outside oklahoma

For the days when you need a pick-me-up

2009-11-15T23:15:00.002-05:00

I saw a link to this site on PostSecret, and it's amazing!

Good thing I didn't read this article a year ago

2009-11-11T17:11:00.003-05:00

Check out the needle-in-a-haystack trick these sanitation workers did. If I'd read this article last December, I'm not sure I wouldn't have tried for a little miracle myself!

Jury is back, and it's not good

2009-11-10T11:18:00.001-05:00

I'm not a quitter. I don't want to be, anyway. But I hate this job.

There's nothing really bad about it, I guess. It's not unbearable. But I don't like it. My coworkers are OK, but the work itself? Not so good. I thought when I applied that this would be an admin/editing job. It's neither. It's entirely data entry. For a newspaper.

A newspaper.

I'm not a newspaper person. I struggled with that at my first job in Dallas. I felt like an outsider wandering the halls while everyone around me tried to figure out how to get people to subscribe to the paper again. I didn't subscribe, and I didn't want to.

The money isn't that good here. Not good enough to convince me to stay. But I can tough it out for the two months the job lasts, right?

Only there's so much memorization. So many special cases, and so many things that change on a regular basis. I've noticed myself zoning out when I get crazy code updates. I can't justify paying attention and committing these thigns to memory if I'm just going to be here for two months.

No matter what happens, I'm not in it for the long haul, so I've decided it's not worth the effort. It's nice earning a paycheck again (even if it is smaller than what it was 6 months ago). But is that enough reason to stay at a job that's not worth the effort?

For now, I've decided that my job search is not only back on, but it's in high gear. If I can find a job -- any job -- to take the place of this one, I can justify leaving to myself. But until then, I'll continue what I'm doing now: Thinking every five minutes about how much I'd like to just get up and never come back.

Restarting the counter

2009-11-05T19:16:00.003-05:00

Until K and I moved to VA, the longest we'd been together consecutively was 20 days (his R&R last year). That all changed, though, just days before we moved out of our apartments in Dallas and Louisiana. Since June 24, we saw each other every single day ... until yesterday.

On Tuesday, K had to go to some sort of conference in Arlington. He left just after we met up for lunch.

I've been fine with him gone. It's been barely over 48 hours, so it's not like it's been that long.

But it's funny how you can get used to having someone around so much. He's on his way back home now. It'll be nice to have him back home, especially just in time for our weekly TV date (we love Flash Forward)!

Jury's still out on the job

2009-11-02T22:44:00.003-05:00

But I did overhear (and participate in) some interesting conversations on my first day.

Overheard

Twenty-seven-year-old girl discussing (all day long) boys and dates she's been on. Went on one date last week with a lawyer ("Oopsie!") who was decently cute. "We'd make pretty babies!" she said. And she couldn't figure out why she doesn't have a boyfriend. Two words, woman: SLOW DOWN! (She also talked about how she wanted to find a boy to pay off her debt. And if he was fun to look at too, bonus. I'm thinking she's not the most mature 27-year-old I've met.)

Participated

Coworker: "Is your husband in the military?" (looking at my ring while asking)

Me: "Yes."

Coworker: "Is he an officer?"

Me: " ... Yes." (I hate that question, since if a person is asking it, they probably will judge me in some way based on the answer. Never mind the fact that I'M not the officer, and I wasn't born an officer's wife, either. Not to mention the fact I've never lived on post, and my first experience being an officer's wife is at a post where my husband is surrounded by people who outrank him.)

Coworker: "Air Force?"

Me: "No, Army." (What made her pick Air Force?)

Coworker: "Dang it, I was on a roll!"

Participated

Coworker: (incredulously) "You're married?"

Me: "Yes."

Coworker: "How old are you? You look so young!"

Me: "I'm 26."

Coworker: (slightly relieved) "Oh, so you're old enough to be married. You look 21!"

Overheard/Sat cautiously nearby but didn't participate

Nearest coworker strolled in at 10 this morning looking thrilled it was Monday (sense the sarcasm?). She was even more excited to learn that she had a new neighbor, since it meant that half her belongings, which she had arranged on my desk, would have to be confined to her own desk. She asked my boss whose idea it was to put me there. My boss said there was nowhere else for me to go. Coworker offered to move to another area of the building. I thought of telling her I don't bite, but I kept quiet in case she did. (Lucky for me, she's much nicer in the p.m.)

I can hardly wait for tomorrow (sense the sarcasm again?)!

I'm employed ... and confused

2009-10-30T10:46:00.010-04:00

I got offered a job this morning, and I took it. I'm kind of unexcited about it.

To start from the beginning, this has happened SO fast. I found the job listing on Wednesday. I submitted my application that morning, and I got a phone call Wednesday afternoon. They asked me to interview Thursday (yesterday). When I went in for the interview, I realized I was at a job placement company. I had thought I'd be interviewing at the workplace, with my potential future boss.

I've learned a little about the company and what I'll be doing. It's a temp position through the month of December, but it could very likely go permanent afterwards. (Just in time to interfere with any holiday plans, I guess.) I'll be doing administrative work, with a little editing work as well. I'll be making a fraction of what I made in Dallas, but that's OK. For starters, I'm living with K now. I'm not driving 10 hours every other weekend to see him, and our bills have gone from two apartments to one house. Plus, there's the fact that the Army gives him money for our rent since we live off post. I don't need to be making the same amount of money I was making in Dallas.

