It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Day 12 - close up

2012-01-13T01:16:00.002+09:00

Day 11 - where you sleep

2012-01-13T01:12:00.003+09:00

Day 10 - childhood

2012-01-11T13:18:00.002+09:00

Day 9 - daily routine

2012-01-10T03:08:00.002+09:00

Day 8 - your sky

2012-01-09T02:11:00.002+09:00

Day 7 - favorite

2012-01-09T02:09:00.002+09:00

Day 6 - Makes you smile

2012-01-07T11:53:00.002+09:00

Day 5 - Something you wore

2012-01-07T11:50:00.002+09:00

Day 4 - letterbox

2012-01-07T11:47:00.001+09:00

Day 3 (Oops, forgot yesterday!) - Something you adore

2012-01-05T08:45:00.002+09:00

Day 2 - breakfast.

2012-01-03T03:30:00.003+09:00

Day 1 - Me

2012-01-02T02:55:00.002+09:00

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T02:52:00.002+09:00

We had a fun New Year's Eve here at the house with our newest friends and then some oldies, but goodies!, too. Mike and Kellee are back from Okinawa and on their way across the country so they stopped by for the weekend to visit. We are so happy to have them here!

For this month, I'm going to try (that being the key word!) to do the January photo a day challenge. Let's see if I can keep up with it with us moving! I have a hard enough time blogging when there is absolutely nothing going on. Have a great day all!

It's almost time!

2011-12-25T07:46:00.001+09:00

Happy birthday to my father in law, Don, and merry Christmas Eve to the rest of you!

Finally!

2011-12-11T07:58:00.003+09:00

I finally remembered to change the top of the blog since we are no longer in "the gateway to the Pacific"! Since our adventures will continue to take us who knows where, this title seems a little more fitting. Plus, it includes Zeus and that's what's truly important!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2011-11-30T07:17:00.000+09:00

More thanks.

2011-11-29T04:05:00.003+09:00

For most of the weekend, I was thankful for leftovers.

Today, I'm thankful to not have anymore leftovers.

Black Friday...

2011-11-26T01:47:00.001+09:00

Today I'm thankful for not going out amongst all the crazies who shop on Black Friday.

I'm also thankful for leftovers. Turkey and cranberry sauce on warm rolls for breakfast? We should have this every day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T09:58:00.003+09:00

Today I'm thankful to maintenance for coming out this morning to fix our freezer. Our ice maker leaked all night and froze a huge block of ice in the ice tray. It then leaked all over the floor. But maintenance came out and now everything is good to go!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Today...

2011-11-24T02:55:00.003+09:00

I am thankful for our outdoor light timer. It's so nice for the lights to go on and off by themselves! And, yes, we decorated for Christmas two days before Thanksgiving. It's not that we don't appreciate Thanksgiving but I like the idea of having the house ready for the holidays for our big Thanksgiving dinner.

236th Marine Corps birthday ball

2011-11-22T05:37:00.002+09:00

Friday night Laura and Robby came out to visit us and join us for the ball. We had such a good time!

Thanks for...

2011-11-18T01:52:00.002+09:00

Today I'm thankful for finding a hairdresser that I like! It's so hard sometimes to do and it's tough to have to repeatedly do it every few years. A friend gave me the name of a girl and I made an appointment and I am 100% happy! It's a wonderful feeling. Plus, I haven't had a haircut in six months so it was way beyond time!

More thankfulness.

2011-11-15T03:05:00.001+09:00

Today I'm thankful for eBay... a place where I can find an inexpensive, gorgeous dress for the Marine Corps ball. Thank you, eBay!

13th day of thankfulness.

2011-11-14T03:03:00.001+09:00

Today I'm thankful that we may have an extra mouth to feed for Thanksgiving. Robby isn't able to head to TX to be with his family so he's thinking about coming to be a part of ours.

Two more things...

2011-11-13T09:49:00.002+09:00

In honor of Veteran's Day, I am thankful for our veterans, past, present and future.

Also, I'm thankful for friends who appreciate last minute visitors.

Happy 236th birthday USMC!

2011-11-11T02:08:00.002+09:00

Today I am thankful for the Marine Corps. I'm not really a moto wife. I'm proud of what Chris does but I'd be just as proud of him if he had chosen a different career path. Being a military spouse is definitely unique compared to civilian spouses and, honestly, there are pros and cons for both. But I love our military based life and and I'm very thankful for all of the opportunities the USMC has given us.

America the beautiful.

2011-11-10T08:17:00.002+09:00

Today I'm thankful for being in America. We spent two years and eight months in Okinawa and I loved it! But it's also nice to be able to get in the car and run to Target, Kohl's, Claire's and have lunch all on the spur of the moment. I even went to a Sam's Club today. I hadn't been in a Sam's in over three years. I forgot how much fun it is to look at a 10,000 count paper plate pack and 50 pounds of ground beef!

Friends.

2011-11-09T00:51:00.002+09:00

Today I am thankful for friends, old and new. They all bring something unique and special to my life. From a friend I met a month ago to a friend I've had for almost 32 years, I love them all.

Something I found on Pinterest.

2011-11-08T01:40:00.001+09:00

"I am thankful for the difficult people in my life. They have shown me exactly who I don't want to be."

Sometimes it's the small things.

2011-11-07T01:47:00.002+09:00

Today I'm thankful that Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings. I know people get all excited about their extra hour of sleep but, come on, you have to give it back come springtime! I actually prefer not changing time.

Thank you Internet!

2011-11-06T03:41:00.002+09:00

Today I'm thankful for two of my favorite sites - Pinterest and Foodgawker. I literally spend hours on those two sites every week. Thanks to Foodgawker, I've made five new recipes in the past two weeks. Chris should be thankful for that, too, because they have been yummy! Pinterest just shows me pages and pages of things that I would never see any other way. Crafts, hair ideas, nail ideas, food and so many other things are on there. They both changed daily so I never run out of things to look at and read about.

Today I am thankful...

2011-11-05T01:45:00.001+09:00

The month of November! The weather is cooling off. The holiday season is on the horizon. But the best reasons to love November? Chris gets two four day weekends! And that's just good for everyone.

Day 3...

2011-11-04T01:14:00.002+09:00

Today I'm thankful for Zeus. Without him, the last couple weeks would have been much harder than they were. He's been uncharacteristically snuggly and that has been much appreciated. He makes us laugh every day.

