To Tennessee and beyond!

You know what I miss most about living overseas?  The traveling.  Because living in Europe was temporary, I knew I had to make the most of my time there by seeing every single thing I could.  And I think I did pretty well.  I visited 25 countries and 4 continents.  That still didn’t seem like enough, but with the limited time I had off of work and, let’s be honest here, the lack of the “1%” cash it would have taken to do even more, I felt pretty good about my traveling accomplishments.  Once a month we had what was commonly known as a “four day weekend” with the military (thank you, Uncle Sam!) and with the super cheap Airfare by European budget airlines (holla, Ryan Air!), the world (ok, most of Europe) was my oyster.

Needless to say, my jet-setting has cooled here in the good ole US of A.  I’ve gone to some fancy place in California for Thanksgiving (no sight-seeing, just in-law family stuff), Jacksonville, FL for work (where it rained every single day), Branson, MO (don’t laugh…I didn’t know!), and Denver, CO for a funeral.  Throw in a couple of weekend trips to Chicago and Indianapolis, and that’s it.  Needless to say traveling has been kept at a minimum.

I’ve decided to change that up, folks.  Now that I have saved up some leave, and have decided to stay local for the upcoming holiday season, I am tentatively planning on some pretty exciting places in the next year that will hopefully kick the butt of the last year’s (lack of) traveling.

Only one has been set in stone.  Well, two technically, but one is more than two days.  So I will start there.  We will be heading to the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg this October for some hopefully relaxing R&R.  I plan on hiking, shopping, eating (duh?!), and taking it easy.  We rented a cabin at the top of a mountain, complete with our own Jacuzzi and wrap-around porch.  I totally need this little get away, too, although I am overwhelmed with school, life, etc.  Hopefully it will be exactly what I need to re-charge.

The second trip is to Indianapolis for the Colts vs. Dolphins game!  Hopefully by boys will show the Colts what’s up in their brand new fancy pants stadium, (that, as a continued resident of Indiana I am sure I somehow paid for).

And then, in no particular order (as they aren’t finalized yet because we haven’t spent any moolah on them) are Ecuador and the Galapagos (any advice would be great if you have any!), a cruise to Alaska (a request from the hubster), a trip to Portland and other various sites in Oregon (again, a trip for Joel), and possibly a little NYC action (once again people, advice would be great!).

I am a travel freak, and I think the lack of adventure in my life is what is keeping me so un-motivated and blah.  Can’t wait for the recharge to begin!

My Shining Stateside Moment.

Ok, people.  I was in Germany a long time.  A LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG TIME.  While I loved my time over there exponentially (and am secretly planning on retiring there...shh...), there were a lot of things I missed about America.  Or so I thought.

About 90 days or so after my patriotic return, I decided that I truly missed everything about living in Germany.  Well, almost.  Want to know what I (sadly) missed the most?  Having a Starbucks on nearly every street corner.  Yes, I know it's crazy expensive, and yes, I know I could just make some of my favorite drinks at home.  But I loves me some starbizzle.  (Yes, that's what Joel calls Starbucks.  Just go with it.)  So having the closest one 45-60 minutes away was a bit of a downer in Deutschland.  And not having pumpkin spiced lattes (which Euro Starbucks don't) made fall a little less spectacular.

While I was away in Germany, I missed out on a super awesome program called the Starbucks Gold Card.  Folks, I feel like I missed out on what I would consider a right of passage for me.  You see, in Indianapolis (holla!) where I grew up, there was a Starbucks less than a five minute drive from my home and apartment, exactly one black down from where I worked, and I think I passed thirty or so on my way to campus.  I would have had a gold card ten times over!  But, alas, I never even had a chance.

Well, guys.  It happened.  I have only been in the states for 13 months, and I have obtained that elusive status.  Free shots of flavoring?  Yes, please.  Upgrades on extras for zero dollars and a free drink after every 15 purchases?  Oh, baby.  Starbucks...you have read my mind.  I think I will stop in on my way home from work.  Thankyouverymuch.

And sadly, no.  I am not being paid for this.  I am just this much of a Starbucks junkie.

I suck!

When Joel was deployed, I rocked in the accomplishment department.  I lost a ton of weight, ate healthier, got in better shape, stayed on top of my school assignments, hung out with friends, and even found time to volunteer and be a good doggy momma.  Wanna know what I have accomplished since Joel has returned?

Nothing.

That's right.  I am totally behind on school stuff, have gained back almost half of the weight I lost, and have virtually sucked at running and eating better.  I have neglected my house, the pups (well, not completely, but they have been missing the lovins that they are used to), and any semblance of progress that I made.  Why is this?  How can I totally rock it on my own, but slide completely back downhill once my husband returned.  Am I not taking care of myself because I am putting his needs before my own, or have I just become lazy?  My guess is the latter.  I need to get back to taking care of myself, and finding the motivation to do so.  I guess what I really need to do is find some balance.