K would be OK with me staying home if I wanted to. It's nice to have the days to get things done for K, and I take care of things around the house so we don't have to worry about it when K is home. I mow the lawn, clean the house, go grocery shopping and cook dinner. Since I wasn't working, I took it as my job to take care of the house, so I did. There's been downtime, obviously, but more this week than ever in the past since we've been getting settled, had visitors or been traveling ourselves.

I'd honestly be OK with staying home all the time for the flexibility it allows. I can pick up work with the company I worked with in Dallas when they need it. Since the work is inconsistent, they pay very well when I can help. I have the freedom to get things done during the day, and if K has a 4-day weekend, we can pick up and go wherever we want. Only I can't justify staying home to myself. It's not like we have a child I'm taking care of; that would be different. If I did stay home indefinitely, I would seek out volunteer opportunities to help fill my free time. I would be more OK with that.

But I miss bringing home a paycheck. I hate having to ask K to put money in my account. (We've talked about combining them, but we haven't done it yet. I really don't know if I want to.)

I miss the pride I had in taking care of things myself. If I saw a cute shirt on sale, I could buy it because it was my money. If I have a gift to buy someone, it would be from me since I had my own money to buy it with.

I was initially excited about this job opportunity for the paycheck alone, but then came the interview. The interviewer asked if I would still be able to pursue my passion (I guess she meant editing) through freelance work. I told her I would, but I kept to myself that editing is NOT my passion. I enjoy it, but there's definitely no passion.

And then she asked me what my career goal is. Shit. Wouldn't I like to know? Instead of getting into that whole conversation, I spoke just to say something and finally ended with something about "using my degree."

The job description said a person with a journalism or English degree is preferred, and an ideal candidate would have 1-2 years' experience at a newspaper or publishing company. Check and check. So I guess I'll be using my degree here after all.

Trouble is, I'm not sure it's the degree I'm happy with anymore.

Beauty. Fodder. Pictures.

2009-10-28T14:09:00.029-04:00

K and I got back from our week in NY on Saturday night. His dad came to visit us Sunday morning, and he left Monday morning. What a whirlwind week!

We made a nice trip of it, since we drove to West Point for K's conference. First we stopped off near D.C. to see our friends Tom & Kris for a day or so. Then we headed up to West Point, where we stayed with friends while K helped at the conference. Then, we went to NYC on Thursday afternoon to stay with friends there until Saturday morning.

I enjoyed my first trip to West Point. I got to spend a good part of the week checking out the campus, even taking a tour one day. Man, is that place gorgeous.

(Not sure if the people in this picture are cadets, but they're definitely not in uniform. I think the cadets were all in class when I took this.)

(The superintendent's house. See his "GO ARMY / BEAT NAVY" spirit signs on the porch? )

The Cadet's Chapel was gorgeous. Evidently each week someone has to go through with a template to make sure the Bibles and hymnals are perfectly aligned.

Trophy Point was really neat too. It's called that because all the cannons on display there were captured during wars. There are a ton! Trophy Point also has a great view of the Hudson River.

(Evidently this giant chain is responsible for the U.S. being a country today.)

I couldn't believe how HUGE some of the homes were on the other side of the Hudson. They must have an amazing view! (Also, evidently the one in the bottom picture is supposed to look like the wizard's house in The Wizard of Oz.)

Our visit came at a great time to admire the fall leaves.

K had a good time playing with our friends' little girl. (See what I mean? Thank goodness HE's great with kids! Maybe our future children will have hope thanks to him.)

The night we got to NYC (after my fabulous haircut), we met our friends (the other I Do, Part 2 couple!) for tapas for dinner. There were some delicious ones and some very interesting ones, to say the least. Afterwards, we headed to a champagne bar. K and I decided NYC is a very expensive place. I have no idea how people can afford to live there and still be able to eat. (Actually, vice versa.)

Our friends' apartment was awesome, and you can even see Ground Zero from their window. Insane!

That Friday night, our friends invited over two other couples for a Louisiana friends reunion. Our friend Jay makes amazing crab rangoon, and K helped him prepare it for us for the evening.

What's funny is that until a few weeks ago, we hadn't seen two of these couples in over a year. We got to catch up with them at our Dallas ceremony. Then, two of the couples had weddings in the last month (both of which the 3rd couple also attended).

It was nice to have a little unexpected reunion. Who knows when we'll all get together again. It was still nice to be headed home after a week of being gone and over a month of traveling every single weekend. In our full day of driving, we got to see quite a bit of beautiful fall foliage.

But it turns out that after so much time away, nothing quite beats the look of your own front door.

SO worth it!

2009-10-23T17:49:00.009-04:00

It really is like I have a whole new head of hair.

BEFORE

See that fabulous little chunk in the middle on the back shot? That part always gave me troubles!

DURING

(Reeeeally hoping I didn't set my expectations too high.)

AFTER

When I saw the final, finished product (two hours after I'd arrived at the salon), I said to the hairdresser, "My hair looks better than it did at our wedding!" I was shocked to see that my hair can look this amazing entirely on its own (well, with a nice conditioning treatment and fabulous miracle gel), with no help from a curling iron.

