One Year

One year ago on Saturday Scott and I were sealed in the Washington DC Temple. I can and can't believe it's been a year. We've both learned a lot about each other and about ourselves. Scott is such a great husband and I love him so much. That's probably why it was a very hard weekend. I was SO emotional. I couldn't say his name or that it was our anniversary without tearing up and/0r bawling. It was by far the hardest day of this deployment thus far. I've been given all sorts of advise from other military wives and there is one thing they all say that is consistent "it's not easy." I really missed Scott this weekend but I had great friends and family who spent time with me and sent me well wishes. I'm blessed to have so many great people who care about me. It's Spring outside and I live in a beautiful place. I have much to be grateful for...especially a wonderful husband!

The Kids

Scott and I said goodbye for the second time on St. Patrick's Day. He arrived in Djibouti on Friday and has had several adventures already. Including but not limited to eating camel and having a cheetah drink water from his cupped hands. I should get pictures and more details soon. In the mean time I thought I'd talk a bit about those back home who miss their daddy.

Mac & Peanut Mac-zimus is our red-eared slider turtle we got from a man on the street in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Scott saw him and instantly fell in love. He told me he'd always wanted a turtle. My family found and tried to keep turtle all the time growing up. Mom confessed later that while we kids were convinced these turtles were super amazing escape artists, she was actually letting them loose! Mac was the size of a quarter when we got him. He's grown quite a bit but is still no more than 3 inches across. Peanut was ordered online. Yes you can get a turtle shipped to you in a box. He arrived in a small plastic contained filled with packing peanuts. He is a southern painted turtle and was less than the size a quarter when we got him. He's now just bigger than a quarter. He's the friendlier of the two.

Trudie
Trudie was purchased in Norfolk the day before Scott and I said goodbye for the first time. She is a Toy Yorkshire Terrier and about 4 months old. She's a fun little pup who makes friends everywhere she goes. She's a tiny dog who fits perfectly in a purse, although I've not put her in one because she's not an accessory. She is a lot of fun and loves to play and nap and be cute. Scott and her got to know each other over the last week and became fast friends. We all miss him now and can't wait for him to come home.

Thank you government inefficiencies!

Due to a scheduling mishap my sweet husband gets to spend 10 days with me before he heads to Africa! His training ended a week ago and his flight isn't until next week. We've spent the last few days enjoying the sights of DC that he was just too busy to see when he actually lived here. The weather here has been beautiful and the snow is finally melted. Life is good!

Military Wife

My boss once said that being in the military means you'll always be saying goodbye to someone. I said good bye 3 weeks ago to my sweet husband. He is being deployed to Djibouti, Africa and will be there for 7 months. Currently he is in overseas/boot campish training at an army base in South Carolina. He's cold. He's tired. He's exhausted. He's hungry. But Scott always has the best attitude and has managed to find good friends and together they made the most of these weeks of training. The good news is that while he is still heading to a war zone, it is a very safe one and he'll be at a desk not on the ground. While he is gone I have vowed to blog more and detail my life as military wife.

Martha Stewart likes rap music

I heard her say it with my very own ears AND not just on TV. Live! My good friend Kim got us tickets to be in the Martha Stewart studio audience on Friday in New York City. We drove up to New Jersey Thursday night and were very nicely accommodated by some friends. Armed in our brightest camera friendly sweaters we took the early train the next morning to be at the TV studio by 8:30. While we waited in line we were fed a breakfast of donuts and hot cocoa while Martha Stewart paraphernalia was handed around with order forms. I couldn’t resist and bought a cookbook I would receive after the show. Once inside our purses were searched and our coats checked and the line for the bathroom grew. As we waited Joey, the audience cheerleader, gave us the run down on when to clap, ooohhh, ahhhh and all other important info. There are about 100 studio audience members, meaning 95 women and 5 dudes. We were lucky enough to get seats very close to the front and in the center.
The first guest on the show was Rachel Ray. Apparently Martha had been on the Rachel Ray show recently were she confessed her love of rap music so Rachel showed up to the show with a basket of Eminem CDs and a gangsta rap hat for Martha. It was pretty funny. Then Martha showed Rachel how to make a blackberry apple pie. It looked delicious and just might be included on the menu this Thanksgiving. Next was a rather ugly sewing project followed by a lesson on bulbs and bulb planting. I really liked the gardener, Anna Pavord. She was a delightful English lady who referred to some of the bulbs as looking “like dried up bits of sheep dung.” Watching them plant made me really wish I had a yard. It’s the perfect time for bulb planting, you know. During the commercial breaks rap music was played and Joey, our cheerleader, had the audience up and dancing as he ran around and handed out free stuff. While we didn’t get any of Joey’s goodies, despite our extra enthusiasm, every audience member did walk away with Rachel Ray’s new cook book, Bulb a beautiful picture and gardening book by Anna Pavord, an amaryllis bulb as well as a goody bag of lotions and samples. When the filming was over Martha took a few audience questions but had to run to another promotion. As we left the studio we received all our goodies and purchases and free lunch. It was a great quick trip to the city and so much fun. If you get the chance I’d highly recommend visiting Martha Stewart in NYC.