Plus, he's just so stinking cute! And lazy. Two things that I love in a dog. And he's always up for a nap or a treat.

It's hard to believe he'll be 12 in a few months. He's definitely brought a lot of joy into our lives!

Today I am thankful...

2011-11-03T01:35:00.002+09:00

For fall in the desert. The weather recently has been beautiful! 70s and 80s for highs, 50s and 60s for lows. Nothing but sunshine and occasionally some wind. If anyone is thinking about visiting, now would be the time to do.

It's November!

2011-11-02T06:50:00.002+09:00

Which means three things to me:

1.) It would have been my mom's 77th birthday. She was the best mom in the world. I love and miss her every day.

2.) It's my BFF's anniversary. Happy anniversary, Doug and Lisa!

3.) Less than two months until Christmas. I think I may not be Scrooge this year and I may get into the Christmas spirit. It's still early so I can't be sure.

Since Thanksgiving is in November I will spend some of the month listing what I'm thankful for. Today, as always, I'm thankful for Chris. In the past few weeks he has, again, shown me why he's the most awesome husband ever. I couldn't ask for more in a man.

Apollo Caudle, 8/20/2000-10/18/2011

2011-10-21T01:23:00.005+09:00

We brought Apollo home the second week of November 2000. We wanted a companion for Zeus because he had some minor separation anxiety and I was starting a job after Thanksgiving.

She was the complete opposite of her big brother. Zeus learned the meaning of going to the door in three days; she would just go out when he went. She didn't go to the door to go out until she was five. Zeus learned several tricks in one day; Apollo wouldn't do anything past "sit".

Zeus was wary of her at first. What "kid" isn't when you bring home the "baby"? But he grew to love her and they spent most of their first years snuggling together and sleeping on top of each other. Though they grew out of being together all the time, they still enjoyed sharing their pillows and sleeping while touching each other.

Apollo could definitely be the obnoxious little sister. No one enjoys having someone's butt in their face!

Some of Apollo's favorite things were laying in the sun, warm clothes from the dryer, a warm towel after a bath, her teddy bear toy with the squeaker that she broke by chewing it so much and any and all people food. But nothing and no one was more important to her than Chris. Every day when he comes home for lunch and at the end of the day, she was equally excited to see him. There's nothing that she loved more than laying beside him, licking him or even chewing on his thumb. She would spend hours on a pillow on the floor of his room while he played the guitar or perused the Internet. When he went into the bathroom to take a shower, she could often be found laying outside of the door, waiting on him.

She was as funny as she was cute and she gave Chris and me more laughs than we could ever begin to count. We had several friends, including ones who were self proclaimed "not dog people" who said they would want a dog just like Apollo.

Chris and I know we gave her a great life. Everyone feels as if they spoil their dogs, but we know that we couldn't have done more for ours. They slept in our bed, moved across the world with us, never had a bath without a towel fresh from the dryer, had special pillows in every room of the house so they didn't have to lay on the floor. I will wait to vacuum a room until they leave because I know how much they hate the noise. Apollo was always lazy and would be the last to get out of bed. She would bark when she was ready for someone to come pick her up and take her to the couch. We heat their food up in the microwave. Some may think we're crazy but we don't care. Chris and I would never change anything we've done. Or what we'll continue to do for Zeus. We've been a happy family of four for 11 years. We have no regrets. Just a four pound hole in our hearts right now.

Apollo was our little princess, attention hog, light of our lives. She never liked to be alone and, if you weren't petting her or loving her, she would crawl on you until you did. If you walked into the room where she was, she would immediately roll over so you would rub her belly. We already miss her more than we imagined we would.

It's amazing how an animal can touch your heart. I've never been as attached to a pet as I am to Zeus and Apollo. Chris and I are very thankful for all the time we had with Apollo and continue to have with Zeus. I don't think we could have done anything more to show Apollo how much she meant, and continues to mean, to us. She has shown us unconditional love and affection and changed our lives for the better.

Howdy y'all!

2011-10-14T12:31:00.003+09:00

At the end of September I flew to Houston to visit Laura and Jess. I hadn't seen Jess since we left Okinawa and hadn't seen Laura since they were here visiting in July. It was such a fun weekend!

Friday night we went to watch Kelsey cheer at the football game and then out with a friend of Laura's.

Saturday, after mani/pedis, we stayed at Laura's sister's house and took a limo to dinner and a club down in Houston. We all had such a good time.

This past week, Laura was visiting Robby in CA so they decided to come hang out with us for the long weekend. We spent all weekend shopping, eating, drinking and just hanging out. They were two very busy but fabulous weekends!

Nails!

2011-09-27T09:14:00.002+09:00

Instead of adding all my polish posts to this blog, I decided (with a little encouragement from a friend) to just start a separate blogs for my nails. Click HERE to check it out. I'll still be posting here as well but probably more often there since I've been doing my nails two or three times a day! I may need an intervention soon.

I'm a slacker.

2011-09-25T12:04:00.003+09:00

Wow. It's been almost a month since I last blogged. I feel like I'm in confession. I'll need to do 10 hail blogspots and whatever else you do after you go to confession. Guess you can tell that I'm not Catholic.

Things here have been busy. For Chris, anyway, I'm just lazy. He's been working a lot and we've spent a couple weekends in CA. He had a meeting last weekend at Pendleton and, being the good wife that I am, I drove him over. In all fairness, I do love any and all things that have to do with California. Minus the traffic. I'll never love that. It's all I can do to tolerate it some days and I'm usually a pretty laid back person.

Sadly, Chris' grandfather passed away recently. We're very thankful that we were able to visit on our drive from NC out to AZ this summer. I know that visit meant the world to Chris and Lee, as well. We'll miss you Lee and we love you very much.

Apollo has had a couple bad spells. We had to rush her to the cardiologist's office in Carlsbad last month. Did I blog about that? I can't remember and, as I mentioned previously, I'm lazy. Too lazy to look back and see if I did. Chris had to go to Oki for a case this month and she had another, smaller, episode while he was gone. The cardiologist guessed that she would have about ten months more to live and we plan on getting every day that we can. Hopefully even more than expected. She's on some new meds. Did you know they give oxycodone to dogs? I didn't. She has only had to have it a couple times but it makes her obviously very sleepy. It's sad bordering on funny. I remember being on pain meds when I had my wisdom teeth out so I can understand the sleepy feeling.