Now, I just have to see if I can get it looking this good on my own!

Today's the big day!

2009-10-22T10:06:00.004-04:00

I've been super excited about this since I scheduled my appointment. Today, I'm going to get the Best Haircut in the History of the World.

My problem with expensive haircuts is that whether you pay $25 or $65 for the service, you still leave with the same hair. I learned that there's quite a difference in my satisfaction level with a $25 haircut and, say, a $45 haircut, but I could never justify spending more than that. Today, I'll triple that by the time I add the tip, but I'm OK with that price since I actually do not expect to leave with the same hair.

It's occurred to me that I might be expecting too much out of this visit. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment. But then I think of the before & after pictures on the website and decide my expectations are just fine. I'd love to leave with curls like Melina Kanakaredes. I think my hair is capable of that.

With all this excitement about a change for my hair, I remembered that I once wrote a song about my frustrations with it. It goes to the tune of Meredith Brooks' "Bitch" (love that song!). I can't remember all the words off the top of my head. I have it all written down somewhere at home, but for now, here's what I can remember:

I hate my hair today

It's too big for me, I know, but it won't change

I tried to tell you, but you look at me like maybe

there is something underneath ...

Hiding underneath*

Yesterday I tried

50 kinds of gel but I'm not satisfied

No matter what I do it sticks out everywhere

I don't even care

Today might be the day I just decide to shave it off!

'Cause I'm Fluff,** I've got big hair

It's a pain, makes people stare,

Make rude comments, wanna touch it^†

I wish that I could brush it ...

I'll post pictures tomorrow!

*Yes, people have asked me if I hide things under my hair before. It used to be ridiculously thick when I was in junior high & high school.

**I got teased relentlessly about my hair in the 8th grade. A group of boys started calling me Fluff, among other really mean things. It got so bad the principal had to get involved and threaten to suspend them.

^†I've been asked a few times by total strangers if they can touch my hair. Weirdos.

What's funny is I've often been called 'the mom' in my group of friends

2009-10-20T10:08:00.003-04:00

I think moms are superheroes. I swear, the things they have to carry (all at the same time!), the things they have to do and think of and prepare for ... They constantly have to have this other tiny person on their mind because that other tiny person is completely dependent upon them.

I could silently observe babies for hours. The things they do, the things they learn ... They really are fascinating. But they terrify me. They somehow make me feel shy and uncomfortable. I wind up asking them stupid questions: "Are you all dressed for Halloween?", "Are you going to read me a book?", "What is that? Is that your toy?" Idiot! It's a baby! You know she can't answer you!

Sometimes a baby will hand me something, which really makes me nervous, especially if there are other people in the room: Great, she just handed me a book. Does she want me to just look at it, or should I read it to her? ... Oh gosh, he's bringing me a cup. Do I say thanks, or do I have to pretend to drink out of it?

I was never really around babies growing up. All my cousins were right around my age. Then, when I was 9 (and too busy playing to care), my uncle and his wife had a baby. He was the only baby I was ever around at all growing up, and I rarely saw him since he lived far away.

Having a child of my own was something I knew would happen sometime in the future, but I never thought much of it until I got Piper. All of a sudden, I had this dependent little puppy to take care of. I wanted people to like her, and I wanted her to constantly behave (did NOT happen when she was a puppy). I worried that I was overdisciplining my dog. In an effort to not become my mother, I was second-guessing everything I did. I wanted my dog to be good, but I didn't want to be too strict on her, either. AND SHE'S JUST A DOG.

It was then that I developed my fear of having a child someday. If I was this bad with a dog, there's no telling how insane I'll make myself with a child.

At 26, I still haven't spent much time around babies, but I'm quite certain that will change. A few of our close friends (including the ones we're staying with this week) are starting families, and a few more are getting to that point pretty quickly. And in two or three years, K and I will be at a logical point in our lives to begin our family. Whether or not we're ready then will be another story, but we'll see.

My fear of babies might have made me abandon the whole idea of even having kids of my own, but I can't spring that on K after we're married. Plus, in spite of my missing mom gene, I'm excited about someday sharing that experience with K. He's great with kids, and it's obvious that he's going to make an amazing father someday (again, in at least three years).

Hopefully spending little bits of time with our friends and their children will make me feel more and more comfortable around kids. And if that hasn't happened before K and I find ourselves with an expanding family, then I guess I'll just be thankful that children don't form long-term memories until after age 3!

A new argument for leaving the lights on

2009-10-16T18:44:00.004-04:00

K just knew I'd have blogged this story on Tuesday, but I didn't. I thought it fell into the category of TMI, so I kept it to myself. I didn't tell a soul about it.

But now it's Friday, and my nose is STILL sore, so I'm sharing.

I've already confessed on here that I'm not a virgin. My husband and I do have sex. There. I admitted it again.

So, we've been traveling quite a bit lately. We've had some late nights getting back home, and we've been tired from the constant flying and driving and catching up with friends on our trips. We found ourselves in a bit of a dry spell. I honestly can't remember how long it had been, but I know it was at least since before the exhausting Long Island trip.

Last week, the desire was there. But two nights in a row, K missed my, "I'm going to bed," clues, so I was asleep before he got in bed. The third night, K was asleep before I went to bed (man, he can fall asleep fast!).

