I finally figured it out!

Miley Cyrus has always reminded me of something/someone. It bugged me, but I could never figure it out ...

... until today, when I saw her on Rachael Ray. Then, I was finally able to put my finger on it:

Isn't that just my luck!

I stepped into the garage just as K was pulling into the driveway for lunch yesterday. I handed him a card that had a picture of a mug of beer with candles in it. The inside said, "To heck with cake and ice cream!" I had written, "NOW do you remember what you told me you wanted?"

He still had no idea what I was talking about. (I resisted the temptation to say he'd forgotten because of his ripe old age of 31.) I opened the back of his Tahoe to reveal the keg and the bottom of the box the kegerator was still in. He was definitely surprised!

We carried the kegerator and the keg inside and hurried to get the keg inside. It had been out of the refrigerator for about 2 hours by that point. I had put a couple bags of ice around it in an effort to keep it cold, and I'd been in the car with the a/c on for a large part of the 2 hours.

After K headed back to work, I started calling around to try to get the CO2 tank filled so we could actually use the kegerator. That wound up being a harder task than I'd expected. The only place I found that could fill a 5 lb. CO2 tank was out of CO2. They should have more today or tomorrow, so I'll try again. But after all that, I could've just waited on the keg. Go figure.

I just hope once we do get the CO2 tank filled, the beer isn't sour because it wound up getting too warm before we got it in the kegerator!

The gift of beer

Today is K's birthday. His 31st birthday.

He told me a couple months ago that he'd like a kegerator for his birthday. So a little over a month ago, I started doing research on them. I talked to his friends who know about them. And I ordered one. It's here. Right now. In the garage.

I don't really know much about kegerators. I know being a PA boy, K loves his Yuengling. I called around at a few places this morning to find a half-barrel keg of Yuengling, and it wound up being harder to find than I thought. I found a wine store with one left. So at 9:54, I found myself standing outside it, waiting for the employees to open the doors at 10. Three other people were waiting with me. Interesting ...

I bought the keg, and I headed to pick up the kegerator. The keg weighs 180 lbs. The kegerator weighs 150. I definitely can't haul them inside myself! It's almost 90 degrees outside, which means the keg can't stay in the car in the garage for long, so I called K and asked him to come home for lunch a little earlier.

He should be here in about 10 or 15 minutes. I'm getting anxious. Why didn't I buy a 1/4-barrel keg? That would've been so much smarter. Or if I'd waited. Why didn't I wait? What if the beer is skunky by the time we get it in the kegerator?

Why do fun surprises always wind up making me so anxious?!

I should make this, patent it, and sell it

I turned to K. "You know what I really, really want to do?"

"What?"

"I want to make a big stencil of the interlocking OU. I want to make it weighted, but it has to be thin. Then, I'd put it in the middle of the yard, and I'd mow, so all the grass would be cut except what's under the stencil. I'd pick up the stencil, and then I'd mow that part of the grass sideways ..."

(I raised my arms over my head in excitement.)

"... AND WE'D HAVE AN INTERLOCKING OU IN OUR YARD!!!!"

K was speechless. Obviously due to the pure awesomeness of my genius idea.

I need a crystal ball to tell me what to do!

I started college as an instrumental music education major. My plan was to become a junior high band director. Soon into my classes, I became anxious about my choice. It didn't feel right.

After my freshman year, I finally got the nerve to change my major. It was a scary thing to do. What if I hated my new major? What if I sucked at it?

I switched to journalism. I loved it. I was going to be a TV reporter. I had some questions about it, so I interned at a TV news station. I loved it. There were things about the job -- the awful pay, the crazy hours, the scary and sad things you see on reports -- that I was unsure about. I spent a fair amount of my senior year talking to my TV news professor about them. She had actually been a TV reporter. She was honest, and she told me everything I was worried about was valid.

So after I graduated, I applied for a variety of jobs: TV news, newspaper, editing. I got an interview for an editing job.

Editing was something I always had enjoyed. It was part of my ultimate career plan. I was just bypassing the TV reporting part (which was only 5 years of my career plan, anyway).

I landed the editing job. Moved to Dallas. A year and a half later, I left my first editing job for a more exciting, more fitting, better paying editing job. I left there two months ago to come to VA with K.