I have a new hobby of doing my nails. I've always had long nails and I used to paint them pretty often but I've really gone to a whole new level with it. I'm painting them every day. Usually a few times. I spend an hour painting them, taping them, painting them more. Then I take a picture of my work. And take it all off. Generally I only do one hand so I can see which color and design I want to keep. And to "keep", I mean for about 24 hours. Today I did all my nails. Then decided I really wanted to do my toes so I had to take the polish, glitter and zebra stripes off my nails since I would just mess them up anyway. When I repainted I went for half moons with a flower. I will probably start posting about my exciting (not really unless you're into nails) manicures. I have, probably, 15 or so pictures of finished manicures already.

That's all for here! I think Yuma is getting to me, even though I like it. I was chatting with a friend on Facebook and I told her how nice it felt outside. Then I decided to see what the temperature was. It was 104. Courtney told me my idea of nice was warped. But I swear it felt great out!

Have a great day/night!

PS - Spell check would like me to change "Pendleton" to "penetrating".

I wish I had something important to say.

2011-08-31T15:22:00.003+09:00

And, since I don't, here are some pictures of the house. I must say, it's so wonderful having our furniture back!

Holy crap, it's AUGUST?

2011-08-11T05:19:00.003+09:00

The joys of getting our storage back? Well, not counting the washer and dryer which thrill me more than anything. I get to see pictures I haven't seen in three years. So many memories!

The first picture is my senior prom. The rest are all Ariana (who's pregnant with her first child) and Cameron (who became a dad in May).

Aren't my acid washed jeans to die for??

Mini-vacation

2011-07-27T14:28:00.002+09:00

Chris heard about a pet friendly resort in Scottsdale from a guy in his office so I decided to get online and check it out. It looked beautiful and there were no extra charges for pets, which was awesome. Actually, the hotel is so pet friendly, if you don't bring a pet you can request a
goldfish from the front office to keep in your room. We decided to take a quick trip and visit.

The resort turned out to be absolutely awesome. There was a spa there (best massages!)

and a restaurant. We had a room that opened up right into a grassy area for the dogs and we even had our own patio.

The location was perfect. We could walk to shopping, restaurants and bars, all around half a mile away. We even found several pet friendly parks and took the dogs to a couple.

We did a lot of shopping, eating and drinking. Denton, Mandi's brother, met up with us for dinner Friday night, which was wonderful. I hadn't seen him since Mandi's wedding and Chris had never met him.

We loved the FireSky Resort and Spa and are already planning a trip back!

Rolling', rollin', rollin'...

2011-07-14T07:16:00.003+09:00

On our drive out west, we stopped in to visit with Curt and Mandi and meet Caleb. Curt and Mandi live in Oklahoma. In a very small town. Very, very small. Super small. I'm not sure I can accurately describe the size of this town but I could compare it to our coffee table in square footage.

Zeus and Apollo were not overly impressed with Caleb or the other dogs in the house. Zeus did his best to get as far away as possible.

We did have a wonderful welcome when we drove thru Gallup, New Mexico. I don't know his name but he was very friendly and adorable. And fat. Which could be why he didn't run away from us. Maybe it's because he physically couldn't.

Things to do in Yuma.

2011-07-11T02:45:00.003+09:00

Who needs to make friends when you can have them shipped in? We have been lucky enough to spend a few weekends with Robby and Laura and even got to have dinner with Marian when she was up from Mexico.

Robby and Laura (and the kids) came over from CA to spend the Fourth of July weekend with us. With Chris' birthday and their anniversary, we had lots to celebrate. We spent the weekend seeing movies, eating, drinking, playing games at Chuck E. Cheese and watching fireworks.

Now that the long weekend is over, it's back to normal. Hopefully we will get our storage stuff soon so I can stop going to the laundromat every week and we can stop living out of boxes.

Home is where the Marine Corps sends you!

2011-06-24T10:45:00.002+09:00

And, as you all know, the USMC has requested our presence in Yuma, AZ. Which is where we are now residing. Yuma is, unofficially I believe, the sunniest place in the US. So far, I can't argue that. We haven't seen a cloud since we got here.

The temps are quite unreal. The highest high I've seen predicted on the weather app on my phone was 117 but I don't know if that was accurate or not. I do know, it's hot! But thank goodness for no humidity! My hair and I are very grateful for that.

Our house is quite small. It's hard to tell from that picture. It's actually the second smallest house we've ever lived in. I prefer to call it "cozy". That is until our stuff that's been in storage for the past almost three years gets here. Then we'll call it "too much crap to live with". For the house to be so little, our pro list actually outweighs the cons. We would love some closet space or a garage for storage and I would really enjoy a dishwasher that cleans the dishes instead of just moving the food around to different dishes and we wish the yard didn't have these pokey, prickly things that the dogs bring in the house. But... we love the fenced in yard, lots of cabinets in the kitchen, our tiny front porch, a bedroom big enough for our furniture, a gas stove, the north/south exposure versus east/west. Ultimately, we are happy with where we are and our location is great. Chris could actually walk to work if he feels like bathing in sweat before beginning his day. That would free up the car for me to go to Target more...

Ah, Internet, how I have missed you.

2011-06-22T10:35:00.001+09:00

Posts to follow! Seriously. Why do you look so doubtful?!

Who wants to come visit?

2011-06-13T01:45:00.001+09:00

Almost there!

2011-06-10T12:10:00.003+09:00

Insanity

2011-05-20T09:11:00.002+09:00

That is the only word to properly describe the past two weeks. We have been running non-stop. We are enjoying ourselves, eating too much and spending too much money.

I'm posting a few pictures from our going away/Chris' promotion party we had before we left. Enjoy!

Yes, we're still alive.

2011-05-13T05:03:00.000+09:00

We made it safely to the land of the free, home of the brave. Jet lag is really bad this trip. We've been here five days and I've only been out of bed before 10:30 once, which is very unlike me. The dogs did well with the trip but were extremely happy to be finished with it all. I really hope I have no need to get on a plane anytime soon. We haven't done too much since we arrived. A little eating, a little shopping. Day two consisted of having my car towed to a Toyota clinic to determine why it won't accelerate. Lucky for us, it's fixable. Unlucky for us, it's going to run about $1100. Hence why only a "little" shopping. We are heading to MD this weekend to visit friends. Should be a good time. Hopefully our jet lag will be well on it's way of working itself out by then. I do have a few pictures I could post but haven't gotten them loaded on the computer yet. For now, it's time to get ready for dinner with my brother.