And now my ode to Martha…

Oh Martha Martha Martha Dear
Your amazing talents we all revere.
From weddings to parties and holiday fun,
Your cutesy crafts are number one.
On the menu you’re a culinary whiz.
You know your food and you know your biz.
But there you’ve made a big slipup,
So the Big House taught you rap, what up?!
Now you’ve more skills then ever before,
Garden tips, crafts, and recipes to adore.
Home-making perfection here we come!
Master chef, crafty crafter and a green thumb!

Apple Picking

I like fall. I can’t say that I love it yet because I still hate the short days and the sad loss of summer (sigh) but since I’ve moved to the East I have learned to appreciate fall. It is simply beautiful out here. Since I moved to DC almost 5 years ago now, I go somewhere and pick apples every Columbus Day. I spend several Columbus Days in upstate New York but this year we stayed a little closer to home. Scott and I had the day off and found a nice farm in rural Virginia with lots of apples to pick. Apparently others had had the same idea and most of the trees had already been picked of those easy to reach apples. So we found ourselves a fruit picker pole. I used it to reach the big apples at the tops of the trees…
Scott used it to fight invisible enemies…

After getting our fill of stayman apples we solicited the help of a tree branch and with my camera on the timer took our picture. Then we gave our fruit picker pole to other pickers and drove to the red and golden delicious apple orchard.

There were no fruit picker poles here so I had to get on Scott’s shoulders to get the good ones. When I was on Scott’s shoulders a woman came by and asked for our camera. She wanted to take a picture of us because we were “so cute.” Now we have a half bushel of apples that need to be made into pies, cakes, muffins, crips and apple sauce! Mmmmmmm. Come on by and have some!

30

It happened. I turned 30. It wasn’t as hard a birthday as I thought it would be because of my wonderful friends, family and husband. Celebrations began a few weeks ago in a hotel in Nashville when my friends the Little Truckers gave me a beautiful Tiffany’s necklace. Love those girls! (more on that trip to come…maybe)

The next celebration took place when over the weekend we had to go up to Pennsylvania for a bridal shower. Scott casually mentioned we were going to dinner and asked me to bring a dress. I wear a dress just about every day so no big deal for me. Well he surprised me by taking me to the Circular Dining room at the Hotel Hershey. It was fabulous! The place was beautiful and the food fantastic. They even wrote Happy Birthday in chocolate for me. It was great. If you visit Hershey, be sure to go.

The day of my birthday I woke up a little sad at the prospect of my lost youth. Sigh. My twenties are over. What have I done?... I felt better when I met my coworker on the walk to the office and he’d bought me a chocolate croissant. Mmmmm. Then I got to work to find my boss out. Woohoo! It’s always a good day in the office when the boss is out. At 1 my sis and nieces brought me a delicious lunch complete with birthday tart and candles. We all sat outside with Tinkerbelle birthday crowns and enjoyed the weather and the food. I love those girls!

After work I took a nap and waited for Scott to get home so we could head over to Bean’s for dinner. When I walked into Bean’s house I was greeted with shouts of SURPRISE as a bunch of friends jumped out of their hiding spots wearing “dirty Mexican” mustaches. It was a muy bien surprise birthday fiesta! A lot of great friends were there including Wilbur. Wilbur was a faithful companion to my roommates and me before I married Scott. We planned so many times to hang and beat him but we just never did. So he stood with fading crepe paper fur on a side table in our living room until my birthday when he was stuffed with candy and hung from a tree in my sister’s backyard. I took a few good whacks at him and so did my nieces but it was Kimi’s husband Joe who knocked Wilbur off the rope and into the neighbors yard. It was a proud ending to our faithful friend.

Overall a great 30th birthday!

Scott will never be allowed to grow a mustache...sick! Neither will Sammy!