankly...I won't marry him if he plans to.

There is my one deployment, hate on Jimmy, post. I still love him, I still am anxious to see him, I'm still planning our future. I am fully confident that the next post will be one of happiness and lovey dovey crap. Until then I will keep myself busy with cleaning and preparing for his arrival...and trying not to throw things :)

Drinking and Bowling...Life is Good

So I've been trying to keep myself as busy as possible during the home stretch of deployment. Time seems to be creeping by so I try to fill the void with fun things. I helped Sam out doing inventory in return for pizza from our favorite pizza place in Mystic. After a week of no carbs....god did it taste so good. Sam, Eric (Joe's friend), and I went bar hopping throughout Mystic and had fantastic dessert at Azu....so much fun!

Last night was the bachelor/bachelorette party in NH. After the limo debacle I wasn't looking forward to the night at all. We settled on bowling and boy was I grateful. I had a blast with my crazy family and bowled incredibly for drinking a bit of beer. Go team F.U.!!

Time is winding down now and I'm trying to get things ready. I was thinking about how I had to go grocery shopping at some point, and I'll have to buy for two. I'm trying to remember what he likes to have in the house for food and I'm coming at a loss. I did make sure to have my parents bring some bbq chips from Stewart's (best convenience store only found in Upstate NY). I'm excited and nervous at the same time. We reconnected instantly in Bahrain but I worry it will be different here. I'm very much in my routine here and I take care of everything. I manage the money, get stuff taken care of, clean, care for the animals, etc...and now I have to share that again. You think I would jump for joy but I like being independent. It will be worth it in the end...and I'm probably making a mountain out of molehill. Only time will tell. I can't wait to kiss him though...molest-a-stache and all!

Quick Bitch Post

So this is my second round as MOH...and I'm not cut out for this shit. I had drama dealing with the bridal shower which resulted in 4 people not being there. I planned the JOINT bachelor/bachelorette party for my cousin and her husband...even though I don't live in NH and have only gone out once there. I found a great deal on a limo for 10 of us and got the ok from everyone to get the limo...and we'll go out and have a good time. I sent my deposit out this week since the party is this Saturday. I get a phone call...not from my cousin nor her husband...nor anyone in the bridal party. I get a phone call from my other cousin's gf who I have met ONCE telling me that the guys have bailed on the limo. WHAT!!!???!!! They all have my phone number and no one bothered to call or email me to let me know what was going on. Now I'm out $50 for this shit and am basically fuming. I am not working nor do we have a crap ton of money now....we have stuff that we are doing this year that will cost a lot of money...and I don't need to be throwing $50 out the window. I'm going to kill someone. ARGH!!!!

2009

In copying Kim's post, here are a list of things I'd like to do in 2009.

1. Go back to school in the Fall.

2. Get married :)

3. Buy a house

4. Find a job or at least be able to substitute a few days a week to help out

5. Roll over my 401k into an IRA

6. Lose 15-20 lbs

7. Go to CA with Jimmy to see his family

8. Come up with some sort of budget or financial understanding with Jimmy

9. Go on a honeymoon (that may have to be carried into 2010)

10. Have a house party...like a real I have to play hostess and entertain party

11. Figure out when we're going to start having kids

12. Spend as much time with Jimmy as possible...and tell him I love him everyday