And the 4th night? K actually told me he was too tired. Granted, we did have to get up at 4 a.m., and it was definitely after 1 a.m., but seriously? He kicked himself the entire rest of the weekend. And you can bet I gave him hell for it too.

During our trip to OK, we spent two nights in our friends' living room and another night in my dad's room. Pretty uneventful. So when we finally got back home on Monday night, we were both very ready to put an end to the dry spell.

When we finally climbed into bed, I turned the lights out. We had had a bit of an argument earlier, so I wasn't sure what the night would lead to. Turns out sexual frustration always wins.

We were in the warm-up phase when K kissed my stomach. I sat up to lead him back to the top of the bed (seriously, when it's been that long, who needs foreplay?!) ... when he happened to already be headed that way.

In the darkness of our bedroom, the hardest part of K's head went cracking straight into my nose. I instantly slapped my hands over it, wincing in pain. I was sure blood was gushing down my chin. No doubt he had broken it. God, I was going to have black eyes. How would I explain them?

I couldn't figure out if I should laugh or cry. I wanted to do both. I managed to somehow do neither (for at least a bit). I ran to the bathroom, cupping my hands to catch the blood. When I flipped the switch and caught my reflection in the mirror, I was surprised and relieved to see that there was no blood. My nose wasn't swollen, and my eyes didn't appear to be bruising.

But my nose still hurt like hell.

It had definitely killed the mood. I climbed back into bed, expecting the dry spell to extend for at least another night.

I was wrong. Turns out sexual frustration always wins.

If you're a vegetarian, you might wanna skip this one

2009-10-15T22:57:00.012-04:00

Our trip to OK and TX was great, but super-fast, as usual. We spent a LOT of time in the car.

We landed in Dallas in time to meet Miss Heather and B for dinner. K and I were so excited to get REAL Mexican food again (and to see Heather and B, of course)! We tortured our friends by ordering Sangria swirl margaritas, which apparently no one in North Carolina or VA is aware exists. (If you haven't had one, you're seriously missing out!)

After lunch, we went straight for OK to see my family. (Well, with a quick stop on the side of the road so I could show my home state how excited I was to be back.)

My dad made us his delicious steak for dinner. Since he's a butcher, it's his job to know how to make the best steak in the world. And he's very good at that job.

Not too long after dinner, K and I headed up to Norman so we'd be there for all the game day festivities the next day. ER drove up to come to the game with us. She also brought us some delicious cupcakes that were every bit as good as they looked.

For the "game day festivities," we met up with a few friends and walked around Campus Corner. We enjoyed pizza at one of our favorite pizza places to visit (even if it did originate in Stillwater).

K and I were sure to wear the jerseys I had made for us! (I blurred out our last name, since I'm pretty sure everyone who has it is related to K.)

The game? A little scary in the first half, but that's to be expected when your QB has been out for the entire season. I'm just glad he's back! I was also glad to have my new camera with me to capture some great pictures of the action.

I even got a cool shot of the mascot crowd-surfing. Here's a semi-fun fact for you: Many Sooners call these mascots (there are two) the horse-pig, since they look like half-horse, half-pig. The mascots are a new addition to the University of Oklahoma. They came along in the fall of 2005, just a couple months after I graduated. Our real mascot -- the fabulous two-horse-drawn Sooner Schooner -- isn't able to travel to all the away games, and some programs won't even allow the schooner on their field. The horse-pigs were someone's solution to that problem. I must say I'm not a fan of the mascots either, since everyone knows all football fans stick to tradition. This move did knock them up a couple notches in my book, though.

Since ER, her sister (who was also at the game) and I are all former OU band members, we watched the post-game concert. When they "gave the go-go" (Sooner band translation: started playing the drum intro to "Boomer Sooner"), we were all super excited to get to give the longhorns-down, as opposed to the No. 1 finger. See, the end of the game marked the beginning of OU-texas week, which all college football fans know about. (And if you were reading my blog this time last year, you might remember that I've even accidentally sacrificed my car due to my love of this week in football.)

After the game, I convinced my friends to eat dessert before dinner. See, one of the things I'd missed most about Norman is my favorite dessert. It's an amazing custard place that was started by an OU grad just 5 years ago. In October and November, they have their special seasonal pumpkin pie custard that is Ah.Maze.Ing. When I realized our visit to Norman would coincide with the appearance of this delicious treat, I was almost as excited as I was when we booked our trip to begin with. My pumpkin pie custard was every bit as yummy (if not more) than I remembered it to be.

Sunday morning, we headed back to my hometown for more time with my family ... and more meat (oh, the life of a butcher's daughter). Mmm, pork chops!

Monday, we headed back to the Dallas airport, but not before stopping for lunch at Potbelly to fulfill another food fix we can't take care of in VA.

This was a fast trip, but we'll head back in December or January. With so much delicious food that we can only get in OK and TX, we may have to get a one-way ticket and jog our way back to VA!

I booked my appointment!

2009-10-14T14:38:00.001-04:00

A week from tomorrow, my hair will be fabulous. Expect to see me on hair commercials soon.

Aly, are you gonna join me?

Can you put a price tag on perfect hair?