The Dog Days of summer Are Over...

Although fall doesn’t officially start until next weekend, let’s face it:  summer is over.  I turned my air conditioner off (although it is still staying fairly warm in the afternoons), and a sweater made its first non work appearance.  I’m excited, though, because fall is my favorite season.  I love wearing (and getting) my fall boots for the season, hot tea in the evenings, and the ever eventful return of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte.  Oh, be still my heart!

So we wrapped up “our” summer over Labor Day weekend with a fun day that is sure to be a new tradition.  One of the local towns had a dog swim at the public pool on the last day of the season.  They close it to human swimmers at 5pm, and then lets the pet families have at it.  Pugsley, aka the old man, loves to swim.  His body isn’t proportionally great for swimming (he takes after his mommy with a few extra pounds around the middle), and without assistance he would sink like an anchor.  Luckily, PetSmart came to the rescue a few years ago with their doggie life jackets.  The perfect thing for our little puggies! 

We had both the boys suited up (so to speak) and ready to go.  And…they loved it!  There were about 30 or so pets there with their families, and very few little guys like ours.  Pugsley ran around like he was a young pup again, and Gomez made a ton of new pool friends.  They had a blast!  Do any of your areas do this?  I don’t remember Indianapolis ever doing this when I was living there, but I hope it’s a trend that will follow us from base to base.

Here’s a picture of the boys swimming together.  Can’t wait for next year!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

No, not Christmas…football season!  For those of you that don’t know, I am a HUGE football fan.  And ‘tis the season for useless weekends now that college ball has officially started and, of course, the NFL season starts in a mere one day.  Who are my teams, you ask?
Well, for starters…

I am an Indy girl born and bred, and even went to college at IU in Indianapolis (better known as IUPUI to the locals).  I know, I know…  It’s been tough on my Hoosiers, but I bleed crimson and cream, so I am going to be rooting for them every year regardless.  And hey, we started with a win this season.  Maybe things are starting to look up?!

 

I know, I know…(de ja vu?)  How can I claim to be a diehard Hoosier fan and not be head over heels in love with the Colts?  I’ll tell you in two short words: Dan Marino.  Yes, I know that he is old enough to be my father.  But when I was just a young girl of 3 or 4, you couldn’t convince my heart that I would not someday be Mrs. Dan Marino.  And although I grew up and it is obviously not going to happen, I grew up loving the team and through good times and bad (Psst, Jeff Ireland…please tell me there are going to be good times again), I will be a Phins Phan until the end.  Go Dolphins!!!

These days.

Gosh, I can’t believe that it took so long for Friday to get here!  And I am afraid the day is going to just drag along.  There are a lot of folks gone at work today because of the upcoming three day weekend, and color me jealous, but my workload decreases as the number of people I support are out of the office.

And as slow as this week is going (and the past couple of weeks, now that I think of it), I still can’t believe that tomorrow is September.  Where has this year gone?  I remember being younger and thinking that it took forever for the year to end.  Christmas took eons to come, and the summer, well…could it ever come fast enough?  But now, I feel the whole “life is flashing before my eyes” kind of sensation.  I know I wished some of the year away just to get Joel back sooner, but wow, September?  Really?  That’s too fast.  Hopefully the lack of plans this weekend slows at least the next few days down a bit.

Speaking of plans, I am pretty excited about some of my plans for the remainder of this year.  We have at least one (maybe two) trips planned to Chicago, a trip home to Indy (and man, I know I am only four hours away from there, but it’s always a magical feeling to return home) to see my Miami Dolphins, who I hope are going to have a better season than pre-season, face-off against my hometown Colts, a TDY (work trip, for you non-military folks) to Jacksonville, FL, a trip somewhere for Thanksgiving (any recommendations?), and a trip to the Smoky mountains, probably on the Tennessee side.  Was that long enough of a ramble/sentence for you?  Whew.  I love traveling, but it was so much easier to do it while living abroad.  Hopefully the Air Force will make my puffy heart dreams come true and will send us back there someday.

In other news, grad school started back up this week.  I have three classes this term, two next term, and that will be basically it as far as actual classes go.  There are a bunch of state assessments to be passed and a student teaching semester to accomplish, but right now I can only concentrate on my classes.  With five classes to go, I have a 4.0, and I would like for my GPA to stay that way.  I struggle each semester with the fact that I am 28 and still in school, but when I think about the kind of opportunities my M.A. could present to me, it makes it all worth it.

Life with the hubster is still going great, and we are getting back to “normal” with him back to work and us getting back into a routine.  As boring as that sounds, I really thrive on being in a routine.  Structure helps me keep focus and prevents me from procrastinating too terrible much.  I’m the girl that could sit on the couch all day watching t.v. if nothing else presents itself.  And, that is no bueno for me or my waist line.