So close

2011-05-03T14:22:00.003+09:00

Chris and I have been so busy with PCS stuff these past two weeks. It's insane all of the stuff you have to do and the stuff you have to wait until practically the last minute to do. By nature, I'm a procrastinator but I don't like feeling like I'm being forced into it. I prefer to enjoy it, savor it and then, in a flash, get it all done on my own time. Luckily, in between the "have to do's" we have the "want to do's" which includes dinner with friends, pedicures, massages, lunches and just trying to enjoy every minute we have left to live in paradise that we can.

This past weekend we had a party to celebrate Chris' upcoming promotion and to say good bye to our friends. The turnout was unbelievable. The entertainment was top notch. The food was great. All in all, the party couldn't have been better. And, as a surprise to me, Chris was frocked to Master Sergeant at the party. Everyone knew except me and they all did a wonderful job of keeping it a secret. Chris actually doesn't promote until after we leave the island but was able to put in paperwork to do it before we left. It meant a lot to him to do it with his office here since he has so much respect and admiration for his supervisory Marines and he wanted to have a ceremony where I could "pin" him. I'm a lucky girl and he's a wonderful husband. Pictures to come soon!

Random picture overload from March and April

2011-04-24T18:33:00.003+09:00

Latest and greatest

2011-04-21T07:54:00.002+09:00

Monday - Household goods packed up and taken from the house. Only took six hours but I didn't get lunch until 3:30pm. Got to Amie's that night.

Tuesday - Coffee date with Marina. Her youngest, who has never wanted to be anywhere near me, comes over to touch me and wanted to share his chocolate milk. Picked up shorts from the tailor. Got a pedicure. Amie made the best meatloaf ever for dinner. I'm going to like living here.

Wednesday - Buckled down and took care of stuff. Had procrastinated long enough! Booked tickets to NC. E-mailed the lawn guy for one last cut before final inspection. Booked our last massage appointments at our favorite place. Got the Pajero washed. Ran to the PX, post office and commissary. Ran stuff back over to Amie's. Lunch with Jess and Caden. Caden loves to just press his forehead and nose against my face. Cutest thing ever. Headed over to the BX. Stopped by the house to grab Chris' beer. Made the dogs' appointments for their health certificates prior to flying. Amy made jambalaya. A little to spicy for Chris but it was yummy.

Thursday - Currently sitting at the house at 8:00am to wait for the last of our stuff to be packed. We have just a few things here for the express shipment so it shouldn't take long once the movers actually get here. The downside is simply that I have to sit here until that happens. Tonight, there is a dinner for Chris' class that he's taking so I really need the movers in and out before 3:00 so I can get ready. We'll see if that works out.

Friday - Eyelash appointment in the morning, hoping to get the Pajero dropped off for an oil change and then doing some stuff with Amy and Kellee in the afternoon. Going out tomorrow night, of course. Got to get as much time with our friends as we can before we go!

Current status: Living in chaos.

2011-04-17T22:39:00.003+09:00

Things are moving along at what seems like breakneck speed over here. Movers come tomorrow to pack out the main portion of the house. It's almost 11:00pm Sunday night and I am doing laundry and Chris is packing. We have gone through a lot of stuff. It's crazy to think that we are leaving the island in less than three weeks. I have so much to blog about but can't get my brain to function around putting one together. Maybe when I'm at Amie's while she and Chris are working and I don't have anything left to stress over.

For(e)st Adventure Park

2011-04-11T08:11:00.004+09:00

On April 1, Chris, Amy, Kellee and I headed up to Onna to go to Forest Adventure Park. It's a zip line park with an obstacle course at the end. I was a bit worried (as was Amy for me!) that I would freak out and end up not doing it since I'm scared of heights so bad. But I sucked it up and just went for it! And it was totally worth it. Honestly, the worst part was climbing the ladders to get to the top of the platforms. Once I was up there and hooked onto the line, I just leaned back and zipped away. It was a ton of fun and, luckily for us, an absolutely beautiful day! Spring was really taking its time to get here this year but April has been great for outdoor related activities. My current sunburn is proof of that!

I still have other posts to make but blogger has been uncooperative with me uploading pictures for some reason. I'll try and get a few more posts together because I've been super busy with fun stuff lately.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

2011-03-28T19:48:00.002+09:00

Blogger has not been cooperating with me posting pictures in the past week so I'm really behind on blogging. Plus, today I'm not feeling super so when it has finally decided to cooperate, I'm really
not in the mood to type a bunch of nonsense for you all to decipher.

So, in the interim until I am back up and ready to do a real blog, here are a couple pictures from our SPD celebrations.

A little humor in a sad time.

2011-03-20T17:47:00.003+09:00

I love Japan. I really can't reiterate that enough. I feel very at home here and while I am looking forward to the next chapter in our lives, I can only imagine how much I'm going to miss Okinawa. This weekend, I saw this video posted a couple times on Facebook and found it very entertaining. It's a very simple, yet helpful look at the situation with the Fukushima nuclear plants.

Click here for video.

For those of you with Facebook.

2011-03-16T15:59:00.001+09:00

You may be interested in liking this specific page: https://www.facebook.com/ThroughWesternEyes

Lots of good information from mainland.

Just an update.

2011-03-15T09:41:00.003+09:00

We are still fine here. Keeping up with the news and making sure we have a watchful eye on all the goings on. We are safe, even from the nuclear plants. We have truly been overwhelmed with all the emails, texts, Skype calls, Facebook messages, posts and chats. It seems every time I turn on the computer, someone is checking in on us. It means the world to us that you all are so concerned.

Cultural differences

2011-03-13T20:20:00.004+09:00

It's hard to describe how wonderful the people of Japan are. I can talk until I'm blue in the face about the friendliness, helpfulness and all around awesomeness that we have encountered since living here. But this article, really helps put into perspective what I try to explain when talking about them. It truly is unbelievable.

All is good here.

2011-03-12T05:45:00.002+09:00

In case anyone is wondering, we are about 950 miles south of Tokyo. We didn't feel the earthquake yesterday and our tsunami was quite small, which makes me feel silly calling it a tsunami. Hawaii and California were on the receiving ends of bigger waves than what we got here.

The downside of being awake at 2:00am.