2009-10-13T14:29:00.003-04:00

I'm all back from OK and Texas! It seemed like a pretty fast trip, what with all we crammed in there. It's good to be back home and to have Piper again. K and I both felt guilty having to board her this many weekends in a row, but we really didn't have a choice.

We're home for less than a week, but this next one is our last trip (yayayay!). K has to go up to New York for something next week. He has to report on Sunday, and we'll be there through Thursday. He gets Friday off (since he reports on Sunday), so we can make our way back to VA slowly, stopping to see some friends along the way.

We're driving this trip. Not sure when we'll leave yet. The Sooners play our biggest rival this Saturday at noon, and I've told K that I cannot, cannot, cannot miss this game. He says he understands. Anyway, so we may stretch the drive up over a day or two. We'll see.

What I'm most excited about is a little selfish and might not happen. I have to talk to K about it first.

Since moving to VA, my hair has decided to enter a whole new level of suckiness. I don't know if my last haircut was just bad, or what, but I just don't know what to do with this mop. When I fix it, it looks great for an hour or two, then poof! Beware of the Friz Monster! It's in a ponytail 99% of the time now. Kinda sad.

I was watching TV a couple weeks ago when I stumbled upon curly hair makeovers by Ouidad. I did research. I looked at their website. I am convinced that their (really expensive) products will be the miracle my hair needs. And on top of that, they have salons where you can have your hair cut to be the best it can be for your curls and your face.

Guess where the flagship salon is? New York, NY. Which is juuuust where I'll happen to find myself next week. Only the haircut? Is over $100.

The appointment begins with a consultation where the stylist discusses with the customer his or her likes or dislikes, problems, etc with the curls. The stylist comes up with The Best Personalized Cut Ever and perfects the customer's hair. Then, the stylist gives a tutorial explaining to the customer how he or she can continue such amazing looks on his or her own with proper care and styling (and products).

I just know that if I get my hair cut there, I'll spend the rest of the trip brushing off people asking to take pictures with me because they KNOW I'm that girl from the hair commercial, or because they HAVE to know who does my hair.

The haircut is so expensive, but you get so much with it. Plus (plus!), it's the salon's birthday, so you get a small bottle of deep conditioning treatment with each appointment. Score! And I just happen to know that the salon has availability this week.

Maybe I can talk K into an early Christmas present ...

The weekend of excess

2009-10-09T00:37:00.019-04:00

I hate lying. It's one of my least favorite things ever. Which may have something to do with why I can't sleep. I didn't promise you the pictures today, but I said I'd try, and I guess my mind thinks that's close enough. So here I am, at 12:30 in the morning, just 3.5 hours until my alarm goes off to fly home tomorrow.

But here you go: the real wedding weekend post.

Our friends' wedding was outdoors on Long Island (which was much different than I thought it would be, by the way. I totally expected more of an extension of NYC. So not the case!). Since they were already legally married (another "I Do, Part 2," remember?), the couple had their close friend Eric deliver the ceremony. He did a fantastic job!

The ceremony was very personalized. Eric talked about the couple's 8-year relationship and the different things they'd gone through, especially the distance thanks to the Army and the multiple deployments. Instead of a reading, they had two friends read excerpts from different emails they'd sent to each other during deployments. Such a neat idea, and very memorable.

Eric talked about their first wedding. How it took place at a justice of the peace in NYC. How it involved concrete floors, metal detectors, and the bride having to go through extra security because of all the pins in her hair.

As all the guests arrived the ceremony, unbenownst to the bride & groom, we had all received cards to read at a certain time ("You'll know when," the envelope said). At the end of the ceremony, Eric said, "Since I have no authority whatsoever to pronounce you anything -- and since you're already married ..." and had us read our cards. It was a really neat thing to do, and the bride teared up as we read.

The bride & groom were friends from when K was stationed in Louisiana, so it was a nice reunion for us.

The reception was amazing! They fed and fed us, and the place was gorgeous.

K and I carried on our tie tradition (Whenever he's in his formal uniform, once he is able to take off his jacket, he always puts his bowtie on me. This is the first time we've been at a formal event where he's been in a shirt and tie.). (By the way, this is totally my bridesmaid's dress from Danielle's wedding last December!)

All in all, the wedding was a blast. But that wasn't the end of the night. They had paid the hotel to keep the bar open longer for us, so we went back and celebrated more there. And when the bar shut down at 2:30 -- 2 hours later than it was supposed to stay open (the bartender was having a good time) -- we headed to the best man's room. (The bride & groom went to bed at this point.) Unfortunately, the night took a bad turn here, when one of our friends had a PTSD meltdown in front of everyone. Drama ensued, so K took him elsewhere to calm him down so he could get everything out that he needed to. I gave his wife (they just eloped like two weeks ago, and the consensus is that it should never have happened) the key to our room, since she didn't have her key and we weren't sure where her husband was. Almost two hours later, her husband went into our room to talk to her. It wasn't going well, because when we tried to get into our room later, we could hear her crying. Long, late night, and we wound up getting just a couple hours of sleep on another friend's bed (he was super sweet and slept on the floor).

After such a late night, we were exhausted when we had to get up at 9:15. We headed down to breakfast, then set out with the rest of the group (minus the couple on the rocks, who no one expected to come anyway) on a tasting tour of three different wineries.

Thank goodness we had a bus to chauffeur us for the day because by the third winery, we were all feeling the effects ...