I worked remotely with my Dallas company a few times. There is an opportunity for more work soon, but I haven't heard anything. It's been hectic lately, what with us getting settled and moved in, not to mention the visitors we've had the past couple weeks.

But I can't keep NOT working and stay sane. I have to find a job.

I'm tired of editing. Tired of not having control over my workflow. Tired of having to sacrifice my work because a writer hasn't delivered on his or her end of the deadline. I'm ready for a change. Something rewarding would be nice (the type of editing I did was not rewarding).

This move gives me the perfect opportunity to do something new. But now I feel exactly as I did my freshman year. What do I do?

There are things that interest me, and I think they'd all be rewarding jobs:

1) Photography. I love photography. I would be excited to learn about it. I always have my camera with me, and I love recording things.

Things to consider: I could have to sacrifice my weekends, which I'm not ready to do right now. Also, it seems like everyone and their dog is getting into photography right now ...

2) Personal training. I think it would be really neat to be able to help people get in shape. It would be doubly awesome because I'd know more about staying in shape myself.

Things to consider: I have no business doing anything like this yet -- so much to learn first! Would I even be able to learn enough without having to go get a degree in this field?

3) Esthetician. This would be such a relaxing job! It would be great to learn more about skincare, and this would definitely be a rewarding job.

Things to consider: Will I be able to move easily with this career? Definitely something to consider, since K is in the military.

4) (Honorable mention) Speech pathologist. For some reason, I have an ear for speech impediments. I hear them quite a bit in commercials. Also, when I was little, my brother had trouble saying quite a few letters. I taught him how to speak correctly. There are a variety of options with speech pathology, and every one of them would be very rewarding.

Things to consider: I'd have to go back to school to get my master's degree for this, and I'd be on the three-year program since I have no undergraduate experience in this field.

No matter what I choose, I'll have quite a bit of learning to do. Photography and personal training are both things I would want to independently. Both are things I think people consider luxuries, so I think it would be nice to offer both at more reasonable prices. I would be able to move with either easily, and the Army would make it easier for me to find and meet people who could become potential clients.

So much to think about ... and they all scare me a little bit. Yikes!

K outdoes himself again!

Yesterday morning, as he does every day now that we live in the same place, K leaned over the bed to kiss me goodbye before he left for work. He asked if I was coming downstairs. I said I hadn't planned on it (I never do before he leaves). "Oh, I just thought maybe you would," he said.

So I got up and followed him down to the kitchen, where he had a package waiting for me on the table (he thought I'd get a kick out of the wrapping paper).

When I opened it, I was excited to see that he had gotten me something I've been wanting for a VERY long time: a digital SLR camera!

I had really wanted a Nikon D50, D60, D80 ... any one of the above. Several bloggers I read own them and LOVE them, and the pictures they post are always amazing. Then, when K and I went to visit Kris and her husband for the 4th of July, she was talking about the Canon Rebel. K has evidently been doing a lot of research, and they both seem like great cameras. He chose the Canon Rebel XSI.

I can't wait to use it, but I always like to read the manual first with new phones or cameras so I can see what they're really capable of. It'll be so fun to figure it all out!

26 + 1 day

K kissed me before he left for work this morning. "My sexy old lady," he said.

It was the second time in a few minutes he had called me old (never mind the fact he'll be 31 in 8 days). "Dude, stop calling me old," I said. "Don't you remember my goal?"

One of my big pet peeves is hearing people -- especially people in their 20s -- refer to themselves as old. I think if you keep calling yourself old, you'll feel old, and then you'll really be old. The whole "we don't stop playing because we grow old" thing. So I've decided to never call myself old. Ever.

"You can't ever call me old again. Even when I'm 80."

"Mature?" K asked. "Experienced?" I thought for a moment. Then, he said as though he was quoting something, "She was very flexible for an 80-year-old."

"You can call me flexible! I like flexible."

K laughed. "And young at heart," I continued. "And young looking."

26

I have an adorable, well-behaved dog.

I am extremely blessed with wonderful friends (even if they are a bit farther from me now).

I have a wonderful husband who loves me more than I could have ever imagined.