2011-03-08T02:10:00.004+09:00

I babysit for a Marine in Chris' office a couple times a month. Her husband is deployed and she stays at the office for duty so I basically come over and stay through the night while her kids sleep. I don't sleep well here simply because I'm constantly in a state of wariness, waiting for one of the kids to wake up for something. This is definitely a time when I realize I am not a mom. Every noise wakes me, even just one of them rolling over and making noises in their sleep. I assume lots of new moms are this way and then they learn to differentiate between what requires assistance and what does not. I do not have that skill. Actually, when it comes to children, I don't have many skills at all. Mothering is not an instinct I have except for with my dogs. But they're easy. We won't get arrested for leaving them alone at home, they'll never need money for college and they eat the same thing, day after day.

I'm laying here awake at 2:11am, Tuesday morning, and I'm hungry. Which makes me think about food, obviously. And food makes me think of what I want to eat when we get to the states. By the time we are back in America, it will have been two years and two months since my last visit and a year and nine months since Chris'. The American food choices we have here are - off base - McDonald's, A&W (on base, too), Tony Roma's and Starbucks. Then we have Burger King, Subway, Popeye's, Captain D's, Manchu Wok, Baskin Robbins (off and on base), Anthony's Pizza, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Charlie's, Macaroni Grill, Chili's and Dunkin Donuts on base. Once we get to NC, I plan on eating Arby's, Sonic, Papa John's, Home Place, House of Pizza, Wendy's and Mazatlan. Those are just what I can think of off the top of my head. We will land in Seattle first and I have no idea what we'll get into there but I'm very excited about the prospects.

The amount of time that I've put into thinking about food is fairly disturbing. I should probably look into classes at the gym in Yuma.

Times, they are a-changing.

2011-03-07T11:12:00.002+09:00

Guess I need to change the tag line of the blog considering Yuma is pretty far from being near the "Gateway to the Pacific" and I plan on keeping the blog going. Keep an eye out and I'll see if I can come up with something spectacular. If not spectacular, then spectacularly ordinary. It's really a coin toss.

And another thing...

2011-03-06T09:16:00.004+09:00

I'm looking forward to going out to restaurants and bars and not smelling like a cigarette when I get home. I've seen many Japanese people smoke with one hand while eating with the other. The only places that are non-smoking are on base and there's no way I would spend three years eating at only Chili's and Macaroni Grill.

America the beautiful.

2011-03-05T10:22:00.003+09:00

I post a lot about how much I'm going to miss Okinawa. I never wanted to move here in the first place and it's ended up being my favorite place we've lived. With that being said, I am looking forward to lots of things when we get back to the states. Like what, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

Food - I do love the food here but it will be great to be in the land of clown shoe sized burritos and dinner plate sized burgers. Am I going to eat that much food? Nope. But that's not the point. It will also be wonderful to get free drink refills. Nothing like eating some spicy Japanese-Mexican food while trying to ration out your one glass of tea.

Shopping - I can't lie. I miss malls and shopping centers. I hate trying clothes on but I miss having the option. When we get back to NC I will probably have to get a new credit card because there's a good chance that I'm going to melt the account number right off this one.

Road trips - I love to get in the car and just drive somewhere new. Not that we can't do that here but after two hours or so you'll just drive into the ocean. Our island paradise is small. Very, very small.

Not waiting for things - We get everything late here. Movies are usually a week or so behind, although I have seen movies open here months after they did in the states. Same for new products. I'll see a commercial for some new must have item and then we won't see it on shelves here for months. And by then I've usually forgotten that I wanted it in the first place.

That's all I can think of now. I know there's more. Chris is boxing on the Xbox and I'm oddly fascinated by it and keep getting distracted. PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE, HONEY!!

Happy birthday to me!

2011-03-01T17:53:00.002+09:00

This past Friday was my birthday so we went out all weekend. Friday, Chris came to dinner with a bunch of girls (other husband's were either working, deployed or training for deployment). Saturday we went to see Dave play. It was a fabulous weekend. I got lots of goodies as you can see. My husband is awesome and it's great to have friends who are like family.

The second and third pictures are just for fun. There are few things cuter than our kids.

Date night

2011-02-26T08:45:00.005+09:00

Chris had a long weekend for President's Day so we got a few extra evenings to find something to do. I had heard about a restaurant called Captain Kangaroo up north in Nago which was supposed to have fabulous burgers. One had opened up in American Village so we decided to check it out.

Chris was apprehensive about going, thinking he wasn't going to like it but he ended up pleasantly surprised. He got a sparky burger and I got the Roo special burger. Both were very good. Although, next time, I would ask for a little less "special sauce" because my burger was incredibly messy. I ended up having more on my face than anywhere else.
After dinner, we grabbed a coffee at Starbucks and walked over to Sunset Beach to watch the sunset.

Nakagusuku Castle

2011-02-22T20:28:00.005+09:00

After the sunflower fields, Kellee and I went over to check out Nakagusuku Castle. The original castle was built in the 15th century and is currently mostly in ruins. You have views of both the Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea while at the castle site.

You can also see the "haunted hotel" which actually is directly beside the castle. As you can tell from the picture of the hotel, it's not currently open and is really spooky looking. I found this information online about it:

Haunted Hotel
One of the most often told stories, and most often confused stories when told, is that of the haunted mansion which was built in the early 70s. The mansion sits near the Nakagusuku Castle Ruins, off of Route 329. Stories have been spread of tourists being murdered and other hotel guests drowning in the pool. The hotel, in fact, was never opened to the public, never even finished. Inside, stairs lead to nowhere, and what was once meant to be a luxury hotel was a fiasco. The hotel was built on ground said to be sacred, but the developer, an Okinawan businessman, failed to listen to the local villagers. Instead, he went ahead with his plans...or lack thereof, as the place was built without the use of blueprints. Soon into the building, several construction accidents claimed the lives of those working on the hotel. Workers began to fear going to the site, and soon everything was abandoned. The businessman went bankrupt not long after the hotel idea failed, and now resides in an insane asylum. A monk lives in the ruins where he has built a small altar to help the spirits rest.

