House Pictures!

Haha...I bet you all thought that meant I would finally post some - didn't you?

See here is the thing. I have a secret agenda.

I want a new camera. A really nice new camera. One of those DSLR cameras that I have been eye-ing for, um, 2 years or so.

I am withholding photos in an attempt to show my husband how important it is for me to get this camera and show even more beautiful photos of our home than the ones that our old camera can produce.

In any case, that is the deal. Besides the fact that now it gets dark at 4:00, which puts a severe damper on the lovely sunlight that is in our home during the day. Seriously - we have 23 windows in our house.

So, house photos will come shortly. Either I will get my new camera as a late birthday present (since Austin was gone he didn't get me anything...hmmm...) or I will finally relent and take some photos this weekend.

Just thought you should know.

The Nicest Places

We have dinner in the nicest places, now that we are officially a DINK family (dual income, no kids).

Like last night, we ate right here:

No, seriously. Austin has this overnight duty way too often for both of us, but apparently I am allowed to go visit so long as he is not actually on watch at the time I am trying to visit. Who knew? So, last night after work I picked up some Moe's (glamorous I know, but hey, Moe's knows burritos) and headed to the ship.

We ate dinner together in the wardroom and watched our Monday night TV lineup on CBS / Monday Night Football. I had the chance to meet some of the people he works with that I often hear so much about, and was escorted off the ship before curfew (hehe).

Did I ever think I would be eating dinner with Austin on his ship? Nope. But, it was so fun I am sure we will do it again soon...like in three days.

Business as Usual

Well, it has been almost two months since my last post. That is disgraceful.

Let's do some life updates, eh?

First - AUSTIN IS HOME! Wooo!

I will get all the photos together to do a real Homecoming post, but in short, it was the best day. We had beautiful weather (I even got a bit sunburned) and everything went splendidly.

{This is my friend Leigh Anne and I on the pier waiting for our hubbys! Funny story - we got married on the same day, at the same time - and then both of our husbands left for the Burke. Look at those smiles!}

Since he has been home it has been pretty much business as usual.

{Normal fun family stuff, like carving pumpkins, and you know trying to keep the dog from eating it}

Austin had leave for about a week and a half after coming home and we did tons of fun things, like hanging shutters on the house, installing new lights in the bathroom and hallways...you know, totally glamorous. We did manage to get to Busch Gardens for Hallow-scream, where Austin forced me to do all of the scary stuff. All of it. And carve up some pumpkins, when Haley came to visit!

{Guess who did which?}

On the 2nd of November we both started working again! Woo! It had been a long break for me, not so long to Austin, but a ship in port is a whole different ball game that he hadn't experienced yet. He is really enjoying it, though we are both getting a little tired of the overnight watches already.

I was offered and accepted a job at Regent University as an Incoming Student Advisor for Undergraduates. I love it! I started on the same day as my new friend Brianne, and she and I have been having fun in training together. I will be academically advising a whole section of incoming undergraduate students, both Freshmen and Transfers. To see me being a professional click here. There I am, bottom right! Soon I will have a bio up on the page links on the right as well.

So, we have been doing a lot of work on the house, and trying to get in the groove of being a family in the same city, while working and taking care of a dog and a grad student adopted child (ha! if you haven't heard, my sister Ashley is attending grad school at ODU and living with us. We love having her here!)

Now that I am back to a semi routine, I am hoping that blogging will return to normal! It was so much harder to get things done when I had, well, little to do. Though I had a lot to do once we got into the house. You will see when I start updating on the projects!

Until then, I am glad to be back sharing our life -- accelerated. ;)

I am alive!

Seriously. So is Austin. I talked to him for an hour today.


Now that we have internet, I will be back to regular blogging shortly...once my to-do list gets shorter.


In the mean time, here is a little preview of what has been keeping me busy!


Taking this:

{cute, right?}

To this:

Sorry for the crappy photo quality (phone only until I find my battery charger...wherever that is!) Granted it's not all done yet, I still have pictures to hang, etc. 


Buuuuuut, hopefully this appeases the masses for now, until I can reveal more projects! (and find the batteries for my camera!)

A new address!

Tomorrow morning we c-l-o-s-e on our new {to us} dream bungalow!

We are so excited to move into our 82-year-old little home...after closing I will head to the house to clean it from top to bottom, a la Barb {my mother - cleaner extraordinaire}, and do a little happy dance in every single room.

After that we will begin the moving and painting process. U-haul on Saturday, Navy Movers on Tuesday, {DirecTV set up on Wednesday - yay for having DVR back!!!}. I am beyond excited to get to sleep in my own bed again for the first time since May 9th!

I will try to keep everyone updated on all the projects and things we are undertaking - with tons of pictures - but until we figure out internet and such my blogging will be touch and go.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have helped us get to this point {you know who you are} and let this serve as an open invitation to all our friends - starting Tuesday, Guest Room AVAILABLE!

Fun Birthday Present!

The second of August was my 25th birthday. Oy! When did I get so old? ;)  I got such fun presents and messages from all sorts of people, but I wanted to feature one present that will look so nice in our new house!
    

  

"Oh! You have the camera out...

  

  

  

...that must mean you want a picture of me!"

     

     

No Bings, actually, just the sign.

    

    

   

There we go.

    

Thanks Corey for the awesome gift!

Stories from Afloat

"Warm Weather Penguins"

in an email from Austin July 29, 2009

"The Penguins are from the local beach in Simon’s Town, South Africa. There are thousands of them and you can walk right up to them. They came here a very long time ago from Antarctica. 

They just swam too far north and decided to stay. They’re like the northern most penguins in the world or something like that. It was really cool. 

     

I wanted to pet one, but apparently they bite. Not hard, but still nobody wants to get hurt by a penguin."

Ha! That bolded line made me laugh for a while. To read more about African Penguins click here.

I hope I have a kid like this.

A New Blog

Yup, another one.

But this one is not just mine. My friend Kat, of Kat's Adventures in Movieland had an idea to start a book blog. She, Corey and I were discussing it and decided to give it a go as a group!

Check it out here: http://lovegoodbooks.blogspot.com/

Stories from Afloat

"Gift to the Master"

in an email from Austin July 29, 2009

    

"It is a Navy tradition that after a UNREP (Underway Replenishment) the ships play loud music and offer a “Gift”. A long time ago it was a bottle of wine or something nice for the Captain of the other ship. Now it is more of a joke. 

    

     

So they put us in sumo suits and we fought for the master. At that point in the picture I have fallen over and can’t get back up, in part because I was laughing so hard. Everyone else had a good laugh too. It was hilarious."

    

Tough job, right?

   

To read more than you probably ever needed to know about UNREPs see here.