We live in a house that we love.

My family and friends are in good health.

I am excited for what this new life in Virginia has in store.

I am healthy, I am loved, I am happy.

I am blessed.

Twenty-six is off to a pretty good start!

(OK, knock on wood. Because I'm slightly superstitious, but only because it's better safe than sorry.) :)

We hung out with friends!! In Virginia!!

The last few days have been pretty hectic. I have been doing contract work the last couple weeks with the company I worked for in Dallas. Things slowed down there in the office, so they were able to cover things for themselves at the end of the week. That left me free to get a lot done in the house!

I got our office (that's what we call our small 3rd bedroom) taped and ready to paint, so and I did that Thursday night. The room had been a bright blue, but it was a bit scuffed, and there were a lot of holes in the wall. We chose a different blue to repaint it -- slightly darker, and with a little more of a turquoise shade than the crayon blue that the room was. I LOVE the color now! It looks great! Plus, that room is our Army/OU room, so the blue really looks good with all the shades of red in K's Army stuff and my OU memorabilia.

Friday, I was able to organize the office a little more (although there's still a long way to go). It's been our place to stash random stuff as we've been getting settled. I finally got the nerve to start putting holes in the walls, so I hung pictures in the living room and in the hallways. It looks like people live here now!

I was able to scrub the bathrooms and get things set up in our guest bedroom. Saturday morning, we had visitors arrive! Some friends of ours from Louisiana got sent to VA for training, and they live just a little over an hour away. After they arrived, we went to post and showed them around, and then we headed to watch some boat races.

We went for drinks and then for dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. When I ordered my drink, I asked the waiter which had the most pineapple. He wasn't sure, so I did research myself. Since it was clear I'm a huge fan of pineapple, he made sure to show me some love.

When he saw how excited I got over Willy Wedge (evidently this cute fellow has a name), he brought me a couple other friends!

After all that, our friends told him it was my birthday weekend. At Cheeseburger in Paradise, that gets you ice cream WITH sprinkles and a cheerful song! Score! (This is my reenacting blowing out the candle, since K missed it with the camera.)

Today, we went to the beach and relaxed for a bit, then had lunch and browsed around the shops.

It was a nice, relaxing day. It was good to have some time with friends, since K (and our retired neighbors) are the only people I know here. What's funny is that after just two days of visitors, it was nice to have it be just the two of us again. Funny how quickly you can get used to that. :)

Tomorrow is my birthday. It'll be the 5th birthday I've had since I met K, but it will be the first we've spent together. The first year, he was in the field training. The second year, he got sent to Afghanistan, only to be stuck in Baltimore for TWO 24-hour layovers, which put him departing the U.S. for his deployment on my actual birthday (awesome). The third year, he was in the field training ... again. Last year, he was in Iraq.

Needless to say, it'll be awesome to finally celebrate my birthday with my favorite person on the planet.

Oh. My. Gosh

Facebook just suggested a new friend to me: my mother.

The house, the beach, and other crap

We've spent a lot of the last week trying to get more settled in the house. I've finally gotten the nerve to put holes in the walls and hang things. It's just hard to figure out what to put where!

We filled in a couple areas with some awesome furniture fines on Craigslist, and we've even gotten rid of a few things we didn't have room for here the same way.

We were nice and productive on Saturday. I got up early and headed to the DMV to switch my car registration over to VA. That was a nice, frustrating process, but it's done. Whew!

That afternoon, we headed to Lowe's for the umpteen billionth time since we moved in. We picked out some flowers to fill in a few areas of our back yard.

On our way to the garden area, we passed all the toilet seats. K and I thought this one was so funny that I couldn't resist taking a picture.

"You know what I'd do if one of my buddies had that toilet seat?" K asked.

"Take a shit, put the seat down and not flush," I said. He laughed. I know my husband so well -- but then again, males are pretty predictable when it comes to that crap (badum ching!).

It rained Saturday night, so we scratched our gardening plans. Instead, we ate pizza and watched the movie Taken. It was intense, but a good movie.

Sunday, we slept in and then headed to the beach. We chose to mix things up and go to a beach our neighbors had told us about. It's much less touristy than VA Beach -- and it's way closer! The other beach we really like is in the bay, so it was nice to have another option that's actually an ocean beach. We'll definitely go back to it.