And the rest of our family?  Our furry guys are doing fairly well.  Gomez had surgery on his eyes to prevent him from possibly going blind someday, and 24 hours post-op, his actions would suggest that he had never had any kind surgery in his whole life (he’s had four, btw).

Ain't he the cutest?

Pugsley, the old man of the group, is still hanging in there.  He really is the best little guy and pet momma could ask for.  I hope he continues to hang in there, but being in the 15/16 range, well…  That’s all I have to say about that.

Our old man, doing what he does best.

 

 And our trusty steed Jaeger?  Well, basically it’s his house and he just lets us live in it.  Although, he’s none too pleased with his slaves (us) at the moment.  We bought a new couch and loveseat, and “the King” took that to mean that we got him a new and very expensive scratching post.  Since that wasn’t our intention, we bought some kitty caps to put over his claws to try to get him to stop clawing the bejeezus out of our new couches.  He is now making it his personal mission to get every last one of those off of his claws, and then defy us in plain sight.  Game on, kitty.  Game on.

 

His majesty.

 

Writing Funk

So, if you can't tell by my super creative title, I have been in a writing funk lately.  Not just blogging, although I am sorry about that, I am also talking about writing professionally and personally.  I feel a lack of creativity in my schoolwork, at my job, at home...and I'm not sure why.  I hope to snap out of it, because I normally love writing, but I can't even think of something witty to say on Facebook.  And my twitter followers (all, like, 10 of them) probably think I've died.  So, in an attempt to get my groove back, I am starting with this blog post.

And can I just say, I love my blog?  Because I do.  I know I know a few of my followers in real life, for the most part the people that I interact with on a consistent basis don't know that my blog exists.  And with good reason.  I feel like I can't really express myself or complain about things on facebook because of all the judgement that comes my way.  I am even on a message board where I tend to keep my controversial opinions to myself to not offend somebody.  But here, I can be real and serious or I can be lighthearted and talk about food and travel.  I love that.  I can really express myself here.  So thanks to those of you that hold on through the good and the snarky posts.

With all of that out of the way, I am so glad that I will have three whole days off coming up!  Sure, two of them are the normal two days I get, but there's something magical about a three day weekend.  It seems more relaxing and much longer, and hey, who doesn't like a Monday off?  I started back school this week, and am happy to report I won't have classes on Monday, either.  I am doing a happy dance on the inside.  Maybe I can work on my "101 in the 'Lou" list a little bit...

He's home.

Joel has officially been home for nine days now.  Picking him up at the airport couldn't have been any smoother or sweeter.  Even though I didn't cry the ugly cry when I saw him, it was so emotional seeing him again.  It was even better than I had imagined, and because he came in on a Friday, we were able to have the whole weekend together before he had to report to the base for his inprocessing / reintegration.

I was worried about him coming home.  I have read stories about how hard it is for that person to "fit" back into home life, both for the service member and the spouse.  I have to say that in our case, it is like he had never left.  Despite the nearly 48 hours of travel, he adjusted pretty well to the time difference, and we were on the same sleep schedule on night two.

I'm sure I'll have much more to post as the time progresses, and I finally get to take a few days off of work to hang with him, but right now I am still in the honeymoon/re-deployment stage, and I couldn't be happier.

The package has landed in America!

We are so stinking close to this deployment being over!  I apologize in advance, but I may be MIA for a week or so.  Fingers crossed the final legs of travel go smoothly for the hubster!

Finally Friday

Oh, Friday.  I've been waiting for you all week!  And I am super stoked that you have finally arrived.

So, this week ends a grueling summer term at grad school.  And I know classes just ended yesterday, but I am excessively checking for my grades that have not yet appeared?  Does/did anyone else do this?  I am a bit obsessive!  With only five more classes to go, I am still holding onto my 4.0, and anything that could change that makes me go bonkers!  In one class, I am pretty sure I am getting an A, but in the other...who knows.

Friday is also the start of the last full weekend until the hubster gets home!  I swear, work should let me take sick leave to mentally prepare.  And if I wasn't such an awesome, stellar employee, I might have used it anyways.  But I am a horrid liar (call it Catholic guilt), so alas, all next week I will be (im)patiently awaiting for my hubby's arrival, whenever that will be.

Tomorrow also marks the day of the Tap N Run!  What is it, you say?  It's about the silliest race ever, but a new friend invited me along with her group of girlies, so I am excited to go.  You can read all about it here.  I am excited.  I'm not a beer drinker, so I will be opting for the non-alcoholic refreshment offered (why can''t they just have wine?!), but it looks like it is shaping up to be a blast.  Plus we are running in costume.  Yes, we will be superheroes.  I am going as sidekick Robin.  I even have a cape!  You don't have to wait for the photos in order to imagine the shenanigans that are going to ensue.

Other than that, things are going to be pretty low key.  And for once, I really like it that way.