President's Day weekend

2011-02-22T19:37:00.002+09:00

Since we are on the downhill slope of our time left here, I've been perusing the Internet to see what we can get into before we leave. I read about some sunflower fields that were in bloom near the house. Since Kellee was off work, and Chris isn't exactly into flowers, she and I headed over to check them out. It wasn't big, by any means, but nothing on Oki is. There were several small fields full of flowers. Since we went on a Monday, there was one loan vendor, selling some sort of cookie shaped food things. I couldn't tell you what they were. Apparently, on the weekends, there are actual food vendors and stuff to buy. The "festival" happens every year around the same time, although this year the blooms were a little late, according to the article I read. If anyone wants to check it out, go straight from the Legion Gate of Camp Foster, onto the 81. Make your second right onto 146. Cross over the expressway and make and immediate left. Then make the second right. It was clearly marked when we were there and there were several other cars and families checking it out. It's free to get into but don't expect it to take a long time to see. If you haven't been to the Nakagusuku Castle ruins, you can check those out at the same time and kill a few more hours.

Firsts to lasts.

2011-02-13T20:27:00.003+09:00

Last year at this time Chris was in Thailand so Kellee, Laura and I went to the Crow's Nest on Camp Shields for the first time to see Dave play. We figured we would spend our last Valentine's weekend doing the same thing. We had a really good time but it's sad every time we do something that we know we won't do again while we're stationed here.

I had to be sure and get a picture with the guys in the band this time, Takumi and Namekawa. Love these guys. They are so awesome and fit in with Dave so well. I talked to them about playing our going away party and they both told me that was sad. How can you not love that?

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

2011-02-11T14:22:00.002+09:00

Not much happening here. Making plans and working on what needs to be done for us to PCS this spring. Mainly for me that consists of every "last time we go here". I'm sure it's more work for Chris. It's tough to be the non-working spouse with nothing to tie me down. We don't have any exact dates for travel yet. That will happen closer to when we are leaving. I'm going to spend the next few months going out with the girls, lunches, the beach, Okuma, girls' weekend in Nago and some other things that I can't remember now.

Chris has been approved to be frocked. Basically this means he gets to pin on his next rank but will not be getting the pay for that rank until his number actually comes up. He wanted to pin on here with this office and I'm glad he was selected to do that. Whenever that happens, I'll be sure and post pictures. Which reminds me - I got another camera! Maybe you all should start a pool as to how long this one will last. I would suggest you guess low because it's a pretty cheap camera just so I had something to get me through the next couple months. Everyone knows I can't be trusted with anything.

If anyone needs me this week...

2011-02-07T12:35:00.003+09:00

You can find me here.

We have a celebrity in the house.

2011-01-24T20:09:00.003+09:00

My friend Kareena and her husband had to go out of town so I offered to watch their maltese, Axel Rose. He is such a sweetheart. Zeus even got around to playing with him a little today, which is amazing. He follows me around the house. Other than that, he just plays until he's tired enough to nap.

Decisions

2011-01-18T18:48:00.002+09:00

Every time we PCS, we have a lot of decisions to make. What to take, what to toss, what to give away. This time we're adding into the mix the extra headache of whether to rent of buy, which neighborhood to live in and whether or not I'll work. In reality, work may be difficult for me because Yuma has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. So that one may not be a decision that we make on our own.

We don't want to live on base this time around. No particular reason. We've enjoyed living on base at all of our duty stations. And we aren't those people who look down on others who want to live on base. And, believe me, there are plenty of those. It just feels right for us to go a different way this time. Maybe because we've travelled through AZ a few times and know we like it, although we've never been to Yuma. Maybe it's just the point in our lives that we want to see what it's like to "settle down" in our own home, albeit for a short period of time. Maybe it's the possibility of a backyard pool or a house that doesn't have an all white interior. Maybe it's just me and, in reality, Chris doesn't care either way and is just letting me take the reigns. I'm definitely leaning towards that last one.

It's a tough decision, whether to rent or buy. And a mighty big one. The economy is terrible and who knows whether it will improve or not in three years. But rent is more expensive than a house payment would be for what we want, which I understand. If we buy a house and then PCS and end up renting it, of course we'll have our rent higher than our payment. Are there people who don't do that?

I've been overdoing it with the research. I'm sure none of you are surprised. I am a big fan of information. I've even requested a couple relocation packets on Yuma. I want to know what we are getting ourselves into. The military is great in so many ways but how many other jobs send you to a new office that you've possibly never seen or thought about before? It's exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time. But it's our life and I love it.

No habla Español!

2011-01-13T14:27:00.003+09:00

But I better work on it! Chris got orders this week for our next duty station. Come this summer, we will be PCSing to Yuma, Arizona. We are excited since it was where we wanted to move but a little sad because our time on Okinawa is coming to an end and fast! We will be leaving the island about four months sooner than expected. And that kind of puts a damper on all of the fun things we were planning to do this summer with our friends. Amy and Kellee can tell you that I've already been freaking out thinking we still had eight months left. Knowing that we only have about four is going to cause panic mode, for sure. But we know it will be a good thing and we'll be happy to be back in the states.

I've been doing tons of research about the area and I think we'll like it there. Lots of restaurants we like, places to shop and a ton of outdoor things to do. Yuma is close to the Colorado River, a short distance from San Diego and a cheap flight from Vegas. Plus, we have friends in the general area all the way to San Diego so I think we'll have no shortage of visitors and weekend trips to take. I found out this week that we could travel to Paris, France from Yuma for just $651! And you know where else we could fly for about the same price? Charlotte! Because Charlotte, NC and Paris, France are sister cities, right?

Our current plan is to fly to Yuma, hopefully find someone to watch the dogs for us then hop a flight to Charlotte to pick up our cars and drive back across the country for the fourth time (one-way). Chris will get about a month of leave but we won't get to spend as much in NC as we would like because we want to get back and house hunt before Chris has to check in with his new command.

We have so much to do before then! I would say "we" but that might be stretching it, so I'll say that I want to spend as much time as possible doing any and everything we haven't had a chance to do and to spend as much time with friends before we head back to the land of opportunity. If you want to read more about our next duty station, click here!

I got extensions.

2011-01-08T17:24:00.001+09:00

Eyelash, that is. I have a couple friends here who have them and I was really impressed with how good they looked. So I went for it. The first picture, are my natural lashes with mascara.
Second and third are with the extensions and no mascara. There is no way I'll keep up with them once we are back in the states because it's super expensive there. But they'll be fun to have while we're here.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T23:47:00.004+09:00

Chris and I spent New Year's Eve with old friends and new friends watching Dave's band play. We had an incredibly fun night and find it sad to think that this is our last holiday season on Oki. The highlight of the night was our dear friend Amy getting onstage and singing with Dave. She was awesome!