... and it only got worse on the bus.

As you can see, it made for the most entertaining bus ride ever.

That night, we all headed out to a nice farewell dinner, which happened to fall at about the same time as the OU game was on. Thankfully, we were near a TV (the bride & groom know me well) where we could see it. As a result, I didn't get many pictures from the dinner, but it was much more subdued than the previous events of the weekend.

When we left the restaurant, K and I skipped the additional partying in the room so we could sleep. Which brings me back to what I should be doing now ...

Feel free to comment excessively on the brilliance of these pictures since I guilted myself out of sleep tonight to bring them to you. But, hey, at least I'll be all caught up for the greatness I'm sure to capture at this weekend's events!

Hi, I'm here!

2009-10-08T10:54:00.003-04:00

K and I had a blast in Long Island last weekend at our friends' "I Do, Part 2" (they gave us credit for using the name. I should trademark that!). I've been wanting to post about it and show you guys all kinds of great pictures.

Considering the fact I took over 460, you can understand my procrastination. How am I supposed to narrow down what I show you?!

Anyway, it's coming soon. This afternoon, most likely, but mostly because it HAS to: This time tomorrow, I'll be arriving in Dallas, Texas, for lunch with Miss Heather (REAL Mexican food again!). Then, we're off to Oklahoma for one of my dad's delicious steaks. We'll head to Norman tomorrow night to meet up with Danielle and ER. Saturday will be devoted entirely (as it should be!) to football and tailgating. We'll have the game in the afternoon, and celebrating (hopefully) a win Saturday night. Sunday, it's back to my dad's for some more family time. And Monday morning, it's back to Dallas and then back home.

So you see? I'll have a ton of pictures to post after all that ... which means I can't stay behind any longer. I've got my work cut out!

By far, the shortest wedding I've ever been to

2009-09-30T00:08:00.004-04:00

Last weekend, K and I headed to New Hampshire for a friend's wedding. The ceremony was beautiful. It lasted maybe two minutes. That's a pretty generous estimate.

The groom is a friend from when K was stationed in Louisiana, so it was a nice reunion for everyone.

For lunch after the ceremony, there was a lobster for everyone! It was the first time I'd ever eaten lobster myself (I'd tried a small piece, I think, from K or my dad). I'd definitely never gone through the whole process of cracking one myself. For dessert, there was blueberry cornbread. Mmm!

During the cocktail hour, the bride and groom stepped away to take some pictures in a sandbar on the water. Even though I nearly froze to do it, I escaped to take snap some shots of their best sides. A seal actually swam during their photoshoot!

The ceremony was in New Hampshire, almost at the Maine border. It was my first time in both states. They were as beautiful as I'd imagined. The weather was much cooler there than in VA, and the leaves were already starting to change.

After our lighthouse experience two weeks ago, I was excited about the possibility of seeing more in NH and ME. We got to see two in one place! It's crazy how different the beach looks a few hours north.

It was a beautiful weekend, but it went by so fast. K and I will definitely be heading back that direction someday!

For a minute there, I wondered if she had read my post about our first meetup

2009-09-29T22:55:00.003-04:00

The dog park "date" went well. It was funny -- when I called Jill back, I explained that I had lost her number because I had phone trouble just a couple days after I met her. (It was true.) Jill immediately said, "Oh, good! I was worried I'd talked too much and scared you off! I have a tendency to talk about people I know but you don't know, and I just knew I'd bored you to death."

(Eerie, huh?!)

The conversation was much better this time, thanks to the welcome addition of our dogs and a few others at the dog park. Jill seemed more at ease. There were still a few times she revealed some random negatives, like how her husband said he's tired of their dog after 4 years, but how he probably feels that way because he hates his job and it's affecting things outside of work. I guess that random negative just leaves me more apprehensive about ever meeting her husband than anything (seriously, who "gets tired" of your DOG after having her for FOUR YEARS?!).

I'm still not going to be calling Jill up just to chat or see if she wants to go browse around the mall, but I definitely feel better about the one person I know in this area who isn't retired (well, besides my husband).

I'm either stupid or ridiculously optimistic

2009-09-29T13:10:00.003-04:00

Remember that awful blind date I had recently? Well, Jill just called me to see if I wanted to take Piper on a dog park date.

I'm going.

It was the most I've bitten my tongue in a long time

2009-09-28T23:42:00.000-04:00

I was in Target today when I happened to come across the Halloween section. I decided to check out the selection of pet costumes, and I took a picture of them and sent it to K so he could help me choose one for Piper.

A woman who looked to be around my age was in the costume aisle, and her young daughter was sitting in the shopping cart. I'm terrible about guessing ages, but this girl couldn't have been older than 4. She was excited about picking out her costume, and she pointed out a couple things she liked. Her mom shot down both of them: a "scary costume" (understandable, I guess) and a banana (I thought the banana would've been pretty darn cute.).

The pair headed over to another aisle full of children's costumes. The mom found a Snow White costume and immediately picked it up. "Do you want to be Snow White? You'd be so cute!"

"No."

"Are you sure? You don't want to be Snow White?"

"No. I want to be Ariel," the girl said, pointing at a costume nearby.