It has a cute little lighthouse on the shore. It's totally just for decoration, but I liked it. I love lighthouses and can't wait to check out some legitimate ones over our two years here. For now, this one will do.

Mars/Venus: Decorating

Before you start worrying that my husband has turned into a total chick since we started sharing a house, I had to share these stories and photos so there are no doubts that his testosterone levels are just fine.

I'll start by showing you a Before picture of our living room. Isn't it pretty?

Trouble is (though you can't quite tell it from this picture), it's pretty long and thin. We entered this house with two couches: my khaki micro-suede couch, and the green micro-suede sectional (and ottoman!) that K bought from Heather and B after they moved into their new house.

My couch wouldn't be enough seating for the room, meaning we'd have to buy something(s) to go along with it (another couch? a loveseat? armchairs?). But the sectional might be too overwhelming for such a narrow space.

What to do, what to do ...

K really wanted to hang on to the sectional, so we put it in the living room in the best position we could find for the space. I don't know that any designers would be in love with what we've done, but it works for us. It's functional, and there's plenty of nice, comfy seating. It was the best solution we could find to utilize the back door and avoid blocking the (ginormous) TV or fireplace.

As you look at these pictures, please keep in mind that we are SO still unpacking! The items on the mantle are just there so they don't get broken or chipped before we find a better place for them. The second photo here gives you the best idea of how the room looks from the front door, but it doesn't tell you how wide the room is(n't). The third photo accomplishes that a little too well. I promise it's not a tight squeeze to get around the couch, even though that photo makes it look like it is.

The tables behind the couch are going away, too. I plan on making a nice seating area on that side of the couch with a small armchair or rocking chair, along with a nice little table. That way, you're not entering our home to see the back of the couch.

The other decorations we will bring into the room (including a painting we can't hang until we find the perfect cabinet for it to hang above) will be bright and colorful to (hopefully) make up for the neutral walls and couch color. I promise also, though, that it doesn't look as dreadfully neutral in person as it does in these photos.

And last but not least, no, we did NOT do that faux marble treatment to the fireplace. We would love more than anything to paint over it (as well as the faux marble treatment on the entry door frame), but it's actually in our lease that we can't. That's right, the owners of the home actually paid someone to do that. (I KNOW!!!)

OK, now that I've given you all the disclaimers, you can look at the photos.

That left us with my khaki couch, which K didn't want to get rid of. We decided to put it in our 3rd bedroom, which we're using as an office. Only we couldn't get it inside -- it's too wide for the doorframe, even after the movers removed the door itself. (Boo!)

I told K we'd just have to sell the couch. For some reason, K really hated that idea. I explained to him that we had nowhere for it downstairs. It wouldn't fit through any doors upstairs. "The only way we can keep it is if we store it in the garage, covered." Of course, K didn't want that either.

"How about this?" he said to me, pausing before hitting me with what he was sure would be the solution to all our problems. "Stadium seating." I waited for him to start laughing, but instead, he started trying to show me how we could put the khaki couch directly behind the sectional.

I really almost started crying immediately.

Wow.

And then there are the two bedrooms -- the master and the guest room. Both of them are good-sized rooms. This means we have a few options for the placement of the beds.

For our bedroom, I was trying to decide which placement would offer the best utilization of space. Which would make it feel less cramped?

(My fabulous rendering of the layout of our room.)

K suggested we put the bed on the right wall of the room. He moved to that area, and he hit me upside the head with another blast of male "reasoning": "That way, if you have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, all you do is walk forward to get to the door. If we put it on the other wall, the person on the far side has to make their way around the bed in the dark." As he spoke, he was illustrating his point by climbing off an invisible bed, with quite a bit of fumbling around for the person on the right side of the bed.

Hmm. Interesting. Hadn't thought about it that way. Not that I get up often in the middle of the night to use the restroom, but whatever.

Then it came time to lay out our guest bedroom. I was trying to figure out if turning the bed sideways would make the room seem more spacious.

Yet again, K used the bathroom trip scenario to show how vertical placement of the bed would be easier. I laughed out loud that the design of our home in his head revolves around getting to the toilet.