We are looking forward to spending as much time with everyone as possible as the year goes on. We love all of you!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-26T09:38:00.003+09:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We certainly did. We have Zeke here while Brian and Jess are in the states so Caden can spend his first Christmas with all of his extended family. I just wish poor Zeke would relax and try to get more comfortable here!

On Christmas Eve we went with everyone to the zoo to check out the lights and laser show. Since it's our last Christmas on the island, we figured we would get out and do some things we haven't done.

The zoo even has snow for everyone to see and play in. If you look closely to the pictures, you can see a snowman.

On Christmas Day, we got up and went ice skating after breakfast. We finally got the hang of it and had a really fun time. It's weird to be in this huge, freezing cold room with an ice skating rink when you live on a sub-tropical island. All in all, we have had a great holiday weekend. Hope everyone else did as well!

Congratulations are in order!

2010-12-17T16:51:00.001+09:00

Chris was selected for promotion to Master Sergeant. He won't actually pin on his new rank until sometime next year but I am so proud of him!

Damn you Steve Jobs!

2010-12-15T17:57:00.005+09:00

I guess I am a full Apple convert after being in Japan. What started out as a tiny iPod seed for traveling has blossomed into a mighty sequoia of a Nano, Shuffle, iPhone and MacBook. I also have a full size iPod that I killed not long after we first got here. I sent it to the Apple store in the states and even they couldn't resuscitate it. If I'm around your electronics, be afraid. Be very afraid.

I can't lie, though. I love all my electronics. I can't imagine life without checking my Facebook on car rides or blogging while sitting on the couch, listening to music because, once again, there's nothing on TV. How did we survive before the Internet?

One of my favorite things about the iPhone is the camera. It was a lifesaver our last day in Sydney when the camera decided it had had enough of this life and was ready to move on to that flashbulb in the sky. The pictures in this post were all from my phone at sunset the other day. The first one is straight up, no apps or messing with colors or anything on the computer. The next two are from my Hipstamatic app. It randomizes how pictures come out so I took one, shook the phone and then took the last one. I love all three of the pictures. I also have a picture app that makes your photos look like they came from a Polaroid. I'm interested in some other photo apps but haven't decided on any yet. I'm open for suggestions.

Chinese Friendship Garden

2010-12-14T15:36:00.005+09:00

Chris and I checked out the gardens the same day we saw the lighthouse and Bondi Beach. We tried to cram as much stuff into every day as possible.

The garden was gorgeous. There was actually a wedding happening while we were there but I didn't get any pictures of that.

There were a couple waterfalls, lots and lots of flowers, rocks and lizards. Which seemed random. The lizards, which looked like iguanas, were very territorial. Two kept fighting in front of us so an Asian man, standing there with his family, picked one of the lizards up and tossed him into the water. At which point, the lizard swam right back to the rock he was on and continued his attempted ass kicking. We left before a winner was determined and I am going to continue thinking it was not a fight to the death. Maybe they even called a truce when people weren't looking.

A day at Bondi Beach

2010-12-13T16:52:00.003+09:00

Chris and I figured we couldn't have a complete trip to Sydney without visiting Bondi Beach. During Australia's summer months (November - January) the beach is packed and you can even find American celebrities flaunting their six-packs. Since we went in the off season, it was practically empty which was perfectly fine for us. We found a nice place to have coffee and breakfast and just watched the surfers ride the waves. While Chris was finishing eating, I ran to the pavilion and even saw dolphins surfing alongside the people. It was a really cool sight and I ended up standing there long enough to make Chris wonder what happened to me.

We had watched the show, Bondi Rescue, a few times and were excited to see the lifeguard tower they use in the show. People on Bondi seem to be crazy and there are always tons of people getting in trouble in one way or another.

In this first picture, the ocean looks fairly calm but you can see by the second that the waves were actually huge. Apparently, they were very large for this time of year.

More vacation!

2010-12-12T15:47:00.005+09:00

I realize that this seems like the world's longest vacation. It really wasn't. I'm just extremely slow and a really, REALLY good procrastinator. We're talking professional level. Maybe even award winning. If there were awards for that. Maybe I'll look into it. Later.

Most of the rest of the posts from our trip will probably be, basically, pictures with minimal descriptions. I'm loading the pictures onto the new computer as I blog and it's ridiculous how many I took. I don't want to overwhelm you with all of them so I'm trying to pick out the ones I like best.

This first one is, um, "art". Found in the Rocks section of Sydney, naturally.

I can't remember what that first building is. This is what happens when 1.) you're getting older and 2.) you wait three months to blog about your vacation. The second is a small portion of St. Mary's Cathedral and the third is St. Andrew's. Forgive the pictures, we were on a tour and never made it back to get take proper ones.

The first picture of the bridge and opera house in the background is probably my favorite from the whole trip. Thanks random stranger dude! I have to be honest, the way the blog looks when I'm writing and how it looks when I post are usually not the same so if I'm numbering pictures wrong, just laugh quietly to yourself and let it go. I'm not about to go back and correct everything.

The lighthouse is the Macquarie Lighthouse, which is Australia's first. If you click the name, you'll be able to read a little about it. The other pictures of the Pacific are from the area near the lighthouse.

Looking at these pictures makes me a little sad. Time is going so quickly and I'm remembering what an awesome time we had. I mean, look at that sky! The weather was absolutely gorgeous. I think we need to go on vacation again. Soon.

An Apple a day.

2010-12-09T07:55:00.003+09:00

My laptop has gone to a better place. If the closet can be considered better than the living room. It lasted a whopping two years, one and a half months. I'm feeling very lucky that I was able to get all 16,000+ pictures off of it before he went to computer heaven in the sky.

We ended up running to the PX Saturday to look at new laptops. It only took one time of me getting on Chris' computer before he decided that just wasn't a good plan and we had to replace mine ASAP. I have the death touch for electronics and he wasn't going to let his computer go down.

We looked at a few PC's before checking out the Macs. I've never been drawn to a Mac before. They're weird and so completely different than anything I've ever used before. I'm old and don't really care for learning new things. But after hearing all the things the Mac has, we were sold. The big selling point for me was the AirPort Apple router with backup. It actually backs up my computer itself without any work on my part. So, even if someone were to steal my laptop, I could get back anything and everything I'd ever done on it and put that info on a new one. Which is an incredible thing for someone who only backs up when she's on the verge of losing everything. So, basically, once in a computer's life.

