Pictures galore

This week was a tough one. I had a few doubles (on top of regular shifts, meetings, trainer responsibilities, etc) so I felt like I was at The Bird all day, everyday. Exhausting, to say the least. As often as I work, you'd think I'd be making mega money...but, sadly, no. Friday I served in the morning and was called in to "Hospo" (what RR calls the hostesses) for the evening. By the time I got off work, I was BEAT. I called Adam on my way home and he mentioned that the squadron guys and their significant others/spouses were going out to the bars downtown. I would have loved nothing better than to go home, drink a glass of wine and read a book while soaking in a bubble bath. Of course, due to my crazy-hectic work schedule, I haven't gotten to see Adam at all this week, so I decided to suck it up and go out. It ended up being a good time. I got to meet some of the guys and their respective counterparts. The girls were SO sweet...a refreshing change from the OSC (Officer's Spouses Club) in Milton. Today we slept in (which was WONDERFUL) and then went on a bike ride to the pier which is only a mile and a half away from our house. (Oh yes, it's probably important for me to mention that Adam found a really nice mountain bike on Cragslist a few days ago. Now we can ride together!) Unfortunately, the weather was not as warm on Saturday as it was this Friday. When we got a little chilly, we headed towards Mojo Bones, a local BBQ place. Afterward, we explored a little more but I quickly became cold (again) and decided to head home. We picked up the car and went to AutoZone where Adam picked up God-knows-what random car part while I accidentally fell asleep in the car. Adam let me relax in bed and he went outside to do some yard work. Great guy, huh?! The evening was low key: I made chicken alfredo and we watched Blood Diamond, our latest Netflix movie.

I am dreading this upcoming week since it will be much worse than last week. I'm scheduled to work 5 doubles (in a row)...9 serving shifts and 3 training shifts! Saturday is my only day off and I guarantee you I will not be biking that day. I pray that I have enough patience and energy to last me through the week. As soon as financially possible (also, time permitting) Adam and I WILL BE going on vacation. No exceptions. I don't even care WHERE we go but I know we both need a break. Adam and I went out and bought FIVE lottery tickets each this afternoon. The Mega Millions Jackpot is a cool 244 MILLION so hopefully my soon-to-be-vacation will held on my private, tropical island. Oh, if only...

Time for some positivity. Some girls from work and I organized a cookie party this past Wednesday. We all baked cookies, brought them over, drank coffee and cider-beer and played Scattergories (possibly my new favorite game). I discovered I'm an excellent baker and a terrible Scattergories player. Ya win some, ya lose some...I guess. It was nice to be able to sit around a fire pit on a gorgeous night and eat delicious cookies. Things like this help keep me from going insane. Another upside, I created something called Adam Cookie while I was preparing for the party. It's a homemade cookie batter loaded with white chocolate, walnuts, vanilla, and toffee bits. He'll tell you he hates walnuts but Adam had no idea he was eating them. I'll just let him continue think they were macadamia nuts. *Sneaky sneaky* I took some to work for those who missed out on the party that evening and they were a HUGE hit.

St Patty's Day was okay for me. I worked all day (shocking, huh?) so after we closed, a few servers and I went across the street for some MUCH NEEDED green beer. While I was off with RR people, Adam was having corned beef, cabbage, beer and shots of Jameson with some of his flyboy friends on the opposite side of town. I like being able to go off and do our own things. It makes times spent together seem extra special.

When I first moved to Virginia I found that the one thing that actually made me feel at home were the lightening bugs. There were TONS of them...everywhere. Every night at dusk, I would open the windows or go outside and watch the fireflies dance up and down the street. As cheesy as it sounds, these little tiny bugs were making Virginia seem inviting to me, which I needed. The snow was pretty while we had it but the winter wonder wore off very quickly and I was jaded by the icy slush. I can't begin to share how elated I am to see Spring popping up all over the place. The dogwoods are in full bloom, the Crate Myrtles are bright pink and the dandelions (my all time favorite flower) are EVERYWHERE. I know it seems little and most people don't even think twice about seeing fresh flowers but these little things has the best effect on my mood. Let's hope this next week is FULL of fresh blooms...