I thought of the various Halloween costumes I had growing up. How fun it was to pick them out, how exciting it was to wear them, how awesome it felt to get to be my favorite character for a day. I remembered the tutu I insisted on wearing for days after Halloween was over, and how my parents let me do it.

The mom kept trying for a good couple minutes to persuade her daughter to choose the Snow White costume. Finally, it got to the point that the girl screamed, "NO!" (Inside, I was cheering the girl for sticking to her guns.) The mom slowly pushed the cart down the aisle to look at other costumes. The girl fell in love with a Tinkerbell costume.

I was still waiting for K to text me back. I couldn't see the pair anymore, but I could still hear them. The mom was reluctant to agree on Tinkerbell. She hadn't given up on Snow White! I was actually feeling bad for the girl. What's so bad about Tinkerbell?

The mom tried mentioning that Tinkerbell has blonde hair, while her daughter had dark hair, "like Snow White." The girl said they could just fix her hair to be light for the costume. The daughter seemed to have made her decision.

The mom pushed her daughter back to the front of the aisle, where the Snow White costume was. The mom actually said, "You really need to make up your mind on a costume."

I wish I could say the whole exchange ended there, but the mom kept trying! It was ridiculous. I was THISclose to saying to her, "You're a lucky mother to have such a smart daughter. She's able to make up her mind, and she sticks with it. She's going to be a successful lady someday if you nurture that."

But I kept my mouth shut, since I know moms often get unsolicited advice from strangers. Besides, what I really wanted to say? "SHE DOES NOT WANT TO BE SNOW WHITE! She'll make an adorable Tinkerbell. If you like the costume so much, YOU be Snow White!"

There's so much to do here!

2009-09-25T15:05:00.015-04:00

K and I didn't do anything crazy for our anniversary. I guess we're still so excited about finally living together (we're going on 3 months now!) that just having a "normal" night in still feels pretty special. K got me a cute little card, and we cooked some pasta and had wine with dinner. Then, we went to the gym, which has unfortunately become an abnormal event for us. Last night was our third night in a row, which is more times than we've been to the gym in weeks. Heck, it's probably more times than we went to the gym for the whole month of July (and we didn't do much better than that in August). It feels great to be getting back on track -- finally.

Part of the reason we were OK staying home on Tuesday night was that we'd done some special things in the days before.

On Saturday, we went to VA Beach for an Italian festival. There was a strolling musician and of course delicious Italian food and wine. We got to crush grapes with our feet, which was something I never thought I'd do! It's definitely a slippery job, and the grapes stick to your feet a bit when you get out.

And of course, we had to eat some delicious Italian dessert.

K was kicking himself for forgetting to wear his "Kiss me, I'm half-Italian" shirt. At least he chose wisely if he wasn't going to wear that one.

Plus, our shirts resulted in an unexpected change: As we were walking to the oceanfront, a passenger in an oncoming car leaned out the window and yelled, "BOOMER!" to us (the awesome call of Sooner fans. The initial yell is, "BOOMER!" The response is "SOONER!"). Our new friend was also sporting Sooner gear in the form of an OU hat. I was so excited by the pleasant surprise that I was jumping up and down. (I'm a dork like that.)

I love lighthouses, and K's boss had told us about one near VA Beach, so we checked it out. There were actually two. They were so neat! The brown bricked lighthouse is Old Cape Henry. It was completed in 1789 and established in 1792. It was the first lighthouse built by the federal government! It's one of only 9 lighthouses to be registered as a National Historic Landmark.

You can actually go inside the lighthouse! You have to climb quite a few stairs and even a ladder, but it's worth the view.

The black and white lighthouse stands only feet from the historic lighthouse. It opened in December of 1881 and is called New Cape Henry. It's beautiful!

Then, on Monday night, K and I went to a concert. We saw After Midnight Project, who we didn't know before the concert; Halestorm, who we'd just seen Sept. 11 in Richmond; and Chevelle. The concert itself was great. K and I both loved AMP, and Halestorm was just as impressive as they were 9 days earlier (that girl can wail!). Chevelle sounded exactly as they do in their albums, which was awesome to see (and hear).

K and I saw a few concerts in Dallas and even some in Louisiana in the last year. They were all in big venues, and a couple were even outdoors. A few of the concerts were hard rock, so there were crowd surfing and moshing going on. You could jump, and you could definitely move if you wanted to. The two concerts we've seen in VA have been in pretty small venue. They don't allow moshing (which is fine with us) or crowd surfing (that one is a little of a bummer, since K and I have both tried it, but whatever). Somehow, though, prohibiting those actions makes everyone just stand around the whole time. K and I decided by their second song that AMP was awesome. We wanted to jump around and enjoy ourselves (not moshing, but moving to the music), but the girl next to us kept looking at K like he was crazy. Oh, well. She just wasn't as fun as we are. :)

One of the perks about a small venue, though, is that we got to meet everyone after the show. That actually made me a bigger fan of Halestorm. They're so fun, and they're really down to earth. The drummer is my favorite. (He's on the left in the second picture.)

This weekend, we're back to traveling. We leave at 5 something tomorrow morning to fly to Boston. We'll drive from there to NH for a wedding, and then we'll be staying overnight in Maine. Hopefully I can see another lighthouse or two while we're there -- I've already looked into the ones nearby!

Two years, already?