Speaking of the guest room, we took all the tape down on Sunday, and we moved the furniture back into place. We still haven't hung anything on the wall just yet. K is happy with the color, but the jury may still be out for me. Hopefully once we get more furniture and decorations, the green will balance out a little. We'll see.

But I can take comfort in the fact that even if our guests are horrified by the shocking color of the walls, at least they'll have no problem getting to the bathroom in the middle of the night!

Mars/Venus: Household roles

After living by myself the last four years, I wondered what it would be like to finally have a roommate again -- especially since that roommate would be a man. The only males I've ever lived with were my dad and my brother. Not quite the same thing.

The biggest surprise in living with K is how sentimental he has been about everything. I've always been a sentimental person, but for some reason, I've been more anxious to get things done before I take a break.

After we finished unloading everything from our cars into the house the day we got our keys, I was anxious to get inside and start unpacking the few things we had with us. When I got to the door, though, K stopped me. "What? What is it?" I said. He picked me up and carried me over the threshold. Then, he wanted to hug, give me a kiss, and really take in the moment that we were in our first house together.

It was a sweet moment and everything, but after days of traveling, going from place to place, and living out of suitcases, I was anxious to finally start getting settled in.

The same thing happened the first time we used our new dishes. And the pots and pans. And the first time K cut the grass. And when we finished painting the guest bedroom.

After each "first" marker we reach, K wants to stop, take it in, hug, and give me a kiss. I want to photograph it, then clean up whatever we've messed up (whether it's cleaning dirty dishes, rinsing paintbrushes, or putting away the lawnmower). I know you're supposed to stop and smell the roses, but I'd much rather smell them AFTER we've completely finished the task, when I can really relax.

And remember how clueless I am when it comes to cooking? Well, now that I have a boy roommate who* I happened to have married, I'm supposed to know how to cook. He doesn't expect it of me, but somehow, I all of a sudden expect it myself. I want to be able to cook for him.

Trouble is, we registered for some nice stuff -- stainless steel pots and pans, really nice knives, a pretty and expensive wooden cutting board ... All of these things have to be handwashed to keep them looking nice, which means I spend a lot of time handwashing dishes, which means I have become ridiculous about keeping the kitchen clean and pretty. (Also? Those really nice knives are really sharp, which means I have used a lot of Band-Aids lately.)

Along with K's sentimentality comes his eagerness to use our shiny new kitchen gadgets. "Is it lame that I want to use our new pasta pentola, even though this is a small amount of pasta?" he asked one night when we were making a quick boxed dinner because dinnertime snuck up on us with all the unpacking.

"Yes! I don't want to have to wash them just for that amount. We'll make spaghetti tomorrow. How's that?"

We've had similar conversations a few times. Like tonight, when it came time to use lettuce as a garnish (a garnish!!!) on the chicken enchiladas I'd awkwardly, frustratedly, and painfully (literally -- I cut my finger slicing onions!) managed to put together for dinner. K actually wanted to use our food processor to slice the lettuce. Instead, I asked him to use the cutting board and chef's knife. Even though I'd just washed them from preparing dinner, doing it again would be easier than dragging out, figuring out, and cleaning out our unused food processor.

It's cute that K has been so sentimental about things. I'm usually a really sentimental person, so I certainly never thought I'd find a guy who would be more mushy about all these little firsts than me. Then again, maybe it's just my way of balancing us out. At least this way, I make sure K gets to the next sentimental marker that much faster.

*(Sorry, I hate the word "whom.")

All good in the 'hood

Last night I texted Kris an apology. I thought about mentioning college football or something along those lines, but I thought it might seem more like an excuse than an apology. It also wasn't quite true. Any animosity I have toward Georgia (and its football team) is entirely due to my immature animosity with K's ex. I've never met the girl. She hasn't given ME a reason to dislike her. I just don't do well with mysteries. I really think I'd be better with it all if I'd just met her at some point.

Anyway, Kris texted me back this morning thanking me for the apology. She said she knew I was just being silly, but that it's hard for her because she's friends with K's ex and her entire family on facebook. Kris said she just gets sensitive and overprotective sometimes. Understandable. I still felt pretty crappy about the whole thing, but it's done. No sense dwelling on it.