(My backyard!)









(Leftover Mountain-Day pictures)

New Camera

We got a new camera. (By "we" I mean Adam...since I'm a little rough on electronics.) It's a Fuji HS10. Being one of the middle options, it's perfect for us to learn on...since neither of us know much about photography and/or picture taking. We bought it at the NEX where we got a 25% discount since it was a last model/open box! After eating a quick food-court lunch, we hopped in the car and headed to the mountains to test out the new camera. The ride up and over was pretty long. Norfolk has no direct route to the West (unless you count a small "highway" that goes through Emporia, a giant speed trap.)

Since we got a late start to our day, we didn't get to the mountains until 3(ish). Although everything was still a bit barren, it was fun to be in the mountains. One day we'll have a vacation home in North Carolina...mark my words. We ended up taking a few dozen pictures of each other and the landscape and yes, even Adam's car . Of course, Blogspot isn't allowing me to post pictures at the moment so I'll have to try again later.

This is a picture of some abandoned mountain house we found along the way. We wanted to check out the inside but it was bolted up.

Next week I'm scheduled for SEVEN shifts and two pick up/on call shifts. Granted, this is great money but I desperately need a vacation...and if I need one, I can assure you Adam is more than ready for a break. Forgive me if I don't update for a week or so. I have a feeling I'll be passing out as soon as I walk in the door from Monday-Friday.

Black Eyed Allergy

While driving down Granby (a street not unlike Blanding, for all you Jacksonville folk) the other day, I saw a homeless woman, hands stretched towards the heavens, gyrating her hips in rhythmic circles. As I got closer, I saw her eyes were closed and she was hula-hooping...in the median...in rush hour traffic....not caring about what anyone thought.

Random median news part two: on the same road, a little closer to our house, someone has placed bleachers in the medians. Bleachers? I don't get it, either. Now on to the important matters of today.

For the past week, I've been having these terrible headaches that radiate through the inner corners of my eye sockets, deep into my skull. At one point, it literally hurt to touch my face. Assuming the headaches to be sinus related, I ignored the pain and took over the counter meds when they got too bad. I was completely shocked to wake up Monday morning to a swollen, black eye! I had no idea what caused it so I made an appointment with my doctor which leads us into this morning...

I woke up earlier than I've woken up in a looooong time. 630am is NOT fun for those who usually snooze an extra 4 hours. After showering, I headed out the door to my appointment where I learned that there is nothing seriously wrong with me. As I suspected, my miserable headaches are allergy related and, come to find out, so is the black eye. There was/is an infection that caused the swelling and discoloration. The PA put me on a few different allergy medications and wrote a referral to get me screened since, apparently, Virginia is the allergy capital of the nation and I'm in for a surprise come Spring time. Oh, joy.

When I left the new offices, it wasn't even 830 and I was starving. I decided to stop by the Pancake House, a delicious restaurant that Adam and I tried on Sunday morning. (Stop judging me. No, two mornings in a row is NOT gluttonous!) The place is cozy and wasn't crowded at all so my breakfast was very peaceful. I relaxed and ate amazing pecan waffles and drank one and a half cups of coffee. I immediately went on base to get my three prescriptions filled. They don't have a drop off so I had to wait over an hour to hand them a slip then an additional 30 minutes for them to fill it. Granted, the base means my Rx's are FREE but man, do they find ways to make you pay for it. I had to pick up some hair product so I stopped by the NEX (Naval EXchange) and bought a few necessary items...and maybe a thing or two (or three) for myself. Adam happened to be taking lunch at that exact time so we met up in the food court for an unplanned lunch-date. This month is Mustache March so all the guys in the squadron are attempting to grow facial hair, so I lovingly teased Adam about his "reverse Hitler" (...a full mustache except for the patch right under his nose that refuses to grow hair).