2009-09-22T17:17:00.006-04:00

Time flies when you get married, send your new husband off to war, work out the whole time he's gone, welcome him home, plan your "real" wedding, and then move across the country together to live with each other for the first time in your entire four-year relationship!

(Did we seriously do all that in two years?!)

It's been an unconventional first couple years, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. I'm stealing these words from a picture frame K and I bought together several months ago:

I love you not only for who you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.

One of our very favorite pictures from the wedding, taken with our matchmakers, whose wedding we met at. (Thanks, CG!)

Lord, thank you for blessing me with such an amazing man who brings more love and laughter to my life than I ever could have imagined.

We're keeping it!

2009-09-18T21:33:00.005-04:00

After a couple days of getting used to it, K and I both feel a lot better about our bedroom set. Your comments and suggestions definitely helped me feel better that first night we got it. I guess I have a tendency to panic if things don't look exactly how I thought they would. (See: guest bedroom) Since I'm pretty new to this whole house decorating thing, I tend to doubt myself pretty easily.

I was able to do some decorating in our bedroom yesterday, which definitely helped the look of things. We still have boxes around the room, since we haven't moved into our dresser yet. I guess we figure we've been living out of boxes and 3-drawer Tupperware "dressers" for 3 months. What's a few more days?

The style of our bedroom set and the decorations I put up give the room a more romantic, elegant feel than the rest of the house. I like it that way. It makes it feel (to me, anyway) more like a romantic retreat.

I have one other idea in mind that will only increase the glam factor. I'm a little nervous about the execution, but it just might work. I can only hope this finished product looks even half as good as it does in my head. Either way, you can bet I'll post pictures as soon as it's done!

Shit, shit, shit

2009-09-16T18:43:00.008-04:00

K and I ordered our bedroom set on July 6. We got it today. And it does not quite look how we thought it would.

We underestimated the height of our mattress, and we also didn't realize how high the mirror above the dresser is.

Does it look that bad? Be honest, please!

[As I see it, we have three options: (1) Keep the bed as it is, if it doesn't look stupid. (2) Remove the box springs -- but then, where would we put it? Also, we're supposed to use the mattress with the box springs. However, the bed has a ton of slats running across it, so we may be OK. (3) Return the bedroom set to switch for a new one that hopefully won't take an additional 2.5 months to arrive.]

A tour of our guest room!

2009-09-16T13:42:00.013-04:00

For being the room I was most excited about decorating when we first moved into our house, the guest bedroom sure has been something I couldn't make up my mind about.

When K and I chose the bedding a year ago, I envisioned a peaceful, calming room. When it came time to paint, I looked through several paint swatches before settling on a color called Putting Green. It looked like the perfect shade in the room in which I tried it on the paint company's website. Once we got it on the walls, however, it was a much more energizing shade than we'd planned. It wasn't quite neon, but it was close. Since then, we've debated on repainting. We weren't particularly excited about the thought of having to paint the whole room again, even if it would just take one coat, so we just left it.

Then, a funny thing happened. We chose our curtains to help block the all-day sunlight and to help balance out the white bedding. When I looked for a tablecloth to cover the side table, I found something even better than I'd hoped for. It tied in the green in the walls (well, the green we'd hoped for), the yellow in the accents I had all around the room, the white in the bedding, and the color of the curtains.

As I started finding items to fill out the room, I stumbled upon things that weren't my typical style, but they fit the room perfectly. Things like the funky, old-school alarm clock, and the lamp for the corner.

Someday soon, I plan on searching for some kind of patterned fabric to make a headboard for the bed. (Of course I'll post "Woohoo, I did it!" pictures once that's done.) I'm excited about the options I have to play off the colors in the tablecloth.

I found an adorable plate at Pier 1 for a whole $5, and it fits the style of the room perfectly! It's now on the wall right when you walk in the door.

This little decorative hook I found awhile back fits the room great. I also hung some mirrors on the blank wall next to the door.

I can't forget our fabulous blue sky-patterned ceiling. We can't take credit for it, as it was already like this when we moved in. We actually like it. It's a fun little detail that a lot of times people don't notice initially. There are even a few glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling (also not our doing, but totally staying)!

I like that the room has meaningful touches to it. The "Yellow" art near the side table is a card a friend gave me when I started my last job in Dallas. She knew yellow was my favorite color, and I thought the card was so cute I hung on to it. It looks great next to the side table!

The pictures in the white frames are meaningful as well. I took the photos in the small frames. The lilies are from the bouquet K sent me last May for Military Spouse Appreciation Day. The picture on the right was taken the first time K and I went to the beach when we moved here. The picture of the rose is one I bought at Michael's, which is why the sticker is still on it. I think a picture of a funkier flower might be a better fit, and I think it's fun to have history behind the photos.

I do have to say I would love to paint the dresser in the corner white (or black), and I'd love to paint the chest black and change the fabric on top to a more fun pattern (or even have it match the tablecloth), but I'm reluctant to paint them just for this room, especially since we'll just be in this house for two years. (Note: In the second photo below, the color is a bit off because I turned the flash off so I could get the shot straight-on.)

Still, I'm really happy with how this room turned out and how it's come together. I never would've thought the accessories would tone down the color so much. The friends who've visited so far have all commented on how happy the room feels and how they like that the color is so unexpected.

I think we'll keep it!