In other news, K and I got our wedding video today! We watched it this afternoon, and it's really good. There are parts of it -- particularly the part where we tell "our story" -- that are pretty dang funny. I'm glad we got that video. We'll have fun watching it over the years.

We also painted the second coat on our guest bedroom today. I had wanted a nice, calming green, but when our green paint went up over the terra cotta-colored walls, it looked more like a very energizing neon green instead. Yikes! There was also the fact that it made the terra cotta look pink. We'd basically made our room look like a watermelon. K suggested leaving a wall or two terra cotta, then painting black spots on it to complete the look.

After we got the second coat on today, I was so relieved to see the color looked much better than with the first coat. It still may be a bit more on the energizing side, but that's OK. At least it's not neon green. And once we put the bed back with its white bedskirt and comforter, along with the dark curtains to keep the sun from overheating the room, it just might be the perfect color to balance everything out. We'll find out tomorrow, I guess.

In a little over an hour, we'll head over to the neighbors' for the wine party. Hopefully we meet some nice people there.

And tomorrow, I want to go to a church I found nearby. If I like it half as much as I loved my church in Dallas, I'll be very happy.

I guess K and I have a pretty exciting 24 hours ahead of us!

Wine + Facebook = bad idea

We (finally) got home from PA on Sunday night. On Monday, we immediately got back to making our house look like the home it already feels like. We got cable (woohoo!), unpacked a bit more, and spent a lot of the week finding things for the house.

Aside from one short dinnertime trip a few weeks ago, K and I haven't been to the beach. We decided to take Wednesday afternoon off from unpacking so we could go. Being the middle of a non-holiday week, we knew it would be the best time to check out VA Beach.

There was a ton of traffic on the way there, so what should have been a fairly quick trip took well over an hour. By the time we reached VA Beach, so had the front of a thunderstorm.

The mass exodus away from the beach meant another fun trip in traffic. We took a back route to avoid the major traffic, and we found a nice neighborhood beach along the way. We pulled over to get a better look. The dark sky made for some cool photos.

Thursday, we worked to paint our guest bedroom, which is kind of a terra cotta. As a loyal Sooner, any shade that even remotely resembles orange is absolutely unacceptable in my home, so K and I worked to remedy that situation. (I'll post pictures once I'm sure I like the color we've chosen. Painting is scary! Also, having a large guest bedroom is really great until you decide to repaint it!)

We had already decided yesterday that we'd take this morning off to really go to the beach, so we did just that (after checking the weather!). We picked one a little closer to us this time. We laid out for an hour and a half, then headed to a beachside deli for a burger and then some ice cream.

We had planned on painting the second coat in the guest room, but I just wasn't feeling it. I took a nice little nap instead. After that, I joined K to go through the boxes that were left in our bedroom. As we were finishing, one of our neighbors stopped by to invite us to a wine & hors d'oeuvres party they're hosting tomorrow night. After he left, I was so excited I was jumping up & down. Aside from our senior citizen neighbors (on both sides), K is the only person in this town I know, so it'll be great to meet more people.

K and I made a homemade pizza together for dinner. I poured myself a nice glass of wine, and we watched the X Games on TV while we ate. It was chalking up to be a great end to a great day.

And then I logged onto Facebook. I have become pretty good friends with a girl I met through K. It was actually at her wedding that K met his ex-fiance. Well, she put "Georgia or bust" for her Facebook status several days ago, which meant she was going to visit K's ex. When I first saw the status, I had wanted to write "Bust!" ... but I decided against it.

Well, after one measly glass of wine, I tossed that judgment out the window. I posted "Bust! Haha, just kidding!" quickly, so I knew I couldn't undo it. I showed it to K, laughing. (Evidently one glass of wine turns me from a normal, functioning, almost 26-year-old, into an immature 14-year-old with really bad judgment.) I thought about deleting it, but there was no "Delete" option. It was done.

Minutes later, my friend had updated her status: "Didn't realize I'd ever have to delete a friend's comment on my wall." My little joke was gone. I instantly felt terrible.

Shit. There went my buzz, there went my good day. And the ironic part? I did it all myself.