I thought today was going to be a whole day off for us to meet with Todd, our mortgage-man, but I have to go into work. It's hard finding times where Adam and my schedules are both clear but house-hunting/buying will be postponed a little longer. I guess it's no big deal. The only other news on the home-buying front is that Adam and I have decided on a house on which we'd like to place an offer. It's a property that we've been in love with ever since the first time we walked through (almost a year ago) but have always waited in case something better came along. Well, nothing better has come along and it's been almost a year and we're ready. This is an older house in an older, well established neighborhood called Colonial Place. The house has tons of curb appeal and almost everything we want (minus the garage to park Adam's car). Of course, the home does come with it's issues but I think I prefer that. The house only has window units for A/C and radiators for heat. Once upon a time, someone stucco-ed the fireplace which, as soon as I can figure out how to fix it, will be my first major project. The kitchen is outdated with ancient appliances and there is only ONE bathroom in the entire house. Thinking from a strictly financial standpoint, we don't intend on staying in this house forever (and I doubt the military will let us) so after we update, adjust and modern-ize the house, it will be easy to sell at a price larger than what we intend to pay. I'm ready for things to fall into place.

I have to force myself to get ready for work, now. Ugggh.

Random blurbs of life

I decided to update my blog since we're doing a whole bunch of nothing this evening. I don't know how I went from going out on Saturdays to sitting around the house listening to Adam curse at and fix his "man-chair". I suppose marriage does that to you. I think we're becoming old and lame. UGH!

One small victory is that I got Adam to come out with me and meet some friends from work. We went to this place called Cheeseburger in Paradise and karaoked. Adam was such a good sport. He doesn't sing (unless HEAVILY influenced by alcohol) and he's not great with meeting new people but I was proud of him for coming out. I, on the other hand, had a blast. I hope we can make this an every Thursday thing...kind of like Karaoke Tuesdays in Pensacola. Last Tuesday I went to watch the weekly Beer Pong Tournament at Paradocks but I'm not incredibly fond of the place. The food is mediocre, the drinks are overpriced and I always leave smelling like smokey-bar. Yuck!

Recently, I got some great advice from someone pretty special. She told me to go slow on the house search cause it's a big investment. Sounds like common sense, huh? Well it's easy to get carried away because I find myself loving the idea of owning a home SO MUCH that I make myself like properties that aren't that great. The rose-colored-glasses effect. The home I shared last post is no longer an option. Adam and I went on another walk through today to check everything over and realized we just weren't in love with it. Sure, taking it slow is irritating but SO important. If I'm not IN LOVE with a home, it's not a good investment...and right now owning property is a pretty massive investment. All I can say is occasionally unsolicited advice is good to hear and that often we need to be saved from ourselves. Needless to say, we're still on the hunt. We have a list of a dozen properties that we haven't seen yet and a few look really great from the online pictures. It feels like every day is a test of my patience.

Taking a break from houses...
Last night I took Adam to the Globetrotters game. I thought it would be fun but I was waaay wrong. The sound system was bad so we missed a lot of talking and punch lines and Adam isn't a big basketball fan. Bless his heart, he tried to pay attention. Best part of the evening was easily when we shared cotton candy. I seriously have one amazing guy!

Adam is back to the grind of things in AWSTS (his training squadron) and has started flying again. He is so strong and determined. He even dedicated this weekend to helping friends and fellow FRP's study for upcoming qualification boards. Granted, it helps Adam review, too but it's nice of him to give up his weekend.

Sean's moving into his new home this weekend and although I can't be there to help load and unload I wish him luck! Congratulations on buying your first home!! We'll come see it as soon as we get some time off!

I finally got all of my paperwork situated for ODU and should find out (sometime soon) if they accept/reject me for Fall Semester. I'm a mere 15 credits shy of my AA and have been for over a year. I'm ready to get this educational ball rolling so I can stop serving burgers and start making more than a third of minimum wage. I want to go to school so badly and we'll deal with funding when the time comes. I'm just looking to get accepted.

Sorry this update has been incoherent, mostly. I'm full of ramblings, lately.
(Also, this blog has not been proof-read. I apologize for any grammatical errors and/or run-on sentences.)