Now, I'm trying to learn the new software and getting used to having my "X" on pages on the wrong corner of the page. Ok, maybe "wrong" isn't the correct word but it's definitely not "right".

I still need to finish blogging about vacation but all of my pictures are on the external hard drive instead of the computer. Once I load some of them on here, I'll get around to finishing that. Hopefully.

Playing catch up

2010-12-02T17:43:00.005+09:00

Or should that be ketchup? Catsup?

I still haven't finished up blogging about Sydney. But I'm skipping ahead to Halloween since one day is easier to do than several. It's my blog and I can skip if I want to.

On Halloween, we went to Dave's show. It was costume themed - rock stars and skanks - so we really went all out. Chris hates dressing in costume but he was game since it was for Dave. We both looked pretty different and had plenty of people take a few looks to recognize us. It was definitely worth the itchy, hat head hair I ended up with at the end of the night.

Last two

2010-12-01T08:38:00.002+09:00

29) I'm thankful for friends who put up their Christmas tree early so Chris and I can take a picture in front of it.

30) And, lastly, I'm thankful for my iPhone. It takes pretty good pictures which is nice since my camera died.

Three more

2010-11-28T22:17:00.003+09:00

26) Skype - So I can talk to my friends back in the states and laugh along with them like we're all together. Even though my computer is a piece o'shit and the camera isn't currently working.

27) Facebook chat - On the rare occasion that it works. It's nice to be able to ask someone something right when you think about it. Prevents my old brain from forgetting things!

28) Fun places like Beach Rock Village and the aquarium where we can go and spend an entire Sunday.

Almost there...

2010-11-25T21:22:00.002+09:00

23) Today I'm thankful for wonderful friends to spend our holidays with...

24) Ebay which sells beautiful dresses and ships to FPO addresses...

25) And Shutterfly for shipping so quickly that I don't feel bad about waiting so long to order Christmas cards.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

A couple more

2010-11-22T17:13:00.002+09:00

21) I'm thankful for Cocok's who painted my toes a pretty design with silver and black. I'm thankful even though the nail tech pulled on my pitiful little broken toe. Apparently, a toe being swollen, purple and red is completely normal.

22) I'm thankful for the USMC birthday ball because any day that requires Chris to wear his blues is a plus in my book.

Missed a few days...

2010-11-19T20:25:00.004+09:00

17) New friends who find my blog! I'll go ahead and let you know, it's pretty boring around these parts.

18) A hairstylist who I love who happens to have a gorgeous salon, right on the seawall.

19) Girls' nights out on a non-payday weekend.

And, because I miscounted, one for tomorrow.

20) Chilling at home on a rainy Okinawa Friday night.

Halfway point and beyond

2010-11-16T16:42:00.001+09:00

15) Gorgeous Okinawa sunsets.

16) Subway on a night Chris is still at work and I'm heading over to babysit.

14

2010-11-14T20:43:00.002+09:00

I'm thankful for living on base and getting wonderful, yet crappy, cable where I can watch some of my favorite movies, like "Office Space".

"I'm going to need you to come in on Saturday...."

Number 13

2010-11-13T15:14:00.002+09:00

On this rainy, dreary Sunday I'm thankful for all the wonderful places to eat on Okinawa such as Cactus Eatrip, where I had lunch today.

Domo arigato!

2010-11-12T09:56:00.001+09:00

Today I give special thanks each time my ears "unpop" and I can hear again. Which, with this cold, happens at least five times a day.

More thanks

2010-11-11T08:41:00.003+09:00

For yesterday and today I'm thankful for all of the veterans and the USMC. Happy birthday Marines and happy veterans day!

A big thanks to...

2010-11-09T08:02:00.002+09:00

Chloraseptic and tissues. Two things I currently can't live without.

More giving thanks.

2010-11-08T16:58:00.002+09:00

Today I'm thankful for Apollo's vet who takes very good care of her.

The month of giving thanks.

2010-11-07T10:36:00.002+09:00

I've had a few friends on Facebook who are trying to post every day what they are thankful for. I decided to try it here, with an Oki theme. Since it's already the seventh, I'll post seven things now and attempt to keep up with it for the month.

1 - My husband. I'm thankful for him no matter where we are.

2 - The military for giving us the chance to live in Okinawa. This will always be my favorite duty station we've had. So much so, we considered extending but it isn't in the cards for us. I'm sad every time I think of leaving here. And since we only have 10 months left, I do think about it a lot.

3 - Rainy days that make me feel less lazy for laying around on the couch and not doing anything. We never seemed to get those in CA.

4 - Our friends we've made here. They have made our time on Oki that much better.

5 - The opportunity to make Japanese friends. I love seeing our differences and talking with them, knowing that even their worst attempt at English will be 100 times better at my best attempt at Japanese.

6 - Not having daylight savings time.

7 - Travel opportunities I would never had if we didn't live here.

Sydney continued!

2010-11-07T09:49:00.003+09:00

We signed up for a tour to the Featherdale Wildlife park and the Blue Mountains. We just walked right through the animals in the park and were able to hang with koalas and feed wallabies. You have to be careful when you feed wallabies out of an ice cream cone, though. They break and then you end up with grass in your purse. I believe there is still some in there now.

After the park, we headed to the Blue Mountains. We saw the Three Sisters, road a cable car down the mountain and then back up after realizing the train went through two very long tunnels and there was no way I was going in there. Obviously, my claustrophobia wins over my fear of heights. I basically just stood in the center of the cable car and stared at the floor.

After we got back to the city, we took a few pictures and then hit the ferry to get back to Darling Harbour where we went to Subway and spent $22.00 on two subs that cost us $14.00 in Okinawa and had to order them from people who spoke less English than the workers here. We had all intentions of eating a few fast food dinners but that ended up being the only night we did. There were just way too many food places we wanted to try.

World's Worst Blogger

2010-10-15T18:56:00.004+09:00

And the award goes to...

ME!!

How did it get to be October 15th already? I'm so behind in everything. I promise to buckle down, get the rest of our trip blogged about and get a little better at keeping up with things. I'm such a procrastinator. I have projects here that I NEED to finish. I need to stop avoiding making an eye appointment so I can renew my drivers license. We've had a movie here for over a month that we haven't watched.

I'm making a mid-October resolution to get things done.

Starting Monday.